A NEW OR IMPROVED PORTABLE SKATING FLOOR OR RINK
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Henry Ellis, of Pendarren House, Tavistock, in the
County of Devon, Engineer, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED
PORTABLE SKATING FLOOR OR RINK."
Sealed the 17th March 1876, and dated the 20th January 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Henry Ellis at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th January 1876.
GEORGE HENRY ELLIS, of Pendarren House, Tavistock, in the County of Devon,
Engineer. "A NEW OR IMPROVED PORTABLE SKATING FLOOR OR RINK."
My Invention consists in the construction and employment of a portable and
adjustable framework, with a floor made in sections to fit thereupon for the use of
persons wearing wheel or roller skates.
I carry out my Invention as follows:-My portable and adjustable framework
consists of a number of legs preferably of wood, about six inches long by four inches
square, each provided at the bottom with a disc or other suitable foot having a
screw passing up through the centre of the leg, by which means the legs can be
lengthened or shortened to suit the inequalities of the ground upon which they are
to stand. The foot screws are tapped into or through metal disc plates, one of which
is secured to the bottom of each leg, and which further serves as a stop or rest for
the ends of the "bearers" hereafter described. I connect the legs by bearing rods
Οι "bearers" preferably of wood, six inches deep, two and a half inches wide, and
nearly six feet long. The latter are made of two laths of the required length by
six inches by one and a quarter inch, pinned or screwed firmly together, and they
have projecting pieces or laths fixed upon both sides at the bottom.
are metal T plates screwed between the six inch by one and a quarter inch laths,
and there being corresponding slides or sockets formed upon the sides of the legs
the framework is put together by sliding the T plates into these sockets. The whole
of the rods or bearers are similarly made in form and size, so that any one of them
will fit between any two of the legs, and by this means great facility is afforded for
putting the framework together.
At both ends
My floor is in square sections, each of which is made preferably of the size of six
feet, and of a series of narrow one inch yellow pine boards, carried upon two or
more ledges or battens five inches by two inches. These ledges are fixed with their

page_text: "
edges to the boards and transversely thereto, and when required are strengthened and
kept from warping by thin iron bars or plates. When the complete board or section
is put in its place upon the corresponding section of the framework the ends of the
ledges rest upon the projecting pieces formed at the sides and bottoms of the
bearers," and the edges of the board all round rest upon the tops of four of these
"bearers." By this means each section is kept and secured in its proper position
evenly and firmly. The surface and edges of each section of the floor are covered
with a suitable mastic or other solution or compound that furnishes an even and
durable surface for the required purpose and that protects the wood from the action
of heat and moisture. All the remaining parts of the floor and framework I coat or
cover with selicate paint, bituminous solution, or similar material that renders the
wood impervious to moisture.
I provide a uniform series of border laths, which fit upon the edges of the frame-
work after it is put together with india-rubber washers intervening; the project a
few inches above the surface of the floor and are carried at the ends in a groove
formed by dwarf pillars which slide into the outer sockets of the marginal legs. In
certain cases these dwarf pillars may be extended in length for the support of a
tent, covering, or awning. It will be readily understood that the arrangement
described of making the framework and floor in square sections, each of which is
identical with the remainder, provides for putting the structure together either
longer or shorter relatively to its width, and that the framework can be readily
made level upon uneven ground by regulating the adjustable feet provided with the
legs. The floor sections are put into their places after the framework is properly
adjusted and levelled. The sizes of the parts given are those which I have found
practically most useful, but any or all of them may be varied. Any number of
square sections may be employed according to the size of floor required.