IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON- STRUCTION OF VESSELS OF WAR, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLI- CABLE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF VESSELS FOR COMMERCIAL AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Bermingham at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 13th June
1862.
I, JOHN BERMINGHAM, of Cork, in the County of Cork, Ireland, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF VESSELS OF WAR, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLI-
CABLE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF VESSELS FOR COMMERCIAL AND OTHER PURPOSES," to
be as follows:-
The principal objects of this Invention are to give to such vessels a
maximum amount of strength and resistance with a minimum amount of
material, and to render them less expensive, more durable, and more impreg-
nable than vessels as hitherto built or constructed.
The principal novel features of this Invention consist in constructing such
vessels of a flattened oval form in section, with the timbers running in a
longitudinal direction from end to end like the staves of a cask, the timbers
being bound together by means of wrought-iron hoops shrunk or driven on.
The interior of the vessel is supported at intervals by transverse vertical
divisions or bulkheads, which may also serve to divide the vessel into water-
tight compartments. The timbers of the vessel all run off to a fine point at
the bow, which is terminated by a solid iron beak or prow. In vessels for
warlike purposes the hoops enclosing the timbers touch each other, and form
an armour or plating from end to end of the vessel. If a vessel all con-

page_text: structed of iron be preferred, longitudinal iron plates may be substituted for
the timbers above named. The run of the vessel towards the stern is of the
same form as the bow, excepting that it is truncated instead of being brought
to a point, and it is furnished with either one or two false keels, each carrying
a screw propeller and rudder. But in some cases it may be preferable to
make the vessel capable of going either end first, in which case each end
would be furnished with a prow or beak and with a rudder and propeller.
A false deck and bulwarks may be raised a few feet above the upper part of
the shell of the vessel, which in vessels of war may be so arranged as to be
readily removed when it is required to clear for action. The armament of
the vessel consists of a convenient number of guns or mortars placed in a low
tower or shield capable of revolving by means of suitable machinery, and
which may either be loaded at the muzzle, or may be so constructed as to
load at the breech without exposing the men. It is proposed that the
revolving part of this tower or shield should be made of solid metal of a
sufficient weight as by its inertia to overcome or absorb the recoil of the
guns; or the projectiles may be fired from cylindrical recesses or openings
bored in a radial direction into the solid metal of the revolving tower or
shield, and either loaded at the breech or muzzle, as is the case with the
cannon. The ventilation of the interior of the vessel is kept up by means of
It is
a donkey engine, which forces air through all the compartments.
believed that a vessel of this form and construction would be capable of
running into any other vessel with very damaging effect without the slightest
risk of staving in her own bows, as the timbers all converge to one point, at
the same time that the great strength obtained by constructing the vessel on
the principle of a cask with staves and hoops would render her capable of
resisting any violence that might be employed against her, and the continuous
plating of hoops without holes or rivets, together with the flattened oval form
tapering at both ends, would throw off any shot or shells perfectly harmless,
the peculiar form presenting the greatest strength wherever the greatest
amount of resistance is required.