IMPROVE-- MENTS IN CONSTRUCTING THE FLOORS AND OTHER PARTS OF BUILDINGS, AND IN 93
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Tall, of Lawson Street, in the Borough of
Southwark, Builder and Contractor, for the Invention of "IMPROVE--
MENTS IN CONSTRUCTING THE FLOORS AND OTHER PARTS OF BUILDINGS, AND IN
93
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Tall at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th November 1872.
I, JOSEPH TALL, of Lawson Street, in the Borough of Southwark,
Builder and Contractor, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING THE FLOORS AND OTHER PARTS OF
BUILDINGS, AND IN WARMING AND VENTILATING THE SAME," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to construct the floors, ceilings, and
roofs of buildings in an economical manner and of great strength, and at
the same time fire-proof. I attain these results by constructing these
parts of buildings of concrete in a peculiar manner, and I make them
hollow so that hot air may be introduced therein.
In carrying out my Invention and constructing a hollow fire-proof
floor the walls are built either in concrete, brickwork, or masonry; and
when they are carried to the proper height for a ceiling and floor above,
I erect a centreing and cover it with boarding in the ordinary manner

page_text: of constructing arches or groined roofs, and I cover this boarding with a
layer of concrete about two inches thick. While this concrete is in a
liquid or plastic state I place thereon hollow boxes or cores made of
wood, iron, or other suitable material, and of a wedge shape so as to form
a horizontal surface. On these boxes or cores, which are arranged a few
inches apart so as to leave a space for concrete between them, I place
another layer of concrete of three or four inches thick according to the
span or dimensions of the room. This levelled off perfectly even and
may be finished either by covering the surface with a thin coating of
neat cement or it may be covered with tiles or wooden flooring.
When the floor is completed the centreing may be removed and the
cores or hollow boxes withdrawn, when the floor will be found to consist
of a number of hollow spaces of a wedge form with partition walls
between them. The central part of the floor or crown of the arch will
be solid and of less depth than the sides, so that the ceiling of the room 1
below will be arched, and may be ornamented in any suitable manner.
In constructing the hollow floor provision must be made for allowing
warm or cold air to be forced or conducted into the spaces left by the.
cores or hollow boxes, and openings must be left in the partition walls
of the floor so that all the spaces will be in communication and a perfect a
circulation of the air may be maintained under the floor.
In constructing roofs, the upper surface must be cambered as well as
the lower or under surface, so that the rain may run off with facility.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Tall in the Great Seal Patent Office on 2
the 17th May 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
TALL, of Lawson Street, in the Borough of Southwark, Builder and
Contractor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 3
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said. Joseph Tall, Her special

page_text: mouthed and projects downwards and opens out into the room below, as
seen in Fig. 2. To each of the other openings of the piece g is adapted
a pipe g¹ which extends to one of the hollow spaces e, e, so that the hot
air from the room below may be allowed to enter the piece g and pass
along the horizontal pipes g¹ into the hollow spaces e, and from thence
will pass through the openings f¹ of the vertical partitions to the con-
tiguous hollow chambers until it finds its way to the exit flue h embedded
or constructed in the walls of the building. It will be obvious that a
very similar arrangement of parts may be adopted for supplying the
room with warm air from a suitable warming apparatus below, and com-
municating by means of a flue or flues i, i, shewn by dots at i, Figures 1.
and 2, with some of the hollow spaces e, as for instance those situated at
the four corners, as at e*, e*, Fig. 1. The warm air from these chambers
may be admitted to the room above through openings made in the
skirting, and communicating with the warm air chambers by means of
short pipes.
Having now described my Invention of "Improvements in Constructing
the Floors and other Parts of Buildings, and in Warming and Ven-
tilating the same, "and having explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters
Patent as aforesaid, constructing hollow concrete floors or roofs of
buildings in the manner above set forth.
I also claim constructing and arranging the hollow spaces between
the ceiling and the floor immediately above, as herein set forth, and
adapting thereto air pipes or tubes and flues so that the hot and vitiated
air may be drawn off from the room, or warm or cool fresh air supplied
thereto, as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Tall, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Seventeenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.