IMPROVED METHOD OF ERECTING HOT-HOUSES AND ALL HORTICULTURAL BUILDINGS, AS ALSO THE MAKING OF PINE, PITT, AND CUCUMBER LIGHTS
Year: 1813

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
TIMMINS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer of
Sashes for Houses, Hot and Green Houses, Garden Frames, and Hand
Glasses, Skylights, Fanlights, Church Windows, Book Case Doors, and Shop
Fronts, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third did, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventh day of
April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirteen,
and in the fifty-third of His reign, for Himself and His successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James Timmins, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, His special licence, full power, sole priviledge and authority,
that I, the said James Timmins, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my "IMPROVED METHOD OF ERECTING HOT-HOUSES AND
ALL HORTICULTURAL BUILDINGS, AS ALSO THE MAKING OF PINE, PITT, AND CUCUMBER
LIGHTS;" in which Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said James Timmins, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two

page_text: calendar months next and inmediately after the date of the said recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Timmins, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is described and ascer-
tained in manner herein-after mentioned, and in and by the Drawings hereunto
annexed:-
Figure 1 is a perspective sketch of the framing of a hot-house, and Figure 2
a transverse section of it, the different parts of which I execute in manner
following (that is to say)-For my rafters (except those at each end of the
house) I take a bar of wrought iron, of width and thickness suitable to any
purpose, but generally about five inches wide and one quarter of an inch in
thickness, and of length suitable to the width of the hot-house or other
building I have to make, and form it as at Figure 3, of which a, a, are
shoulders to rest on the wall plates, and b, b, are screws to pass through them.
I then take a piece of copper or mixture of metals, in which copper forms
the principal part, rolled of proper length, breadth, and thickness to cover the
under side of my iron Figure 3, which I pass under a press of suflicient force
one or more times to give it the impression of hollow and astragal or any
form I may prefer. This metallic moulding from the press appears at Figure 4;
and to avoid repetition I hereby declare that all the metal casings herein-after
described by me as necessary in compleating my work is of the aforesaid
description (that is to say) copper or combination of metals in which copper is
the principal, generally called gilding or dipping metal. I next provide a
piece of rolled metal as aforesaid, of length, width, and thickness suitable to
my purpose to cover the upper side of my rafter, which I likewise pass under
the press one or more times, and also through a pair of drawing tools, which
gives it the form as at Figure 3. The iron bar, as described at Figure 3, is
then placed within the metal casings Figures 4 and 5, and the whole being
passed through a set of drawing tools, a process well known to mechanics,
is firmly bound together, and receives the form shewn by a section of the
rafter at Figure 6. The end rafter I make as follows:-I take a bar of
wrought iron suitable to my purpose, generally about six inches wide and
half an inch thick, and of length proportioned to the width of the house. I
then case it with metal, as before described, and passing it through a set
of drawing tools gives it the form as shewn by a section of it, Figure 7.
I next make the uprights or supports of the roof in manner following:-
first take a bar of wrought iron of length suitable to the design of the house,

page_text: and about one inch and a quarter wide and five eighths of an inch thick, in
which I form a groove, as at a, Figure 8. This I case or cover with metal in
manner as before described. I then prepare a piece of metal in form as B,
Figure 8, which, being forced by the press into the groove of Figure 8, forms
a rabit or hunching to receive the lights or frames, as shewn at section,
Figure 9. In like manner I make my uprights for bevel'd ends, also sills and
door jambs. The front and back wall plates I make as follows:-For the
front plate I take a bar of wrought iron of size suitable to my purpose, which
I cover with metal, and by passing it through the drawing tools give the form
as appears by a section of it, Figure 10. The wall plate for the back part of the
building being built in the wall, I merely provide a bar of wrought iron of suffi-
cient strength, through which I pass at proper distances one end of the rafters.
The roof, frames, front, and bevill'd end lights, Figures 11, 12, and 13, are
made as hercin-after mentioned. I prepare a piece of wood of a suitable size,
to the end of which I screw a mortice or tennant made of copper or mixed
metal as aforesaid, for the purpose of putting them together. I then take a.
piece of rolled metal of sufficient, length and width to case or cover the wood
and also the mortice and tennants, and passing them through a set of drawing
tools to fix the casing, and form the rabits to receive the glass, it appears as
at Figures 14 and 15, which are sections of head sills, slates, and stiles, and
are afterwards put together by soldering the mortice and tennants; but the
wood so used in making my frames is useful only in keeping my mortices and
tennants together until I have united and soldered them, and not for any pur-
poses of strength or durability. After making the roof, frames, fronts, and
bevilled end lights, they are subdivided with metal bars for glazing; but I do
not claim the bars as a part of my Invention.
Having given a particular description of the manner in which I make
the rafters, wall plates, uprights, door jambs, and sells, I proceed to
state how they are put together:-First, the sill being formed to. the
size of the intended building, I make holes through it to receive one end
of the uprights, the other end of the uprights being fixed to the wall plate by
a screw. The rafters are laid with their projecting parts a, a, in Figure 3,
resting on the wall plates, and the screws b, b, passing through them.
I next pass one or more strong iron rods through the whole of the rafters
as at a, a, Figure 1. When the whole is screwed together, the frame of the
building is complete, firm, and strong, and has the appearance given in
Drawing, Figure 1, and is ready to receive the lights.
The object of this my Invention is to do away the complaints so justly made
against the decay of wood and corrosion of cast iron, by exposing nothing to

page_text: the internal steam of the house or external damps of the atmosphere but
copper, or a combination of metals wherein copper is the principal. The
framing of the buildings is not half the size of cast iron, or one third the size
of wood. Thus the gardener obtains his first object, the greatest degree of sun
and light, and the proprietor great durability and usefulness.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Timmins, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of May, One thousand eight 'hundred
and thirteen
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of May, in the
fifty-third year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third, the said
James Timmins came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and
acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein con-
tained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the
forty-eighth year of His said Majesty's reign.
Inrolled the Seventeenth day of May, One thousand eight hundred and
thirteen.