IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING SHIPS
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Richard Boyman Boyman at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 18th December 1872.
I, RICHARD BOYMAN BOYMAN, of Park Hill, Clapham Park, Surrey,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CONSTRUCTING SHIPS," to be as follows:-
Last year I discovered the laws of fluid resistance, and from them the
type of least resistance with the greatest capacity, and for such
Invention Letters Patent were granted to me dated the 10th April 1871,
No. 944, for "Improvements in Constructing Steam and other Ships,
Boats, and Aerial Machines, so as to Reduce their Resistance."
An Invention which embodies any of the laws of nature can neither
be improved nor superseded, hence no improvement can be made on
such Invention of the type of least resistance with the greatest capacity,
for that is necessarily the type of least resistance for all time; this is
explained at page 2 of the Provisional' Specification lodged with my
Petition for such Letters Patent, to be "a body which displaces the
least quantity of fluid with the greatest length of body and finest
front and end;" this must necessarily be wholly immersed in the fluid,

page_text: air or water; but it occurred to me that there must be a type of least
resistance out of the water as well as in it, and that this type is such a
form as will offer the least resistance to the impact of the wind and
waves, especially the latter, because sea water is about 816-64 times
denser than air; hence my present Invention is the type of least
external resistance compatible with safety and war purposes and with
the accommodation required for passengers and crew. Such type is not
applicable to aerial machines as my former Invention of the type of
least resistance is, because aerial machines are immersed in one fluid
only and have no shocks of the sea to bear.
By referring to my said Provisional Specification of last year, 1871,
page 3, lines 11 to 30, and to the Drawings annexed to the Final
Specification Sheet I., it will be seen that the front and end of such ship
of least resistance are on a level with the water line, that there is only
one turret and that she cannot sail as well as steam. My present
improvements on the external structure of such a ship are as follows:-
To have two turrets about one or two hundred feet from each end, and
masts and sails between them, in order that the crew may have more
than one means of offence and of propulsion should anything go wrong
with one turret or with the steam machinery, or should the coal be all
consumed; but were such a ship with both ends flush with the sea, as
shewn in the Drawing before referred to, thrown on her beam ends when
sailing, her centre of buoyancy might so shift that she might capsize and
go down; hence my present improvements are to add a freeboard at each
end of the ship, either circular or at an angle, but not so high as to
interfere with the clear sweep of the turret guns all round. This free-
board will continue water-tight past each turret and be from 100 to 200
feet or more from the front and end; it will then be made water-tight
from the deck upwards with sliding doors for berths or other purposes, and
only strong enough to resist winds and waves, but not heavy ordnance, in
order that the weight of armour required for such purpose may be added
to the turrets and front and end in the water and other vital parts of
the ship. These are the parts that hold the engine propellers. and
ammunition, and these only need be armoured, the front and end under
water being armoured most to resist attack. And the whole ship will be
divided into water-tight compartments.
The turrets will be connected by an open deck supported, on pillars or

page_text: the ship. The masts will pass through both decks, and the sails be no
lower than the open deck, on which some berths may be raised though
liable to be shot away.
The fire of the turrets on a line with the keel
would never be between them, even were there no masts and sails; these
therefore will be no obstruction to an all-round fire, for that on a line
with the keel will be from the front and end in opposite directions so as
to engage a foe at both ends.
Now suppose the ship be 800 or 1000 feet long, if 800 she would be
only (800-679)=121 feet longer than the present Great Eastern; and
suppose that the freeboard at each end be 200 feet and the bow and
stern be each 350 feet long from the broadest part of the ship to the apex,
then the external resistance offered to the wind and waves will be
altogether (2×200=)400 feet. But all of this will be angular resistance,
being part of the angular front and end of 350 feet cach. This resistance
moreover will be counteracted by the whole length of 800 feet of the
ship in the water; the heeling over will also be resisted by two or more
of my stability planes on each side of the ship. Iron staircases in iron
cylinders protected by each turret will communicate from the open deck
to the hold, which with the engine rooms may be ventilated either
artificially or naturally; in the former case donkey engines working fans
can draw the fresh air down the cylindrical staircases or other air shafts ;
the uptake shafts beneath deck will be let into the huge funnels, up
which the warmer and vitiated air will ascend. Natural ventilation.is
by the motion which masses of air of different temperature naturally
have, the colder fresh air descending through air shafts, and the warmer
'air rising through the said uptakes in the funnels.
The difference between my fighting ships and the present, known as
short iron-clads, is fundamental and important. All such first-class
iron-clads, the Devastation, Hercules, Sultan, and others draw about
24 and 26 feet, water, and have a bow only about 2.3 times as
long as their breadth. My ship will draw only about 12 or 15 feet of
water, and have bows and sterns of equal length, some six or more times
as long as their breadth. By these means the motive power required
to propel them, whether by engines and coals, or sails and wind, will
be reduced about seventy-five per cent; the result of the laws of fluid
resistance and type of least resistance with greatest capacity discovered
by mc. This saving in steam and wind power, and in some degree in
stokers and sailors, is merely in constructing steam ships. on my
•

page_text: principles, according to such laws. Such saving therefore is in-
dependent of the further saving in engines and fuel by my system of
reaction propulsion with which my present improvements are intended
to be combined.
To prevent mistake in respect of such new combination I will shew
with what prior discoveries and Inventions of my own my present
improvements are intended to be combined. (1). With the type of
least resistance with the greatest capacity. (2). With the means of
obtaining stability without resistance, except the mere frictional
resistance in one foot lbs. (3). With the two rudders and means of
steering. (4). With the method of protecting such rudders by a false
kecl, which can be made much deeper to help my stability planes, to
prevent rolling, and (5) with my system of reaction propulsion and
the machinery connected therewith. These several discoveries and
Inventions are described in the Specification of my said Letters Patent
of 1871, No. 944, before referred to, and in the Drawings annexed
thereto.
So far as regards ships of war, my present Invention of the type of
least external resistance compatible of course with passenger and
crew accommodation is applicable also to despatch ships for war purposes,
and to passenger ships to all parts of the world. The whole length of
deck, 800 or 1000 feet, may be flush with the water, or part at each end
may be covered over similar to my fighting ships. Now the longer
the front and end the less the resistance, hence these may be ten,
twelve, or more times as long as the greatest breadth of the ship. 1
Instead of the ponderous turrets and guns which now rise over the
deck of ships of war the cabin and saloons and promenade deck will
be raised either on pillars or steel arches, as high or nearly so as will
let the waves sweep over the deck between it and the floor of the raised
cabins. The height of these above the deck will vary with the average
height of waves prevailing between the ports of destination of the ship.
If however the superstructure cannot in all cases or even in any case
be raised high enough without being top heavy and affecting the
stability of the ship to let the waves sweep under such superstructure,
still it is better to receive only half instead of the whole force of the
impact of the waves, and so get as much stability as the required
accomodation will allow.

page_text: The impact of the wind and waves tending to make the ship roll is
to be neutralized by great depth of keel and by my stability planes,
the science of which is this:- For distant voyages take the extreme
velocity of the wind at 80 miles an hour, which is a hurricane, and the
velocity of waves at 40 miles an hour, which is attained only by
mountain waves, as they are called. Next find the force of impact of
the wind against an uninclosed plane of one square foot, by my formula
'6 V'
lbs., and the force of the waves per square foot by my formula
816-64
*6 V* lbs., V being the velocity in feet per second=miles × 1.467.
Then multiply such impact of the wind by the number of square feet
exposed to the impact of the wind, and such impact of the waves by the
number of square feet exposed to the impact of the waves, and the
sum will be the whole force tending to push the ship over.
The skin resistance to the push being neglected, the depth of keel
and number, length, breath, and position of my stability planes to
resist such push must then be found. It will however be sufficient to
show here the fundamental principles of my present Invention of the
type of least external resistance and maximum stability,-to shew also
how important it is to reduce the length of superstructure as much as
convenience will permit, in order to have few stability planes; to show
also the principles by which the impact of the wind and waves may
be counteracted by depth of keel and such stability planes,- for these
offer no such resistance to the velocity of the ship as stability obtained
by great beam, which I believe is the only other method of obtaining
stability.
The promenade deck may be at the sides of the saloon, cabins, and
berths instead of on the top, and will contain necessary conveniences
supplied by a donkey engine and pump, and the refuse will pass down
some of the hollow pillars of support into the open. A few first-class
cabins and berths beneath the deck and in the very middle of the ship,
may in many cases if not in all be thus obtained. Let the deck for 50
or 100 feet or more rise to such an angle as will be just sufficient to
throw off the waves. Let the apex of such angle on both sides be made
moveable here and there, and lap over three or four feet of the parts on
which such flaps rest, so that no wave passing over them can get
beneath into the cabin. The flaps to windward will be securely fastened
down and some of those to leeward can be opened for ventilation. All

page_text: of my external structures must have as fine a front and end as con-
venience will permit to offer the least resistance to head winds and
waves sweeping over the deck fore and aft when without front and end
freeboard.
My Invention of stability planes gives the greatest stability with the t
least resistance in the water, and my present Invention gives the
greatest stability with the least resistance out of the water. For it gives
in the raised superstructure a freeboard without the usual impact of the
waves.. It also gives a reserve of buoyancy if the ship be thrown on
her beam ends, which no ships of the present construction possesses,
for the weight of an iron clad and guns on her beam ends tending to
turn her over would be much greater than the weight of the super-
structure on the water tending to turn that over. The lover of buoyancy
would indeed be so great that so long as no water got into the berths
such a ship would perhaps be unsinkable, for such superstructure 1
must be made as light as possible consistent with strength, and the sides.
may be made of cork whilst all luggage should be confined to the liold.
The ventilation and staircases can be similar to those for my fighting
.

page_text: clads will always be more than that due to their length of bow. This
wastes just so much engine power and fuel, and which will be still more
if such ships be driven at speeds greater than that due to their length
of bow as they so often are.
It follows from these fundamental principles of fluid resistance, and
consequently of naval architecture, that the fluid must be displaced as
gradually and with as little change of motion as possible. It must be
met without shock and be left without shock, that is, without abruptness,
being as gradually left behind as it is met with before. It was for these
purposes I designed the double wedge ship with vertical sides and flat
bottom from end to end, the length of which wedges must be increased
with every increase of speed to prevent shock, increased resistance, an
consequent loss of power and fuel.