A PORTABLE HORTICULTURAL AND ARBORETICAL FRUIT, FLOWER, AND PLANT PROTECTOR
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Taylor, of Nursling, near Southampton, in
the County of Hants, Gentleman, for the Invention of "A PORTABLE
HORTICULTURAL AND ARBORETICAL FRUIT, FLOWER, AND PLANT PROTECTOR."
Sealed the 16th April 1861, and dated the 7th January 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Taylor, at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th January 1861.
I, WILLIAM TAYLOR, of Nursling, near Southampton, in the County of
Hants, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"A PORTABLE HORTICULTURAL AND ARBORETICAL FRUIT. FLOWER. AND PLANT
PROTECTOR," to be as follows:-
It consists of a frame made of malleable or cast iron, forming a front,
two sides, and a top, put together with nuts, and screws, or buttons, so as
to be taken to pieces when required, and is wider at the bottom than top
in proportion to the slope required. The front consists of an iron frame
halved together and hung on hinges, to lift up and down so as to give free
access to the inside for any purpose whatever, and is comprised of bars of
iron or iron guttering with flanges, reaching from the top to the bottom of
this frame having large headed rivets, these bars are placed any required
distance apart to receive the glass. A glass, cut into strips of required lengths
and breadths, and which are fixed by grooves or rivets, having thumb heads
which passing through the flanges or bars, is riveted on the other side, and
such rivets having a shoulder, are made to fix the glass with the required
degree of firmness by the button or shoulder projecting over the glass. By
turning the said rivets back the glass can be removed with great case
571 .

page_text: and rapidity. The sides are made of iron cut the required slope, and turned
up for the top frame to rest on, and when large enough there would be a
door in each end, and glazed in the same way as the front. B, the roof or top,
which is the strip running between the two top parallel bars, is composed of
wood, iron, or glass, it is also moveable for ventilating purposes. This portable
protector may also be constructed against a wall or a baulk of iron or wood,
and may be converted into a common hot-bed frame having the earth within
filled up to any required slope, and may be made of any required size.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Taylor in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th July 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
TAYLOR, of Nursling, near Southampton, in the County of Hants, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Taylor, Her special licence that I, the said William Taylor, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Taylor, 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, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A PORTABLE HORTI-
CULTURAL AND ARBORETICAL FRUIT. FLOWER, AND PLANT PROTECTOR," upon the
condition (amongst others) that 1, the said William Taylor, 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 William Taylor, 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

page_text: statement, and by this present instrument in writing, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and in which said Drawing similar parts
are marked and referred to by similar letters or figures (that is to say)
My Invention consists of an improved construction of a greenhouse, orchard
house, and a tree protector. Being made in sections or compartments, it
admits of being adapted to any situation and to any extent, the different
parts being so arranged as to be readily taken to pieces and put together,
and in particular the glass being fastened without glazing and being movable
it is in a high degree portable and capable of being removed and again fixed
up with the greatest readiness and convenience. To effect this object, I
first construct a framework or skeleton of galvanized or common iron, zinc,
wood, or any suitable materials, or partly wood and partly iron, of such a
form as is shewn by the side elevation H, H, H, J, in the accompanying plan.
This framework or skeleton consists of bars of iron or other suitable material,
of strength according to the size, fixed together by nuts and screws, dovetailed,
or in any way most convenient for being easily put together and taken to
pieces, which bars are supported and kept in their place by cross bars and
stays (I, I, in the accompanying plan) sufficient to give it the required strength.
as shewn in the side elevation of the accompanying plan by the letters I, I, I,
and which cross bars and stays, are fastened by being inserted in slots
or cuts in the upright beams (I, I,) so as to admit of being easily taken
to pieces and put together, or in anyway that best answers that purpose.
This framework or skeleton may be constructed of any size and of any
inclination, so as to suit the place for which it is intended, and may consist
of one or of any number of such frameworks or skeletons forming sections
or compartments, which may be easily added or removed, so that the green-
house or orchard-house may at any time be made of any extent or dimensions
that may be required. This framework or skeleton may also have a door
(A in the accompanying plan) made of iron or wood, or any suitable materials,
and may be partly of glass at discretion (as at G in plan) to be fixed in the
manner which will be described hereafter. A framework constructed of the
shape and in the manner described forms each end of the green-house, &c.,
or each end of a section or compartment when it is intended to be applied
to a large extent. The two frameworks are then connected at the top and
bottom by bars of angle or plain iron or wood, or any suitable material, or
partly of both attached to the wall, there can be a piece of wood quartering
made either to form the back of framework, or to fix the iron framework
to, as shewn in top section of annexed plan, these bars of iron forming the
length of the place can be fastened to a framework of wood quartering or

page_text: scantling, between which are placed ventilators, made of wood, iron, glass,
or of any suitable materials, lifting up and down in the ordinary way, as shewn
by D, D, top section in accompanying plau. The lights, frames, or sashes
forming the front of the greenhouse, as shewn in the front elevation B, B,
in the accompanying plan, consists each of a frame of two upright bars; a top
and bottom bar, and centre bar or bars, as stays or supports, and are put
together by dovetailed nuts and screws, or in any way most convenient for
being taken to pieces and put together again, other upright bars are placed
between the two outside ones, in number according to, the size of the frame
or sash, and the size of the panes of glass intended to be used. These
inside upright bars are fastened to the top and bottom bars of framework
by hooks or pins passing through eyes or dovetailed together, or in any
manuer most convenient for being taken to pieces and put together, these
frames or sashes are hung to the top bars by hinges or hooks and eyes, or
in any way to lift up and down.
The greenhouse constructed in the manner described admits of being used
either against a wall, or by reversing its position of being used on the ground
as an ordinary cucumber frame, and varying in size from that shewn and
described in section No. 2 to any size whatever.
If it be intended to be used against a wall only, it may be made in a
cheaper manner, for instance, instead of the frames or sashes moving on
hinges as described above, the upright bars for containing the glass can be
fastened to the top and bottom bars, with proper stays or supports before
described, or in any way that admits of its being easily taken to pieces and
put together. The entire framework or skeleton of the orchard-house and
greenhouse being now complete, I proceed to describe the manner in which "
I fix the pieces or panes of glass, so as to be put together and taken down
with the greatest readiness and facility. I place along the upright bars at
intervals, according to the size of the glass panes, large headed rivets or
thumbscrews (G, G, in the accompanying plan) which are inserted in the
bar and fastened on the other side with a nut and screw, or with a shoulder
and revited. The panes are then placed in a series on the bars, and the
rivets or thumbscrews by a half turn fasten them in their places, the panes
are fixed on the outside bars by several pieces of metal, or flange, or stay
(H, H, on accompanying plan) fixed to the outside bars of the sash or
frame, each of the rivets or thumbscrews fastens a pane on each side of the
bar in which it is inserted (see plan.)
Similar principles of construction, and the same method of fastening the
glass panes, may be applied to making a portable plant or seed protector,

page_text: which can also be used for protecting plants or trees against a wall, if required,
and it can be made and used as a single frame or sash, or in any number
of such frames or sashes, so as to cover any required place or space whatever.
This consists of a back and two sides, made of wood or iron, or partly
of both, the sides being fastened to the back by hinges, so that when it is
to be removed, the sides can be closed flat upon the back or folded together;
or the sides may be fastened to the back by large headed rivets passing
through slots, so as to be easily taken to pieces. The fronts have two bars
fastened to the fronts of the sides by pins, the edge of which bars form a
groove in which I place a pane or panes of glass, or a piece or pieces of
board, or both as they may be required. The top is then covered with a
frame made of angle or plain iron, having two or more bars running from
the back to the front, forming and having gutters in the middle of the bars
for the water to run off, and having a ledge or flange on either side of such
gutter, in which thumbscrews or rivets are inserted in the manner before
described for the purpose of fixing the glass panes in the same manner as
before described. This top is attached to the back by hinges or hooks and
eyes, or any suitable manner, so as to be easily lifted up to give access to
the inside, or that it may be altogether removed, that if required this frame
may be made of any size whatever,either to cover or protect seeds and plants,
or high enough and large enough to enclose a large tree.
I claim the mode of fixing the glass panes by means of thumbscrews or
large headed rivets without putty or any adhesive material.
I claim the combination of this method of fixing the glass panes, with the
construction of the framework, which admits of being easily enlarged and
taken to pieces.
I claim the method of taking to pieces or folding up the framework and
removing the glass at any time, which makes it portable.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Taylor, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
WILLIAM TAYLOR. (L.S.)
Signed and sealed by the said William
Taylor, in the presence of
THOMAS WESTALL,
3, South Square, Grays Inn.