IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Hepburn Buckler, residing at 2, Rue de
Presbourg, Paris, and 79, Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, for the
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Hepburn
Buckler at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 7th December 1875.
I, THOMAS HEPBURN BUCKLER, residing at 2, Rue de Presbourg,
Paris, and 79, Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "* IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
SHIPS," to be as follows:-
--
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of
ships, so as to prevent them sinking when from the effects of the sea or
from running down, or from the penetration of a shot or ram in time of
war, or from the explosion of a torpedo, or from any other reason what-
ever the wooden or iron shell is so damaged as to admit water. It
consists in doubling the sides of a ship by having a bag of vulcanized

page_text: india-rubber, forming in the interior a second shell, over the whole
surface of the shell proper of the ship, and continued under the deck
without other break of continuity than by the openings necessary for
hatches for ventilation for the engine room (in steamships) and for light.
The employment of this internal bag has the effect of preventing the
water of the sea from penetrating to the interior of the ship; it also has
the effect of diminishing shocks, and of furnishing a flexible but strong
obstacle, possessing all the elastic power of the material employed to
reefs, or to the ram of an enemy's ship, or to a shot or other projectile,
or to collisions or running downs.
It is easy to understand the manner of applying my Invention, which
will vary according to the mode of construction, and according to the
internal arrangement of the ship, and I shall therefore only indicate it
in a general manner.
The sheets of india-rubber should have their thickness regulated
according to the size of the ship and the tests to which it may be
exposed. In all cases it should be prepared by adding to it filamentary
or other substances, so as to give it the greatest possible tenacity. I
propose to join the sheets of india-rubber forming the sides of the double
shell to the two sides of the carling or kelson of the ship, then to hold
them tightly attached to the shell or bottom, and to lead them to the
under side of the deck of the ship, at the edges of which they pass over
an iron bar or are tightened by other suitable means, and return along
the under side of the deck, to which they are fastened in a similar
manner. The hatchways in the deck are so constructed that they can
be hermetically closed by means of hatches fitting into the frames of the
hatchways to which the india-rubber envelope is attached.
In ships built in water-tight compartments it may be sufficient to
make the partitions of india-rubber or gutta percha supported by bars or
bands of iron, or by a network of iron wire, or in any other way that is
sufficiently strong to support the partitions without risk of damaging
them. It is necessary in all cases to give to the ribs of the ship such a
construction that they will preserve the separation of the sides, so that
if the external shell is destroyed the elastic and impermeable envelope
will be maintained in the general form necessary for preserving the
equilibrium of the ship.

page_text: It does not appear to me necessary to enter into more ample details
of the arrangements to be made, nor into the ways of uniting the various
sheets of india-rubber forming the double shell, these means being well
known.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Hepburn Buckler in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 6th June 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
HEPBURN BUCKLER, residing at 2, Rue de Presbourg, Paris, and 79,
Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Hepburn Buckler,
Her special license, that I, the said Thomas Hepburn Buckler, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas Hepburn Buckler, 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 THE CONSTRUCTION OF
SHIPS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Hepburn Buckler, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Hepburn Buckler, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :—
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of
ships, so as to prevent them sinking when from the effects of the sea, or
from running down, or from the penetration of a shot or ram in time of
war, or from the explosion of a torpedo, or from any other reason what-
ever the wooden or iron shell is so damaged as to admit water. It
consists in doubling the sides of a ship by having a bag of vulcanized
india-rubber, forming in the interior a second shell, over the whole
surface of the shell proper of the ship, and continued under the deck
without other break of continuity than by the openings necessary for
hatches, for ventilation for the engine room (in steamships), and for light.
The employment of this internal bag has the effect of preventing the
water of the sea from penetrating to the interior of the ship. It also has
the effect of diminishing shocks, and of furnishing a flexible but strong
obstacle, possessing all the elastic power of the material employed, to
rocks, or to the ram of an enemy's ship, or to a shot or other projectile,
or to collisions or running down.
It is easy to understand the manner of applying my Invention, which
will vary according to the mode of construction, and according to the
internal arrangement of the ship, and I shall therefore only indicate it
in a general manner.
The sheets of india-rubber should have their thickness regulated
according to the size of the ship and the tests to which it may
be exposed. In all cases it should be prepared by adding to it
filamentary or other substances, so as to give it the greatest possible
tenacity. I propose to join the sheets of india-rubber forming the sides
of the double shell to the two sides of the carling or kelson of the ship,
then to hold them tightly attached to the shell or bottom, and to lead
them to the under side of the deck of the ship, at the edges of which
they pass over an iron bar, or are tightened by other suitable means, and
return along the under side of the deck, to which they are fastened in a
similar manner. The hatchways in the deck are so constructed that
they can be hermetically closed by means of hatches fitting into the

page_text: frames of the hatchways to which the india-rubber envelope is
attached.
In ships built in water-tight compartments it may be sufficient to
make the partitions of india-rubber or gutta percha, supported by bars
or bands of iron or by a network of iron wire, or in any other way
that is sufficiently strong to support the partitions without risk of
damaging them. It is necessary in all cases to give to the ribs of the
ship such a construction that they will preserve the separation of the
sides, so that if the external shell is destroyed the clastic and imper-
meable envelope will be maintained in the general form necessary for
preserving the equilibrium of the ship.
It does not appear to me necessary to enter into more ample details
of the arrangements to be made, nor into the ways of uniting the various
sheets of india-rubber forming the double shell, these means being well
known.
It will also be understood that I do not limit myself exclusively to
the use of vulcanized india-rubber, which can be replaced by any other
elastic material possessing the necessary qualities.
My Invention will prove particularly useful for carrying wheat or
grain, or any grain loose inside a ship, as it will thus be kept quite free
from any moisture and insects.
I claim as my Invention the arrangement on the interior of ships and
such like floating structures, for whatever purpose they are intended to
be employed, of a lining of elastic material of a nature to resist the
entrance of water, and to prevent perforation by rocks, rams, projectiles,
or otherwise, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Hepburn Buckler, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
Witness,
M. FANNEN.
THOMAS HEPBURN BUCKLER. (L.S.)