IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING IRON FOR BUILDING SHIPS AND BOATS AND OTHER VESSELS, AND IN INSTRUMENTS, MACHINERY, AND APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE SAID CONSTRUCTIONS
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LAURENCE
HILL, Junior, of Glasgow, Civil and Mechanical Engineer send giecting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Gicat Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and lieland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourteenth day
of July, in the tenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Iler heirs and
successors, give and giant unto me, the said Laurence Hill, ny exors,
adinors, and assigns, Ier especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Laurence Hill, my exois, adññois, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Laurence Hill, my eñois, admors, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney,
Saik, and Man, and also in all Her Majestic's Colomies abroad, the In-
vention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING IRON FOR BUILDING SHIPS AND
BOATS AND OTHER VESSELS, AND IN INSTRUMENTS, MACHINERY, AND APPARATUS TO
BE USED IN THE SAID CONSTRUCTIONS," partly of my own Invention and partly
communicated to me from Ileniy Burdon, of Troy. in the United States of
America, in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the

page_text: said Laurence Hill, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in waiting under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Laurence Hill, Junior, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following Instrument in writing, reference
being had to the letters and figures herein contained, and to the Drawings
hereunto annexed (that is to say).-
Instead of the method at present in use for building iron vessels by rivetting
plates or sheets of ion in rows parallel to the gunwale and keel of the vessel,
and to one another, and crossing the ribs or frame of the ship at right angles,
my Invention consists in building or forming the outside shell or "plating" of
two layers of malleable iron hoops or bais crossing each other at an angle of
about forty-five degrees with the keel of the vessel, the whole being rivetted or
otherwise fastened together, as represented in the Drawings which accompany
this Specification. Though it will in most cases be adviseable to make the
hoops or bars cross each other at right angles, and cross the ribs or keel when
such are used, for by my method these may in many cases be dispensed with, at
an angle of about forty-five degrees, and instead of making the keel of laige
ships of a solid bar, I propose to make the keels of large vessels of several
plates of iron firmly vetted or fastened together in such a manner that
though the joints do occur much oftener and are nearer each other, yet each
Joint being smaller in itself the strength of the whole keel will be more
uniform. I intend to have all the holes boied in the hoops or bars previous
to their being fitted on to the vessel's sides, but in some cases it may not be
found advisable so to do, or to do so in part only; and when such is the case,
o should it be wished to bore the sheet on plates as presently used, then
instead of being at the expence of taking down the several pieces of non
after those have been marked, and boning or punching the holes by machinery
at a distance from the vessel's side, I propose that the whole should be per-
forated, while the hoops, bais, or plates are on the vessel's sides, by machinery,
arranged so that while it may be worked by the aid of a steam engine or other
motive power, it is also free to be moved to different positions on the side of
the vessel.

page_text: Figure 1 shews a cross section of a hoop or bar, which is best applied to
my purpose I do not confine myself to any particular breadth or thickness,
but a breadth of about three inches will be the most suitable; it is manu-
factured or finished with small projections on one or more of its edges, as
shewn at a, a, the use of which is, to render more efficient the operation of
"caulking" the seams, which is to be performed by hammering down the
edges a, a, flush with the surface of the hoops; after these have been all
rivetted, I intend to perforate the vet holes at the time when the bar or hoop
is being manufactured or finished into its proper form by projection on the
rolls, as is or was practised in the formation of American railroad bars
Figure 5 shews a portion of the hull of a vessel built in the manner I
propose, and Figure 2 represents a portion of the hoops or bars, and shews
more distinctly how they are put together. The part a, a, a, a, shews the first
layer of hoops; b, b, b, b, shews the second or outside layer laid on and
rivetted to the first set, but with seams not yet "caulked;" c, c, c, c, shews all
completed.
Figure 3 is a cross section of a keel, made as proposed. Figure 4 is a
longitudinal section of the same.
Figures 6 and 7 shew how the holes may be perforated by machinery.
a represents an apparatus suspended by a windlass, or by a counter-weight
from a carnage (B) which is fice to run along the edge of the ship's side, or on
beams erected for the purpose. The whole apparatus can thus be easily
removed from place to place. The motive power necessary to work the
machine may be communicated to it either by an endless band passing round
the pulley, as at (D), or by shafting and wheelwork, as also shown in the
Diawing The apparatus may be kept steady in the required positions, by
having one or more levers attached thereto by a joint, the other ends being
inserted into holes previously bored. Should the resistance thus obtained not
be sufficient, it can be increased by using the vertical support (E) as an
abutment.
Having now described the nature of the Invention, and the manner in which
the same may be put in practise, I may mention that as plates of iron have
been rolled with a portion of the edge thicker than the rest, the intention
being to strengthen the plates at this part, they being liable to be weakened
by the rivet holes, I do not therefore claim the exclusive right to manufacture
plates with thick edges, but confine myself by manufacturing iron into hoops
or bars, with slight projections or ridges on their edges, for the purpose of
facilitating the caulking of the seams as previously described. And as bars
of 11on for raiload purposes have been manufactured, having the holes for

page_text: the nails or bolts perforated during the operation of rolling, I confine myself
therefore to perforating the rivet holes (during the operation of rolling) in
malleable iron hoops or bars, having, as before mentioned, small ridges on
their edges, such hoops or bars to be used in the construction of ships' boats
or other vessels. And also as iron vessels have been built or proposed to be
built with the framing or ribs placed diagonally, I do not claim this, but
confine myself to building the outside shell or "plating' of the vessel in
manner described, claiming only the method of forming this frame or shell
of hoops or bars, the same being fixed together by rivetting or otherwise
fastening one layer on the top of the other in the manner described. I claim
the forming of keels for large vessels by means of several iron plates laid and
fastened together, as previously described. And I claim the apparatus or
arrangement for boring, as previously described
In witness whereof, I, the said Laurence Hill, have hereunto set my hand
and scal, this Ninth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.