IMPROVEMENTS IN RAFTERS OR BEARERS FOR ROOFS AND FLOORS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Rowland George Fisher, of No. 17, Great George
Street, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAFTERS OR BEARERS FOR ROOFS AND FLOORS."
Sealed the 18th January 1870, and dated the 20th July 1869..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Rowland George Fisher
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 20th July 1869.
I, ROWLAND GEORGE FISHER, of No. 17, Great George Street,
Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAPTERS OR BEARERS FOR ROOFS
AND FLOORS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in constructing rafters or bearers for roofs and
floors of sheet iron or zinc of a trough-shaped or of a tubular transverse
section, thereby imparting to them sufficient rigidity to dispense entirely
with the use of wood in combination therewith. For this purpose,
when the rafters are made of a trough-shaped section, I arrange the
same so that the closed side of the trough (by preference rounded for

page_text: roofs so as to fit the corrugated metal covering) lies uppermost, while
the lower open side has flanges formed thereon externally so as to.
increase the stiffness of the rafter.
For fixing such rafters to the purlins or other bearers of the roof or
floor I form slots in the sides of the rafter immediately above the
flanges, through which I pass clips or strips of metal, the ends of
which are secured to the purlins. When the rafters are of a tubular
section I support them upon chairs or saddle pieces fixed upon the
purlins and formed to fit the configuration of the rafter which may
be fixed thereto by a pin or strip of metal passing through holes or
slits formed both in the rafter and in the chairs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Rowland George Fisher in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 19th January 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROWLAND,
GEORGE FISHER, of No. 17, Great George Street, Westminster, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Rowland George Fisher, Her special
licence that I, the said Rowland George Fisher, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Rowland George
Fisher, 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, excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN RAFTERS OR BEARERS FOR ROOFS AND FLOORS," upon the
condition (amongst others), that I, the said Rowland George Fisher, 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

page_text: 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 Rowland George Fisher, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon, that is to say:
My Invention consists in constructing rafters or bearers for roofs
and floors of sheet iron or zinc of a trough-shaped or of a tubular
transverse section, thereby imparting to them sufficient rigidity to
dispense entirely with the use of wood in combination therewith. For
this purpose when the rafters are made of a trough-shaped section I
arrange the same so that the closed side of the trough (by preference
rounded for roofs so as to fit the corrugated metal covering) lies upper-
most, while the lower open side has flanges formed thereon externally
so as to increase the stiffness of the rafter.
For fixing such rafters to the purlins or other bearers of the roof or
floor I form slots in the sides of the rafter immediately above the
flanges, through which I pass clips or strips of metal, the ends of which
are secured to the purlins. When the rafters are of a tubular section
I support them upon chairs or saddle pieces fixed upon the purlius
and formed to fit the configuration of the rafter, which may be fixed
thereto by a pin or strip of metal passing through holes or slits formed
both in the rafter and in the chairs.
Having thus set forth the nature of my Invention, I will now proceed
to describe the manner in which it is to be performed, for which purpose
I shall refer to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
Figure 1 shews a transverse section, and Figure 2 shews a side
elevation of one form of my improved rafter. The zinc or sheet iron
rafter A is in this case of a rounded trough-shaped section with flanges
A' at its open side. It is secured upon the angle iron purlin B of the
roof by means of clips or strips of metal C passing through slots formed
in the rafter, as indicated, which clips are fixed to the purlin B by means
of screws D, a piece of felt E being interposed between the surfaces of
the rafter A and clip C and that of the purlin. The sheet metal
covering F of the roof is fixed to the rafter by means of screws G
passing through an embossed hole H in the covering (such as described

page_text: in Dibley's Patent, No. 232 of 1865), and secured by a nut G¹ inside
the rafter.
Figure 3 shews a cross section of a rafter A of a closed or tubular
section with flat base, which may be secured by means of clips in the
same manner as the trough-shaped rafter.
Figure 4 shows a section of a tubular rafter A of an oval form,
which may be secured to the chair I by means of a pin or key J
passing through the rafter and the chair, which is fixed to the purlin
or other support by screws or bolts.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner it is to be performed, what I claim under the hercin-before
in part recited Letters Patent is, constructing rafters or bearers for
roofs and floors of sheet iron or zine of a trough-shaped or tubular
transverse,section, substantially as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Rowland George Fisher, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of January,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
ROWLAND G. FISHER. (L.S.),