CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTEN- INGS FOR PARTS OF SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER BUILDING PURPOSES
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
HIGGINSON, of the Town of Rochester, in the County of Kent, Lieutenant in
Her Majesty's Royal Navy, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-first day of November, One thousand eight hundred
and forty-three, in the seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Francis Higginson, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority that I, the said Francis Higginson, my exors, adññiors, and assigns,
and such others as I, the said Francis Higginson, my exors, admors, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter, during the term of years therein mentioned, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of Her said
Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her
Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, Her Islands of
Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark and Man, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTEN-
INGS FOR PARTS OF SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO
APPLICABLE TO OTHER BUILDING PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Francis Higginson, to particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,, and in what manner

page_text: the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Francis Higginson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon;
that is to say:-
My Invention consists in, or has reference to, the principles of construction,
and also the modes of arrangement of the mechanical parts of the several
combinations of such constructions, as herein-after described, that is to say,
as regards my application of the same to the objects set forth in and by the
title of the Letters Patent granted to me, as herein-before recited.
The nature and intention of my said Invention consisting in,-Firstly, a
new method of securing, from within and beneath the planking of ships and
their decks, the external planking generally of ships and vessels, together
with platforms and floors of all descriptions, to the beams or timbers by which
they are supported, without the application of treenails, bolts, spikes, or nails,
generally used in the ordinary constructions of ships and navigable vessels,
or the erections of civil architecture.
Secondly, a new method of securing the external planking of ships and
navigable vessels to the beams, timbers, or framing from the inner side of
such vessels, and that whether such beams or framing be of timber or of
metal.
Thirdly, a new method of uniting or holding together masses of timber,
stone, metal, or other substances, instead of the methods of rabbetting, or by
mortice and tenon, or other of the commonly known processes of civil or
naval architecture.
Fourthly, the construction of a multi-threaded driving screw, of peculiar
construction, for the general purpose of uniting, fixing, or holding together
masses of timber, and all the constructions of carpentry and joiner's work, and
also all other substances usually united, fixed, or held together by the agency
of spikes, nails, or screws, in a more secure and efficacious manner than is
effected by the agency of any spikes, nails, or screws in known use, and of
common construction, possessing an equal facility of being driven and used as
such spikes, nails, or screws, and having greater holding power, with increased

page_text: security from becoming loose, or starting from the places and substances into
which they are driven, surpassing, in those respects, jagged or barbed nails or
spikes, with a complete facility of withdrawal from the places and substances
into which they are driven or screwed, without injury or derangement either to
themselves or of the substances to which they are affixed.
Fifthly, the construction and combination of a new arrangement of screw
fastenings for the application of metal straps, knees, brackets, and supporting
pieces of such character to planking timbers, and the component parts of all
timber constructions requiring mutual attachment and holding together.
I declare the following description, having reference to its accompanying
Drawings, to specify and set forth the construction and modes of application
by which I carry my said Invention under its several heads, as herein-before
stated, into practical effect, that is to say:
The Figure 1 represents my method of securing ships' decks, platforms,
and floors of all kinds to the beams and timbers of ships, and the timbering of
civil erections and buildings, from the inner sides of the plauks. A, A, repre-
sents the planking to be secured to the beams or timbers; B, the beam or
timber to which the planking is required to be secured; C1, C2, is a metal
bracket, having two arms, one of which, C', I attach to the beam B by the
spikes D, D, or other of the common modes of attachment by common nails
or screws, or by the multi-threaded driving screws herein-before mentioned,
the peculiar form and construction of which multi-threaded screw I will
hereafter describe, while the other arm, C2, I attach to the planking A in the
following manner :-The Figure 3 represents a vertical section of a male or
external screw P, having a flanched head Q. Within this screw, from the
flanched head, there is cut a female or hollow screw R, thus converting the
body of the male or external screw into a socket for the reception of the male
or external screw shewn in the Figure 3*. Now, to secure the plank A to
the beam B, as shewn in Figure 1, I attach the screw socket I to the plank,
by inserting its external screw into the plank in the usual mode of inserting
screws into timber or solid substances, imbedding its flanch i, i, in a recess
previously framed to receive it. I then attach the bracket C to the beam B,
by its side or arm C¹, securing it thereto by two or more spikes D, D, or
other fastening, as shewn in the Figure. A hole cut in the side or arm C²
of the bracket admits the smaller male or external screw K, which, when
inserted into the hollow screw of the socket I, by the operation of a key
spanner or other tool proper for working screws, attaches and holds the
planking upon the beam. The screw socket I, here spoken of, is shewn in a
section taken through its length, and drawn to a larger scale in the Figure 3.

page_text: where P marks its external screw, Q its flanch, and R its hollow screw. The
smaller male screw, shewn at K in the Figure 1, is shewn drawn to a larger
scale at S in the Figure 3*, where T shews its flanch, and U its square head, by
which it is driven. The Figure 4 shews a plan of the flanch Q of this Figure.
At M in the Figure 1, is also shown another mode of attaching planking to
timbers or beams. The male screw N in this case passes through the upper arm
of the bracket M, and thence directly into the plank, as shown in the Figure.
The Figures 5 and 5* shew the bracket C of the Figure 1 in two views, the
Figure 5 being a profile, and 5* a front view thereof, the same parts, so far as
they can be seen in the Figure 1, are in the Figures 5 and 5* respectively
marked with the same letters of reference; g, g, g, shew the holes by which
the bracket is screwed or fastened to the beam. S is a pin, for the purpose of
holding the bracket more steadily in its position. The Figure 6 is a separate
view of a screw socket, with its flanch, to shew the mode of applying the
wrench W to screw up the socket to its required place. The Figure 8 is a
view in plan of the strap or clamp shewn in the Figure 2, or of the straps or
clamps generally to be used, shewing its flanch pieces or ears A, A. The
Figure 9 is a modification of the flanch pieces or ears of such straps or clamps,
by making them each with two holes. Figure 10 represents a further modi-
fication of the same, in which the ears or flanch pieces have each three holes,
to accommodate the power of secure holding to the different circumstances
that may arise in practice.
The Figure 2 represents my mode of securing the outer or external planking
of ships and navigable vessels to the timbers, floors, or framing thereof, as well
as to the constructions of carpentry generally. A in this Figure represents a
portion of an outer plank of a ship; B, a horizontal section of a timber or
portion of the framing to which it may be required to secure it; C, a metal
clamp or strap, which passes about three of its sides, and terminates in flanch
pieces or ears c, c, having holes, by which metal screws D, D, or other
fastenings secure it to the outer or external planking at d, d.
Figure 11 shews the application of my screw socket to holding together blocks
of stone or hard substances, of whatever form, construction, or design the
same may be A is the screw socket, Figure 3, inverted and fixed with lead or
by other means or materials into the lower mass, B; C is the male screw,
Figure 3, inverted and fixed into the upper mass, D.
The Figure 12 represents my multi-threaded driving screw.
Its general or
external form is that of a cone, and having one or more hollow or sunken threads
or concave channels cut spirally on its surface, from its head or base at X to its
point or vertex at Y, following the spiral courses respectively, as shewn in the

page_text: Figures, and being placed or cut, when there are more than two courses or threads,
sufficiently near to each other, as that each such spiral course or thread shall
form with the spiral courses or threads immediately contiguous to it, continuous
spiral lines of cutting edges, the lower face of the thread being at right angles
to the convex surface of the cone, the upper face forming an oblique angle
with the surface of the cone.
The Figure 13 represents another mode of applying the brackets to
beams or joists, whether of wood, iron, or other metal-A is the beam,
having a dovetailed cavity cut or formed on one of its faces at B, in which
a corresponding projection B* of the bracket C, C, enters and holds; and such
cavity may be of the usual dovetail figure, as shewn in the Drawing, or of any
other figure suitable to the mechanical property of such dovetailed holding, but
I herein describe the forms which I find most suitable in practice.
The Figure14 represents another modification in the application of the brackets.
to bearers, whether of wood, iron, or other metals: -A is the beam, girder, joist,
or standard, either of wood, iron, or other metal, having an oblique channel or
groove cut or formed on one of its faces at B, in which a corresponding and
oblique projection B of the bracket C, C, enters and holds.
The Figure 15 is a front view of a portion of the beam A in the Figure 13,
shewing the means by which the bracket C, C, of that Figure is made to enter
into the cavity formed in the beam at B of that Figure; D, D, is the beam, and
E, E, an opening or cavity cut or formed therein, for an entrance way of suffi-
cient dimensions to admit the entrance into it of the projecting portion B* of the
bracket, as shewn in the Figure 13. The entrance of such portion being
made by this provision, the bracket is then slided along such dovetailed cavity
or opening, before described, until it arrives at the place at which it is desired
to fix it, the aperture being afterwards closed or shut in by the aforesaid com-
pound bracket or strap.
Figure 16 represents another modification of form of the beam, whether
such beam, girder, joist, or standard be of wood, iron, or other metal,
and with another modification of the bracket. A, A, is the beam, having
an indented or undercut portion at B, into which a correspnding pro-
jecting portion of the bracket enters and fits; C, C, is the bracket, and D such
projecting portion of the bracket, such indentation or undercut portion, with
its corresponding projecting portion, may also be of any other Figure suitable
to the mechanical property of such dovetailed holding, but I herein describe
the forms I find most suitable in practice.
Figure 17 shews the bracket in a side elevation, as seen when separated
from the beam, in which the same part are respectively marked with the same

page_text: letters of reference. Fig. 18 shews the same bracket in a front elevation, as
seen when attached to the beam, and having its corresponding parts respec-
tively marked with the same letters of reference; where the beams and flooring
are both of iron or other metal, the brackets may then be connected together
by means of bolts and rivets instead of screws.
I declare that I claim the use and application of the simple and of the com-
pound brackets or straps, as also the auxiliary, which I have denominated my
multi-threaded driving screw, all and each of these as I have herein-before
described them, either to the attaching and securing of the external planking
of ships to their timbers, frames, or ribs whether of wood or metal, or the
attaching and securing the planking of ships' decks to their timbers or beams
of metal or wood, and such uses and applications universally to such other
building purposes under all such variations of use and application in beams,
girders, joists, standards, bearers, or supporters, together with flooring and plat-
forms generally, as the variety of the cases which may arise in practice may
require, and this in naval constructions, and in the arrangements of general
building, within the limits of my Invention therein, as I have herein-before
particularly specified and described it under its several heads, and with the
modifications and varieties stated under each such several head.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Higginson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
FRANCIS
(L.S.) HIGGINSON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirteenth day of May, in the
year of our Lord 1844, the aforesaid Francis Higginson came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord One
Enrolled the Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-four.