IMPROVEMENTS IN TIMBER SCAFFOLDING OR STAGEING
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Adam Dixon, of Smethwick, in the County of Staf-
ford, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TIMBER SCAFFOLDING
OR STAGEING"
Sealed the 8th August 1854, and dated the 21st February 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Adam Dixon at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
February 1854.
I, ADAM DIXON, of Smethwick, in the County of Stafford, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TIMBER
SCAFFOLDING OR STAGEING" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the obtainment of increased security and firmness
in the scaffolds or stage erections used by builders and others for the general
purposes of their trade. The timbers of such scaffolds may be either round or
otherwise, and they are bound or held together by means of socket castings or
metallic pieces made to embrace the standards, and capable of being tightened
up by wedges, screws, or fitting pieces. The socket castings are provided with
projecting brackets, in or on which the ledgers or cross pieces are carried,
these details being fastened to the brackets by means of straps, wedges, screws,
or fitting pieces. This plan of erecting scaffolds secures great stability, and is
applicable to all cases where such structures are required, whether for temporary
or permanent use.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Adam Dixon in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st
August 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ADAM
DIXON, of Smethwick, in the County of Stafford, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors. give and grant unto me, the
said Adam Dixon, Iler special license that 1, the said Adam Dixon, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Adam
Dixon, my executors, administrators, or 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 TIMBER
SCAFFOLDING AND STAGEING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Adam Dixon, by an instrument in writing under hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Adam Dixon, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
reference being had to the accompanying Drawings and to the letters and
figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to the obtainment of increased security and firm-
ness in the scaffolds or stage erections used by builders and others for the
general purposes of their trade. The timbers of such scaffolds may be either
round or otherwise, and they are bound or held together by means of sockets
or clamps of wrought or cast iron, made to embrace the standards, and capable
of being tightened up by screws or wedges. The sockets or clamps are pro-
vided with projecting brackets, in or on which the ledgers or cross pieces are
carried, these details being fastened to the brackets by means of straps held
down by screws or wedges. This plan of erecting scaffolds secures great
stability, and is applicable to all cases where such structures are required,
whether for temporary or permanent use.

page_text: And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, J. shall now
proceed to describe the several explanatory Figures on the Sheet of Drawings
hereunto attached.
Figure 1 on the Sheet of Drawings is a side elevation of a scaffold standard
with a ledger or cross pole connected connected to it by means of one .modifi-
cation of my improved bracket or clamp; Figure 2 is a back elevation; and
Figure 3 is a plan corresponding to Figure 1. Figures 4 and 5 are respectively
a side elevation and a plan of the form of bracket I employ for corner standard
poles, as arranged for sustaining two ledgers or cross poles at right angles to
each other. The bracket represented in Figures 1, 2, and 3 is constructed for
the intermediate standard poles of a piece of scaffolding. The standard or
upright pole is at A, and the horizontal ledger or cross pole B is supported in
the bracket C. This bracket is in this instance made of wrought iron, and is
fixed upon the standard pole A by means of two arms with screwed ends D, and
a clamping plate E, secured and tightened up against the back of the pole by
nuts passed upon the screwed arms D. The screwed ends D of the arms pass
through slots in the clamping plate E, one of the slots being cut through the
end of the plate to enable the plate to be shifted so as to pass the bracket
upon the pole. The ledger or cross pole, B is supported upon a curved arm,
formed upon the bracket C for the purpose, and it is held in position by a
strap F, connected to the bracket by a common and swivel joint. The strap
F is tightened down upon the ledger B by means of a screw bolt G, working
in a projection on the upper part of the bracket C. The bracket piece repre-
sented in Figures 4 and 5 of the Drawings differs from that just described in
being formed with two curved arms with their straps F and screws G for
supporting the ledgers or cross poles B. These supporting arms are placed at
right angles to each other, and serve to support these ledgers or cross poles
which meet at the corners of pieces of scaffolding, and which are at right
angles to each other. The bracket may be modified in form in various ways,
and may be arranged so as to be fixed or tightened up upon the scaffold poles
by means of wedges instead of screws. And it may either be made entirely
of wrought iron, which I prefer, or it may be made partly of wrought and
partly of cast iron. And in some cases the bracket may be made with com-
plete sockets or rings, to be passed over the ends of the poles and fixed by
punching screws or wedges.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I may observe in conclusion that I do not confine or restrict myself
to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe

page_text: or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating
from the principles or main features of my Invention. But what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Pateut, is,-
First, the general arrangement and construction of mechanism or apparatus
'to be employed' in erecting timber scaffolding or stageing, as herein-before
described.
Second, the system or mode of connecting together the poles or timbers of
scaffolding or stageing by means of metal brackets capable of being clamped
or fixed upon the poles by means of screws or wedges acting directly upon
the poles, or upon clamps or straps embracing the poles, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Adam Dixon, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
ADAM DIXON. (L.S.)