IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF IRON VESSELS, AND IN SHEATHING.OR COVERING THE SAME
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Seaton, of Coleshill Street, Pimlico,
London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF IRON VESSELS, AND IN SHEATHING.OR COVERING THE SAME."
Sealed the 30th March 1853, and dated the 1st October 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Seaton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 1st October 1852.
I, WILLIAM SEATON, of Coleshill Street, Pimlico, London, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF IRON VESSELS, AND IN SHEATHING OR COVERING THE SAME,"
to be as follows:-
My improvements in the construction of iron ships consist in a mode
of uniting the plates of the lower sides of the vessel, from the keel to the
water line, by placing the plates edgewise or edge to edge, and fastening
them with an outer band or strip of metal covering the joint or seam,

page_text: and rivetted with bolts. This mode gives a smooth surface, and is
preparatory to and necessary for my improved mode of sheathing or
covering iron vessels. I then plank the sides of the vessel up to the
water line with inch or inch an a quarter planking, in longitudinal
lengths, and of four or five inches in width; and the planking is to be
affixed by means of rivets countersunk in the wood, and secured by any
ordinary means by rivets through the iron, or by copper rivets, secured
by a nut and screw on the inside of the vessel. To this planking I affix
by the ordinary means copper or Munty's metal, or any other allay of
metal, the object being to interpose wood between the sheathing and
the iron to prevent oxidation and other evils found to arise from the
ordinary methods of covering iron vessels. I do not confine myself to
any particular mode of affixing the wood to the iron vessel; but my
Invention consists in constructing iron vessels with plates placed edge
to edge in the lower part thereof, and united by a rivited band or strip
of metal, and the employment of wood planking, whereon the copper or
other metal is to be affixed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Seaton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st April 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM SEATON, of Coleshill St., London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the sixteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Seaton, Ier special licence that I, the said
William Seaton, my exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Seaton, 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

page_text: lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF IRON VESSELS,
AND IN SHEATHING OR COVERING THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Seaton, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and scal, 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 iminediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Seaton, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:
The principal object of my Invention is, that of giving a means of
covering iron vessels with a copper sheathing, with additional strength
and durability to the vessel. Iron vessels hitherto have not been sheated":
with copper or any other metallic covering. And since it is well known
that copper and its alloys form the best sheathing for wooden vessels,
and as there are many objections to the use of iron ships, arising prin-
cipally through their want of some sheathing, whereby they are exposed
to oxidation and fouling by sea weed, barnacles, and animalculæ, the.
sheathing or covering of iron vessels with copper or its alloys will give
to iron ships all the advantages derivable from the practice of copper-
sheathing wooden vessels, while they at the same time retain the dis-
tinctive principles of the iron ships.
The first part of my improvement relates to the laying or uniting the
plates of the lower portion of the ships sides from a little above the
water line to the keel. I place these plates edge to edge, and unite
them by means of a strip of sheet iron rivetted in the ordinary manner.
This strip of sheet iron is placed inside the seam or joint, thereby
covering it; and a double row of rivets, one at the top and one at the
bottom of the strip, securely fastens the plates. This forms what is
called a chump or butt joint; and the effect is, that an even surface is
>

page_text: a, a, are
presented from the water line to the keel of the vessel. Having thus
obtained an even, surface, I, plank the sides of tlie iron vessel from:
the keel to the water. line with planking, placing between the iron
and, this planking felting, known as McNeill's Patent Felt, or any
other suitable similar material. This planking may be of oak or any
other suitable wood, and of any required thickness. It is to be
secured to the iron vessel by rivets or bolts, with screws and nuts of
iron, brass, or copper; and the heads of these being countersunk, and
filled up and plugged with wood and marine glue, or plugged with wood,
a smooth and even surface of wood is presented for the reception of the
copper, or other sheathing. The planking may be four or five inches in
width, and instead of rivets I sometimes use a screw with a nut fastened
from inside, the vessel. Figures 1, and 2, are transverse sections, and
Figures 3, and 4, vertical sections of portions of a ship's side.
the iron plates forming the outer covering of an iron vessel. b, b, is the
outer planking, secured to a, a, by bolts c, c, furnished with nuts and.
screws, or rivetted upon the inner side, as at a, a. The hull of the
vessel having been constructed in the usual manner, I apply the oak
planking by drilling or boring. holes through the iron and wood, at suit-.
able distances, the holes in the planking being countersunk, so that the.
head of the bolt may be some distance below the outer surface. of the
plank. Bolts are then driven through the wood and iron, and secured
upon the inner side of the iron, either by a nut or screw, as at Figures
1,,and 3, c, c, or rivetted down, as shewn at d, d, Figures 2, and 4. The.
whole being thus securely fastened together, oaken plugs are firmly
driven into the spaces, countersunk in the planking, and made flush.
with the surface; the sides of the vessel may then be covered.or
sheathed with copper or with Muntz's metal, or any other metallic
sheating, in the manner, usually adopted for sheathing wooden vessels.
In the event of striking on a rock, an, iron vessel sheathed in this
manner will be much better, able to withstand the effects of the concus-
sion than one without this, planking, because the wood offers a safer-
and additional resistance.
Having now explained the nature of my improvements, and how the

page_text: same are to be carried into effect, I wish it to be understood that I
make no claim to any part of the several improvements above described
taken separately; but I claim the improvements herein-before described
for constructing and sheating or covering iron vessels.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Seaton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
WILLIAM (L.S.) SEATON.
WILLIAM (L.S.) SEATON.