IMPROVEMENTS IN ARMOUR PLATES FOR IRON SHIPS AND VESSELS, OR FORTS, OR BATTERIES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Westwood, of Tredegar House, Bow, in the
County of Middlesex, Shipbuilder, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ARMOUR PLATES FOR IRON SHIPS AND VESSELS, OR FORTS, OR BATTERIES."
Sealed the 4th December 1860, and dated the 9th June 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Westwood at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th June 1860.
I, JOSEPH WESTWOOD, of Tredegar House, Bow, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Shipbuilder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ARMOUR PLATES FOR IRON SHIPS AND VESSELS, OR FORTS, OR
BATTERIES," to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object the formation of the plate with a surface
adapted to cause the deflection of a shot or other projectile striking the same,
and thereby to prevent the metal from being penetrated in the manner to
which ordinary armour plates are liable to become penetrated, and also the
application thereof to iron ships and vessels, forts or batteries. For this pur-
pose the surface of the plate is corrugated, indented, grooved, or channelled to
a depth of not less than two inches, or thereabouts, so as to be of sufficient
depth to cause a shot or other projectile when striking it to "plant off" in the
direction given to its course by the form of the corrugation, indentation,
groove, or channel against which it strikes. The form of the corrugations,

page_text: indentations, grooves, or channels may be varied; but I prefer those forms
which have the tendency to deflect in the greatest degree the course of a shot
or projectile striking the surface of the plate point blank. In applying the
armour plate to ships and vessels it is intended to cover it with plates of iron
of a plain surface, and between such armour plates and plates of a plain surface
I may or may not introduce a packing or filling of wood or other suitable
material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Westwood in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th December 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
WESTWOOD, of Tredegar House, Bow, in the County of Middlesex, Ship-
builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Joseph Westwood, Her special license that I, the said Joseph
Westwood, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Joseph Westwood, 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 ARMOUR PLATES FOR IRON SHIPS AND VESSELS, OR FORTS, OR BAT-
TERIES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph
Westwood, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Westwood, do hereby declare
he 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 fol-
lowing statement (that is to say):-
My Invention of "Improvements in Armour Plates for Iron Ships and

page_text: Vessels or Forts, or Batteries," has for its object the formation of the plate
with a surface adapted to cause the deflection of a shot or other projectile
striking the same, and thereby to prevent the metal from being penetrated in
the manner to which ordinary armour plates are liable to become penetrated,
and also the application thereof to iron ships and vessels, forts, or batteries.
For this purpose the surface of the plate is corrugated, indented, grooved, or
channelled to a depth of not less than two inches, or thereabouts, so as to be
of sufficient depth to cause a shot or other projectile when striking it to
"plant off" in the direction given to its course by the form of the corrugation,
indentation, groove, or channel against which it strikes. The form of the
corrugations, indentations, grooves, or channels may be varied; but I prefer
those forms which have the tendency to deflect in the greatest degree the
course of a shot or projectile striking the surface of the plate point blank. In
applying the armour plate to ships and vessels it is intended to cover it with
plates of iron of a plain surface, and between such armour plates and plates
of a plain surface I may or may not introduce a packing or filling of wood or
other suitable material.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I do hereby declare that what I claim as
of my Invention is, the manufacture of armour plates with surfaces corru-
gated, indented, grooved, or channelled, as described, and the application of
such plates to iron ships and vessels, forts, or batteries, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Westwood, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Seventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
J. COMBE, Sol",
Staples Inn.
JOSEPH WESTWOOD. (L.S.)