Improvements in Door Frames for Ships and like Structures.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Apr., 1897
Complete Specification Left, 28th Dec., 1897-Accepted, 19th Feb.,.1898
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Door Frames for Ships and like Structures.
We, GEORGE ROCKLIFFE, Engineer, of 9, Pembroke Street, and JOHN GILL SHORT,
Agent, of 57, John Street, both in Sunderland, in the County of Durham, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
:-
Our invention relates to door frames for ships and like plated structures.
Hitherto it has been customary to employ cast iron for these frames thereby render-
ing them of undue weight, liable to easy breakage and like disadvantages and our
invention has for its object to remedy these defects and to construct frames lighter
and stronger and without increasing the cost of production.
To this end, and according to our improvements, we use frames of arched, chan-
nelled or equivalent transverse section rolled or pressed to shape and secured to the
plating by rivetting or otherwise. We form these frames with a projecting ledge,
recess or rebate for the reception of the door and we may, in some instances, extend
the projection and shape it to abut against and cover the edge of the plate in the
doorway; in the latter case, the edge would be dressed before fitting the frame, while
in the former, the frame may be fitted and serve to stiffen the plate during dressing.
The jointing of the frames at the corners may be effected by welding or other
ordinary manner, but we prefer to employ straps following the contour of, and fitting,
the interior of the frame and rivetted thereto, the corners being cut at a convenient
angle.
The material of the frame may be iron, steel, or other material capable of rolling
or pressing and the door hinged thereto and fitted with accessories for fastening in
the usual way.
Improvements in Door Frames for Ships and like Structures.
We, GEORGE ROCKLIFFE, Engineer, of 9, Pembroke Street, and JOIN GILL SHORT,
Agent, of 57, John Street, both in Sunderland, in the County of Durham, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
Our invention relates to door frames for ships and like plated structures.

page_text: .
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Hitherto it has been customary to employ cast iron for these frames, thereby
rendering them of undue weight, liable to easy breakage and like disadvantages, and
our invention has for its object to remedy these defects and to construct frames
lighter and stronger and without increasing the cost of production.
To this end and according to our improvements, we make use of frames of an
arch, channel or equivalent shape in transverse section, rolled or pressed to shape,
and so arranged or adapted as to receive or form a seat for the door in its closed
position. When one part of the frame is required to be joined to another we prefer
to employ for the purpose straps following the contour of, and fitting, the interior
or trough of the frame to which they are rivetted, the meeting surfaces of the frame
being cut to a suitable angle, though of course the joints may be effected by welding
or otherwise.
We will now fully describe our invention with the aid of the accompanying draw-
ings in which--Figs. 1 to 20 are horizontal sections of several forms of our
improved frames. Fig. 21 is a front elevation of a doorway fitted with one of the
said frames and Figs. 22 and 23 are respectively a vertical section and a rear eleva-
tion illustrating on a larger scale the manner of jointing the frames, the section
being taken on the line X-X in Fig. 21.
A is the plate or wall in which the doorway is cut, B the frame fastened thereto by
the rivets as indicated in some of the figures or otherwise, and C the door, usually
of iron, the illustrations, with the exception of Fig. 2, showing our frames adapted to
receive doors of such material.
In Figs. 1 and 2 we show the frame in the form of a somewhat narrow and deep
single arch D and in Fig. 3 of a similar shape though wider and shallower. The
frame, instead of consisting of one part as just described, may be composed of two or
more such parts E, E, Figs. 4, 5 and 6, the outer surface e following the outline of
the inner, as illustrated in the two former figures, or made plain, as in Fig. 6.
In Figs. 7 to 19 various channel sectioned frames are shown the inner and outer
surfaces of the front sides F being either convex, as in Figs. 7 to 11 or flat as in
Figs. 12 to 18, but instead of these surfaces being of the same contour, one, the
outer for example, may be flat and the other curved as in Fig. 19. These forms may,
as in the case of the arched frames, be either shallow or deep, narrow or wide as
required, while they may consist of two or more parts or channels as exemplified by
Fig. 17.
Fig. 20 shows a type of frame comprising the combination of an arched part G
and a channelled part H which is sometimes advantageous.
The arrangement of the frame B to provide for the seating of the door C may be
variously modified, and in Fig. 11 we show one form, in which the frame is fixed
to the plating A at a suitable distance from the doorway, whereby the projecting
part a results and acts as the closing face for the door, and though this is very
convenient and efficient, we prefer to provide this face on the frame itself in several
ways. In some cases we may provide a projecting ledge to form a recess or rebate
to receive the door, the end of such part being flush with the doorway, or this ledge
may be flanged or have a projection at its extremity or at an intermediate part
extending past and covering the edge of the plate A in the doorway, or sometimes
these two parts may be so disposed as to assist in enclosing a groove or recess adjacent
to either the door C or the plate A.
J is the said ledge forming the door seat and K the flange or part at or about right
angles thereto covering the edge of the plate A.
Figs. 3, 7 and 19 show the end of the ledge J flush with the plate edge and having
no flange K. In Figs. 1, 8 and 12 such part K is shown formed at the extremity of
the part J, while in Figs. 4, 5, 6, 13, 14 and 20 the ledge J is produced beyond the
plate edge and the flange K formed some litttle distance from its extremity, but
in both cases the part K fits close or practically close to and covers, the plate edge
serving to protect same.
The arrangement of these parts J and K to receive a wooden door is illustrated in
Fig. 2, from which it will be seen that the inner side or end of the frame is extended

page_text: inwardly and past the plate edge forming the elongated part K, having at its
extremity an enlargement constituting the ledge J for receiving the door C; the
same construction, adapted for an iron door, is represented in Fig. 9, for which it is
not necessary to make the part K of undue length.
The disposition of the parts J and K to enclose a groove or recess is shown in
Figs. 10, 15, 16, 17, and 18; in Figs. 10, 17, and 18 the covering flange K consists of
a prolongation of the inner end of the frame as in Figs. 2 and 9, merging into the
horizontal part J whose free end M is finally bent at or about right angles, thus
forming the groove L, such groove being also obtained as in Figs. 15 and 16 by the
parts J, K, and M, the part K covering the plate edge being in this case formed at
the end of the ledge J and the part M being really the inner end of the frame B.
The parts J, K and M in these two modifications practically form an auxiliary
frame for the inner side of the door when closed, in one case, and forming in the
other, along with the frame B, a double frame; in the first, it serves to form the
closing face for the door while in the latter, in addition to receiving the door it
effectually covers the edge of the plate A in the doorway tending in both cases to
procure watertightness, to better ensure which india rubber or other suitable mate-
rial or composition may be filled in the groove L as indicated in Figs. 10 and 15. In
like manner, if desired, the space enclosed by the frame B and the plate A may be
filled as in Fig. 10.
The projection or flange N shown in some of the figures, for example Fig. 15, is
for the purpose of increasing the depth of the door recess and at the same time
forming a channel or spout for running the water off the frame thereby promoting
watertightness at the door. This is also effected in the frame shown in Fig. 20, the
arch G answering the part of the said flange N.
When the edge of the plate or wall A in the door way is dressed the frame shown
in Figs. 3, 7, 11, and 19, having no covering member K, may be fitted beforehand,
thereby stiffening the plate during the process but in the other frames such dressing,
if necessary, must be completed before they are fitted.
Referring now to Figs. 21, 22 and 23 illustrating the preferred mode of making
joints in our improved frames as applied to an angular doorway, P are the straps
above mentioned of iron or other like material, which are fitted well into the hollow
of the two parts of the frame B requiring connection at each corner and rivetted or
bolted thereto, the meeting surfaces of the two parts being appropriately angled as
shown, the whole producing a neat and strong joint.
The hinging and fastening of the door is accomplished in the usual way, with the
exception that the hinge bands R and fastening arm S are shaped to correspond with
the external configuration of the frame over which they pass.
We have shown our improved frames secured to the outside of the door, which is
the general practice, but if circumstances necessitate, they may, by suitably disposing
the parts J, K and M be readily attached to the inner side, as will be obvious.
The material employed for the frames is steel, iron or other suitable material
and they are produced by rolling or pressing in the ordinary manner.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
1/ The improvement in door frames for ships and like structures which consists
in the use, in combination with the door, of a frame such as is herein specified, rolled
or pressed out of metal to arched, channelled or equivalent transverse section and
secured to the plating at the door opening, by rivetting or otherwise, as and for the
purposes set forth.
2/ For use in ships and like structures, the several constructions and arrangements
of rolled or pressed iron or steel door frames adapted for connection at the door
opening and affording a seating for the door, as described and illustrated respec-
tively in the drawings.
3/ In rolled or pressed metal door frames of the kind above claimed, the mode of

page_text: making the joints by a strap fitting the inner sides thereof and following the contour
of the section, as described and illustrated in Figs. 21, 22 and 23.
Dated this 23rd day of December 1897.
For the Applicants