IMPROVEMENTS IN PLATES TO BE USED IN SHIPS AND OTHER STRUCTURES FOR RECEIVING ARMOUR PLATES OR
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hughes, of Newport, in the County of Mon-
mouth, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PLATES TO BE
USED IN SHIPS AND OTHER STRUCTURES FOR RECEIVING ARMOUR PLATES OR
Sealed the 15th November 1861, and dated the 18th May 1861..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hughes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
May 1861.
I, JOHN HUGHES, of Newport, in the County of Monmouth, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PLATES TO BE USED IN SHIPS AND OTHER STRUCTURES FOR RECEIVING ARMOUR
PLATES OR BARS, AND IN THE MEANS OF FIXING SUCH ARMOUR PLATES," to be
as follows:-
My Invention consists in rolling plates with three or more projections or
ribs, by preference in the direction of the length of the plates. I then plane
across the ribs and remove part thereof, so as to leave the projections or ribs
in the form of dovetail tongues, that is, with the sides angular and undercut.
I then fit correspondingly grooved armour plates into the recesses left between
the tongues in the plates, and secure them by keys, which are driven in to fill

page_text: the whole space between every pair of tongues not occupied by the dovetail
tongue on the armour plates. The tongued armour plates may also be secured
by bolts or rivets.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Hughes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th November 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HUGHES, of Newport, in the County of Monmouth, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most-Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Hughes, Her special licence that I, the said John Hughes,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Hughes, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PLATES TO BE USED IN SHIPS AND OTHER STRUCTURES FOR RECEIVING ARMOUR PLATES
OR BARS, AND IN THE MEANS OF FIXING SUCH ARMOUR PLATES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that, the said John Hughes, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Hughes, 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
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is
to say:-
My Invention consists in rolling plates with three or more projections or
ribs, by preference in the direction of the length of the plates. I then plano
across the ribs, and remove part thereof, so as to leave the projections or ribs
in the form of dovetail tongues, that is, with the sides angular and undercut.

page_text: I then fit correspondingly grooved armour plates into the recesses left between
the tongues in the plates, and secure them by keys, which are driven in to fill
the wholo space between every pair of tongues not occupied by the dovetail
tongue on the armour plates. The tongued armour plates may also be secured
by bolts or rivets.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a plan, and Figure 2 a section,
of so much of a plate or bar, with several armour plates fitted to it, as will be
necessary to illustrate one method in which I carry my Invention into effect.
A is the plate formed with ribs planed out into dovetail tongues a, a;
B, B, are the armour plates or bars made with dovetail tongues b, b, to take
into the spaces or grooves between the tongues a, a. The dovetail tongues b, b,
are inserted in the grooves, where they are secured by wedges or keys c, c.
Figure 3 shows in section the plate A with the dovetail ribs a, a, formed in
separate pieces from the plate, and secured thereto by rivets d, d; the
tongues b, b, on the armour plates or bars occupy the whole space between the
ribs. Figure 4 is a plan of the plate A and ribs a, a, without the armour
bars.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, forming plates to
be used in ships and other structures for receiving armour plates with dove-
tail tongues and grooves, and fixing armour plates thereto by causing dovetail
tongues formed thereon to take into the said grooves, with or without the
employment of keys or wedges.
In witness whereof, I, tho said John Hughes, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-one.
JOHN HUGHES. (L.S.)