IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING IRON SHIPS AND SHIPS' SHEATHING FROM CORROSION AND FOULING, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREFOR
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Whiteside, of North Egremont, in the County
of Chester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING IRON SHIPS
AND SHIPS' SHEATHING FROM CORROSION AND FOULING, AND IN APPARATUS TO
BE EMPLOYED THEREFOR."
Sealed the 30th August 1864, and dated the 15th June 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Whiteside at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
June 1864.
I, ROBERT WHITESIDE, of North Egremont, in the County of Chester, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING
IRON SHIPS AND SHIPS' SHEATHING FROM CORROSION AND FOULING, AND IN APPA-
RATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREFOR," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in preserving iron ships and
ships' sheathing from corrosion and fouling, and in apparatus to be employed
therefor. It has before been proposed to preserve copper sheathing from
corrosion by attaching to it pieces of zinc, and this arrangement is successful
as far as the preservation of the copper is concerned, but it renders the
sheathing very liable to foul.
According to my Invention, I insulate the zinc from the copper, and
provide wires or conductors to connect the two; these are led into the ship,
or so arranged that they may be separated and coupled up at will; when they.
are coupled the sheathing is protected from corrosion, and should any fouling

page_text: be found to accumulate it is readily cleared off by uncoupling the zinc from
the sheathing. I enclose the zinc in a non-conducting case, say, of gutta
percha, which case is firmly fixed to the copper, and air-tight everywhere
except at the lower end. The sea water is suffered to enter the case and
envelope the zine, and the wires are coupled when corrosion of the copper
sheathing is to be arrested; at other times the sea water may be ejected from
the case by forcing in air, suitable pipes and air pumps being provided. In
place of zinc another metal positive to copper may be employed, and similar
sheathing of compounds of copper or of metal other than copper may be pro-
tected and preserved free from fouling by the employment in the manner
above described of a metal negative to it.
In order to protect iron ships I employ in a similar manner two metals, the
one negative and the other positive to iron, and connect them alternately to
the shell or skin of the vessel.
SPECIFICATION' in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robeit Whiteside in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th December 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
WHITESIDE, of North Egremont, in the County of Chester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth 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 me, the said Robert Whiteside, Her special licence that I, the said
Robert Whiteside, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Robert Whiteside, 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 PRESERVING IRON SHIPS AND SHIPS' SHEATHING FROM
CORROSION AND FOULING, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREFOR," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Whiteside, 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,

page_text: 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 Robert Whiteside, 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 fol-
lowing statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in preserving iron ships and
ships' sheathing from corrosion and fouling, and in apparatus to be employed
therefor. It has before been proposed to preserve copper sheathing from
corrosion by attaching to it pieces of zinc, and this arrangement is successful
as far as the preservation of the copper is concerned, but it renders the
sheathing very liable to foul.
According to my Invention I insulate the zinc from the copper, and
provide wires or conductors to connect the two; these are led into the ship,
or so arranged that they may be separated and coupled up at will; when they
are coupled the sheathing is protected from corrosion, and should any fouling
be found to accumulate it is readily cleared off by uncoupling the zinc from
the sheathing. I enclose the zinc in a non-conducting case, say, of gutta
percha, which case is firmly fixed to the copper, and air-tight everywhere
except at the lower end. The sea water is suffered to enter the case and
envelope the zinc, and the wires are coupled when corrosion of the copper
sheathing is to be arrested; at other times the sea water may be ejected from
the case by forcing in air, suitable pipes and air pumps being provided. In
place of zinc another metal positive to copper may be employed, and similarly
sheathing of compounds of copper or of metal other than copper may be pro-.
tected and preserved free from fouling by the employment in the manner
above described of a metal negative to it.
In order to protect iron ships I employ in a similar manner two metals, the
one negative and the other positive to iron, and connect them alternately to
the shell or skin of the vessel.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to.describe..
more fully the manner of performing the same.
For protecting copper sheathing, the zinc or other metal positive to copper-
is placed in a case of non-conducting material, such as gutta percha, hardened
india-rubber, or in metal cases covered with either of these materials. The
cases are formed with covers, by which they can be closed air-tight, except at
their lower ends, which are left open; the plates of metal are, by preference,
retained in the cases by small projections being formed on the interior sides of

page_text: the case, which are received in notches in the plates.
When the plates bave
so been placed in the cases, the covers are fixed on air-tight, the joint being,
From the top of
by preference, made tight by means of marine glue.
each case passes a wire cord that is attached to the sheets of zinc; this cord
is covered with india-rubber or otherwise insulated, and where it is let into
the top of the case the joint is made air-tight by an insulating cement. From
the top of the case a tube also passes, and both the tube and covered wire are
led to any convenient part of the ship; to the same part of the ship is also
led a covered wire cord that is connected with the sheathing. The cases in
which the zinc or other metal is contained may be placed either inside or
outside the ship, but in either case they must be so placed that the sea water
may fill them. When the cases are placed on the exterior of the vessel, I
prefer to coat the exterior of the cases with the same metal as that with which
the vessel is sheathed. When the wire leading from the sheathing is coupled
up with the wire from the metal contained in the cases the sheathing will be
protected from corrosion, and when it is desired to get rid of any fouling the
wires are uncoupled, the action of the sea water on the copper by eating it
away then removes the fouling. When the metal in the cases is not required
to be acting on the sheathing, the water is expelled from the cases by forcing
air down through the pipe that leads from their upper end. The proportion
of the surface of zinc exposed to the action of the sea water should be about
one-fiftieth that of the copper.
Vessels sheathed with zinc may also be pre-
vented from fouling by the use of a metal negative to it, such as copper
enclosed in cases as above described and connected with the hull of the vessel
in a similar way, thus producing a clearing action to get rid of the fouling.
For protecting iron vessels from fouling, two sets of cases are employed, one
set containing copper or other metal negative to iron, and the other contain-
ing zinc for preserving the iron. When a communication is established
between the iron hull and the zinc, the iron is preserved from wasting away,
and when the iron becomes foul the communication with the zinc is broken,
and a communication established between the iron hull and the copper in the
cases, the sea water being then allowed to flow into the cases containing the
copper and expelled from the cases containing the zinc. An alternate pro-
tecting and clearing action may thus be produced on that part of the hull
exposed to fouling, by preventing the formation of the usual hard oxide
produced by the action of sea water on iron, and creating instead a soft
flocculent oxide, which shall be easily removeable, and afford no hold to
zoophites or weeds. The proportion of zinc to the hull of the vessel should
be about one-fiftieth, that of copper should be about twice as much. I prefer

page_text: to place the cases containing the copper and the cases containing the zinc on
the exterior of the vessel, and to attach them by bolts or nails to the sides of
the stern post, but they may be fixed in any other suitable position. The
pipes and wire cords should be sheathed over to prevent damage to them.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Whiteside, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
ROBERT WHITESIDE. (LS.)