IMPROVE- MENTS IN SHIPS AND VESSELS IN ORDER TO PREVENT INJURY FROM COLLISIONS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald. Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SHIPS AND VESSELS IN ORDER TO PREVENT INJURY FROM COLLISIONS."
-A communication from. abroad by Donald Bethune, of Port Hope,
Upper Canada:
Sealed tho 3rd February 1863, and dated the 7th August 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman. at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 7th August 1862.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS: IN SHIPS AND VESSELS IN ORDER TO PREVENT INJURY FROM
COLLISIONS," communicated to me from abroad by Donald Bethune, residing
at Port Hope, Upper Canada, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in placing from the bow to the stern of the ship or
vessel (like a belt), a plate or plates of iron, steel, or other similar material,
about ten inches in width, more or less, and about five inches in depth or
thickness, more or less, at the centre of each plate.. I prefer the plate or
plates to be about ten feet long each, or as long as they can be conveniently

page_text: made; the plates may be scarfed, or may be applied without a scarf. The plates
may be made in the way that railway iron is made, or in any other suitable
manner by means of rollers or otherwise, and they should be placed outside
of the ship or vessel upon the plank (or plates if the ship be of iron) which
are against the main or upper deck, or beams of such ship or vessel, so as to
have the support of such main or upper deck and beams in resisting the blow
the ship or vessel may receive from another vessel; the plates are firmly
bolted, rivetted, or screwed to the ship or vessel. Where the ship or vessel is
large, and the main or upper deck is high above the water, I apply another
belt or set of plates of iron, steel, or other similar material to the ship at the
deck next below the main or upper deck as above mentioned, from the stem
to the stern thereof. Some very large ships may require a third belt, or set
of plates at the second deck, below the main or upper deck, and between such
belt or plates, and the sides of the ship or vessel. I place in some cases india-
rubber or gutta percha the width of such plates, and about a quarter of an
inch in thickness, more or less, to prevent injury to the sides of the ship by
corrosion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Groat Seal Patent Office
on the 7th February 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Flect Street, in the City of London, l'atent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of August, in the year of our Lord Ono
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licenco that: I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 1 executors, administrators, and
'assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times thereafter during tho term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might makė, 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 SHIPS AND VESSELS IN ORDER TO PREVENT INJURY FROM

page_text: COLLISIONS," (communicated to me from abroad by Donald Bethune, of Port
Hope, Upper Canada,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particu-
larly describe and ascertain the nature of the said. Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the saine to be filed in
the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in placing from the bow to the stern of the ship or
vessel (like a belt), a plate or plates of iron, steel, or other similar material,
about ten inches in width, more or less, and about five inches in depth or
thickness, more or less, at the centre of each plate. I prefer the plate or
plates to be about ten feet long each, or as long as they can be conveniently
made, the plates may be scarfed as shewn in side view in the accompanying
Drawing, or they may be applied without a scarf. The plates may be mado
in the way that railway iron is made, or in any other suitable manner, by
means of rollers, or otherwise, and they should be placed outside of the ship
or vessel, upon the plank (or plates if the ship be of iron), which are against the
main or upper deck, or beams of such ship or vessel, so as to have the support
of such main or upper deck and beams in resisting, the blow the ship or vessel
may receive from another vessel; the plates are firmly bolted, rivetted, or
screwed to the ship or vessel. Where the ship or vessel is large, and the
main or upper deck is high above' the water, I apply another belt or set of
plates of iron, steel, or other similar material to the ship at the deck next
below the main or upper deck as above mentioned, from the stem to the stern
thereof. Some very large ships may require a third belt or set of plates at tho
second deck below the main or upper deck, and between such belt or plates,
and the sides of the ship or vessel, I place in some cases india-rubber or gutta
percha the width of such plates, and about a quarter of an inch in thickness,
more or less, to prevent injury to the sides of the ship by corrosion.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, placing from the
bow to the stern of ships and vessels a belt or plate or plates of iron, steel, or

page_text: other similar material, or two or more such belts or sets of plates for the pur-
pose of preventing injury to the ships or vessels from collisions, substantially
in manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have liere--
unto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of February, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-three.