IMPROVEMENTS II: THE CONSTRUCTION OF IBON SHIPS, BATTERIES, AND FORTS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Humphrys, of Deptford, in the County of
Kent, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
Sealed the 15th November 1861, and dated the 20th May 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Humphrys at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th
May 1861.
I, EDWARD HUMPHRYS, of Deptford, in the County of Kent, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS II: THE
CONSTRUCTION OF IBON SHIPS, BATTERIES, AND FORTS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in building iron ships, batteries, and forts entirely or
in part of solid plates or forgings of iron with internal flanges. The plates are
so formed as to admit of their being bolted together on the internal surface,
whereby, in the case of ships, the usual fram of angle iron may be dispensed
with, and in the case of batteries and forts, stinctures of great strength may
be formed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Humphrys in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th November 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
HUMPHRYS, of Deptford, in the County of Kent, Engineer, send
greeting.
year
of our Lord
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by--Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of May, in the
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Edward Humphrys, Her special licence that I, the said Edward
Humphrys, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Edward Humphrys, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF IRON SHIPS, BATTERIES, AND FORTS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Humphrys, 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
Patént.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Humphrys, do hereby declare the
nature of my said invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statenient thereof, referenco being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:
This Invention consists in building iron ships, batteries, and forts entirely or
in part of solid plates or forgings of iron with internal flanges. The plates are
so formed as to admit of their being bolted together on the internal surface,
whereby, in the case of ships, the usual frames of angle iron may be dispensed
with, and in the case of batteries and forts structures of great strength may be
formed.
The accompanying Drawings fully illustrate the manner in which I carry
Invention

page_text: Figure 1 represents in cross section one half of a ship built on my plan;
Figure 2 is an internal view of part thereof, showing the arrangement of the
flanges all round the inboard edges of the plates (the long way of the plates
may be placed vertical); Figure 3 represents an arrangement where the
internal flange is omitted on the vertical edges of the plates, each vertical edge
being formed with a groove, into which a steel bar or tongue is fitted;
Figure 4 represents in section on an enlarged scale this groove and
tongue.
The flanges are formed on the armour or other plates, either all round their
inboard edges or on their horizontal edges only, or on their vertical edges only,
and where such flanges are omitted both plates are grooved, a steel bar or
tongue being inserted into such groove.
And baving now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim building iron ships,
batteries, and forts entirely or in part of solid plates or forgings of iron with
internal flanges, the said plates being held together substantially in manner
herein-before described with reference to the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Humphrys, have hereunto sct
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-one.
EDW. HUMPHRYS. (L.S.)