IMPROVEMENTS IN ARMOUR-PLATED SHIPS, FORTS, FORTIFICATIONS, AND GUN SHIELDS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Moore Hyde, of Greenwich, in the County
of Kent, Ship Builder, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ARMOUR-PLATED SHIPS, FORTS, FORTIFICATIONS, AND GUN SHIELDS."
Sealed the 11th April 1871, and dated the 17th December 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Moore Hyde at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 17th December 1870.
I, JOHN MOORE HYDE, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent, Ship
Builder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for" IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ARMOUR-PLATED SHIPS, FORTS, FORTIFICATIONS, AND GUN SHIELDS," to be
as follows:-
These improvements refer to the preparation and adaptation of steel
plates for use for armour plating ships, forts, fortifications, and gun
shields, which I effect by taking steel plates made either by the Bessemer
or other process, and hardening or tempering the external surface by
water, oil, tallow, or other liquid or material, or other suitable means,
so that the hardened surface shall resist or deflect the impact of
projectiles. The plates so prepared will be malleable or soft on the
5 inside or under side, and hard on the outside, but the plates may also be

page_text: hardened and tempered throughout. The hardened steel plates may be
used either singly or as external plates in compound armour or on the
back of or between ordinary steel or iron plates.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Moore Hyde in the Great Seal Patent Office 5
on the 17th June 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MOORE HYDE, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent, Ship Builder,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Moore Hyde, Her special licence that
I, the said John Moore Hyde, my executors, administrators, and assigns, 1
or such others as I, the said John Moore Hyde, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 ARMOUR-
PLATED SHIPS, FORTS, FORTIFICATONS, AND GUN SHIELDS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Moore Hyde, 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 John Moore Hyde, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
-
These improvements refer to the preparation and adaptation of steel
plates for use for armour plating ships, forts, fortifications, and gun

page_text: shields, which I effect by taking steel plates made either by the Bessemer
or other process, and hardening or tempering the external surface by
water, oil, tallow, or other liquid or material, or other suitable means as
ordinarily practiced, so that the hardened surface shall resist or deflect
all projectiles, more particularly when placed at an angle to the line of
fire. The plates so prepared will be malleable or soft on the inside or
under side and hard on the outside, but the plates may also. be hardened
and tempered throughout. The hardened steel plates may be used
either singly or as external plates in compound armour, or on the back
of or between ordinary steel or iron plates in compound armour, that is,
when two or more plates are used, in which case the hardened or
tempered steel plate would be placed between them, so that in a system
of compound armour consisting of three plates, the central or the inner
plate should be the hardened or tempered plate, thus a projectile in
passing through the first plate would have its force distributed over
a large surface by the resistance of the hardened plate.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature and
object of my said Invention, and in what manner the same may be
performed or carried out in practice, I hereby declare that I claim, the
Invention of "Improvements in Armour Plated Ships, Forts, Fortifi-
cations, and Gun Shields," as the same is herein-before set forth and
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Moore Hyde, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this 16th day of June One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
THOMAS MORGAN,
Secretary,
0 Inventors' Patent Right Association, Limited,
21, Cockspur Street.
J. M.. HYDE. (L.S.)