IMPROVEMENTS IN GLAZING HORTICULTURAL BUILDINGS
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Gordon Smith, of Bury St. Edmunds, in the
County of Suffolk, Horticultural Engineer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN GLAZING HORTICULTURAL BUILDINGS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Gordon Smith at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th June 1880.
WILLIAM GORDON SMITH, of Bury St. Edmunds, in the County of Suffolk,
Horticultural Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN GLAZING HORTICULTURAL
BUILDINGS."
The object of this Invention is to dispense with the thick bed of putty now
required in glazing with lapped glass, and to provide a ready means of fixing the
glass, thereby ensuring a good joint and facility for repairs.
To avoid the use of the thick bed of putty upon which the panes of glass are
ordinarily bedded, I rebate or shape the upper surface of the sash bars into as it
were a succession of shallow steps of a length suitable for the length of pane used.
The panes are made of greater length than the steps in the sash bars, so that the
bottom edge of one pane may overlap the top edge of the pano below it, and the
steps are of such a depth that the top surface of the one pano may be flush with
the bottom surface of the pane above it.
In this way a layer of putty the thickness of a sheet of paper, or a coat of paint
upon the upper surface of the sash bar, is sufficient to make a good joint between
the sash bars and the glass.
The side edges of the adjacent panes of glass which rest upon the sash bars do
not quite meet together, but a space is left between them.
The glass is securely held to the sash bars by means of screws screwed down into
the sash bars in the space between the side edges of tho adjacent panes of glass,
and by washers of zinc or other material interposed between the head of the screws
and the upper surface of the panes.
The panes of glass are prevented from slipping downwards by a metal hook or
support, the stem or body of which lies between the side edges of the panes of glass
where they rest upon the sash bar. The stem has projections standing out sidewise
from it, two at the top to come above and rest against the top edge of two of the
panes of glass which are on either side of it, and two at the bottom to come below
the bottom edge of two other panes that overlap these two panes.

page_text: These rings or washers are, in consequence of the form given to them, to some
extent elastic, so that they hold the glass against the wood with a firm but not too
rigid nip. The panes of glass are further kept in place by means of metal hooks or
supports, such as are shown by the Figures 5. One of the hooks is also seen in
position in the Figures 2 and 3. The body d of the hook lies upon the sash bar
between the panes of glass, whilst the lateral projections extend along the edges of
the glass. The projections d, d, at the upper end of the hook or support catch
upon the top of the lower pane, whilst the projections d", d", from the lower end
of the hook support the lower edge of the upper pane.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that an essential feature in my
Invention is the way in which the sash bars are formed in steps, so that the
overlapping panes of glass bed fairly upon them, and I claim my improvements in
glazing horticultural buildings, consisting in combining overlapping panes of glass
with sash bars thus formed in steps, by means of screws or like fastenings fixed
into the sash bars between the panes of glass, substantially as described.
In witness whercof, I, the said William Gordon Smith, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty.