IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CONSERVATORIES AND OTHER GLAZED STRUCTURES, APPLICABLE ALSO TO WINDOW SASHES GENERALLY, ANd to the Roofs of other BUILDINGS
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Lewis, of Stamford Hill, in the County of
Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
CONSERVATORIES AND OTHER GLAZED STRUCTURES, APPLICABLE ALSO TO
WINDOW SASHES GENERALLY, ANd to the Roofs of other BUILDINGS."
Sealed the 14th May 1878, and dated the 19th February 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Lewis at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th February 1878.
JAMES LEWIS, of Stamford Hill, in the County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CONSERVATORIES AND OTHER GLAZED STRUCTURES,
APPLICABLE ALSO TO WINDOW SASHES GENERALLY, AND TO THE ROOFS OF OTHER
BUILDINGS."
My Invention relates to an improved construction of the roofs and sashes of
conservatories, greenhouses, hot bed or forcing frames, railway stations and
platforms, applicable also to the roofs and window sashes of buildings generally,
and it has for its object to reduce the cost, facilitate fixing the panes of glass or the
slates, as the case may be, and obviate the use of putty or nails for the purpose, and
also prevent the decay of the rafters or sash bars by rain or moisture.
According to my Invention the rafters and sash bars are channeled or grooved
longitudinally on their external surface, and covered externally and internally with
zinc, lead, or copper, so as to be impervious to moisture and require no painting,
or the outside only may be covered with metal and the inside painted when there
is not much moisture to condense on the inner surface. In either case the metal
covering of the external surface is in strips equal in length to the panes of glass or
slates, and grooved to correspond to the groove in the rafter or sash bar, and form a
gutter to carry off the rain, the gutter extending from top to bottom of the rafter
or sash bar. The glass is not fixed between but upon or against the outer surface
of the rafters or sashes, and is held in position by corner clips soldered or other-
wise fixed to or formed with the metal strips, and turned up over the edges and top

page_text: surface of the glass. The panes of glass overlap in the usual way in glass roofs,
and the metal strips likewise overlap, this construction being also applied to upright
sashes, which therefore would require no horizontal sash bars.
The panes are readily inserted or removed by sliding them upwards behind the
panes above or through the top corner clips, as the case may be, until their lower
corners are above their clips, when the panes can be readily slid down into position
or withdrawn.
The same means of fixing is employed for fixing the slates of house and other
roofs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said James Lewis in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th August
1878.
JAMES LEWIS, of Stamford Hill, in the County of Middlesex.
"IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CONSERVATORIES AND OTHER GLAZED STRUCTURES,
APPLICABLE ALSO TO WINDOW SASHES GENERALLY, AND TO THE ROOFS OF OTHER
BUILDINGS."
My Invention relates to an improved construction of the roofs and sashes of
conservatories, greenhouses, hot bed or forcing frames, railway stations and
platforms, applicable also to the roofs and window sashes of buildings generally,
and it has for its object to reduce the cost, facilitate fixing the panes of glass (or the
slates, as the case inay be), and obviate the use of putty or nails for the purpose,
and also prevent the decay of the rafters or sash bars by rain or moisture.
According to my Invention the rafters and sash bars are channeled or grooved
longitudinally on their external surface, and covered externally (and internally
also if desired) with zinc, lead, or copper, so as to be impervious to moisture and
require no painting, or the outside only may be covered with metal and the insido
painted when there is not much moisture to condense on the inner surface. In
either case the metal covering of the external surface is in strips slightly exceeding
in length the length of the panes of glass, and grooved to correspond to the groove
in the rafter or sash bar, and form a gutter to carry off the rain, the gutter extend-
ing from the top to the bottom of the rafter or sash bar. The glass is not fixed
between but upon or against the outer surface of the rafters or sashes so covered,
and is held in position by corner clips soldered or otherwise fixed to or formed with
the metal strips and turned up over the edges and top surface of the glass. The
panes of glass overlap in the usual way in glass roofs, and the metal strips likewise
overlap, this construction being also applied to upright sashes, which therefore
would require no horizontal sash bars.
The panes are readily inserted or removed by sliding them upwards behind those
next above, until their lower corners are above the clips when the panes can be
readily slid down into position or withdrawn..

page_text: The same means of fixing is employed for fixing the slates of house and other
roofs.
Instead of nailing the metal strips to the sash bars or rafters they may be pivoted
thereto at one end and raised and lowered by levers at the other end, so as to raise
the panes like louvres for the purpose of ventilation, a whole row or the whole of
the panes composing the roof being thus operated at once by connecting the levers
together.
Figure 1 is a plan of part of a greenhouse roof.
Figure 2 is a side view of a portion of one of the rafters or sash bars with the
glass in position.
Figures 3 and 4 are cross sections of one of the sash bars on a larger scale,
showing two clips of slightly different form.
Figures 5 and 6 are top and side views of the clip shown in Figure 4.
Figure 7 is a side view of a sash bar, provided with an arrangement for elevating
the panes of glass-like louvres for the purpose of ventilation.
A are the rafters or sash bars channeled longitudinally on the top surface and
covered with strips of zinc B, B¹, drawn of a corresponding channeled form, both
the rafter or sash bar and the metal strips B, B₁, &c., being slightly feathered or
inclined inwards towards the groove or channel so as to conduct the moisture
therein. These grooves form gutters to carry off rain and moisture, and lead into
the gutter at the eaves of the roof. The width of the panes (or slates in the case
of roofs) corresponds to the distance apart of the rafters or sash bars A, so that
the side edges of the panes butt together more or less closely over the channel or
groove or the width of the channels or grooves in the rafters, may intervene
between the edges of the panes. The top of the rafter is not a straight continuous
surface but is cut in a series of inclines forming steps, as at a, a, of a depth corre-
sponding to the thickness of the glass, to allow of the lower edges of the panes of
glass overlapping the upper edges of the panes below. The metal strip B extends
about an inch lower than the step a so as to overlap the strip B', and the strip B¹
similarly overlaps the step a and the metal strip B next below, and so on for the
remainder. Between this overlapping part of the metal strip B and the strip B¹
there is a space for the insertion of the glass, as hereafter described.
C is a double clip, to hold the lower corners of two adjacent panes; it is soldered
on the lower overlapping end of each strip B, B¹, and is of the form shown in the
various Figures, so as to embrace the corners of the panes.
The length of the panes of glass is as much less than the distance from the bottom
of clip C to the step a next above, as is necessary to enable a pane to be inserted
or removed by first sliding it up behind the panes above as far as the step a to
bring the lower edge above the clip C, and then dropping it into position in the
clip C, or raising it as indicated in dotted lines in Figure 2, in order to withdraw
it, as the case may be.
In Figure 7 the strips B, B¹, are pivoted by ears b at their upper ends to the
sides of the sash bar or rafter A, and the strips are not nailed down on to the sash
bars but are free to be raised or lowered by curved lever arms D working through
an eye d on the strips, the said levers being pivoted at to the sides of the sash
bars and having their other arms D2 extending downward and connected to a rod
by which the whole row of panes or the whole of the panes composing the roof
may be raised or lowered at once.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as my Invention to be protected by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1st. The rafters and upright sash bars of conservatories and other glazed
structures, window sashes, and roofs, sheathed or covered with strips of sheet metal,

page_text: both rafter or sash bar and metal covering being grooved, or channeled and feathered,
or inclined, as and for the purpose shown and described.
2nd. The means of fixing panes of glass or slates to rafters and sash bars, con-
sisting of metal clips and overlapping strips of sheet metal applied to rafters or sash
bars cut in inclines or steps, all substantially as and for the purpose herein specified,
and shown in the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Lewis, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventeenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.