Improvements in the Construction of Walls, Floors, Ceilings, and the like.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Sept., 1896-Accepted, 24th Oct., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Construction of Walls, Floors, Ceilings, and
the like.
We, ALEXANDER MÁTRAI, Engineer, WILLIAM GROSSMANN, Engineer, and
NIKOLAUS GFRERER, Manager, all of No. 22 Nagy-János-Gasse, Budapest,
Hungary, 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 :-
The present invention relates to the construction of walls, floors, ceilings, for
building purposes, reservoirs and the like, having great bearing-strength, and the
invention consists in employing frames of suitable material such as H or other
profiled iron bars, said frames being supported at suitable points and being provided
with several series of wires or chains, stretched about and across the same in such
manner as to transmit the strain on the wall or floor as far as possible to those'
points of the frame which are supported by the columns or other means. The
frames, thus provided with wires, are then filled out with any suitable mass capable
of hardening, such as clay, plaster of Paris asphalt or the like, so that the whole
frame with the filling will form a strong integral mass, in which the load will be
mainly borne by the metal wires which are subjected to tensional strain.
The distance apart as also the diameter of the wires will depend upon the surface,
the height of the construction and the strain to which the finished wall or roof will
be subjected.
If the girders forming the frame are only supported at various points, equal
bearing strength may be attained by a much lighter construction of frame, by
fastening the wires to the frame at points near the supports than would be the case
if the load is distributed along the whole length of the girder.
And in order to render the present specification more easily intelligible reference
is had to the accompanying drawing in which similar letters of reference denote
similar parts throughout the several views:-
Fig. 1 shows the arrangement of the wires or chains on a rectangular frame,
Fig. 2 the arrangement on a circular frame,
.
Fig. 3 the arrangement on two rectangular frames combined and supported
between brickwork,
Fig. 4 is a vertical section showing the constructions of two kinds of roofs or
floors on the present principle,
Fig. 5 is a vertical section showing the attachment of the girders, forming the
frame, to the brickwork,
Fig. 6 is a vertical section through a reservoir or cistern constructed according
to the present invention,
Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing the adaptation of the invention to a
duplicate cistern,
Fig. 8 is a similar view to that of Figure 1 showing the arrangement of the wires
when the short sides of the rectangle are not supported and are not intended to bear.
much strain.
According to Figure 1 the frame is formed of girders 6 supported at the
points 1, 2, 3 and 4, six series of wires a being employed said series being
arranged parallel to the four sides of the rectangle and diagonally across the
Dine 7

page_text: same. Fig. 2 shows a similar arrangement of the wires in connection with a
circular frame also supported at four points 1, 2, 3, 4. In both cases the wires are
attached to the frames near their points of support, so that the central or weaker
parts of the girders will remain partially unloaded. The series of wires may be
connected together at the where they cross each other by binding wires, so
as to distribute the load occurring at any particular point as far as possible among
all the wires at such point.
Fig. 3 shows two frames coupled b and 6' said frames being supported at their
point of juncture by a common girder, the end girders b and 6 which are parallel
to the said common girder being supported along the whole of their length by
brickwork e or other means.
In this case the girders band & lying on the brickwork e must be suitably
anchored in the brickwork, in order to withstand the strain on the wires or they
must be provided with corner diagonal, or parallel stays. They may either be
fixed in the brickwork by means of anchor bolts for by stays connecting with a
bar bricked in the walls as shown at f', according to circumstances. The said
frames may either be provided with diagonal stays at the corners as at g, or with
longitudinal stays as at g' at the right hand side of the figure. In this case it is
advantageous to arrange the wires extending across the frame from one wall to the
other along the whole length of the girders resting on the wires. The method
according to which the wires are stretched diagonally across the frame will be
clearly seen from Figure 3. In Fig. 4 a side elevation or section of the device
shown in plan in Figure 3 is illustrated, at the right hand side with and at the left
without the plastic filling mass. The left hand side of the figure shows a floor
having a flat lower surface whilst the right hand side of the figure shows an arched
under surface. d represents in this figure chain like suspended wires which are
attached at their ends to the wires a and help to bear the plastic mass filling out
the interstices. The girders b of the frame may either be anchored within the walls
as at eat the right hand side of Figure 4 or may be supported on a bracket like
projection as at eat the left hand side of the figure.
If girders of the frames are to be fastened at each side of the wall, this may be
done as shown at Figure 5 by connecting the two girders through the wall, as at f³.
Fig. 6 shows a hemispherical basin or reservoir the wires of which may be arranged
as shown in plan at Figure 2, the frame girder being supported in either of the
ways as described with regard to e¹ or ein Figure 4.
The vertical or slanting walls in buildings may be constructed in the manner
shown with regard to Figure 1.
In connection with reservoirs for holding fluid, the wires in the walls are
advantageously bent as shown at Figure 7 in the direction of the water pressure in
the outer walls as at a whilst the wires in the intermediate wall separating the two
basins or reservoirs are interlaced as at a and a¹ so as to bring those wires into play
which form the continuation of the wires encircling the reservoir in which at the
time the fluid may be contained.
If in connection with a rectangular frame two opposite girders 6' 6' are not
required to bear any great strain the wires may be advantageously grouped in the
manner shown at Figure 8, in which case as will be clear from the figure the strain
will be communicated to the side girders b b at the points 1, 2 and 3, 4 at which
they are supported, whilst the end girders 6' 61 will have to bear practically no
strain at all,
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is:-
In walls, floors, roofs or other surfaces flat concave, or convex having great bearing
strength, the combination of a frame, supported at suitable points, and having one
or more series of wires attached at their ends to points on said frame in proximity

page_text: to the points of support, said wires conforming to the shape of the bearing surface
to be attained, and a plastic mass to enclose the said wires and attach to the bearing
frames, substantially as described.
Dated this 5th day of September 1896.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.