AN IMPROVED RAPTER FOR ROOFS, OR BEAM FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1821

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
JONES TOMLINSON, of the City of Briston, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at Westminster,
the Third day of May, in the second year of His reign, give and grant
unto me, the said Richard Jones Tomlinson, my exors, adiñiors, and assigns,
His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Richard Jones Tomlinson, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, during the term
of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention
of "AN IMPROVED RAPTER FOR ROOFS, OR BEAM FOR OTHER PURPOSES;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said Richard
Jones Tomlinson, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the
said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby
granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the
same, relation being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Jones Tomlinson, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my

page_text: 18
Invention WI to a
represents an elevation O One side of my
scale of about half an inch to a foot. A is what I call a centre plate of cast
iron. B, C, are two box joints of cast iron, one single and one double, having
sockets cast in them to receive the ends of the straight bar D, D, which I
call a detention bar, and the arched bar R, R. These two bars are about
three inches deep and three eighths of an inch thick, and are made of wrought
iron. The detention bar has a dovetail formed on to each end of it, which
fit into corresponding dovetails cast into the box joints B, C. In order to put
my Invention together, set the center plate A and the two box joints B, C,
on their ends, in a line and at the proper distance, then put in the straight
detention bar D, D, and over. it the arched bar R, R. (this should be a segment
of a circle); at the back of these bars then apply what I call the filling
pieces F, F (coloured red), which are wide bars of wrought iron three eighths
of an inch thick, and nine and an half inches deep. The lips or projections
on the castings at r, r, r, r, r, will prevent, their rising, while the inclined planes
on which they rest, and which are formed by the sides of the castings, will
prevent their sinking. Having proceeded thus far turn the beam over, as
shewn at Fig. 2, and introduce the two arched braces G, G, the ends of which
will be received into sockets cast for them on the back of the center plate,
while the top of the arch passes under the flanch H, at the top of the double
box joint C. This being done, the whole must be bolted together at those
joints marked in the Drawing, and the beam will be completed.. M shews
how my Invention may be continued to any length by a regular succession of
double box joints and center plates. The single box joint is exactly half of
the double one, with only this addition at the back of the single box joint,
as shewn at B, Fig. 2. A stop or socket must be cast to receive the end of
the arched brace as at X. In order to keep the parts more secure I have
introduced small filling pieces in some of the principal joints of contact and
intersection, and through which the bolts pass, as shewn in the Drawing. The
parts markeds in the different Figures are mere sockets cast into the box
joints to receive bars which are to connect two of these beams together as

page_text: bar is a small filling
Fig. 3 is a diagram
rafter and detention
joists. The dotted square under the center of the arched
piece cast on to the center plate A to support the bar R.
showing how and where the arched braces intersect the
bars, the filling pieces being omitted. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are end views of the
respective box joints and centre plates under which they are placed. Now
the dimensions of my said Invention may vary to suit the purposes for which
it is applied, and it may be made of any metal or combination of metals that
may be thought expedient by the person or persons adopting the same; but
such a rafter for roofs or beam for other purposes so composed of flat
arches, box joints, detention bars, and filling pieces, as is herein-before
described, being to the best of my knowledge and belief entirely new, and
never before used in these Kingdoms, I am desirous to maintain this my
exclusive right and privilege to the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Jones Tomlinson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-one.
R. J. (L.S.) TOMLINSON.
Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the
within-named Richard Jones Tom-
linson, in the presence of
GEORGE BENGOUGH,
Solicitor, Bristol.
Inro
of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-one.