AN IMPROVED SYSTEM OF LONGITUDINAL. FRAMING COMBINED WITH DIAGONAL BEAMS AND PILLARS CONSTITUTING AN ARRANGEMENT FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF IRON OR STEEL VESSELS, THE PRINCIPLE OF WHICH IS ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE TO VESSELS OF EXTREME PROPORTIONS, AND TO TORPEDO BOATS AND RIVER STEAMERS WHERE GREAT LIGHTNESS IS REQUIRED, AS WELL AS FOR ALL VESSELS WHEREIN WATER BALLAST TANKS OR WATER- TIGHT PARTITIONS HAVE TO BE FITTED
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Bell, at Messieurs W. Walker and Company's,
Deptford Green Dock Yard, Loudon, in the County of Surrey, for the Inven-
tion of "AN IMPROVED SYSTEM OF LONGITUDINAL. FRAMING COMBINED WITH
DIAGONAL BEAMS AND PILLARS CONSTITUTING AN ARRANGEMENT FOR THE
CONSTRUCTION OF IRON OR STEEL VESSELS, THE PRINCIPLE OF WHICH IS
ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE TO VESSELS OF EXTREME PROPORTIONS, AND TO
TORPEDO BOATS AND RIVER STEAMERS WHERE GREAT LIGHTNESS IS REQUIRED,
AS WELL AS FOR ALL VESSELS WHEREIN WATER BALLAST TANKS OR WATER-
TIGHT PARTITIONS HAVE TO BE FITTED."
Sealed the 24th January 1879, and dated the 21st November 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Bell at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st November 1878.
WILLIAM BELL, at Messieurs W. Walker and Company's, Deptford Green Dockyard,
London, in the County of Surrey. AN IMPROVED SYSTEM OF LONGITUDINAL
FRAMING COMBINED WITH DIAGONAL BEAMS AND PILLARS CONSTITUTING AN
ARRANGEMENT FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF IRON OR STEEL. VESSELS, THE PRINCIPLE
OF WHICH IS ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE TO VESSELS OF EXTREME PROPORTIONS, AND
TO TORPEDO BOATS AND RIVER STEAMERS WHERE GREAT LIGHTNESS IS REQUIRED,
AS WELL AS FOR ALL VESSELS WHEREIN WATER BALLAST TANKS OR WATERTIGHT
PARTITIONS HAVE TO BE FITTED."
I propose to use angles or Z shaped longitudinals of iron or steel, equal in
sectional area to that which would be required for the transverse frames of an
ordinary vessel of similar dimensions, and carry them fore and aft, square, or nearly
so, to a vertical section at any point. These longitudinals will be spaced amidships at
a distance from centre to centre of, say, from once and a half to twice the distance
required by "Lloyd's" rules for the usual framing. The distance will vary according
to the area and shape of the midship section, being greatest in heavily plated large
vessels.

page_text: I may secure the longitudinals in position by means of lug pieces and the inner
flange of the Z iron, assisted by gusset plates to transverse bulkheads spaced at
any convenient distance apart.
By this system of construction the principal racking forces are transmitted to
the bulkheads; these latter therefore are specially constructed and stiffened to
support the strains upon them. It is evident that the greatest force acting upon a
bulkhead will be the upward thrust when the vessel is supported upon the crest of
a wave amidships with an insufficiency of buoyancy at the ends. To assist the
bulkheads in bearing this strain the beams are fitted diagonally across them on
their upper side. The forward bulkhead I propose to incline forward out of the
perpendicular at an angle determined by the fineness of the lines, and the whole of the
longitudinals terminate against and there are tied together horizontally in pairs by a
plate. On the fore side of this collision bulkhead the plating stiffened by breast
hooks fitted diagonally. The spaces between the skin and the connecting angle
irons of the transverse bulkheads will be made watertight by means of chocks of
wood, of india rubber, or any suitable material, fitted and caulked tight before the
cement which covers them to the height of the bilges is laid; by this means the
necessity of punching holes round the vessel at right angles to her length is avoided,
which adds considerably to the strength of the shell in a longitudinal direction.
Between the bulkheads, during construction, I propose to introduce certain
temporary wooden sections, shaped to the proper form in the mould loft, for the
purpose of holding the longitudinals in position; and where there is much twist,
or when the vessel is large, I may substitute temporary sections of angle iron
shaped as before for the wood sections; these, together with the bulkheads, will
insure conformity to the proper shape. To further assure this object the great
practical objection hitherto to the introduction of longitudinal framing, I propose
to form the butt straps of the shell plating of T iron for double, and of angle iron
for single riveting, which, having been set to the proper curves from the mould loft,
are now introduced between the longitudinals at their proper distances apart, the
upper and lower ends being flanged at right angles to take rivets through the
longitudinal. Midway between the butt straps I may in some cases introduce an
intermediate frame piece of angle iron, to further secure the longitudinals in place
before the skin is fitted, and to guide the plater in taking proper account of his
plate. It will thus be seen that the longitudinals, each of which will follow the
line of a plate edge, are made to serve as ribbands firmly secured in every direction,
and from the nature of the curves they follow very much fairer than transverse frames
could ever practically be made. When the bulkheads and butt straps are riveted
the work of plating the shell may commence, and as the longitudinals give the
shape of the edges and the butt straps the proper curve, the labour will be greatly
simplified and mistakes be rendered well nigh impossible. It will also be evident
that the "in and out" fairness of the thinnest plating will be secured even with the
most careless riveting.
The stem and posts may be of the usual construction, or be subject as regards the
rudder and propeller posts in steamers to certain modifications.
The keel and garboard strakes may be formed in the usual way, or be of a special
make, Tshaped iron or steel, the flange representing the keel being of suitable area
for taking the blocks in docking, and the garboard flanges being of the same or
nearly the same sectional area as the adjacent strake of plating. The T iron is
bent or curved to suit the rise of floor, and carried forward and aft until the "fining"
of the ends begins to make the angle excessive; it is then scarped on to the stem
and post.
In the engine and boiler space, and wherever heavy weights are concentrated
upon a limited area, a foundation plate may be carried across the first or several
longitudinals, as the case may require, with the grain of the iron athwart ships and
secured to the shell on each side. This plating when an inner watertight skin is
desired should be continuous, but in other cases might simply be strips of a deter-

page_text: mined width and sectional area, suited to the vessel to which the ceiling would be
attached.
When keelsons are desired they could be fitted, but as all the longitudinals are
practically keelsons, I am of opinion that both for saving of cargo space and
economizing cost it would be best to dispense with keelsons as hitherto fitted
altogether, and to produce their effects in a simpler manner by increasing the area
of the longitudinals and strapping them together by plates riveted across them and
secured at the ends to the shell. It should be remembered that by the means
above indicated for laying floor plates a double bottom of any length or depth,
within reasonable limits, may be fitted without greater cost than a similar area of
shell plating, while the materials employed are made to serve three purposes, for
they form at once a transverse stiffening, a floor, and a bulkhead. On large vessels
a variety of plans can be adopted for strengthening the bottom and forming the
floor. The particular method favoured will probably vary according to the fancy
of the owners, the size of the vessel, and the nature, position, and distribution of the
weights to be carried.
In full vessels with fine ends the longitudinals would approach too closely if
carried right fore and aft. In such a case one or more of them will terminate at
or about the point where they approach to within a distance of, say, three fourths
their distance apart amidships.
The beams, to be formed of Z irons, as already stated, I propose to carry
diagonally from side to side, and to so arrange them that a pair or several pairs of
them will cross each other on each side of the middle line of the bulkheads; they
will be fastened at their intersection by a small triangular plate, and at the ends will
be secured to the sheer strake by a flanged plate forming a knee or otherwise. The
pillars under them will be fitted diagonally. The effect of this arrangement will
be to convert the ship as a whole into an effective girder, able to resist all strains
with equal facility, in whatever position she may be placed by the action of the
waves.
I propose to have no sluices to the bulkheads as now fitted, which are so apt to
get out of order, but in lieu of them to carry a drain pipe fore and aft on top of
keel, having a rose and stop cock at each watertight bulkhead worked from the
upper
deck. This drain pipe would be connected with the engine room pumps.
The ceiling in holds may run fore and aft in the usual manner, and be secured
to the transverse tie plates on top of longitudinals, and the decks be laid diagonally
at right angles to the upper system of 2 iron beams, to which the planks will be
secured.
Tie rods or stays of round or of Z iron may be fitted diagonally from the top and
bottom of each bulkhead, thus forming of the vessel on the line of the keel a lattice
girder with the neutral axis in the middle of the hold; short vertical ties or struts
may be introduced at the intersection of the diagonal pillars to assist in supporting
the beams.

page_text: .
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
:
the said William Bell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st May
1879.
WILLIAM BELL, at Messieurs W. Walker and Company's, Deptford Green Dock-
yard, London, in the County of. "AN IMPROVED SYSTEM OF LONGITUDINAL
FRAMING COMBINED WITH DIAGONAL BEAMS AND PILLARS, CONSTITUTING AN
ARRANGEMENT FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF IRON OR STEEL VESSELS, THE PRINCIPLE
OF WHICH IS ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE TO VESSELS OF EXTREME PROPORTIONS, AND
TO TORPEDO BOATS AND RIVER STEAMERS WHERE GREAT LIGHTNESS IS REQUIRED,
AS WELL AS FOR ALL VESSELS WHEREIN WATER-BALLAST TANKS OR WATER-TIGHT
PARTITIONS HAVE TO BE FITTED."
My Invention has reference principally to the adoption of longitudinals of iron,
steel, or other suitable material, rivetted or secured along the seams of the overlap
plating in the construction of vessels. Also the use of webbed butt straps, which
assist in the transverse stiffening. The bulk heads are made watertight between
their rims and the skin by means of chocks without fastening through the skin.
I use angles, or Z or other suitable shaped longitudinals of iron or steel, about
equal in sectional area to that which would be required for the transverse frames
of an ordinary vessel of similar dimensions, and carry them fore and aft, square or
nearly so, to a vertical section at any point, or in other words along the edges of
the overlapped shell plating. The longitudinals will be spaced amidships at a
distance from centre to centre of, say, from once and a half to twice the distance
required by "Lloyd's "rules for the usual framing. The distance will vary
according to the area and shape of the midship section, being greatest in heavily
plated large vessels. I secure in position by means of lugs pieces, and the inner
flange or flanges assisted if desired by gusset plates, the longitudinals to transverse
bulk heads spaced at any convenient distance apart, and if found necessary in some
cases to transverse frames at each line of shell butts.
By this principle of construction the principal racking forces are transmitted to
the bulkheads, these latter therefore are specially constructed and stiffened to
support the strains upon them. It is evident that the greatest force acting upon a
bulk head will be the upward thrust when the vessel is supported upon the crest
of a wave amidships with an insufficiency of buoyancy at the ends. To assist the
bulkheads in bearing this strain the beams may be fitted diagonally across them.
The forward bulkhead I, when thought desirable, incline forward out of the per-
pendicular at any angle determined by the fineness of the lines, the whole of the
longitudinals terminating against it, and are there tied together horizontally in
pairs by a plate; or I might if preferred extend the longitudinals to the stein,
securing same as shewn in the Drawings. On the fore side of this collision bulk-
head the plating can be if deemed requisite stiffened by breast hooks fitted
diagonally. The spaces between the skin and the connecting angle irons of the
transverse bulkheads will be made watertight by means of chocks of wood, of
india rubber, or any suitable material, fitted and caulked tight before the cement
which covers them to the height of the bilges is laid; by this means the necessity
of punching holes round the vessel at right angles to her length is avoided, which
adds considerably to the strength of the shell in a longitudinal direction.
Between the bulkheads, when the transverse frames before mentioned are not
fitted, I during construction introduce certain temporary wooden sections shaped
to the proper form in the mould loft for the purpose of holding the longitudinals
in position; and where is must twist or when the vessel is large I substitute
temporary sections of angle iron, shaped as before, for the wood sections; these,
together with the bulkheads and the transverse frames, if used, will ensure con-
formity to the proper shape. To further assure this object, the great practical
objection hitherto to the introduction of longitudinal framing, I form the butt

page_text: straps of the shell plating of T or other webb shaped bars, which having been set
to the proper curves from the mould loft are now introduced between the longi-
tudinals at their proper distances apart, the upper and lower ends being flanged to
take rivets through the longitudinal. Midway between the butt straps I may in
some cases introduce an intermediate frame piece of angle iron to further secure the
longitudinal in place before the skin is fitted, and to guide the plater in taking
proper account of his plate. It will thus be seen that the longitudinals, each of
which will follow the line of a plate edge and be rivetted by the same rivet used for
connecting the strakes together, are made to serve as ribbands firmly secured in
every direction, and from the nature of the curves they follow will be very much
fairer than transverse frames could ever practically be made. When the bulk heads
and butt straps are rivetted the work of plating the shell may commence, and as
the longitudinals give the shape of the edges and the butt straps the proper curve
the labour will be greatly simplified and mistakes be rendered well night impossible.
It will also be evident that the in and out fairness of the thinnest plating will be
secured even with the most careless rivetting.
The stem and posts may be of the usual construction, or be subject as regards
the stem to certain modifications, as shown in the Drawings. The keel and gar-
board strakes may be formed in the usual way or be of a special make of Ṭ shaped
iron or steel, the flange representing the keel being of suitable area for taking the
blocks in docking, and the garboard flanges being of the same or nearly the same
sectional area as the adjacent strake of plating. The flange is bent or curved to
suit the rise of floor, and carried forward and aft until the "fineing" of the ends
begins to make the angle excessive; it is there scarphed on to the stem and post.
In the engine and boiler space, and wherever heavy weights are concentrated upon
a limited area, a foundation plate may be carried across the first or several longi-
tudinals, as the case may require, with the grain of the iron athwartships and
secured to the shell on each side. The plating, where an inner watertight skin
is desired, would be continuous, but in other cases might simply be strips of a
determined width and sectional area suited to the vessel, to which the ceiling would
be attached; where keelsons are desired they could be fitted, but as all the longi-
tudinals are practically keelsons I am of opinion that both for saving of cargo
space and economizing cost it would be best to dispense with keelsons as hitherto
fitted altogether, and to produce their effects in a simpler manner by increasing the
area of the longitudinals and strapping them together by plates rivetted across
them, and secured at the ends to the shell. It should be remembered that by the
means above indicated for laying floor plates a double bottom of any length or
depth within reasonable limits may be fitted without greater cost than a similar
area of shell plating, while the materials employed are made to serve three purposes,
for they form at once a transverse stiffening, a floor, and a bulkhead. On large
vessels a variety of plans can be adopted for strengthening the bottom and forming
the floor. The particular method favoured will probably vary according to the fancy
of the owners, the size of the vessel, and the nature, position, and distribution of
the weights to be carried.
In full vessels with fine ends the longitudinals would approach too closely if
carried right fore and aft. I such a case one or more of them will terminate at or
about the point where they approach to within a distance of, say, three fourths
their distance apart amidships.
The beams formed as shown in the Drawings, and as already stated, can if
thought desirable be carried diagonally from side to side, and so arranged that a
pair or several pairs of them will cross each other on each side of the middle line of
the bulkheads; they will be fastened at their intersection, and at the ends will
be secured to the sheer strake by a flanged plate forming a knee or otherwise.
Between the vertical pillars are fitted diagonal braces, as shown in the Drawings.
The effect of this arrangement will be to convert the ship as a whole into an
effective girder, able to resist all strains with equal facility in whatever position
she may be placed by the action of the waves.

page_text: I propose to have no sluices to the bulkheads as now fitted, which are so apt to
get out of order, but in lieu of them to carry a drain pipe fore and aft on top of
keel, having a rose and stop-cock at each watertight bulkhead worked from the
upper deck. This drain-pipe would be connected with the engine room pumps.
The ceilings in holds may run fore and aft in the usual manner, and be secured to
the transverse tie plates on top of longitudinals, and the decks may be fitted
diagonally if preferred.
The Drawings accompanying this Specification, will illustrate the details of
this Invention, will be readily understood upon inspection thereof.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed or carried out in practice, I
claim as my Invention the combinations of arrangements herein-before described
and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings. Important points or features
whereof being,
1. The position and arrangement of the longitudinals.
2. The adaptation and arrangement as regards the shell butts.
3. The adaptation and arrangement as regards the transverse stiffening over the
shell butts.
4. The adaptation and arrangement of the diagonal braces along the middle
line.
5. The adaptation and arrangement as regards diagonal beams.
6. The adaptation and arrangement as regards making watertight bulkheads
without holes through the skin. All substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Bell, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy nine.
Witness,
T. MORGAN,
Secretary,
Inventors' Patentright Association Lª.
21, Cockspur Street,
London, S.W.
W. DELL.
(L.S.)