Improved Means of Supporting and Fixing Sheet Iron and Wood to Serve as Coverings for Hay and Corn Ricks and for Temporary Coverings Generally.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Feb., 1887
Complete Left, 28th Nov., 1887
Complete Accepted, 27th Dec., 1887
Improved Means of Supporting and Fixing Sheet Iron and Wood to
Serve as Coverings for Hay and Corn Ricks and for Temporary
Coverings Generally.
I ROBERT ST. JOHN ALLISON of Parracombe Barnstaple in the County of Devon
Inland Revenue Officer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My Invention relates to portable, cheap, and efficient roofs or coverings for stacks
or ricks of hay, corn, and all kinds of farm-produce thatched houses, and any other
similar situation where roofs or coverings may be required, temporarily or otherwise;
the principal object being to enable the roof or covering to be put up and taken down
piecemeal, as the rick etc., may be consumed, or as may be required, the roof being,
for this purpose, supported on and attached by screws to the thing or place required
to be covered.
The roof or covering is constructed of corrugated sheet iron, except at the ends
where flat sheets are used or of wood in the form of separate sheets, plates, sections,
or boards, supported upon short wooden bearers along the ridge, eaves, and gables
of the roof or covering, and also at intermediate positions if necessary. These
bearers rest in turn upon screw stanchions or supports constructed as hereafter
described, whereby the bearers may be attached to the rick or other object to be
covered and whereby the height of the bearers may be adjusted to compensate for any
irregularity in the object to which they are attached.
These adjustable supports or stanchions are of corkscrew form, so as to be adapted
to be screwed into the rick, thatch or other soft material and to take a firm hold
thereof, the screw form permitting of their being inserted to a greater or less
distance, so as to enable their height to be easily regulated. These stanchions are
provided with a fixed cross-head or other means of turning the screw, and upon this
cross head with a dove tailed joggle pivoted upon the upward extension of the
stanchions. These joggles are received in corresponding mortises in the underside
of the adjacent ends of the wooden bearers which are thereby held together longi-
tudinally and transversely and which are screwed to the joggle. Upon these bearers
are fixed the sections of the roof or covering, which if inade of corrugated sheet

page_text: iron would have holes punched in them at regular intervals this being done before the
sheets are galvanized, so that they shall not be liable to rust at the holes. These
sections of the roofing are secured to the bearers by screws, screwing in sockets
pivoted upon the bearers at intervals corresponding to the holes in the roofing, the
purpose for which the sockets are pivoted being to enable them to be adapted to the
pitch of the roofing.
The sections of the roofing may either overlap at the ridge, or may be covered by
a ridge-cap. The gable ends of the roof are enclosed by gusset pieces suitably
secured to the end bearers. Additional security for extraordinary situations is
obtained by attaching guy-wires to the stanchions, and screwing a screw provided at
the other end into some fixed object.
In order to enable the roof or covering to be put up or taken down piecemeal,
each bearer along the eaves and ridge would not be longer than the width of the
sections of roofing required to be taken down at one time.
Instead of using joggles, the bearers may rest on the cross heads of the stanchions
and be pivoted upon their upward extension, in which case their ends would be dove-
tailed or bolted together.
R. ST. J. ALLISON.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London,
Patent Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means of Supporting and Fixing Sheet Iron and Wood to
Serve as Coverings for Hay and Corn Ricks and for Temporary
Coverings Generally.
I ROBERT ST. JOHN ALLISON of Parracombe, Barnstaple, in the County of Devon,
Inland Revenue Officer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My Invention relates to portable, cheap and efficient roofs or coverings for stacks
or ricks of hay, corn, and all kinds of farm produce, thatched houses, and any
other similar situations where roofs or coverings may be required temporarily or
otherwise; the principal object being to enable the roof or covering to be put up
and taken down piecemeal, as the rick, &c., may be consumed, or as may be required,

page_text: the roof being for this purpose constructed in sections and supported on and attached.
by screws to the object required to be covered. The roof or covering is constructed
of corrugated sheet iron except at the ends where flat sheets are used, or of wood in
the form of separate sheets, plates, sections, or boards supported upon short wooden
bearers along the ridge, eaves, and gables of the roof or covering, and also at inter-
mediate positions if necessary. These bearers rest in turn upon screw stanchions or
supports screwing into the rick, thatch, or other soft material so as to take a firm
hold thereof, as hereafter described, whereby the bearers may be attached to the
rick or other object to be covered, and whereby the height of the bearers may
be adjusted to compensate for any irregularity in the object to which they are
attached.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specifi-
cation, wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly broken away, of a portion of the
roof or covering as applied to a rick. Figure 2 is a plan, and Figure 3 an end
elevation thereof. Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 show details of certain of the parts. The
same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.
A are the sections of roofing preferably each of a width corresponding to the extent
to which the stack is usually uncovered in cutting it into trusses, the sections
extending from the ridge to the eave. In the example shown, these sections are of
galvanised corrugated sheet iron. They are supported upon bearers at the ridge and
eaves, B being the ridge bearer, and C the eaves bearer. These boarers are of wood
and made in sections, generally corresponding in length to, say, twice the width of
the sheets A, the sections being scarf-jointed together and the joints corresponding
in distance and approximately in position to alternate joints of the plates. These
bearers are supported upon stanchions D which pass through the scarf joints of the
sections and are of corkscrew form at their lower ends so as to screw into and take
a firm hold of the stack, the bearers being held down on a shoulder on the shank of
the stanchion by means of a gib or arm & formed by bending the stanchion at right
angles. The rebated ends of the sections to be joined are slotted, but the slots only
partly coincide, so that after the gib head d has been passed through the slot of the
underneath half, the stanchion must be turned partly round on its own axis to allow
of the gib being passed through the slot of the upper half and then turned partly
round to move the gib out of line with the slot and so lock the two sections together,
the gib and stanchion acting as a sort of turn-buckle. At the gable ends of the stack
rafters E corresponding in length to the length of the plates A are fixed to the ends of
the bearers B and C, being for this purpose provided with hinges e at their upper
ends, the loose leaf of the hinge having an eye which drops onto the shank of the end
stanchion D and is secured by the gib head d of the end stanchion above referred to,
the lower ends of the rafters E being bored to admit of their being placed on the
end stanchions at which point the ends of the bearers C and rafters E are halved
together. The plates A rest on the bearers B and C and are held in position thereon
at the eaves by their lower edges being received in clips F affixed to the bearers C
and at the ridge by bridge pieces G slipped onto bolts g fixed in the ridge bearer B
and secured by nuts whereby the ends of the bridge pieces are pressed firmly down
on the plates. The ends of these bridge pieces are split or forked so as to straddle
the convex part of a corrugation, and of upwardly curved hook form to receive
the edges of a ridge cap H of sheet zinc or galvanised iron which is also made
in lengths corresponding to the other sections and is sprung or slipped into
place in the hooked ends of the bridge pieces after the latter are secured.
The spring clips F are bolted to the eaves bearers, the bolt passing through a
slot in the plate of the clip to admit of adjustment in case of need. The
gable ends of the roof may be enclosed by gusset pieces I being plain galvanised
Sheets secured to the end rafters E preferably by fastenings such as shown in
Figures 7 and 8, Figure 7 being a section on line 1-1 Figure 8, and Figure 8
being a section on line 2-2 Figure 7. These fastenings consist of T bolts passing
through holes in the gusset plates and engaging by their cross heads in slotted plates
screwed to the rafter as shown, the plates being tightened up by nuts screwing in the

page_text: bolts. The two gusset plates overlap and are connected together by a bolt and nut or
by a spike driven into the stack. By the use of the hinges to the rafters and the
mode of securing the plates, the roof may be adjusted at any desired pitch and will
accommodate itself to any shifting or subsidence of the stack which may occur.
The ridge cap may be left off for ventilation as long as required and may be readily
applied in case of need.
If it be necessary to tie down the roof at an intermediate point in its width to
prevent buckling of the plates and lifting thereof by the wind, wires may be attached
to the hooked ends of the bridge pieces and passed over longitudinal down bearer
bars laid along the roof, the wires being secured at their ends to screw stanchions
driven into the sides of the stack, as indicated in dotted lines in Figure 3.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
1 claim is ;
1st. A sectional roof or covering for stacks and other purposes constructed sub-
tantially as herein shewn and described, of longitudinal ridge and eaves bearers and
rafters supporting corrugated or other plates, boards, or panels, the joints of the
bearers and plates corresponding as described, in combination with screw stanchions
screwing into the stack or other object and supporting and uniting the bearers as
described, and with means for holding the plates in position thereon, all as specified.
2. The combination with the rebated and slotted ends of the sections of the ridge
and eaves bearers of the gib headed screw stanchions acting to lock the sections
together as well as to support them, as described.
3. In combination with the ridge stanchions the down bearing bridge clips with
hooked ends for holding the upper ends of the plates down and for retaining the
ridge cap, as specified.
4. In a sectional roof constructed as described, the combination with the caves
bearer and the plates, of caves clips constructed and applied substantially as described.
5. The combination with a sectional roof constructed as herein specified, of gusset
plates for the gable ends the plates being affixed to the end rafters, substantially as
described.
6. The means of fixing the end gusset plates to the end rafters, substantially as
specified.
7. The use in combination with a sectional roof constructed as herein-described, of
longitudinal down-bearer bars and tying down wires, applied as specified.
Dated thin 90th N
1
1007
R. ST. JOHN ALLISON.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London,
Patent Agents.
R. ST. JOHN ALLISON.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London,
Patent Agents.