CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOATS AND OTHER VESSELS, A PART OF WHICH IMPROVE- MENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF CARRIAGES
Year: 1830

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CHURCH, of Heywood House, Bordesley Green, near Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing dato
at Westminster, the Twenty-first day of September, in the first year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Church, His especial licence, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said William Church, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Church, my executors, administrators,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOATS AND OTHER VESSELS, A PART OF WHICH IMPROVE-
MENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF CARRIAGES;" in which said-Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said William Church, shall cause
a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in complianco with the said proviso, I, the
said William Church, do hereby describe the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by the following description
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to
say:-
My improvements in the construction of boats and other vessels, and also
in the construction of carriages, consist in substituting thin metallic plates
peculiarly formed, as herein-after described, in lieu of tho ordinary framework
and planking usually employed in building the hulls of vessels. This I do
with the intention of giving greater strength and durability than is at present
obtained, at the same time that the weight is greatly diminished. The form
of the plates and the method of uniting them together will be best understood
by referring to the Drawings. In order to give the requisite lateral strength
to thin sheets of metal, I flute, furrow, or otherwise corrugate them, as shown
in Figures 1 and 2. These furrowed sheets of metal are united together to
form the proposed vessel, by means of rivets or bolts, as shown in Figure 4,
where it will also be seen that some of the rivets or bolts a, a, a, which unite
the edges of the furrowed sheets, pass through and confine plain sheets of
metal b, b, b, to them on the outside, giving to it a smooth external surface.
It may likewise be observed that the rivets pass through the bars c, c, c, which
run across the ridges of the furrowed sheets on the inside, and thus confine
the three parts, namely, the bars and the two metallic sheets, firmly together;
and here let it be observed, that in uniting the edges of the several sheets
of metal together, great care must be taken to form perfectly air-tight joints,
which may be done in the ordinary way of making similar joints in steam
boilers. In the intermediate spaces between tho joinings I connect the plain
outside sheets to the ridges of the furrowed ones, and also to the bars before
mentioned, by rivets or bolts d, d, d, introduced at such distances asunder as
the size of the vessel and the nature of the case may require. Instead of the
cross bars before described, I sometimes apply plain sheets of metal e, e, e, to
tho insido similar to those on the outside, riveting or otherwise confining the
threo thicknessos together in the manner before described. I furthermoro
sometimes employ thin planks of wood on the outside in lieu of the plain
sheets of metal, which, it must be observed, should always run in a direction
across the furrows of the metallic sheets. Tho interstices formed between the
several parts of the side of the vessel should be carefully closed at top, to
prevent the escape of air. In Figure 4 it may be seen that I sometimes
employ, in constructing the decks of vessels, two thicknesses of furrowed metal,

page_text: crossing each other at right angles; this is done for the sake of greater lateral
strength than I could otherwise obtain with the same quantity of metal.
Sometimes also I have recourse to the same means for strengthening the sides
of vessels, with a view to securing the masts firmly; and that they may not
strain the thin metallic deck through which they pass, I rivet or bolt to it
strong bands, furnished with very broad flanches; steps for the masts I make
in a similar way. In Figure 4 the metallic sheets are represented riveted or
bolted to the flanch of a metallic keel, which keel should be of a weight
nearly sufficient to ballast the vessel. In the section of the vessel shown in
Figure 4, the bulwarks are designed to be constructed of metallic tubes, which
tubes are united together by socket joints, or they may be united by any other
convenient means.
In conclusion, I claim as part of and belonging to my said Invention, the
substitution of thin metallic plates or sheets, formed into wavy, fluted,
furrowed, or otherwise corrugated surfaces, in lieu of the ordinary materials
employed in building the hulls of vessels, and connecting the same together
for the purpose of forming the hulls and decks of vessels, and also to plain
sheets of metal or planks of wood, as above described, by riveting, bolting,
seaming, soldering, or by any other convenient means, in such way as to
enclose permanently portions of air in the interstices formed by the inden-
tations or furrows of the metallic sheets or plates, and thus give greater
buoyancy, duration, and strength to such parts of any vessel constructed with
then than can be obtained from the use of timber or plates of metal of
oqual weight, which have no interstices.
I further claim, as part of and belonging to my said Invention, the use of
the aforesaid fluted, furrowed, or otherwise corrugated sheets of metal in
constructing the bodies of carriages of various descriptions, and also in
constructing other vessels not intended for floating, but which are subject to
considerable lateral pressure, or where it is desirable to have a very thin
metallic substance, such as distillers' and brewers' vessels; or where light-
ness and compactness is required, such as gas-holders, water tanks for ships'
uses, &c.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Church, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Nineteenth day of March, One thousand eight
hundred and thirty-one.
WM (LS.) CHURCH.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of March, in
tho first year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the said
William Church came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and
acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein con-
tained and specified, in form above written. And also the instrument afore-
said was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth
year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twenty-first day of March, Ono thousand eight hundred
and thirty-one.