IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC ROOPING FOR BUILDINGS, AND IN APPENDAGES TO ROOFS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis North Clerk, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC
ROOPING FOR BUILDINGS, AND IN APPENDAGES TO ROOFS."
Sealed tho 22nd May 1857, and dated tho 26th November 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis North Clerk at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th November 1856.-
I, FRANCIS NORTH CLERK, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN METALLIC ROOFING FOR BUILDINGS AND IN APPENDAGES TO ROOFS," to be as
follows:-
In making metal roofing plates, I raise a boss or projection in such parts of
the plate as it may be intended to pass nails through. The said raised part or
projection I prefer to make of a square figure, and in conjunction with fluted
or plain plates of metal. I support the channel or gutter, by which water is
conducted from the roof, in a wrought or malleable cast-iron bracket, which
said bracket is capable of adjustment. I make the rain-water head, that
receives the water conveyed through the gutter, by the process of stamping;
the front being in one piece, and the back and bottom put in so as to avoid

page_text: joints in the front. The pipe or continuation of the rain-water head I make
with a moveable ear, so constructed that it may be fastened with facility. The
said car has a slot or slots somewhat resembling a bayonet joint, which permit
of its being dropped on rivets or screws fixed in the pipe, and thus readily
fastened.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Francis North Clerk in the Great Seal Patent Office on tho
23rd May 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
NORTH CLERK, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Hér heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Francis North Clerk, Her special licence that I, the said Francis North Clerk,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis
North Clerk, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any timo
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
METALLIC ROOFING FOR BUILDINGS AND IN APPENDAGES TO Roors," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Francis North Clerk, 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 performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Francis North Clerk, do 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:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in the following method of making metal
roofing plates for roofing buildings: I construct the said roofing plates in
the ordinary manner, excepting that I raise a boss or projection in such part

page_text: of the plate as it is intended to pass a nail or other fastening through, for
the purpose of fastening the said plates to wood or iron framing. The said
boss or raised part may be made by the ordinary processes of stamping,
pressing, or raising metals. I prefer to make the said boss or projection of
a square or oval form, but do not limit myself to any particular shape. The
said boss or projection may be used either in conjunction with plain plates of
metal or with fluted plates of metal. When metal roofing plates are con-
structed according to my Invention, the said boss, projection, or raised part
deflects any water which may fall upon the roof, and prevents it from entering
the nail hole.
My Invention consists, secondly, of a rain-water head, for receiving water
from the caves gutters of the roof, constructed in the following manner:-I
form the front and sides of the said head of one piece of metal, which I form
or fashion into the required shape by stamping or by pressure. The back of
the said head is made of a second piece of metal, which is attached to the
other part by soldering or otherwise. I make the head, by preference, by
stamping from sheet iron and other suitable materials, and after the head is.
completed I paint or coat it or cover it with tin, zinc, or other preserving
metal or material. I fix a nozzle or short pipe at the bottom of the head to
facilitate the conveyance of water to the pipe on which the head is fixed..
Rain-water heads made according to my Invention are made at little cost and
are more durable than rain-water heads made according to the ordinary
method. The small number of junctions in rain-water heads made according
to my Invention, and the coating of the same with a preserving material,
makes them very durable.
My Invention consists, thirdly, of a moveable ear for fastening rain-water
pipes to the wall or other portion of the building. I cut one or two slots in
the oar or fastening, and fix one or two rivets on the pipe; the corresponding
slot on the ear is easily adjusted at the time of fixing such slots in the ear, so
as to be of a form and size best adapted to fit the rivets on the pipe. The
rivets are rigidly fixed on the pipe, but the ears, being made separate from the
pipe, need not be fitted thereon till the pipe is about to be put up. Ears con-
structed according to my Invention are capable of being adjusted or fixed to
pipes without the use of tools. This method of construction is particularly
applicable to pipes which require to be packed for exportation, as they occupy
littlo room, and save both space and cost of freight.
My Invention consists, fourthly, of a bracket or holdfast for securing or
holding eaves gutters and preventing them from leaking. I make the said
bracket of wrought iron, and construct thereon a shoulder to allow the gutter

page_text: to go up close. Over the said shoulder is a separate pin, to be screwed or
pressed down to the gutter by means of a screw bolt and nut; or one portion
of the bracket may contain a shoulder or suitable holding for the ends of
gutters, made in malleable cast iron, so formed as to secure the ends of the
gutters against leakage, by having an indentation or groove to receive the ends
of the gutters; the said shoulder may either be fixed or moveable, and a nut
and screw bolt may be employed for fastening the gutter. In the spike, or that
part of the bracket which is driven into the wall or upright, I make a slot or
groove at right angles to the eaves gutter, the said slot or groove allowing the
eaves gutter to be moved either closer to or further from the eaves line of roof,
thus allowing the gutter or receptacle for the water to be adjusted without the
spike or driving part of the bracket being moved after it has been fixed in the
wall or upright. The said slot may be cut or cast of a suitable size without
weakening the bracket or support for the gutter. The advantages of the
shoulder bracket described are, that it prevents leakage, and supersedes the
present expensive and uncertain method of fastening wrought iron, or zinc, or
coated iron gutters, either by the ordinary plan of slip jointing, or forming the
ends of gutters in a groove.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood. that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied with-
out departing from the nature of my said Invention; but I claim as my
Invention,
Firstly, making a raised boss or convex indentation in sheets of metal used
for roofing buildings, in which said boss or indentation, and near the centre
thereof, is made the nail or screw hole by which the plate is fastened in its
place, as herein-before described.
Secondly, constructing rain-water heads of iron or coated iron, by stamping
or raising the front and sides from one piece of metal, and connecting the back
thereto, and finishing the whole in the manner herein-before described..
Thirdly, making the ears of rain-water pipes separable from the said pipes,
so that the said ears may readily be removed from or connected with the said
pipes by means of rivets fixed on the said pipes engaging in slots in the said
ears, as herein-before described.'
Lastly, constructing brackets of wrought or cast or malleable cast iron for
rain-water pipes, in the manner before described, the said brackets receiving the
ends of the gutters, and affording facilities for securing the same and preventing
leakage; also making slots or grooves in the spike or driving part of the
bracket so as to allow the gutter to be adjusted to a suitable distance from

page_text: the wall, and fixing the gutter to the bracket by means of a screw and screw
nut, as herein described.
In witness whercof, I, the said Francis North Clerk, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
FRANCIS NORTH CLERK. (L.S.)
Witness,
THOMAS ROYSE LYSAGHT.