An account of the epidemic fever of 1847-48, more especially as deduced from the statistical records of the extra accommodation of the Royal Infirmary : with a suggestion and plan for improved and more economical temporary erections for future occasions / by Robert Paterson, M.D.

  • Paterson, Robert, 1814-1889.
Date:
[1848?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An account of the epidemic fever of 1847-48, more especially as deduced from the statistical records of the extra accommodation of the Royal Infirmary : with a suggestion and plan for improved and more economical temporary erections for future occasions / by Robert Paterson, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    36/46 (page 34)
    pair of pillars let beams be placed, as will be seen in the drawing, for the support of the roof; and also beams laid across the stone bases of the pillars, and a flooring laid down upon them, so arranged that a proper ventilation of air shall take place beneath the floor. The sides are to be composed of square frames, made to fit be- tween the pillars, and to be fastened to them with bolts. These frames are to be composed of boards, with their lower edges over- lapping the other. Some are to have windows in them for the purposes of light and ventilation, and others to have the boarding so arranged that it shall shut or open like window-blinds. It will be obvious, therefore, that these pillars being placed at the distance of ten feet, and their height being the same, the ten feet square frames will fit into and between any of them, and that a frame can be placed either with or without a window, or with the moveable boards, according to the pleasure of the architect, or taken away and changed at pleasure. On the roof frames pre- viously mentioned let a canvas covering for the summer months be stretched, and so contrived as to hook up, like the reefs of a sail, for the purposes of ventilation. This canvas covering to be displaced by a new substantial roofing for the winter months, in the shape of frames of wood built in the same way as the frames for the sides of the building, and which are to be bolted on to the roof beams as required. This, of course, can be done in short space of time, and without the removal of the patients. This must obviously be the most economical, most comfortable, and easiest to put up and take down of all forms of temporary erections, since we find a similar plan adopted by all those who use buildings which require to be removed from place to place; and the advantages which would accrue from the use of such a place over the method of erecting the sheds which have been in previous use are as follows :— It would be economical in the first erection. It could be increased or diminished in size at will, according to the numbers requiring accommodation, and without removal of patients. It could be divided into as many compartments as wished by simply placing two frames together across the ward, which the measurement at once shows, the ward being twenty feet wide by ten high, while each frame is ten feet square. It combines the most approved and perfect system of ventila- tion, with the canvas covering for summer and more substantial roof for winter. It can be taken down and put up in a very short space of time, in consequence of the diflerent parts fastening together with bolts and screws.