IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WROUGHT-IRON BEAMS AND GIRDERS
Year: 1857

page_text: 0720
application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edward Vigers at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th October
1857.
I, EDWARD VIGERS, of Bayswater, Gentleman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for." IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
WROUGHT-IRON BEAMS AND GIRDERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the combination of four or more longitudinal
pieces of rolled iron in the manner herein-after described, as a substitute for
the several varieties of wrought-iron box beam and other forms and kinds of
girders as heretofore constructed, and whereby greater strength or power of
supporting weights may be obtained, with considerable economy of the labor
and materials employed in such.construction.
Wrought-iron box or hollow. beams, are manufactured or constructed by
combining a number of wrought-iron plates by means of four or more
longitudinal angle-iron bars, each angle iron bar having two rows of rivet
holes punched or drilled therein, the horizontal or longitudinal edges of plates
for the sides, top, and bottom. being similarly punched or drilled to enable
them to be attached thereto by riveting, whilst the vertical or transverse ends
of the plates where they abut are similarly punched or drilled, and lapping
plates are rivetted over such butt joints; and thus, by a multiplicity of riveting,
the whole of the parts are combined together for the purpose of producing a
hollow girder or wrought-iron box beam; and where such beams are required
of considerable width in proportion to their length, or where, from any other

page_text: cause it is considered necessary, a longitudinal web or vertical division of plate
iron is introduced between the side plates, in which case, two or more,
generally four, additional lengths of angle iron, are introduced throughout the
entire length of the beam or girder; but it is unnecessary further to describe
the construction of such like and other forms or descriptions of wrought-iron
girders and beams here, as they are generally well known.
Now, by my Invention, wrought-iron girders or beams may be constructed
of considerable length, and beams or girders of ordinary dimentions may be
constructed of two side plates, each rolled in one length of a curved convexo-
concave or angular section, and with flanches of suitable width and proportions
on the top and bottom edges thereof. I place the convex or outward pro-
jecting faces of these two side plates together, and if for a beam or girder of
small breadth rivet or bolt them together at suitable intervals along ther
length, then to the bottom and to the top of these side plates I attach, by
means of rivets, flat or nearly flat iron plates or slabs of sufficient length,
having holes punched therein corresponding with similar holes in each of the
flanges of the side plates, and thus perfectly connect them together, and from
the top and bottom flanges of the beam or girder with but few pieces, and
those of the simplest and strongest form, and with the smallest amount of
labor, and fewest possible rivets and rivet holes.
For beams or girders of considerable length, or where a greater distance
between the side plates is required, I place the side plates at a suitable
distance apart, and introduce a longitudinal thickness piece between them of
any suitable form, to further aid in giving greater rigidity and the power to
support the load for which the girder or beam is intended; or, I take a
number of packing or distance pieces which may be of varying depths and
dimentions, and when desirable, introduce within the beam or girder one or
more longitudinal tie rods, and by thus trussing the beam or girder, increase
its ability to resist a superimposed or suspended load.
Where the length of a beam or girder exceeds the length to which each
side plate, or the plates forming the top and bottom flanges, can be rolled in
one length of a suitable thickness, and of sufficient sectional dimentions, I
join such plates by means of butt joints, and with lapping-on covering plates,
or in any other suitable manner.