IMPROVE- MENTS IN PORTABLE BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES.”
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George John Calvert, of the City of York, Engineer
and Ironfounder, and Charles Llewellyn Light, of Parliament Street, in
the City of Westminster, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PORTABLE BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George John Calvert and
Charles Llewellyn Light, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 22nd March 1860.
We, GEORGE JOHN CALVERT, of the City of York, Engineer and Ironfounder,
and CHARLES LLEWELLYN LIGHT, of Parliament Street, in the City of West-
minster, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE BUILDINGS AND
AND STRUCTURES," to be as
follows:―
Our improvements in portable buildings consist in constructing them in the
following manner:-We first form foundation shoes, consisting of a screw
having a gaining thread or thread of variable angle cast or wrought upon it,
and above the screw a sole plate or base plate, which supports either an.iron
standard or a socket, and one or more pockets for receiving the horizontal
beams and upright posts or standards of the building. We prefer to commence

page_text: the thread at the point of the screw, where we make it very narrow, and to in-
crease the breadth of it, and increase also the angle which it makes with the axis
of the screw as it rises from the point towards the sole or base plate, the greatest
diameter of the screw being equal to two-thirds of the diameter of the base
plate. The principal standards are supported directly by the screwed founda-
tion shoes, and the intermediate standards are tenoned into mortices formed in
horizontal beams, which extend from one foundation shoe to the next, and
which are held at their ends by the pockets before-mentioned. Framed panels
from the walls, and are dropped down from above between the standards, being
held in position by tongues or fillets of hard wood or other suitable material.
These framed panels are formed hollow, and are composed by preference
(although not necessarily) of Bielefeld's fibrous slab, which secures the interior
of the building from extremities of temperature. The edges of the fibrous
panels are received in rabbets formed in the wooden framing of the panel.
The roofing is composed of grooved rafters, the grooves of which hold
canvassed slabs of the aforesaid fibrous material, or a roofing of any other
suitable material. The whole of the fibrous slabs are waterproofed with a
suitable composition.
Buildings constructed in the manner aforesaid are exceedingly light and
portable, and are easily put together without the aid of skilled labour.
Our Invention also consists in the employment of a gaining screw, as before
described for fencing posts, gate posts, and other purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George John Calvert and Charles Llewellyn Light, in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 22nd September 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
JOHN CALVERT, of the City of York, Engineer and Ironfounder, and CHARLES
LLEWELLYN LIGHT, of Parliament Street, in the City of Westminster, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of March, in the year of onr Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
George John Calvert and Charles Llewellyn Light, Her special licence that we
the said George John Calvert and Charles Llewellyn Light, our executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said George John Calvert

page_text: and Charles Llewellyn Light, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time, and at
all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES,"
upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said George John Calvert and
Charles Llewellyn Light, or one of us, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our or one of our, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said George John Calvert and Charles
Llewellyn Light, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say: -
Our improvements in portable buildings consist in constructing them in the
following manner :-We first form foundation shoes, consisting of a screw
having a gaining thread or thread of variable angle cast or wrought upon it,
and above the screw a sole plate or base plate, which supports either an iron
standard or a socket, and one or more pockets for receiving the horizontal
beams and upright posts or standards of the building. We prefer to com-
mence the thread at the point of the screw, where we make it very narrow,
and to increase the breadth of it, and increase also the angle which it makes
with the axis of the screw as it rises from the point towards the sole or base
plate, the greatest diameter of the screw being equal to two-thirds of the
diameter of the base plate. The principal standards are supported directly by
the screwed foundation shoes, and the intermediate standards are tenoned into
mortices formed in horizontal beams, which extend from one foundation shoe
to the next, and which are held at their ends by the pockets before-mentioned.
Framed panels form the walls, and are dropped down from above between the
standards, being held in position by tongues or fillets of hard wood or other
suitable material. These framed panels are formed hollow, and are composed
by preference (although not necessarily) of Bielefeld's fibrous slab, which
secures the interior of the building from extremities of temperature. The
edges of the fibrous panels are received in rabbets formed in the wooden

page_text: framing of the panel. The roofing is composed of grooved rafters, the grooves
of which hold canvassed slabs of the aforesaid fibrous material, or a roofing of
any other suitable material. The whole of the fibrous slabs are waterproofed
with a suitable composition.
Buildings constructed in the manner aforesaid are exceedingly light and
portable, and are easily put together without the aid of skilled labour.
:
Our Invention also consists in the employment of a gaining screw, as before
described, for fencing posts, gate posts, and other purposes.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a side elevation, and Figure 2 à
plan, of a foundation screw for portable buildings made according to our
Invention. a is the sole or base plate of the screw b, the thread of which is by
preference made in the manner before described, and as shewn in the Drawing;
c is a socket for holding the uprights, one, d, of which is shewn at Figure 1;
e, e, e, are pockets for receiving the horizontal beams f, f.
Figure 3 is a side elevation, Figure 4 a vertical section, and Figure 5 a
horizontal section, of part of the walls of a portable building fitted with framed
panels, as before described. 9, 9, are the fibrous slabs or panels; h, h, are
rabbets, into which the slabs are dropped; i, i, are blocks of wood, to which
the panels are secured; k, k, are corrugated metal plates, also secured to the
wood i, i, as shewn.
Figure 6 is a horizontal section of a wall similar to the one just described,
but in which the rabbets h, h, are made of a different form.
Figure 7 shews in side elevation, and Figure 8 in plan a fencing post con-
structed with a gaining screw, as before described.
Figure 9 is a side elevation, Figure 10 an end elevation, and Figure 11 a ground
plan, of a portable building, with the parts put together in the manner before
described. b, b, are the screws. In the end elevation the rafters and fibrous
slabs between are shown. The building shown is merely given in illustration
of the manner in which the parts can be put together, for it is evident that
portable buildings of any size can be made and fitted in a similar manner, and
of other materials than those described, without departing from the essential
features of our Invention.
Figure 12 is a perspective view of one form of portable building constructed
according to our Invention in its complete state.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim,-
First, the construction of foundation shoes for holding or securing portable
buildings and other purposes, in the manner herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.

page_text: Second, the construction of portable buildings and structures, in the manner
herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Llewellyn Light, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of September,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
CHAS. L. LIGHT. (L.S.)