IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LAMINATED ARMOUR PLATES, AND OTHER FORGINGS COMPOSED OF SHEETS OR BARS OF IRON OR STEEL WELDED TO ONE ANOTHER BY ROLLING
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Henry Hambleton, of Clarges Street,
Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LAMINATED ARMOUR PLATES, AND
OTHER FORGINGS COMPOSED OF SHEETS OR BARS OF IRON OR STEEL WELDED TO
ONE ANOTHER BY ROLLING."
Sealed the 19th January 1869, and dated the 22nd July 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Henry Hamilton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 22nd July 1868.
I, FRANCIS HENRY HAMBLETON, of Clarges Street, Piccadilly, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LAMINATED ARMOUR PLATES.
AND OTHER FORGINGS COMPOSED OF SHEETS OR BARS OF IRON OR STEEL WELDED TO
ONE ANOTHER BY ROLLING," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to secure clean and uniformly heated
surfaces for welding together laminated armour plates and other
forgings, such as shafting, composed of plates or bars of iron or steel.

page_text: For this purpose I heat the several plates or bars of which a forging is
to be composed by suspending them vertically in a furnace, the plates
being suspended at such a distance apart from one another as to allow
the heat to have free and uniform access to the entire surface to be
welded. Subsequently I weld together the several plates or bars by
drawing them up vertically through rolls. By thus keeping the plates
or bars in a vertical position whilst they are passing through the rolls
perfect facilities are afforded for the escape of all impurities from the
surfaces of the several plates of metal as they together come up to the
rolls. The rolls may be placed over the mouth of the furnace so that
the plates or bars may be drawn up vertically from the furnace through
the rolls. Or if plates be placed on edge horizontally in the furnace
a suitable distance apart the plates might be drawn horizontally from
the furnace, then turned on end, and afterwards welded together by being
drawn up vertically through rolls.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Francis Henry Hamilton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd January 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
HENRY HAMBLETON, of Clarges Street, Piccadilly, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Francis Henry Hambleton, Her special licence
that I, the said Francis Henry Hambleton, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis Henry Hamilton, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF LAMINATED ARMOUR PLATES AND OTHER FORGINGS COMPOSED
OF SHEETS OR BARS OF IRON OR STEEL WELDED TO CNE ANOTHER BY ROLLING,"

page_text: upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Francis Henry
Hambleton, 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 Francis Henry Hambleton,. do
hereby declare the nature of the 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, that is to say :-
The object of my Invention is to secure clean and uniformly heated
surfaces for welding together laminated armour plates and other
forgings, such as shafting, composed of plates or bars of iron or steel.
For this purpose I heat the several plates or bars of which a forging is
to be composed by suspending them vertically in a furnace, the plates
being suspended at such a distance apart from one another as to allow
the heat to have free and uniform access to the entire surface to be
welded. Subsequently I weld together the several plates or bars by
drawing them up vertically through rolls. By thus keeping the plates
or bars in a vertical position whilst they are passing through the rolls,
perfect facilities are afforded for the escape of all impurities from the
surfaces of the several plates of metal as they together come up to the
rolls. The rolls may be placed over the mouth of the furnace so that
the plates or bars may be drawn up vertically from the furnace through
the rolls. Or if plates be placed on edge horizontally in the furnace a
suitable distance apart, the plates might be drawn horizontally from
the furnace, then turned on end, and afterwards welded together by
being drawn up vertically through rolls.
Having stated the nature of my Invention I will now describe the
manner in which the same is to be performed.
In the case of plates I prefer suspending them vertically in a furnace
by means of shanks welded into the end of each plate, the shanks to be
of less thickness than the plates, so that when the plates are being
passed through the rolls the comparatively cold shank will afford no
obstruction as far as it is necessary to pass it through the rolls.
Through a hole in the end of the shanks of as many plates as are to be

page_text: welded together I pass a beam, which beam I suspend from a suitable
lifting apparatus by taking hold of its ends so that the shanks are free
to move towards each other as the plates are pressed together by the
rolls. I prefer having the rolls over the furnace with sufficient opening
between the rolls to allow the beam to pass between them with the
plate suspended from it just as they were in the furnace, and when the
beam is just clear above the rolls to move the rolls together so as to
bring the plates in contact and to pass them first upward and then
downwards between the rolls with suitable pressure until they are
finished. Bars I treat the same as plates with the exception that I
suspend them from several parallel beams in order that they may
approach each other in their proper relative positions as they are drawn
up to the rolls.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as
my Invention the method herein described of producing armour plates
and other forgings composed of sheets or bars of iron or steel welded
to one another by rolling, that is to say, by suspending sheets or bars
vertically in a furnace or placing sheets on edge horizontally in a
furnace so that the heat may have free and uniform access to the entire
surface to be welded, and subsequently welding the sheets or bars
together by drawing them up vertically through rolls.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Henry Hambleton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of January, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.