AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF PORT STOPPER APPLICABLE TO TURRET SHIPS AND LAND AND FLOATING BATTERIES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF PORT STOPPER
APPLICABLE TO TURRET SHIPS AND LAND AND FLOATING BATTERIES."-- A
communication from abroad by John Ericsson, of the City of New York,
in the United States of America.
Sealed the 18th May 1866, and dated the 12th February 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 12th February 1866.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION
OF PORT STOPPER APPLICABLE TO TURRET SHIPS AND LAND AND FLOATING BATTERIES,"
to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is so to construct port stoppers for turret ships
and floating and other batteries that they can be readily worked, and will not
be liable to derangement from exposure to the shots of the enemy. To
attain this end a massive block of wrought iron of suitable proportions is

page_text: cranked near its middle, and the two ends are turned to form journals or
pivots; this bent block is mounted vertically nearly in the centre line of
the gun it is intended to cover at a sufficient distance from the port to admit
of swinging clear of the inside of the turret or battery wall. When the port
stopper is placed at right angles with the gun slides, the bent part of the
port stopper will clear the gun sufficiently to admit of its being rolled out or
brought into a position for firing, and when the port stopper is placed in a
line with the slides the port becomes effectually closed. The lower journal
or pivot of the port stopper has a rounded termination which rests on the
bottom of a hollow step made of composition metal filled with oil. By
this arrangement the force required to turn the port stopper is only that of
overcoming the friction of the well lubricated lower pivot, hence a single man
will be enabled readily to turn a ponderous port stopper. The oil cup which
forms the lower step is supported by a wrought-iron plate bolted to the under
side of the slides upon which the gun carriage moves. The upper journal
is held by a massive wrought-iron bearing secured to the roof of the turret
or battery chamber. The inertia of the port stopper is such that when
struck it destroys the vis viva of the shot, and therefore the strain upon the
journals is not serious. The journals are made very short in the bearings
in order that some possible slight bending of the port stopper may not cause
jamming; but when the central part of the block is made of proper width
and thickness, and the material is sufficiently malleable, the effect of shot
striking is simply indentation, as in the case of malleable armour plates of
excessive thickness.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 11th August 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others

page_text: as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF PORT STOPPER APPLICABLE TO TUREET SHIPS
AND LAND AND FLOATING BATTERIES," being a communication, to me from
abroad by John Ericsson, of the City of New York, United States of
America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, 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, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
The immense weight of which it is necessary to make the port stoppers
of iron-clad, turreted, or other vessels intended to be invulnerable to give
them the requisite power of resistance to projectiles, has rendered them as
hitherto applied extremely difficult of operation, owing to the great amount of
power required to move them, and the methods hitherto adopted of applying
them have rendered them liable to be so "bound" or disarranged by the blow
of a shot as to make it impossible to operate them.
Now the object of the present Invention is to obtain for a port stopper the
requisite power of resistance and yet enable it to be worked by the application
of a very small amount of power, and to prevent its being seriously "bound"
or obstructed in its action by any displacement or disarrangement which is
likely to be produced by the blow of a projectile. With a view to accomplish
the above object the Invention consists in the construction of the stopper in
the form of a crank, also in its arrangement to turn about an upright or
nearly upright axis, situated some distance within, or behind and opposite, or
nearly so to the centre of the port or embrasure, and further, in the attach-
ment of the bearings in which the journals or pivots of the port stopper turn
to supports which are detached from the wall of the turret or other defensive
structure in the immediate neighbourhood of the port.

page_text: To enable others skilled in the art to make and use the Invention I will
proceed to describe its construction and operation.
Fig. 1 exhibits a vertical section of a portion of the turret of a vessel of
war and a side view of the port 'stopper; Fig. 2 is a plan corresponding with
Fig. 1, the turret being shown in section. Similar letters of reference indicate
corresponding parts in both Figures.
out.
A is a portion of the wall of a turret, and a is the gun port formed therein.
B is the crank-formed port stopper, having its journals or pivots c and d'at
opposite ends. This it is proposed generally to forge entirely in one piece,
though it may be composed of several pieces of wrought iron secured together
in a suitable manner), and to make of such strength that 'it will not be broken
or materially injured by the heaviest projectiles to which it is likely to be
exposed. The outer face of the offset portion of the crank which forms the
face of the port stopper is made of a shape to conform as nearly as practicable
to the inner surface of the wall A, but rounded off, as shown at 6 in Fig. 2;
on one side to allow it to clear the wall in its opening and closing movement,
and the said face is wide enough and long enough to cover the port. The
amount of offset is such that when the port stopper is set up with its journals
in bearings so arranged within the turret 'its axis is opposite or nearly so to
the centre of the port, and the offset portion is turned aside, as shown in red
color in Fig. 2; the gun may pass the said offset portion in its passage in and
C and D are the bearings for the journals cand'd of the port stopper.
The lower bearing C is composed of a plate arranged across and bolted to the
gun slides F, E, and the whole weight of the port stopper is supported in an
oil box G, which is secured under the said bearing, the bottom of the oil box
forming the step. The upper bearing D is bolted to a wrought-iron beam F
arranged across the upper part of the turret and braced by one or more
braces Hat right angles. The bearings are made very shallow, so that in
case of any slight disarrangement by the shot striking the port stopper, or by
other means, the journals will not bind, and as the bearings are detached from
the turret in the neighborhood of the port the shot striking the turret near
the port will not be likely to interfere with the operation of the port stopper.
The arrangement of the bearings is such as to maintain the axis of the
journals c, d, which is the axis about which the port stopper moves in a
vertical position, opposite or nearly so to the centre of the port, and at such
distance from the inner wall of the turret as to allow the offset portion to be
presented directly opposite the port, as shown in Fig. 1, and also in Fig. 2,
in black outline, without quite touching the wall of the turret; so that the
only friction in working the port stopper is that of the journals and their

page_text: bearings and of the step, and the movement about the vertical axis can be
effected with a very small application of power, such power being applied by
one or more men to a horizontal bar inserted into a hole provided for its
reception in the port stopper. By the arrangement of the bearings directly
opposite the port the port stopper is sustained against the blow of a projectile
in such a direction as to best resist the force of the impact of that projectile.
It is however proposed to make the stopper of such strength that the inertia
due to its great weight will give a great portion of the necessary resistance,
and so relieve the bearings or supports of the effect of the blow. In order to
prevent the port stopper from being turned further in one direction than is
necessary to close the port, and in the other direction further than is necessary
to allow the gun to pass it, viz., about a quarter of a revolution in each
direction there is a stop screw f inserted through the bearing D, and a
groove 9 cut part of the way around the journal d to receive the end of said
screw, the length of the said groove determining the movement of the port
stopper. The port stopper is to be applied within the sides of a vessel or the
walls of any defensive structure in substantially the same manner as within
the walls of a turret.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improved
Construction of Port Stopper applicable to Turret Ships and Laud and
Floating Batteries," as communicated to me from abroad, and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under
the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, constructing cranked port
stoppers to turn about an upright or nearly upright axis situated some
distance within or behind, and opposite or nearly opposite to the centre of the
ports they are respectively intended to close, substantially as and for the
purpose herein specified, and also supporting the bearings for the pivots or
journals of the port stopper, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Eleventh day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.B.)