IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ARMOUR PLATES, AND IN THEIR APPLICATION TO SHIPS AND BATTERIES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Lyon Field, of Colton Haverthwaite, near
Newton-in-Cartmel, Lancashire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ARMOUR PLATES, AND IN THEIR APPLICATION TO
SHIPS AND BATTERIES."
Sealed the 25th February 1862, and dated the 26th August 1861,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Lyon Field at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
August 1861.
I, JOHN LYON FIELD, of Colton Haverthwaite, near Newton-in-Cartmel,
Lancashire, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ARMOUR PLATES, AND IN THEIR APPLICATION TO
SHIPS AND BATTERIES," to be as follows:-
In constructing armour plates, I roll or form them with ribs or projections
at the back surfaces in such manner that the ribs or projections may be the
ineans, when used with suitable bolts or fastenings, of fixing the armour plates
to ships or batteries, thus avoiding the use of holes through the armour plates
for the passage of bolts through them, and through the sides of the ships or
batteries. In fixing the armour plates to a ship or battery, it is preferred to
employ bolts the inner ends of which are tapped with screw threads to receive
screw nuts, the outer ends of such bolts being made forked, so that the ribs
or projections formed or fixed at the back surfaces of the armour plates may

page_text: be received between the forks, and fixed thereto by rivets or other fastenings
passed through the ribs or projections and the forks of the bolts. Or the
bolts or instruments used for fixing the armour plates when having ribs or
projections at their back surfaces may be otherwise formed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Lyon Field in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th February 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE
PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
LYON FIELD, of Cotton Haverthwaite, near Newton-in-Cartmel, Lancashire,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself. Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Lyon Field, Her special licence that I, the said John Lyon Field,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Lyon Field, my executors, administrators, and assigus, 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
OP ARMOUR PLATES, AND IN THEIR APPLICATION TO SHIPS AND BATTERIES,” upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Lyon Field, my exe-
cutors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and scals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 John Lyon Field, 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 :-
In constructing armour plates I roll or form them with ribs or projections
at the back surfaces in such manner that the ribs or projections may be the
means, when used with suitable bolts or fastenings, of fixing the armour plates

page_text: to ships or batteries, thus avoiding the use of holes through the armour plates
for the passage of bolts through them, and through the sides of the ships or
batteries.
In fixing the armour plates to a ship or battery, it is preferred to employ
bolts the inner ends of which are tapped with screw threads to receive
screw nuts, the outer ends of such bolts being made forked, so that the ribs or
projections formed or fixed at the back surfaces of the armour plates may be
received between the forks, and fixed thereto by rivets or other fastenings
passed through the ribs or projections and the forks of the bolts; or the bolts
or instruments used for fixing the armour plates when having ribs or projections
at their back surfaces may be otherwise formed.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a transverse section of part of the side of a ship or vessel
where timber backing is interposed between the armour plates and the skin of
the ship or vessel, but the application of timber forms no part of my Inven-
tion; Figure 2 shews an end view of an armour plate made with projections
on the back surface, with instruments or screw bolts to connect such plate to
the side of a ship or to a battery.
Figure 3 shews a back view; Figure 4 is a plan of Figures 2 and 3; and
Figure 5 shews a plan of another armour plate, with different means for
connecting the screw bolts or instruments to the ribs or projections formed on
the back surface of the armour plate.
In Figures 2, 3, and 4 there are two modes shewn for attaching the screw
bolts to the ribs or projections at the back surface of the armour plate. Thus
the screw bolts a are attached by feet a', which pass through the ribs or
projections b, whilst the screw bolts c are attached by rivets passed through the
forked ends of the screw bolts, and through the ribs or projections b. The
ribs or projections may be made continuous, or such projections may be only
at intervals.
In Figures 3 and 5 other arrangements are shewn for connecting the screw
bolts d and e to the back of an armour plate, openings in the projections
or ribs being formed to correspond with the heads or ends of the screw
bolts.
I would remark that, although I prefer to employ screw bolts for fastening
armour plates to ships or batteries, other forms of fastenings may be used,
such, for instance, as bolts with eyes to receive cotters or keys.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is, tho
manufacture of armour plates, with ribs or projections at their back surfaces
in such manner that the ribs or projections may, together with instruments
attached thereto, be the means, as berein described, of applying and fixing
such armour plates to ships and batteries, so as to avoid the necessity
of holes in the armour plates for the passage of the through bolts heretofore
amplovod
In witness whereof, 1, the said John Lyon Field, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
JOHN LYON FIELD. (Ls.)