IMPROVEMENTS IN PLANKING OR SHEATHING IRON SHIPS AND IRON-FRAMED SHIPS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robinson Mulley, Surveyor to Lloyd's
Register of Shipping, Plymouth, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PLANKING OR SHEATHING IRON SHIPS AND IRON-FRAMED SHIPS."
Sealed the 11th May 1866, and dated the 23rd November 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robinson Mulley
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd November 1865.
I, WILLIAM ROBINSON MULLEY, Surveyor to Lloyd's Register of
Shipping, Plymouth, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PLANKING OR SHEATHING IRON SHIPS AND IRON-FRAMED
SHIPS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in planking or sheathing
iron ships and iron-framed ships. In sheathing iron ships with wood to fit
them to receive copper, in order to attach the wooden planks to the iron
skin of the ship I form transverse grooves in the planks (in section thus
at suitable distances apart to receive short lengths of trough
iron (thus ). The bottom of the trough iron, when it is in its
place in the groove, comes flush with the surface of the plank, and the top
flanges of the trough enter the undercut portions of the groove. The
sheathing thus prepared is secured to the skin of the ship by tap screws or
fastenings passing through the bottoms of the troughs and into the skin.

page_text: Holes are bored through from the grooves to the face of the planks to
admit of the screws or fastenings being put in, and these holes are after-
wards plugged.
In iron-framed ships the planking may be secured to the frame in a
similar manner, the tap screws or fastenings entering the frame in place of 5
the skin as before.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Robinson Mulley in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd May 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBINSON MULLEY, Surveyor to Lloyd's Register of Shipping, Plymouth,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Robinson Mulley, Her special licence that I, the
said William Robinson Mulley, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Robinson Mulley, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PLANKING OR
SHEATHING IRON SHIPS AND IRON-FRAMED SHIP," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Robinson Mulley, 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 William Robinson Mulley, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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, that is to say :-

page_text: This Invention has for its object improvements in planking or sheathing
iron ships and iron-framed ships. In sheathing iron ships with wood to fit
them to receive copper, in order to attach the wooden planks to the iron
skin of the ship I form transverse grooves in the planks (in section thus
at suitable distances apart to receive short lengths of trough
iron (thus ). The bottom of the trough iron when it is in its
place in the groove comes flush with the surface of the plank, and the top
flanges of the trough enter the undercut portions of the groove. The
sheathing thus prepared is secured to the skin of the ship by tap screws or
fastenings passing through the bottoms of the troughs and into the skin.
Holes are bored through from the grooves to the face of the planks to
admit of the screws or fastenings being put in, and these holes are after-
wards plugged.
In iron-framed ships the planking may be secured to the frame in a
similar manner, the tap screws or fastenings entering the frame in place of
the skin as before.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows part of the transverse section of an iron-plated ship or
vessel planked with wood at the bottom and sides, the planking rising suffi-
ciently above the water line; Figure 2 shows part of the sides of the ship or
vessel; in this Figure part of the planking of wood, also part of the iron
plating or skin, and also part of the copper or yellow metal sheathing are
shown broken away; Figure 3 shows part of the stern end of the ship or
vessel wherein parts of the plating of iron are shown uncovered; Figure 4
shows in section and full size or thereabout part of the side of a ship or
vessel. In these Figures the same letters are used to indicate the same
parts.
A is the iron plating or skin of the vessel; B is the wood planking,
and C is the copper or other metal sheathing; D shows a short length of
trough iron, which is received into a groove or recess formed across the
planks; these grooves are made at distances of, say, 3 to 4 feet apart; E is
a rivet securing the trough iron D to the skin of the ship, or in place of
a rivet a screw may be used, such screw not being long enough to pass
through the skin or plating, but screwing into a tapped hole therein. The
screw or rivet E is introduced through a hole formed through the planking,
as indicated by dotted lines, and such hole is afterwards filled or plugged

page_text: with wood. Where the butt joints of the planks come I can use a section
of iron such as is shown at G, through part of which the screw or rivet H
is introduced and fixed, and the vertical joint of the planking is caulked
in the usual manner, and such is the case with the horizontal longitudinal
joints or seams of the planking.
The peculiarity of the Invention consists in tlie mode of employing the
screws or rivets E in combination with the introduction into the planking
of the short lengths of trough iron D, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robinson Mulley, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this 19th day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
WILLIAM ROBINSON MULLEY. (L.S.)