IMPROVE- MENTS IN WELDING SHEET IRON FOR SHIP BUILDING AND OTHER USES
Year: 1844

page_text: THESE
MM, 1, DENJAMIN
TUCKER STRATTON, of Bristol, Agricultural Mechanist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the First day of August, in the eighth year of er reign did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Benjamin
Tucker Stratton, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Benjamin Tucker Stratton, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Benjanin Tucker Stratton, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN WELDING SHEET IRON FOR SHIP BUILDING AND OTHER USES;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Benjamin Tucker
Stratton, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Benjamin Tucker Stratton, do hereby declare that the nature of my said

page_text: Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures.
and letters marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention consists in welding plates or sheets of wrought iron, by means
of rollers or other suitable methods, so as to form them into tubes having
longitudinal flanges at their sides, or into sheets with a series of hollow ribs
or channels, which sheets may be considered as an assemblage of the aforesaid
tubes united by their longitudinal flanges. For this purpose I proceed as
follows: I take two, or, in some cases, three plates or sheets of iron, one or
(in some cases) two of which have been corrugated or grooved by means
well understood and commonly employed for that purpose, and placing one
sheet upon the other; I heat them in a furnace to a good welding heat; I
then pass them between rollers, situated close to the furnace, and of a
breadth and form adapted to run in the grooves or furrows of the corrugated
iron, and by the pressure of the rollers the parts of the sheets of iron which
are in contact become welded together, whilst the intermediate parts, not
being pressed together, form hollow channels or ribs. According as the tube
or the hollow sheet of iron is to be corrugated on one or on both sides, I
prefer that one or both sets of welding rollers should be suitably grooved
or fluted; and I would observe that the rollers may be either driven by suitable
geering, so as to draw the plates from the furnace, or the plates may be drawn
through the rollers by the means of a draw bench, the rollers then serving as
dics, or fixed dies may be substituted for the rollers, or combined with them.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, exhibit sections of tubes produced by the combination
of a flat plate of iron with a grooved or corrugated plate of various forms,
or of two corrugated plates; and Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8, represent end views
of sheets of iron, having hollow ribs of similar forms to the aforesaid tubes.
In some cases, where great strength is required, I combine a flat plate of
iron with two corrugated plates of iron, as shewn in Figure 9 and 10, to
form tubes or hollow sheets of iron, but I do not confine myself to any
particular form for the tubes or the hollow ribs in their transverse section,
as any form may be adopted which may be deemed suitable.
From the preceding description it will be seen that by my Invention sheets
or tubes of iron may be produced of great strength and stiffness with a small
weight of metal, and which may be advantageously applied to various purposes;
amongst others, I would name rails for railroads, wheels for railway and

page_text: other carriages, roofs, and other parts of buildings, and especially ship building,
as in the latter case the sheets of hollow metal may be made so light (whilst
they are at the same time sufficiently strong), that, by plugging the ends of
the hollow ribs, vessels thus constructed would, from their floatability, be
nearly equal, in point of safety, to life boats.
Having thus described my Invention, I shall now state what I claim:-
First, I claim the construction of tubes with longitudinal flanges, or of
sheets of iron with hollow ribs, by welding together, by any suitable means,
plates of iron, one or more of which are grooved or corrugated, as herein-
before described.
Secondly, I claim the application of fluted or grooved rollers for welding
together such plates of iron.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Tucker Stratton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and farty five
BENJAMIN (L.S.) TUCKER STRATTON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-eighth day of
January, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Benjamin Tucker Stratton
came before our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Twenty-ninth day of January, in the year above written.