IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANIDA GOEDE AF ÅDMOUR PLATES AND SHIELDS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Illius Augustus Timmis, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANIDA GOEDE AF ÅDMOUR PLATES AND SHIELDS"
Sealed the 11th July 1873, and dated the 26th April 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Illius Augustus Timmis
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 26th April 1873.
I, ILLIUS AUGUSTUS TIMMIS, of Manchester, in the County of Lan-
3 caster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARMOUR PLATES AND SHIELDS," to be as
follows:-
Hitherto armour plates have invariably been manufactured from
wrought-iron blooms by first rolling a sufficient number of comparatively
thin plates, and then after piling and reheating these plates they have
been welded together by rolling into one solid mass or plate of the
required thickness and size. This is a slow and costly operation, as a
heavy per-centage of loss occurs, and the manipulation is frequent and
recurrent.

page_text: Armour plated shields have also invariably been constructed with one
or more plates rolled as above, and fixed with bolts or otherwise against
wrought-iron supports, with or without a wooden backing.
My Invention consists principally in manufacturing armour plates
from ingots of Bessemer metal, malleable cast iron, or other suitable
cast metal, each ingot being cast of a sufficient weight and size to form
the armour plate required to be rolled. These ingots can be cast in the
ordinary way by running the contents of several Bessemer converters
or other suitable vessels into one mould, and the ingot being reheated
in a suitable furnace is to be rolled to the required thickness in any
known manner. These plates can be made hard or soft as required,
and I propose to make some of each kind, and to improve the grain
of the metal (if required) by the addition of "wolfram" or pure
" tungsten."
A second part of my Invention consists in making a combined armour
plate or shield by placing a soft armour plate (whether of Bessemer or
other metal) in front of a close, hard, steel plate. It is well known that
soft metal is not so liable to crack on receiving a shot or shell at a given
velocity as hard metal is, and it is therefore best calculated to receive
the first shock or impact of the shot or shell, but it is deficient in the
resisting power possessed by a steel plate, and I therefore propose to
back up a soft metal plate with a plate of close, hard, steel, and I have
every reason to believe that this arrangement will prove a more complete
and effective resistance to the progress of a shot or shell than any armour
plate hitherto adopted, and that a soft metal plate of five inches thick
backed up by a hard steel plate of the same thickness will offer greater
resistance than fifteen inches of soft metal would, whether rolled in one
plate or otherwise.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Illius Augustus Timmis, Her
special license that I, the said Illius Augustus Timmis, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Illius
Augustus Timmis, my 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF ARMOUR PLATES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Illius Augustus
Timmis, 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 Illius Augustus Timmis, 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 (that is to say) :—
Hitherto armour plates have invariably been manufactured from
wrought-iron blooms by first rolling a sufficient number of comparatively
thin plates, and then after piling and reheating these plates they have
been welded together by rolling into one solid mass or plate of the
required thickness. This is a slow and costly operation, and as many
of the plates turn out defective, owing to imperfect welding, a heavy
per-centage of loss occurs, and hence the cost of armour plates is
unnecessarily high.
My Invention consists principally in manufacturing armour plates
from ingots of Bessemer metal, malleable cast iron, or other suitable
cast metal, each ingot being cast of a sufficient weight and size to form
the armour plate required to be rolled. These ingots can be cast in the
ordinary way. by running the contents of several Bessemer converters

page_text: or other suitable vessels into one mould, and the ingot being reheated
in a suitable furnace is to be rolled to the required thickness in any
known manner. These plates can be made hard or soft as required,
and I propose to make some of each kind, and to improve the grain
of the metal (if required) by the addition of "wolfram" or pure
"tungsten."
"
•
A second part of my Invention consists in making a combined armour
plate by placing a soft armour plate (whether Bessemer or other
metal) in front of a close, hard, steel plate. It is well known that soft
metal is not so liable to crack on receiving a shot at a given velocity
as hard metal is, and it is therefore best calculated to receive the first
shock or impact of the shot or shell, but it is defficient in the resisting
power possessed by a steel plate, and I therefore propose to back up
a soft metal plate with a plate of close, hard, steel, and I have every
reason to believe that this arrangement will have a more complete and
effective resistance to the progress of a shot or shell than any armour
plate hitherto adopted, and that a soft metal plate of five inches thick
backed up by a hard steel plate of the same thickness will offer greater
resistance than fifteen inches of soft metal, whether rolled in one plate
or otherwise; and I would here remark that the soft and hard plates
may either be placed in immediate contact or (which I prefer) may
have placed between them a thin lining of caoutchouc or other suitable
elastic or soft substance to make a more perfect joint between the two
plates.
Having now described the nature and object of the said Invention,
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be
performed or carried into practical effect, I wish it to be understood
that I claim as my Invention,-
First. The making or rolling of armour plates (whether soft or hard)
from one ingot of Bessemer metal, malleable cast iron, or other suitable
cast metal.
Secondly. The use of Bessemer metal for the manufacture of armour
plates.
Thirdly. The use of "wolfram" or pure "tungsten" for improving the
grain of the metal in the manufacture of armour plates.
And, Fourthly. The manufacture of compound armour plates by
placing plates of close, hard, steel immediately behind plates of soft

page_text: metal, whether Bessemer metal or otherwise, and either with or without
the intervention of a lining of caoutchouc or other elastic substance.
In witness whereof, I, the said Illius Augustus Timmis, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
Witnessed by
GEORGE DAVIES, C.E.,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
ILLIUS A. TIMMIS. (L.S.)