IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARMOUR PLATES FOR SHIPS AND OTHER STRUCTURES
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firin of Haseltino, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for an Invention of
“IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARMOUR PLATES FOR SHIPS AND
OTHER STRUCTURES." A communication from abroad by Hermann Reusch,
of Dillingen-on-the-Saar, Germany.
(Void by reason of the Patentee having neglected to file a Specification in
pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th September 1881.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
ARMOUR PLATES FOR SHIPS AND OTHER STRUCTURES." [A communication from
abroad by Hermann Reusch, of Dillingen-on-the-Saar, Gerinany.]
It is found in practice that the cracks formed in steel-faced armour plates by the
impact of the projectile are more numerous and extensive in proportion to the
hardness of the steel that has been used in the manufacture of such plates, whilst
on the other hand steel of less than a certain degree of hardness, though not liable
to be cracked, has but little more power of resistance than the ordinary iron used
for armour plating.
My Invention has for one of its objects to obviate this difficulty, but it is also
designed to provide means for obtaining a more complete welding or uniting of the
comparatively soft base to the hard steel cast surface upon the same thɩn has here-
tofore been practicable.
I carry my said Invention into practice in the following manner, that is to say :—
The intimate connection of the base of the armour plate, which is of iron or soft
steel, with the hard steel cast on the same, I very considerably promote or increase
by treating the surface of the said base with alkaline silicates or boracic salts.
ית ..'

page_text: These silicates or boracic salts are either dissolved in water and brushed over the
surface where the connection is to take place, or they are strewn on the same in
the form of powder. They dissolve the oxides and other impurities adhering to
the surface, and thus cause a closer adherence of the steel cast over the surface
than is otherwise the case.
To prevent the herein before mentioned formation of cracks, and moreover to
allow the use of very hard and resistant steel, the armour plate, after the steel face
has been cast on the base and at any desired stage of the subsequent rolling
operations, is subjected to a red heat for several days in an annealing furnace, the
steel face being covered as hermetically as possible with some material containing
oxygen and having a decarbonizing action, such, for instance, as the purest
obtainable oxide of iron, thus the steel surface of the armour plate will in
proportion to the duration of the annealing process and the efficiency of the
oxidizing material employed, be de-oxidized to a greater or less depth and will be
transformed into an exceedingly tough material, which by reason of its great
tensile power renders impossible the formation of cracks when the projectiles strike
the surface.
By means of my process and by annealing for a longer time a plate may be
made fit for use even in cases where, in consequence of a mistake, the steel that
has been used for the surface is too hard.