IMPROVE- MENTS IN SCAFFOLDING TO BE USED FOR THE ERECTION OF HOUSES IN THE STREETS OF POPULOUS PLACES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Turner Powell Aston Key, of Clifton Mount,
Rotherham, in the County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SCAFFOLDING TO BE USED FOR THE ERECTION OF HOUSES IN THE
STREETS OF POPULOUS PLACES."
Sealed the 23rd June 1868, and dated the 3rd January 1868.
ROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Turner Powell Aston
Key at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 3rd January 1868.
I, TURNER POWELL ASTON KEY, of Clifton Mount, Rotherham, in the
County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention,
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SCAFFOLDING TO BE USED FOR THE ERECTION OF HOUSES
IN THE STREETS OF POPULOUS PLACES," to be as follows:-
During the erection of houses in public streets, and also during repairs,
pavement is generally occupied by a hoarding enclosing the scaffold,
which hoarding covers sometimes part, sometimes the whole of the
footway, and occasionally occupies in addition part of the carriageway.

page_text: I remedy this inconvenience in the following manner :-I erect on the
pavement in front of the proposed building an arcade consisting of hollow
wrot iron columns (preferably rectangular in horizontal section) united
longitudinally by diagonally bracing with horizontal girders stretching
across the footway at a height sufficient for the tallest person to pass
beneath, the columns may be from four to five feet apart, or thereabouts.
Into these hollow columns are inserted the usual scaffold poles which are
wedged tight at the angles. The girders are planked, and the whole of
the building materials, bricks, mortar, and other requisites is placed on
this platform, while the traffic flows uninterrupted beneath. I consider
it advisable to use a scaffold proper of a uniform width in all cases, and
to suit the various widths of footway, a jetty formed of iron in the
following manner projects to the edge of the pavement to complete the
communication:-The iron framework being in bays the girders attached
to any one bay may be prolonged, the outer ends resting on pillars similar
to those of the scaffold proper; these jetty girders are the only part
which varies with the width of footway, the planking which covers the
jetty excepted. On medium widths of footway the scaffold is thus
adjusted to the width. On a very narrow footway the platform may take
half the roadway, allowing sufficient headway for cabs and small vehicles
or may even cross the entire roadway to the opposite curb. In erecting
this scaffold I prefer to leave a space of eighteen inches or two feet
between the face of the building and the nearest row of columns to give
access to workmen, while the girders extend to the face of the house..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Turner Powell Aston Key in the Great Seal Patent 80
Office on the 25th June 1868.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent bearing date the Third day of January, in the year of our Lord.
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-first year of
Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Turner Powell Aston Key, Her special licence, that I, the
said Turner Powell Aston Key, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others, as I, the said Turner Powell Aston Key, 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, usc, exercise, and vend
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SCAFFOLDING.
TO BE USED FOR THE ERECTION OF HOUSES IN THE STREETS OF POPULOUS PLACES,".
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Turner Powell
Aston Key, my executors or administrators, 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 Turner Powell Aston Key, 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 :-
The object of this Patent is the abolition of the nuisance of hoardings
on the foot or roadway of public streets in towns and populous places.
In place of depositing building materials on the pavement, and erecting
above a light scaffold of poles, ropes, and planks, I place hollow wrought
iron columns (preferably square, in horizontal section) on the footpath,
and the ordinary wooden poles inside these columns. In some cases the
poles (not the columns) descend into the ground. In others, to prevent
slipping, I let into the pavement stone a small stud affixed to the base
of the column. The columns are connected at the top by cross girders,
all but two of the girders being of the same length. The two above
excepted are variable in length, and have their outer ends flush with the
curbstone, forming a jetty by which to bring the materials for building
from carts, &c.,, to the platform thus formed by the girders when planked.
Longitudinally the iron columns, may be connected by bracing, but. in

page_text: ordinary cases the usual bracing of the wooden poles themselves will be
found sufficient. As a general rule a scaffold of seven feet width will
be found convenient, arranged as follows:-The outer line of columns
(iron) to be seven feet or thereabouts from the face of the building, the
inner line about eighteen inches from the face, leaving a passage between
the inner line, and the building for the workmen, and a passage between
inner and outer columns for the public. The girders. I make to extend
from the face of the building to the outer edge of the scaffold proper;
from the face to the outer edge the girders, are planked, and with the
addition of the jetty (when necessary from the width of pavement) form
a complete communication with the builder's carts, without interrupting
the foot, traffic. The ordinary builder's scaffold is constructed with the
poles, &c. as usual, but the storage is restricted to the platform on the
iron colonnade formed as described. As a general rule the under side of
the cross girders should be about seven and a half feet from the ground:
The interval between the pillars may vary longitudinally from four to
seven feet according to the desired weight of materials and the strength
of planking used. The most convenient form of column is as follows:-
The horizontal section square, made either of two channel bars and two
plates of wrought iron riveted, or of four plates of wrought iron. with,
angle iron connections in the interior. Near the top of the columns on
each side longitudinally a lug is affixed, on which the cross girders rest,
and to which they are secured by bolts. The cross girders thus in pairs.
I prefer further to secure by bolts midway. For the section of cross
girders the channel form is most convenient with the flanges outwards,
and the flush sides against the sides of the columns, but the cross
girders may be box, H; or any suitable section. In the case of very
narrow pavements or very extensive buildings the iron scaffold may
extend either over part or the whole, of. the roadway, leaving such
sufficient headway for carts and other vehicles as may be locally
determined. The thickness of materials and dimensions of the columns.
herein-before described depend on the usual rules for the strength of
such structures, but. I prefer to add about one-eighth. of an inch to
the thickness proper for permanent and irremoveable work.

page_text: scaffolding for the purpose of doing away with hoardings and their
accompanying nuisances, and keeping the thoroughfare clear during
building operations.
In witness whereof, I, the said Turner Powell Aston Key, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.