IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARMOUR PLATES FOR SHIPS AND OTHER STRUCTURES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Brown, of the Atlas Steel and Iron Works,
Sheffield, in the County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF ARMOUR PLATES FOR SHIPS AND OTHER STRUCTURES."-
A communication from abroad by Alexander Holley, residing at the City
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Brown at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st February 1863.
I, JOHN BROWN, of the Atlas Steel and Iron Works, Sheffield, in the
County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARMOUR PLATES FOR SHIPS AND OTHER STRUCTURES,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
armour plates for ships and other structures. For these purposes plates of
wrought iron are piled one on the other, having between them crushed or
pulverized franklinite, spiegel iron, or similar metal; this pile is heated to a
suitable degree to cause the franklinite, spiegel iron, or other similar metal to
assume a pasty or melted state, and the wrought-iron plates to be brought to
about a welding heat, so that when rolled or pressed the parts of the pile

page_text: will combine. The rolling is to be continued till the mass is reduced into a
plate of any desired thickness. A series of such compound plates are piled
one on the other with pulverized franklinite, spiegel iron, or other like metal
between them, and this pile is to be heated and rolled, or pressed, and reduced
to the desired thickness either for an armour plate, or for being again piled
with other plates, as above explained. Fluxes may be used when found
desirable.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st August 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BROWN, of the Atlas Steel and Iron Works, Sheffield, in the County of York,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Brown, Her special licence, that I, the said John Brown,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Brown, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 MANUFACTURE OF ARMOUR PLATES FOR SHIPS AND OTHER
STRUCTURES," a communication to me from abroad by Alexander Holley,
a person resident at the City of New York, in the United States of America,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Brown, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal 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 Brown, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
armour plates for ships and other structures. For these purposes plates of
wrought iron are piled one on the other, having between them crushed or
pulverized franklinite, spiegel iron, or similar metal; this pile is heated to a
suitable degree to cause the franklinite, spiegel iron, or other similar metal to
assume a pasty or melted state, and the wrought-iron plates to be brought to
about a welding heat, so that when rolled or pressed the parts of the pile will
combine. The rolling is to be continued till the mass is reduced into a plate
of any desired thickness. A series of such compound plates are piled one on
the other with pulverized franklinite, spiegel iron, or other like metal between
them, and this pile is to be heated and rolled, or pressed, and reduced to the
desired thickness, either for an armour plate, or for being again piled with
other plates, as above explained. Fluxes may be used when found desirable.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Brown, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twentieth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
0 Witness,
FRÉDÉRIC G. WOOD.
JOHN BROWN. (L.S.)