IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS OF WAR AND OTHER VESSELS, THEIR MACHINERY AND APPURTENANCES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Herbert Maberly, of Stowmarket, in the
County of Suffolk, Master of Arts, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS OF WAR AND OTHER VESSELS, THEIR MACHINERY
AND APPURTENANCES."
Scaled the 6th May 1859, and dated the 11th November 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Herbert Maberly
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 11th November 1858.
I, FREDERICK HERBERT MABERLY, of Stowmarket, in the County of
Suffolk, Master of Arts, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS OF WAR AND OTHER
VESSELS. THEIR MACHINERY AND APPURTENANCES," to be as follows:-
The form of the vessels to be constructed to be of a barrelled kind as
much as possible, and tapering towards each end, so as to have prows
at the same; the bottoms to be nearly flat, with double keel, their
breadth being in the ratio of one or two to three, their height being
determined by their form. The material to be of iron or wood, or of
any metal found more appropriate than iron. The plates of iron (or
other material) to be longitudinal ones, and each plate a welded one
throughout, and so formed that the edges upper and lower will fit closely

page_text: upon another, and these longitudinal plates to be united together by
other and narrower longitudinal plates breaking the joints of the former,
and to be rivetted, bolted, or screwed to them. The inner plates of the
vessel extending athwart the vessel to be of the like kind, and joined
together in the same way, and rivetted at right angles to the outward
plates, but so as to leave a completely plain surface on the outside of
the vessel. Thus, her construction will be a strong one, and offering
the least resistance to water, wind, or air; of course there must be the
necessary openings for air and light, but these to be all closed, or as
nearly so as possible when needed, and after such a manner and by
such plates as shall give the vessel at the same time the greatest security
and light, but yet excluding water. Their driving power, wind, or
steam, or any other more suitable. Their machinery for this end may
be paddle-wheel, screw, or of other suitable nature; but what I
propose
for this end is, a machinery of a peculiarly double-cranked kind, united
together by bars, and carrying paddles at their extreme ends, and in
advance of the cranks, so that by every revolution of these cranks the
paddles are brought in or out of the water, and as these cranks carry
the paddles past their own. centres (that is, the centres of the cranks
themselves), they will lift the paddles as high out of the water, and sink
them as deeply into the water as may be desired, there being no fimit
here, but the length of the crank, while the paddles will be brought
in and out of the water perpendicularly to its surface, and these cranks
are united otherwise by bars, and these bars by a pin fixed to each bar,
and by any apparatus besides, which may be needful to attach the
machinery to its original driving power, or by paddles, &c., according
to a former Patent of mine. This machinery to work in the middle
of the vessel between the keels, or on both sides of the vessel without
the keels, but within the sides of the vessel. The machinery for putting
the vessel about, and of preventing the burning of vessels, collision,.
stranding, or sinking, to be that of three bevil wheels, two on one
plane, and the other at right angles to the same, and working in them
alternately as they are brought into gear with it, or thrown out of the
same from it, and this alternate motion of the two parallel bevil
wheels is accomplished by means of two clutch wheels fixed to the back
side of each of these wheels, and which clutch wheels have counter
wheels of this kind working in them, and which counter wheels are
brought into gear or out of the same by levers operated upon by a
regulator moving backwards and forwards, so that by the least motion
of the same (whatever may be the instrumental driving power, and
however moving, the machinery aforesaid is unaffected by the same,)
the regulator accomplishes its work, or otherwise through the means

page_text: of this instrumental power only, as the machinery of what it operates
upon is connected with the instrumental power aforesaid. Though the
instrumental power itself may be the regulator aforesaid, acted upon
in the same way as are the levers spoken of, and thus, if the engine be
the driving power in the occasion, it has its steam shut off or let on
at pleasure. And all this is done either in the engine room by the
engineer, or by the captain or any other on deck, and thus the captain
has the whole and sole (if he wishes it.) control of the engine and of its
several parts in his own hand, and he uses them as he pleases, and
puts them to whatever work he likes, and thus he drives the vessel
by them, stopping the same or otherwise as he pleases by them in one
moment, and first on one side and then on the other, and then on both
sides of the vessel, and so to driving it as he pleases. And then in the
case of fire to turn them to pumping water into or out of the ship, and
to extinguish any fire whatever momentarily by a deluge of water, such
as five or eight hundred horse-power would raise, namely, eighty-eight
times fourteen hundred gallons of water in a minute; and in the other,
one hundred and thirty-three times fourteen hundred gallons of water
in the same time for the putting out the flames, when the next minute
the captain employs (and all done by the regulator in his own hand) the
same power to empty the vessel of the water thus brought into it. Or
he employs the engine power at the same time, half of it to pump water
into the vessel and the other half to pump it out, both being executed
together, and there is thus an alternate play of water in and out of
the ship so that no fire can hurt the ship, nor can it well be burned
save by a superhuman power. There will be no more therefore (with
this machinery in toto in operation) of such destruction of vessels by
fire as has taken place in the cases of the ill-fated "Amazon " Or
Austrian" steamers, and no more driving of such vessels forward by
the steam power without let or hindrance to the same (the engineer
being down one of the engine rooms;) in that the captain will have the
whole under his own hand, and on the deck too, while at the same time
a rod, shorter or longer, jointed or otherwise connected with the
regulator aforesaid, and preceding the vessel but nearly in a line with
it, though somewhat below its deck, and another rod of this kind
extending so as it shall reach below the bottom of the vessel and yet
be in advance of it, and these rods may be separated or united, and
one of them having a double part, too, and so that no obstacle, whether
that of another vessel or of a like kind, or rock, or anything that the
advancing vessel to which the machinery is attached is approaching,
such as the aforesaid, or sand bank, or shore, can touch such vessel
cre these rods have thrown the machinery of the vessel (the whole of

page_text: it, if it is thought good to do .at the same time) out of gear in one
direction, and into gear in the opposite by means of the self-acting
operation of these rods upon the regulator itself, this having the
command of the whole machinery of the vessel, or of only parts of the
same, and so throwing one part or the whole in and out of gear at
pleasure, but in each case so that the power acted upon gives instantly
a backward operation to the advancing vessel ere it has touched the
opposing and destructive obstacle, be it what it may, to which it was
advancing. Thus there can be with this machinery scarcely any collision
of vessel with vessel, or of a vessel with any other object, either with
injury to that object or with injury to such vessel, and thus the sad
effects attending collision, concussion, stranding, burning, or sinking
of a ship or other vessel will be almost entirely done away with, if not
the things themselves. The machinery of the guns should be circular,
and formed in the one case of a single solid iron wheel (or a wheel of
other metal, if more suitable,) or of a succession of such wheels in any
number or size, or attached to each other fixedly or loosely, forming
thus one gun or several guns, as they are loose from each other or
combined together, or of a solid iron ball (or of other material) forming
one gun of itself. But each of these so-called guns have others within
them which for the future I call barrels and breech barrels for dis-
tinction's sake, and they are formed of holes bored from the periphery
of these wheels or ball towards their centre, but not through to the
same or to the cylinder on which these wheels or ball turn. These
wheels or ball have large holes made through them at their centres,
and through these bored centrical hole passes a hollow iron cylinder
made to fit these bored holes, and upon which cylinder these wheels and
ball turn, and thus their respective barrels are brought into contact with
the hole in the vessel, through which each ordinary gun ball is to be
fired. The holes in the vessel to be made suitable, and to open and
shut at pleasure, which holes are to be made so as to allow of the
necessary elevation. If there be besides such breech barrel anything
else like the common and ordinary barrel of guns, I form this part of
my barrel by three or more longitudinal bars set edgewise and at regular
distances from each other, and held together by circular rings at different
intervals on the outside of these bars, and thus I have an open barrel
saving at the breech part of the barrel, and thus all atmospheric
pressure against the ball ceases the moment the ball is fully out of the
breech of the barrel, and which pressure otherwise continues to retard
the ball at the rate of 14 lbs. to the square inch till the ball reaches
the mouth of the gun; besides in this way this open part of the barrel
would be scarcely ever heated to excess, and thus may cope with the

page_text: diminished heating of the breech barrel part of the gun, as it is only
at intervals the ball passes through the one, but constantly through
the other, upon a supposition that they exist together. These guns
may be fired by nipples and caps or otherwise; the preferred manner,
is that by needles, the explosive material thus being in the charge itself,
or easily communicated with by the needle. The needle is properly
placed in the aforenamed cylinder with a spring on the back of that
which retains it there, and thus one needle answers for every barrel
on the wheel or ball revolving over that part of the cylinder within
which it is; there is, therefore, one needle only to each of these many
wheels or ball guns, be the barrels ever so many in each, and if there
are several guns revolving on the same cylinder, though each gun will
have its respective needle, yet the needles are at liberty to be acted
upon separately, or may be so combinedly and thus one whole row of
the barrels of such gun may be fired at one moment, and then another
row at another moment, and so that one hundred balls by 10 such guns
may be fired most easily in a minute, and I might say, but that it would
appear preposterous, that nothing could stand any more than withstand
this, as not only 100 but even 1000 balls of 60lbs. each might be fired
in a minute. The engine power need may be in this case assist in the
revolution of the wheel. As regards the ball gun, if used, the process
is nearly similar, only that the firing may take place laterally as longi-
tudinally at the same time more easily than the other form. The wheels,
et cetera, may be placed and worked at each end of the vessel, their
principal place, because the broadside of the vessel will never thus be
exposed to the same of the enemy, but such vessel as is here content-
plated should, nevertheless, have such wheels fixed in her centre as well
as at her end, and these wheels, wherever placed, may be set so as
to move horizontally or perpendicularly. At the back of every breech
barrel there is a small hole through which the needle passes, as through
the circular cylinder in which it works, and through which, operated
upon as aforesaid, it accomplishes the firing of the respective gun barrels
in the cylinder of which it works, and all the respective needles of a
complete row of guns are operated upon singly or collectively and at
once. The needle and its appendage is set by the lever or other
mechanical power that may be used to give the whole its motion and
the trigger likewise, which lever doing this brings the charge forward
and loads the gun, while on its return it brings the charge into its proper
place and looses the trigger, if it is desirable to do this, and fires the
gun, and so a whole row of these gun barrels is fired with equal facility,
as one of these barrels, or the same lever leaves the trigger or triggers
untouched on its return and you loose them, and so fire the gun or guns

page_text: by hand or otherwise, as may be, and every alternate motion of the lever
does one-half of this by its backward motion and the other by its forward,
and the least imaginable movement of the same. And this is applicable
to the small arms of such vessels, and thus to all guns of a like kind,
for which purpose I patented a movement of this kind in a former
Patent. In all this there are ratchet wheels of a peculiar description
and several springs also, but they are all self-acting, or moved by the
lever, so that the respective motions of the whole are accomplished by
the forward or backward motion of the lever, moved by hand or by
the power of steam, or by the power of a windmill, rotatory sail, which
I patented about twenty-five years ago, and by which alone working
a paddle wheel or paddles, a sailing vessel can be kept off a lee shore,
the neglect of which has involved the destruction of innumerable ships.
The material of which I form the life buoy, consists principally of the
old corks of bottles (which are now thrown overboard in such ships and
elsewhere as useless, but yet might be collected in such quantities as to
float the whole sea-going part of the community,) formed into belts,
something like those of the common life buoy, though these I intend
should open in the middle, and so fasten there and be put on by
shoulder straps or attached to a vest to be put on thus, or to be sewn to
a bell-mouthed water-tight vest similar to a waistcoat and fasten in
front; persons having these on might jump into the sea and float and
live there in perfect safety for days. For I intend these buoys should
have a provision for carrying meat and drink with them, and by a
lengthened vest carrying a few spikes afford to the wearer a protection
against the voracity of sharks.
Improved shells as well as shot may be used with the foregoing
machinery screwed together in the middle, whereby they may be opened
to admit the charges, and afterwards closed with nipples accordingly
or appropriate apparatus, whereby they may explode on striking the
object at which they are fired. If the ship be a war one, I propose it
to be altogether a covered one with a top to lift up, with the needful
windows and air-holes in it to exclude the sea, but not the light or
air, and which ship would be nearly indestructible by any ordinary
power.
The machinery of the life-boat is similar to that of the war. vessel
itself, and thus may cast off from the ship into the sea, and the passengers
afterwards admitted into it. The machinery of the plumbing to be that
of the lazy-tongs fixed to the vessel with the two extreme ends joined
to use additional side pieces, meeting in a point on which is fixed a
weight, rounded or pointed to draw out the lazy-tongs speedily, while by
a sliding guaged rule working between the last pair of the lazy-tongs is

page_text: shown the distance which the same is thrown out to when it is let down
for the purpose of plumbing. These lazy-tongs may consist of any
number of pairs, and so will fathom the greatest depth instantly, and
may be as instantly drawn up as let down, for the purpose of plumbing,
the power of the engine or that of levers may ever assist in this. The
machinery of the pumps, that used at the Crystal Palace consisting of
a small circular tubical wheel with an open mouth, by the whirling of
which wheel it took in the water and conveyed it to an upright tube,
wherefrom it descended as a waterfall. This must be connected with.
the engine when used, and thus a pump is obtained, whereby the whole
power of the engines may be put to raise the water necessary to
extinguish any fire that can in any way happen to a steamer. And if
the vessel has a rotatory windmill sail, this power may be applied,
instead of driving the paddles to drive the aforesaid pump, and thus
answer in almost every case to put out all the fires, and prevent all
sinking of such vessel from any bilging, et cetera, as effectually as the
engine power will prevent the same. Any number of these pumps may
be used, they are always ready and can never hardly get out of repair.
The few following words, by way of explanation, may excuse a clergy-
man thus bringing these improvements before the public, in that the
herein-before described improvements are calculated to protect England
and her colonies, and will tend to put an end to war.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Herbert Maberly in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 11th May 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
HERBERT MABERLY, of Stowmarket, in the County of Suffolk, Master of
Arts, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Frederick Herbert Maberly, Her special licence
that I, the said Frederick Herbert Maberly, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederick Herbert
Maberly, 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

page_text: IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS OF WAR AND OTHER VESSELS.
THEIR MACHINERY AND APPURTENANCES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that 1, the said Frederick Herbert Maberly, my executors or admini-
strators, 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, the said Frederick Herbert Maberly, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Draw-
ings hereunto annexed and forming part of this my Specification, and
to the Figures drawn thereon, similar letters of reference being placed
upon and denoting similar parts where such parts appear or may be seen
at each of the Figures respectively :-
Figure 1 being a plan view of interior of boat or ship; Figure 2, end
view of same; Figures 3 and 4, end views of boats, shewing double keels;
Figure 3 shewing vessel or boat with cover; Figure 5, side view of the
double action paddle; Figure 6 plan view of same; Figure 7, front
clevation of the reversing motion; Figure 8, plan view of regulator;
Figure 9 plan view of gun chambers; Figure 10, front view of gun
barrel; Figure 11, side elevation of complete gun, shewing mechanism
for discharging; and Figure 12, front view of series of chambers work-
ing vertically. The form of the vessels (if they be war ones particularly) to
be constructed of a barrelled kind as much as possible, and tapering
towards each end, so as to have prows at the same, as shewn at Figure 1.
The bottoms may be nearly flat with double keel, as at Figures 3 and 4,
their breadth being in the ratio of one or two to three, their height
being determined by their form. The material to be iron or wood, or of
any metal found more appropriate than iron. The plates of iron or
other material to be longitudinal ones, and each plate a welded onc
throughout, and so formed that their edges, upper and lower, will fit
closely one upon the other, and these longitudinal plates to be united
together by other and narrower longitudinal plates breaking the joints
of the former, and to be rivetted, bolted, or screwed, to them, as at
Figures 1 and 2. The inner plates of the vessel extending athwart the
and
vessel to be of the like kind, and joined together in the same way
rivetted or otherwise fastened at right angles to the outward plates, but
so as to leave a completely plain surface on the outside of the vessel.
Thus her construction will be a strong one, and offering the least

page_text: resistance to water, wind, or air; of course there must be the necessary
openings for air and light, but these to be all closed, or as nearly as
possible, when needed, and after such a manner, and by such plates as
shall give the vessel at the same time the greatest security and light,
but yet excluding water. These vessels are intended to have water-
tight compartments, after the manner of the Great. Eastern steam ship,
which has water-tight compartments similar to those communicated by
myself to the Admiralty some twenty years ago. Their driving power,
wind or steam, or any other more suitable. Their machinery for this
end may be paddle-wheel, screw, or of other suitable nature; but what
I propose for this end is a machinery of a peculiarly double-cranked
kind, which may consist of many pairs of these double cranks, as shewn
at Figure 6 united together by bars, and carrying paddles working
between the cranks, and these bars may be so extended as to carry any
number of paddles, and so that the paddles be in advance of the cranks,
but yet so that by every revolution of these cranks, all the paddles arc
brought in and out of the water, and as these cranks carry the paddles
past their own centres (that is the centre of the cranks themselves) they
will lift the paddles as high out of the water and sink them as deeply
in to the water as may be desired, there being no limit here, but the
length of the crank, while the paddles will be brought in and out of the
water perpendicularly to its surface, and these cranks are united other-
wise by crank bars outside the machinery, as at a, Figure 6; and these
bars by a pin b, fixed to each bar, as at Figure 5, are united to any
further apparatus needful to attach the machinery to its driving power,
or I accomplish the driving of these vessels by paddles, et cetera,
according to a former Patent of mine, Number 6862, dated the 13th day
of July 1835. This machinery to work in the middle of the vessel, but
still towards the stern of it, and between the keels or on both sides of
the vessel, as at Figure 2, without the keels, but within the sides of the
vessel or the sides of the vessel to be extended for such purpose, and all
the machinery I prefer fixing in a frame, so that it may be moved up
and down altogether, as may be needful to sink the paddles deeper in
the water or otherwise. The connecting rod of the engine (simply by
means of holes in it to be shortened or lengthened as may be required
for this end. The machinery for putting the vessel about, and of pre-
venting the burning of vessels, collisions, stranding or sinking et cetera.
to be that of three bevel wheels, as at Figure 7, two parallel to each
other, and the other at right angles to the same, and working in them
alternately as they are brought into gear with it, or thrown out of the
same from it; and this alternate motion of the two parallel bevel wheels
c, c, is accomplished by means of two clutch wheels d. d, fixed to the

page_text: backside of these wheels, each to each, and which clutch wheels have
counter wheels of this kind working in them, and which counter clutch
wheels are brought into gear or out of the same by levers e, e, operated
upon by a regulator, Figure 8, moving backwards and forwards, so that
by the least motion of the same in the case of paddle wheels their motion
is reversed, though whatever may be the instrumental driving power,
and however moving the machinery aforesaid, this driving power is
unaffected by the same. The regulator accomplishes its work or other-
wise through the means of this instrumental power only; as the
machinery of what it operates upon is connected with the instrumental
power aforesaid, though the instrumental power itself may be by the
regulator aforesaid acted upon in the same way as are the levers spoken
of, and thus if the engine be the driving power in the occasion, it has
its steam shut off or let on at pleasure; and all this is done either in the
engine room by the engineer, or by the captain or any other on deck,
and thus the captain has the whole and sole control of the engine and
of its several parts in his own hand, and he uses them as he pleases,
and puts them to whatever work he likes, and thus he drives the vessel
by them, stopping the same or otherwise as he pleases by them in one
moment, and first on one side and then on the other, and then on both
sides of the vessel (the apparatus being on either side), and so to driving
it as he pleases; and then in the case of fire to turn them to pumping
water into or out of the ship, and to extinguish any fire whatever
momentarily by a deluge of water, such as a 500 or 800 horse-power
would raise, namely, 88 times 1,400 gallons of water in a minute in the
one case, and in the other 133 times 1,400 gallons of water in the same
time for the putting out the flames. when the next minute the captain
employs (and all done by the regulator or regulators in his own hand)
the same power to empty the vessel of the water thus brought into it;
or he employs the engine power at the same time, half of it to pump
water into the vessel, and the other half to pump it out, both being
executed together, and there is thus an alternate play of water in and
out the ship, so that no fire can hurt the ship, nor can it well be burned,
save by a more than superhuman power. There will be no more there-
fore (with this machinery in toto in operation) of such destruction of
vessels by fire as has taken place in the cases of the ill-fated Amazon or
Austria steamer's, and no more driving of such vessels forward by the
steam power without let or hindrance to the same (the engineer being
driven out of the engine rooms), in that the captain will have the whole
under his own hand, and on deck too; while at the same time a telescopic
or like rod f. shorter or longer, jointed or otherwise, connected with
the regulator aforesaid, and preceding the vessel but nearly in a line

page_text: with it, though somewhat below its deck, and another rod of this kind
extending so as it shall reach below the bottom of the vessel and yet
be in advance of it; and these rods may be separated or united, and one
of them have a double part too, and so that no obstacle, whether that
of another vessel of a like kind, or rock, or anything that the advancing
vessel to which this machinery is attached is approaching, such as the
aforesaid, or sandbank, or shore, can touch such vessel ere these rods
have thrown the machinery of the vessel (the whole of it, if it is thought
good to do the same) out of gear in one direction, and into gear in the
opposite, by means of the self-acting of these rods upon the regulator
itself, this having command of the whole machinery of the vessel or of
only parts of the same, and so throwing one part or the whole in and out
of gear at pleasure, but in such case (when needed for such purpose) so
that the machinery thus acted upon gives instantly a backward operation
to the advancing vessel ere it has touched the opposing and destructive
obstacle, be it what it may, to which it was advancing; thus there can
with this machinery be scarcely any collision of vessel with vessel or of
a vessel with any other object, either with injury to that object or with
injury to such vessel, and thus the sad effects attending collision, con-
cussion, stranding, or burning, will be almost entirely done away with,
if not the things themselves. If the paddle wheels are driven by straps
or otherwise, by the needful alteration of the machinery the same effect
may be produced. The regulating apparatus will be found applicable to
many other purposes. The machinery of the guns should be circular,
and formed in the one case of a single solid iron wheel, Figure 9, (or
a wheel of other metal, if more suitable,) or of a succession of such
wheels (Figure 12) in any number or size or attached to each other fixedly
or loosely, forming thus one gun or several guns as they are loose from
each other or combined together or of a solid iron ball (or of other
material) forming one gun of itself, but each of these so called guns have
others or chambers within them g, g, g, which, for the future, I call
barrels and breech barrels for distinction's sake, and they are formed of
holes bored from the periphery of those wheels or ball towards the centre,
but not through to the same, or to the cylinder on which these wheels
or ball turn. These wheels or ball have large holes made through them
at their centres, and through these bored centrical holes passes a hollow
iron cylinder, Figures 9 and 12 made to fit these bored holes, and
upon which cylinder these wheels and ball turn, and thus their respec-
tive barrels are brought into contact with the hole in the vessel through
which each ordinary gun ball is to be fired. The holes in the vessel to
be made suitable and to open and shut at pleasure, which holes are to
be made so as to allow of the necessary elevation; if there be beside such

page_text: breech barrel, anything else like the common and ordinary barrel of
guns, (which there must be to a certain extent), I form this part of my
barrel of a tube of solid iron i, Figures 9 and 11, and the remainder of
the barrel by three or more longitudinal bars j, Figure 11, set edge-
wise and at regular distances from each other, and held together by
circular rings at different intervals on the outside of these bars, (or
passing through them), so as to leave a clear way for the balls to pass
along these bars, and thus I have an open barrel, saving at the breech
part of the barrel i, and thus all atmospheric pressure against the ball
ceases the moment the ball is fully out of the breech part of the barrel,
and which pressure otherwise continues to retard the ball, at the rate
of 14lbs. to the square inch, till the ball reaches the mouth of the gun;
besides in this way this open part of the barrel would be scarcely ever
heated to excess, and thus may cope with the diminished heating of the
breach or chamber g of the gun, as it is only at intervals the ball passes
through the one, but constantly through the other, upon a supposition
that they exist together (which they must do in part). These guns may
be fired by nipples and caps, or otherwise, the preferred manner is that
by needles, the explosive material thus being in the charge itself, or
easily communicated with by the needle. The needle is properly placed in
the aforesaid cylinder with a spring on the back of that which
retains it there, and thus one needle answers for every barrel on the
wheel or ball revolving over that part of the cylinder within which it is;
there is therefore one needle only to each of these many wheels or ball
guns, be the barrels ever so many in each, and if there are several guns
revolving on the same cylinder, though each gun will have its respective
needle, yet the needles are at liberty to be acted on separately, or may
be so combinedly, and thus, one whole row of the barrels of such gun
may be fired at one moment, then another row at another moment, and
that one hundred balls by one such gun may be fired most easily in a
minute, and I might say, but that it would appear preposterous, that
thus one thousand balls, or shelis, or canisters of grape shot might be
fired in a minute, and that nothing could withstand this. The charges
may be brought into these guns by chains or straps moved by the lever m,
after a manner exhibited in a former Patent No. 1191 dated 26th March
1855, or a spring similar to a clock spring may be used for such purpose
and which latter plan, if I find it in any way preferable to use it, I
claim under this Patent. In a vessel the engine power, if need be,
may assist in the revolution of the wheels. When these wheels are used
for cannon they would turn upon rollers. As regards the ball if
used, the process is nearly similar, only that the firing may take place
laterally as longitudinally at the same time more easily than with the
gun,

page_text: other form. The wheels, et cetera, may be placed and worked at each
end of the vessel, their principal place, because the broadside of the
vessel will never thus be exposed to the same of the enemy, but such
vessel as is here contemplated should nevertheless have such wheels
fixed in the centre as well as at her end, and these wheels wherever
placed may be set so as to move horizontally or perpendicularly. At
the back of every breech barrel there is a small hole, through which
the needle passes, as through the circular cylinder in which it works,
and through which operated upon as aforesaid it accomplishes the firing
of the respective gun barrels in the cylinder of which it works, and all
the respective needles of a complete row of guns are operated upon
singly or collectively at once. The needle and its appendage is set by
the lever or other mechanical power that may be used to give the whole
its motion, and the trigger likewise; which lever doing this brings the
charge forward and loads the gun as at Figure 11, while on its return
it brings the charge into its proper place and looses the trigger, and if
it is desirable to do this, fires the gun, and so a whole row of these gun
barrels, is fired with equal facility as one of these barrels or the same
lever leaves the trigger or triggers untouched. in its return, and you
loose them, and so fire the gun or guns by hand or otherwise, as may be,
and every alternate motion of the lever does one-half of this by its back-
ward motion, and the other by its forward, and the least imaginable
movement of the same, and this is applicable to the small arms of such
vessels, and thus to all guns of a like kind, for which purpose I patented
a movement of this kind in a former Patent, No. 1191, dated 26th
March 1855. In all this there are ratchet wheels of a peculiar descrip-
tion, and several springs also, but they are all self-acting or moved by
the lever, so that the respective motions of the whole are accomplished
by the forward or backward motion of the lever moved by hand, or by
the power of steam, or by the power of a windmill rotatory sail, as under
my Patent, No. 6862, dated 13th July 1835. The material of which I
form the life buoy consists principally of the old corks of bottles (which
are now thrown overboard in such ships and elsewhere as useless, but
yet might be collected in such quantities as to float the whole sea-going
part of the community) formed into belts, something like those of the
common life buoy, though these I intended should open in the middle
and so fasten there, and be put on by shoulder straps, or attached to a
vest to be put on thus, or to be sewn to a bell-mouthed water-tight vest,
similar to a waistcoat, and fasten in front. Persons having these on
might jump into the water and float, and, live there in perfect safety
for days, for I intend these buoys should have a provision for carrying
meat and drink with them, and by a lengthened vest carrying a few

page_text: spikes, afford the wearer a protection against the voracity of sharks.
Improved shells, as well as shot, may be used with the foregoing gun
machinery, screwed together in the middle, whereby they may be opened
to admit the charges, and afterwards closed, with nipples accordingly,
or appropriate apparatus whereby they may explode on striking the
object at which they are fired. If the ship be a war one, I propose it
be altogether a covered one, with a top to lift up with the needful
windows and air holes in it to exclude the sea, but not the light or air,
and which ship would be nearly indestructible by any ordinary power.
A martello tower may be erected in such vessel, and from thence the
crew of every other vessel shot down, of course there would be a railing
round the sides of the vessel, to be used, if needful, for a gangway. The
machinery of the life boat, is similar to that of the war vessel itself, and
may be let down from the ship into the sea with the passengers in it, or
they may be afterwards admitted. This may be driven by hand from
within the vessel, and thus, neither mariners nor the passengers be
exposed to the fury of the waves. The machinery of the plumbing to be
that of the lazy-tongs fixed to the vessel, with the two extreme ends
joined to additional side pieces meeting in a point, on which is fixed a
weight, rounded or pointed, to draw out the lazy-tongs speedily, while
by a sliding guaged rule working between the last pair of the lazy-tongs
is shewn the distance to which the same is thrown out when it is let
down for the purpose of plumbing. These lazy-tongs may consist of
any number of pairs, and so can fathom the greatest depths instantly,
and may be as instantly drawn up as let down for the purpose of plumb-
ing the power of the engine, or that of the levers may assist in this.
The machinery of the pumps, that used at the Crystal Palace, consisting
of a small circular tubical wheel, with an open mouth, by the whirling
of which wheel it took in the water, and conveyed it to an upright tube,
wherefrom it descended as a waterfall. This must be connected with
the engine when used, and thus a pump is obtained, whereby the whole
power of the engine-may be put to raise the water necessary to extinguish
any fire that can in any way happen to a steamer, and if the vessel has
a rotatory windmill sail, this power may be applied instead of driving
the paddles to drive the aforesaid pump, and thus answer, in almost
every case, to put out all the fires that may arise, and prevent all sink-
ing of such vessel from any bilging, et cetera, as effectually as the engine
power will prevent the same. Any number of these pumps may be used,
they are always ready and hardly ever out of order.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the means
by which it is carried into practical effect, I claim the exclusive use of
the several combinations herein described, set forth, or shewn in the

page_text: Drawing, such several combinations forming in their application "Im-
provements in the Construction of Ships of War, and other Vessels, their
Machinery and Appurtenances."
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Herbert Maberly, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,.
W. E. GEDGE,
4, Danes Inn,
Strand.
F. H. MABERLY. (L.S.)