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317,943 · Hyatt · "Illuminating Tile Construction" · Page 2 Home  > Prism Glass  > Patent Index  > Page 2

317,943: 2 of 5

designed merely to cover coal-holes in the sidewalk as a "vault-cover," and for this purpose possessed a decided utility, inasmuch as the peripheral rim encircling the concrete gave protection to its edges and prevented spalling, vault-covers being liable to rough usage in constant handling; but made in the form of tiling for construction purposes, the same reasons for the existence of this rim around the grating do not exist, especially when the concrete is added to the face of the gratings after they have been put into the panel-spaces of the foundation-frame or structural frame-work.     When concrete illuminating-surfaces are composed of combination-tiles made of fractional gratings that have been concreted and hardened before being placed within the panel-spaces of the structural frame-work, such gratings present a different shade of color from that of the fresh cement employed to join them together at the joint-seams and to confine them to the foundation-frame at the construction-seams, the new cement being always of a lighter color than the old. The consequence of this is very serious to this sort of work, for every such line or streak of light-colored cement on the face of the work betrays the union of the parts at those spots, and thus ruins the primary design of the fractional-gratings construction-- to wit, a homogeneous surface in appearance the equal of constructions composed of one-casting tiles.     Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1 is an elevation in cross-section, representing a dish concrete light of ordinary construction made in tile form and placed between two rafters or cross-bars within the panel-space of a foundation-frame. A A is the grating or bottom of the dish; B B, the sides or standing rim of the dish; a a, light-holes of the grating; b b, glasses; C C', rafters or cross-bars of the structural frame-work; d d, web or blade of the cross-bars or rafters; e e, bottom flange of cross-bars.     Fig. 5 represents a portion of an illuminating surface or construction made of fractional gratings that have been concreted before being placed within the panel-spaces of a foundation-frame. Panel-space D' represents the fractions in position before the joint and construction seams have been filled with cement. Panel-space D² represents the same after the cement-seams have been made. f f indicate construction-seams; f' f', same cemented; g g, joint-seams; g' g', same cemented. The stippling indicates concrete. E indicates the border or margin of the foundation-frame at the rear; F, the border of the same at the front; G, the left-hand border at the side of the foundation-frame; i i, rabbet in foundation-frame panel-spaces for seating the tiles or gratings.     Fig. 6 represents my improved process of making concreted fractional-grating construction-surfaces. Panel-space D' represents four naked fractional gratings with open light-

holes, being neither concreted nor set with glasses. Panel-space D² represents a combination-tile formed of four fractional gratings, as shown in D', after the light-holes of the same have been closed by glasses, and the entire surface between the glasses and over the joint-seams and construction-seams have been filled in with the concrete facing.     Fig. 7 is an elevation representing in longitudinal section an enlarged view showing two fractional tiles between the x x x vertical lines; and a portion of a third, numbered, respectively, Nos. 1, 2, 3-- g' representing a joint-seam between two fractions before the cement is put in, and g² representing a joint-seam when closed by cement or concrete.     The nature and value of my improvement with reference to the first part of my invention, or that relating to dish-shaped illuminating concrete gratings is plainly seen by reference to Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, and by comparing the dish-formed grating shown in Fig. 1 with the more simple and inexpensive form shown by Figs. 2, 3, 4.     A comparison of the construction-seam of Fig. 4 with that of Fig. 1 shows that the concrete, as employed in the mode of construction illustrated by Fig. 4, is capable, when the sides of the dish are removed, as illustrated by Figs. 2, 3, 4, of performing the triple function of fastening the glasses in position, securing a water-tight joint at the construction-seam, and likewise cementing by a direct cementation the whole facing of concrete as well to the sides of the rafters or cross-bars as to the flat face of the perforated plate or grating underneath it, thus producing an immediate, direct, and permanent bond between the stone face of the grating and the structural foundation of the work, and converting what is ordinarily only a water-proof construction-seam between otherwise detached and independent portions of the structure into an integral and homogeneous portion of the actual structural foundation of the work.     Viewed mechanically and aside from the saving effected in the iron portion of the work, the improvement is an exceedingly advantageous one in the light of mere constructional policy.     When we compare Fig. 2 with Fig. 1, it is plain to be seen that the cavity contained between the standing-blades C C' of the cross-bars of the structural foundation, taken in connection with the flat grating A A, which rests upon the bottom flanges e e, is equal for all practical purposes to that of the cavity between the sides B B of the dish-grating A, Fig. 1, and in addition thereto possesses all the advantages above enumerated.     The great value of the new method of construction by direct combination of naked or open-hole gratings with the structural frame-work of illuminating constructions by means of plastic cement applied to the combination, becomes more conspicuously manifest when we come to constructions made of fractional