Improvements in the Construction of Horticultural and other Buildings and Ventilation of same.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Oct., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 27th July, 1889-Accepted, 7th Sept., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Construction of Horticultural and other
Buildings and Ventilation of same.
I EDGAR NEWTON of Hitchin in the County of Herts, Sanitary Engineer and
Horticultural Builder, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:
-
My invention consists of an improved construction of building for Horticultural
and other purposes, the objects of the invention being to provide better and more
effective ventilation and also to facilitate the discharge of snow from the roof with-
out causing damage to the eaves gutter, or trough, which frequently happens with
buildings of the usual construction.
I carry out my invention by forming above the plate upon which the eaves gutter
is usually fixed, a convenient number of openings and above those openings, in suit-
able fixings, I place the sash bars to hold the glass roof. In other words, I place the
eaves gutter or trough lower than usual-say 6 or 8 inches-and between the upper
edge of the gutter, and the lower edge of the glass I form a convenient number of
openings. One opening would meet the object of my invention but I find it desirable,
and sometimes necessary, to support the sash bars of the roof at suitable intervals
and thus one long opening becomes divided into a number of shorter ones.
These openings have fitted to them either inside or outside of the house, preferably
on the inside, one or more flaps or shutters hinged at the lower edge.
By this mode of construction, and with the ventilators usually placed at the ridge
or highest part of the building, I obtain a current of air close under the roof.
The flaps or shutters are for closing the openings when a current of air is not
required, and they are actuated and regulated by means of cranks and wires or their
equivalent.
In the event of a fall of snow, the snow will slide freely from off the roof without
coming in contact with, or causing damage to, the gutter.
Dated this 20th days of Ontober 1980
EDGAR NEWTON.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Construction of Horticultural and other
Buildings and Ventilation of the same.
I EDGAR NEWTON of Tilehouse Street Hitchin in the County of Hertford Horti-
cultural Builder do hereby declare the nature of this 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 relates more particularly to improvements in the construction of
Horticultural buildings and conservatories and the like with the object of obtaining
more efficient ventilation in the upper part of the house and also of allowing Snow
to slide from off the roof without causing damage to the rain water trough or
gutter.
In the following description I have assumed that my invention is confined to a
Horticultural building but it is equally applicable to an iron or other building, stable,
cowshed, or the like, where free ventilation in the upper part of the building is
desired.
My invention will be better understood by reference to the annexed drawings.
Fig. 1. represents part of the side of a Horticultural building, partly in section.

page_text: Fig. 2 is a section of the same, upon the line x x Fig. 1, in which the ventilator
is shewn closed.
Fig. 3 is a similar section in which the ventilator is shewn open.
In constructing a Horticultural or other building (hereinafter called a "house")
according to my invention I arrange a rail to run from end to end. This rail is
shewn by d it supports the bars k of the roof and may, or may not, have a rebate
for the ventilator a to shut into. I also arrange a sill which is also rebated. The
ventilator a turns in this rebate p as shewn. The rain water trough or gutter his
attached to the sill f in the usual manner and the side lights, if they are intended
to be opened, and closed, are hinged to the underside of the same sill.
e are posts or blocks morticed into the rail d and into the sill f. It is convenient
to place one under each bark of the roof so as to prevent the rail d from bending,
and, when the. rail d is rebated, from pinching the ventilator a when closed.
The rail d and the sill fare morticed into the standards (one only is shewn) at
each end of the house, if the house be a small one, say from 12 to 15 feet long
and, if desired, one or more intermediate standards, such as s, may be used they
may be morticed into the sill and not carried through to the rail d. In a house of
a greater length than 15 feet it is better to introduce one or more intermediate
standards such as 7. We then run the standards up to the rail d, either (say)
6 feet, or 7 feet 6 inches, apart so that the ventilator a terminates in these, and the
rafters of the roof abut on the face of the standards the silf will in this arrang-
ment have to be fitted to the standards accordingly. Instead of morticing the rail d
into the standards r the standards may be morticed into the rail, and in either case
the joint may be secured by a bolt and nut.
The ventilator a may be a plain board, or a sheet of metal, or it may be a frame,
or sash, fitted with glass; it is "hung," at each end of it, into the standards with
pins and plates, which serve as pivots, the axis being in the rebate p in the sill f, or
it may be attached to the sill by means of hinges placed at intervals, or it may be
a simple detached shutter to be put up, and taken down, by band, turnbuckles, or
buttons, being employed to keep the same in place. When the ventilator a is pivotted,
or hinged, a means of regulating the extent to which the same may be opened must
be provided. This may consist of an ordinary skylight stay, when the ventilator is a
small one, but I prefer the arrangement shewn in Figs. 2 and 3. The Ventilator, if
there be but one, or each ventilator if more than one, is either pivotted to the standards r,
or is binged to the sill as hereinbefore described, and is actuated by the jointed
levers and c. The lever bis jointed at one end to a bracket n which is attached to
the inside of the ventilator a near the upper edge, the other end of the lever being
jointed to one end of the lever c. The other end of the lever c is secured to a rod or
shaft by a key, or feather, m or by a set screw. The rod or shaft runs from end to
end of the house and is carried in brackets q fixed at convenient intervals along the
sill f. Collars held by set screws, or split pins and washers, may be used to prevent
the rod or shaft having a lateral motion. The rod or shaft 7 is made to project
through the house at one, or both, ends and the end of the rod is squared so that by
applying a handle, lever, or spanner, the rod may be turned upon its axis. By this
means the ventilator, or all the ventilators should there be more than one in the side
of a house, can be operated and regulated from the outside of the house, an important
advantage where, for any reason, it is undesirable that a person should enter the
house. Similar means for operating and regulating the ventilators can be provided
inside the house when required.
The trough or gutter for catching the rain water is attached in the usual manner
to the sill and it will be seen that by placing the trough in this position an accu-
mulation of snow will glide from off the roof of the house without coming in contact
with the gutter.
A house constructed according to my invention will require a ventilator, or venti-
lators, at or near the ridge, or highest part of the house, to allow of the outlet of
heated air; fresh air will then find its way through the open spaces t, as. indicated

page_text: by the arrow in Fig. 3. Vines, climbing plants, and the like should be trained at a
sufficient distance below the roof so that the current of fresh air shall pass between
the foliage and the roof.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :-
1. The method of ventilating a Horticultural or other building by means of a
ventilator, or ventilators, situated between the eaves and the rain water trough so
that a current of air may flow close under the roof, in the manner substantially as
hereinbefore described and illustrated.
2. In a Horticultural or other building the combination of the rail d, the sill f
and the blocks e, with the ventilator a and its actuating levers and c, and shaft I, and
brackets all substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated.
3. In a Horticultural or other building the combination of the ventilator a, the
levers b and c, the shaft I, and the bracket q, for the purpose, and in the manner,
substantially as herein before described and illustrated.
4. In a Horticultural or other building the combination of the rail d, the blocks e,
and the sill, with a ventilator of the kind hereinbefore described for the purpose,
and in the manner, substantially as herein before described and illustrated.
Dated this Twenty sixth day of July One thousand eight hundred and eighty
nina
EDGAR NEWTON.