IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WROUGHT-IRON, STEEL, OR COMBINED WROUGHT-IRON AND STEEL PLATES ADAPTED FOR SHIP- BUILDING, AND OTHER PURPOSES FOR WHICH STRENGTH AND LIGHTNESS ARE REQUIRED
Year: 1862

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to Elizabeth Herdman, Widow, Alexander Finlay
Herdman, Flax Spinner, both of Lodge House, Belfast, in the County
of Antrim, Ireland, and James Herdman, of Sion Mills, Strabane,
County Tyronc, Ireland, Flax Spinner, Executors of the late John
Herdman, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, in Ireland, deceased, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WROUGHT-IRON,
STEEL, OR COMBINED WROUGHT-IRON AND STEEL PLATES ADAPTED FOR SHIP-
BUILDING, AND OTHER PURPOSES FOR WHICH STRENGTH AND LIGHTNESS ARE
REQUIRED."
Sealed the 31st October 1862, and dated the 3rd May 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Herdman at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd May
1862.
I, JOHN HERDMAN, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, in Ireland, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF WROUGHT-IRON, STEEL, OR COMBINED WROUGHT-IRON AND STEEL
PLATES ADAPTED FOR SHIP-BUILDING, AND OTHER PURPOSES FOR WHICH STRENGTH
AND LIGHTNESS ARE REQUIRED," to be as follows:-
My improvements have reference more particularly to an Invention
for "Improvements in the Manufacture of Wrought-iron Plates adapted
for Ship-building and other Purposes for which Strength and Lightness

page_text: are required," for which Letters Patent were granted to me, and bearing
date the 12th day of May 1855 (No. 1071), wherein I described various
arrangements for forming cellular or hollow plates of wrought-iron by
welding together two or more plates having ribs or bosses upon their
surfaces.
One part of my present improvements consists in forming such plates of
wrought or cast steel instead of wrought iron, or partially of wrought or cast
steel, and partially of wrought iron.
Anothes part of my present Invention consists in forming one wrought-iron
or steel plate with ribs, bosses, or projections, and the other with grooves or
recesses of a slight depth, so that when the two plates are being welded
together, the ribs or projections on the one plate enter into the grooves or
recesses on the other plate, by which a more perfect union of the two plates
will be effected. I also sometimes form such cellular plates by welding
together a corrugated plate of iron or steel and a flat plate on either side of
the same,
which flat plates may or may not be slightly grooved where they
come in contact with the corrugations of the central plate.
Another part of my improvements consists in forming such cellular plates
by placing two or more flat iron or steel plates, having small projections or
ribs on their faces opposite each other a certain distance apart, so that a
space is formed between each two plates, into which space I place suitably
formed cores, and pour cast steel in a molten state in the remaining inter-
stices, which, when solidified, will be firmly attached to the plates by the
before-mentioned projections upon the latter being fixed in the cast steel. I
then heat the cellular plates thus formed, and weld the parts of the same more
firmly together either by hammering or by rolling.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Elizabeth Herdman, Alexander Finlay Herdman, and
James Herdman, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st November
1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ELIZA-
BETH HERDMAN, Widow, ALEXANDER FINLAY HERDMAN, Flax Spinner, both
of Lodge House, Belfast, in the County of Antrim, Ireland, and JAMES
ERDMAN, of Sion Mills, Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, Flax Spinner,
Executors of the late John Herdman, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, in
Ireland, deceased, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS the said John Herdman, on the Third day of May last
petitioned Her Majesty for Provisional Protection for an Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WROUGHT-IRON, STEEL, OR COMBINED
WROUGHT-IRON AND STEEL PLATES ADAPTED FOR SHIP-BUILDING, AND OTHER PUR-
POSES FOR WHICH STRENGTH AND LIGHTNESS AEE REQUIRED," which Provisional
Protection was duly granted: And whereas the said John Herdman departed
this life on the Fifteenth day of May last, leaving us, the said Elizabeth
Herdman, Alexander Finlay Herdman, and James Herdman as his executors
him surviving: And whereas notice to proceed was left at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents for Inventions by us, the said Elizabeth Herdman,
Alexander Finlay Herdman, and James Herdman, as such executors as
aforesaid: And whereas we, the said Elizabeth Herdman, Alexander Finlay
Herdman, and James Herdman petitioned the Lord High Chancellor of Great
Britain to allow the said Letters Patent to be granted to us, and in our
maines to file the Final Specification as such executors as aforesaid: And
whereas Ter most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date as of the Third day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Ier
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Elizabeth Herdman, Alexander Finlay Herdman, and Jaines Herdman,
Ier special license, that we, the said Elizabeth Herdman, Alexander Finlay
Herdman, and James Herdman, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Elizabeth Herdman, Alexander Finlay
Herdman, and James Herdman, our 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, the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WROUGHT-IRON, STEEL, OR Cou-
WROUGHT-IRON AND STEEL PLATES ADAPTED FOR SHIP-BUILDING, AND
OTHER PURPOSES FOR WHICH STRENGTH AND LIGHTNESS ARE REQUIRED," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said Elizabeth Herdman, Alexander
Fiulay Herdman, and James Herdman, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us or them, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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
BINED
Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Finlay Herdman, on
behalf of myself and the said Elizabeth Herdman and James Herdman, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
These improvements have reference more particularly to an Invention for
"Improvements in the Manufacture of Wrought-iron Plates adapted for Ship-
building and other Purposes, for which Strength and Lightness are required,"
for which Letters Patent were granted to the late John Herdman aforesaid,
and bearing date the 12th day of May 1855 (No. 1071), in the Specification
to which were described various arrangements for forming cellular or hollow
plates of wrought iron by welding together two or more plates having ribs or
bosses upon their inner surfaces.
Now one part of the present improvements consists in forming such plates
of wrought or cast steel instead of wrought iron, or partially of wrought or
cast steel and partially of wrought iron.
Another part of the present Invention consists in forming one wrought iron
or steel plate with ribs, bosses, or projections, and the other with grooves or
recesses of a slight depth, so that when the two plates are being welded
together the ribs or projections on the one plate enter into the grooves or
recesses on the other plate, by which a more perfect union of the two plates
will be effected. Or in some cases such cellular plates may be formed by
welding together a corrugated plate of iron or steel, and a flat placed on
either side of the same, the inner surfaces of such flat plates being, by pre-
ference, somewhat grooved for those portions of the corrugated plate that
come in contact with them to fit into, so as to insure a more perfect weld.
Another part of this Invention consists in forming such cellular plates by
placing two or more flat iron or steel plates having sinall projections or ribs
on their faces opposite each other a certain distance apart, so that a space is
formed between each two plates, into which space are placed suitably formed
cores, and cast steel in a molten state is then poured into the remaining inter-
stices, which when solidified will be firmly attached to the plates by the before
mentioned projections, upon the latter being fixed in the cast steel. The
cellular plates thus formed may then be heated to a welding heat, and the
parts of the same be welded together more firmly either by hammering or
by rolling.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 on the accompanying Drawing shew one form of the
improved cellular plates.
Figure 1 shews a transverse section of the two

page_text: plates A and B separate from each other before being united by welding.
The plate A has projections or ribs C, C, formed upon it, the ends C, C, of
which are formed of a V-shape, as shown, whilst the plate B is formed with
corresponding V grooves b, b, in the positions where the ends c, c, of the pro-
jections C, C, of the plate A are to be welded to it, and, by preference, the
V grooves b, b, are formed with a somewhat more acute angle than that of
the V-shaped ends c, c, of the ribs or projections C, C, so that on the latter
being pressed into the former, when at a welding heat, a certain amount of
wedging action will take place, by which the two parts will become niore
effectually welded together.
Figure 2 shews a transverse section of the cellular plate after the two
plates A and B have been welded together, the dotted lines showing the
welded surfaces; Figure 3 shows a part plan of such a plate. Figure 4
shews a transverse section of a cellular plate formed by welding together three
plates A, B, and C, the plate A having V-ended projections a, a, whilst the
plate B is formed with V-ended projections b, b, on one side, and V-shaped
grooves b', ', shewn by dotted lines, on the other side, and the plate C is
Or the plate B may be
formed with V grooves c, c, shewn by dotted lines.
formed with the projections a and b upon it, and the plates A and C with
grooves only.
Figures 5 and 6 shew a different form of the improved cellular plates.
Figure 5 shows a transverse section of both plates separate; and Figure 6
shows a transverse section of the same when welded together. In this case
projections or ribs are formed on the inside faces of both the plates, and these
projections are made of such a shape that when the plates are welded together
the cellular spaces are of a circular form, as shown at C in Figure 6. The
ends of the projections a, a, a, on the plate A are formed of a V-shape, whilst
the ends of the projections b, b, b, on the plate B are formed with V grooves,
as shown, made, by preference, with a slightly more acute angle than the
projections on a, a, a, and into which these projections are wedged when the
plates are welded together, as shewn by the dotted lines in Figure 6.
Figures 7 and 8 shew another arrangement of the improved cellular plates.
In this case the plate, as shown in transverse section at Figure 8, is formed
by welding two flat plates A, B, one on either side of a corrugated plate C, as
shewn separate at Figure 7, the plates A and B having grooves b, b, b, c, c, c,
formed upon them, into which the angles of the corrugated plate are forced
on welding them together. Or the corrugated plate is formed as shewn at C
in Figures 9 and 10, and the grooves a, a, b, b, in the plates A, B, are made

page_text: to correspond with the flat surfaces of the corrugated plate C; or in this
arrangement sometimes no grooves at all are made in the plates A, B.
Figures 11 and 12 shew another form of the improved cellular plates. In
this arrangement two iron or steel plates A, B, are formed, as shewn in
transverse section at Figure 11, with small projections a, a, b, b, on their
inner surfaces, and these are placed, when at a welding heat, some distance
apart in the mould box C; cylindrical or otherwise formed cores D, D, D,
are then placed at certain distances apart in the space between the plates A
and D, and molten steel is poured into the interstices E, E, left between the
cores D, D, and the plates A, B. The cores are afterwards removed, when
the cellular plate will have been formed, as shewn at the transverse section at
Figure 12, the projections a, a, b, b, being imbedded in the cast steel F, F,
which will have cellular holes f, f, resulting from the removal of the
cores D, D. If requisite, the combined plate may be reheated to a welding
heat, and be subjected to a process of hammering or rolling for welding the
parts still more firmly together.
Having now described the nature of this Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, we would wish it to be understood that we do
not claim generally the formation of wrought-iron cellular plates by welding
together two or more plates having projections between them; as this has
already been secured to the late John Herdman aforesaid by former Letters
Patent, herein-before set forth; but what we claim is,-
Firstly, the manufacture of hollow or cellular wrought steel or combined
wrought iron and wrought steel plates by welding together two or more plates
with ribs, bosses, or projections between them.
Secondly, the construction of cellular wrought iron or steel or combined
wrought iron and steel plates, in which one or more of the plates of which
they are composed are formed with projections, and the other plate or plates
is or are formed with recesses or grooves, into which the ends of the projec-
tions on the other plate or plates are welded, substantially as herein-before
described, with reference to Figures 1 to 6 on the accompanying Drawing.
Thirdly, the construction of cellular wrought iron or steel, or combined
wrought iron and steel plates, by welding together a corrugated plate and one
flat plate on either side of the same, such flat plates being either provided or
not with grooves corresponding with the portions of the corrugated plate that
are welded to them, substantially as herein-before described with reference to
Figures 7 to 10 on the accompanying Drawing.
Fourthly, the construction of cellular combined wrought iron or steel and cast

page_text: steel plates by pouring molten cast steel between two or more wrought iron or
steel plates, suitable cores being first placed between such plates, so as to
produce cellular openings in the combined plate when such cores are removed,
substantially as herein-before described with reference to Figures 11 and 12
on the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof 1, the said Alexander Finlay Herdman, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of October, in
the rear of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
A. F. HERDMAN. (L.S.)