Gasmesser und Zähler

06:48 Oct 1, 2023 

The discussion on what was actually in the apartment is fascinating. I love putting together a picture of folks' lives from historical eras, and it made me curious about the electrification of European cities.
But. As translators, we should not interpret things into the original text that are not there, so I would not add "electric" unless it is mentioned elsewhere in the text.

00:37 Sep 30, 2023 

"Dr. Richard Helm vom gleichnamigen Realitäten- und Hypothekenbüro schrieb am 6. Jänner 1941, dass die seinem Mandanten Julius Krieger zugewiesene Wohnung in Wirklichkeit eine zu der im Hochparterre befindlichen Wohnung gehörige, durch rohe Bretter vorübergehend notbehelfsmäßig abgeschlossene Halle ist, in der sich außerdem der Stromzähler und der Gasometer des gesamten Hauses befinden würden."
https://www.geschichte-wien.at/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/WG...

Really wish we had a few more clues =(

00:27 Sep 30, 2023 

Similarly, there's the book "Das Gesetz betreffend die elektrischen Maasseinheiten und seine technische und wirthschaftliche Bedeutung" by W. Kohlrausch; the original text is from 1899. It reads: "...Gasmesser und der Zähler auf die maximal gespeiste Flammenzahl n , so ergiebt sich..."

As far as I can tell, "Zähler" refers to "Stromzähler" in this book.

Lastly, the second part of my PS was probably not well explained; I wasn't about to suggest replacing "ebenso" with "including," which doesn't work, ofc. What I meant was that if you want to avoid having to specify the other type of device, you could say something like "...our own meters, including a gas meter..."

Best wishes

00:20 Sep 30, 2023 

As for the "Zähler" bit, you could be right, though coin slot is also not a bad idea, as suggested. The issue I have here is that it says: "...so daß wir von der Nebenwohnung ganz unabhängig sind."

You can't be self-sufficient with a gas meter alone. In fact, when looking for similar word combinations, such as "...Gasmesser, Zähler," you'll come across the following:
https://diglib.uibk.ac.at/download/pdf/3923489?name=3071929

> "...Danubia A.G. in Wien, die hauptsächlich Gasmesser, Zähler u. a. erzeugt..."

Danubia was a manufacturer of both gas and electricity meters:
https://data.tmw.at/object/205353

Or, when looking for "Gasmesser und Zähler" on Google Books, you'll also get to "Grundrisslehre: die Stockwerkswohnung" by Siegfried Stratemann. You can't see much of the book because of the limited preview, but there's mention of a "Gasmesser- und Zähler - Nische"; took me some time to find a picture, but here it is:
https://www.digital.wienbibliothek.at/wbrobv/content/pagevie...

Captioned "Gangnische für Gasmesser und Stromzähler."

...

06:59 Sep 26, 2023 

The translation does not need to be more clear than the original. You could try "gas meter and counter." This is not a technical text, so supreme accuracy is not necessary.
It's possible that the two items are part of a whole: the "Messer" being the mechanism, and the "Zähler" being the numerical display. In that case, just "gas meter" would be appropriate. But the original is ambiguous.

06:53 Sep 26, 2023 

I am also not fond of "for our own use." I might suggest "dedicated" or "private," but "our own" is also good.

03:11 Sep 26, 2023 

Have very little time this morning, but if you look für "Gasmesser" + "Zähler" + Wien, you should find something about gas and electricity meters. You'll mostly find both words mentioned in the same sentence, e.g.:
"...Gasmesser und Stromzähler werden gemeinsam abgelesen..."
https://presse.wien.gv.at/historische-rk/1946/-/asset_publis...

If I see this right, Vienna also used to have (or still has)--at least in some parts--a system where water consumption is measured by plot size or something, so this is more likely than gas and water. Can't be 100% sure, though.

Best

PS
Not so fond of "for our own use" here; what about "...including our own..."?