IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARMOUR PLATES
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Devonshire Ellis, of Sheffield, in the County of
York, Ironmaster, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF ARMOUR PLATES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Devonshiro Ellis at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th September 1880.
JOHN DEVONSHIRE ELLIS, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Ironmaster.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARMOUR PLATES."
My Invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of armour plates
composed of iron and steel united or combined, by means of which improvements
armour plates of this description are obtained sounder and more reliable than
heretofore, and otherwise of a superior quality to plates produced by other
methods.
In carrying out my said Invention a plate is first made of the usual quality of
wrought iron, and on the two edges and one end of the same is fixed a wrought
iron frame of such width and thickness as may be required. On this frame is then
placed a plate of steel, previously prepared by hammering or rolling, or both, and
the frame and steel plate are fastened on the wrought iron plate by bolts or are
otherwise fixed to the plato.
The wrought iron plate with its frame and steel plato is then placed in a plato
heating furnace and heated to a sufficient heat, after which it is withdrawn from
the furnace and placed on its end, either upright or inclined, having the end which
has no frame on upwards. A suitable quantity of molten steel made by the
Bessemere or other process is then poured between the wrought iron and the steel
plate either by a runner connected with the bottom or from the top, filling the
enclosure and uniting the whole into a solid plate, which is allowed to cool and then
reheated and rolled to the size required.
By the above process is manufactured an armour plate with a wrought iron back
and steel face, and the face of it being formed of steel previously worked, a better
quality is ensured, and a sounder and more reliable plate is obtained than can be
produced by existing methods.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Devonshire Ellis in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th February 1881.
JOHN DEVONSHIRE' ELLIS, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Ironmaster.
“IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARMOUR PLATES."
My said Invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of armour plates
composed of iron and steel united or combined, by means of which improvements
armour plates of this description are obtained sounder and more reliable than
heretofore, and otherwise of a superior quality to plates produced by other
methods.
In carrying out my said Invention a plate is first made of the usual quality of
wrought iron, and on the two edges; and one end of the same is fixed a wrought
iron or steel frame of such width and thickness as may be required. On this frame
is then placed a plate of steel, previously prepared by hammering or rolling, or both,
and the frame and steel plate are fastened on to the wrought iron plate by bolts or
are otherwise fixed to the plate.
The wrought iron plate with its frame and steel plate is then placed in a plate
heating furnace and heated to a sufficient heat, after which it is withdrawn from
the furnace and placed on its end, either upright or inclined, having the end which
has no flame.on upwards. A suitable quantity of molten steel made by the
Bessemer or other process is then poured between the wrought iron and the steel
plate either by a runner connected with the bottom or from the top, thereby filling
the enclosure and uniting the whole into a solid plate, which is allowed to cool, and
is then reheated and rolled to the size required.
By the above process is manufactured an armour plate with a wrought iron back
and steel face, and since the face of it is formed of steel previously worked, a better
quality is ensured, and a sounder and more reliable plate is obtained than can be
produced by existing methods.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall refer
to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the same letters of
reference indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents a vertical section of a
wrought iron plate, with a wrought iron or steel frame and steel face plate attached
to it in readiness for the reception of molten steel to be introduced into the space
formed between the two plates and the frame; Figure 2 is a plan corresponding
to Figure 1, and Figure 3 is a perspective view also illustrating the same
arrangements.
A is a plate made of the usual quality of armour plate iron.
B is a frame made of wrought iron or steel fixed on the iron plate on two sides
a, ❝, and one end b. The height or depth and also the length and breadth of the
frame B will be varied as required to suit the dimensions of the finished plate of
combined iron and steel.
C is a steel plate made from an ingot either by the Bessemer, Siemens, or any
other system (of a suitable quality to resist shot), and worked either by hammering
or rolling, or both; it is fitted on the frame B by bolts passing through the frame B,
and screwed or otherwise fastened on to the wrought iron plato A, thickness or
distance pieces of steel being placed between the iron plate A and the steel plate C
to keep them apart when in the fire.
With reference to the mode of manufacturing the entire armour plate the iron
portion thereof is made by the ordinary method of manufacturing wrought iron
armour plates, and the bars forming the walls of the frame are made either of a

page_text: similar quality of iron or of steel. The steel used for the plate C by preferenco
contains about 0.8 of carbon and the same quantity of manganese. After the iron
plate with the frame and worked steel plate have been heated in the furnace to,
say, 2000 degrees Fahrenheit, the same is drawn from the furnace and placed on its
end, with the end b' having no frame on upwards, and a sufficient quantity of
molten steel of suitable quality to resist shot, as before mentioned, is then poured
into the space c between the iron plate A and the steel plate C. The combined
iron and steel plate is then allowed to cool and solidify, after which it is reheated
in a fornace and reduced to the thickness required either by forging, pressing, or
rolling, or by any of these processes.
If it is desired to run the molten steel into the space c from the bottom the end
portion of the frame is dispensed with, the two sides a, a, only being used.
By manufacturing, in the manner above described, armour plates of iron and
steel in combination the result is the production of a plate in which the steel is
capable of presenting the greatest resistance to the penetration of shot, and the
iron has the least liability to fracture or cracking, and the worked steel face plate,
while presenting an extraordinary resistance to the shot, enables the plate to be
bent when hot to any required angle without showing any cracks.
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, 1 would observe in conclusion that although in describing my said Invention
I have found it necessary, for the sake of clearness, to refer to certain well known
modes of operation as being adopted in the course of manufacture of my improved
compound armour plates, yet I do not claim as forming any part of my said
Invention any of the said modes of operation except when used in the manufacture
of armour plates, as hereinafter mentioned; but what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in
part recited Letters Patent is,―
'
In the manufacture of armour plates composed of iron and steel combined, the
combination of a wrought iron plate or frame, of wrought iron or steel applied to
the said plate, and a worked steel plate covering the said frame and wrought iron
plate, the whole forming an enclosure into which molten steel is introduced,
substantially as herein before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Devonshire Ellis, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of February, One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
JOHN D. ELLIS.
(L.S.)