US464562A - guastayino - Google Patents

Description

2 SheetsSheet 1.

(No Model.)

B. GUASTAVINO. GONSTRUGTION 0F BUILDINGS.

No. 464,562. Patented Dec. 8, 1891.

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Q Modem 2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

R. GUASTAVINO. CONSTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS.

No. 464,562. Patented Dec. 8, 1891;

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RAFAEL GUASTAVINO, OF NEW YORK, N; Y., ASSIGNOR- TO THE G UAS TAVINO FIRE-PROOF CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

CONSTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 464,562, dated December 8, 1891.

Application filed August 4, 1890. Serial No. 360,887. (No model) To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RAFAEL GUASTAVINO, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Construction of Buildings, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the construction [0 of vaults or arches forceilings, staircases, &c.,

of buildings of various descriptions.

The object of the invention is to dispense with the cumbersome and heavy temporary wooden centers now commonly made use of in erecting arches or vaults and to employ instead a small light wooden frame constantly shifted during the prosecution of the work and erecting by means of the same an arch with joints made of such material as will cause such arch to quickly and permanently assume its final shape, thereby permitting such arch being used almost without delay as a solid center forthe courses of the arch'to be laid above it and permitting of the immediate 2 5 removal of the Wooden frame and of its use in another part of the structure, thus not only greatly reducing the cost due to the employment of the heavy wooden centers now necessary in'the construction of a building, but also permitting the finishing and embellishing of the face of the arch almost immediately after the tiles forming the same have been put in place.

A further object is to produce a vault or arch of minimum cost, which shall combine great strength and solidity. Arches of brick, cement, or concrete are generally built over wooden centers. hen common lime mortars were used in such constructions,the great thickness of the arch required the use of centers also of great thickness and strength, so that the arch and center corresponded to each other inthis respect, and on account of the large amount of the material and the time 5 allowed the slow setting of the common lime mortars did not affect the solidity of the arch. Under these methods such heavy wooden centers had to remain in position for a long time. Hence in order to expedite the construction of the building a large number of such centers had to be provided, thus materially adding to the cost of construction, and besides occupying the space required to be un obstructed while the final finishing and deco rating of the face of the arch or vault is being 5 done. Under the rapid methods of construction of to-day, with the use of quick-setting cement and its great strength, the arches are made lighterand of less thickness than under the old plan. The fact that cement is more .60 costly than common mortar and is quicker to set makes it important, as well as desirable, to employ less material in the arch,and thus reduce the thickness of the structure. Hence the importance of exercising great care in se lecting the centers over which the arches are built in order to insure that absolute repose to the cement which is necessary to permit it to properly set. The old system employing cumbersome heavy wooden centers does not pos- 7o sess the condition of that absolute repose and solidity that the cement requires for perfect setting. It is therefore obvious that the best character of work cannot be looked for under modern methods of building arches and vaults 7 5 when Wood is made use of for centers which are required to remain in position until the slow-setting common lime mortar or the cem ent forming the joints of the arch has become hardened and absolutely reliable, such wood being'apt to meantime shrink and split. The great inconvenience and danger involved in the continued use of wooden centers while the mortar or cement is setting are shown by the numerous accidents occurringin the erecting of concrete, cement, and brick arches. Then these Wooden centers are removed, at least fiftyperv cent. of the arches are imperfect and many fall, and this is due not to the poor quality of the material, but to changes tak- 9o ing place in the wooden centers while the setting of the binding material takes place. I overcome the above objections by providing a permanent, unchangeable, and solid center for the upper courses of the arch or vault 5 with the aid of light wooden fragies moved constantly during the prosecution of the work and serving to give shape to the said permanent center.

In the accompanying drawings, which form I00 a part of this description, and in which like parts are indicated by like figures of referonce in the several views, Figure 1 is a transverse section of a permanent solid center built of tiles in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a similar view of a floor-arch of tiles and concrete built over my permanent center. Fig. 3 is a transverse section of a floor-arch of common bricks built over my permanent center. Fig. 4 is a similar view of a brick arch of the usual type of construction. Fig. 5 is a view in perspective of an ordinary building-brick, eight by four and two inches thick, used in the construction of the four-foot span of Fig. a; and Fig. 6 is a simi-.

lar view of one of the tiles used by me in erecting permanent centers according to my invention, the dimensions of which tiles are twelve by six and one inch thick.

The usual way of building a common brick arch by laying the bricks 7 on their edges is shown in Fig. 4. In erecting an arch of this description it is necessary to make use of a wooden center, as S, to support the work and give it repose while the cement is drying and setting, and this center must be kept in position beneath the arch several weeks to insure approximately satisfactory work. The inconvenience of this plan is plain, since the presence of the center for so long a time prevents the rapid prosecution of the work of building, and after the center is removed there can be no assurance that the cement has properly set, for, as above stated, wood kept in position for an extended period, subject to the changes of temperature and of moisture of the air and toaccidents in general, cannot aiford that absolute repose without which the cement will not set properly. Such an arch as that shown in Fig. 4 cannot safely be made of more than four or five foot span and it will be eight inches thick. Because of its numerous joints it is not as strong or as capable of sustaining as great a load as an arch built according to my invention with only three inches thickness and twenty feet span.

In my construction of arch, examples of which are shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, I dispense with the long-continued use in the same position of a heavy wooden center over which to build the arch, and in place thereof construct a permanent solid center 0 q of flanged brick tiles (1., such as shown in Fig. 6, with the temporary aid of a light wooden frame, as already mentioned. These tiles, which are preferably twelve inches long and six inches wide by one inch in thickness, are laid in plaster and cement by using the plaster in small quantities placed only on the upper half of the vertical joints of the flanges, as shown at 9, thelower half of the joint being supplied with cement, as shown at 10. In erecting this center U the small wooden frame is used to obtain the requisite curve and facilitatethe laying of the tiles; but this frame is immediately removed as soon as the center 0 is completed, as the construction of the center is such and its weight comparatively so little that it is self-sustaining and the plaster of its joints sets quickly, and hence without liability of imperfect setting. Fifteen minutcs after the center is completed it is in readiness for receiving the additional arch material on its top, which may be brick, concrete, or cement.

In Fig. 2 I show the arch completed over the center (1 by a course of common tiles 11, preferably laid to break joints with the flanged tiles a of the center C and alayer of concrete, as 12. In Fig. 3 I show the arch completed by a layer of common bricks 7, as presently described. It is to be understood, of course, that the center 0 may be combined with various materials. Such a permanent center as described oifers many advantages over the heavy wooden centers,'which, under previous methods of construction, had to be kept in position for extended periods, and which, aside from their inherent disadvantages, are liable to be jarred and moved by the workmen engaged in the building.

The preferred construction of arch, of which my said permanent center forms an element, is shown in Fig. 3. After the center has been erected in the manner explained I complete this arch with a course of common bricks 7, one of which is shown in Fig. 5, which I lay fiat, and not on their edges, thus making a joint of little depth at every eight inches, instead of a deep joint at every two inches, as in the arch of Fig. 4. The bricks 7 are laid so as to break joints with the joints of the flanged tiles a, constituting the center 0, which gives strength to the structure.

The arch shown in Fig. 3 may represent a span of twenty feet between walls, and, notwithstanding it is without beams, it is capable of supporting a full floor and great weight.

As the ring or layer 0 of flanged tiles, which is to serve as a permanent center for the tile or brick arch above, is to be and to remain a part of the completed arch structure, it will be seen that the form of my joints 9 10, in view of the materials to be preferably employed by me in' making the same, secures not only a sufficient amount of strength to support the material to be placed above it while the arch is being constructed, but also adds materially to the strength of the finished structure. The plaster in parts 9 9 of the joints of the center 0 will set very quickly, and at first will be the only means of holding the tiles in place. As plaster has a tendency to expand, and as, besides, it is readily disintegrated by dampness, the importance of using cement in the lower parts l0 10 of the joints of the center 0 will be readily recognized, as such cement will not only, after having set properly, counteract the tendency to expand on the part of the plaster, but will also prevent moisture from underneath reaching such plaster. Constructing, then, thelayer above such center with cement joints, thereby guarding against moisture reaching the plaster from above, itwillbe seen that all the conditions aimed at by meviz., rapid construction of a reliable center and strength and durability of the completed arch-Will be accomplished with the use of the least amount of required material.

I-Iavingthus described my invention, whatI claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is'

1. In the construction of vaults or arches for ceilings, staircases, &c., of buildings of various descriptions, a permanent solid center composed of a single layer of brick tiles, the

joints being made in part of plaster and in part of cement, substantially as set forth.

2. A permanent solid center for vaults or arches of buildings, the same consisting of a single layer of brick tiles having the upper parts of their joints made of plaster and the lower parts of cement, substantially as set forth.

3. A permanent solid center for vaults or arches of buildings, the same consisting of a single course of flanged brick tiles laid in plaster and cement, the plaster laid only between the upper half of the vertical joints of the flanges and the cement only between the lower half of said joints, substantially as set forth.

4. In an arch or vault for ceilings, staircases, &c., the combination, with a permanent solid center composed of a single layer of flanged brick tiles having their joints made in part of plaster and in part of cement, as

described, of a layer or layers of suitable arch material, substantially as set forth.

5. In an arch or vault for ceilings, staircases, 850., the combination, with a permanent solid center composed of a single layer of brick tiles set in part in plaster and in part in cement, as described, of a single course of common building-bricks laid flat on said permanent center in cement, thus making comparatively few joints of little vertical depth, substantially as set forth.

6. In an arch or vault for ceilings, staircases, &c., the combination, with a permanent solid center composed of a layer of flanged brick tiles set in part in plaster and part in cement, as described, of a single course of common building-bricks laid in cement to break joints with the tiles of the center and in a flat position to obtain few joints of little vertical depth, substantially as set forth.

'7. An arch or vault for ceilings, staircases, 850., comprising two or more layers or courses of brick tiles and having its upper and lower joints made of cement and its intermediate joints made of plaster, substantially as set forth.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 17th day of July, A. D. 1890.

RAFAEL GUASTAVINO.

\Vitnesses:

HUGO KOELKER, J. E. M. BOWEN.

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