IMPROVEMENTS IN BUILDING SHIPS AND VESSELS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Hodgson, of Liverpool, for the Invention of
" IMPROVEMENTS IN BUILDING SHIPS AND VESSELS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Hodgson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th October 1859.
I, JAMES HODGSON, of Liverpool, do hereby declare the nature of the
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUILDING SHIPS AND VESSELS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in buildings ships and vessels.
For these purposes, in constructing squarish ended or very bluff ended ships
and vessels, suitable for floating batteries, for gun boats, for dredging, and for
other uses, I, in order to enable them to steer with facility, increase the length
at the after end or at the after and fore ends of each such vessel by
applying thereto a triangular-formed chamber of sheet iron or steel, in such
manner that the base end of the triangular chamber may be bolted or attached
to the after or fore end of the very bluff or squarish ended vessel, and have the
rudder hung to the after end of the triangular chamber; and for gun boats,
floating batteries, and some other vessels, the triangular chambers may be
arranged to be readily detached from and re-attached to the end or ends of the
vessel, in order that the triangular chambers and rudders may be out of the
way when desired. In constructing bulkheads of iron or steel plates in ships
and vessels, in place of connecting their edges to the frames of the ships or
vessels as heretofore, I form the edges of a bulkhead double, in such manner
that the plates of which the edges of a bulkhead are formed may be placed at
an angle to each other, and spread out so that the edges of the two-series of

page_text: plates may be rivetted to two of the angle iron or steel ribs or frames of the
ship or vessel, and such two-angle iron or steel ribs or framings may be neigh-
bouring ones or more distant from each other; by this means there will be an
angular space inclosed around a bulkhead, which will give stability to the ship
or vessel as well as to the bulkhead.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Hodgson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th April 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HODGSON, of Liverpool, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of October, 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 James Hodgson, Her special licence, that I, the said James
Hodgson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said James Hodgson, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BUILDING SHIPS AND VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said James Hodgson, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Hodgson, 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 building ships and vessels.
For these purposes, in constructing bulkheads of iron or steel plates in ships
and vessels, in place of connecting their edges to the frames of the ships or
vessels as heretofore, I form the edges of a bulkhead double, in such manner
that the plates of which the edges of a bulkhead are formed may be placed at an

page_text: angle to each other, and spread out so that the edges of the two series of plates
may be rivetted to two of the angle iron or steel ribs or frames of the ship or
vessel, and such two-angle iron or steel rips or framings may be neighbouring
ones or more distant from each other. By this means there will be an angular
space inclosed around a bulkhead, which will give stability to the ship or
vessel, as well as to the bulkhead.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a transverse section of a ship or vessel, showing a bulkhead
constructed according to my Invention; Figure 2 shows a horizontal section
thereof. a, a, is the bulkhead, which is connected to the sides and bottom of
the ship or vessel by the plates b, b, which in the example given form an
angular space, and leave one of the angle iron or steel ribs between the two
points of the connection of the plates b, b, with the two-angle iron or steel
ribs c, c, but the connecting of the plates b, b, may be to two neighbouring or two
more distant ribs of angle iron or steel. By these means not only will greater
stability be given to the bulkheads, but the bulkbeads of a ship in place of
being a cause of weakness at the parts where they are attached to the sides
and bottom of a ship, will give additional strength thereto by reason of the
angular spaces formed between the plates b, b, and the sides and bottom of the
ship or vessel. Where longitudinal bulkheads are used, a similar construction
may be employed with advantage.
I would state that I have not thought it necessary to show any strengthening
ribs to the bulkhead represented in the Drawing, but when necessary they will
be applied as heretofore.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is, the
construction of bulkheads of ships and vessels, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Hodgson, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
JAMES HODGSON. (L.S.)