IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF IRON SHIPS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Bourne, of Port Glasgow, in the County
of Renfrew, in Scotland, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF IRON SHIPS."
Sealed the 30th May 1854, and dated the 9th December 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Bourne at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 9th December 1853.
I, JOHN BOURNE, of Port Glasgow, in the County of Renfrew, in
Scotland, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF IRON SHIPS" to be as follows:-
The main design of my iniprovements in the construction of ships is
to enable machinery to be better applied to their manufacture, and
also to give them greater strength in a longitudinal direction. In
proceeding to construct a vessel I first raise the water-tight bulkheads
into the position that they are to occupy in the ship. I then run the
ribs longitudinally from bulkhead to bulkhead instead of from the

page_text: gunwale to the keel, as is the usual practice, and I also run the deck
beams fore and aft from bulkhead to bulkhead instead of athwartships
from gunwale to gunwale. The floors which usually consist of narrow
plates, set on edge across the bottom of the vessel and rivetted to the
ribs, I run in a fore and aft direction from bulkhead to bulkhead along
the bottom, and upon the floors I lay a platform of iron plates rivetted
together like the plating of the ship, and rivetted also to the floors and
to the ship's sides so as to be water-tight. This platform, laid upon the
fore and aft floors or keelsons, converts the bottom of the vessel into a
collection of strengthening cells, like those of the Menai tube, and
constitutes an inner-water-tight. bottom which will hinder the influx of
water, should the outer bottom get knocked away. The main deck
beams which run from bulkhead to bulkhead are either wholly or to a
great extent covered with iron plating, constituting an iron deck before
the ordinary wooden deck is laid down, so as to enable the strength of the
deck to balance or nearly balance the strength of the bottom as it ought
to do. The wooden deck is secured by means of screws passing upward
from below in the usual manner, but the necks of these screws are made
conical so that they will jam themselves in the holes through which
they pass, and thereby prevent any longitudinal motion between the
iron and the wood. In some cases I discard ribs altogether, whether
longitudinal or vertical, and in other cases I introduce a few vertical
ribs after the vessel is plated instead of the longitudinal ribs above
described. But in no caso do I build up the plates upon vertical ribs,
as is the usual practice. Finally, in constructing screw vessels I make
the frame which receives the screw at the stern of the vessel in one
piece as is a usual practice, but I add to this frame at its upper and
foremost corner a broad palm like the palm for attaching a vice to a
vice board, and I introduce a horizontal breast hook plate at the stern
which is rivetted to the sides of the ship, and to which this palm is also
rivetted.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Bourne in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 2nd June 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN BOURNE, of Port Glasgow, in the County of Renfrew, in Scotland,
send greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her Most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Bourne, Her special licence
that I, the said John Bourne, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said John Bourne, 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 IRON SHIPS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Bourne, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause
the same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Bourne, 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 (that is to say):-
The main design of the most material of my improvements in the
construction of iron ships is to enable machinery to be applied with
greater facility to their manufacture, and also to give them greater..
strength in a longitudinal direction. In proceeding to construct a
vessel on my plan, I prefer, first, to raise the water-tight bulkheads

page_text: into the position which they are to occupy in the ship. I then run the
ribs which are required to stiffen the plates longitudinally from bulk-
head to bulkhead, instead of from the gunwale to the keel, as is the
usual practice, and I also run the deck beams fore and aft, from bulk-
head to bulkhead, instead of athwartships from gunwale to gunwale.
The floors, which usually consist of narrow plates set on edge across
the bottom of the vessel and rivetted to the ribs, I run in a fore and
aft direction from bulkhead to bulkhead along the bottom, and upon
these fore and aft floors I lay a platform of iron plates rivetted
together like the plating of the ship, and rivetted also to the floors and
to the ship's sides, so as to be water-tight. The platform thus secured
upon the fore and aft floors or keelsons, converts the bottom of the
vessel into a tubular structure, like that of the bottom of the Menai
tubular bridge, and also constitutes an inner water-tight bottom, which
will hinder the influx of water, should the outer bottom get knocked
away.
In cases in which it is not convenient to raise the water-tight bulk-
heads into their places in the first instance, I substitute a temporary
framework of wood or iron, which is carried up as the plating advances,
so as to keep the vessel in shape, and which is afterwards removed, and
in cases in which the water-tight bulkheads are set up in the first
instance, I make provision, whereby a marginal plate all round each
bulkhead next the skin of the vessel may be removed, to enable the
machine which I propose to use for punching and rivetting the plates
of the shell to pass fore and aft from stem to stern without interrup-
tion. The beams of the deck I cover either wholly or to a great
extent with iron plates rivetted together, and upon this plating the
ordinary wooden deck is laid down. The bolts which connect the
wooden deck to the iron plating beneath it are iron deck screws
passing upwards from below, as is the usual practice, but I make the
necks of the whole of these bolts conical, so that when the bolt is
screwed into the wood, the neck will jam itself in the hole in the iron
beam or iron plate, and thereby prevent any working between the iron
and the wood. In some cases I finish the hull of the ship without
introducing ribs, either horizontal or vertical, and I afterwards intro-

page_text: duce such ribs, whether horizontal or vertical, as may be required,
rivetting them securely to the outside plating in the usual manner.
Finally, in constructing screw vessels, I make the frame at the stern,
for the reception of the screw, in one piece, as is the usual practice,
but I add to this frame, at its upper and foremost corner, a broad palm,
like the palm of a vice, and I introduce a horizontal breast hook plato
at the stern, which is rivetted to the sides of the ship, and to which this
palm is also rivetted.
I will now proceed to explain my improvements by the aid of the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, so as to make the mode of their
application intelligible to any workman conversant with the con-
struction of iron ships. The same letters refer to the same parts in all
the Figures.
Figure 1 is an elevation of a vessel in frame, according to my im-
provements. a, a, a, are the horizontal ribs, which may be either angle
irons, with or without reverse bars, for the attachment of ceiling or iron
of any other section which may be preferred; m, m, m, are the bulk-
heads, to which the horizontal ribs are affixed; c, c, c, are the floors;
and d, d, the keel. The floors run in the line of the keel, and on the top
of the floors the iron platform is laid, rivetted to the floors and also to
the ship's sides, which constitutes the double bottom. b, b, Figure 2,
are the deck beams, on the top of which rests an iron plating, and on
the top of the plating the wooden deck is laid. k, k, k, Figure 2, are
the several plates of one of the bulkheads m, and which plates run
horizontally instead of vertically, which last is the usual arrangement.
f.f, Figure 3, are the upright stanchions of the framework required to
keep the vessel in shape when the bulkheads are not introduced in the
first instance; e, c, e, are horizontal rods, extending from the frame-
work to the sides of the ship, and perforated with numerous cotter
holes, by the aid of which the ship's sides may be either pressed inward
or outward, as may be required to make them fair, and in aid of the
same object, shores of the ordinary kind used in ship building are like-
wise employed.
Figure 4 is an elevation of the stern frame for holding the screw; h
being the rudder post; i, the stern post; and g, the palm for attachment

page_text: to the horizontal breast-hook plate. at the stern. This palm is seen in
plan, in Figure 5. Figure 6 is a horizontal section beneath the palm
of the stern frame, shewn in clevation in Figure 4.
Having now explained the nature of my improvements, and shewn
the manner in which the same may be practically applied, I have only
to add; that what I claim as new and of my Invention, is the mode of
running the beams, ribs, and floors of a vessel in a fore and aft direc-
tion, as herein described. 1 also claim the mode of constructing ships
with a moveable. framework, such as is herein described, also the mode
I have described of, forming the stern frames of screw vessels. with a
horizontal palm, for their more effectual-attachment-to-the.ship.... I
also claim the uso. of deck screws formed with conical necks for
jamming into the holes in the iron instead of the screws with cylindrical
necks at present employed.
In witness whereof, I; the said John Bourne, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of May, in the
of our Lord-One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
year
Witness,
JAMES CURRIE,
of Greenock.
JOHN BOURNE. (L.S.)