AN IMPROVED PEA RANGE ADAPTED FOR SUPPORTING AND PROTECTING PEAS DURING THEIR GROWTH, ALSO FOR PROTECTING HALF HARDY PLANTS, AND AS A FORCING FRAME
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Phillips at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th Junc
1872.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS, of Farndon, in the County of Cheshire, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PEA
RANGE ADAPTED FOR SUPPORTING AND PROTECTING PEAS DURING THEIR GROWTH,
ALSO FOR PROTECTING HALF HARDY PLANTS, AND AS A FORCING FRAME," to be as
follows:-
This Invention is designed principally as a substitute for the sticks
commonly used for supporting and training rows of peas and such like
crops during their growth, but may also be used with advantage in cold
'or frosty weather to shelter half hardy plants, such as geraniums, also as
a forcing frame for growing salads in winter time.
To adapt this Invention to the above-mentioned purposes I proceed as
follows:-I insert in the ground where the rows of peas are to be grown
a series of metal standards from three to six feet in height with a spike
at the bottom of each standard, and about seven to ten inches from the
bottom of the said spike I form side arms about six inches long opposite
to each other at each side of the standard at right angles thereto, and
the end of each arm I form bent or turned upwards about two or three

page_text: 'inches with a notch in each to receive a notched ornamental horizontal
bar about ten feet long, and I proceed to fix the aforesaid standards in
the ground at distances of about six feet between one standard and the
next. I then proceed to place and fix a ten feet horizontal bar in nicks
formed in the top of each standard, keeping the bar flush with the face
of that standard that comes at the end of the row where the peas are to
be grown so that the other end of the aforesaid bar projects two or three
feet beyond the second standard, I then proceed to fix other standards
along the entire row for the peas in a similar manner to that above
described, and connect the projecting ends of the bars together by a
bolt. I then proceed to affix similar bars to each of the side arms of
the several standards in a similar manner to the aforesaid single top bar,
taking care to reverse the ornamental part of each side bar, or, in other
words, turn it upside down, that the notches of the ornamental part of
the bar may come underneath and serve the following purpose, that is to
say, after the standards and top and side bars have been properly fixed I
proceed to fix a waterproof cord or wire to the top of the outermost
standard and lead the said cord downwards into one of the notches of
one of the aforesaid side bars, then take it up over the ornament of the
top bar, and so on throughout the entire length of the range or row, and
I proceed in this manner at each side of the range. The cords or wires
thus serve the purpose of sticks, and are more uniformily and readily
placed than sticks, and is more durable and steady. I also propose, if
desirable, to fix strips of galvanized sheet iron below each side bar into
the ground as a protection against snails and cold winds. And to adapt
the above arrangement to the purposes of sheltering half hardy annuals,
and for growing as a forcing frame salads in winter, I propose to place
sheets of glass upon the aforesaid side bars, to any desired height, the
glass resting against the aforesaid cord or wire lacings.