Patent GB-634736-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to horticultural glazed structures
IPC: A01G9/14
Filed: 1947-05-21
Abstract: 634,736. Horticultural structures. LOGAN, J. May 21, 1947, No. 13619. [Class 20 (i)] Horticultural glazed structures have framing composed of strip members of S-shape in crosssection, and elements for connecting the members together, the elements and the ends of the members being so connected that the members constitute, in each of a number of frames disposed edge to edge, at least two opposite sides presenting their channels for the location of panes of glass. Cloches, glasshouses and so on may be constructed from S-sectioned metal strips, angle brackets 3 of wood or aluminium, lengths of angle iron of convenient angle, flat strips 26, and lengths of rod 18 with screw fixed adjustable collars. A penthouse cloche has a pair of vertical frames constituted by four uprights 1, Fig. 1, of S-sectioned strip material, and a pair of roof frames constituted by rafters 2 of similar strip. The uprights and rafters are connected to the brackets 3 by screws passing through coaxial holes drilled through the ends of the S-strips, and the structure is braced by longitudinal tie-rods 18, transfixed through the brackets 3 by collars 19 with set-screws 20, and tiebars 21.. Sheets of glass may then be located between the corresponding facing channels in adjacent S-strips to form the sides and roof. To ensure that the fixing screws do not transfix the channel ways, screw clearance holes 4 are provided in the parallel webs 5, 6, of the S-strip, Fig. 2, whilst the hole in web 7 is only large enough to permit the passage of the screw shank. Brackets 3 have countersinks 8 so that when the screw is driven home the channel 7 is deformed into the recess. The S-strips which form the frame of a cloche are provided with sockets which receive A-shaped metal strips or the ends of an angle iron such as 10, Fig. 5. A glasshouse may comprise upright right-angle sectioned iron posts positioned at each corner of a foundation 22, Fig. 1, so that each web of each post is in line with a proposed wall. S-strips are erected so that each web of each post is accommodated in a channel of a strip, and intermediate S-strips are provided where necessary between the posts along the wall lengths. Sheets of glass are then located between the adjacent facing channels of the strips. If the walls are to be extended upwardly, flat cross bars 26, Fig, 9, are fixed horizontally between S-strips 25 and abutting strips 24 and secured by bolts 27, so that the lower edges of the cross bars abut against the upper edges of the subjacent row of glass sheets, and the upper edges of the cross bars form supports for a second row of sheets. A penthouse roof may be added by fixing angle irons 17, Fig. 8, into the vertical channels of the upright S-strips 15, or into the horizontal channels of S-strips fitted over the upper edges of the topmost bars 26, Fig. 9. Then by using horizontally positioned S-strips 16 as purlins and glass sheets 28 alternately, Fig. 8, and the constructions shown in Figs. 1, 7, the remainder of the structure may be assembled. Modifications in the construction of the walls and roof are described briefly, wherein the S-strips may be disposed at right-angles to each other, and flat strips such as 26 used as rafters disposed at right-angles to the purlin strips.