IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF WIRE TO BUILDING AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Humphry Turner, of Sheffield, in the County
of York, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
APPLICATION OF WIRE TO BUILDING AND OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 27th August 1872, and dated the 7th May 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Humphry Turner
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 7th May 1872.
I, HUMPHRY TURNER, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF WIRE TO BUILDING AND OTHER
PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
The Invention consists in the application of iron wire drawn or rolled,
steel cut in strips, and iron rolled to particular patterns as required, for
walls, ceilings, roofs, and floors of buildings; it is also applicable for
large cisterns, water tanks, brewers' squares, and other vessels.

page_text: The foundation of the building or house is laid and brought up 12 or
18 inches from the ground. On this foundation I commence my work
for the walls which should be of such a thickness as the nature of the
building to be erected may require. Iron or cast metal standards or
posts are fixed at certain distances; to these I fix wire from inch
to 2 inches apart; after this wire has been securely fixed I lay ou
concrete mixed with best cement, laying it on the outside plastering to
the wire; and during the time the work is progressing on the outside
another workman should be on the inside laying on the ordinary first
coat of plaster, preparing it for the finishing coat of fine lime. All
openings for windows and doors may be set back with reveals on the
inside.
The walls being brought to the height required for the first floor I
lay a cast metal or iron plate with eyelet holes for the purpose of
shewing my wire; this plate should be well bedded in concrete. I then
throw a cast metal or iron beam across from wall to wall in the centre of
every room, and on this I strain the wires from the plates bedded in the
wall; in this way the work is tied securely together. These wires are
intended to supersede the use of wood floor joint and which will form the
bed for my concrete floor, and also answer for the same purpose as laths
in the ordinary building. When this is done I proceed with the next.
floor in the same manner as before described till the height of the next
floor is reached, and supposing it to be a chamber-height house I
proceed with plates on the wall with eyes for the wire and the beam in
the centre. I then proceed to tie the walls with the wire as before
described, and this will form another bed for the concrete, which will be
required to be laid with a proper fall to carry off the water, for this will
form the roof, superseding wall plates of wood, purloins, and all the usual
woodwork, and slates for the ordinarily constructed roof.
I now
proceed to carry up my parapet walls and finish the upper part with
chimnies, gutters, and other requirements so as to give it all the
appearance of a dwelling house. The woodwork will consist of cupboards,
doors, and window sashes, and frames; the frames may be either wood
or concrete. The plastering is finished in the usual way as all the
coarse mortar is laid on the walls and ceilings during the progress of the
concrete work.
The outside walls are now finished off with cement and pointed down

page_text: By the application of the wire a large amount of the cost and labor
in scaffolding, mould and other things used in concrete work is avoided
besides being fireproof.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Humphry Turner in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th November 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HUMPHRY
TURNER, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of May, 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 Humphry Turner, Her special licence that I,
the said Humphry Turner, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Humphry Turner, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein exprossed,
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION
OF WIRE TO BUILDING AND OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Humphry Turner, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 per-
formed, 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 Humphry Turner, 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 :—
This Invention consists in the application of iron wire drawn or rolled,
stool out in string or iron rolled to particular patterns as required for

page_text: walls, ceilings, roofs, and floors of buildings; it is also applicable for
large cisterns, water tanks, brewers' squares, and other vessels.
The foundation of a house is laid and brought up twelve or eighteen
inches above the ground. On this foundation I commence my work for
the walls, which should be of such a thickness as we require from the
nature of the building to be erected. Iron, cast metal standards, and
straining posts, are fixed at certain distances; to these I fix wire from
half inch to two inches apart; after this wire has been securely fixed and
strained from the posts and through the standards, which latter may
have a slot or holes for the wire to pass through. With these standards,
posts, and wire, I form my building into the form required, according to
plans setting forth the same. Panels and proper stay posts are now
fixed inside the wire at a proper distance, according to the thickness of
the walls required. I now begin to use my concrete, which should be
mixed, of Portland or Roman cement, with good river or quarry sand and
small stone chippings, or stones broken up by a machine, hard burnt clay
broken up; or cinders if these are well mixed dry before adding water,
we shall have good concrete which may be used in the ordinary way on
the inside with the panels; while this is being done the plasterer may
carry on his work on the outside, laying on a better material consisting
of cement and sharp sand; this he would do having the wire for his
lines, plastering the cement against the coarse concrete inside, and from
the fact of the whole being wet together the outside work would be done
better and be far more durable, and not liable to cracks, as we frequently
see with cemented fronts of houses. The whole of this would be keyed
with the wire and therefore the walls need not be too thick as in concrete
alone; there would be a great saving in material, as also in labour,
particularly in the plasterers' work on the outside, as also in the labour
required in shifting the panels or moulds every two feet; all openings
for doors and windows may be set back with reveals on the inside. The
walls being brought up to the height required for the first floor, I lay a
cast metal or iron plate with eyelet holes for my wire to pass through;
these plates should be laid in the walls opposite each other and well
bedded in concrete. I now throw an iron or cast metal beam across the
centre of the rooms from wall to wall, and on these beams I strain my
wire from the plates in the walls, but I do not do this till the building
of the walls is complete; in this way the whole of the building is tied
together securely. These wires are intended to supersede the use of

page_text: floor joists of wood, and will form beds for my concrete floors, and also
answer on the under side instead of laths for the plastered ceilings, which
work of plastering may be carried on at the same time as the laying on
of the floors in concrete.
I proceed with my walls to the next floor as before described. When
the proper height is reached, similar plates and beam or beams are now
laid on the walls, being carefully bedded in with concrete as before.
Supposing we have now reached the height required, the plates and
beams are laid so as to give a proper fall for the water, for this is to form
our·roof, and a wall is carried up on the top of those plates three or four
feet in height, the wires are then strained across the whole of the top,
concrete being laid on, doing away with the wood roof and slates. The
chimneys are carried up in the ordinary way with concrete; this being
done the work of the outside walls is finished in the ordinary way with
cement and lined or blocked, giving the whole a pleasing appearance,
and which will be more durable than concrete work done in the usual

page_text: substantially as herein-before described, or any mere modification
thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Humphry Turner, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this 31st day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
HUMPHRY TURNER. (L.S.)