IMPROVEMENTS IN ROOF PRINCIPALS AND OTHER BRACED FRAMES."
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frank Henry Beattie, of Soho, near Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Engineer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROOF
PRINCIPALS AND OTHER BRACED FRAMES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frank Henry Beattie at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 8th August 1881.
FRANK HENRY BEATTIE, of Soho, near Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROOF PRINCIPALS AND OTHER BRACED FRAMES."
This Invention relates to roof principals and other braced frames, which are
either mainly or entirely composed of iron or steel, or of both metals conjointly,
and in which the rafters (in the case of roof principals) and the compression booms
(in the case of other braced frames) consist of simple rolled bars of tee, angle, or
other suitable section.
The object of the Invention is to diminish the weight and cost of roof principals
and other braced frames of the class described without impairing their strength and
efficiency. Hitherto it has been usual to make holes in such rafters and compression
booms, as are described above, for the purpose of connecting the accessory parts
thereto. Such holes diminish the strength of the rafters and compression booms
and increase the cost of production.
According to my present Invention all these holes are avoided, and consequently
by its use lighter sections of rafters and compression booms may be employed than
are practicable when the holes are present, and at the same time the cost of making
the holes is saved.
In carrying out my Invention I employ clipping pieces which firmly grip the
rafters or compression booms (as the case may be) for the purpose of connecting
them to the accessory parts, and I also employ abutment pieces, which are held
against the ends of the rafters or compression booms (as the case may be) by the tie
bars of the respective structures to which they belong, and which are so constructed
as to assist in binding together various members of such respective structures.
According to one arrangement of my Invention, in the case of a principal for a

page_text: pitched roof, a pair of clipping pieces is secured upon each rafter at or near its
lower end by means of one or more bolts; another pair is similarly secured upon
both rafters at or near their upper ends, and intermediate pairs are similarly
secured upon the rafters at the points where the struts of the principal are to be
connected. Against each end of each rafter is an abutment piece, having a lip or
flange which hooks over on to the top of the respective rafter. The tie bars of the
structure pass through the respective clipping pieces situated at or near the ends
of the rafters, and also through the respective abutment pieces, and by means of
screwed ends and nuts with which the tie bars are provided, the abutment pieces
are forced firmly against the respective rafter ends, and the lips or flanges upon
the abutment pieces are pressed firmly upon the rafter tops. The intermediate
clipping pieces are suitably formed for connecting to the struts. The abutment
pieces and the intermediate clipping pieces are so formed or arranged that the
roof purlines may be attached thereto, and thereby all holes in the rafters for
attachment of the purlines are avoided. The abutment pieces which bear against
the upper ends of the rafters may be formed in one piece instead of being made
separate, as described above. The clipping pieces at or near the lower ends of the
rafters act as shoes for the principal.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Frank Henry Beattie in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th February 1882.
FRANK HENRY BEATTIE, of Soho, near Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROOF PRINCIPALS AND OTHER BRACED FRAMES.”
In carrying out this Invention for improvements in roof principals and other
braced frames I employ clipping pieces, which firmly grip the principal rafters or
compression booms (as the case may be) for the purpose of connecting them to the
accessory parts in such a manner as to avoid diminishing the sectional areas of the
respective principal rafters by means of holes or otherwise, and I also employ
abutment pieces which are held firmly against the ends of the principal rafters or
compression booms (as the case may be) by the tie bars of the respective structures
to which they belong, and which are so constructed as to assist in binding together
various members of such respective structures.
The accompanying Drawings contained on five Sheets illustrate various appli-
cations and modifications of this Invention in reference to roof principals.
Fig. 1 (Sheet 1) shows a principal for a pitched roof arranged according to this
Invention; Figs. 11, 12, and 13 (Sheet 3) are respectively an enlarged side elevation,
plan, and end elevation of the shoes and abutment pieces for the lower ends of the
rafters of this principal; Figure 14 (Sheet 3) is an enlarged plan of the shoes alone;
Figure 15 (Sheet 3) is an enlarged section of the same; Figures 20 and 21 (Sheet 3)
are enlarged views of the abutment pieces at the lower ends of the rafters; Figures 17,
18, and 19 (Sheet 3) are respectively an enlarged side elevation, plan, and section of
the king head and of the abutment piece at the upper ends of the rafters in this
principal; Fig. 16 (Sheet 3) is an enlarged side view of the last named abutment.
piece alone; Figs. 22. and 23 (Sheet 3) are enlarged views of the attachments by
which the struts are connected to the rafters in this principal; Figs. 24 and 25.
(Sheet 3) are enlarged views showing the method by which the ties and struts are
connected to each other in this principal; Fig. 2 (Sheet 1) is a diagram of a pitched-
roof principal differently braced to that shown in Fig. 1, but to which the same:
king head may be applied; Figs. 4 and 5 (Sheet 1) are enlarged views of the attach-
ments by which the struts are connected to the rafters in a principal of this design;
Fig. 6 (Sheet 1) is an enlarged side elevation of the shoes and abutment pieces for
the lower ends of the rafters of this principal; Fig. 3 (Sheet 1) is a diagram of a
pitched roof principal of a third design, to which the shoes and king heads, as for
Fig. 1, and the strut connection shown in Fig. 4, are applicable; Fig. 7 (Sheet 2)
shows a principal for a curved roof arranged according to this Invention; Figs. 26,.
27, 28, 29, 30, 38, and 39 (Sheet 4) are enlarged views of the shoes and abutment:
pieces of this principal, corresponding respectively to Figs. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20,
and 21 (Sheet 3); Fig. 33 (Sheet 4) is an enlarged side elevation of the attachments
which couple the rafters together in this principal, and which also serve as abut-
ment pieces for the ends of the rafters; Fig. 35 (Sheet 4) is an enlarged plan of
same; Figs. 36 and 37 (Sheet 4) are two enlarged cross sections of same; Fig. 34
(Sheet 4) is an enlarged sectional plan on the line X, Y, in Fig. 33; Figs. 31 and 32
(Sheet 4) are enlarged views of plates, which are used for connecting the tie rods
to the rafters in this principal at the centre of the span; Figs. 40 and 41 (Sheet 4),
and Figs. 42 and 43 (Sheet 4) are enlarged views showing the respective methods:
by which the various connections of the ties and struts to each other are made in
this principal; Fig. 8 (Sheet 2) is a diagram showing an alternative system for
bracing a curved roof principal, to which the shoes and rafter couplings, as for
Fig. 7, and the attachments for struts shown in Fig. 4, are applicable; Fig. 9
"

page_text: (Sheet 2) is a diagram plan of a bipped roof; Figure 10 (Sheet 2) is an enlarged
sectional plan of the king head and of the abutment piece at the upper ends of the
hipped rafters, showing the method of attaching this king-head to that of an
ordinary pitched roof principal; Fig. 44 (Sheet 5) is an enlarged side elevation of
a shoe and of the corresponding abutment piece at the lower end of one of the
principal rafters, suitable for a principal of larger span than that shown in Fig. 1;
Fig. 45 (Sheet 5) is an enlarged cross section through the said shoe; Fig. 46
(Sheet 5) in an enlarged side elevation showing an arrangement of two shoes and
of the corresponding abutment pieces for two principals, which are placed end to
end so as to make successive spans of roof; Figs. 47 and 48 (Sheet 5) are enlarged
views showing one method of applying a slated roof without making holes in the
principal rafters; Fig. 49 (Sheet 5) is an enlarged view showing another method
of attaining the same object; Fig. 50 (Sheet 5) is an enlarged view showing an
attachment for connecting a strut to a principal rafter when the rafter is made up
of two bars of any rolled section placed side by side.
In these Drawings the principal rafters are lettered (a), the shoes (6), the king.
heads (c), the abutment pieces at the lower ends of the rafters (d), the abutment
pieces at the upper ends of the rafters (e), the attachments for connecting the
struts to the rafters (f), the attachments for coupling the rafters in curved
roofs (9), and the purlines (h). The shoes (b), king-heads (c), strut attachments (f),
and rafter couplings (g) are formed as pairs of clipping pieces, which are made
to clip the principal rafters (a), and are secured in their places thereupon by
means of bolts, as shown, which do not pass through the rafters, the objects of
this method of attaching the said parts being mainly to avoid all necessity
for diminishing the sectional areas of the rafters by the making of holes or
otherwise, and to save the cost of making such holes in or other diminution of the
sectional areas of the rafters. Fig. 50 (Sheet 5) shows an alternative strut attach-
ment according to which the principal rafter is made in two parts, which are kept
at any required distance from each other by a distance piece placed between them.
If desired the two parts of the rafter may be allowed to touch each other. The
shoes, king heads, and rafter couplings according to this Invention may all be
applied to principal rafters of this description. The tie rods, shown in Figs. 11, 12,
13 (Sheet 3), 26, 27, 28 (Sheet 4), 44, 45, and 46 (Sheet 5), pass through the shoes (b)
and through boles in the abutment pieces (d), and are tightened up by means of
nuts which bear upon the abutment pieces, as shown. The tightening up of the
tie rods causes the abutment pieces to be forced hard against the lower ends of the
rafters (a), and at the same time causes the hooked part of the abutment pieces
(see Fig. 20) to be forced firmly downwards upon the rafters. The tie rods shown
in Figs. 17, 18, and 19 (Sheet 3), pass through the king heads (c) and through holes
in the abutment piece (e), and are tightened up by means of nuts which bear upon
the abutment piece, as shown. The tightening up of the tie rods causes the
abutment piece (e) to be forced hard against the upper ends of the two rafters (a), (a),
and at the same time causes the two hooked parts of the abutment piece to be
forced firmly downwards upon the rafters. It will readily be seen that in a
principal constructed with shoes, king heads, and abutment pieces, in the manner
just described, the tightening up of the tie rods causes the whole structure to
become firmly bound together. The rafter couplings for curved roofs, shown in
Figs. 33, 34, 35, and 36 and 37 (Sheet 4), have abutment pieces formed upon them (see
Fig. 34) to receive the thrust of the rafters. The tie rods and struts are connected
to the rafter couplings, as shown in Figs. 35 and 36. In Fig. 10 the king head of
the ordinary principal is of the same construction as that shown in Figs. 17, 18, and
19, and the king head of the hipped rafters (which is made in four parts all bolted
together) is bolted to it, as shown. Fig. 6 shows the abutment piece for greater
security bolted to the shoe pieces, and both in this Fig. and in Fig. 44 extra bolts
(as compared with the arrangement in Fig. 11) are shown for bolting the respective
shoe pieces to each other. These modifications are applicable when the length of
span or other circumstances render the arrangement shown in Fig. 11 inadequate

page_text: to meet the caso. When two principals are fixed end to end, as shown in Fig. 46
(Sheet 5), the adjacent shoes of the two principals are bolted together, as shown in
this Fig. In order to avoid the making of holes in the principal rafters for
securing the roof purlines (h) in their places and to save the expense of making the
holes, either the shoes or the king heads, or the attachments for the struts or the
abutment pieces, or the rafter couplings, or all or any of them, may be formed or
provided with projections or parts to which the pürlines may be bolted or
otherwise secured. Examples of this are shown in Figs. 1 and 6 (Sheet 1); Fig. 7
(Sheet 2); Figs. 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23 (Sheet 3); Figs. 26, 27,
28, 33, 35, 36, 38, and 39 (Sheet 4); and Figs. 44, 45, and 49 (Sheet 5). In Figs. 47
and 48 (Sheet 5) the purlines are shown rivetted to strips.which are secured to the
rafters by means of clipping pieces and bolts, as shown. It will be seen that,
according to the arrangements described in this Specification and illustrated by the
accompanying five Sheets of Drawings, the principal rafters or compression booms
(as the case may be) are formed with their ends at right angles to the lines of
thrust, so as to press squarely against the respective abutment pieces, and that in
the case of curved roofs, as well as in pitched roofs, theso principal rafters are in
straight lengths. It will be further seen that no reduction whatever is made in the
sectional areas of the principal rafters, either by holes or otherwise, and that in
consequence such sectional areas may respectively be less than those which would
be necessary if the rafters were perforated with holes, by the extent to which such
holes would reduce the effective sectional areas of the respective perforated rafters,
or in other words, that when a principal rafter arranged according to this Invention
is used instead of a perforated ono, the sectional area of the former need not exceed
that of the weakest part of the latter.
The arrangements herein described and illustrated by the accompanying
Drawings as applicable to roof principals may also be used (with or without slight
modifications in details according to the circumstances of the case) for other braced
frames, such as girders for certain kinds of light bridge work and the like, the main
objects being to do away with all holes in the compression booms and to save the
cost of making the holes.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and how it may be carried into
practical effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim as of my Invention
the methods illustrated for connecting struts and tie rods to each other, nor those
for applying slated or other roofs to roof principals, but what I do claim as being
novel and of my Invention is,
1st. The use in pitched roof principals and other similar braced frames of
clipping pieces for forming the shoes, the king heads, and the attachments for
connecting the struts to the rafters or to the compression booms (as the case may
be), and of abutinent pieces in combination therewith for taking the thrust of the
rafters or of the compression booms (as the case may be), all substantially as herein
described and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings and for the purposes
herein specified.
2nd. The use in curved roof principals and other similar braced frames of
clipping pieces for forming the shoes, the couplings for connecting the rafters or
compression booms (as the case may be) to each other, and the attachments for
connecting the struts to the rafters or to the compression booms (as the case may
be), and of abutment pieces in combination therewith, for taking the thrust of the
rafters or of the compression booms (as the case may be), all substantially as herein
described and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings and for the purposes
herein specified.
3rd. The use in pitched roof principals of clipping pieces and abutment pieces, as
described in my first claim as above, formed or provided with parts or projectious
for the attachment of purlines, substantially as herein described and illustrated by
the accompanying Drawings and for the purposes herein specified.
4th. The use in curved roof principals of clipping pieces and abutment pieces, as
described in my second claim as above, formed or provided with parts or projections

page_text: for the attachment of purlines, substantially as herein described and illustrated by
the accompanying Drawings and for the purposes herein specified.
5th. The general arrangement of pitched and curved roof principals, substantially
as herein described and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frank Henry Beattie, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty two.