IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING AND FIXING SHEET METAL ROOFING
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Taylor, of Birmingham, in the County
"
of Warwick, Zine and Galvanized Iron Worker, for the-Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING AND FIXING SHEET METAL ROOFING,"
19
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Taylor at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th March 1878:
I, SAMUEL TAYLOR, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Zinc
5 and Galvanized Iron Worker, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING AND FIXING SHEET METAL
ROOFING," to be as follows:-

page_text: specially applicable to zinc roofing, but may also be applied to galvanized
iron and other sheet metal roofing.
In constructing sheet metal roofing according to my Invention I make
in the roofing plate two (or more) hollow ribs or projections open at
bottom, the said ribs or projections being at the same distances apart as t
the rafters to which the roofing is to be applied. The heads or closed
tops of the said hollow ribs or projections are angular or nearly lozengo
shape in cross section. Upon the top of each of the rafters of the roof
I fix by means of nails or screws a dovetail or angular metal seat, the
said seat having in cross section a nearly triangular figure. This scat is 1
made by taking a strip of sheet metal and bending its sides at an acute
angle to the bottom or base. A base plate, which is fastened to the
rafter, is thus made provided with inclined sides constituting a dovetail
or inclined seat, the inclined sides of the seat having a shape and sizo
proper for the upper sides of the angular head of the hollow ribs or 1
projections of the roofing plate to engage with.
In fixing the roofing plates made as described to the roof the angular
shaped heads of the ribs or projections in the said plates are engaged by
a sliding motion with the fixed dovetail or inclined seats on the rafters,
the said sents being completely covered and protected by the heads of
the said ribs or projections. The said roofing plates are prevented from
rising vertically by the engagement of the angular shaped heads
described with the fixed seats on the rafters and from sliding off the
said scats by means of a flange on the end of each plate being nailed or
otherwise fastened to the rafter. The flange described at one end of cach
roofing plate is covered by the head of the rib or projection of the next
roofing plate. By this method of constructing and attaching sheet
metal roofing the parts used for connecting the plates to the rafters.
expand and contract equally, and the nails or screws used are concealed
and protected from the weather by the connecting parts of the roofing
plates.
•
Where the roofing plates made as described cannot be engaged with
the fixed seats on the rafters by a sliding motion, I engage the roofing |
plates with the seats before fixing the seats to the rafters, and after the
engaged plates and seats have been put in their places I fasten the seats
to the rafters by means of clips or connecting pieces prolonged below.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Taylor in the Great 'Seal Patent Office on
the 29th August 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
TAYLOR, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Zinc and Gal-
vanized Iron Worker, send greeting.
'
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Taylor, Her special license
thaf I, the said Samuel Taylor, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Samuel Taylor, 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
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN Cox-
STRUCTING AND FIXING SHEET METAL ROOFING," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Samuel 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 bo
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 Samuel Taylor, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in, and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :—
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in

page_text: constructing and fixing sheet metal roofing, my said Invention being
specially applicable to zinc roofing, but may also be applied to gal-
vanized iron and other sheet metal roofing.
In constructing sheet metal roofing according to my Invention, I
make in the roofing plate two (or more) parallel hollow ribs or pro- 5
jections open at bottom, the said ribs or projections being at the same
distances apart as the rafters to which the roofing is to be applied. The
heads or closed tops of the said hollow ribs or projections are angular or
nearly lozenge shape in cross section. Upon the top of each of the
rafters of the roof I fix by means of nails or screws a dovetail or angular 1
metal seat, the said seat having in cross section a nearly triangular
Figure. This seat is made by taking a strip of sheet metal and bending its
sides at an acute angle to the bottom or base. A base plato which is
fastened to the rafter is thus made provided with inclined sides consti-
tuting a dovetail or inclined seat, the inclined sides of the seat having a 1
shape and size proper for the upper sides of the angular head of the
hollow ribs or projections of the roofing plate to engage with.
In fixing the roofing plates made as described to the roof, the angular
shaped heads of the hollow ribs or projections in the said plates are
engaged by a sliding motion with the fixed dovetail or inclined scats on 20
the rafters, the said seats being completely covered and protected by the
heads of the said ribs or projections. The said roofing plates are
prevented from rising vertically by the engagement of the angular
shaped heads with the fixed scats on the rafters, and from sliding off the
said scats by means of a flange on the end or edge of cach plate being 2
nailed or otherwise fastened to the rafter. The flange described at one
end or edge of cach roofing plate is covered by the head of the rib or
projection of the next roofing plate.
Where the roofing plates made as described connot be engaged with
the fixed scats on the rafters by a sliding motion, I engage the roofing 8
plates with the seats before fixing the seats to the rafters, and after the
engaged plates and scats have been put in their places, I faston the scats
to the rafters in any convenient manner.
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to

page_text: Figure 1 represents in perspective a portion of the roof of a railway
station or other similar roof, the sheet metal roofing plates of which aro
constructed and fixed according to my Invention.
Figure 2 represents an edge view of one of the roofing plates
detached.
Figure 8 is a cross section, and Figure 4 a plan drawn of the
full size of one of the rafters of the roof to which a dovetail seat mado
according to my Invention is applied, and Figure 5 represents the same
with a portion of a roofing plate connected therewith.
Figure 6 is a modification of Figure 5.
Figure 7 represents in cross section my Invention applied to the ridgo
of the roof, and Figures 8 and 9 are a modification of my Invention
where the roofing plates cannot be applied to the rafters by a sliding
motion.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in tho soveral
Figures of the Drawing.
a, a, are the rafters, and b, b, are the dovetail or angular metal seats
fixed to the said rafters in the positions best seen in Figure 1. The said
scats 6, 6, aro, fixed to the rafters by the screws c, a washer & being
placed at the bottom of the central trough of the seat, into which tho
heads of the screws are embedded, as represented in the sections. The
said seats 6 are made by taking a strip or plate of metal of the required
length and breadth and bending its sides inwards upon the middle part.
: of the said strip so as to give the said strip the sectional Figuro.
represented. The bending or fashioning of the sheet metal seats 6 is
effected preferably in rolls, but the said seats may be otherwise made.
The roofing plates e to be fixed to the said seats b, b, have two (or more)
parallel hollow ribs or projections f, f, made in them by a rolling or
pressing process, the said hollow ribs or projections being at the same
distances apart as the rafters a, a, as represented. The said hollow
ribs ff, are open at bottom, and the heads or closed tops of the said ribs
are angular or nearly lozenge shape in cross section, as seen in Figures 1,
2, and 5. The angular heads of the ribs or projections f,f, are of a
shapo proper to fit closely upon the inclined portions of the scats b, b,.
fixed on the said rafters. One edge or side of each roofing plato e
terminates in a flange e', and the opposite edge or sido in a hollow rib or

page_text: projection f(see Figure 2). .Instead of making the head of the hollow
ribs or projections f,f, in the roofing plates e, angular, as represented in
Figures 1, 2, and 5, the said heads of the hollow ribs may be curved at
top as represented in Figure 6; the seats 6 to receive the said curved
heads having a corresponding Figure; but I do not limit myself to the
Figuro of the closed tops of the heads of the hollow ribs or pro-
jections f,f.
L
The roofing plates made as described are fixed to the roof in the
following manner :-The seats b, b, having been fastened at the required
places on the rafters a, the heads of the hollow ribs or projections f.f. 1
in the roofing plate are engaged by a sliding motion with the fixed seats
b, b, on the rafters, the said seats b, b, being completely covered and
protected by the heads of the said ribs or projections, as best seen in the
cross sections, Figures 5 and 6. The flange es at one edge of cach
roofing plate e lies flat upon the rafter, and is covered by the head of
the rib or projection at the edge of the next roofing plate (sce
Figures 1, 5, and 6).
By an examination of the Drawing it will bo seen that the roofing
plates e, e, thus constructed and fixed to the rafters a are prevented
from rising vertically by the engaging of the heads of the hollow ribsƒ,ƒ, 2
with the sides of the scats b, b, and from sliding off the said seats by
means of the scats 6 of the next plate being fastened over the flange e³
on the plate last fixed (sco Figure 1). The flanges e³ of the roofing
plates may, however, be fastened to the rafters independently of the
scats b, b.
I
2
. In covering the ridge 7 of the roof according to, my Invention I fix
on the top face of the said ridge dovetail or angular seats 6 of the kind
horcin-before described, and I form the ridgo plato with an angular
head (or curved head), which is engaged by a sliding motion with the
scats 6 on the said ridge, as illustrated in Figure 7. The sides of the 3
ridge plate h are prolonged downwards, and cover the turned-up cnds.
of the roofing plates in the manner illustrated in Figure. 7. .
Where, from obstruction on the roof, the roof plates made according
to my Invention cannot be engaged with the scats on the rafters by'a
sliding motion, I adopt the arrangement represented in perspectivo in 8
Figure 8, and longitudinal section in Figure 9, that, is to say, I provide
I

page_text: the washer or fixing piece i. of the seat b. with a slot ♣ in one end,' and:
prolong the other. end . downwards, and.I fix at. the required places on>
the rafters a.scrows %, with the stoms of which.the slots in the washers.
or fixing pieces i may be engaged by sliding the said washers. I engage:
the roofing plates e with the seats 6 before fixing the soats to the rafters,:
and after placing the combined roofing plates and seats on the rafters -I.
alide the washers or fixing pieces in the troughs of the said slides until
the slots in the ends of the said washers or fixing pieces. engage with
the stems of the fixed screws k. The prolonged ends of the washers
or fixing pieces are next fixed to the rafters by screws. By this means
tho washers .or fixing pieces ; and the seats 6 are securely connected to
the rafters, and the roof plates engaged with the said scats aro also-
secured to the said rafters.
The position of the washer or fixing piece when it is fixed in the
trough of the seat is shown in Figure 8, and the combined roof plate and
seat fastened to the rafter by the washer or fixing piece i is represented
in section, drawn to a larger scale, in Figure 9. Or instead of com-*
bining the seats with the roof plate before placing them on the rafters,
the roof plate alone may be placed on the rafters, and the seats with
their washers or fixing pieces be afterwards engaged by a sliding motion
with the heads of the hollow ribs f, so as thereby to engage the slots
of the washers or fixing pieces with the screws k.
By constructing and attaching sheet-metal roofing according to my
Invention the parts used for connecting the plates to the rafters and
other parts expand and contract equally, and the nails or scrows used aro
concealed and protected from the weather by the connecting parts of the
roofing and other plates.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated,
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention; but I claim as my Invention, the improvements in con-
structing and fixing sheet-metal roofing, herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, making in the
roofing plates, at the same distances apart as the rafters, two or more
parallel hollow ribs or projections open at bottom and having enlarged
heads, and fixing on the rafters angular or dovetail scats, with which

page_text: seats the heads of the hollow ribs or projections of the roofing plates are
engaged by a sliding motion, and fixed substantially as described and
illustrated; also the modification described and illustrated where the
roofing plates cannot be engaged with the seats on the rafters by a
sliding motion, and also the method described and illustrated of con- 5
structing and fixing the ridgo plates of roofs.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Taylor, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
SAMUEL TAYLOR. (L.S.)