IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING IRON SHIPS AND VESSELS."
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Hodgson, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer and Iron Ship Builder, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING IRON SHIPS AND VESSELS."
led the 8th January 1853, and dated the 1st October 1852
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Hodgson at
the office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his petition, on
the 1st October 1852.
I, JAMES HODGSON, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer and Iron Ship Builder, do hereby declare the nature of the
said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING IRON SHIPS AND
VESSELS" to be as follows:-
Heretofore in constructing iron ships and vessels, it has been usual
to employ angle iron to make the ribs or framing of the ship or vessel,
and to affix thereto sheet iron Now my invention consists of dis-
pensing with the use of ribs and beams, and obtaining the desired
strength by the simple use of sheet iron rivetted together in a like
manner to that pursued in boiler making. In applying bulk heads in
such ships or vessels, they are made without frames, and are fixed to
horizontal plates rivetted to the interior of the body of the vessel. The
decks are made of sheet iron, and the gunwales formed without beams
and wood decks are fixed thereto.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said James Hodgson, in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 31st March 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JAMES HODGSON, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer
and Iron Ship Builder, 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 James Hodgson, Her special licence that I, the said
James Hodgson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said James Hodgson, 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 CONSTRUCTING IRON SHIPS
AND VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
James Hodgson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Hodgson, 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):
Heretofore in constructing iron ships and vessels, it has been usual
to employ angle iron to make the ribs or framing of the ship or vessel,
and to affix thereto sheet iron: Now my Invention consists of dis-
pensing with the use of ribs and beams, and obtaining the desired
strength by the simple use of slicet iron rivetted together in like
manner to that pursued in boiler making. In applying bulk heads in
.

page_text: such ships or vessels they are fixed to horizontal plates rivetted to the
interior of the body of the vessel. The decks are made of sheet iron,
and the gunwales formed without beams, and wood decks are fixed
thereto. And in order that my Invention may be more fully understood,
and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means
pursued by me. In constructing a ship or vessel according to my
Invention, in place of constructing a frame of angle iron such as has
heretofore been constructed to receive and have fixed thereto the plates
of sheet iron, I cause a temporary frame to be constructed to the form
which it is intended to give the ship or vessels, the object of which is
simply to facilitate the getting the sheets cut, bent, and punched to the
correct forms, the temporary frame simply acting as a template or
pattern of the intended ship or vessel; and in place of fixing the plates
of iron to the frame, and thus combine them as heretofore, I cause the
plates of metal to be simply rivetted to each other as is practised in
boiler making. The temporary frame I prefer to be of bars of iron,
but wood may be employed, or both wood and iron. In making the
sheet iron for this purpose, I prefer to have the sheets stouter than
would be used if angle iron frames were also employed and combined
therewith, and I recommend as much additional weight should be given
to the plates as the angle iron would amount to, thus using in a ship or
vessel as much weight of iron as at present, but distributed more evenly
by reason of the whole of the iron being in the form of plates, by which
a much stronger ship or vessel will be obtained than when using a frame
of angle iron clothed with sheet iron; but the weight or strength of plates
as heretofore must be left to the ship builder, and he will judge what is
best for the particular ship he is about to build, taking into consideration
the nature of the trade the ship or vessel is to be engaged in, and other
circumstances which are necessary as heretofore to be considered. In
constructing the decks I dispense with the beams, and build the same of
sheet iron plates. rivetted together and to the sides of the ship, but I
prefer to give the decks somewhat more curve than is usual, and I
fix wood planking on to such decks by means of screw bolts and nuts,
which bolts pass through the planking, and through holes formed in
the plates of which the deck is composed, and the same are secured

page_text: by nuts. Between the planking I caulk the joints as usual. In
fixing bulk heads in ships or vessels, in place of tending to weaken
a ship or vessel as heretofore at those parts, I so fix them as to
increase the strength of those parts; and for this purpose, in place of
using angle iron, which is fixed to the outer shell of the ship or
vessel (and to the bulk head) by rows or lines of rivets running in
the direction, and near to the bulk head, I cause the plates near
which a bulk head is to come to be made double for a considerable
extent of their length, by rivetting on to such plates other or
lining plates, taking care that the rivets by which these lining
plates are affixed are not in regular lines in a manner to weaken
the plates of the outer shell to which they are rivetted. To these
lining sheets I previously fix angle iron by rivetting or welding, to
receive and have fixed thereto the plates of iron which are to compose
the bulk head, by this means the rivets which fix a bulk head to the
outer shell of the vessel will be distributed over an extended space,
and the line of rivets by which the anglo iron is fixed to the inner or
lining plates will not interfere with the outer shell of the ship or vessel,
on the contrary, it will be wholly received and borne by the inner or
lining plates, and the whole will be more sound and tend to give
strength rather than to weaken the outer shell of the ship or vessel.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim
is the mode herein described of combining and constructing parts of
ships or vessels by employing sheet iron rivetted together.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Hodgson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of March in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
JAMES HODGSON. (L.S.)
Witness, W. CARPMAEL, jun.