IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF COMBINED IRON AND TIMBER SHIPS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Cato, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster,
Ship Builder, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF COMBINED IRON AND TIMBER SHIPS."
Sealed the 12th July 1864, and dated the 15th January 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Cato at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th January 1864.
I, PETER CATO, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Ship Builder,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF COMBINED IRON AND TIMBER SHIPS," to be as follows:-
In constructing ships and other navigable vessels of the combined iron and
timber class, in which the ribs or frames are of iron and the planking of wood,
I make the said ribs or frames of iron in the form known as double bulb
tee-iron, with the broad web or top cross part of the tee on the outside in
contact with the planking, and the double bulb inside; and I employ as
means for keeping such ribs or frames and the planking (which latter may be
of the ordinary kind) together the dowal fastener or joint, for which I obtained
Letters Patent, of date the 28th September 1863, No. 2379.
Combined iron and timber ships, having iron ribs or frames, and timber
bottoms or floors, both when the said iron ribs or frames pass wholly or
partially on the inside of, or in spaces or recesses formed in the floor timbers,

page_text: nd when they come down and terminate over or in recesses in the timber
floors, I construct with timber logs on each side of the ship at the ends of the
floor timbers, and as such floor timbers would usually terminate about the
bilges of a ship or vessel, I bave named them, the said timbers which I
employ, bilge logs. Such logs are kept in position or connected to the floor
timbers principally, if not entirely, by dowal fastenings or joints. The iron which
I prefer to employ in the construction of the ribs or frames is double bulb
tee-iron, and both the iron frames and wooden floors I prefer to cover with
wooden planking, the parts being kept in position by dowal joints or
fastenings.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Cato in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
July 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
CATO, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Ship Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of January, 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
me, the said Peter Cato, Her special licence that I, the said Peter
Cato, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Peter Cato, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree, with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF COMBINED IRON AND TIMBER SHIPS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Peter Cato, 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 per-
formed, 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 Peter Cato, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following"
statement (that is to say):-
:-
In constructing ships and other navigable vessels of the combined iron and
timber class, in which the ribs or frames are of iron and the planking of
wood, I make the said ribs or frames of iron, in the form known as double
bulb tee-iron, with the broad web or top cross part of the tee on the outside
in contact with the planking, and the double bulb inside; and I employ as
means for keeping such ribs or frames and the planking (which latter may be
of any ordinary kind) together, the dowal fastener or joint, for which I
obtained Letters Patent, of date the 28th September 1863, No. 2379.
Combined iron and timber ships, having iron ribs or frames, and timber
bottoms or floors, both when the said iron ribs or frames pass wholly or
partially on the inside of, or in spaces or recesses formed in the floor timbers,
and when they come down and terminate over or in recesses in the timber
floors, I construct with timber logs on each side of the ship at the ends of the
floor timbers; and as such floor timbers would usually terminate about the
bilges of a ship or vessel; I bave named them, the said timbers which I
employ, bilge logs. Such logs are kept in position or connected to the floor
timbers principally, if not entirely, by dowal fastenings or joints. The iron
which I prefer to employ in the construction of the ribs or frames is double
bulb tee-iron, although angle iron "back to back," or other form of iron ribs
or frames might be employed; and both the iron frames and wooden floors I
prefer to cover with wooden planking, the parts being kept in position by
dowal joints or fastenings.
That my said improvements may be clearly understood, I have hereunto
attached a Sheet of explanatory Drawings, and herein-after I have referred to
the several views by figures and letters.
Fig. 1 represents a transverse section of part of a ship wherein the ribs or
frames are carried over the bilge logs and floor timbers, and from side to side
of the ship; Fig. 2, also a transverse section of part of a ship, so constructed
that the ribs or frames come down over the bilge logs, and terminate between
these latter and the line of the ship's keel; Fig. 3 is another similar section,
in this modification the ribs or frames are brought down over and "let into "
recesses in the bilge logs and floor timbers, the ribs or frames terminate
between the bilge logs and the keel. In all the views like letters denote and
are marked on the same parts.
a, the keel; b, the floor timbers; c, the keelson; d, the iron ribs or frames ;
the double bulb tee-iron is shown in transverse section by Fig. 4; e, the
planks or timber planking; f, Cato's dowals for maintaining the ribs or frames

page_text: and planks in position; g, the bilge logs, shewn secured to each other and to
the floor timbers by dowals h, and to the ribs or frames d by bolts i and
dowals j, if the latter are considered necessary; k are strengthening planks or
battens fitted over and between the iron ribs or frames d, which they secure in
position by the assistance of the bolts 1; m are bolts passing through the
ribs or frames into, or it may be through, the floor timbers. Of course the
bolts ordinarily used for fastening the parts of ships of this class would be
employed.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and shewn in
modification particulars of the same, such as would enable shipwrights and
others to carry the improvements into effect, I would have it understood that
I do not confine myself to the exact shapes, dimensions, or arrangements of
parts shewn on the Drawings, and herein referred to; what I claim as my
Invention is,
Firstly, in the construction of ships of the class herein-before named, the
combination or employment of double bulb tee-iron ribs or frames with timber
planks or planking secured to or maintained in position with or to each other,
substantially by the means set forth and shewn on the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings.
And, secondly, in the construction of ships of the class herein-before
named, the use or employment of bilge logs, arranged substantially as herein
described, and as shewn on the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Cato, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
In the presence of,
JOHN THOMSON KING, Patent Agent,
4, Clayton Square, Liverpool.
PETER CATO. (LS.)