IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING ARMOUR OR THICK PLATING TO SHIPS AND OTHER STRUCTURES
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Masoniat..the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th December
1861.
I, WILLIAM MASON, of 40, Canton Street, Poplar, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPLYING ARMOUR OR THICK PLATING TO SHIPS AND OTHER STRUCTURES," to be
as follows:-:
This Invention has for its object improvements in applying armour or thick
plating to ships and other structures. For this purpose the upper and lower
edges of the armour plates are bevilled, and narrower thicker plates or bars
are employed with such armour plates, which are also bevilled at their upper
and lower edges to correspond with the edges of the armour plates. These
narrower and thicker plates or bars are fixed in a direction running fore and
aft of the ship, in such manner that the bevilled edges of the narrower and
thicker plates or bars may overlap the edges of the armour plates. The
armour plates in addition to being thus fixed to a ship's side, or to the side of
another structure similarly requiring to be protected by armour plating, are to
be further fixed by the use of through bolts, as has before been done. The
narrow and thicker plates and bars before mentioned may be fixed fore and aft
of a ship in various ways, but I prefer that outside of the skin of a ship or
vessel there should be a quantity of timber applied between the skin and the
plates, as has before been the case when applying armour plates, and that the

page_text: timber should fill the space between the skin and the thicker plates or bars,
and also between the skin and the armour plates. I prefer that between the
timber and the narrow plates or bars there should be thin plates of iron
interposed of greater width than the narrow plates. I prefer that at the back
of the narrow plates or bars there should be grooves formed longitudinally
therein to receive the ends of eye bolts, in such manner that on keys or bolts
being passed through transversely, they will fix the eye bolts securely to the
backs of the narrow plates or bars. The eye bolts pass through the timber
and through the skin, and to prevent the screw nuts which are screwed on to
the inner ends of the eye bolts acting injuriously on the skin I introduce a
considerable thickness of timber between the screw nuts and the skin. By
these means the tightening up the eye bolts attached to the back surfaces of
the narrow plates or bars will cause such narrow plates or bars to be drawn
inwards, and by reason of the edges being bevilled or made wedge-shaped,
that will act as long wedges between the armour plates, and tend to wedge
them tightly to the ship's side, or to the side of another structure requiring
similar armour plates to be fixed, thereto. The narrow thicker plates or bars
may be flush with the armour plates on the outside, or they may be made
rounding, and protrude beyond the armour plating. I have spoken of the
thicker plates or bars being narrower than the armour plates, but this is not
essential, as they may be as wide as the armour plates.