A CERTAIN NEW AND USEFUL MODE OF BUILDING OR CONSTRUCTING EITHER THE HULLS OR DECKS, OR BOTH, AS THE CABE MY REQUIRE, OF SHIPS, BOATS, AND VARIOUS OTHER SAILING OR FLOATING VESSELS, MADE OF IRON OR OTHER SUITABLE METAL OR METALS
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, OTIS
TUFTS, of Boston, in the County of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, of
the United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Second day of April, in the eighth year of Her reign, did give and grant
unto me, the said Otis Tufts, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial
license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Otis Tufts, my
exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Otis Tufts, my exors,
admors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times hereafter, during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Guernsey,
Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "A CERTAIN NEW AND USEFUL MODE
OF BUILDING OR CONSTRUCTING EITHER THE HULLS OR DECKS, OR BOTH, AS THE
CABE MY REQUIRE, OF SHIPS, BOATS, AND VARIOUS OTHER SAILING OR FLOATING
VESSELS, MADE OF IRON OR OTHER SUITABLE METAL OR METALS;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, that I, the said Otis Tufts, shall

page_text: cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Otis Tufts, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is
to say:-
The nature of my Invention consists in constructing the hull and deck or
decks, or the hull or the deck or decks, of a navigable or floating vessel of
two shells, vessels, or cases or casings, made of thin sheets of iron, rivetted or
otherwise confined together at or near their respective edges in contact, and
placing the one of the said cases or vessels within and at a short distance
apart from and parallel or nearly parallel to the other, and connecting and
confining both together in their respective and proper positions with respect
to each other by means of various mechanical contrivances, such as I shall
herein-after describe, or such of similar nature as may be successfully substi-
tuted therefor, whereby I am enabled to make the several casings and their
connections when together constitute as it were a system of trusswork, and to
do away
with the framing of ribs such as is gencrally employed in the con-
struction of iron vessels for navigation, and in lieu thereof provide a substitute,
viz. the inner iron case and the connections of the same applied to it and the
outer case, which shall render the vessel very much stronger in longitudinal as
well as, generally speaking, in all other directions; safer, more rigid, and
capable of enduring to greater advantage and extent the shocks usually expo-
rienced by sea-going vessels, and better adapted for the stowage of cargo than
when constructed of a framing of iron ribs or other frames covered externally
with an iron sheathing or case connected to the said frames or ribs by rivets, in
the manner heretofore commonly practiced by builders of iron ships.
Of the Drawings above mentioned Figure 1 represents a midship and
vertical section of an iron vessel constructed according to my improved
manner. Figure 2 is a vertical section of that portion of the vessel
which is just or a short distance in front of the rudder. Figure 8 is a top
view of one of the shoulder blocks, to be herein-after described. Figure 4 is
a side elevation of the said shoulder block. Figure 5 exhibits a section of a

page_text: portion of the two casings and four of the shoulder blocks, and the rivetted
bolts passing through the same. Figure 6 represents a side elevation of
another kind of connection or substitute for the shoulder block before
mentioned, Figure 7 being a top view of it, and Figure 8 exhibiting its
position between and as confined to the plates or casings or cases. Figures
10, 11, and 12, exhibit a third mode of connecting the outer and inner
plates or cases or casings of the vessel, Figure 10 being a side elevation,
Figure 11 a plan view, and Figure 12 a section of a portion of the plates
or cases, and three of the connections, in their relative positions between the
same. Figures 18, 14, and 15, are elevations of three other connections,
while Figures 16, 17, and 18, exhibit their positions within or between the
inner and outer cases, and the manner of rivetting or confining them thereto.
Figure 19 denotes a vertical transverse section of a portion of a deck com-
posed partly of wood and iron. Figure 20 is a top view, Figure 22 is a
side elevation, and Figure 21 a vertical section of a cast-iron knee, which may
be placed at the angle of junction of the deck and side of the hull of an
iron vessel when built with shoulder blocks and bolts as aforesaid. Figure 23
is a top view, Figure 24 a side elevation, and Figure 25 a vertical section
of another knee, especially adapted to the angle at the lower part of the bull,
and just above the keel, when the shoulder blocks and bolts are employed in
the construction of the vessel. Figure 26 is a view of a portion of the
exterior case of the vessel, exhibiting a mode of connecting together the
plates of iron of which the said case is composed, as also the positions of the
connections which intervene between the inner and outer cases. Figure 27
shows a mode of lapping and securing the ends of the iron plates of the hull
to each other, and Figure 28 is an external view of a portion of the outer
case, upon which the respective positions of the shoulder blocks in rear of it,
or between it and the inner case, are represented by dotted lines. In Figure 1,
a and b denote the two cases, vessels, or casings made of thin sheets of iron,
rivetted or otherwise properly fastened together at their edges; the one is
placed within the other, or at a short distance from it, as seen in the Drawing,
and is connected to it by picces a, a, &c. of thin bar iron, bent into the various
shapes represented in Figures 6, 10, 18, and 14, and combined together, or
placed with respect to each other and between the inner and outer cases a, b,
and confined to the cases by rivets y, y, as exhibited in Figures 1, 2, 8, 12, 16,
17, and 18. In lieu of the aforesaid connections I sometimes employ a series
of shoulder blocks c, c, c, &c., and bolts d, d, d, &c., the said shoulder blocks
being cylindrical or other proper shaped pieces of cast or wrought iron, each
having a hole or passage through its centre and in line of its axis, through

page_text: which (hole) and the inner and outer cases a, b, a bolt d is passed (when the
said block is inserted in its place between the cases) and rivetted down so as
to confine the said block and cases firmly together. The said shoulder blocks
should be distributed throughout the entire space between the inner and outer
cases of the hull, or the hull and deck or decks, and at such distances apart
from each other as may be deemed necessary to ensure sufficient strength to
the structure when completed. I make use of any or all of the aforesaid
connections or modes of securing the inner and outer casings together and upon
one another as circumstances permit or render convenient or advisable, and
I arrange them in such number and positions with respect to each other as
may be necessary to ensure a proper degree of strength to the vessel when
completed.
The vertical
Figure, and
In Figure 1 of the Drawings the inner and outer cases are represented as
confined together by various of the above-mentioned mechanical connections,
some of the same which are in rear of those through which the section is
made being also delineated. When the shoulder blocks and bolts are adopted
they may be arranged with regard to each other as denoted by dotted lines
at c, c, c, &c. in Figure 28; and when pieces of bent bar iron are employed
they may be disposed, if deemed advisable, in lines parallel to each other, as
seen at e, e, e, Figure 26, wherein the same are represented in dotted lines.
When the vertical ends of two sheets of iron are to be connected, a mode
may be adopted which is represented in Figure 27, which denotes a horizontal
section of the edges of the two sheets and one of the rivets i.
end of the sheet 9 is bent into the shape as exhibited in the
receives the sheet h in such manner that the two front faces of the two
sheets may be in one and the same plane. The rivet i is passed through the
sheets and rivetted down upon the outer side of the sheet h, its head being
shown at k. When the plates or sheets of iron are so connected at their
vertical edges, and the planes of their front faces make part of the exterior
surface of the hull of the vessel, the vertical edges of the plates thus present
no obstruction to the ship's way. Another object of the aforesaid mode of
connecting the vertical edges of the sheets of iron is to dispense with splicing
plates, as generally adopted, and at the same time to enable a workman to
caulk the vessel entirely upon the outside thereof. Whenever it may be
desirable to construct the deck or decks of an iron vessel, built on my improved
plan, of wood, the deck-beams (one of which is represented at k, in Figure 19)
may extend across the vessel and receive the deck planks 1, 1, &c. upon them
in the usual manner, and be bolted or fastened by nails, screws, or other proper
contrivances, to a sheathing m of plate iron, which may extend entirely o

page_text: partially over the whole under surface of the deck, and be connected to the
inner case of the hull, or to the outer case thereof, or to both thereof. Some
of the objects of so making a deck are to give to it a great power of resisting
horizontal or other strains; to protect it from fire within the hold; to prevent
water from leaking through it and into the hold or upon cargo therein.
Besides, it offers a new and very perfect mode of uniting a wooden deck to an
iron hull, and dispenses with the common metallic boxes, in which the ends of
the beams are inserted and sustained when a wooden deck is employed in an
iron vessel.
In Figures 29 and 30 I have given a mode of attaching an iron bulkhead
to the inner case of the vessel, the former Figure being a horizontal section of
the end of the bulkhead and a portion of the inner case, m being the bulk-
head, and 6 the case. Figure 30 may be supposed to indicate a vertical
section of a portion of the inner case, and the bulkhead as secured to it.
The mode of securing them together is by means of a piece n, of what is
termed angle iron, which is placed at the angle of junction of the inner
case and the bulkhead, and rivetted to them respectively as the construction
of the vessel progresses.
In Figure 31 I have represented a mode of rendering an iron vessel, con-
structed as above described, shot-proof, or, in other words, of hindering or
preventing the passage of a cannon ball or other projectile (when discharged
from a piece of ordnance) through the side or sides of the hull. In the said
Figure the two cases a and b are shewn as arranged and connected together
in the manner as herein-before specified. In order to hinder the passage of a
cannon ball or other projectile through them, I fill the space between them
with cotton or some other suitable soft or elastic and compressible substance,
which, when a ball or other projectile is discharged against it will, by its
peculiar elastic properties, destroy the momentum thereof. Should the two
cases a and b, and the said material so arranged be not sufficient to fully
prevent the passage of the shot or projectile through them, one or more cases
may be added, as seen at c, or at d, e, f, and each of the same be placed at
a suitable distance from the outer or inner case a or b, or from the case next
to it, as seen in the Drawing, and be connected to the case next to it by any of
the connections as above specified. The spaces between the said cases may be
wholly or partially filled with a suitable resisting material, as described. The
sides of a vessel may be thus protected to such extent above or below the
water line as may be deemed necessary.
What I claim as my Invention is, the aforesaid improvement or manner of

page_text: making the metallic or iron hull, and the deck or decks, or the hull or the
deck or decks, of a navigable or floating vessel; that is to say, in construct-
ing the same of two shells, vessels, casings or cases, made of thin sheets of
iron, rivetted or otherwise properly confined together at or near their respective
edges in contact (both or either of said shells being made water-tight), and
arranging or placing the one of the said shells, vessels, casings, or cases
within and at a short distance apart from and parallel or nearly parallel to
the other, and connecting and confining both together, and in their respective
or proper positions with regard to each other, by means of various mechanical
contrivances, such as I have herein-before described, or such of similar
character as may be successfully substituted therefor, whereby I am enabled
to dispense with the framing of ribs such as has heretofore been employed in
the construction of iron vessels for navigation, and in lieu thereof provide a
substitute (viz., the inner iron case, and the connections of the sanie applied
to it and the outer case), which when combined with the outer case shall
constitute a system of trusswork. Some of the advantages resulting from the
above mode of constructing a vessel are as follows, viz. :-The same quantity
of metal that would be employed in the construction of one in the manner as
heretofore practised, when disposed in my improved mode, as above described,
renders the ship very much stronger, especially in a longitudinal direc-
tion. By having two water-tight shells a much greater security against
leakage and its consequences is attained. The vessel is also better adapted
for the stowage of cargo then when constructed of a framing of iron ribs,
or other frames covered externally with an iron sheathing or case, as above
mentioned.
I also claim the combination with a wooden deck and iron hull of an iron
sheathing or ceiling (m, Figure 19), arranged and applied to them in the
manner and for the purpose or purposes substantially as herein-before specified.
'I claim' the afore-described mode of protecting the hull of a ship or vessel,
or of bindering or preventing the passage of shot or other projectiles through
it, or any exposed part of it, viz.,[by making the exposed part of said hull of
two or more cases or casings arranged with respect to each other and confined
together as above described, and filling the space or spaces between the said
cases with cotton or some other suitable elastic compressible material, capable
of partially or wholly destroying the momentum of the said shot or pro-
jectile when discharged against the hull, as specified.
I also claim the application of one or more cases to the inner or outer sido
of any part of the metallic hull of a vessel (whether constructed as above

page_text: described or otherwise), and filling the space between the said cases and the
said part of the hull with a resisting medium of the kind as before explained.