IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARMOUR PLATES FOR SHIPS OF WAR AND BATTERIES, AND IN FASTENING OR SECURING ARMOUR PLATES TO SHIPS OF WAR AND BATTERIES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Wilson, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Engineer and Gun Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARMOUR PLATES FOR SHIPS OF WAR
AND BATTERIES, AND IN FASTENING OR SECURING ARMOUR PLATES TO SHIPS OF
WAR AND BATTERIES."
Sealed the 17th October 1862, and dated the 5th May 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Wilson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
May 1862.
I, THOMAS WILSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer
and Gun Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARMOUR PLATES FOR SHIPS OF WAR
AND BATTERIES, AND IN FASTENING OR SECURING ARMOUR PLATES TO SHIPS OF WAR
AND BATTERIES," to be as follows:-
In manufacturing, armour plates for ships of war and batteries according to
my Invention, I make the said plates either of wrought iron or steel, or of
gun metal, or other metal, or metallic alloy, which is possessed of great hard-
ness and toughness. In making the said plates of iron or steel, I form ribs or
flanges on their surfaces, the said ribs or flanges serving to attach or secure

page_text: the said plates to the ship or battery, as herein-after explained. The said ribs
or flanges may either be made on the said plates by rolling or forging during
the manufacture of the said plates, or the said plates may be made without
ribs or flanges, and the said ribs or flanges made separately may afterwards be
attached to the said plates by welding or brazing; or, the ribs or flanges may
be made on the plates by taking flat plates and bending the edges or portions
of the edges of the plate into planes at right angles to the plane of the plate.
In making armour plates of gun metal, or other hard and tough metal
or alloy, I either make the said plates plain, or I make them with ribs.
In making ribbed armour plates of gun metal or other metal or alloy
which requires to be fashioned by the process of casting, 1 form the ribs or
flanges on the plates by the casting process during the manufacture of the said
plates. When I make armour plates of the alloy called Muntz's metal, that
is to say, of an alloy composed of forty parts by weight of zinc, and sixty parts
by weight of copper, I either cast the said plates and employ them without
having been rolled, or I take ingots of the said alloy and heating the said.
ingots to redness I roll them between rolls, either plain or having figures suit-
able to form plates having ribs or flanges thereon. Armour plates made of
gun metal or Muntz's metal are more easily manufactured than armour plates
of iron or steel, and are very tough and possess great power of resistance.
They also possess the advantage that when damaged they can be readily
remelted, and cast or rolled into new plates. I also make armour plates of
gun metal or Muntz's metal, or other tough metal or alloy in combination
with iron or steel. In making these plates I support sheets or strips of iron,
or steel in moulds of the size of the plates to be manufactured, and having s
heated the sheets or strips to redness, I pour the melted gun metal or other
metal or alloy into the mould, and thereby surround or encase the said sheets
or strips of iron or steel with the said gun metal or other metal or alloy.
There is thus formed a plate of gun metal or other metal or alloy strength-
ened by sheets or strips of iron or steel in its interior. Or plates of iron or
steel, or other hard and tough metal may be combined by means of brazing,
that is, narrow plates may be brazed together face to face so as to present
their edges on the surfaces of the finished armour plate, or broad plates may be
brazed together face to face, several thin plates being piled upon one another
to make an armour plate of the required thickness and brazed together.
Where two layers or rows of armour plates are employed, I make the plates of
the first or under layer with a strong longitudinal central rib, the said rib
expanding or overhanging at top on either side. When these plates are fixed

page_text: side by side, the ribs form channels or grooves in which the outer layer of
plates can be inserted by a sliding motion. I secure the under layer of plates
to the side of the ship or battery by means of strong wood screws, the heads of
which are let in flush with the plates. When the outer plates are slid or forced
into the grooves formed by the central ribs on the first or under layer, they
cover the heads of the wood screws and protect them from injury. For further
securing the under layer of plates, through bolts may be passed through the
central ribs and secured by nuts on the inner side of the ship or battery. In
fastening or securing two layers of plates, the ribs, which I have herein-before
described as formed on the under layer of plates may be made separate from
the said under plates, and the said ribs may be fixed by through bolts and
nuts. By making the ribs separate from the under layer of plates, the outer
layer of plates may be readily removed in case of injury and replaced by
others. Separate ribs may also be employed for securing or fastening armour
plates when only one layer of the said plates is employed.
My improvements in fastening or securing armour plates to ships of war
and batteries consist further, as follows:-I fasten or secure the said plates by
means of bolts or fastenings made larger in diameter at their screwed ends
than at their middle, the object being to transfer vibration to the middle or
plain part of the bolt, and thereby to secure the screwed ends of the bolt from
injury. To protect the said bolts still more effectually from injury by vibra-
tion, I wrap the middle or stem of the bolt with tarred hemp or other soft
fibrous material, and I place strips or washers of india-rubber under the metal
washers or skin plates on the inner side of the vessel. These bolts or fastenings
are particularly applicable to the fastening of armour plates having ribs on
their surfaces or edges, as herein-before described. In fastening or securing
armour plates having no ribs, I prefer to proceed as follows:-I make bolts
with hook or crutch heads, and mortice or let in the said beads flush with the
edges of the plates, thus covering or protecting the heads of the bolts without
perforating and weakening the armour plates. I form the stems of the bolts in
the manner herein-before described for diminishing or preventing the injurious
effects of vibration on the said bolts. In place of the crutch-headed fastenings,
book-like fastenings may be employed; the said hook fastenings may either
be made of round or flat bar iron. When made of flat bar iron, I bend the
end of the bar at right angles and insert the bent end in a recess in the edge
of the plate. When I employ round bar iron, I bend the bar into a U-shape
and turn its ends at right angles, the turned ends being introduced into holes
in the edge of the plate. In either case that part of the fastening which enters

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
3rd November 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WILSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer and Gun
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Wilson, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Wilson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Wilson, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFAC-
TURE OF ARMOUR PLATES FOR SHIPS OF WAR AND BATTERIES, AND IN FASTENING
OR SECURING ARMOUR PLATES TO SHIPS OF WAR AND BATTERIES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Wilson, my executors
or administrators, 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 I, the said Thomas Wilson, 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 state-
ment thereof, that is to say:-
In manufacturing armour plates for ships of war and batteries, according to

page_text: my Invention, I make the said plates either of wrought iron, or steel, or of
copper, or of gun metal, or other metal, or metallic alloy, which is possessed
of great hardness and toughness. In making the said plates of iron or steel I
form ribs or flanges on their surfaces, the said ribs or flanges serving to
attach or secure the said plates to the ship or battery as herein-after explained.
The said ribs or flanges may either be made on the said plates by rolling or
forging during the manufacture of the said plates, or the said plates may be
made without ribs or flanges, and the said ribs or flanges made separately
may afterwards be attached to the said plates by welding or brazing, or the
ribs or flanges may be made on the plates by taking flat plates and bending
the edges or portions of the edges of the plate into planes at right angles to
the plane of the plate.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents in section an armour
plate made according to my Invention. The plates are marked a, and the
ribs or flanges by which the plates are attached to the ship or battery
are marked b, the ribs or flanges b, Figure 1, may be formed separately and.
brazed or welded to the plates a. The manner of attaching the armour
plates to the ship or battery is herein-after explained. Figure 2 illustrates the
manner in which I manufacture armour plates, when the ribs or flanges are
made separate from the plate. The armour plates are marked c, and the
rib d, in the said Figure 2, the said rib d being made separate.
Figure 3
represents in section an armour plate in which the ribs are made, by bending
the edges of the plate into planes at right angles to the other portion of the
plate.
In making armour plates of gun metal, or other hard and tough metal,.
or alloy. I either make the said plates plain or I make them with ribs. In
making ribbed armour plates of gun metal, or other metal or alloy, which
requires to be fashioned by the process of casting, I form the ribs or flanges on
the plates by the casting process during the manufacture of the said plates.
When I make armour plates of the alloy called Muntz's metal, that is to
say, of an alloy composed of forty parts by weight of zinc, and sixty parts by.
weight of copper, I either cast the said plates and employ them without
having been rolled, or I take ingots of the said alloy, and beating the said
ingots to redness, I roll them between rolls either plain or having figures
suitable to form plates having ribs or flanges thereon. Armour plates made
of gun metal or Muntz's metal are more easily manufactured than armour
plates of iron or steel, and are very tough and possess great power of
resistance. They also possess the advantage that when damaged they can

page_text: be readily re-melted and cast or rolled into new armour plates. In place of
ribs bosses or projections may be made on one side of the plate for the
purpose of receiving the screwed bolts by which the plates are attached to the
ship or battery. Figure 4 represents in plan an armour plate of the last
described construction, and Figure 5 represents a section of the same attached
to a ship or battery. The projections or bosses cast on the plate i are
marked . The said bosses or projections are tapped to receive the screwed
bolts by which the plates are attached to the ship or battery; I also make
armeur plates of gun metal, or Muntz's metal, or copper, or other tough
metal or alloy, in combination with iron or steel. In making these plates I
support sheets or strips of iron or steel in moulds of the size of the plates to
be manufactured, and having heated the sheets or strips to redness, I pour the
melted gun metal, or other metal or alloy, into the mould and thereby
surround or encase the said sheets or strips of iron or steel with the said gun
metal or other metal or alloy. There is thus formed a plate of gun metal, or
other metal or alloy strengthened by sheets or strips of iron or steel in its
interior. The sheets or plates of iron or steel are coated with a coating of
zine by the galvanizing process before they are introduced into the mould in
order to secure the firm adhesion of the metal or alloy thereto.
Or the plates
of iron or steel, or other hard and tough metal may be combined by means of
brazing; that is, narrow plates may be brazed together face to face so as to
present their edges on the surfaces of the finished armour plate; or broad
plates may be brazed together face to face, several thin plates being piled upon
one another, to make an armour plate of the required thickness and brazed
together. Where two layers or rows of armour plates are employed I make
the armour plates of the first or under layer with a strong longitudinal central
rib, as represented in Figure 6, in which said Figure 6 the ribs are marked g,
When the
the said ribs expanding or overhanging at top on either side.
plates are fixed side by side the ribs form channels or grooves in which the
outer layer of plates can be inserted by a sliding motion, I secure the under
layer of plates to the side of the ship or battery by means of strong wood
screws s, the heads of which are let in flush with the plates. When the
outer plates are slid or forced into the grooves formed by the central ribs on
the first or under layer they cover the heads of the wood screws s and protect
them from injury. For further securing the-under layer of plates, through
bolts may be passed through the central ribs q and secured by nuts u on the
inner side of the ship or battery. In fastening or securing two layers of
plates the ribs q, which I have herein-before described as formed on the
?

page_text: under layer of plates may be made separate from the said under plates, and
the said ribs may be fixed by through bolts and nuts. By making the ribs
separate from the under layer of plates, the outer layer of plates may be
readily removed in case of injury and replaced by others.
My improvements in fastening or securing armour plates to ships of war
and batteries consist further as follows:-I fasten or secure the said plates by
means of bolts or fastenings made larger in diameter at their screwed ends
than at their middle, the object being to transfer vibration to the middle or
plain part of the bolt and thereby to secure the screwed ends of the bolt from
injury. This part of my Invention is illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, in
which Figures the bolts are marked v. To protect the said bolts v, still
more effectually from injury by vibration I wrap the middle or stem of the
bolt with tarred hemp or other soft fibrous material, and I place strips or
washers w of india-rubber under the metal washers or skin plates & on the
inner side of the vessel or battery. The bolts v are screwed into the ribs of
the armour plates at one end and are fixed by screw nuts y on the inside of
the vessel or battery. The same method of fastening may be applied to
armour plates of the kind represented in Figures 4 and 5, that is to say,
instead of the cylindrical bolts 7 bolts of the kind marked v, Figures 1 and 2,
may be employed, the said bolts being screwed into the bosses k on the ribs of
the armour plates, and fixed inside the ship or battery by the screw nuts n,
under which screw nuts, washers, or skin plates p, and disks or strips of india-
rubber are placed.
In fastening or securing armour plates having no ribs, I prefer to proceed
in the manner illustrated in Figure 7, that is to say, I make the bolts with
hook or crutch heads 2, and I mortice or let in the said heads, flush with the
edges of the plates 3, thus covering or protecting the heads of the bolts with-
out perforating and weakening the armour plates; I form the stems of the
bolts in the manner herein-before described for diminishing or preventing
the injurious effects of vibration on the said bolts. In place of the crutch-
headed fastenings, hook-like fastenings may be employed. The said hook
When I make the
fastenings may either be made of round or flat bar iron.
hook fastenings of round iron I proceed in the manner illustrated in Figures
8, 9, and 10 of the Drawings, Figure 8 representing, in edge view, an iron
armour plate having fastenings according to this part of my Invention;
Figure 9 is a back elevation of the said plate, and Figure 10 is a horizontal
section showing the armour plate fastened to the side of a ship or battery.
a, a, is the plate, and b, b, a series of holes drilled near the edges of the plate,

page_text: and passing obliquely from the back to the edge of the plate, as best seen at
the ends of the plate, Figure 8, in which Figure 8 the said holes are marked b².
The said holes are drilled in pairs; c, c, are loops or staples of wrought iron,
which loops are passed through the holes in the plates a, a, having been first
heated to redness and connected as herein-after explained with eye bolts to
fasten the plate to the side of the ship or battery. The ends of the heated
staples are rivetted, the holes b, b, being countersunk at top for receiving the
rivet head. d, d, Figure 10, are the eye bolts through which the loops or
staples c, c, have been passed previous to inserting and rivetting them in the
holes b, b, of the plate a, a. The said eye bolts pass through the side e of the
ship or battery, and are secured by screw nuts f, f, on their screwed ends.
Iron skin plates or washers g, g, and india-rubber washers h, h, are placed
under each nut, to reduce or neutralize the effect of the vibration of the plates
on the bolts under the shock of heavy projectiles.
When I employ flat bar iron for carrying this part of my Invention into
effect, I proceed in the manner illustrated in Figure 11, that is to say, I
employ small bars 4 bent near their middle at right angles and inserted in
recesses made in the edge of the plate 5, a hole 6 is made in the projecting.
part of the bar 4, through which holes eye bolts or fastenings are passed with
which the armour plate is connected with the ship or battery, as represented
in Figures 8, 9, and 10. The ends of the fastenings, described with reference
to Figures 8, 9, 10, and 11, may be brazed in the plates.
By the method of fastening the armour plate to the ship or battery, described.
and represented in Figures 8, 9, 10, and 11, the armour plates are not
weakened by perforations, and the jarring of the bolts is obviated by the loop
connections, which allow the plates to vibrate or bend without stripping or
injuring the screwed eye bolts; each plate is also independent of the others,
and can be readily removed and replaced when damaged. The hook fastenings
described are not so liable to injury by percussion as fastenings of more rigid
construction.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as the same may
be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention.
But I claim as my Invention, firstly, the several improvements herein-before
described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the accompanying
Drawings, in manufacturing armour plates for ships of war and batteries.
Secondly, the several improvements herein-before described and illustrated

page_text: in Figures 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 of the accompanying Drawings in
fastening or securing armour plates to ships of war and batteries.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Wilson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
THOMAS WILSON. (L.S.)