AN IMPROVED MODE OF CAULKING SHIPS OR OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1837

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
YETTS, of Yarmouth, in the County of Norfolk, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS His late most Gracious Majesty King William the Fourth, by
His Letters Patent and the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Nineteenth day of June, in the seventh year of His reign, did, for
Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
Yetts, His especial licence that I, the said William Yetts, my exors, admors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Yetts, my exors, admors, 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 "AN IMPROVED MODE OF CAULKING SHIPS
OR OTHER VESSELS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging
me, the said William Yetts, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be
enrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said 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
William Yetts, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention' to consist in

page_text: the introduction or application of what is usually called indian-rubber into,
upon, or over the seams of those parts of ships and other vessels which requir
caulking; and in further compliance with the said proviso I, the said William
Yetts do hereby describe the manner in which my said Invention is to be per-
formed by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
1
A thread of oakum (either white or brown, as occasion may require,) having
been driven into the seams of the planks, butt, or staff, or other place to be
caulked, as the case may be, in the usual manner (by way of foundation),
and without any oil (which is found injurious to the caoutchouc) being used
on the caulking iron, a stout filament or thread of caoutchouc or indian-rubber
of about three-tenths of an inch thick, or of other suitable size or thickness,
dependent on the size of the opening to be caulked (provided always, that the
threads be somewhat larger than the said opening) is to be driven with a flat-
edged caulking iron or tool close up to the first-mentioned thread of oakum,
after which the remainder of the seam is to be filled up with the usual threads
of oakum driven up tight in the usual manner. The form of the filament of
indian-rubber may be either square, round, or oval, or any other shape, the
only condition required being that the filament should be of sufficient size to
be subjected to a tolerable degree of compression upon its surfaces when it
is introduced into the seam, so that it may afterwards exert its elastic or
expansive pressure in a sufficient degree against the sides of the seam to
prevent leakage, in case of any slight opening of the seam, either by the
working of the ship in bad weather, or the shrinkage of the planks, or the
oozing of the tar from the oakum in hot climates.
In cases were wooden or copper sheathing is to cover the caulked seams or
parts they may be first caulked entirely and completely in the usual manner,
care being taken to drive the last oakum through the whole length of every
seam fairly and evenly within the outer edges of the seam, and then a thread
of indian-rubber, always somewhat larger than the outer part of the seam, is to
be laid upon the last oakum and in the seam, and bradded on to keep it to its
place till the sheathing is put over it; then, as the sheathing is nailed on and
thus drawn tight against the parts covered by it, the indian-rubber will be
forced into and over the seams, and so fill up the small remaining space left by
the caulkers.
Now, whereas I, the said William Yetts, do hereby claim as my said
Invention the introduction or application of a thread or other conveniently
formed piece of caoutchouc or indian-rubber, either in its native or manu-
factured state, into, upon, or over such seams or parts of ships and other vessels
as require or may be benefitted by what is usually called caulking or rendering

page_text: watertight, the elasticity of which indian-rubber, particularly in hot latitudes,
when the seams are most open, and the ordinary oakum most defective and
inefficient, causes the leakage consequent thereon to be more effectually pre-
vented than by any plan now adopted for that purpose.
And such my said Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
entirely new, and never before used within that part of His said Majesty United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His said Dominion of
Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my
Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this my said Specifica-
tion doth comply in all respects fully and without reserve or disguise with the
proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained,
wherefore I hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to my said
Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Yetts, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven.
Inrolled the Ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and thirty-seven.