IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-PROOF CEILINGS AND WALLS FOR HOUSES AND OTHER BUILDINGS IN CONJUNCTION WITH WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ELECTRIC OR OTHER MEANS OF LIGHTING MAY BE EMPLOYED
Year: 1884

page_text: We, JOHN MUSGROVE-MUSGROVE and HUBERT MUSGROVE-MUSGROVE, trading
as Norman and Son Electric Light Engineers 217 Argyle Street Glasgow in the
County of Lanark, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-PROOF CEILINGS AND WALLS FOR HOUSES AND OTHER
BUILDINGS IN CONJUNCTION WITH WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ELECTRIC OR OTHER
MEANS OF LIGHTING MAY BE EMPLOYED," and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention has for its object to render the ceilings and if desired also the
walls of apartments in private and public buildings fire proof and the invention
consists in constructing the ceiling of an open framework of wood or metal the
contour or boundary of which corresponds with the plan of the apartment. In
adapting the improvements to buildings in course of construction this frame-work
is preferably secured by bolts, screws or other equivalent means direct to the joists
or rafters and after or previous to being fixed in position it is covered with asbestos
paper, asbestos cloth, millboard or card board, or with other paper rendered unin-
flammable or incombustible by painting it with asbestos paint;-or canvas similarly
treated or painted may be used to cover the open frame-work. Of the covering
materials above mentioned it is however preferred to use asbestos paper, cloth,
card-board or millboard on account of its well known properties as a non-conductor
of heat.
The covering material is or may be secured to the bars of the frame-work
by tacks, glue or equivalent cement and when the said frame-work is of wood the
wood itself may, prior to or after making the frame, be treated with any of the
well known chemical agencies to render it incombustible or less so than otherwise
or it may also be painted with asbestos or other non-conducting or non-inflammable
paint.
The cornice or moulding surrounding the ceiling, when such is used, may be
composed of plaster or stucco as heretofore or it may be composed of triturated
asbestos admixed with plaster or stucco, or of triturated asbestos admixed with

page_text: glue or other mastic and adhesive material, the mixture being shaped in moulds
to the required form or design. The latter composition when used facilitates
manipulation as by steeping or soaking it for a time in warm water it is made
quite plastic thereby rendering the lengths capable of being securely joined, and
corners, crevices or irregularities in the plan of the roof easily filled in. Centre
pieces or other ornaments on the roof, when such are desired, are also preferably
made of this mastic and adhesive composition and the whole when completed may
be flatted, painted, or tinted for decorative effect with asbestos or other paint or
otherwise as desired.
By securing the improved ceiling direct to the joists or rafters as before stated
the ordinary plaster or stucco ceiling is or may be dispensed with but in adapting
the improved ceiling to houses or buildings already finished in the ordinary manner,
it is placed on or under the said plaster ceiling and fixed in position as before
stated.
The walls of apartments may be similarly finished by, in the case of new
buildings, fixing the wooden or metal frames to the studs or laths ordinarily placed,
under the plaster work or to wooden or other "dooks" driven or otherwise secured
in the masonry or brickwork and in the case of an already finished building by
erecting and securing the frames over the plaster walls.
For convenience of construction, in the case of walls and also of large ceilings,
the wooden or metallic frames may be made in the form of panels, that is to say,
two or more frames joined together at their ends may be used.
The space between the back of the asbestos or other covering and the joists,
rafters, or plaster of the ceiling and of the masonry, brick or plaster work of the
walls, constituted by the thickness of the bars of the frame, forms a convenient
recess for the carriage of gas pipes or of wires for electric lighting and the gas
brackets or electric lamps are or may be secured to the bars of the frames and any
desired number of such brackets or lamps may be so used.
By reason of the incombustible nature of these ceilings the electric light lamps
may be fixed in close proximity to them with a coloured glass over the lamps so
as to reflect such colours on to the asbestos ceiling and thus form an artificial
ornamentation or when the electric light lamps are fixed pendent from the ceiling
they may be surmounted with an Asbestos ring or star to receive the reflected
coloured rays without danger from fire.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declaro that what
we claim is,
First Ceilings and walls and ceiling and wall linings for houses and other
buildings constructed substantially as and for the purposo hereinbefore described.
Secoud-In ceilings and walls for houses and other buildings the use of asbestos
paper, cloth, millboard or cardboard or of paper or canvas treated with asbestos
paint and secured to open wooden or metallic frames substantially as and for the
purpose set. forth.
Third-In cornices and mouldings for ceilings and walls the use of a composition
of asbestos and plaster or stucco or of asbestos and glue or other adhesive mastic
substantially as set forth.
Dated this Fourth love of Dhan 100