AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN BUILDINGS CALCULATED TO RENDER THEM LESS LIKELY TO. BE, DESTROYED, OF INJURED BY FIRE THAN HERETOFORE
Year: 1825

page_text: FARROWS SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE. PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
FARBOW,, of Great. Tower, Street; in the City of London, Ironmonger, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty. King George the Fourth, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Nineteenth day of February now
last past, did give and grant unto me, the said Benjamin Farrow, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Benjamin
Farrow, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the
said Benjamin Farrow, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
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 Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN
BUILDINGS CALCULATED TO RENDER THEM LESS LIKELY TO. BE, DESTROYED, OF
INJURED BY FIRE THAN HERETOFORE;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said Benjamin Farrow, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar mouths next and immediately after the date

page_text: of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Benjamin Farrow, do herely declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is described and
ascertained by the Drawings hereto annexed and as follows, that is to say:-
Fig. 1 represents the side view of a wrought-iron joist, suitable to sustain the
floor of any fireproof building. It is composed of two bars rivetted together.
Fig. 2 also shews a side view of a similar joist, but in this Figure the bars
are separated that the projecting studs a, a, may be more plainly seen. These
enter corresponding holes b, b, shewn by dotted lines in the lower bar, and
when placed therein are firmly rivetted. The bottom bar A has its ends c, c,
bent downwards at right angles that they may enter cavities cut to receivo
them in bonding stones placed in the walls of any building, where they are
fixed by running lead in the cavities to secure them.
Fig. 3 represents a section of Figure 1 taken through the line d, d. It
will be seen that the lower bar A projects on each side and thereby forms a
ledge to support either flat stones, bricks, or any other incombustible material
suitable to form a floor with.
floor formed with my
Fig. 4 shews a plan or bird's-eye view of part of
new wrought-iron joists. B, B, are squared Yorkshire or other flagstones laid
upon the projecting ledges, shown by dotted lines at e, e. C, C, represents the
common red flooring bricks which may be used instead of the stones before
described. In either case a thin bed of good mortar or Roman cement
should be laid upon the ledges, and upon this the stones or bricks should be
carefully laid, there being also a sufficient quantity of mortar or cement put
down the sides to form a close joint. When this is done, the cavities on the
upper side must be made good by Roman cement, and then the whole will
form an excellent floor completely fireproof, and that without the aid of
arches, which always take up so much room as to render them very objec-
tionable, while the necessity of forming sufficient abutments add very con-
siderably to the expence.
Fig. 5 shews a perspective view of part of a building constructed with
my improved wrought-iron joists. D, E, F, represent three walls of brick,
forming three sides of an apartment, the front wall being removed in order to
shew the construction more plainly. G, G, G, represent the edge bars of
three joists, between which are fixed the flagstones B, B, B. Where it is
required, a boarded floor may be laid upon this, as shewn at H, H, and being
dowelled, it must be screwed down in a few places to small pieces of iron let

page_text: into the stones at proper places. The skirting being applied as usual will
sufficiently secure the sides and make the whole complete. But in the case
of using boards over the stones, the edge or upper bars should be made deep
enough to be at least half an inch above the stones, and then the under sides
of the boards should be grooved to receive them, which will tend very greatly
to keep them steady and immoveable. It will be evident that such a floor
might be completely destroyed by fire without injuring any other part of the
building. The under sides of the stones should be jagged or stabbed with a
pointed tool, which will be sufficient to cause the plaster forming the ceiling
to hold without any lathing, as shewn at I, I, where a portion of the ceiling
is represented as complete, while the part shewn at K, K, is in a proper state
to be so completed. The whole flooring, when thus formed, will not be more
than five inches thick, which will be a considerable saving in the height of
rooms when compared with floors constructed with timber joists. It will be
evident that joists thus constructed and applied must effectually prevent the
walls from going out, the whole being so firmly tied together. The roofs of
buildings may be constructed in the same manner, having a very slight incli-
nation towards that side that it may be convenient to let the rain water pass
off at, but when the stones are carefully laid between the joists, and all the
joints made good, then a coat of Roman cement should be laid over the whole,
so as to form one uniform smooth and even surface. Where floors are not
required to be more than fourteen or sixteen feet span, malleable iron bars
may be obtained ready formed from the rolling mill, in one entire piece, of the
shape or form shewn in Fig. 1; of course rivetting will be unnecessary. All
that will be necessary is to turn down the ends of the lower or broad part of
the bar at right angles, as shewn at c, c, in Figure 2. But where greater
lengths are necessary, then the necessity of using stronger bars will make the
plan of uniting them, by rivetting, preferable.
And in order to identify and distinguish my Invention more clearly, I
hereby declare that it consists entirely in the application of wrought or
malleable iron bars, formed or combined, as shewn in the Drawings hereunto
annexed, by the use of which, in the manner and way I have described,
buildings of every description may be rendered less likely to be destroyed or
injured by fire than heretofore.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Farrow, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twelfth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.
BENJAMIN (L.s.) FARROW.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the-same-Twelfth day of August; in
the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Benjamin Farrow came before our
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification 'aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also
the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute
in that case made and provided.
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