Improvements in Tie-joints.
Year: 1894

page_text: Improvements in Tie-joints.
communication by WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE, of Flushing, in the County of
Queens and State of New York, United States of America, Mechanical
Engineer.
I, William Phillips THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of The Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, of 6 Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street,
Manchester both in the County of Lancaster and 31 High Holborn in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
nvention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
lescribed and ascertained in and by the following statement:—
This invention relates to a tie-joint for the upright and horizontal members of
rames, and for binding together parts, sides or sections made up of the said
nembers to form structures which shall be capacitated to hold themselves together,
thereby dispensing with the usual permanent extraneous fastenings and adapting
the structures to be taken apart or to pieces, or leveled and the members which
make up the frames separated for packing, storage, transportation &c.
The object of the invention is to provide a tie-joint for frames, structures &c.,
in which the elements constituting the joint shall be contained in or form part of
the members or pieces that make up the frames and which are adapted to be put
together without fitting and secured without extraneous devices.
In the accompanying drawing
:-
Figure 1 represents in perspective a frame composed of upright and horizontal
members or pieces connected together by means of this improved tie-joint and
forming a rectangular frame.
Figure 2 is a plan of the frame.
Figure 3 an enlarged detail view of the tie-joint.
Figure 4 an enlarged view of an end of one of the horizontal members showing
a notch which forms an element in the tie-joint.
Referring to the drawing, A. designates the upright of the frame work which
may be round in cross-section as shown, or square or of other polygonal figure if
preferred or desired. B B' designate members whose ends are conjoined and tied
together and to an upright A. The upright members have staples S inserted in
them in line with each course or set of horizontal members which compose the
sides, parts or sections of the frame. These staples may be on the exterior surface
of the upright, but in some cases they may be placed inside. As shown in the
drawing they are placed outside whereby the tie-joints are formed on the exterior
of the corners of the frame, whereas by placing the staples in an opposite position,
that is, projecting inwardly, the tie-joints will fall on the inside of the frame-work.
Each of these modes of placing the tie-joint is specially adapted to certain kinds
of frames, and one or the other will be used as circumstances and the particular
article to be made shall require.
To make the tie joint T, the members B B¹ are placed horizontally outside (or
inside if the staples are so placed) of the upright A, which form the corners of the
frame-work, and the adjoining ends of the said members are passed through the
staples one above the other and crossing each other at an angle corresponding to
the angle of the sides of the frame to each other.
When the adjoining ends of the horizontal members are all passed through the

page_text: staples of the corner uprights, as shown in Figure 1, each of the said members
have two bearing points, viz.: against the periphery or adjacent tangential point a
of the upright, and the inner or keeper side of the staple. Thus as the ends of
the members B B¹ cross each other in the staple, the keeper side is held in the
angle between the two ends, while the upright is hell in the inside angle formed
by the two members and a tie-joint is formed between each of the horizontal
members and the uprights at the corners. When all the corners are thus formed
and two or more lines of horizontal members are connected with the uprights, a
frame is formed or erected which is strong and self-fastening. The members B B¹
bear against the points a b with sufficient force to give firmness and stability to the
joint, and thereby to make the frame when completed stiff and rigid. The
application of this invention to the making of articles is illustrated by Fig. 1,
the corner uprights being designated by the letters A A A A, and the horizontal
members by the letters B, B', B B' for each course or line, and the staples by the
letters S. As there are two lines of horizontal members, two tie-joints T T are
formed at each corner or eight in all, and the rectangular frame-work thus formed
is a firm, rigid and self-supporting structure. The sides of the frame-work may
be tapered if required by making the horizontal members of the upper or lower
planes longer or shorter. By properly adjusting the length of the staples S with
respect to the periphery of the uprights, that is, by making the distance from the
centre of the upright to the inside of the keeper side of the staple a little less
than the distance from the same point to the tangential point a a slight pressure will
be required to pass the ends of the member B B₁ through the staples and the
additional friction thus produced and the elasticity of the members will make the
joints stronger and the frame more rigid and inflexible. A still firmer and
stronger joint can be made by a provision of making the ends of the horizontal
pieces B B at the points of contact with the upright recessed as at R, either
circular if the uprights are round, or square, if that is the form of the uprights.
By this an absolute correctness of making the frame always the same will be
attained, and the stiffness and rigidity of the same will be increased by reducing
the lateral strain of tearing the horizontal pieces out of their bearing in the
staples.
In the case of all the tie-joints shown in Figure 2 this recess is formed in the
pieces B B¹ as the preferred though not necessarily the invariable form. Where
used it is obvious that the pieces B B' cannot slip lengthwise and thereby break
the joint.
To set up a structure, such as that shown in Figure 1, the horizontal
members B B B' of three sides are first placed with their ends through the
staples. One end of each of the members B₁ B₁ (say) of the fourth side is passed
through the staples at one corner with the upright in the recess, the opposite ends
are then swung around and by a slight pressure forced through the staples at the
other corner the uprights at this corner being pressed outward slightly to admit
the ends of B1 B₁ into the staples-until the recesses receive the uprights. The
strain required to put the last horizontal member in place is very slight and
is necessary to bring all the joints up tight & prevent the horizontals from
slipping out.
Having now particularly described & ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion & in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. A tie-joint for frames consisting of an upright provided with a staple pro-
jecting radially or diagonally therefrom, and horizontal members having their
adjoining ends passed through the staples from opposite sides of the upright, and
crossing each other between the staples and uprights, and bearing against
tangential parts of the uprights and the keeper side of the staple, thereby forming
angles between which the staples and uprights are held, substantially as specified.
2. A tie-joint for frames consisting of an upright provided with a staple

page_text: projecting radially or diagonally therefrom, and horizontal pieces having their
adjoining ends, which are provided with recesses, passed through the staples at
right angles to each other from opposite sides of the upright, and with the recesses
embracing the upright, thereby forming angles between which the staples and
uprights are held, substantially as specified.
3. A structure composed of corner uprights provided with radially or diagonally
projecting staples and horizontal members having adjoining ends passed through
the staples in the uprights from opposite sides of the upright and bearing against
tangential points of the uprights and the keeper sides of the staples, whereby the
staples and uprights of each corner of the structure are held between the horizontal
members, and the several uprights are bound together by the horizontal members,
substantially as specified.
Dated this 3rd day of December 1894.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents.