IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE FLOORS OF SKATING RINKS.
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Alfred Cowper, of No. 6, Great George Street,
Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE FLOORS OF SKATING RINKS.'
"
Sealed the 17th March 1876, and dated the 22nd January 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Alfred Cowper at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd January 1876.
EDWARD ALFRED COWPER, of No. 6, Great George Street, Westminster, in the
County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FLOORS OF SKATING RINKS."
The floors of skating rinks as commonly constructed for roller skates are open to
very serious objections, whether they are formed of wood, asphalte, Portland cement,
Keen's cement, slate, marble, or other substances, as they are so hard and unyielding
as to cause very serious injury to persons falling heavily upon them, and for the
same reason are very noisy when many persons are skating on them with
roller skates, and they are all open to great objections from the imperfections
of the joints of the material, as all cements, and slate, and marble split off or crack
at the edges of a joint, and the boards of a wood floor commonly move past one
another at a joint as the weight of a person passes from one board to another owing
to the want of a proper connection of the parts, and this is quite perceptible to the
skater, and causes a considerable hindrance to his progress.
Now my Invention has for its object to make a much safer floor, or one on which
persons could not possibly injure themselves to anything like the same extent as on
a common floor, whilst at the same time it presents a much more uniform and
perfect surface for skating on, and at the same time a floor that would leaden all
sounds produced on its surface. I construct the surface of a floor complete in itself,
without joists, and then support it on springs on any good foundation, such as
joists or girders, so that it may spring or yield as inuch or more than good ice will,
and in case of a person falling heavily on it would spring to a considerable extent,
according to the strength of the springs or the degree to which they were adjusted,
as the weight of a small portion of the floor would not be great in itself, and would
not therefore present a large amount of vis inertia or anything approaching the
resistance of an ordinary wooden floor. The springs may be of any convenient form
or material, and may extend in lines or be placed at many points below the floor;
thus, flat springs may extend from joist to joist continuously or at intervals, and

page_text: .
the floor be supported on the springs, or a continuous line of springs or spiral springs
or material that will spring, may be placed along the tops of the joists, such as
india-rubber tubing with or without air inside or solid india-rubber, or cushions of
horsehair, wool, steel wire, or other substances, and then screws are to be intro-
duced from below to screw the floor down on to the springs with a certain limited
force, so that the floor shall not spring or yield too much on a person passing over
it. The surface of the floor I prefer to construct of two or three thicknesses of thin
narrow boards laid across each other at an angle, and well nailed or screwed together
from below, so as to form a very uniform and true surface, and at the same time a
light floor, whilst from the fact of any two adjacent top boards being supported at
all points by a board below at an angle to them they cannot move up or down
independently of each other."
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Edward Alfred Cowper in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st
July 1876.
EDWARD ALFRED COWPER, of No. 6, Great George Street, Westminster, in the
County of Middlesex. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FLOORS OF SKATING RINKS."
"
The floors of skating rinks as commonly constructed for foller skates are open to
very serious objections, whether they are formed of wood, asphalte, Portland cement,
Keen's cement, slate, marble, or other substances, as they are so hard and unyielding
as to cause very serious injury to persons falling heavily upon them, and for the
same reason are very noisy when many persons are skating on them with roller
skates, and they are all open to great objections from the imperfections of the joints
of the material, as all cements, and slate, and marble' split off or crack at the edges
of a joint, and the boards of a wood floor commonly move past one another at a
joint as the weight of a person passes from one board to another, owing to the want
of a proper connection of the parts, and this is quite perceptible to the skater, and
causes a considerable hindrance to his progress.
Now my Invention has for its object to make a much safer floor, or one on which
persons could not possibly injure themselves to anything like the same extent as on
a common floor, whilst at the same time it presents a much more uniform and
perfect surface for skating on, and at the same time a floor that would deaden all
sounds produced on its surface. I construct the surface of a floor complete in
itself, without joints, and then support it on springs on any good foundation, such
as joists or girders, so that it may spring or yield as much or more than good ice;
will, and in case of a person falling heavily on it would spring to a considerable
extent, according to the strength of the springs or the degree to which they were
adjusted, as the weight of a small portion of floor would not be great in itself,
and would not therefore present a large amount of vis inertia, or anything
approaching the resistance of an ordinary wood floor. The springs may be of any
convenient form or material, and may extend in lines or be placed at many points
below the floor; thus, flat springs may extend from joist to joist continuously, or at
intervals, and the floor be supported on the springs or a continuous line of springs
or spiral springs, or material that will spring may be placed along the tops of the
joists, such as india-rubber tubing, with or without air inside, or solid india-rubber,
or cushions of horsehair, wool, steel wire, or other substances, and then screws are
to be introduced from below to screw the floor down on to the springs with a certain
limited force, so that the floor shall not spring or yield too much on a person passing
over it. The surface of the floor I prefer to construct of two or three thicknesses of
thin narrow boards laid across cach other at an angle, nailed or screwed together
from below, so as to form a very uniform surface, and at the same time a light
floor, whilst from the fact that the top boards being supported at all points by a

page_text: board below at an angle they cannot move up or down independently of each
other. A double floor of this kind gives a surface of nearly uniform strength and
elasticity, and I therefore prefer it to a single thickness of boarding, though a floor
of a single thickness is likewise capable of being supported on springs according to
my Invention. In securing together the several thicknesses of boards to form the
floor screws or nails may be put in from below, in which case neither the nails, the
screw heads, nor the holes for them will show on the upper surface. Nails however
may be put in from above in an oblique direction, so as not to show on the upper
surface. It is of advantage to provide a space below the floor or between the joists
supporting it for access underneath to the screws and springs. This however is not
essential, as the spring floor can be put down on an old floor of wood, asphalt,
cement, or other material, without any space below it except what is required for
the springs. In such a case the screws or nails are inserted from above, and a new
spring floor may thus be expeditiously and easily placed over an old floor without
raising the level more than several inches, so that existing rinks can thus in a very
short time be greatly improved in respect of the skating surface, and be rendered
safe instead of dangerous to the skaters.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1, Sheet I., is a plan, and Fig. 2 a section of part of a floor constructed
according to my Invention, laid upon an ordinary floor of cement, asphalt, or other
material. a and bare two thicknesses or layers of boards, crossing at right angles,
securely fastened together, and resting upon india-rubber tubes laid at regular
intervals upon the existing surface d.
Fig. 3 is a section, and Fig. 4 a plan to an enlarged scale of the said floor shewing
details of construction. The boards forming the upper layer a are made with
grooves, and preferably solid tongues, and are firmly attached to the lower layer of
boards by nails driven in obliquely at the edge of each board as it is laid, the other
edge being kept down by the tongue of the board previously laid, so that no board
can be depressed below or rise above its neighbour.
In Figs. 5 and 6 is shewn a like floor resting on solid strips of india-rubber C¹
applied as springs instead of tubes..
In Figs. 7 and 8 detached blocks of india-rubber Care arranged in lines at regular
intervals instead of continuous strips. In this construction I prefer to place upon
the india-rubber blocks thin strips of wood c to assist in distributing the support to
the floor. These strips however may be dispensed with.
Figs. 9 and 10 shew the application of spiral springs c³ in place of india-rubber
blocks. Strips of wood e for distributing the support may be used, as in the last
casc.
Figs. 11 and 12 shew flat springs of steel c' applied preferably in conjunction
with the distributing strips c.
Fig. 13, Sheet 11., is a plan, and Fig. 14 a section of part of a spring floor sup-
ported upon joists g, with a space below the floor. The joists y are supported on
cross joists or beams resting upon brick piers, and are connected together at their
ends by fish plates of wood or iron l. A rigid and uniform support for the springs
is thus obtained. In this case the two layers of boards a, b, may be fastened
together by screws or nails put in from below, instead of skew nails, as described
above, and the grooving and tonguing of the boards may be dispensed with. Tho
springs are laid upon the joists, and may be of any of the kinds described above,
such as flat steel springs c', shewn in Figs. 15 and 16, Sheet III., or spiral springs,
shewn in Figs. 17 and 18; caoutchouc lubes c, as in Figs. 19 and 20; caoutchouc
solid strips c', as in Figs. 21 and 22; or detached caoutchouc blocks c, as shewn in
Figs. 23 and 24. It is obvious that springs of forms and materials other than those
described may be employed.
Figs. 25 and 26 shew an arrangement of springs formed of flat strips of wood f
laid transversely upon the joists g. These stips may be either in continuous lengths

page_text: extending over several joists, or may be short detached pieces, each extending only
from one joist to the next. The floor is supported on packing pieces h, resting on the
middle of each strip or midway between the joists, and these packing pieces may be
either continuous strips, as shewn, or may be detached blocks.
Figs. 27 and 28 shew springs or cushions of horsehair claid in continuous
lengths between the floor and the joists. A floor supported on joists may be drawn
down by screws, so as to compress the springs to any desired degree, and thus limit
the amount of yielding of the floor.
Various arrangements may be employed for this purpose, several of which arc
shewn on Sheet III., Figs. 15 to 24.
In Figs. 15 and 16, Sheet III., wrought-iron straps m are placed under the
joists g, and have screws passed through holes in their ends up into the floor.
In Figs. 17, 18, 19, and 20 the screws are passed through fillets or strips of
wood o secured by screws to the sides of the joista.
In Figs. 21 and 22 the screws n are passed through iron plates p fixed on the
upper faces of the joists g.
In Figs. 23 and 24 the screws n are passed through pieces of angle iron q fixed
to each side of the joists.
Other convenient arrangements of holding down screws may be employed.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, I would have it understood that I make no claim to the con-
struction of double floors such as I have described when these floors are made
without springs, as floors of this kind known as Victoria floors have been in use for
many years, but I claim, constructing floors of skating rinks used for roller skates
with spring or elastic supports, substantially as and for the purposes herein set
forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Alfred Cowper, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
EDWARD ALFRED COWPER. (L.S.)