IMPROVEMENTS IN BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES TO BE EMPLOYED.. FOR HORTICULTURAL USES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Newington, of Ticehurst, in the County of.
Sussex, Member of the Royal College of Physicians, London, for the..
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES TO BE EMPLOYED..
FOR HORTICULTURAL USES."
:.
Sealed the 25th October 1867, and dated the 1st May 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Newington at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st May 1807.
I, SAMUEL NEWINGTON, of Ticehurst, in the County of-Sussex, Member of
the Royal College of Physicians, London, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES TO BE EMPLOYED
FOR HORTICULTURAL USES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is principally to form glazed structures for
protectingvines,pears, peaches,nectarines, apricots, figs, strawberries, potatoes,
or other trees or plants, in such manner that the structures may readily be
removed or the sheets of glass taken away from them at such times as they
are not required for protecting the trees or plants. For this purpose I employ
bars of wood in which grooves are formed for supporting the sheets or panes
of glass, or it may be for supporting slates, and which bars are boiled in
creosote or treated with other preserving agent to retard their decay; the
sheets or paries of glass or slates are merely inserted into the grooves in the
bars of wood and are so held without putty being employed; the grooves are
Price S

page_text: by preference made in all cases to pass diagonally into the bars from one or
other of their edges, and I also form the grooves which are to receive the
sheets of glass or slate wider at the bottom than at the mouth or entrance,
this allows of a groove smaller at the mouth being employed than could other-
wise be the case, as the wood at the mouth of the groove may spring back
ou to the glass after the edge of a pane of glass has been inserted into the
groove; the grooves may be thus formed by-first-making a groove with a
circular saw and then widening out the bottom of the groove by a plough
plane inclined to onc side. The above plan also admits of turning circles.
For forming a ridge roof I proceed as follows:-I drive posts into the earth
at intervals along one side of the row of trees or plants, afterwards I measure
out the space to be covered and drive along the opposite side of the row of
trees or plants a similar row of posts and affix to them a similar bar in which
also a groove is formed leading from its upper edge nearest to the row of
trees or plants. Along the centre between these two rows of bars I drive in
a third row of posts which are to project a greater distance from the surface
of the ground than the rows of posts on either side of them, and to the top of
these central posts I affix a bar having formed in it two diagonal grooves
which proceed from its two lowest edges; the grooves in the rows of bars so
fixed in position serve to carry the sheets or panes of glass which are to glaze
over the space between the rows. To insert glass into the grooves the upper
edge of each sheet of glass is first inserted into one of the grooves at the
bottom of the upper central bar, and the lower edge of the sheet of glass is
then dropped into the groove at the top of one of the outer bars to allow of
the sheets of glass being thus slipped into the grooves; this is chiefly of use
in inserting a new pane of glass, supposing there be a breakage at any time.
The grooves in the upper central bar are made deeper than the grooves in the
outer bars. On the north side of a structure slates may be used in a similar
manner. To form upright walls or screens of glass or slate I drive into the
ground at intervals apart from one another rectangular wooden bars which
-have been treated with creosote, as above mentioned, and which have had
diagonal grooves formed along them leading from-two-opposite angles. The
bars or posts are driven into the ground in such manner that the grooves at
the angles of one post shall come opposite the grooves at the angles of the
posts next to it. The sheets of glass or slate are then slipped down the grooves
and are so held in position. The posts may, if desired, be further secured by
wire tightened by nut and screw at one end. In order to keep the glass (or
slate used in the same manner on the north side) tight I insert a small cord
(soaked in creosote) into the groove; I then place the glass or slate in the

page_text: groove against this cord, and I tighten the whole work by means of a wire
inserted through all the bars and screwed up at one end. Screens of glass or
slate thus constructed may be made into any shape required, being either
made in straight lines, circles, squares, zig-zags, or otherwise; or in place of
this what I call glass hurdles may be formed of iron uprights which are to be
driven into the ground, and which carry grooved horizontal bars, into the
grooves of which the bottom and top edges of the sheets of glass are inserted.
To form moveable lights for covering rows of vines, strawberries, or other
trees or plants, I take two pieces of rectangular bar of some feet in length;
I insert the glass (slate for the north side) into the groove of each bar and
draw the bars tightly to the glass by means of a stout wire with nut and
screw at one end; if I wish to stiffen this tight I place two or three strips of
sheet iron of the thickness of the glass and screw the bars tightly against
these irons.
For growing peaches, nectarines, grapes, or other fruit out of doors on
walls I employ for this purpose a building or structure formed in the following
manner-On the north side I construct a slate wall (on the same principle
as I have described for constructing a glass wall); about three feet in front of
this slate wall I construct a glass wall one foot lower than the slate wall,
against this glass wall I train fruit trees; when the sun shines on the slate
the heat is thrown on to the trees on the glass wall, the heat being prevented
rising from the slate wall by a foot or more of glass being inserted diagonally
in the cap of the slate wall, forming a cave; my plan is then not only to give
greater heat to the fruit and more light all round it, thus securing color and
flavor, sufficient air being admitted at the top to keep up a constant cir-
culation, but also to prevent autumn rains falling in too great abundance on the
roots and causing the plants to send out unfruitful wood; besides that, the
expense of erecting a structure of this kind is only about two-thirds of that of
a common brick wall, and the materials are not subject to become decayed.
O SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Newington in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st November 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
NEWINGTON, of Ticehurst, in the County of Sussex, Member of the Royal
College of Physicians, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters

page_text: Patent, bearing date the First day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,the said
Samuel Newington, Her special license that I, the said Samuel Newington,
my executors,administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel
Newington, my executors,administrators, and assigns,should at any time 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
BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES TO BE EMPLOYED FOR HORTICULTURAL USES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel Newington,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 Samuel Newington, 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 :-
The object of this Invention is principally to form glazed structures for
protecting vines, pears, peaches, nectarines, apricots, figs, strawberries,
potatoes, or other trees or plants in such manner that the structures may
readily be removed or the sheets of glass taken away from them at such
times as they are not required for protecting the trees or plants. For this
purpose I employ bars of wood in which grooves are formed for supporting the
sheets or panes of glass, or it may be for supporting slates, and which bars
are boiled in creosote or treated with other preserving agent to retard their
decay the sheets or panes of glass or slates are merely inserted into the
grooves in the bars of wood, and are so held without putty being employed.
The grooves are by preference made in all cases to pass diagonally into the
bars from one or other of their edges, and I also form the grooves which are
to receive the sheets-of-glass-or-slate-wider-at-the-bottom_than_at_the_mouth
or entrance; this allows of a groove smaller at the mouth being employed
than could otherwise be the case, as the wood at the mouth of the groove may
spring back on to the glass after the edge of a pane of glass has been
inserted into the groove; the grooves may be thus formed by first making a
groove with a circular saw, and then widening out the bottom of the groove

page_text: by a plough plane inclined to one side. The above plan also admits of
turning circles.
For forming a ridge roof, I proceed as follows:-I drive posts into the
earth at intervals along one side of the row of trees or plants; afterwards I
measure out the space to be covered, and drive along the opposite side of the
row of trees or plants a similar row of posts and affix along the top of each
row of posts a similar bar, in which also a groove is formed leading from its
upper edge nearest to the row of trees or plants. Along the centre between
these two rows of bars I drive in a third row of posts which are to project a
greater distance from thesurface of the ground than the rows of posts on either
side of them, and to the top of these central posts I affix a bar having formed
in it two diagonal grooves which proceed from its two lowest edges. The
grooves in the rows of bars so fixed in position serve to carry the sheets or
panes of glass which are to glaze over the space between the rows. To insert
glass into the grooves the upper edge of each sheet of glass is first inserted
into one of the grooves at the bottom of the upper central bar, and the lower
edge of the sheet of glass is then dropped into the groove at the top of one of
the outer bars. To allow of the sheets of glass being thus slipped into the
grooves, the grooves in the upper central bar are made deeper than the
grooves in the outer bars; this is chiefly of use in inserting a new pane of
glass, supposing there be a breakage at any time; on the north side of a
structure slates may be used in a similar manner. To form upright walls or
screens of glass or slate I drive into the ground at intervals apart from one
another rectangular wooden bars which have been treated with creosote, as
above-mentioned, and which have had diagonal grooves formed along them
leading from two opposite angles. The bars or posts are driven into the
ground in such manner that the grooves at the angles of one post shall come
opposite the grooves at the angles of the posts next to it; the sheets of glass
or slate are then slipped down the grooves and are so held in position; the
posts may if desired be further secured by wire tightened by nut and screw at
one end. In order to keep the glass (or slate used in the same manner on
the north side) tight I insert a small cord (soaked in creosote) into the
groove; I then place the glass or slate in the groove against this cord, and I
tighten the whole work by means of a wire inserted through all the bars and
screwed up at one end; screens of glass or slate thus constructed may be
made into any shape required, being either made in straight lines, circles,
squares, zig-zags, or otherwise; or in place of this, what I call glass hurdles
may be formed of iron uprights which are to be driven into the ground, and
which carry grooved horizontal bars, into the grooves of which the bottom and

page_text: top edges of the sheets of glass are inserted. To form moveable lights for
covering rows of vines, strawberries, or other trees or plants, I take two pieces
of rectangular bar of some feet in length; I insert the glass (slate for the
north side) into the groove of each bar, and draw the bars tightly to the glass
by means of a stout wire with nut and screw at one end; if I wish to stiffen
this light I place two or three strips of sheet iron of the thickness of the
glass, and screw the bars tightly against these irons.
For growing peaches, nectarines, grapes, or other fruit-out of-doors on
walls I employ for this purpose a building or structure formed in the following
manner: On-the-north-side-I-construct a slate wall (on the same principle
as I have described for constructing a glass wall), about 3 feet in front of this
slate wall I construct a glass wall, against this glass wall I train fruit trees,
when the sun shines on the slate the heat is thrown on to the trees on the
glass wall, the heat being prevented rising from the slate wall by a foot or
more of glass being inserted diagonally in the cap of the slate wall forming
a cave, my plan is then not only to give greater heat to the fruit and more
light all round it, thus securing color and flavor, sufficient air being admitted
at the top to keep up a constant circulation, but also to prevent autumn rains
falling in too great abundance on the roots, and causing the plants to send
out unfruitful wood, besides that, the expense of erecting a structure of this
kind is only about two-thirds of that of a common brick wall, and the materials
are not subject to become decayed.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figures 1, 2, and 3, shew end views and side views of grooved wooden bars
such as I employ for forming horticultural buildings or structures. I prefer
that the bars should be of white pine, and in order to retard their decay I
impregnate them as above described with creosote. Before soaking the bars
in creosote their sides are first planed smooth, and the diagonal grooves
required cut into their augles by means of a circular saw, they are then placed
for about 24 hours. in a bath of creosote heated to about 180°, by this means
the pores of the wood become thoroughly impregnated with creosote, the wood
is rendered heavier and denser, and closely resembles ebony; Figure 4 shows
a perspective view of a ridge roof constructed from such wooden bars impreg-
nated with creosote, and grooved diagonally according to my Invention.
a, a, are two rows of posts driven into the ground along the sides of the
space to be covered, and projecting a few inches above the surface of the

page_text: ground; halfway between these rows of posts is driven a row of taller posts b,
to the top of each of the rows of posts a is fixed a wooden rectangular bar c
impregnated with creosote, and having a diagonal groove cutinto it along one
of its angles as shewn at Figure 3, and the bar is so fixed that this angle is
at the top of the bar, and towards the interior of the structure. Along the
top of the row of posts bis fixed a wooden rectangular bar d impregnated
with creosote, and having diagonal grooves formed along its two lower angles,
a bar of this description is shown at Figure 2. When the bars have thus
been fixed in position, sheets of glass (or it might be of slate on the north
side of the structure) are slipped into the grooves, the upper edges of each
sheet being received in one of the grooves of the central bar d, and the
lower edges in the groove in one of the bars c; tie rods may also be passed
from the central bar d to the side bars c, as shown in Figure 6. One end of
each of these rods is bent at right angles,so that the bentend may bear against
one of the wooden bars, the other end of each bar has a screw thread cut
upon it to receive a nut, which when screwed on is caused to bear against the
other wooden bar, and thus the bars are drawn towards each other, and the
panes of glass or slate held securely between them.
When it is desired to make a water-tight joint a small cord soaked in
creosote is inserted into each of the grooves in the wooden bars before inserting
the sheets of glass or slate. A similiar structure to that above described and
shown at Figure 4 may be made with the side walls also glazed; the side walls
being composed of glass frames, such as shewn at Figures 5 and 6, or both the
sides and the ridge roof may be composed of such frames as shewnat Figure 4*,
the frames forming the side walls are in this case supported by posts a, a, driven
into the ground as shown.
Figure 5 shows an end view, and Figure 6 a plan view of a moveable glass
light constructed according to my Invention. a, a, are two rectangular wooden
bars impregnated with creosote, and each having a groove cut diagonally along
one of its angles,the ends of sheets of glass or slate are inserted into the grooves
in the bars, and the bars are drawn together by a tie rod; strips of sheet
iron of the thickness of the glass may be placed between the bars, so that the
bars may be drawn against the ends of the sheet iron strips, this is only
required when forming lights of considerable length. In order to make the
joints between the side edges of theseveral panes of glass water-tight, Jemploy
leadofan H section similar to that employed forconnectingtogether theparts of
painted windows, a coating of white lead is first given to the interior of each
groove in the lead, and the adjoining edges of the sheets of glass are then
inserted into the grooves, by this means the joints between the several panes

page_text: of glass are made perfectly water-tight. A small cord soaked in creosote is by
preference inserted into the groove in each of the wooden bars before inserting
the sheets of glass or slate. Lights constructed in the manner above described
may be used for many purposes, for example, they may be used for forming a
covering over strawberry or other plants where a flat glazed covering a short
distance above the ground is required; a mode of effecting this is shown
in end view at Figure 7. a, a, are three parallel rows of posts driven into
the ground, the top of each of these posts is notched out as shown, so that the
wooden-bars-of-the-lights-may rest in-these-notelies, the lights shewn in this
Figure are formed with a central wooden bar, so that the sheets of glass
employed need only be of a length equal to half the width of the light, the
posts are at all times allowed to remain in the ground, but the glass lights are
only placed over them at such times as are desired. In cases where it is
desired at some seasons of the year to entirely enclose a row of plants, I employ
a structure such as is shown at Figure S. In this structure the side walls
and the roof are each composed of glass lights such as shown at Figures 5 and 6,
one of the wooden bars of each of the lights forming the side walls rests on
the ground, and forms the bottom of the wall whilst the other wooden bar
forms the top of the wall and serves to support the horizontal light which
forms the roof, the lights forming the side walls are prevented from bulging
outwards one from the other by posts a, a, driven into the ground.
At Figure 9 is shewn a structure made according to my Invention and
suitable for growing peaches, nectarines, grapes, or other fruit. On the
north side a wall a is constructed; it may either be of slate, brick, or other
material, I prefer however to employ brick, as shewn in the Drawing, about
three feet in front of this wall I construct a glass wall b; this wall I form by
preference of sheets of glass supported by grooved wooden posts, such as are
shewn at Figures 5 & 6; at the top of the wall a is fixed a wooden coping a¹
carrying an inclined roof a (which may be of wood or any suitable material)
sloping upwards towards the top of the glass wall b; this roof covers over
about-half-the-space_between_the_walls-and-b._To_the_upper-edge-of-the-
roof a² is fixed a strip of stout canvas soaked in creosote or other material,
which can be secured across the space between this edge of the roof and the
top of the glass wall b so as to exclude the wind or frost, or the canvas can be
turned back so as to leave the space open. The fruit trees are trained
against the inside of the glass wall, and when the sun shines on the wall a the
heat is thrown on to the trees on the glass wall, and the sloping roof partly
covering over the space between the walls keeps the-heat-from too readily
passing away. When the glass wall b is of considerable length then

page_text: I provide it with glass buttresses in the manner shown in plan view at
Figure 1.0.
Figure 11 shews a hexagonal structure which is especially suitable for
growing grapes. The side walls of the structure are formed from grooved
wooden posts driven into the ground in the same manner as when forming the
glass wall above described. The top of the structure is by preference left
entirely open; it might however be covered over with a glass roof if desired.
In place of the structure being of a hexagonal form it might be formed of any
shape desired.
Figures 12 show a glass hurdle constructed according to my Invention.
The top and bottom bars of the hurdle are formed of grooved wooden bars
impregnated with creosote, sheets of glass are held between the grooves
in the two bars, and the bars are drawn and held together by iron rods a, a.
which pass through the wooden bars; the lower end of each bar forms a foot
to be driven into the ground, and above this foot is a collar against which
the lower wooden bar rests. The upper end of the rod is formed with a
screw thread upon it, on to which is screwed a nut which is to bear
against the upper wooden bar of the hurdle; the iron bars a thus serve
as tie bars to hold together the wooden bars of the frame. Hurdles
constructed as above described may be employed for a great variety of
purposes, as, for example, for protecting young plants from wind.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Newington, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
SAMUEL NEWINGTON. (L.S.)