IMPROVEMENTS IN SHEATHING SHIPS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Brown, of No. 27, Aldgate, John Thomas
Way, of No. 106, Leadenhall Street, and Thomas Mullett Evans, also
of, 106, Leadenhall Street, all in the City of London, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHEATHING SHIPS."
Sealed the 9th December 1864, and dated the 14th June 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Brown, John Thomas
Way, and Thomas Mullett Evans, at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 14th June 1864.
We, JAMES BROWN, of No. 27, Aldgate, JOHN THOMAS WAY, of No. 106,
Leadenhall Street, and THOMAS MULLETT EVANS, also of No. 106, Leadenhall
Street, all in the City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHEATHING SHIPS," to be as follows:-
These improvements have reference to methods of attaching to ships glass
or vitreous-coated plates. In lieu of employing marine glue to connect the
backs of glass or vitreous-coated plates to ships as has before been proposed,
we employ the glue in conjunction with a suitable fabric which is previously
coated with the glue on both sides; and the glue which we prefer to employ

page_text: is that described in the Specification of a Patent granted to us, dated 24th
October (No. 2629) 1863. The fabric so coated may be first attached in
pieces of any convenient size to the vessel; this is done either by warming
the glue till it becomes adhesive, or, in the case of iron ships, by heating the
surface of the ship itself; the vitreous plates are then attached by warming the
outer surface of the glue or by gently heating the plates themselves; or the
glue-coated fabric may be cut into pieces of the size of the plates and made to
adhere in the first instance to them; in this latter case we prefer to attach
the pieces of fabric in such a way that a portion of each piece overlaps one
side and end of the plate, which portion corresponds to an uncoated portion of
the succeeding plate; by this means the lines of junction of the plates are
dissimilar to those of the fabric and less risk is incurred of water getting
access to the sides of the ship. Up to this time these vitreous-coated plates
have been generally stamped from the back part so as to cause a projection
in the centre; this has been done principally with the view of preventing
them from buckling, when heated, in fixing them to the ship's side; but this
form is objectionable as tending to interfere with the ship's way in the water
and to render the plates liable to injury or to be torn off.
One part of our improvements consists in employing strips of glass-coated
iron to fill up the spaces between these projections after the plates are attached
to the ship's side. For this purpose we stamp the plates in such a way that
the projection occupies all but about a narrow margin at the outer edges of the
plate, the unraised part being by preference of the same breadth around every
edge of a plate. The plate is stamped to such a depth as will allow for the
thickness of the glass or vitreous-coated metal slip with the coating of glue or
glue-covered fabric by which it is attached, so that when complete the surface
of the projections of the plates and that of the slips of vitreous-coated metal
shall coincide. The projections are also made with their edges as square as
possible, so that the spaces may be perfectly filled in by the slips. The glass
or vitreous-coated slips may be of any convenient length, and in fixing them
we so arrange that one slip rests partly on one plate and partly on another or
others, by which means the coated plates are tied together and are less likely
to be removed by any violence. Some of the coated slips are placed at angles
to the others, so that the ends of the plates are covered. as well as the
lengths.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Brown, John Thomas Way, and Thomas Mullett
Evans in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th December 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
BROWN, of No. 27, Aldgate, JOHN THOMAS WAY, of No. 106, Leadenhall
Street, and THOMAS MULLETT EVANS, also of 106, Leadenhall Street, all in
the City of London, send greeting.
. WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said James Brown, John Thomas Way, and Thomas Mullett Evans, Her special
licence that we, the said James Brown, John Thomas Way, and Thomas Mullett
Evans, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
James Brown, John Thomas Way, and Thomas Mullett Evans, our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHEATHING SHIPS," upon the condition.
(amongst others) that we, the said James Brown, John Thomas Way, and
Thomas Mullett Evans, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one
of us or them, 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 John Thomas Way, on behalf of myself:
and the said James Brown and Thomas Mullett Evans, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, that is to say :-
These improvements have reference to methods of attaching to ships glass
or vitreous-coated plates. In lieu of employing marine glue to connect the
backs of glass or vitreous-coated plates to ships as has before been proposed,
we employ the glue in conjunction with a suitable fabric which is previously
coated with the glue on both sides; and the glue which we prefer to employ

page_text: is that described in the Specification of a Patent granted to us, No. 2629,
1863. The fabric so coated may be firstatt ached in pieces of any convenient
size to the vessel; this is done either by warming the glue till it becomes
adhesive, or, in the case of iron ships, by heating the surface of the ship itself;
the vitreous plates are then attached by warming the outer surface of the glue
or by gently heating the plates themselves; or the glue-coated fabric may be
cut into pieces of the size of the plates and made to adhere in the first instance
to them; in this latter case we prefer to attach the pieces of fabric in such a
way that a portion of each piece overlaps one side and end of the plate,
which portion corresponds to an uncoated portion of the succeeding plate; by
this means the lines of junction of the plates are dissimilar to those of the
fabric and less risk is incurred of water getting access to the sides of the ship.
Up to this time these vitreous-coated plates have been generally stamped from
the back part so as to cause a projection in the centre; this has been done
principally with the view of preventing them from buckling, when heated, in
fixing them to the ship's side; but this form is objectionable as tending to
interfere with the ship's way in the water and to render the plates liable to
injury or to be torn off.
One part of our improvements consists in employing strips of glass-coated
iron to fill up the spaces between these projections after the plates are attached
to the ship's side. For this purpose we stamp the plates in such a way that
the projection occupies all but about a narrow margin at the outer edges of
the plate, the unraised part being by preference of the same breadth around
every edge of a plate. The plate is stamped to such a depth as will allow
for the thickness of the glass or vitreous-coated metal slip with the coating of
glue or glue-covered fabric by which it is attached, so that when complete the
surface of the projections of the plates and that of the slips of vitreous-coated
metal shall coincide. The projections are also made with their edges as square
as possible, so that the spaces may be perfectly filled in by the slips. The
glass or vitreous-coated slips may be of any convenient length, and in fixing
them we so arrange that one slip rests partly on one plate and partly on
another or others, by which means the coated plates are tied together and are
less likely to be removed by any violence. Some of the coated slips are
placed at angles to the others, so that the ends of the plates are covered as
well as the lengths. The strips of coated metal thus used to cover the edges
of the plates may be flat on their under surfaces, so as, together with the
cement or cemented fabrics, to fill the hollow spaces between the contiguous
plates; or thinner metal, corresponding with that of which the plates are

page_text: formed, may be used, and their edges turned inwards, by which the edges will
be protected. Whatever be the form or thickness of the metal used in making
these strips, where it is desired that they should overlap or pass across each
other, they may with advantage be made thin to admit of two thicknesses of
the strips to be placed in the hollow between two plates and yet only be flush
with the raised parts of the plates. In some cases, also, the strips may be
formed with parts at right angles to each other in the form of the letter T or +,
so that the parts intersecting may come in the recesses at the angles, where
two, four, or more plates come together.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Thomas Way, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
J. THOMAS WAY. (L.8.)