IMPROVE- MENTS IN ARMOUR PLATES OR BARS FOR PROTECTING SHIPS AND OTHER
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles William Lancaster, of New Bond Street,
in the County of Middlesex, Gun Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ARMOUR PLATES OR BARS FOR PROTECTING SHIPS AND OTHER
Sealed the 8th November 1861, and dated the 11th May 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles William Lancaster
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th May 1861.
I; CHARLES WILLIAM LANCASTER, of New Bond Street, in the County of
Middlesex, Gun Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ARMOUR PLATES OR BARS FOR PROTECTING SHIPS AND OTHER
STRUCTURES, AND IN FIXING THE SAME," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in rolling or otherwise forming armour plates or bars
of iron, steel, or other suitable metal or compound of metals with a flange or rib
on that part of the plate or bar which is to be the inner side thereof when
fixed, through which flange, bolts, or rivets for fastening the plates, as also
through or into the side of the ship or other structure, are driven and secured.
The top and bottom of the plates or bars are recessed or grooved in any such
suitable manner that one bar or plate shall fit or dovetail into that imme-

page_text: diately above and below it; and also that the flange on one plate through
which the bolts or rivets are passed shall be covered and protected by the plate
next above or below it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles William Lancaster in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 11th November 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
WILLIAM LANCASTER, of New Bond Street, in the County of Middlesex, Gun
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles William Lancaster, Her special licence that I, the said Charles William
Lancaster, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Charles William Lancaster, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN ARMOUR PLATES OR BARS FOR PROTECTING SHIPS AND OTHER
STRUCTURES, AND IN FIXING THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Charles William Lancaster, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the,said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office, within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles William Lancaster, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say-
My Invention consists in rolling or otherwise forming armour plates or bars
of irou, steel, or other suitable metal or compound of metals with a flange or
rib on that part of the plate or bar which is to be the inner side thereof when

page_text: fixed, through which flange bolts, screws, or rivets for fastening the plates, as
also through or into the side of the ship or other structure, are driven and
secured. The top and bottom of the plates or bars are recessed, grooved, or
formed in any such suitable manner that one bar or plate shall fit or dovetail
into that immediately above and below it; and also that the flange on one
plate, through which the bolts or rivets are passed, shall be covered and
protected by the plate next above or below it.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a sectional elevation of so many
armour plates or bars arranged and fixed as will be necessary to illustrate my
Invention.
A, A, are the plates, formed with flanges B, B, which are laid against the
plate or water-tight skin C; D, D, are the grooves and tongues, formed on the
plates A, A, fitting into one another, as shown; E, E, are rivets, for securing
the plates A, A, to the ship or other structure. I do not limit myself to the
form of groove, as the bars or plates may in some cases be formed flat where
they rest upon one another, as shewn in the sectional view, Figure 2, or they
may be formed, as shewn in Figure 3, and otherwise. The essential feature
of my Invention consists in the plates or bars being so formed that there shall
be a flange on every plate or bar through which rivets, bolts, or screws are to
be inserted for the purpose of securing the plates to the ship or other structure
to be protected, and that the plates or bars shall be so combined that the solid
part of one plate shall protect the bolts, rivets, or screws from liability to
be struck.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, forming armour
plates or bars for protecting ships and other structures with a flange, and fixing
the same by bolts, screws, or rivets, which latter are covered by the plate next
in succession, substantially in manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles William Lancaster, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-one.
CHARLES W. LANCASTER. (L.S.)