CERTAIN IMPROVED METHODS OF STRENGTHENING METALLIC AND OTHER. STRUCTURES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Pedder, of No. 4, Savage Gardens, Tower-
Hill, in the City of London, Master Mariner, for the Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVED METHODS OF STRENGTHENING METALLIC AND OTHER.
STRUCTURES,"
Scaled the 21st August 1857, and dated the 2nd March 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Pedder at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on tho
2nd March 1857.
I, WILLIAM PEDDER, of No. 4, Savage Gardens, Tower Hill, in the City
of London, Master Mariner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "CERTAIN IMPROVED METHODS OF STRENGTHENING METALLIC AND OTHER
STRUCTURES," to be as follows, that is to say:-
I propose to strengthen metallic beams, stays, the frames and bulkheads of
iron vessels, and other metallic structures, by connecting two thin-plates
of iron, or other metal of sufficient depth, by means of wrought-iron or other
bolts passing through closely fitting and rigid studs of metal, whether wrought
or cast in one or more pieces, and also through large washers of either
wrought or cast metal outside the two plates to be connected, such washers.
being intended to increase the bearing surface.
The above-mentioned studs may be formed of any desired shape, and may be-
drilled or otherwise provided with one or more holes for the passage of the

page_text: bolts through them; and the bolts may be either rivitted or set up with keys
or nuts, as may be required, at one or both ends.
Deck beams, knees, frames, floors, and other similar structures, may be thus
made in pairs of any desired strength with a decreased consumption of material,
and the weaker portions of a structure may be strengthened by making a
frame of any required substance, and connecting it, in the manner above
described, with the adjacent parts of the vessel, either inside or outside. I also
propose to strengthon the weaker parts of steam boilers by the introduction of
suitable frames, as above described, in such directions as may be required, and
to pack the spaces between the plates of metal forming beams, girders, rafters,
and other similar structures, with wood or other material, when such packing
is required to give additional stability.
For doubling the butts or seams of all structures of iron, I propose to
introduce iron bands, formed with a longitudinal rib on their surface, such rib.
to be introduced between the edges of the plates to a sufficient depth and
thickness to fill up and rivet over all irregularities produced by imperfect
shearing of the edges. This doubling plate I make thicker in the centro than
at the edges, to give additional strength at the scam. When the plates are
truly sheared, the whole of the rib may be dressed down flush; and in
stringers, keelsons, or other parts where flush work is not required, the rib may
bo rivited over the edges of the plates.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Pedder in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd September 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,. WILLIAM
PEDDER, of No. 4, Savage Gardens, Tower Hill, in the City of London, Master
Mariner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, givo and grant unto me, the said
William Pedder, Her special licence that I, the said William Pedder, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Pedder, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agrée
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,

page_text: and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVED
METHODS OF STRENGTHENING METALLIC AND OTHER STRUCTURES," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said William Pedder, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describo and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and causo
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 William Pedder, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:
Since the filing of my Provisional Specification with my Petition for Letters
Patent, I have discovered that some parts of my Invention, therein set forth,
are not of that practical útility to warrant their introduction into this my Final
Specification; consequently I desire to limit my Invention to the improved
methods, herein-after set forth, for strengthening metallic and other structures
at the joints thereof. These methods will be found especially adapted to the
strengthening of the plates used in the construction of iron ships and vessels at
the parts where the ends of two plates meet. They will also be found highly
useful in the strengthening of the butt joints or scarfs of wooden beams.
My Invention, then, consists in strengthening plates, planks, and beans
employed to form metallic and other structures, at the parts of such structures
where the ends aro brought together, by means of strengthening joint plates,
having a rib or feather depending or projecting therefrom, against one side of
which feather or rib. one end of one plate is made to but, and against the
opposite side of which one end of the next plate employed in the structure
is also made to but; the projecting rib or feather is of a greater length than
the breadth or thickness of the plates. After the ends of the plates have been
made to but against the rib, they are rivetted to the strengthening joint plate,
and the projecting end of the rib is beaten in to form a solid mass between
the plates, and may be burred down so as to form a rivet over the ends of
the plates on the opposite side to that of the main body of the strengthening
joint plate.
In the annexed Drawings I shew various forms of my strengthening joint
plates.
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a strengthening joint plate in its most

page_text: simple form; a is the body of the plate, and 6 the rib or feather. Figure 2 is
a similar view, with the body of the plate over the rib from c to o made thicker
than the other parts thereof, in order to impart additional strength to the joint.
At Figure 3 the rib b is represented with bevelled sides, and when this form of
rib is adopted, the ends of the plates to be united' should be bevelled off' to fit
into the recess in the rib.
Figure 4 shews, in section, and Figure 5, in external elevation, two plates
strengthened by the strengthening joint plates; a is the body of the joint
plate; b, the rib; c, c, two plates, the ends of which d, d, are brought against
the rib b, and the whole secured by rivets e,.e, and: by beating over the pro-
jecting end of the rib b, so as to turn down and form a rivet over the ends of.
the plates.
Figure 6 is a section of the strengthening joint plate applied to strengthen
structures, such as boilers, tanks, &c. where plates are brought together
at angles.
In work where the surface is required to be flush, all the projecting portion
of the rib not required to completely fill up the space between two plates to be
united may be dressed off; but for such work as stringer plates, keclsons,
beam ties, and the like, no dressing off will be necessary or desirable.
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 the strengthening
of metallic and other structures by the employment of strengthening joint.
plates, formed with a rib or feather projecting therefrom, and applied in the
manner heroin-before described, and represented in the Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Pedder, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven.