AN IMPROVED METHOD OF CONNECTING AND FASTENING TOGETHER BLOCKS. PLATES, OR SLABS OF WOOD, METAL, OR ANY OTHER MATERIAL
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Clark, of No. 11, Nicholl Square, in the
City of London, Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD
OF CONNECTING AND FASTENING TOGETHER BLOCKS. PLATES, OR SLABS OF WOOD,
METAL, OR ANY OTHER MATERIAL."
Sealed the 22nd August 1861, and dated the 25th February 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th February 1861.
I, GEORGE CLARK, of No. 11, Nicholl Square, in the City of London,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED METHOD OF CONNECTING AND FASTENING TOGETHER BLOCKS, PLATES, OR
SLABS OF WOOD, METAL, OR ANY OTHER MATERIAL," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in a mode of connecting and fastening together
blocks, plates, or slabs of wood, metal, or any other material on and after the
following plan:-The blocks, plates, or slabs are made of a square or oblong
form, each block, plate, or slab of the same length, breadth, and thickness,
and of the dimensions required for any purpose to which they are to be applied.
All the surfaces are made level, and, if necessary, for precise fitting are planed
smooth. Into one of the flat sides of each block, slab, or plate, at the distance
of one-fourth of its length, measured from each end, a bevilled groove or slot
is cut to the depth of about one-third or one-fourth of the thickness of the
block, plate, or slab, and of any suitable width; or three of these grooves or
slots may
be so cut on each block, plate, or slab, in which case one would be
in the centre, and one at one-sixth of the distance from each end, these grooves
[Price 8d.]

page_text: or slots being made after the manner of dovetailing or rabbitting in carpentry
or joiners' work, the narrowest part outside. They are cut precisely similar,
with perfect accuracy, and in the same position on the blocks, plates, or slabs
intended for the same work, so that a tongue or rod prepared as herein-after
described, will fit into each of the grooves or slots. Rods, tongues, or bars of
wood or metal, as in each case may be required, are made of precisely the
same sectional form as the grooves or slots, but of slightly smaller dimensions,
so as to pass easily through the grooves or slots, but without any lateral play.
The blocks, plates, or slabs are then placed in rows or courses, with their edges
one over or next to the other, in the manner bricks are laid, so as to break
joint, as it is termed, and they are connected with each other in any required
numbers, and fastened together by passing the rods, tongues, or bars through
the grooves or slots alternately at the opposite end of each block, slab, or
plate, whereby all the blocks, slabs, or plates thus connected are interlaced
with each other, and become one compact mass. A reference to the following
Diagram will render the above description more intelligible.
a, a, a, is a block or slab ; b, b, are slots cut in the slab; c, c, is a tongue or
bar; d, the section of the tongue.
It is evident that by this arrangement the blocks, plates, or slabs are tied
together longitudinally in the direction of the rods, tongues, or bars, and 2
laterally by means of the opposite ends of each block, plate or slab being run
on to two different tongues or bars.
This Invention may be adapted to the formation of masses of wooden

page_text: blocks, with the fibre vertical or horizontal, for paving roads, pathways, yards,
gateways, halls, and railway platforms, for cellar flaps, wainscoating, flooring,
ceilings, billiard tables, mosaic or tesselated work, and for the construction of
bridges. It is also applicable to affixing iron slabs or plates to the sides of
ships. In its application to any of the uses above mentioned it offers the
advantage of easily placing and fixing the blocks, slabs, or plates in their
proper position, and of so connecting each of them with the others that they
form, as it were, one body, hence a blow, shock, or weight at any one point
or on any one block, slab, or plate, will be distributed over and repelled or
sustained by the inert resistance of the connected mass.
I do not enter into explanations as to various modes of laying down, or
attaching or affixing to any surface or body, the blocks, slabs, or plates con-
nected together in the manner above described. If the Invention be applied
to covering the side of a ship or battery with iron, I recommend that the slabs
be oblong, and in length about three times the width that the bevilled grooves
or slots (in number two or three, according to the length of the slab,) be cut
across the width of each slab, that the metal tongues be affixed vertically, and
screwed or bolted in their places to the wooden covering of the ship, before
the iron slabs be attached. This arrangement being made, the slabs are to be
slid on to the tongues, in the way previously described, in rows or courses,
breaking joint. Each slab is then to be bolted to the side of the ship by
means of as many bolts to each slab as its size may require. By this
Invention the tendency or liability of a plate or slab when struck by a shot
at one of its extremities to cant or buckle up at the other extremity will be
obviated, and plates or slabs of smaller dimensions may be used, as the solidity
of the iron armament as a whole will not be diminished by the reduction of
size of the plates or slabs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th
August 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
CLARK, of No. 11, Nicholl Square, in the City of London, Gentleman, send
greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of February, 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,

page_text: the said George Clark, Her special licence that I, the said George Clark,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Clark, 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 "AN IMPROVED METHOD
OF CONNECTING AND FASTENING TOGETHER BLOCKS, PLATES, OR SLABS OF WOOD,
METAL, OR ANY OTHER MATERIAL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said George Clark, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Clark, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This Invention consists in a mode of connecting & fastening together
plates, blocks, slabs, or bars of metal, wood, or any other material, on &
after the following plan. To avoid repetition, I shall use the term "plates
or blocks in this Specification, but it is to be understood that my Invention
is applicable to pieces of metal, wood, or other material, whatever may be
their shape or designation. The plates are made of a square, oblong, or
other form, and of the dimensions required for any purpose to which they are
to be applied. The surface of the side of each plate to which the fastening
is to be affixed is made level, & if necessary for precise fitting, planed
smooth. Into and across this side of each plate, at equal distances from the
ends and the centre and from each other, bevelled grooves or slots are cut to
the depth of about one-third or one-fourth of the thickness of the plate, and of
any suitable width. These slots may be two, three, or any greater number,
according to the length of the plates, and the use to which they are to be
applied. These grooves or slots are to be made after the manner of dove-
tailing, the nature of which is well understood, and requires no further
description. They are cut precisely similar, with perfect accuracy, and in the
same position on each plate of a series intended for the same work, so that a
bevelled rod or tongue, prepared as herein-after described, will fit into each
of the grooves or slots. Rods or bars of metal or wood, as in each case may

page_text: be preferred, are formed into bevelled tongues of precisely the same sectional
form as the grooves or slots, but of slightly less depth than the grooves or
slots, so as to pass easily through the latter, but fitting accurately at the
bevels, so as to prevent any lateral play. The plates are placed in courses or
strakes, and are connected with each other in any required number, and
fastened together by reeving the tongues through the slots. By breaking
joint alternately with every course or strake, the plates thus connected are
interlaced with each other, and become one compact mass. A reference to
the Diagrams, of which a description follows, will render the above description
more intelligible.
Fig. 1 represents the under surface of a series of blocks of wood or metal
connected and fastened together on the plan of my Invention, the blocks being
arranged in courses or strakes breaking joint. (a, a,) are blocks; (b, b,)
bevelled slots cut into the under sides of the blocks; (c, c,) bevelled tongues
fitting into the slots.
Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the blocks represented in Fig. 1, the
same letters designating the same parts
Fig. 3 & 4 are transverse sections, showing a mode of securely fastening a
series of blocks together and to any surface by means of screw bolts passed
through tongues at suitable distances from each other and screwed up tant
with nuts to a back plate and backing. (a) is part of a block; (b) is a
bevelled slot into which the bevelled tongue c, Fig. 4, (which connects the
plates together,) is inserted; (c) is the section of a tongue; (d) is a screw bolt
with its nut g; (e) is the body to which the series of blocks are fastened; (f)
is a backing plate which may be used or dispensed with as in each case may
be most suitable.
Fig. 5 is a transverse section, on a scale of 4 inches to a foot, of an iron
plate, supposed to be one of a series of armour plates connected and fastened
together and to the side of an iron ship to protect it from the effect of
projectiles.
In this application and arrangement of my Invention, the fastenings of the
armour plates are so combined and connected with the frame and skin or plates
of the ship itself, that they, as well as the armour plates, form a part of the
ship's structure, and add greatly to its strength.
Fig. 6&7 are detached sections of the plate represented in Fig. 5, showing
a bevelled slot and tongue separately. (a) is the armour plate; (b) the
bevelled slot; (c) the bevelled tongue; (d) neck to the tongue; (e) the
tongue bar or bolt plate; (f) is an iron plate driven in between the tongue
bar and the armour plate, acting as a wedge & fixing the shoulders of the slot

page_text: and tongue close together; (g) is a space between the top of the tongue and
the top of the slot, left to facilitate the reeving of the plates over the tongues.
This space is afterwards made good with a solid filling, which may be an iron
plate driven in as a wedge, or metal poured into the space in a molten state &
afterwards hammered. (/) is the skin or iron plate of the ship; (i) is the
plate, and (j) the angle iron of one of the ship's timbers; (k) is an iron bear-
ing plate for the nuts of the screw bolts (o), forming also a solid back support
to the armour plates as well as to the ship's skin between the timbers, to which
as well as to the ship's skin it is fastened with the screw bolts & nuts (1, 1);
(m) is filling of wood, iron, or any other suitable material between the armour
plates and the ship's plates; (n) is packing of hard asphalted felt or other
suitable material, forming a bed between the bearing surfaces and serving to
fill up cavities and bring the surfaces to a fair bearing all over; (0, 0,) screw
bolts & nuts, the former passing through the tongue bar (e), the ship's skin
(h), and the bearing plate (k), to which the nuts are screwed up tight, cou-
necting and binding all those parts securely together, drawing their surfaces
taut to even bearings one against another, and preventing vibration, oscillation,
or motion of any of the parts when struck by projectiles.
This Invention may be adapted to the formation of masses of wooden blocks
with the fibre vertical or horizontal for paving roads, pathways, yards, gate
ways,halls, & railway platforms, for cellar flaps, wainscoating, flooring,ceilings,
billiard tables, mosaic, or tessilated work,and for the construction of bridges.
It is also applicable to affixing iron plates or bars to the sides of ships, and a
variety of other uses which it is not necessary to enumerate. In its application
to any of the uses above mentioned it offers the advantage of easily placing
and fixing the plates in their proper position, and of so connecting each of
them with the others that they form as it were one body; hence a blow, shock,
or weight at any one point, or in any one plate, will be distributed over and
repelled or sustained by the inert resistance of the connected mass.
I do not enter into explanations as to various modes of laying down or
attaching or affixing to any surface or body plates connected together in the
manner above described. If the Invention be applied to covering the side of
a ship or battery with iron, I recommend that the plates be oblong and in
length about three times the width; that the bevelled grooves or slots (in
number two, three, or more, according to the length of each plate) be cut or
otherwise formed in the process of manufacture across the width of each plate;
that metal tongues be affixed vertically and screwed or bolted in their places
to the frame and skin or planking of the ship before the iron armour plates be
attached.

page_text: This arrangement being made, the plates are reeved on to the tongues in
the way previously described, in strakes, breaking joint. Each plate is fastened
to the side of the ship by means of as many bolts to each tongue as the size
and weight of the plate may require. By this mode of fastening, the liability
or tendency of a plate when struck by a shot at one of its extremities to cant
or buckle at the other extremity will be obviated, and plates ofismaller dimen-
sions or bars may be used, as the solidity of the iron armour as a whole will
not be diminished by the reduction of size of the plates.
For greater facility of construction in iron-casing a ship on this plan, it will
be preferable to make the tongues in lengths not exceeding 9 or 10 feet, and
in some cases at curves or bends only 5 or 6 feet. The plates in series of
strakes corresponding to the tongues will be more readily reeved over these
short lengths, and the tongues being scarfed, one series of tongues may be
securely united by bolts to another series.
In applying my Invention to covering ships of war with armour plates, it
being my principal aim to protect the fastening of the plates from the effect of
projectiles, instead of passing bolts through the tongue itself, wherebyitwould
be weakened,I propose in manufacturing the tongue to add to it a strong bar,
which I call the tongue plate, or bar into and through which the bolts form-
ing the fastening are passed. By this plan, which is shown in Diagrams, Fig.5,
6, & 7,the bolt heads are more effectually protected, and the amount of screw
power
is greatly increased. For the purpose of giving greater solidity to the
backing and fastening of the armour plates and to afford a purchase and point
ofresistance of adequate strength to the nuts of the screw bolts, whereby the
tongues & the plates with them are drawn to their bearings, I propose also to
place a strong iron plate of suitable thickness inside the skin of the ship
between the timbers, and fastened by screw or rivet bolts to the angle irons and
ship's plates. This back support,shown in Fig.5(K)is the bearing plate against
which the screw bolts are heaved up, and the armour plates are drawn to their
bearings. The advantage of this mode of fastening and holding these plates is,
that the tongues lay hold of the plates in parallel lines across their width on
perfectly level and true surfaces, and drawequally over all with great precision.
Instead of a strong iron plate, this back support may be timber, 6 to 12 inches
thick, with or without any iron plate over it.
By way of illustration I have mentioned some modes of applying my Inven-
tion, and described some arrangements for carrying it into effect; but I do not
bind myself to those details. What I claim as my Invention is, the plan of
making and using bevelled or dovetailed grooves or slots on one side of plates
of metal, wood, or other material, and of bevelled bars or tongues fitted into

page_text: and passing through such grooves or slots as a means of connecting and fasten-
ing plates, in the manner herein-before described.
I also claim as of my Invention the addition of a bolt, plate, or bar to the
bevelled tongue, as above described and shown in the Diagrams, Fig. 5, 6,
& 7, (c, d, e,) and likewise the application & use of a back support of wood or
iron inside the skin of a ship between its timbers as a bearing plate, for the
fastening of armour plates to the side of a ship.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Clark, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of August,in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
(L.s.) GEO. CLARK.