IMPROVEMENTS IN COVERING AND CONSTRUCTING BRIDGES, VIADUCTS, FLOORS, AND OTHER STRUCTURES OF A LIKE NATURE WHEN IRON IS USED
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Barlow, of the Midland Railway,
Derby, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COVERING AND CONSTRUCTING
BRIDGES, VIADUCTS, FLOORS, AND OTHER STRUCTURES OF A LIKE NATURE WHEN
IRON IS USED."
Sealed the 24th June 1856, and dated the 22nd March 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Barlow at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd March 1856.
I, WILLIAM HENRY BARLOW, of the Midland Railway, Derby, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COVERING AND
CONSTRUCTING BRIDGES, VIADUCTS, FLOORS, AND OTHER STRUCTURES OF A LIKE
NATURE WHEN IRON IS USED," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in covering and constructing
bridges, viaducts, floors, and other structures of a like nature when iron is
used. For these purposes corrugated structures of iron are employed in place
of wood planking, and also in forming floor girders without other beams or.
girders. For these purposes the horizontal parts which resist by tension do
not, as heretofore in beams, come under the horizontal parts which resist com-
+

page_text: pression. By these means great stiffness and strength are obtained with a
given weight of iron when used for such purposes.
In carrying out these improvements I either use iron rolled into the form
of troughs, with flanges on either side, or I build such trough-like structures
by riviting or combining plain sheet or various forms of angle iron together, so
as to form troughs; and I produce the corrugated covering to the beams or
girders of a bridge, viaduct, floor, or other like structure by combining or
fixing, by rivetting, or otherwise, a series of such trough-like structures side
by side parallel to each other; or I form the whole covering of a bridge,
viaduct, floor, or such like structure without the use of other beams or girders,
by obtaining the requisite stability by the combined corrugated structure
alone.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Henry Barlow in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd September 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY BARLOW, of the Midland Railway, Derby, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Henry Barlow, Her special licence that I, the said
William Henry Barlow, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Henry Barlow, my executors, administrators,
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 COVERING AND CONSTRUCTING BRIDGES, VIADUCTS,
FLOORS, AND OTHER STRUCTURES OF A LIKE NATURE WHEN IRON IS USED," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Henry Barlow, 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 be per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within

page_text: Patent.
Emmediately after the date of the said Letters
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Henry Barlow, 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:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in covering and constructing
bridges, viaducts, floors, and other structures of a like nature when iron is used.
For these purposes corrugated structures of iron are employed in place of wood
planking, and also in forming floor girders without other beams or girders, and
the combination of the parts is such that the horizontal parts which resist by
tension do not, as heretofore in beams, come under the horizontal parts which
resist compression. By these means great stiffness and strength are obtained.
In carrying out these improvements I either use iron rolled into the form of
troughs, with flanches on either side, or I build such trough-like structures by
rivetting or combining plain sheet or various forms of angle iron together, so
as to form troughs; and I produce the corrugated covering to the beams or
girders of a bridge, viaduct, floor, or other like structure by combining or
fixing, by rivetting, or otherwise, a series of such trough-like structures side by
side parallel to each other; or I form the whole covering of a bridge, viaduct,
floor, or such like structure without the use of other beams or girders, by
obtaining the requisite stability by the combined corrugated structure alone.
In carrying this Invention into practice I employ various forms of section.
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 shew the form of section of what I term wrought-iron
planking, which are to be laid side by side so as to form the covering of
bridges, viaducts, or floors, as a substitute for wood planking, cast-iron plates,
and in some cases as a substitute for arches. Figures 5, 6, 7, and 9 shew
the forms of section employed in those cases where it is desirable that
the edges of the wrought-iron planking should overlap each other. Figure 8
shows a method of uniting the pieces or planks to obtain greater strength.
I prefer to make both the upper and lower surfaces flat, to admit of pieces
of iron of similar forms being rivetted or bolted transversely or diagonally
above or below the wrought-iron plauking, so as to make the whole act
as one surface girder. If the wrought-iron planking is laid longitudinally
in great lengths, the joints may be connected by joint plates rolled to fit
the upper or lower side of the wrought-iron planks, and rivetted thereto, so
as to obtain the advantage of continuity in the planking or girders. I do not
confine myself to the particular forms of section shewn.

page_text: Where large spaces or. bearings are to. be covered I.form the upper and
lower surfaces of plates rivetted to intermediate pieces, as shewn in Figures 10
and 11. What I claim is, the building or constructing corrugated girders or
bearing surfaces from flanged or trough iron, as herein' described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Barlow, have hereunto
set
"
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
FREDERIC CAMPION,
Derby.
WILLIAM HENRY BARLOW. (L.S.)