IMPROVEMENTS IN CON- STRUCTING THE FLOORS OF BRIDGES, HOUSES, AND OTHER BUILDINGS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Finch, of Bridge Works, Chepstow, in the
County of Monmouth, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CON-
STRUCTING THE FLOORS OF BRIDGES, HOUSES, AND OTHER BUILDINGS."
Sealed the 13th May 1864, and dated the 21st November 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Finch at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st November 1863.
I, EDWARD FINCH, of Bridge Works, Chepstow, in the County of Mon-
mouth, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CONSTRUCTING THE FLOORS OF BRIDGES, HOUSES, AND OTHER BUILDINGS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in constructing the floors of
bridges, houses, and other buildings. For these purposes, in forming a floor
according to my Invention, girders or beams (by preference of wrought iron,
and constructed as heretofore) are used, but other constructions of girders,
whether of iron or other materials, may be employed. On these girders or
beams bars of T iron are fixed parallel to each other by rivetting or otherwise;
or bars of bridge or trough iron, or of angle iron, or bars of other forms, may
be similarly used in place of bars of T iron, so long as they are suitable for
having the edges of sheet iron or steel fixed thereto. When using. T iron the
sheets or plates are cut somewhat wider than the space they have to fill, and
they are slightly curved or bent and spring into the spaces between the bars
of the Tiron, and are there fixed by keys passed through holes formed. at

page_text: intervals in the limb or leg of the T iron, the head of the T iron bars being fixed
to the beams or girders by rivetting or otherwise. This undulating surface is
covered with concrete, asphalte, or other suitable material, and over that stone
or other flooring is applied. When using bars of other forms the edges of the
bent plates or sheets are fixed to the angles or sides of such bars by rivetting,
in other respects the construction of a floor is as before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Finch in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st May 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
FINCH, of Bridge Works, Chepstow, in the County of Monmouth, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edward Finch, Her special licence that I, the said Edward Finch, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward
Finch, my executors, administrators, 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 CONSTRUCTING
THE FLOORS OF BRIDGES, HOUSES, AND OTHER BUILDINGS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Edward Finch, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Edward Finch, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in constructing the floors of

page_text: bridges, houses, and other buildings. For these purposes, in forming a floor
according to my Invention, girders or beams (by preference of wrought iron
and constructed as heretofore) are used, but other construction of girders,
whether of iron or other materials, may be employed.
On these girders or
beams bars of T iron are fixed parallel to each other by rivetting or otherwise;
or bars of bridge or trough iron, or of angle iron, or bars of other forms, may
be similarly used in place of bars of T iron, so long as they are suitable for
having the edges of sheet iron or steel fixed thereto. When using T iron the
sheets or plates are cut somewhat wider than the space they have to fill, and
they are slightly curved or bent and sprung into the spaces between the bars
of the T iron, and are there fixed by keys passed through holes formed at
intervals in the limb or leg of the T iron, the head of the T-iron bars being
fixed to the beams or girders by rivetting or otherwise. This undulating
surface is covered with concrete, asphalte, or other suitable material, and over
that stone or other flooring is applied. When using bars of other forms the
edges of the bent plates or sheets are fixed to the angles or sides of such
bars by rivetting, in other respects the construction of a floor is as before
described.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1, Sheet 1, is a vertical section showing bars of iron used in
constructing a floor according to my Invention. a, a, is one of the main.
beams or girders, and b, b, are T irons placed parallel to each other and
rivetted to the beams or girders where they cross them; c, c, are curved plates.
of wrought iron or steel sprung in between the T irons and there secured by
the keys d driven through holes in the web or upright limb of the T iron.
Sheet 2 shews a perspective view of the same arrangement, and the plates c
are in part shewn curved, with concrete with flag stones laid on the top.
Figures 2 and 3, Sheet 1, show arrangements in which, in place of T iron,
trough or angle iron is employed, and where the trough or angle iron comes.
over the beams or girders, it rests in a cast shoe d, and the angle iron b and
shoe d are together bolted down on to the beam or girder. The plates care.
rivetted to the bars b, in Figure 2 they come underneath, and in Figure 3.
over the trough or angle irons. Figures 4 and 5 show other similar arrange-
ments, in which, however, the trough iron bis bolted directly to the beams. or
girders.

page_text: Sheet 3 shews a perspective view of the arrangement shown at Figure 5,
and in part of this Figure wooden joists are shewn resting on the trough irons
and receiving a wooden planking.
Figures 6 and 7, Sheet 1, show arrangements in which Y irons are used in
place of the T irons of Figure 1, and where they cross the beams or girders
they are held and bolted in chairs of short pieces of angle iron which are
themselves bolted to the beams or girders. In place of; as in the arrange-
ment above described, depending for strength mainly on the beams or girders a,
the irons b, b, may, especially when the structure is of no great size, be made
to carry the greater part of the weight, the beams or girders a, a, becoming
merely tie bars, or being altogether absent for small widths.
Figure 8, Sheet 4, shows an arrangement similar to that of Figure 1, but
with the T iron built up in place of being in one piece, and having deep webs
beneath them with flanges at their lower edges; thus great strength is given
to the T irons, and they no longer require to rest on beams or girders as they
are stiff enough of themselves; the tie bars a, a, alone remain to represent the
girders a of the former Figures. Figures 9 and 10 show similar arrangements
in which built-up Y iron is used, and in place of resting on beams or girders,
as in Figures 6 and 7, it has.a deep web with a flange at its lower edge; this
flange, in Figure 9, is built up of the angle iron, and in Figure 10 it is rolled
with the web.
Figure 11 is an arrangement in which, as in Figures 4 and 5, Sheet 1,
trough iron is used; but it is of different form and heavier, and in place of the
trough being in one piece it is partly built up with angle iron. The beams or
girders & are reduced to simple tie rods, the troughs being stiff enough for the
spans in which this arrangement is used. Figure 12 is similar to Figure 11,
except that the tie rods are somewhat differently applied, as the Drawing
shows. Figure 13 is an arrangement very similar to Figure 10, but the
vertical web is rolled with a top flange as well as with a bottom one, and the
curved plates are butted against the edges of this flange and secured by butt
strips rivetted both to the flange and to the curved plates. Figure 14 is an
arrangement suitable only for narrow widths and light weights; here the
curved plates c butt against flat bars 6 and are secured by butt strips rivetted
on. No tie bars are used as the bars bare stiff enough laterally and are
securely fixed in the wall or otherwise at their ends. In all the Drawings the
same letters of reference are applied to parts which are similar.
It will be seen from the above illustrations that arrangements of many
different forms may be made without departing from my Invention; but what
I claim is, the combination of curved plates c with T or other bars b, whether

page_text: I also
of iron or steel, and girders or ties a, in the manner above described.
claim the combination of the parts c and b when girders or ties a are dispensed
with, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said, Edward Finch, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
EDWARD FINCH. (L.S.)