IMPROVEMENTS IN BUILDING SHIPS AND VESSELS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Samuelson, of 28, Cornhill, in the City of
London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUILDING SHIPS AND
VESSELS."
Sealed the 7th August 1862, and dated the 12th February 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Samuelson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th February 1862.
I, ALEXANDER SAMUELSON, of 28, Cornhill, in the City of London, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUILDING
SHIPS AND VESSELS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in building ships and vessels,
and is particularly applicable for building ships and vessels which are to have
armour plates applied to their sides, although ships and vessels which are not
required to have armour plates fixed to them may also advantageously be con-
structed according to my Invention. In constructing the framing for the
body of a ship or vessel according to my Invention, it is arranged in ziz-zag
directions, so as to form vertical ridges, and these ridges are produced by
rivetting plates to suitable angle irons and to each other, and although the
horizontal section of these vertical ridges may be varied in form, it is preferred
that it should consist of a succession of acute angles thus, MM; the angle

page_text: iron or irons to which the plates are rivetted spreading out on each side of the
angular ridge formed by the coming together of the edges of two plates. The
rivetting of the plates to each other and to the angle irons employed is to be
in such manner as to render the parts water-tight, so that not only is a
framing produced consisting of upright ribs of angle irons, but the plating
(which constitutes part of a frame or body) acts as an internal water-tight
skin. To the inner ridges longitudinal stringers or framings are fixed by
rivetting, or otherwise, and where desired internal plating or ceiling may be
also applied. When the side of a ship or vessel is to be coated with armour
plates, the armour plating is applied over the outer ridges in the following
manner: The two ends of each armour plate are, as before been proposed,
turned up at right angles, so as to form flanges thereto. The top and bottom
edges of each armour plate are formed square with the inner and outer
surfaces. The flanges at the ends of each armour plate are made tapering or
wedge-shaped on their inner sides, so that when the two ends of two con-
tiguous armour plates come together they form a solid angular mass corre-
sponding in dimensions with the angular recess between two angular ridges of
the frame or body of the ship or vessel, and these two flanges are bolted or
fastened to each other and to the plates between which they come, whilst tho
ridges of the framing which are intermediate of the flanges of the armour
plates come against and support the back surfaces of the armour plates. The
upper and lower edges of the armour plates of each strake form butt joints
with the lower and upper edges of the strakes of armour plates above and
below them, thus the armour plating form, so to speak, an outer skin. Where
the above-described system of inner plating and framing is employed without
armour plating, then a suitable skin is affixed, consisting of plates rivetted to
each other, and also to the angle irons at the angles of the outer ridges.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Samuelson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 12th August 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
SAMUELSON, of 28, Cornhill, in the City of London; send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of

page_text: Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alexander Samuelson, Her special licence that I, the said Alexander
Samuelson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Alexander Samuelson, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
áll 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUILDING SHIPS AND VESSELS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Samuelson, 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 Invention, 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 Alexander Samuelson, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in building ships and vessels,
and is particularly applicable for building ships and vessels which are to have
armour plates applied to their sides, although ships and vessels which are not
required to have armour plates fixed to them may also advantageously be
constructed according to my Invention. In constructing the framing for the
body of a ship or vessel according to my Invention, it is arranged so as to
form vertical ridges, and these ridges are produced by rivetting plates to
suitable angle irons and to each other, and the horizontal section of these
vertical ridges may be varied in form. The rivetting of the plates to each
other and to the angle irons employed is to be in such manner as to render
the parts water-tight, so that not only is a framing produced consisting of
upright ribs of angle irons, but the plating (which constitutes part of a frame.
ór body) acts as an internal water-tight skin. To the inner ridges longitudinal
stringers or framings are fixed by rivetting, or otherwise, and where desired
internal plating or ceiling may be also applied. When the side of a
ship or
vessel is to be coated with armour plates the armour plating is applied over
the outer ridges in the following manner :-The two ends of each armour
plate are, as has before been proposed, turned up at right angles, so as to
form flanges thereto. The top and bottom edges of each armour plate are
formed square with the inner and outer surfaces. The flanges at the ends of

page_text: .each armour plate are made tapering or wedge-shaped on their inner sides, so
that when the two ends of two contiguous armour plates come together: they
form a solid angular mass corresponding in dimensions with the angular recess
.between two angular ridges of the frame or body of the ship or véssel, and
these two flanges are bolted or fastened to each other and to the plates
between which they come, whilst the ridges of the framing which aro
intermediate of the flanges of the armour plates come against and support
the back surfaces of the armour plates. The upper and lower edges of the
armour plates of each strake form butt joints with the lower and upper edges
of the strakes of armour plates above and below them, thus the armour
"plating forms, so to speak, an outer skin. Where the above-described system
of inner plating and framing is employed without armour plating, then a
suitable skin is affixed, consisting of plates rivetted to each other, and also to
the angle irons at the angles of the outer ridges.
"
.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same.
· Figure 1 shows a horizontal section of a portion of a ship's or vessel's sido
coated with armour plating, wherein the upright ribs or frames of the ship or
vessel consist of a series of acute angles formed by rivetting plates to each other
and to angle iron, and which are to be arranged at any desired distance apart,
the outer plating or skin forming the base line of such angular ribs or frames.
Figure 2 shews another horizontal section of a portion of the side of a ship or
vessel, also plated over with armour plating in which figure the upright ribs or
frames are rectangular; the sectional angular form of the ribs or upright frames
may be varied; b₁, b₁, are the upright ribs or frames which are each constructed
of sheets of metal rivetted to each other, and where necessary to angle irons, or
if preferred, the sheets may be bent at their edges so as to form flanges in
place of using angle iron at the angles where the sheets are rivetted to each
other, or to the plating of which the skin of the ship or vessel is .composed.
In Figures 1 and 2, angle iron is used at the angles, where the plates are
rivetted to each other, whilst in Figures 3 and 4, which are similar sections to
those shown in Figures 1 and 2, the sheets of which the ribs or upright frames
ȧre constructed are formed with bent edges to produce flanges suitable for
fixing the parts of the ribs or upright frames together by rivetting. The plates
which are to form the armour plating of a ship or vessel are each turned up
at their ends so as to form internal flanges, and where the ribs or upright frames
are formed to an acute angle in section, the metal of the interior flanges of the
armour plates are bevilled, so that when the flanges at the ends of two con-
tiguous armour plates come together within a rib or upright frame they will

page_text: i
fill the interior of such rib or upright frame, and the plates of such rib as well
as the flanges of the armour plates may then be securely fixed by: through
bolts, which it is preferred should be screw bolts with nuts., By these means
the armour plates will contribute great additional strength to the construction
of the body of a ship, in consequence of the flanges at the ends, of the armour
plates entering the hollow ribs or upright framings of the ship or vessel, and
by reason of their being fastened thereto and to each other, whilst the use of
bolts through the armour plates is rendered unnecessary. I would remark that
it is not new to use armour plates formed with internal flanges for coating
ships and vessels, I do not therefore claim the making of such forms of armour
plates, the peculiarity of my Invention when using armour plates consists in
placing the internal flanges of such armour plates within hollow angular ribs
or upright frames, and in fixing the same therein by through bolts. The outer
skin of such vessels may be made by plating according to any of the systems
of plating heretofore practised, but it is preferred that the edges of the sheets
of the outer plating or skin should not lap where they are rivetted together, but
that their edges should butt together and be rivetted to butt pieces, as is well
understood, this however is not essential. In Figures 1 and 2, a, a, is the
plating, forming the outer skin of the vessel, this skin or outer plating is
shewn to intervene between the back of the armour plating and the angular
ribs, or frames, this however is not essential as the ribs or upright frames may
when desired come directly against the back of the armour plating, in which
case the skin or outer plating would be used between the ribs or upright
frames, or where the ribs or upright frames are triangular in their horizontal
section they may come close together forming a uniform zig-zag framing
constructed of plates and angle iron rivetted together; b, b, are the angular
hollow ribs or upright frames which are produced by rivetting plates to each
other,. and to angle iron c, c, and d, d, where desired. In Figures 3 and 4 tho
angle iron d, d, are dispensed with, and the plates of which the ribs or upright
frames are composed are bent at their edges to form flanges where necessary.
The forms of angular hollow upright ribs or frames shewn in the Drawings,
are those which are preferred, but their forms or sections may be varied when
desired inner plating or ceiling of metal or wood may be used, and rivetted
or otherwise fastened to the upright hollow ribs or frames, wood backing to
the armour plating may as heretofore be applied if desired.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performning the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is, the
construction of angular ribs or upright frames of plates rivetted to each other
and to angle iron, to which ribs or upright frames the outer plating or skin

page_text: is fixed by rivetting and to which ribs or upright frames armour plating when
used is also fixed by internal flanges as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Samuelson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
ALEXANDER SAMUELSON. (L.S.)