or such like Uses.
Year: 1884

page_text: Horticultural or such like Uses.
I THOMAS CHARLES MARCH of Forest Lodge Ashtead near Epsom in the
County of Surrey Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN COVERINGS OR PROTECTING SCREENS FOR HORTICULTURAL OR
SUCH LIKE USES to be as follows:-
The object of the invention is to provide an economical and effectual covering or
protecting screen adapted either to be temporarily applied to the covering or
protection of trees plants or other such objects at certain periods or seasons when
from excessive cold, rain, wind, damp, frost or other influences detrimental to
setting of the blossoms or otherwise damage would ensue thereto if such objects
were left unprotected or uncovered or as permanent but removeable protecting
means for the like purposes or such enclosures may be utilized for the better
application of fumigating or other means of destroying blight fly or other vermin
or for the exclusion of insects from the objects of protection.
Such coverings or protecting means I find should be light, portable and
translucent or semi-translucent besides being of a character adapted to throw.
off moisture.
For this purpose I make my improved coverings or protecting means of a
ground work, foundation or connecting and supporting fabric such as sheets of
straw united by string or otherwise, and tarred, matting, felt, sacking, list, tapes,
tarpaulin, canvas, tarred or otherwise prepared or textile, or felted material and
upon this fabric over apertures or openings therein I secure by means of a suitable
cement, or adhesive matter, or by sewing thereto, pieces of glass or other suitable
translucent material such as laminae of talc or mica.
The fabric employed may be old or other tarpaulin and the openings to be
covered by the translucent matter may be cut or formed therein of the desired size
and number, or other fabric may be similarly employed, or tapes, strips, bands or
narrow pieces of material may be formed into a web or openwork support for the
translucent material to be attached to.
The cement or adhesive matter which I employ to connect the translucent
material to the foundation or supporting fabric may be in itself waterproof at
ordinary temperatures or it may be applied and afterwards become to an extent

page_text: insoluble by a change in its composition brought about by the action of light
thereon or by other means or it may be treated after application by other means
adapted to render it insoluble at ordinary heat or it may be covered or protected
by the application of a waterproof tar or other coating, paint, varnish or wash
according to any of the.well known processes adapted to the purpose.
In lieu of cement or adhesive matter being employed to hold the glass or other
translucent material to the fabric, holes may be made in the glass, talc or
translucent matter for wire, string or other fastening means to be passed through,
or other mechanical fastening means such as clips may be substituted, or a combi-
nation of more than one form of such fastenings may be utilized for the purpose.
In the case of sheets of a, rigid nature being made from (say) a stiff fabric to
which pieces of glass are secured these sheets may be employed in manner some-
what as ordinary garden frame lights are used, either leant against a wall or other
support or staging or on framework on a slant or stood upright in front of or
around the object to be protected and with or without an overhead sheet or sheets
and with or without framing or supporting ribs or rods or stakes and fastenings.
In the case of sheets of a more flexible nature being made these may be spread
over a supporting framework, rods, ribs or stakes or wrapped or disposed around
the tree shrub plant or other object to be protected, or hung or suspended after the
manner of a canopy or curtain so as to protect the object to be protected, and yet
be capable readily of being removed when by the setting in of more open or
favorable weather or sunlight these covers are not needed or may be for the time
dispensed with. Or the sheet of combined translucent and textile or other fabric
so cemented may be wound onto a light drum or winder for stowage.
In some cases I dispense wholly or nearly so with the supporting textile or such
like fabric, or foundation material and instead construct the translucent sheets or
protective surfaces of pieces of sheet glass secured or cemented to other pieces of
sheet glass in series so as to form protective covers or shelters for the plants or
such like objects. I find it convenient to form the outer edges frames, or supporting
parts of plate glass strips, "cullet" or waste by cementing or otherwise and to
secure thereto the less strong pieces of other descriptions of glass such as common
sheet. For these purposes I find it very, economical to utilize the refuse pieces of
glass which are known in the trade as "Cullet" which I trim into approximate
shape by any ordinary means if requisite.
A cement adapted to the purpose of connecting pieces of sheet glass or such like
material may be made by dissolving Glue, Gelatine or similar substance in acetic
acid with the aid of warmtb, the gelatinous substance being first reduced or scraped
to facilitate the action of the acid thereon. The cement may be most conveniently
applied by first heating the respective glass pieces to be joined. and the cement
applied to the glass at the parts to be joined, the surfaces are brought together
with pressure and the heat of the glass drives off the volatile acid solvent leaving
the glass strongly joined but as this cement and other cements that may be so
employed are in themselves not waterproof the joints or exposed parts of the fabric
thus made, should be rendered waterproof, or impervious to moisture by a suitable
coating or application such as paint or varnish.
In like manner the textile or other backing or support for the translucent
material should be so treated as to be rendered impervious to moisture to prevent
damp soaking into its fabric and loosening the glass or translucent material.
By the use of such screens sheets or protective coverings plants or fruit trees in
blossom or otherwise may be protected from adverse influences, especially at
critical stages of their growth, when exposure to even a few hours wet or frost or
keen wind will destroy a season's produce, and blossoms may be preserved or the
period of blooming much prolonged by such aid, at a moderate cost without resort
to permanent structures.
"
Warming appliances may be adapted to increase the temperature within the
structures where found desirable

page_text: The methods of attaching the translucent material particularly instanced as
glass in the foregoing description are also applicable to laminae of other translucent.
material of a suitable character or combinations of such materials one or more with
another.
It will be found useful where the translucent material employed is of an
excessively flexible character to. stiffen or support the material by ribbing or
more rigid parts and where varnish for such very flexible surfaces is used the
varnish employed should be of, or be rendered of a sufficiently elastic nature.
Dated this 19th dow of November 1884

page_text: Improvements in Coverings or Protecting Screens for
Horticultural or such like Uses.
I THOMAS CHARLES MARCH of Forest Lodge Ashtead near Epsom in the
County of Surrey Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of my invention
for IMPROVEMENTS IN COVERINGS OR PROTECTING SCREENS FOR HORTICULTURAL
OR SUCH LIKE USES and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The object of the invention is to provide an economical and effectual covering or
protecting screen adapted to be temporarily applied to the covering or protection
of trees, plants or other such objects at certain periods or seasons when from
excessive cold, rain, wind, damp, frost or other influences detrimental to setting of
the blossoms, or otherwise damage would ensue thereto if such objects were left
unprotected or uncovered or as permanent but removable protecting means for the
like purposes or such enclosures may be utilized for the better application of
fumigating or other means of destroying blight, fly or other vermin.or for the
exclusion of insects from the objects of protection.
Such coverings or protecting means I find should be light portable and trans-
lucent or semi-translucent besides being of a character adapted to throw off
moisture.
For this purpose I make my improved coverings or protecting means of a
ground work, foundation or connecting and supporting fabric such as sheets of
straw united by string or otherwise and tarred, matting, felt, sacking, list, tapes,
tarpaulin, canvas tarred, or otherwise prepared, or textile, or felted material and
upon this fabric over apertures or openings therein I secure by means of.a suitable
cement, or adhesive matter, or by sewing thereto; pieces of glass or other suitable
translucent material such as laminae of tale or mica.
The fabric employed may be old or other tarpaulin and the openings to be
covered by the translucent matter may be cut or formed therein of the desired size
and number, or other fabric may be similarly employed, or tapes, strips, bands or
• narrow pieces of material may be formed into a web or openwork support for the
translucent material to be attached to.
The cement or adhesive matter which I employ to connect the translucent
material to the foundation or supporting fabric may be in itself waterproof at
ordinary temperatures or it may be applied and afterwards become to an extent
insoluble by a change in its composition brought about by the action of light
thereon or by other means or it may be treated after application by other means
"adapted to render it insoluble at ordinary heat or it may be covered or protected
by the application of a waterproof tar or other coating, paint, varnish or wash
according to any of the well known.processes adapted to the purpose.
In lieu of cement or adhesive matter being employed to hold, the glass or other
translucent material to the fabric, holes may be made in the glass, tale or translucent
matter for wire, string or other fastening means, to be passed through, or other
mechanical fastening means such as clips may be substituted, or a combination of
more than one form of such fastenings may be utilized for the purpose.

page_text: In the case of sheets of a rigid nature being made from (say) a stiff fabric to
which pieces of glass are secured these sheets may be employed in manner
somewhat as ordinary garden frame lights are used, either leant against a wall or
other support or staging or on framework on a slant or stood upright in front of or
around the object to be protected and with or without an overhead sheet or sheets
and with or without framing or supporting ribs or rods or stakes and fastenings.
In the case of sheets of a more flexible nature being made these may be spread
over a supporting framework, rods, ribs or stakes or wrapped or disposed around
the tree, shrub, plant or other object to be protected, or hung or suspended after
the manner of a canopy or curtain so as to protect the object to be protected, and
yet be capable readily of being removed when by the setting in of more open or
favorable weather or sunlight these covers are not needed or may be for the
time dispensed with. Or the sheet of combined translucent and textile or other
fabric so cemented may be wound onto a light drum or winder for storage.
In some cases I dispense wholly or nearly so with the supporting textile or such
like fabric or foundation material and instead construct the translucent sheets or
protective surfaces of pieces of sheet glass secured or cemented to other pieces of
sheet glass in series so as to form protective covers or shelters for the plants or
Buch like objects.
=
I find it convenient to form the outer edges frames or supporting parts of plate
glass strips "cullet" or waste by cementing or otherwise and to secure thereto the
less strong pieces of other descriptions of glass such as common sheet. For this
purpose I find it economical to. utilize the refuse pieces of sheet glass which are
known in the trade as Cullet" which I trim into approximate shape by any
ordinary means if requisite.
3
A cement adapted to the purpose of connecting pieces of sheet glass or such like
material may be made by dissolving Glue, Gelatine or similar substance in acetic
acid, with the aid of warmth, the gelatinous substance being first reduced or.
scraped to facilitate the action of the acid thereon. The cement may be most.
conveniently applied by first heating the respective glass pieces to be joined and
the cement applied to the glass at the parts to be joined, the surfaces are brought
together with pressure and the heat of the glass drives of the volatile acid solvent
leaving the glass strongly joined but as this cement and other cements that may
be to employed are in themselves not waterproof the joints or exposed parts of the
fabric thus made should be rendered waterproof or impervious to moisture by &
suitable coating or application such as paint or varnish.
'
In like manner tho textile or other backing or support for the translucent
material should be so treated as to be rendered impervious to moisture to prevent
damp soaking into its fabric and loosening the glass or translucent material.
By the use of such screens sheets or protective coverings plants or fruit trees in
blossom or otherwise may be protected from adverse influences, especially at
critical stages of their growth, when exposure to even a few hours wet or frost or
keen wind will destroy a season's produce, and blossoms may be preserved or the
period of blooming much prolonged by such aid, at a moderate cost without resort
to permanent structures.
Warming appliances may be adapted to increase the temperature within the
structures where found desirable.
The methods of attaching the translucent material particularly instanced as glass
in the foregoing description are also applicable to laminae of other translucent
material of a suitable character or combinations of such materials one or more
with another.
-or
It will be found useful where the translucent material employed is of an
excessively, flexible character to stiffen or support the material by ribbing o
more rigid parts and where varnish employed should be of, or be rendered of
a sufficiently elastic nature.
A great advantage arising from the exercise of my invention is the facility
afforded for the employment for horticultural and such like purposes of "Cullet":or

page_text: <refuse Sheet Glass consisting of slips cut off from larger sheets of glass in the process
of fitting and which hitherto have been broken up and sold only as waste material.
>> These slips which are narrow but frequently of considerable length when fastened
into wooden frames in either of certain ways of which I herein describe two form
glazed sashes of any convenient size which can be used singly or in, combination
for the construction of greenhouses, garden frames, or other contrivances for the
protection of plants.
In making frames which are to remain in a vertical position or at such a high
'angle that the rain will have a considerable fall I block the glass slips together
edge to edge the ends resting in grooves made expressly in the wooden frames or
partitions of the same. The grooves run at right angles to the slips, and when
the latter are contained for the greater portion of the frame an extensive glazed
surface is obtained the light is very little affected by the joining of the numerous
glass edges. Battens of wood are placed wherever strength and solidity are
required. The glass edges if not square must be made approximately so in order
to avoid an inconvenient space between the slips. When the slips are placed in
the grooves touching one another, fillets of metal preferably of zinc or of galvanized
iron, are fastened over them into the wood preferably by zinc or galvanized iron
nails or screws. These fillets are at right angles to the slips, and when fastened
down keep the latter in their places They are of any convenient width usually
between one and two. inches the object being to hold the glasses firmly together
with as little obstruction as possible to the light, and I usually make them of short
lengths such as a foot so that in case of breakage of the glass the necessary repairs
may be made by removing a single length. If the groove is of small depth or only
a little deeper than the substance of the glass slips it is unnecessary to fill or pack
the slight space between it and the ends of the glass, but if the slips are at all
loose in the groove the space must be filled with Portland or other cement, putty
or other convenient stopping.
In making frames, which have very little vertical inclination such as ordinary
garden frames care must be taken that the rain does not penetrate between the
glass edges, which would happen if they were merely blocked together. To avoid
this I place the glass slips one over the other in the way that tiles or slates are
placed, and as the slips are narrow and numerous it is evident that care must be
taken to prevent their slipping up or down and especially from working downwards
I therefore make grooves in the frames rather deeper than suffices to hold the
slips lapped over one another and baving placed these in their proper positions in
the grooves, I drive nails, tacks or brads horizontally or transversely into that,
portion of the frame which bears the groove just under the lower edge of the glass
slips and on both sides so as to assist in keeping the slopes from slipping down-
wards. I further secure them by fastening down metal fillets at right angles to
the slips in the manner before described, and I fill the spaces between the fillets
and the glass and the grooves with cement putty or other stopping on both sides
of the glass slips.
In making glazed frames by either of the two methods described I proceed
somewhat differently to that adopted with ordinary wooden frames by extending
the metal sheeting used in the fillets above described, so as to cover not only the
whole of the unglazed portion of the exterior frame but also to form a cap at the
bottom of the frame and continuing a short way up the interior surface of the frame
I also in some instances extend the metal sheeting or armouring over the top and
sides of the frame, so that the latter may be protected from the damp in whatever
position it is placed.
In describing the foregoing two processes of making frames, I have assumed
that the grooves or rabbets necessary to hold the glass slips together are made
expressly in the wooden frames, but when I desire to glaze crates or other articles
which have been made for other than horticultural purposes I rabbet the fillets
which keep the glasses in their places, and proceed to fix them and fill thẻ spaces
with cement or stopping as above described.

page_text: Having constructed such glazed frames, in the manner; before, explained. I can
use them as ordinary glazed sashes or casements are employed for Horticultural.
or such like purposes.
They may be fitted by hinges or otherwise to fixed framework of greenhouses
or conservatories or they may form the lights of flat garden frames in which case.
they are loose and slip into a grooved underframe of wood..
They are particularly adapted to, protect fruit or. other trees against walls, and
the simplest form is to make glazed shutters say from 8 to 10 feet high and from:
2 to 4 feet wide, those, dimensions giving shutters which are sufficiently light for
a man to carry, and being at. the same time too heavy to be displaced by the wind
do not necessarily require other security.
These are blocked close to each other and fastened to the ground by, spikes of
metal passing through rings eyes in the frame for a considerable distance into, the
earth. The shutters either rest against the wall itself or are fixed on hooks pro-
jecting from the wall fitting into eyes in the frame which are made to correspond
into the hooks, or the hooks can be on the frame if preferred. If there is a coping
to the wall the shutters can be attached to the coping and I find a great advantage
in extending the coping so as to form a glazed roofing frame to which at a con-
venient distance may be attached a vertical glazed frame thus forming a lean-to
greenhouse against the wall in which stages may be erected for housing and pro-
tecting other plants than those against the wall, and to which heat may be applied.
in any known manner. To make the frames portable I attach the vertical to the
roofing frame by hinges allowing them to double up and pack into less space than
if they were fixed.
Complete ventilation is obtained by leaving a space between any two of the
shutters or frames, which space is filled by a wooden board hinging back on one
of the shutters or frames. When a roofing frame is attached to a vertical frame to
form a lean to greenhouse two such boards are necessary one vertical the other
following the angle of the roof These being hinged or fastened back or even
temporarily removed, give an open space which can be repeated at intervals along
the wall and thus afford ventilation to the plants and access to bees which in the
case of fruit trees are imperative necessities. These boards need not be wide, a
few inches being often sufficient but where access for men is required between the
frames and the wall, they may be made sufficiently wide to serve as doors and may
also be glazed.
Ventilation may also be secured by any of the known modes adopted to effect
that object.
It will be seen from the foregoing description that greenhouses made with such
frames or shutters are very portable and can be used in the garden in any position
and for other purposes than the protection of the wall trees. They are very
durable when armed with metal sheeting as explained, and they are little costly
on account of the cheapness of the glass material the absence of fixed foundation
and because painting may be partly if not wholly dispensed with.
In addition to solid wooden frames as above described, I make flexible glazed
curtains by connecting together several glazed frames of convenient size and of
the kind I have before described, but, of small dimensions, by means of strips
of tarpaulin,. canvas or other textile material, dressed or otherwise, which are
inserted between the wooden frames and metal fillets, being fastened down to
the former by screws or nails driven through the fillets, the straight edge of the
stuff forming a sort of groove or rabbet against which the glass slips rest. The
frames are thus completely isolated by the textile material and the glazed curtain
Bo composed can be folded up when not required for use in a small compass.
Instead of strips of textile material which must afterwards be sewn together
the frames can be fastened to whole sheets of the material the portions behind the
glass being cut away. The sewing is thus avoided but a loss of material is incurred.
These flexible curtains may be fixed to walls for the protection of trees and plants
or they may be used as a transparent roofing for temporary purposes, or be placed

page_text: "
•
over crates or other articles for the protection of plants, or they may be used
conveniently to give light to vans and other conveyances which have the light
obstructed by waterproof or canvas coverings.
I also make glazed flexible curtains by cementing or sewing numerous small
slips of "cullet" or glass usually square or oblong on to tarpaulin canvas or other
suitable material without the help of separate wooden frames. These curtains
though they give less light are extremely flexible, and the glass panes being small
are not easily broken.
In cementing the small panes or strips of glass on to the material I prefer to
employ shellac and its compounds, as bitumenous cement such as asphalte used
in a heated state, and I find by experience that these are preferable to cement
which however, adhesive requires protection from the weather.
Instead of being fastened by cement the panes of glass may be secured between
two pieces of textile material sewn together to form a pocket.
In addition to cullet of glass I sometimes make use of small sheets or plates of
mica or tale. The advantages of mica are that the material is extremely light, not
brittle like glass, and can be easily attached to wood by small tacks or nails. The
price of the material though high as compared with "cullet" is not prohibitive
and it may be used to make small frames when protection from cold, combined
with lightness of material are desired the small sheets of mica should be lapped
one over another like slates...
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that
what I claim is
1. The improved method of construction or arrangement of coverings or pro-
tecting screens for horticultural and such like uses whereby the employment
of "cullet" refuse glass or such like small pieces of translucent material is
facilitated in manner and for the purposes substantially as set forth.
2. The improved constructions and arrangements of coverings or protecting
screens and the modes of applying them for horticultural and such uses, as set
forth.
3. The construction and arrangement of coverings or protecting screens for
horticultural and such like uses and the fixing of roofing these frames or screens
to vertical frames by hinges so as to make them portable, and the blocking
together of such frames in séries, so as to make greenhouses of any convenient
length as set forth.
4. The arrangements or constructions of parts of such screens or protecting.
coverings for horticultural or such like uses for obtaining ventilation in a series
of such frames by openings capable of giving access and closable at will as set
forth.
5. The method of effecting the attachment of glazed wooden frames to textile
material dressed so as to be waterproof or otherwise for the purpose of making
transparent flexible curtains, and the direct fixture by cement or sewing of small
pieces of glass to such textile material to ensure the same object as set forth.
6. The use of mica or talc in substitution for or in combination with glass in
contrivances for the protection of plants constructed and'arranged as set forth.