IMPROVEMENTS IN BUILDINGS, BUILDING CONSTRUCTIONS, AND BUILDING MATERIALS, INCLUDING GIRDERS, BEAMS, AND JOISTS, AND IN MEANS, MODES, AND PROCESSES CONNECTED THEREWITH.
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thaddeus Hyatt at the Office of th
Commissioners of Patents on the 18th September 1879.
THADDEUS HYATT, of 21, Addison Gardens, N., Kensington, London, in the
County of Middlesex, Inventor and Patent Light Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN BUILDINGS, BUILDING CONSTRUCTIONS, AND BUILDING MATERIALS, INCLUDING
GIRDERS, BEAMS, AND JOISTS, AND IN MEANS, MODES, AND PROCESSES CONNECTED
THEREWITH.'
"
Baked Bricks Combined with Tie Metals.
According to one part of my Invention my improvement consists in making
floor, roof, and walking surface-constructions of ordinary baked bricks cemented
together (preferably with hydraulic or Portland cement) in combination with
tie-metals put together in a way or manner to form interstices for holding the
bricks, my preference being for tie-metals in "gridiron " form, that is to say, the
metals being placed edgewise and crossed by wires, rods, or bolts. Thus arranged,
the metals, which may be bars of iron two inches deep and one quarter of an inch
thick, would be placed far enough apart to let in the bricks between them and the
cross-wires or rods would be at such distances from each other as to admit the
bricks between them, the metals and wires in their combination forming a network
grating or mesh to receive and hold the bricks, the bricks at the same time giving
fire proof protection to the metals. A part of my Invention consisting in the
application of this combination of bricks and tie-metals as roof pavements, that is
to say, I make the footways of streets by means of the aforesaid combination of
bricks and tie-metals using the same in place of brick arches, thus gaining head-
room in the vault or apartment under the pavement, and at the same time
permitting the light of the illuminators or gratings in the pavement to spread
more perfectly throughout the space; a part of the Invention of roof pavements
of this description consisting in the manner of finishing the walking surface
which I do by means of a floating or coating of hydraulic cement or asphalt which
becomes thus a portion of the combination, and which in some cases I roughen
or make more footholding by means of corundum, smaltz, emery, crushed pottery,
or equivalent sharp and gritty materials.
. Grating or Open-work Web and Flange Beams.-Another part of my Invention
consists in making beams, girders, and joists, (or floor and roof supports) with
grating or open work flanges filled with fire-proof materials.

page_text: As ordinarily made the web and flange girders, beams, and joists, in use and
for sale in the market for building purposes are made with solid flanges; these
flanges are too wide and flat to admit of being cheaply and easily protected with
fire proofing materials as their surfaces offer no means for the bricks or plastic
materials to key or adhere to. My Invention therefore consists in the new
manufacture of grating or open-work web and flange girders, beams, and joists, and
filling the grating-flanges of the same with fire-proofing materials to protect the
metal. As the top. flange may be readily protected it may be solid as usual if
desired, but the bottom flange is to be always in mesh or grating form, this being
the flange difficult of protection.
The form of flange I prefer is the "gridiron" form, that is to say, I employ bars
or blades of metal placed edgewise with spaces between them for holding the bricks
or other fireproofing materials and with a space between them and the web of the
beam for receiving and holding the fire proofing materials, the wires, rods, or bolts,
that fasten the tie-metals to the web of the beam, at the same time forming by the
combination the meshes or interstices for containing the fireproofing materials. For
convenience of handling and transportation, I prefer to put the tie-metals and web
together by means of thimbles and bolts; the thimbles securing uniformity of fire-
proofing spaces between the metals. These constructions I sometimes make by
employing T beams, the top flange being then solid with the web and the bottom
flange being made with tie-metals in gridiron form, and attached as in manner
aforesaid. In other cases I prefer to unite the top flange, whether solid or in grating
form, to the gridiron bottom flange by connecting pieces or verticals leaving open
spaces, the fireproofing materials whether bricks or concretes made use of to form the
floor or filling between the beams becoming then the web of the beam in
combination with the top and bottom flanges.
According to another part of my Invention my improvement consists in making
floors, roofs, and walking-surface constructions of any number of brick arches made
of baked bricks or of concrete in combination with tie-metals located between the
feet of the arches at the base of the material there filled or built in between the
arches, this portion forming the web of the beam and the arches the top flanges, a
part of my Invention consisting in the combination of girdiron tie-metals with the
construction aforesaid.
Another part of my Invention in arch constructions consists in preventing
"thrust" by means of metal blades placed cross-wise from beam to beam within
the crown of the arch. These blades then act as ties to this portion of the arch
and virtually convert it into a flat beam having its bearing upon the tops of the
main beams.
Another part of my Invention consists in making hollow floors, roofs, and
walking-surface constructions on the "all beams" plan, the beams being formed
with grating or open-work top and bottom flanges filled in with bricks or other
fire-proofing materials fit for the purposes.
In this construction the top-flanges of the beams form the walking surface or
floor above, and the bottom flanges form the ceiling surface below. In all the
foregoing constructions where baked bricks are employed I prefer to use fire bricks
as the filling for the flanges of the beams, except where I protect the faces of the
common bricks against the action of fire and water by means of fire-proof hydraulic
cement or equivalent facing material.
Another part of my Invention consists in perforating the flanges of web and
flange beams as a means for the fire proofing material to key to, such flanges being
made with extra metal to compensate for the portions removed. Where I employ
the girdiron method of constructing the flanges I sometimes use angle irons, or T
irons, or other convenient shapes in place of plain flat bars.
Illumination. Another part of my Invention relates to the method of forming
or shaping the reflecting portion of "prismatic" glasses used for pavement lights.
As ordinarily made and set the reflecting slopes of such glasses are of such a pitch'
as to throw the rays against the backs of the glasses in front of them, and my

page_text: improvement designed to correct this defect consists in giving the reflecting slope a
more perpendicular fall, 'the effect of which is to throw the larger portion of the
reflected rays under and beyond instead of against the glasses in front of them.
But in order to still further perfect the construction, another part of my Invention
consists in separating the rows of reflecting glasses by the interposition of one or
more ranges of non-reflectors or lens-formed glasses between them. Another part
of my Invention consists in making glasses formed with one or more prismatic
reflectors in combination with non-reflecting or level portions between the reflectors.
These glasses when set in the grating as ordinary glasses are set will be found to
have the proper intervals of spaces between the prisms to permit a proper
distribution of the light rays.
Another part of my Invention consists in making the reflecting slopes of prismatic
glasses with a roughened or broken-up surface to spread the light over a larger
area after the manner of "daylight reflectors."