IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF IRON VESSELS OF WAR
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph D'Aguilar Samuda, of Poplar, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer and Iron Ship Builder, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF IRON VESSELS OF WAR."
Sealed the 30th July 1861, and dated the 23rd April 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph D'Aguilar Samuda
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd April 1861.
I, JOSEPH D'AGUILAR SAMUDA, of Poplar, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer and Iron Ship Builder, do hereby declare the nature of the Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF IRON VESSELS OF WAR," to be
as follows:-
I construct the top sides of the vessel fore and aft, and for a sufficient
distance below water, of single thick plates without backing, by preference
from 4 to 8 inches thick, and I recommend that each plate should be about
12 feet long and 4 feet wide. I make all these plates to fit against each
other at their edges, so as to shew a fair surface both inside and outside the
vessel, the plates of one strake breaking joint vertically with those in the
strakes above and below. Inside the vessel, and in a line with each strake of
plates longitudinally, I place a wrought-iron rib, by preference of about
12 inches in width and 3 inches in thickness, formed with an angle flanch on

page_text: one surface at the top and bottom of same, producing a trough-like section.
I rivet the plates along each of their edges with a row of large rivets in each
plate to this rib, or otherwise secure the edges of the plates to the rib; I then
caulk the plates at their edges and make them water-tight. Between the lon-
gitudinal ribs are placed ribs of similar section to serve as butt strips to
connect the plates where their ends butt together vertically, and I fix the ends
of the plates to such butt strips by rivets or other suitable means.
I arrange
the width of the plates so as to enable the longitudinal ribs to serve also for
the reception of the beam ends of each deck, into which the beams are fitted
and rivetted or otherwise attached. The longitudinal and vertical ribs are
thus made to serve the purpose of giving stiffness to the whole fabric, as well
as useful to attach the beam ends to, and thus all necessity for vertical frames
at the back of the armour skin of a vessel is avoided, and great simplicity of
construction is attained. Below the portion of the thick armour plate
required to protect the vessel against shot (i. e., from about 4 feet below
water), I construct the hull or body of the vessel with vertical frames and iron
skin as usual in large first-class sea-going iron vessels.
Hitherto, for the most part, the armour plates of iron mail-clad vessels have
been bung to the top sides of the ship, and attached thereto by bolts passing
through them, and also through a backing of teak placed on the outside of
the skin plating, and interposed between it and the armour plating, thus
causing a considerable strain on the top sides of the vessel; whereas my
Invention consists in incorporating the armour plate into the structure of the
ship, in the manner herein described and shewn in the annexed Drawing, and
thus causing it to be useful to form the top sides of the vessel, as well as its
defence against, an enemy's fire, and at the same time doing away with the
necessity of carrying vertical frames behind the armour plating.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph D'Aguilar Samuda in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd October 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
D'AGUILAR SAMUDA,. of Poplar, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer and
Iron Ship Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of April, in the year of our Lord

page_text: 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 Joseph D'Aguilar Samuda, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph
D'Aguilar Samuda, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Joseph D'Aguilar Samuda, 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 CONSTRUCTION OF IRON VESSELS OF WAR,"
upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph D'Aguilar Samuda, 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 Joseph D'Aguilar Samuda, 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 :-
I construct the top sides of the vessel fore and aft, and for a sufficient
distance below water, of single thick plates (without backing by preference)
from four to eight inches thick, and I recommend that each plate should be about
twelve feet long and four feet wide. I make all these plates to fit against
each other at their edges, so as to show a fair surface both inside and outside
the vessel, the plates of one strake breaking joint vertically with those in the
strakes above and below. Inside the vessel, and in a line with each strake of
plates longitudinally, I place a wrought-iron rib, by preference of about 12
inches in width, and 3 inches in thickness, formed with an angle flanch on one
surface of the top and bottom of same, producing a trough-like-section; I rivet
the plates along each of their edges, with a row of large rivets in each plate to
this rib, or otherwise secure the edges of the plates to the rib; I then caulk
the plates at their edges, and make them water-tight. Between the longi-
tudinal ribs are placed ribs of similar section, to serve as butt strips to connect
the plates where their ends butt together vertically, and I fix the ends of the
plates to such butt strips by rivets or other suitable means. I arrange the
width of the plates so as to enable the longitudinal ribs to serve also for the

page_text: reception of the beam ends of each deck into which the beams are fitted and
rivetted, or otherwise attached. The longitudinal and vertical ribs are thus
made to serve the purpose of giving stiffness to the whole fabric, as well as
useful to attach the beam ends to, and thus all necessity for vertical frames at
the back of the armour skin of a vessel is avoided, and great simplicity of
construction is attained. Below the portion of the thick armour plate required
to protect the vessel against shot (i. e., from about four feet below water), I
construct the hull or body of the vessel with vertical frames and iron skin, as
usual in large first-class sea-going iron vessels.
Hitherto, for the most part, the armour plates of iron mail-clad vessels bave
been hung to the top sides of the ship, and attached thereto by bolts passing
through them, and also through a backing of teak placed on the outside of the
skin plating, and interposed between it and the armour plating, thus causing a
considerable strain on the top sides of the vessel; whereas my Invention
consists in incorporating the armour plate into the structure of the ship in the
manner herein described and shewn in the annexed Drawings, and thus
causing it to be useful to form the top sides of the vessel, as well as its defence
against an enemy's fire, and at the same time doing away with the necessity of
carrying vertical frames behind the armour plating.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a vertical midship section of a vessel; Figure 2, inside
elevation of side of vessel; Figure 3, horizontal section at A, B. Figure 4,
horizontal section of plate and rib to an enlarged scale.
The frame of the ship is formed by preference of rolled iron ribs a, having a
section, as shown in Figure 3, and being about 12 inches wide and 3 inches
thick, exclusive of the projecting flanches, but these dimensions may be varied.
These ribs are shewn in these Figures to be placed vertically along the sides
of the vessel, spaced at distances of one half the length of each plate, and serve
as butt plates for the vertical edges of the plates where they meet, and similar
short ribs are spaced horizontally between the vertical ones, also. serving as
butt plates for the horizontal edges of the armour plates, but the continuous
ribs of the framing may be horizontal, and the shorter ones vertical. In
whichever direction the shorter ribs may run they should be made continuous
by "fish" or connecting plates fixed thereto, and by preference also to the
ribs which run in the opposite, direction, as shewn at f, in Figures 2, 6,
and 9.
The armour plates, as before stated, are spaced to break joint (as is usual in

page_text: the skin plates of an ordinary vessel), and rivetted through the vertical and
horizontal ribs at their edges, as shewn on a larger scale in Figure 4, or they
may be otherwise fixed to the ribs, and the edges of the plates are then
caulked, as is also the spaces between the ribs and the plates on the inside.
The width of the armour plates should, when possible, be arranged so as to
bring a horizontal rib or frame opposite each deck (as shewn in Figures 1
and 2), and thus enable the horizontal frame or ribs to be available to
receive the deck beam ends and the stringers c, d, above and below the deck
beams.
Figures 5, 6, and 7 shew the construction when the horizontal ribs are
made continuous, and the vertical ribs or frames are short pieces interposed
between the long ones. By this mode of constructing ships of war, it will be
seen that the ribs (both horizontal and vertical) act also as butt plates to the
edges of the armour plates, horizontally and vertically.
It is not essential that the ribs should be rolled with flanges, but it is believed
to be better that such should be the case. If desired, the ribs, may be so
formed as to admit of skin plates being used under the armour plates; this
will be understood by reference to Figures 8, 9, 10, and 11, where flat thick
and wide bars or plates are used as ribs horizontally and vertically, and they
are recessed at their edges to receive an inner skin of plates, which may be
used with my Invention, by which the armour plating is employed in the
manner berein described, to give strength to the structure, and not simply for
resisting projectiles, as heretofore, when the armour plates have been simply
hung on the sides of a ship. In these Figures the ribs are formed of rolled
iron bars or plates e, about 18 inches wide and 3 inches thick, for the central
10 inches of their width and 2 inches thick, from the outer 4 inches on each
side, but these dimensions may be varied. These bars or ribs are spaced
about 6 feet apart, the distance being regulated to be one-half length of the
armour plates. The skin plates are fitted against the ribs and rivetted
separately through the recessed edges, which are then caulked. The armour
plates are then placed on the outside of the ribs and skin plates, with their
edges butting against each other both vertically and horizontally, and are
rivetted through the central parts of the vertical and horizontal ribs. These
armour plates are, as before stated, preferred to be about 12 feet long, and are
placed to break joint, as shewn in Figure 13, so that when rivetted up to the
ribs constituting the framing of the ship, they are, as before described,
incorporated into the structure of the ship, and give the advantage of their
strength to the fabric. Between the skin plates and the armour plates I place

page_text: a sheet of Tuck's or such like packing, which has the effect of forming a good
bedding over the whole surface between the skin plates and the armour plates,
but does not extend under the rivets of the armour plate, and thus both skin
and armour are rivetted or otherwise fastened quite solid to the vertical and
horizontal ribs, and caulked. In thus using the ribs of flat iron, the con-
tinuous ones may be as shewn, or they may be placed longitudinally, and such
horizontal and vertical ribs as in the former case not only act as ribs but as
butt plates in the structure. The shorter ribs when of flat iron are to be con-
tinued or connected by "fish" or connecting plates, as before explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph D'Aguilar Samuda, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
JOSEPH D'AGUILAR SAMUDA. (L.S.)