AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS, AND WHICH IMPROVEMENT IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO ALL SEA-GOING VESSELS, AND ALSO CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOATS AND OTHER VESSELS INTENDED TO BE USED ON CANALS AND INLAND NAVIGATION
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WATSON, of Temple Street, in the County of Dublin, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twelfth day of June, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-
nine, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Watson, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William
Watson, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Watson, 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 that part of Her said Majesty's United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her Dominion of Wales, Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, my Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
SHIPS, AND WHICH IMPROVEMENT IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO ALL SEA-GOING VESSELS, AND
ALSO CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOATS AND OTHER VESSELS
INTENDED TO BE USED ON CANALS AND INLAND NAVIGATION;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said William Watson, shall cause a par-
ticular description of the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar mouths next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited

page_text: Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto bad, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Watson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully shewn and set
forth in the following description thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say:-
To describe in the first place my improvement in the construction of ships
(which improvement is also applicable to all kinds of sea-going vessels), I
declare that it consists in forming the ribs, or as they are technically called
by shipbuilders," the timbers," of iron bars (or in some cases copper or other
metal of sufficient tenacity may be used,) of the sort known in common by the
name of angle or "T iron," bent into shapes suitable for such ribs. Iron, being
stronger and more durable than timber, while at the same time as it occupies
less space, I find it therefore to be a much fitter material for the ribs of ships
than timber as heretofore used. The skin or outer casing of the vessel I
make of timber planks as usual, securing these planks to the ribs either by rivets
or screw bolts and nuts; a strip of patent felt may be inserted with advantage
between the wooden planks and the iron ribs.
And now with respect to my improvements in the construction of boats and
other vessels intended to be used in canals and inland navigations, I declare
that one of the said improvements consists in forming the ribs, or as they are
technically termed by shipbuilders, "the timbers," of angle or T iron bent into
shapes suitable for such ribs, iron being stronger and more durable than
timber, while at the same time it occupies less space. I find it, therefore,
to be a much fitter material for the ribs of boats and other vessels used on
canals and inland navigation than timber as heretofore used. The skin or
outer casing of the boat or vessel I make of timber planks as usual, securing
these planks to the ribs by means either of rivets or screw bolts and nuts. A
strip of patent felt may be inserted with advantage between the timber planks
and the iron ribs; and that the other of the said improvements consists in
constructing boats and other vessels to be used on canal or inland navigation,
in such manner that they may be temporarily shortened whenever occasion
requires, and be thus enabled to pass through lock chambers of less length
than the boats themselves are when fully extended. For this purpose I con-
struct them of two or more separate and independent water-tight parts, and
connect these together by means of binges or coupling links and bolts, so that
they may be either completely separated and detached, and placed side by side,

page_text: or the ends, that is, the stem and stern parts, turned round or doubled back
without being unhinged or uncoupled; of course, whichever of these modes is
adopted, the entire floating mass remaining the same, though differently
distributed, the degree of displacement will remain the same.
Boats may by
means of this plan of construction be employed of much greater length than
any heretofore in use in canals or inland navigation; but in all cases where
boats so built are employed, the lock chambers must be of at least double
the breadth of the boats, in order to afford room for bringing the separate
parts side by side.
In the illustrative Sheet of Drawings annexed, Figure 1 represents a canal
boat as it would appear when of its full length in an open part of a canal;
a, a, are the places where the stem and stern portions B and C are divided
and separated from the centre part A; b, b, are the hinges or coupling links on
which the two end portions B and C are made to swing round; c, c, are
coupling bolts, to preserve the continuity of the boat when not required to
be shortened. Figure 2 represents the boat Figure 1 when doubled up in a
canal lock D, D. Figure 3 represents a boat constructed of two separate parts,
as it would appear when of its full length in an open part of a canal. A is the
stem part; B, the stern part; a, a, a, the place where the separation takes
place; b, b, the couplings; and Figure 4 represents the boat Figure 3 as it
would appear when divided and passing through a canal lock D, D, D; and
such my said invented improvements being to the best of my knowledge and
belief entirely new, and never before used within that part of Her said
Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her
Dominion of Wales, Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, or in any of Her said
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations, I do hereby declare this to be my Speci-
fication of the same, and that I do verily believe this my said Specification
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 Watson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of December, One thousand eight
WILLIAM (L.S.) WATSON.
5
Taken and acknowledged by William Watson
(party hereto) at Dublin, this Ninth day
of December, 1839, before me,

page_text: This is the Specification referred to in the Affidavit of Henry Desborough,
sworn before me this Eleventh day of December, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-nine.
G. WILSON.
Henry Desborough, of the Atlas Insurance Office, Cheapside, in the City of
London, Esquire, maketh oath and saith, that he is well acquainted with the
manner and character of the handwriting of George Studdert, Esquire, a
Justice of the Peace at Dublin, in the County of Dublin, within that part of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called Ireland; and this
deponent further saith that the name or signature "Geo. Studdert," with the
addition of "Magistrate" set, subscribed, or written upon or indorsed on the
Specification marked A, hereunto annexed, and dated the Ninth day of
December, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine, and purporting to be
executed by William Watson, whereby it is stated that the said Specification
was acknowledged by the said William Watson before the said George
Studdert on the said Ninth day of December, at Dublin aforesaid, is of the
proper handwriting of the said George Studdert. And that the said George
Studdert at the time of setting or subscribing his name on the said Specifica-
tion in manner above stated, was and now is (to the best of the knowledge and
belief of this deponent) one of the Justices of the Peace acting in and for that
part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called Ireland.
G. WILSON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the oath of Henry Desborough, the
Specification aforesaid was inrolled word for word as above written. And also g
the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute
made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Eleventh day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.