An Improved Mode of Gasholder-construction.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Dec., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 26th Aug. 1889-Accented
10th Oct 1010
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Mode of Gasholder-construction.
1, FRIEDRICH WECK of 86 New Street, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention has for its object the securing of the curbs of gasholders in such a
way that they shall always maintain their circular form & also their true position with
regard to each other. To this effect I attach a number of rods to each curb and
attach their opposite ends to a ring in the centre of the holder, at or near the middle
of its height, thus virtually making the framing of the holder into a large tension
wheel with the abovenamed rods as spokes & the curbs as the rim.
As this can only be done in single holders and in inner lifts of telescopic holders it
has to be modified in the outer lifts of telescopic holders. In such cases I use the
radial rods only to the bottom curbs and carry them horizontally to the ring in the
centre to which they are attached.
To maintain the proper position of the two curbs in such case I use diagonal braces
between the vertical stays, keeping such diagonal braces out of the way of interior
lifts by running them behind or attaching them to one or more light supplementary
curbs between the upper & lower curbs, the upper curbs or grips of the outer
lifts of telescope holders being kept to their true circle by the guide rollers on the
bottom curb of the inner lift when cupped and by the guide framing attached to the
tank when uncupped.
Dated this 30th d... AT
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Mode of Gasholder Construction.
I, FRIEDRICH WECK of 86 New Street Birmingham in the County of Warwick,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This Invention relates to an arrangement for securing the curbs of. Gasholders in
such a way that they shall always maintain their circular form and also their true
position with regard to each other, and by constraining-more especially the bottom
curb to keep its true form and position, to obtain greater certainty in computing the
stresses to which the various parts of the structure are subjected, and it is especially
applicable to holders whose external guide framing is partly dispensed with.
In the accompanying drawing
Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of a telescopic holder, and Fig. 2 a horizontal section,
half of the inner lift and half of the outer lift.
In carrying out my invention in the case of single holders and in the inner lift of
telescopic holders I attach by one end to the top-and to the bottom-curb a number
of rods, whose other end I attach to one strong ring whose axis coincides with the
axis of the holder, and which is situated at any point of the height of the holder,
preferably at or near the middle.
These rods are marked a on the drawing. The ring is marked b. The top and
bottom curbs of the holder are marked c.
If it is desired to use trussing to support the roof this can be done in the usual
manner in conjunction with the rods attached to the top curb, which could be
used also to act as main tension rods by letting the king post or centre strut rest upon
the ring b.

page_text: These rods act in two ways, first they constrain the two curbs to keep their true
circle thus making them capable to act as compression members diametrically, and,
taking the vertical section through the centre of a holder, the curbs act as top and
bottom members in the rectangle, the vertical stays being the vertical members, and
here the second function of the rods a comes in by keeping this quadrilateral figure
always a rectangle, inasmuch as they act as diagonals.
In the other lifts of telescopic holders, not inner lifts, no such rods can be attached
to the upper curbs or dips, and here I only use them to the lower curbs, and carry
them horizontally to the centre ring as shewn in Fig. 1 at a, the ring being marked y.
In this case the rods will act only in keeping the lower curb a true circle, and in
order to keep the upper curb in its true position over the lower one a series of diagonal
ties is used in conjunction with the vertical stays or roller guides, thus forming the
sides of the holder into a girder. The upper curb is kept to its true circle by the
lower curb of the lift within it and thus a rigid structure is obtained.
In order to keep the diagonal ties z clear of the cup of the inner lift I carry them
outside one or more supplementary curbs k, k, if occasion requires it; or where the
sheeting is made to do duty for these ties these supplementary curbs may be used to
keep the sheeting in its proper shape, whilst without them the sheeting would, under
conditions, tend to form a flat surface between the top of one vertical stay and the
bottom of an adjoining one thus destroying the rigidity of the girder formed by the
side of the holder.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :-
1. In single Gasholders and Inner Lifts of telescopic Gasholders the use of rods
attached to both the curbs and to a ring in the centre of the holder, which rods,
acting in two capacities viz.: in keeping the curbs to their true circle and in
acting as diagonals to keep the sectional quadrilateral figure of the holder a true
rectangle.
2. In lifts of telescopic holders, other than the Inner lift the use of rods attached to
the lower curb and to a ring axially in the centre of the holder. In either case I do
not limit myself to a "ring," any other conveniently shaped body will do, or the rods
may even pass straight through from one side of the holder to the other but must be
firmly held together at a point near the centre of the holder.
3. The same in conjunction with diagonal bracing in the sides of the lift.
4. The use of supplementary curbs or rings to keep the diagonal bracing in the
sides clear of the cup of the interior lift.
5. The use of supplementary curbs or rings to keep the side sheeting in its true
position.
Dated this 24th day of August 1889.