IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ARMOUR-PLATED SHIPS AND BATTERING
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James William Butler, of the Railway Office,
Dunmow, in the County of Essex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ARMOUR-PLATED SHIPS AND BATTERING"
Sealed the 5th November 1867, and dated the 13th May 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James William Butler
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 13th May 1867.
I, JAMES WILLIAM BUTLER, of the Railway Office, Dunnow, in the County
3 of Essex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ARMOUR-PLATED SHIPS AND BATTERIES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of
armour-plated ships and batteries. I place behind comparatively light armour
plates a backing consisting of a number of steel or iron tubes arranged in.
such manner that their axes are perpendicular or nearly so to the backs
of the armour plate; these tubes are packed close together side by side, and
they are by preference filled in solid, with wood or with. a suitable composition.

page_text: The tubes may be of any convenient length, and at their inner ends they rest
against an iron or steel skin, which may be supported by the ribs or frame
of the structure or on a timber backing, according to the amount of strength
required and the purpose the construction is intended to serve. The tubes
AL
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Williamı Butler in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th November 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WILLIAM BUTLER, of the Railway Office, Dunmow, in the County of Essex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven; in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James William Butler, Her special licence that I, the said James
William Butler, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said James William Butler, 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 CONSTRUCTION OF ARMOUR-PLATED SHIPS
AND BATTERIES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
William Butler, 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 James William Butler, 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 :-
. This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of

page_text: armour-plated ships and batteries. I place behind comparatively light
armour plates a backing consisting of a number of steel or iron tubeş
arranged in such manner that their axes are perpendicular or nearly so to
the backs of the armour plate; these tubes are packed close together side by
side, and they are by preference filled in solid with wood or with a suitable
composition. The tubes may be of any convenient length, and at their inner
ends they rest against an iron or steel skin which may be supported by the
ribs or frame of the structure or on a timber backing according to the amount
of strength required, and the purpose the construction is intended to serve.
The tubes may be hexagonal in section, or cylindrical, or of other form.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
Figure 1 is a vertical section of the side of a ship constructed according
to my Invention; Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken at the line 1, 1,
Figure 1.
a, a, is the frame of the ship, which forms no part of my Invention, and
may be constructed as heretofore at the parts which are to be protected with
armour; it carries an inner skin b, b; c, c, is a thin backing of timber applied
over this skin; d, d, are bars of flanged iron which are applied vertically
over the timber backing, and secured by bolts passing through the timber
backing and through the skin plates. Between the bars d, d, the surface of
the timber backing is covered with plates e, e, to support the tubular backing
ff, which consists of lengths of iron or steel tube of hexagonal or other
form, and either filled in with timber or left void, as is shown full size at
Figures 3. 9, 9, are the armour plates; they are introduced into their places
before the tubular backing is filled in, when the armour plate is placed the
tubes are easily packed in behind it. In place of retaining the armour
plates by means of bars d with overlapping flanges, through bolts, such as
that shown in dotted lines at h, may be employed, and the plates e, e, may
then form a complete skin; armour-plated batteries may be constructed in a
similar manner.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the exact details described; but what I claim in constructing
armour-plated ships and batteries is the backing of the armour plating with

page_text: tubes arranged with their axes at right angles or nearly so to the armour
plates.
In witness whereof I, the said James William Butler, have hereunto
set my band and seal, this Eleventh day of November, in the year
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven:
of
JAMES WILLIAM BUTLER. (L.S.)