US351533A - Skylight-cover - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) I .7

J. W. SHAW.

SKYLIGHT COVER. I

Patented 0011.26, 1886.

W j/iiijf ATTORNEYS.

N. PETERS. Phuwumo n ner. Wzshinghn. 0'0.

I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFicE.

JAMES WEsLEY SUHAW, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

SKYLIGHT-COVER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 351,533, dated October 26, 1886.

Application filed July 23 1886. Serial No. 208,862. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES WEsLEY SHAW, of Baltimore, State of Maryland,have invented new and Improved Skylight Oovers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to covers for skylights, and has for its object to protect the skylights from damage by the heat or flying embers from adjacent burning buildings, and thus prevent spreading of fire by way of the skylights of buildings; and also toprotect the skylights from hailor other storms, and to provide simple,inexpensive,and effective means for quickly and easily shifting the covers over the skylights when occasion requires.

The invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combination of parts of the skylightcovers and their operating mechanism, all as hereinafter fully described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming apart of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical sectional elevation of the skylight fitted with my improved covers, which are open. Fig.2 is a perspective view showing the covers closed over the skylight. Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional elevation taken on the line at m, Fig. 1. Fig. 4. is a side elevation of a modified construction of the covers, one of the pair of covers being openand the other closed; and Fig. .5 shows a hinged cover arranged over a flat skylight.

I prefer to make the covers of large skylights in two sections, A B, which havejournaled at their opposite sides two pairs of rollers, a b, respectively, which are arranged to travel above and below metal guide-rails O D, supported from the roof E of a building by suitable metal brackets, c d, as clearly shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 of the drawings, and to which the description of the invention will at present be confined.

The skylight F shown is of the ordinary gable .or double inclined pattern, and thetops of the covers A B are shaped correspondingly at the top and have closedends a b, which stand outside of the ends of the skylight when the covers are closed over it, and the covers are deep en ough to extend nearly down to the roof E to give ample protection to the frame G on which the skylight rests, and as will be understood from the drawings.

The rollers a b of the covers A B preferably have flanges at each side of their peripheries,

to keep them on the rails G D, and the arrangement of the rollers in pairs at opposite sides or edges of the rails insures a positive, true, and easy movement of the covers along the rails to cover or uncover theskylight; but the covers may have cleats fitted to slide on the rails instead of the rollers, as above described. The covers may be shifted either way directly by hand, and may be locked open or closed by any suitable latch devices; but I propose to operate them from inside the. building below the roof, and for this purpose each of the covers A B has attached to the inner face 'of its outer end,by an eye, .h, or otherwise, a rope or chain, H, which passes inward through the end of the skylight-frame and over a pulley, h,

fixed thereto,and hangs down within reach of a person on the upper floor; or it may be on any lower floor of the building. To the outer face of the end of each of the covers A B there is fixed, by means of an eye or staple, z, the end and allow free ventilation by raising the skylight or opening parts of'it in any approved way, and that by pulling on the pendent ends of the ropes H the covers A B will be closed to prevent injury to the skylight by hailstorms, or to prevent cracking of the glass or breaking of the skylight by the heat from an adjacent burning building, or the falling of burning embers so common in cases of fire, and whereby the communication of fire from one building to another in this way will be prevented and life and property will be pro tected far better than when no effective cover or shield is provided for the skylight.

Instead of the skylight-covers A B being arranged to slide as in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, they may be hinged to the skylight-frame G or to the roof E, as shown at Kin Fig. 4 of the drawings, the pull-ropes H I in this case being connected at h i to the inner and outer faces of the ends of the covers in places giving proper leverage for swinging-the covers shut by pulling on the pendent ends of the ropes H and for swinging the covers open by pulling on the ropes I.

Fig. 5 shows how a common fiat skylight may be protected by a flat cover, L, hinged at Ztothe skylight-frame and arranged to be swung down over the skylight by pulling on a pendent rope, H, and to be swung backward clear of the skylight by pulling on the pendent end of a rope, I, as will be understood from the aforesaid description.

I do not limit myself to any particular size or design of the skylight-covers, as these fea tures of construction may vary with the sizes and forms of the skylight, which widely differ in buildings of different construction.

The entire skylight-covers and mechanism for operating them,where exposed to adjacent fires, will be made of any suitable fire-proof material, metal, or wood metal-lined, being at present preferred.

Should the sliding skylightcover be made in a single piece or section, the supportingrails G D will extend only at one end or side of the skylight-frame, as will readily be understood.

I am aware that a burglar-proof skylight has been formed with a grating having a slidingsection to be locked. The skylight had pivoted side glazed windows, and the top part of the skylight had an opening over which a cover having rollers running on the roof was adapted to slide. In my construction the e11- tire opening for the skylight is covered,so that the heat from burning buildings cannot crack the glass and sparks enter the house. As the rollers embrace the rails, the cover cannot be blown off, as might be the case if the rollers rested simply on top edges of skylight.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, iso 1. The combination, with a skylight, of rails at opposite sides thereof, a cover inclosing the sides, ends, and top of the skylight framing and having rollers embracing the said rails, substantially as set forth. 5 5

2. The combination, with the skylight, of supports at opposite sides thereof, rails on said supports, a sectional cover having rollers on the inner faces of its sides receiving the rails between them, the outer ends of the sections being apertured for the passage of the rails, and the operating-cords extending within the building, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with the skylight, of the supports 0 d, at opposite sides thereof, the rails O D on the supports, pulleys J, mounted on supports between the end supports,cd, the sections A B of the cover having apertures in their outer ends through which the rails pass, rollers a b, receiving the rails between them, pulleys hi 011 the inner end faces of the skylight, strands I, secured to the endsot' the cover-sections, passed around pulleys J J and inward and over pulleys t", and strands H, secured to the ends of the sections and extending inward and over the pulleys h, substantially as set forth.

JAMES WESLEY SI-IAWV.

Witnesses:

GEO. W. KREIs, DAVID W. SHAW.

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