IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CATTLE AND SHEEP CRIBS AND RACKS, PENS FOR POULTRY, DOGS, AND OTHER ANIMALS, HORTICULTURAL HOUSES AND HOT BED FRAMES, A PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF HURDLES AND FENCES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Elwell, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Iron Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF CATTLE AND SHEEP CRIBS AND RACKS, PENS FOR
POULTRY, DOGS, AND OTHER ANIMALS, HORTICULTURAL HOUSES AND HOT
BED FRAMES, A PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE
CONSTRUCTION OF HURDLES AND FENCES."
Sealed the 15th May 1874, and dated the 24th November 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Elwell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th November 1873.
I, JOHN ELWELL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Iron
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for " IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CATTLE AND SHEEP CRIBS AND RACKS, PENS
FOR POULTRY, DOGS, AND OTHER ANIMALS, HORTICULTURAL HOUSES AND HOT BED
FRAMES, A PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE CONSTRUCTION
OF HURDLES AND FENCES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in constructing cattle and sheep cribs and racks,
and the other articles enumerated in parts substantially in the manner
•

page_text: herein-after described, and making the said parts capable of being readily
fitted to and separated from one another, whereby great portability in
the article is secured, facility in packing for transport, and economy of
manufacture.
A part of the improvements, as herein-after explained, is applicable
to the construction of hurdles and fences.
For convenience of description I will describe my Invention as applied
to the construction of a cattle crib, the said crib being used for holding
hay, turnips, and other food. Cattle cribs are ordinarily constructed
of a rectangular frame of angle iron to which sheet iron sides and
a bottom are rivetted. The parts of the crib are permanently con-
nected together, and in consequence of the bulk and weight of the
crib it is difficult to transport it from place to place and pack it for
transit.
According to my Invention I make the cattle crib of four separable
sides, and four uprights, and a bottom plate or plates, and I construct
the said separable parts and connect them together in the following
manner I make each side of the crib of two longitudinal angle bars,
and I cast on each end of each bar a dovetail or conical block, each pair
of dovetail blocks being connected together by a vertical connecting
piece cast at the same time with the pair of dovetail blocks. A rect-
angular frame having at each of its angles a dovetail block is thus
formed, and to the said frame a plate of sheet iron is rivetted. I
cast on each of the uprights of the crib a pair of dovetail seats or
sockets, the seats of each pair being situated at a distance apart equal
to the distance between the dovetail blocks on the side parts herein
described. These uprights may be made of angle iron, or of iron of
other sectional figure.
By introducing, by a sliding motion, the pair of dovetail blocks on
each end of the separable sides of the crib into the respective pairs
of dovetail seats or sockets on the uprights, a crib is formed open at
bottom supported at the required height from the ground by the
uprights to which the removeable sides are connected. The crib is
completed by means of a bottom plate or plates which is or are
bolted to the bottom angle bars of the frame of the crib, the hori-
zontal web of the said bottom angle bars projecting into the crib for
this purpose, By unbolting the bottom plate or plates and lifting

page_text: the sides from the dovetail seats or sockets on the uprights, the several
parts of the crib are detached, and may be readily. transported and
reconnected together or packed for transit.
I do not limit myself to the particular construction of joint described,
as other kinds of joints may be employed, for example, angle blocks on
the separable sides may take into corresponding shaped slots on the
uprights.
The improvements described in constructing and connecting together
the parts of cattle cribs, are also applicable to sheep cribs, cattle and
sheep racks, pens for poultry, dogs, and other animals, and to horti-
cultural houses and hot bed frames.
In applying my Invention to hurdles and fences I make the standards
separate from the hurdle or fence, and connect them together after
the manner in which, I connect the parts of cribs and other like articles,
that is to say, I make on opposite sides of the standards of the hurdle
or fence, and near the top and bottom thereof, dovetail or other seats
or sockets; and I make on opposite ends of the hurdle or fence dovetail
or other blocks which are fitted by a sliding motion into dovetail or
other seats on the standards, and thereby connect the hurdle or fence
with the said standards.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Elwell in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the. 19th May 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ELWELL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Iron Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Elwell, Her special license
that I, the said John Elwell, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Jolin Elwell, my executors, administrators,

page_text: and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for “IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
CATTLE AND SHEEP CRIBS AND RACKS, PENS FOR POULTRY, DOGS, AND OTHER
ANIMALS, HORTICULTURAL HOUSES AND HOT BED FRAMES, A PART OF WHICH
IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF HURDLES AND
FENCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Elwell, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing,
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Elwell, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :—
+
My Invention consists in constructing cattle and sheep cribs and a
racks, and the other articles enumerated in parts substantially in the
manner herein-after described, and making the said parts capable of
being readily fitted to and separated from one another, whereby great
portability in the articles is secured, facility in packing for transport,
and economy of manufacture.
A part of the improvements, as herein-after explained, is applicable
to the construction of hurdles and fences.
2
For convenience of description I will describe my Invention as applied
to the construction of a cattle crib, the said crib being used for holding
hay, turnips, and other food. Cattle cribs are ordinarily constructed a
of a rectangular frame of angle iron to which sheet iron sides and a
bottom are rivetted. The parts of the crib are permanently connected
together, and in consequence of the bulk and weight of the crib it is
difficult to transport it from place to place and to pack it for transit.
According to my Invention I make the cattle crib of four separable 3
sides, and four uprights, and a bottom plate or plates, and I construct

page_text: Figure 7 represents a side elevation, and Figure 8, a plan of a pen
for poultry, dogs, and 'other animals constructed according to my In-
vention, and Figures 9 and 10 are parts of the same. This pen has
two compartments marked respectively m and n, the smaller compart-
ment m being the sleeping compartment which is fitted with the
usual laths or other appliances; p, p, are the uprights of the framing
made of angle bars, the said uprights having cast upon them at top
and bottom dovetail seats p², p², the said seats being connected
together by the horizontal cross angle bars q, q; r, r, are the top
and bottom angle bars constituting the framing of the pen, the said
bars having at each end dovetail blocks 72, 72. By engaging the
several top and bottom bars r, r, by their dovetail blocks 7, 72,
with the dovetail seats p³, p³, on the uprights p, p, the parts of the
framing of the pen are connected together. The sides and top of the
sleeping compartment m are filled in or covered by plates of metal
or panels of wood at s, s, bolted to the angle bars r, r, and the sides
and top of the other compartment are covered by panels of iron rods
or wire work (one of which is shown separately in Figure 9), the said
panels being connected to the angle bars of the framing. A door is
placed in one of the panels of the sleeping compartment m for gaining
access to the said compartment. A door or doors is or are also placed
in one of the sides or panels of the compartment n for a like purpose.
One of the panels of the compartment n may be divided into two
parts, and hinged or jointed together to form a door. A. panel of
this kind is represented in Figure 10, the joint being marked s.
R
Horticultural houses and hot bed frames are made and connected
together substantially in the manner described and illustrated with
respect to poultry and dog pens.
I do not limit myself to the particular construction of joint described
and illustrated as other kinds of joints may be employed, for example,
angle blocks on the separable sides or parts may take into corresponding
slots on the uprights.
In applying my Invention to hurdles and fences I make the standards
separate from the hurdle or fence, and connect them together after
the manner in which I connect the parts of cribs and other articles
herein-before described, that is to say, I make on opposite sides of the
standards of the hurdle or fence, and near the top and bottom thereof,
dovetail or other seats or sockets, and I make on opposite ends of the

page_text: hurdle or fence dovetail or other blocks which are fitted by a sliding
motion into dovetail or other seats on the standards, and thereby connect
the hurdle or fence with the said standards.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood
that I do not limit myself to the precise details herein described and
illustrated, as the same may be varied without departing from the
nature of my Invention; but I claim as my Invention, the improve-
ments in the construction of cattle and sheep cribs and racks, pens
for poultry, dogs, and other animals, horticultural houses, and hot
bed frames, and hurdles and fences, herein-before described and illus-
trated in the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, making the said
'cattle cribs and the other articles enumerated of separable parts, and
connecting them together by dovetail or other blocks on one part
taking into corresponding seats or sockets on the other part, the said
separable parts being constructed, combined, and connected together
substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Elwell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JOHN ELWELL. (L.S.)