IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF TEMPORARY OUT-DOOR STRUCTURES BY THE EMPLOYMENT OF PAPER MATERIAL RENDERED SUFFICIENTLY WATER AND WEATHER-PROOF
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Elkanah Healey at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st June 1879.
ALFRED ELKANAH HEALEY, of Old Oak Cottage, Willesden Junction, London.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF TEMPORARY OUT-DOOR STRUCTURES
BY THE EMPLOYMENT OF PAPER MATERIAL RENDERED SUFFICIENTLY WATER AND
WEATHER-PROOF."
My Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of temporary
out-door structures by the employment of paper material rendered sufficiently water
and weather-proof.
It is well known that paper material expands and contracts according to the
degree of moisture in the atmosphere or in contact with it, the presence of moisture
causing expansion.
The object of my Invention is to apply and fix paper material of the required
strength and properly prepared to resist the corrosive action of weather in such a
manner as to compensate for or permit the free expansion and contraction, and
prevent its durability being thereby impaired.
For this purpose I cause the paper material to be distended by ropes, cords, or
lines having the property of contracting when moistened, and I approximately
adjust the length of the straining cords or attachments so that their contraction
may compensate for the expansion of the paper material, and vice versa; or I cause
the paper material to be strained and distended by weights, which are free to rise
and fall; or in some cases I confine the edges of the material in grooves which
allow freedom for the expansion and contraction to take place without straining
the material. I take (by preference) rolls of cupro-ammonialised card, known as
the "Willesden" waterproof card, and having cut it into the required lengths I
strain it over a wood or metal frame by means of tent-lines or cords passed through
strong eyelets fixed at suitable distances in the edge of the card, or by means of
suspending weights properly secured to the edges of the card. Space can thus be
rapidly and effectually covered over.
Card awnings may be conveniently raised by placing a ridge pole upon two
uprights and the Willesden fabric strained over it by the use of the tent lines and
pegs; or the material may be strained over a roof frame by attaching to its edges

page_text: heavy gutters which serve as weights, and are capable of rising and falling with
the contraction and expansion.
The edges of the card may be bound with canvas (preferably the canvas known
as the prepared Willesden canvas), or tightly gripped between two wooden battens,
and thus strengthened to bear the strain necessary to secure the material against
violent wind and storm.
The card may also be most effectively used for small light weather shelters, such
as field huts, cart covers, and the like by placing it in one piece from the lowest
level on the one side over the top to the lowest level on the other, two or more
widths, as required, being strongly stitched together with the Willesden canvas
(forming, so to speak, a hinge), and a light frame of tilt hoops or bent hoop iron
being made to support the entire covering.
By another method a span roof may be covered thus:-
I cut the cards into panels of the length of the required roof from ridge to eave,
and, say, 18 inches wide. The rafters constructing the roof have a groove cut in
their sides (that is, a simple straight saw-cut), and each card panel is curved and the
edges placed in the grooves, the rafters being so fixed that the card remains in the
bent form.
By this means repairs could be easily effected, the panel being readily drawn out
and replaced.