IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF. WIN- DOWS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Summerfield, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Glass Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF. WIN-
DOWS."
Sealed the 28th December 1858, and dated the 25th October 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Summer-
field at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 25th October 1853..
I, THOMAS SUMMERFIELD, of Birmingham, in the County of War-
wick, Glass Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for ".IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF
WINDOWS" to be as follows:-
I construct the bars of windows (whether the said bars be vertical or
horizontal) of glass, enamel, china, or other vitreous or semi-vitreous,
substance, the said glass, &c. being-either colourless, coloured, or orna-
mented. The said window bars are made hollow, and are connected
together by rods of galvanised iron or other metal or alloy when the
length of the said bars is such that it is necessary to construct them

page_text: سلا
in more pieces than one. The said bars are furnished with longitudinal
grooves or depressions, either opposite or inclined to each other, at an
angle equal to that which it is intended the contiguous panes shall have.
The said grooves may be made in the said. bars by grinding, or formed
by moulding, or made in any other convenient made. The edges of the
sheets or panes of glass are inserted in the grooves in the bars and
fixed therein, and made weatherproof by means of any suitable trans-
parent cement. Although I prefer the use of a metallic rod in the inte-
rior of the window bars, where, from the shortness of the bar, the same
may be made in one piece, and where the said rod, although not neces-
sary to the construction of the said window bar, is used to strengthen
the same, yet I sometimes construct the said bars without the said in-
ternal metallic support. The essence of my-Invention consists in making
window bars of glass or vitreous or semi-vitreous matters, in which
grooves are formed for the introduction of the edges of the sheets of
glass, the said tubes having an internal metallic support where the same
is necessary to hold together the parts of which large bars are made,

page_text: 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE. OP
WINDOWS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Summerfield, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
sanie 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 Thomas Summerfield, do hereby
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 in the methods herein-after particularly de
scribed of constructing and manufacturing the bars of windows (whe-
ther the said bars be vertical or liorizontal or inclined) of glass,
enamel, china, or other vitreous or semi-vitreous substances, the said
vitreous or semi-vitreous substances being colorless or colored or orna-
mented by gilding or otherwise..
Figure 1, represents in front elevation a shop front, the windows of
which are constructed according to my Invention; and Figures 2, 3, 4, 5;
and 6-represent detached portions of the same. The bars a, a, of the
window, Figure 1, are made hollow, as represented in the section,
Figure 4 and when of such length as that they cannot be manufac
tured conveniently of one piece, the said bars are niade of two or more
pieces, and connected together by ornamental rings. One of the
separate pieces of which the compound window bars represented in
Figure 1, are made up is represented in Figure 2, and is also seen in
section in Figure 4. "The ornamental rings by which the several por-
tions of the compound window bars are connected together are
inarked b, in Figures 1 and 4, and one of the said rings detached and
in elevation is shewn in Figure 3. In the interior of the hollow tubes
constituting a window bar I place rods or tubes of galvanized iron or
other metal or alloy, as represented at e, Figure 4, the object of the

page_text: said rods or tubes being to strengthen the window bars, to support the
superincumbent weight, and to afford facility in connecting the tops and
bottoms of the said bars.with the portions of the building with which
they are respectively connected. The said bars and ornamental rings
are furnished with two longitudinal grooves or rabbits or depressions
parallel to the axis of the said window bar, the said grooves or rabbits
or depressions being either opposite or inclined to each other at an
angle equal to that which it is intended the contiguous panes shall
have. The edges of the sheets or panes of glass of the window are
inserted in the grooves or rabbits in the bars and fixed therein, and
made weatherproof by any suitable transparent cement. I sometimes
fasten the panes in windows in the following manner, namely:-I cut
near the said rabbit; when a rabbit is used, a groove deeper than the
rabbit and having wedge-shaped sides, into which. I fix a piece of glass
as a wedge, which wedge entering into the slot or groove forces-up and
fixes the plate glass against the rabbit and secures it, at the same time
forming a border, ornamental if required, and which can be removed.
and the plate glass taken out at pleasure, thereby obviating the
use of putty or cement. Figure 7, represents in section, and
Figure 8, in elevation, a portion of a window constructed in the
manner last described. c, e, are the wedges entering the groove, as
seen in Figure 7. Where panes are inserted in one side only of a
window bar, as in the window bars marked d, in Figure 1, a groove
or rabbit is made on one side, only of the said bar; and where more
than two panes meet in the same bar a corresponding number of
grooves or rabbits must be made in the said bar. Figure 5, repre-
sents a transverse section of one of the window bars and panes
inserted therein; and Figure 6, represents a transverse section of one
of the window bars without the said panes inserted therein.
J
Although I prefer to make window bars hollow, and introduce in the
interior thereof metallic rods or tubes, as herein-before described, yet
where the said window, bars are. so short or so light that they may be
made conveniently in one piece, and where the said rods or tubes are not
required for the purpose of giving strength to the said window bars, I
construct the said window bars without the said internal rods or tubes.

page_text: In manufacturing the said window bars, I resort to the ordinary
processes practised in glass manufacture; that is to say, I make the
said hollow solid window bars or portions of window bars by the pro-
cesses of blowing and formning by the ordinary tools, or by pressing, which
said processes are well known and commonly practised, and constitute no,
part of my Invention. I usually finish the said window bars by the pro-
with
cess of cutting; the said cutting process, as practised by me respect
to the said window bars, differs only from the ordinary process in the fol-
lowing respect; that is to say, instead of the mills or grinding surfaces
being mounted on a horizontal axis, and rotating in a vertical plane, I
prefer to mount the said mills on a vertical axis so that they may rotate in
a horizontal plane;. the grinding being effected on the horizontal surfac
of the mill. In cutting the grooves, or in perfecting the same where
they have been formed by pressing, I proceed as follows:-I fix the
bar in a bed of wood, which said bed is capable of a sliding motion in
the plane in which the mill is rotating; the said bar is made to ap
proach the edge of the said rotating mill and slide against the sanic,
whereby the said mill or stone grinds or cuts a groove in the said
window bar. The width of the said groove is determined by the thick-
ness of the rotating mill or disc, and the depth of the said groove is de-
termined by the depth to which the said rotating mill is permitted to
plough or grind into the said window bar. I also cut flutes in the said
window bars by a similar process.
My Invention is applicable to various kinds of windows, such as the
windows of private houses and shops, greenhouses, skylights, or cases
in which goods are exhibited.
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 methods herein described, as the
same may be varied without departing from the nature of my said
Invention; but I claim, firstly, constructing window bars of glass,
enamel, china, or other vitreous or semi-vitreous substances, having
grooves or depressions for the reception of the panes of glass, whether
the said window bars are solid or hollow, or are made in one or more.

page_text: pieces, or have or have not an internal metallic support, as herein
before described, and illustrated by the accompanying Drawing.
Secondly, the method herein-before described of forming and--per-
fecting the shape of grooves in window bars made of glass, enamel,
china, or other vitreous 'or semi-vitreous substances.
::
Thirdly, the method herein described, and illustrated by the accom-
panying Drawing, of fixing panes in windows by means of wedges:
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Summerfield, have here-
auto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
1.
four.
Witness,,
GEORGE SHAW.
THOMAS SUMMERFIELD. (LS)
1
LONDON:
Printed by GEORGE EDWARD EYRE and WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE,
Printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty. 1854.
32°
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