IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIP BUILDING
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Josiah Jones, junior, of Liverpool, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIP BUILDING."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Josiah Jones at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st November
1859.
I, JOSIAH JONES, junior, of Liverpool, do hereby declare the nature of the
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIP BUILDING," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in ship building. It has
been proposed to apply inclined projections to the exterior of the sides and ends,
of an ordinary built ship or vessel in such manner that when a shot strikes the
same it shall be caused to glide off, and not penetrate.
Now, my Invention consists in applying thick protecting metal plating in
combination with ribs or framings of a ship or vessel, so constructed as to
produce (when planked or plated over) the body of a ship or vessel with.
inclined sides and ends on which the thick protecting metal plating is fixed,
and which will be at such inclinations as to cause a shot to glide off therefrom.
For this purpose the ribs or main framings are each made with an elbow or
angular bend, or projection in an outward direction above the line of floatation
in such manner that when the ribs or main framings are planked or plated
over there will be a wedge-formed projection running fore and aft as well as
at the stem and stern, so that if a shot strikes a ship or vessel so constructed

page_text: it will by reason of the wedge-formed projection of the ship or vessel above the
line of floatation glance off, either in an upward or downward direction. The
upper deck will by reason of the sides and ends of the vessel falling over largely
above the line of floatation (in order to get the degree of inclination desired)
be much less in breadth and shorter in length than the deck or decks below it,
but by reason of the use of ribs or framings formed with the desired angle
or elbow bends, the interior capacity of the ship or vessel above the lower
decks and above the line of floatation will be greatly increased. In some cases,
in place of the ribs or main framings of a ship or vessel, being each made
with an elbow bend or angle to come above the line of floatation, they are each
formed to incline from a point below the line of floatation, and so as to pro-
duce inclined sides and ends to the ship or vessel, and such as will when
plated over with thick protecting sheets of metal cause a shot to glide off in
an upward direction. In this construction the breadth of beam and the length
of a ship at the water line will be considerably greater than on the upper deck.
In constructing such ships or vessels it is preferred to form the ribs or framings
of wrought iron, though other material or metal may be used, and the same
may be planked with wood, or plated with metal inside and out, and the thick
or defensive plating be applied over such planking or plating. The ribs or
framings, whether of iron or other material, are each formed to the desired
shape at the parts which come above the line of floatation to give the desired
inclination to the thick protecting plates of metal at the sides and ends of the
ship or vessel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Josiah Jones in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th
April 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSIAH
JONES, junior, of Liverpool, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Josiah Jones, Her special licence that I, the said Josiah Jones, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Josiah
Jones, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree

page_text: 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 SHIP
BUILDING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Josiah Jones,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Josiah Jones, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in ship building, and is
applicable in the construction of ships for the purposes of war. which are
required to be shot-proof. For this purpose, I so construct the ribs or framing
of the ship that the sides or ends of the ship formed when the ribs or framing
is plated or planked over shall be considerably inclined; and on to such
inclined sides I afterwards fix thick protecting plates of metal; by thus com-
bining thick protecting plating of metal with a ship, the sides and ends of
which are considerably inclined, a structure is obtained which will resist shot
much more effectually than the floating batteries hitherto constructed, in which
the sides being vertical, or nearly so, the thick protecting plates with which
they are coated have to resist the full force of the shot, which is not the case
in ships or batteries constructed according to my Invention, as the inclination
of the sides is such that the shots striking in a horizontal, or nearly horizontal
direction, glance off from them. Any inclination may be given to the sides
which is sufficient to cause a shot striking horizontally to glance from them;
but I consider it best to place them at an inclination such as is shown in the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and which are herein-after described. I prefer
that the sides of the ship should incline outwards from the centre line of tho
ship until they rise up to the water line; also, that at this point they should
make a sharp angle, bend, or round, and from this point upwards that they
should incline inwards towards the centre line; the sides may, however, inclino
inwards towards the centre line from a point below the water line, or they may
rise above the water line while still inclining outwards, and afterwards inclino
inwards, so that the angle bend shall be above the water line. The arrange-

page_text: according to my Invention; Figure 2 is a horizontal section of the same taken
at the water line; Figure 3 is a midship section of the same. The lines in
Figure 2 numbered 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 respectively show the contour-of
the exterior of the ship (the protecting plates being removed) at distances in
feet above the keel expressed by those numbers, and the lines correspond with
the lines similarly marked in Figure 1. The lines in Figure 3, lettered A, B, C,
D, E. F, G, and H, represent respectively the contour of the ship at the lines
similarly lettered in Figure 1; these lines are all situated between the bows
and the midship line of the ship. The lines numbered 1 to 8 in Figure 3, and
the vertical lines similarly numbered in Figure 1, are contour lines like those
lettered from A to II, but situated between the stern and the midship line of
the ship.
Figure 4 is a midship section of the ship on a larger scale, showing
the details of construction. a is one of the ribs of the ship, it is, in fact, a
curved beam of wrought iron; the web or centre portion of the beam is of
plate, and the flanges of the beam are formed by rivetting angle iron to the
web; b, b, and b, are deck beams, they are firmly fixed to the rib a, which they
serve to support; the beams b, b¹, and 62, are carried intermediate of their length
by pillars c, c, of which the lower tier rest on the three hollow beams d, d, built
up of plate and angle iron, as is shown. The ribs a, a, are connected together
by the external skin or plating of the ship, which is rivetted to them, also by
plating from the point e to the point f, which forms the floor of the ship, and
further by the longitudinal bulkheads g, g, which are constructed of a frame
of angle or T-iron plated over these bulkheads, strengthen the ship longitu-
dinally, and being water-tight, they would secure the safety of the vessel, even
should the sides be so shaken by shot, or otherwise, as to create an amount of
leakage which would otherwise be dangerous; the other plates and angle irons
which in Figure 4 are colored dark blue, also run continuously from end to end

page_text: of the structure, and are principally intended to give the necessary longitudinal
strength; h, h, are triangular frames, employed in order to strengthen the
main frame at the points where the ribs a, a, and the deck beams 6 and 6¹ are
connected together; i, i, i, are pillars or supports, which serve to give greater
stiffness to the frame; j,j,j, are baulks of timber, bolted to the exterior of the
ship; and k, k, are massive protecting plates, usually of wrought iron, but they
may advantageously be of steel, when it can conveniently be obtained in plates
of sufficient size. To prevent the ball hurting the edge of the armour plates, I
place behind such edges strips of armour plates to support their edges, and which
when secured to the armour plates, will convert the same into stringers, mate-
rially strengthening the vessel; these plates are shown at 1, 1. The decks of
the ship are of timber, the floor also is coated with timber, and timber is em-
ployed in some other parts, as the Drawing clearly shows.
It will be observed that the right and left-hand sides of Figure 4 are not
exactly similar the one to the other; on the right-hand side the timber deck is
left without protection, but on the left-hand side it is made shot proof by a
protecting plating, similar to that employed for the sides, but lighter; the cir-
cumstances under which the vessel is to be employed will determine whether
protecting plating is necessary on the upper deck. In some cases it will be
desirable to have a shot-proof deck over the gun deck, such an arrangement is
shown in the midship section Figure 5, which in other respects is similar to
that shown at Figure 4.
In witness whereof, I, the said Josiah Jones, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
TOOL TY