AN IMPROVED MODE OF ROOFING BUILDINGS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Le Mesurier, of Birkenhead,
Cheshire, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE
OF ROOFING BUILDINGS."
Sealed the 20th August 1872, and dated the 22nd February 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Lo
Mesurier at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 22nd February 1872.
I, WILLIAM HENRY LE MESURIER, of Birkenhead, Cheshire, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for “An
IMPROVED MODE OF ROOFING BUILDINGS," to be as follows :—
This Invention consists in roofing buildings in the following manner :
-I take roofing spars of about three inches wide and form a rebate on
two opposite sides thereof to receive the slates, which may be bedded in
mortar, cement, or putty, and to the upper and centre portion of the
spar I affix a capping piece by screws or nails, and the space between
this capping piece and the top of the slates I make good with mortar,

page_text: cement, or other suitable weather proof material, and, if necessary, cover
the said capping piece with zinc or galvanized iron. I also form a
longitudinal saw cut extending from spouting to ridge in the right and
left sides of the said spars throughout their entire length in a sloping
direction to receive a portion of one side of a piece of zinc, galvanised
iron, or other suitable material, made in the form of a gutter; but
when the spar is in one picce, only throughout the length of the roof.
In such case I make the before-mentioned saw cuts or sloping channels
serve as gutters, the saw cuts in this case sloping downwards at each
side of the spar, whereas in the former case they are sloped upwards to
receive and hold the gutters by one edge, and I would here remark that
this application of gutters or channels at each roofing spar to receive any
leakage that may occur forms an important feature of novelty in this
Invention.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Henry Le Mesurier in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 22nd August 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY LE MESURIER, of Birkenhead, Cheshire, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Henry Le Mesurier, Her
special licence that I, the said William Henry Le Mesurier, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Henry
Le Mesurier, 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 Inven-
tion for "
AN IMPROVED MODE OF ROOFING BUILDINGS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Henry Le Mesurier, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or

page_text: 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 Henry Le Mesurier, 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, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in roofing buildings in the following manner :-
I take roofing spars of about three inches wide and form a rebate on
two opposite sides thereof to receive the slates, which may be bedded
in mortar, cement, or putty, and to the upper and centre portion of the
spar I affix a capping piece by screws or nails, and the space between this
capping piece and the top of the slates I make good with mortar, cement,
or other suitable weather proof material, and if necessary cover the said
capping piece with zinc or galvanized iron. I also form a longitudinal
saw cut, extending from spouting to ridge in the right and left sides
of the said spars throughout their entire length in a sloping direction,
to receive a portion of one side of a piece of zinc, galvanised iron, or other
suitable material made in the form of a gutter, but when the spar
is in one piece only throughout the length of the roof. In such
case I make the before-mentioned saw cuts or sloping channels serve
as gutters, the saw cuts in this case sloping downwards at each side of
the spar, whereas in the former case they are sloped upwards to receive
and hold the gutters by one edge, and I would here remark that this
application of gutters or channels at each roofing spar to receive any
leakage that may occur forms an important feature of novelty in this
Invention.
And in order to explain my said Invention more fully in detail,
I now proceed to describe the means by which it may be carried into
practice, reference being had to the illustrative Drawing accompanying
these Presents, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference marked
thereon, as follows
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents an outside elevation, and Figure 2 a cross section
of a portion of a roof, shewing my improvements adapted thereto;

page_text: At each of the above-mentioned Figures similar letters of reference
are employed to denote corresponding parts.
A mark spars of wood with a rebate a formed on two of its opposite
sides to receive slates or other covering pieces b. These spars may be
fixed to the other timbers of the roof in the usual way. But for the
purposes of this Invention I form a saw cut c along each of the upright
sides of each spar, as at Figure 3, throughout their entire length, extending
from the ridge B to the spout C. The spars A are set at equal distances
asunder, and the slates or other covering pieces 6 should be of such a
length as that their ends will rest upon the rebates of every pair of
spars, the longitudinal edges of the said slates or other covering pieces
overlapping each other after the manner commonly practised of covering
roofs with slates. D mark gutters of zinc or other material extending
along each side of each spar, to which they are affixed by one side of
each V shaped gutter being placed in the saw cut c, and if necessary
the said gutters may be further supported by bracket pieces E_fixed
to opposite sides of each spar at suitable distances asunder.
111
I would here remark that in the Provisional Specification of my said
Invention mention is made of saw cuts being proposed to be made
in a downward or opposite direction to that represented by the Drawing,
the said saw cuts being intended to be used as channels for the passage
of water that may enter at the roof, but I prefer to use gutters fixed
to the spars as represented at Figure 3, having found this method
answer well in practice. Having laid and fixed the slates or other
covering pieces on the rebated parts of the several spars, I proceed to
fix a long strip G of zinc, lead, or other suitable material to the top
edge of each spar and bend or turn down and fix in any suitable
manner the outer edges of each of the strips G, as at Figure 3, to
exclude as far as practicable the entrance of wind or rain. And in
this manner and by these means I form a cheap and durable covering
for roofs and carry off any water that may enter direct into the spout
instead of allowing it to drop from the roof on to the floor beneath.
In unexposed situations the slates may be laid vertically instead of
horizontally as shewn in the Drawing, whereby a considerable saving in
zinc, putty, timber, and labour would be effected.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my
said Invention for "An Improved Mode of Roofing Buildings," together
with the means by which it may be effected, I would remark in con-

page_text: clusion that I hereby declare my Invention to consist in, and I claim,
the mode set forth, described, and represented of constructing the spars
of roofs and of combining them with the slates or other covering pieces
and water spout for effecting the purposes of this Invention, as above
stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Le Mesurier, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.
WILLIAM HENRY LE MESURIER. (L.S.)