IMPROVEMENTS IN SECURING ARMOUR UPON SHIPS, TURRETS, AND OTHER STRUCTURES,
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Wilson, of the Cyclops Works, Sheffield, in the
County of York, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SECURING ARMOUR
UPON SHIPS, TURRETS, AND OTHER STRUCTURES,"
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Wilson at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd July 1880.
ff
GEORGE WILSON, of the Cyclops Works, Sheffield, in the County of York.
'IMPROVEMENTS IN SECURING ARMOUR UPON SHIPS, TURRETS, AND
STRUCTURES."
•
OTHER
This Invention has for its object improvements in securing armour upon ships,
turrets, and other, structures.
The object which I have in view is to attach armour plates securely and in such
manner that there may be no parts liable to become detached when the armour is
struck by shot to the injury of persons within the structure.
For this purpose I employ short bolts or headed studs screwed into the back of
the armour plate, and the heads of these bolts are received into deep cup like
sockets, which pass through the inner skin of the structure, and are lodged in
cavities in the backing. After the bolt has been screwed in from the inner side
the mouth of the cup is closed by a screw plug, leaving a free space between the
plug and the head of the bolt, so that when the armour is struck the bolt may be
driven back for some distance without derauging the cup or inner skin.
According to one arrangement I form the cup with a flange on its inner end, and
I secure this flange to the skin plate or plates by means of a number of small
headless screws.
Or I cut a screw thread upon the exterior of the cup, and insert a corresponding
flanged nut into the recess in the backing. I then screw the cup home to its place,
so that the skin plate or plates become nipped between the flanges of the cup and
of the nut.
Or I make the cup without the flange to bear upon the skin plate, and in place
of it I substitute a large ring nut, which screws upon the exterior of the cup where
a thread is cut to receive it.
In order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a section of a portion of the side of a ship, turret, or like structure,
showing one of the fastenings of the armour; Figure 2 shows the cup like socket
with its closing plug as seen from within the structure.
A is the armour plate; B is the wooden backing of any desired thickness; C, C,
are the skin plates (a double skin is shown); D is the cup inserted through the
skin plates, and entering a cavity prepared for it in the backing; E is the bolt or
headed stud; it has a conical head of the same taper as the cavity in the cup
prepared to receive it. This bolt is screwed up by means of a tool inserted into
a socket or cross cut groove in its head into the threaded hole in the armour plate
at F; G is the screw plug with which the mouth of the cup is closed on the inner
side, but in such a manner as to leave the bolt free to recedo in the cup when the
armour is struck by shot; H, H, are headless screws, by which the skin plates
are firmly fixed to the flange of the cup D.
Figure 3 is a section showing another arrangement, in which in place of employing 1
the small headless screws H the cup D is itself screwed into-a-nut-inserted into
the cavity in the backing; Figure 4 shows separately the cup D and the nut I of
this arrangement. The Figure shows the outer sides of these parts.
Figure 5 represents a section of an arrangement in which the cup is made to
receive a nut within the inner skin of the structure. In this case the cup is made with 2
a small flange at the other or outer end, so that the cups serve to confine the backing
to the skin whilst building and before the armour is applied. The ring nut in this
Figure is marked J; Figure 6 represents the outer end of the cup D of this arrange-
ment; and Figure 7 shows the parts of this fastening which appear upon the
inner side of the structure, namely, the inner end of the cup D, the screw plug G, 2
and the ring nut J.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I-claim-as-my-improvements.
in securing armour upon ships, turrets, and other structures,
First. The application of cup like sockets receiving and enclosing the heads of 3
the bolts or studs which hold the armour, substantially as described.
Second. My improved means for securing armour upon ships, turrets, and other
structures, substantially as described and represented in the annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Wilson, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty.