IMPROVE MENTS IN IRON-CASED SHIPS OF WAR
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Cowper Phipps Coles, of the United Service Club,
Pall Mall, Captain in the Royal Navy, for the Invention of " IMPROVE
MENTS IN IRON-CASED SHIPS OF WAR."
Sealed the 11th December 1860, and dated the 15th June 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Cowper Phipps Coles at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th June 1860.
I, COWPER PHIPPS COLES, of the United Service Club, Pall Mall, Captain
in the Royal Navy, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN IRON-CASED SHIPS OF WAR," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in forming iron-cased ships of war with two sides
or a double side at that part of the ship which is protected by the iron casing,
the inner side being inclined inwards at a considerable angle, and cased with
thick metal, and the outer side being for the purpose of completing the
external form of the vessel according to any approved design, and for affording
the requisite deck accommodation between it and the upper portion of the
defended side. The outer side is to be of iron and should be constructed as
lightly as is consistent with the required strength.
Ships having their sides formed in the manner described will be par-
ticularly well adapted to receive cannon covered with protective shields
according to a former Patent granted to me on the 30th day of March, 1859,
No. 798.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Cowper Phipps Coles in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th December 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, COWPER
PHIPPS COLES, of the United Service Club, Pall Mall, Captain in the Royal
Navy, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Cowper Phipps Coles, Her special licence that I, the said Cowper
Phipps Coles, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Cowper Phipps Coles, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN IRON-CASED SHIPS OF WAR," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Cowper Phipps Coles, ny 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 thesame 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 Cowper Phipps Coles, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in forming iron-cased ships of war with two sides or
a double side at that part of the ship which is protected by the iron casing
the inner side being inclined inwards at a.considerable angle and cased with
thick metal, and the outer side being for the purpose of completing the
external form of the vessel, according to any improved design, and for affording
the requisite deck and other accommdaotion between it and the upper portion
of the defended side. The outer side is to be of iron, and should be constructed
at lightly as is consistent with the required strength. In some cases it may

page_text: be desirable to modify the arrangement just described, by placing two or
more inclined sides within the thin external side for the purpose of
presenting a series of inclined obstacles to the progress of shot, and thus
gradually diverting it from its original path and causing it finally to pass
off from or out of the ship without entering the inner inclined side.
Ships having their sides formed in the manner described will be particularly
well adapted to receive cannon covered with protective shields according
to a former Patent granted to me on the 30th day of March 1859, No. 798.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed I have illustrated the manner in
which my Invention may be conveniently and efficiently carried into effect.
Figure 1 is a transverse section of a ship constructed according to my
Invention and fitted with the protective shields before referred to. The
shields are not a necessary part, as the guns may be mounted on a gun
carriage of peculiar construction and protected by iron in the ordinary way.
The dotted lines at the upper part of the Figure represent the sides of a
ship of similar size constructed with ordinary upright iron plated sides.
d, d, are the inclined sides formed of thick iron and supported upon a
backing of timber or iron carried by angle irons extending up from the
cellular bottom of the ship; e is one of a series of beams which extend
from one inclined side to the other, serving to support and strengthen the
same; fis a deck extending fore and aft and across the ship; g, g, are the
thin upright iron sides carried up to about the height of the lower deck
ports of a line-of-battle ship, or to a height dependent upon the height the
gun is to be placed above water. The sides g, y are surmounted by a flying
bulwark h, capable of being turned down either inwards or outwards in
order to allow the gun to be fired over all from beneath the shield b, c,
This flying bulwark would mask the battery until fire is opened, and shelter
the crew in bad weather from wind and sea; a is a tubular passage through
which ammunition is to be passed up to the guns and through which also
a current of air may be forced while the guns are being fought for the
purpose of driving the smoke of the discharge out of the shield; i, i, are
ventilators for the lower deck; D, is the upper deck.
In Figure 2, I have shewn a partial transverse section of a ship formed
with two inclined sides within the outer side as before explained; a is the
outer side; b, is an inner side of the thiu iron; c is a second inner side
of thick iron inclined at a different augle; d is the upper deck.
In Figure 3 I have shown a partial transverse section of another ship
formed with two inclined sides, the two inner sides being in this instance

page_text: placed parallel to each other; a is an outer side; b, an inner side of thin
iron; c, a second inner side of thick iron; d, the upper deck; e, e, are
numerous water-tight compartments built of thin iron.
I do not limit myself either to the details herein-before described or to any
specific thicknesses or inclinations of the iron of which the sides of my ships
are formed, nor do I limit myself to the use of one or of two inclined sides
only, but what I claim as my improvements in iron-cased ships of war is,
the method of forming such ships with an inner side inclined at a con-
siderable augle and cased with or formed of thick iron, and also with a thin
outer side for completing the external form of the vessel, and for affording
the requisite deck and other accommodation, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Cowper Phipps Coles, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of December, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
said Cowper Phipps Coles in the
presence of,
CHAS. FRAS. FISHER,
COWPER P. COLES. (L.S.)
Captain R.N.
Solicitor, Ventnor, I.W.