IMPROVEMENTS IN PROTECTING OR PRESERVING SHIPS OR VESSELS AND OTHER SUBMERGED OR PARTIALLY SUBMERGED STRUCTURES FROM CORROSION AND DECAY, AND PRESERVING THEM FROM MARINE GROWTH
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Lumsden Thomson, of Fenchurch
Street, in the City of London, Merchant, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PROTECTING OR PRESERVING SHIPS OR VESSELS AND
OTHER SUBMERGED OR PARTIALLY SUBMERGED STRUCTURES FROM CORROSION
AND DECAY, AND PRESERVING THEM FROM MARINE GROWTH."
Sealed the 6th October 1875, and dated the 15th April 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Lumsden
Thomson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 15th April 1875.
I, BENJAMIN LUMSDEN THOMSON, of Fenchurch Street, in the City
of London, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of my said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROTECTING OR PRESERVING SHIPS OR VESSELS
AND OTHER SUBMERGED OR PARTIALLY SUBMERGED STRUCTURES FROM CORROSION
AND DECAY, AND PRESERVING THEM FROM MARINE GROWTH," to be as
follows:

page_text: surfaces from corrosion and decay, and also of preserving them from
marine growth, and it consists essentially in the application to such
surfaces of marine glue or india-rubber (the latter when employed
being used either in sheets or in a soluble state) in combination
with an external coating of any suitable anti-fouling varnish or
composition.
In carrying out my Invention I first thoroughly cleanse the surface.
to be operated upon so as to have the material as free as possible from
any substance, and then apply a varnish or solution to remove
any objectionable substance that may remain, and also to open the pores
of the metal to be protected preparatory to the application of the gluc
or india-rubber composition or sheets of india-rubber.
Having thus prepared the surface ready for the protective coating I
then apply either a solution of marine glue or of india-rubber or sheets
of the latter material of any desired size or thickness. If sheets are
employed I use a solution to cause the sheets to adhero firmly to the
surface; or I employ in substitution for the marine glue or india-rubber
as above described asphalted felt or other suitable material.
After allowing a sufficient time for the glue or composition of india-
rubber, india-rubber sheets, asphalted felt or other material to set dry
or harden I then apply one or more coats of any of the well-known
anti-fouling compositions or paints for the purpose of preventing marine
growth.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Benjamin Lumsden Thomson in the Great Seal 2
Patent Office on the 14th October 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
LUMSDEN THOMSON, of Fenchurch Strect, in the City of London,
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 3
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-five, in the 38th
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Benjamin Lumsden Thomson, Her special

page_text: license, that I, the said Benjamin Lumsden Thomson, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Benjamin
Lumsden Thomson, my executors, administrators, or 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 PROTECTING OR PRESERVING SHIPS OR
VESSELS AND OTHER SUBMERGED OR PARTIALLY SUBMERGED STRUCTURES,”
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Benjamin
Lumsden Thomson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, 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 Benjamin Lumsden Thomson, 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, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to means of protecting the hulls of iron
and composite ships or vessels and either wholly or partially submerged
surfaces from corrosion and decay, and also of preventing them from
marine growth, and it consists essentially in the application to such
surfaces of marine glue or india-rubber (the latter when employed being
. used either in sheets or in a soluble state) or asphalted felt or any
other material capable of protecting the surfaces from corrosion and
decay, and of receiving a coating of any suitable anti-fouling varnish or
composition in combination with an external coating of such varnish or
composition.
In carrying out my Invention I first thoroughly cleanse the surface
to be operated upon, so as to render the same as free as possible from
any foreign substance, and I then apply to such surface a varnish or
solution in order to remove any objectionable substance which may
remain, and also to open the pores of the metal to be protected pre-
paratory to the application of the glue or india-rubber composition or
sheets of india-rubber or other material as before-mentioned.

page_text: Having thus prepared the surface ready for the protective coating I
then apply either a solution of marine glue or of india-rubber, or sheets
of the latter, or other material as before mentioned, of any desired size
and of any suitable thickness, say for example of a thickness of from
about one thirty-second to once-sixteenth of an inch. If sheets are 5
employed I use a solution in order to cause the sheets to adhere firmly
to the surface.
After allowing a sufficient time for the glue or composition of india-
rubber, india-rubber sheets, asphalted felt, or other material employed
as before mentioned to set dry or harden, I apply one or more coats of 1
any of the well-known anti-fouling varnishes or compositions for the
purpose of preventing marine growth.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider 1
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the heroin-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the appli-
cation to the hulls of vessels and to other submerged or partially
submerged surfaces of marine glue, india-rubber, asphalted felt, or
equivalent materials in combination with an external coating of anti- 2
fouling varnish or composition, substantially as and for the purposes
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Lumsden Thomson, have
to this my Specification set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth