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This is an excerpt from the paper entitled "A Short History of 'Lamella' Roof Construction" by Eur Ing J S Allen, published in the Transactions of the Newcomen Society, 1999 Vol 71, No 1.
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Lamella roof construction had a relatively short life, it began with Friedrich Reinhart Baltasar Zollinger (Town Building Advisor at Merseburg/Saalen, 1918-32) and was widely adopted in both its timber and steel form, but by the end of the war had effectively become history.
Author J S Allen was given access to a wealth of primary source material by the Chief Engineer at Horseley (the Company operating the lamella patent in the British Empire), and in this paper the Author follows the history of the development of both timber and steel structures, and in an Appendix to his paper provides details of over 100 orders for lamella contracts between 1930 and 1942.
“At Merseburg in 1918 Zollinger was faced with a crisis in house building. No houses had been built during the war and the area saw the arrival of thousands of new workers for the new ammonia works and the coal mines. In 1922 he planned a new town area and founded the Merseburg Building Company which not only constructed 1250 flats but encouraged self-help building. The flats and houses used the ‘Zollbau Lammellen Dach’ (timber lamella) for which on 3rd October 1921 he had applied for a patent in Germany.
The work led him to develop the lamella system for larger spans such as schools, churches and large halls. The system became widely used in Europe, America and elsewhere for arched roofs...
The timber arched roof was made up of relatively short timbers referred to as ‘lamellas’ varying in thickness and depth depending upon the span, but identical for any given span. These lamellas are curved on their top edges and bevelled at the ends which are radial to the curvature and are bolted together on edge with the curved side uppermost, to form a rhomboid network of framing timbers. In this manner the external surface of the roof takes up the arched form…
In November 1924 Hugo Junkers of Frankenburg, Aachen applied for a patent in Germany, and a year later in England. It concerned the construction of lamella roofs using metal and in this system the network was based on a system of triangles and not diamonds… It was as a result of a correspondence with a Mr Jaekel acting for the Zollbau Syndicate that Directors of the Horseley Bridge and Engineering Co Ltd of Tipton, Staffordshire visited that organization in Berlin…
The first order for a steel lamella roof in the UK was in 1930 for an aircraft hangar and was for Henleys (1928) Ltd at Heston Air park, Heston, London. The design and lamella materials were supplied from Germany. Horseley provided the normal steelwork and bolts for the gables and doors which were 62 ft wide and ran on roller bearing wheels. The span was 82 ft and sprang from concrete sill beams… a double page leaflet by Horseley was issued illustrating this building which was described as ‘Horseley Lamella’.”
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However, in 1940 lamella construction suffered a blow: there were two roof failures, one at the Meteor Garage, Birmingham and the second at the Apex Garage, Southampton, which led to the rapid decline of this form of construction. The Author concludes:
“After the war there seems to have been little new lamella construction but some roofs were repaired and some extended. Thus the history of this form of construction was concluded.
There is no doubt that the lamella roof had great architectural merit and provided clear airy buildings which were fully satisfactory (when of sufficient rise and with sufficient lamella bar strength). The steel lamella roofs must have been stronger than suggested by the calculations that were being carried out by others to show why roofs had failed!
For so many lamella roofs to survive and be in excellent condition some 60 years after their construction bears ample tribute to the principle of the design and to the quality of construction. It was tragic that problems occurred with the three early roofs, two of which were of less satisfactory design and one of poor erection at a time when the system was not in general production, and further, that the early failures should have occurred during difficult times when basic research on such systems was not possible."
Biographical note: John S Allen was co-author, with L T C Rolt, of "The Steam Engine of Thomas Newcomen", 1977, also author of numerous papers on Newcomen. See also his paper, "The History of the Horseley Company to 1865", in Transactions of the Newcomen Society Vol 58, 1986-87.
The complete text of this paper (29 pages, 20 illustrations) can be purchased on line from our archive.
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