Improvements in the Construction of Ships or Vessels.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 6th June, 1894
Complete Specification Left. 5th Mar., 1895-Accepted, 27th Apr., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Construction of Ships or Vessels.
I, ARTHUR HEEREN, of Biarritz in the Republic of France, now residing at
Cavendish Hotel, Jermyn Street, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates mainly to improvements in the construction of high
speed ships and is especially adapted for torpedo boats, torpedo catchers, fast
cruisers and men of war where great speed, stability and protection of the engines
and boilers from the enemies fire is of importance.
The upper part of the vessel is constructed as a flat bottomed ship of light
draught and fine lines--the lower part is tubular of cigar or fish torpedo shape
either circular or oval or other form in cross section of narrower width amidships
than the upper flat bottomed part of the vessel and partly projecting above the
level of the flat bottom but mainly projecting below it and forming a hollow keel.
At the bow the fore end of the tubular keel would preferably be of greater
width than the upper part where the two meet together. The flat bottom of the
upper part where it meets the tubular lower part is bent downward and curved to
merge it into the sides of this tubular portion of the structure-the form of this
tubular portion will vary more or less in each vessel so as to correspond with the
lines of the top part and according to the purpose for which the vessel is intended
and to obtain the best lines for speed. Its shape will also have to depend on the
number of propellers which have to protrude from its stern. The hollow tubular
keel is made of sufficient size to contain the engines and boilers or propelling
mechanism so that these parts will be secure against an enemy's fire and not
exposed to it as in present torpedo boats.
Inside the vessel the necessary openings for air and ventilation and for giving
access to the engines and boilers would be made through the upper part of the
tubular structure and tubular passages carried up from them to suitable hatchways.
By constructing a vessel in the above manner with its lower part cigar shaped
or of fish or torpedo form enormous structural strength and resisting power will
be obtained as well as great offensive power as a ram-
-the vessel also, on account
of her great stability and strong construction can carry heavier guns than can be
carried by the present torpedo boats as the gun platforms can be made to rest on
the top of the strong turtle back of the hollow tubular keel.
Dated this 6th day of June 1801
Improvements in the Construction of Ships or Vessels.
I, ARTHUR HEEREN, of Biarritz, in the Republic of France, now residing at
Cavendish Hotel, Jermyn Street, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what mauner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates mainly to improvements in the construction of high speed
ships and is especially adapted for torpedo boats, torpedo catchers, fast cruisers
[Pain Q7

page_text: and men of war when great speed, stability and protection of the engines and
boilers from the enemy's fire is of importance.
The upper part of the vessel is constructed as a flat bottomed ship of light
draught and fine liues-the lower part is tubular of cigar or fish torpedo shape
either circular or oval or other form in cross section of narrower width amid-
ships than the upper flat bottomed part of the vessel and partly projecting above
the level of the flat bottom but mainly projecting below it and forming a hollow
keel.
At the bow the fore end of the tubular keel would preferably be of greater
width than the upper part where the two meet together. The flat bottom of the
upper part where it meets the tubular lower part is bent downward and curved to
merge it into the sides of this tubular portion of the structure-the form of this
tubular portion will vary more or less in each vessel so as to correspond with the
lines of the top part and according to the purpose for which the vessel is intended
and to obtain the best lines for speed. Its shape will also have to depend on the
number of propellers which have to protrude from its stern. The hollow tubular
keel is made of sufficient size to contain the engines and boilers or propelling
mechanism so that these parts will be secure against an enemy's fire and not
exposed to it as in present torpedo boats.
Inside the vessel the necessary openings for air and ventilation and for giving
access to the engines and boilers would be made through the upper part of the
tubular structure and tubular passages carried up from them to suitable
hatchways.
By constructing a vessel in the above manner with its lower part cigar shaped
or of fish or torpedo form enormnous structural strength and resisting power will be
obtained as well as great offensive power as a ram-the vessel also, on account of
her great stability and strong construction can carry heavier guns than can be
carried by the present torpedo boats as the gun platforms can be made to rest on
the top of the strong turtle back of the hollow tubular keel.
Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings annexed are longitudinal sections of the fore
and aft ends of a vessel constructed according to my invention.
Figures 1 and 2 are plan views of the same.
Figures 3 and 4 are cross sections on a larger scale through the engines and
boilers respectively. Here the tube is circular, it might be convenient when
required to make it oval or partly oval and partly circular or of irregular shape.
Figure 5 is a diagram view showing cross sections taken at distances apart in
the length of a vessel-the lines on the right hand side show the bow end and on
the left hand side the stern end.
Figure 5 is a side elevation of the stern end of such a vessel.
In this case
the rudder is placed above and between the side tubes of the propeller shafts.
Figures 6 and 64 are similar views of a modified forin with the rudder extending
above and below and between these tubes.
Figures 7 and 7* are similar views of another slightly modified form of the
stern and rudder and a modified form of the bow is also shewn by Figure 7.
Figures 8, 9 and 10 show side elevation, plan and end view of 7 on a larger
scale showing more clearly one way in which the rudder and tubes for the propeller
shafts may be arranged.
Figure 11 shows a midships cross section of a vessel suitable for an express
mail boat.
Figures 12 and 12 are side elevation and plan of the stern end of one form of
the vessel showing more fully the way in which the steering gear may all be kept
below the water line.
Figures 13 and 13 are similar views of a slightly modified way of effecting this
same object.
The sectional drawings show that the lower and wetted part is partly of a
torpedo or fish shaped form with cigar like or pointed ends and forms a very broad
and pronounced hollow keel which is attached to an upper ship of greater beam

page_text: and shallow draught. The two bodies are in fact merged together as if the
bottom of the shallow draught vessel had been ripped open along the central line
and the two parts of the bottom so divided from one another had been curved
downwards to merge them into the sides of the narrower and more or less tubular
shaped lower body.
The drawings also shew that the two ends of the lower torpedo or fish shaped
portion are below the bottom of the upper broad shallow draught portion whilst
amidships the upper portion of the lower part rises up above the level of the
bottom of the upper part. The lower hollow-keel tubular structure may be as the
particular case may require, of circular or oval form or partly circular and partly
oval, or any other quite irregular shapes in the different cross sections. The
forms of those cross-sections must vary in each case and depend on. the sort of
rudder the number of propellers, the engines and boilers or any other motive power
to be used and will also depend on the shape of the top or shallow draught vessel
so as to allow that both merge well into each other, having always in view to
obtain greatest stability more or less shallow draught, as the case may require,
and the best lines so as to diminish water resistance and obtain greater speed.
The axis of the tube may also vary in each case and depend on the special
conditions required, it may be quite straight from end to end, or it may also be
partly so or partly more or less curved.
The lower tubular structure contains all the motive power machinery thus
keeping the same under or for the most part under the water line and under cover
of the arched back of the said tubular structure-this arched back may when
necessary be of stronger and more resisting metal than the other parts so as to
make it shot proof. The rudder or rudders also are carried by the stern end of
the tubular under body and are arranged to be worked by steering gear below the
arched back of the tubular lower body.
Openings of convenient size have to be left in the back of the tubular structure
as the drawings shew so as to put it in communication with the top vessel and to
give air and light and access to the lower part and for the working of the boilers
and engines, passages also are carried up from such openings to suitable hatchways.
These openings and passages will be of much smaller size and fewer in number
in vessels for war purposes where protection of the engines etc., from gun fire is
required, than in mail or passenger vessels where only structural strength and
security is to be considered."
It is this tubular or hollow keel form of the lower and submerged body, which
gives the structure the great strength aud strain resisting power and rigidity so
important in a vessel of very great length in relation to her beam and destined to
be driven at great speed in a seaway, and more so when the vessel is intended
to carry heavy guns.
°
The combination of this lower more or less tubular structure merged into one
with the upper shallow draught ship of greater beam will secure to the vessel
great stability and enable her to carry heavier top weight and make her a good sea
hoat, as the pronounced and protruding wetted hollow part of the lower or torpedo
body will act as a big bilge keel in which are carried the heavy weights of the
propelling machinery, boilers, &c.
As regards the improvement in speed which the inventor expects to obtain from
the shape of vessel it arises principally from the more or less cigar-pointed or
torpedo shaped submerged bow which will reduce the resistance of the ship and
enable the engine power to be applied in a more useful way.
The bow of any vessel of present build be it a fast torpedo boat or a mail or
cargo steamer presents an inclined plane to the water against which she is driven.
This inclined plane which though not visible is present, will on the ship being
moved at a greater speed than her lines permit change or alter her trim that is the
bow will be forced to rise from. its natural water line and slide upwards onto the
water which though not a solid body presents now a more consistent obstacle not
being allowed sufficient time to give way and find its level.

page_text: This change of trim will increase with the speed and correspondingly increases
the noxious influence of the inclined plane on the water the resistance of which
will rise with the speed of the vessel. Practically the ship is now forced up-hill,
and it would be visibly so, if the water, a liquid, did not yield to the weight of
the vessel which as a new force now comes into play.
In vessels constructed with the immersed bow of fish-torpedo, cigar-point or
irregular shape as I propose, the lifting tendency is reduced as in such a form of
bow the noxious action of the single inclined plane present in ordinary bows is to
some extent neutralized by antagonistic inclined planes contained in so shaped
bows. It is on this account that a torpedo shaped immersed body moving under
water finds less resistance and is not deviated from its course and does not rise or
dip nor go to left or right, and it is in great part with the object to obtain the
same advantages in vessels which are not entirely submerged that I have adopted
the cigar-pointed or torpedo-shaped protruding bow in the immersed part of the
vessel in combination with the light draught upper ship.
This pronounced more or less pointed bow may also greatly vary in shape, and
as the case may require, it may be in cross section, circular or oval or partly so
and more or less pointed or it may be irregular the top part different from the
lower side, with the view to obtain the greatest effect in the way to neutralize the
lifting or change of trim tendency, it might be round or oval on the lower half and
irregular on the top one, as for example in Figure 14 or any other convenient form
in each particular case, to be fixed by calculation.
In the drawings 1.and 2 A is the upper or shallow draught body and B the
lower or torpedo body with in this case cigar pointed ends. Bare hatchways
leading down to the lower body. C are the engines. D the propellers. E the
propeller shafts, F.the rudder and G the boilers. It will be seen that when twin
screw propellers are used the rudder can be carried at the aft end of the lower
body B between and above or below or both above and below the two fixed
propeller shaft tubes-and that the steering gear for working the rudder is all
below the water line.. In this case the propellers are placed behind the rudder, it
may be the reverse.
In Figures 8, 9 and 10 the propeller shafts are carried through side
projections Ex and are steadied at their aft ends by brackets E' from the upper
shallow draught portion of the vessel.
In the construction shewn at Figures 1, 14, 2, 2^, the aft end of the lower
tubular portion of the vessel terminates in a horizontal flat oval form and no
brackets E' are required.
In the construction shewn at Figure 7 the bow of the lower tubular portion of
the vessel is made of a vertical flat oval form. The propeller shafts are steadied
by brackets as in Figures 8, 9 and 10. In all cases the steering gear may as
shewn by the drawings be kept below the water line. In Figures 12 and 124 a
wheel or quadrant H is shewn to be fixed on the rudder shaft Finside the tubular
lower portion B. In Figures 13 and 13ª a wheel or quadrant H is fixed to the
upper end of the rudder shaft. F'inside the lower part of the upper shallow draught
portion of the vessel.
Motion may be transmitted to the wheels or quadrants H by any suitable
arrangements of gear.
In all the drawings I have shewn the vessel as being propelled by twin screw.
propellers but it might be propelled by a single screw or by other form of
propeller.
The principal advantages obtained by my invention are:-
1. Great structural strength allowing vessels to be constructed of great length
in proportion to their beam thereby obtaining a small immersed mid-ship-section
and very fine lines for speed.
2. Stability, on account of the broader beam of the top part and the immersed
tubular hollow keel structure which contains the heavy weights and produces the
effect of a big bilge keel.

page_text: 3. Security. The combination of the two bodies will give great security in case
of accident, leakage, or collision. The upper portion of the lower body which
rises up into the top part acts as longitudinal bulkheads and these in combination
with the transverse bulkheads produce small compartments independent of each
other. Flooding of any of the upper compartments will not compromise the
stability or buoyancy of the vessel or cause the flooding of any of the compartments
of the lower tubular structure. On the other hand should any of the compartments
of the tubular body become waterlogged it would not materially affect the ship on
account of its small beam and the corresponding small quantity of water such
compartments could contain. In case of collision the tabular under structure could
not be affected unless the side of the projecting top part he cut through.
4. Security in men of war, torpedo boats, etc. of the motive machinery and the
rudder and gear against an enemy's shot, all being placed under the covered deck
and under the water line.
5. Increase of speed is obtained by reducing the water resistance and through
the shape of the bow preventing or reducing the tendency to alteration of trim by
assimilating it to the conditions of a submerged torpedo and preventing great
misapplication of the energy of the propulsive power.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A ship or vessel, the immersed portion of which is composed partly of a
lower tubular body of torpedo form, its depth diminishing from the midship section
to its two ends where the top and bottom sides meet at a point or edge below the
water line and partly of the lower portion of an upper body of much greater width
than the lower body and shaped like an ordinary shallow draft vessel.
2. A ship or vessel, the immersed portion of which is composed partly of a
lower tubular body of torpedo form its depth diminishing from the midship section
to its two ends where the top and bottom sides meet at a point or edge below the
water line and partly of the lower portion of an upper body of much greater width
than the lower body and shaped like an ordinary shallow draft vessel, and in which
the top of the under body is of an arched form and projects up amidships into the
lower part of the upper body.
3. A ship substantially as described in which a tubular or cigar or torpedo
shaped under body is merged into an upper shallow draft vessel of greater breadth
amidships and in which the propelling machinery is carried within the lower
tubular under body.
4. A ship substantially as described in which a tubular or cigar or torpedo
shaped under body is merged into an upper shallow draught vessel of greater
breadth amidships and is steered by a rudder carried by the aft end of the under
body and propelled by twin screw propellers.
5. A ship substantially as described in which a tubular or cigar or torpedo
shaped under body is merged into an upper shallow draught vessel of greater
breadth amidships and is steered by a rudder carried by the aft end of the under
body worked by steering gear below the water line.
6. A ship substantially as described in which a tubular or cigar or torpedo
shaped under body is merged into an upper shallow draught vessel of greater
breadth amidships and is steered by rudders on the upper and lower ends of a
rudder shaft carried vertically through the aft end of the under body as illustrated
at Figure 1.
7. The construction of ships or vessels substantially as herein before described
and illustrated in the drawings annexed.