IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PARTITIONS OR BACKINGS TO BE USED IN THE CULTIVATION OF ESPALIER PLANTS
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles de Saint Prix, of Ploujean, in the French
Republic, Knight of the Legion of Honour, for the Invention of " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PARTITIONS OR BACKINGS TO BE USED IN THE
CULTIVATION OF ESPALIER PLANTS."
Sealed the 18th October 1878, and dated the 23rd April 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles de Saint Prix at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd April 1878.
CHARLES DE SAINT PRIX, of Ploujean, in the French Republic, Knight of the
Legion of Honour. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PARTITIONS OR
BACKINGS TO BE USED IN THE CULTIVATION OF ESPALIER PLANTS."
This Invention relates to improvements in the construction of partitions or.
backings designed to replace the wall or trellis surfaces generally used in the culti-
vation of espalier plants, and in the execution thereof I proceed as follows :-I
provide any required number of wooden bars or uprights of suitable dimensions as
in a, Fig. 1, of the accompanying Drawing, in each of which I cut a vertical slot b,
extending from the top to about twelve inches from its lower end, which is pointed
for insertion in the ground. These bars are distributed in pairs, the spacing of
which is maintained by the ties c, Fig. 2, and when set upright are fitted with panes
of glass d, inserted in the vertical slots b so as to form a continuous transparent
partition of any desired length, against both faces of which the plants may be
trained.
When opaque surfaces are required the panes of glass d are replaced by sheets of
metal, slate, or wood set in the slots, as above, or provided at one side with iron
retaining sockets spaced to correspond with the uprights over which they slide.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Charles de Saint Prix in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd October 1878.
CHARLES DE SAINT PRIX, of Ploujean, in the French Republic, Knight of the
Legion of Honour. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PARTITIONS OR
BACKINGS TO BE USED IN THE CULTIVATION OF ESPALIER PLANTS."
My Invention relates to facilitating and hastening the ripening of the fruits of
espalier trees or plants cultivated in the open air by means of moveable surfaces
or backings made of plates of glass, metal, slate, or other suitable material, against
which are fixed the espalier plants or open air trees, the latter being previously
cultivated so as to present on one side a plain surface.
The said surfaces or backings consist of wooden stakes about an inch and a half
thick, driven into the ground along the plants at suitable distances from each other,
and in the upper part of which is made by the help of a large saw a vertical slot
extending below the lowest branches, and in which are inserted perpendicularly and
in juxtaposition the plates of glass, metal, slate, or other suitable material.
The glass backings may be used on both sides and give reflected rays, the other
backings, like opaque bodies, absorb the heat. These opaque backings may also be
made with boards of suitable thickness, covered with sheets of lead, sheet iron, or
very thin tin, and which are nailed on to the stakes, in that case without slots.
Another more economical kind of backing may be obtained by nailing slates of
equal size side by side on to rods of light wood, and the surfaces thus obtained are
fixed one above the other on to the stakes by galvanised iron wire.
By means of this system of backing the same results are obtained as with walls,
but this system allows of obtaining a very large superficies of espalier plants in a
very confined space, for about sixty yards of espaliers may be placed in about a
hundred square yards of ground by planting them at distances of about two yards
apart, and double the quantity if the surfaces are made of glass.
In addition to the said surfaces or backings, and in order to protect the trees or
plants from the frost during the blossoming season, and hasten the ripening of the
fruits, a small roofwork may be placed above the espalier consisting of a bent glass
of about eight to ten inches in diameter, one of the longitudinal edges of which is
inserted into the vertical slot of the stakes, or much more economically made of flat
glass inserted or fixed in wooden rods, which are afterwards fixed to the top of the
stakes planted in the ground in a slightly inclined plane.
Having thus fully described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise details above enumerated, as these may obviously be modified
without departing from the principle of the Invention, but what I claim is the
application of moveable surfaces or backings made of plates of glass, metal, slate, or
other suitable material for facilitating and hastening the ripening of the fruits of
espalier trees or plants cultivated in the open air, and against which the said espalier
trees or plants are fixed, substantially as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles de Saint Prix, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.