IMPROVEMENTS IN GREENHOUSES AND OTHER GLAZED STRUCTURES FOR HORTICULTURAL PURPOSES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING WATER OR LIQUID TO PLANTS IN THE SAME
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Edgcumbe Rendle at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 22nd February 1872.
I, WILLIAM EDGCUMBE RENDLE, of No. 3, Westminster Chambers,
Victoria Street, in the City of Westminster, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GREENHOUSES AND OTHER GLAZED
STRUCTURES FOR HORTICULTURAL PURPOSES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING
WATER OR LIQUID TO PLANTS IN THE SAME," to be as follows:-
In constructing greenhouses and such like glazed structures for hortí-
cultural purposes according to this Invention, they are formed with
double glazing for the roof and sides, and heating apparatus is provided
for heating the space between the two glazings, whereby a heated
atmosphere may be maintained in this space and render it available for
the growing of vines or other plants requiring heat, whilst at the same
time the interior of the house will be protected from frost and will be
available either as an orchard house or for protecting plants from frost
through the winter., One of the glazings, by preference the inner one,
is made removable, the several sheets of glass being simply supported at
top and bottom in grooves as described in the Specifications of former

page_text: Patents granted to me. Any part of the inner glazing can thus readily
be removed and allow of the vines or other plants in the space between
the two glazings being got at and trained or trimmed whenever necessary.
The double glazing for greenhouses and such like structures with the
sheets of one glazing removable as above described is applicable also
when the interior of the house is warmed in the ordinary manner, as
much less heating power will be required to keep out the frost than
when a single glazing is employed as is usual, and in summer time the
several sheets of the additional glazing can be removed if required, or
colored or opaque glass may be used for giving a partial shade.
For protecting old greenhouses or such like structures it is preferable
that the removable glazing should be on the exterior, as in this case the
grooved strips for receiving the several sheets of the removable glazing
can readily be fixed to the exterior of the rafters and side posts, and
in this case it will serve to protect both the woodwork and paint.
For double glazing, greenhouses and such like structures I also, in
some cases, in place of employing single sheets of glass employ two
sheets connected together by distance pieces placed between and cemented
to them. These double sheets may be employed in plant protectors
when the several sheets are supported in grooves at top and bottom.
Plant protectors to be fitted in front of windows may also be con-
structed as herein-before described.
In place also of constructing greenhouses, orchard houses, and other
glazed plant or fruit protectors in such manner that the several sheets
of glass are supported in grooves at top and bottom they may be sup-
ported by hooks of bent metal, such hooks being formed not only to
receive the sheets of glass, but also to hook over horizontal bars either
of flat or T iron which are attached to sloping rafters or supports.
A cheap way also of warming greenhouses, orchard houses, or plant
protectors, especially when they are comparatively long and narrow, is
to form a flue, by preference of iron, lengthwise of the structure, and
above this a tube or vessel to contain water and to form as it were a
reservoir of heat, which will be given out slowly and protect the interior
of the structure from frost.
For supplying water to plants in these greenhouses and such like
structures, I employ a travelling water distributor composed of a per-
forated pipe, supported at its two ends on wires or rails fixed lengthwise
or across the upper part of the house and above the staging upon which

page_text: the plants are supported. One end of the perforated pipe is closed whilst
a flexible pipe is connected to the opposite end, and through it water is
supplied to the perforated pipe either from an elevated cistern or from
a pump whenever it is desired to supply water to the plants in the
house. The water will fall down in a shower from the perforations of
the pipe, and by moving the pipe slowly from end to end or from front
to back of the house the whole of the plants in the house may be
watered. The perforations in the pipe may, if desired, be made suffi-
ciently fine as to cause the water to descend as a fine shower or dew.