IMPROVEMENTS IN AFFIXING ARMOUR PLATES TO VESSELS AND OTHER STRUCTURES, AND IN BOLTS, SCREWS, SPIKES, AND RIVETS TO BE USED FOR THESE AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Saunders, of No. 8, Bridge Street,
Westminster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AFFIXING ARMOUR
PLATES TO VESSELS AND OTHER STRUCTURES, AND IN BOLTS, SCREWS, SPIKES,
AND RIVETS TO BE USED FOR THESE AND OTHER PURPOSES."-A communi-
cation from abroad by Frederick Saunders, of Providence, in the United
States of America, Civil Engineer.
Sealed the 6th June 1865, and dated the 23rd December 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Saunders at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd December 1864.
I, EDWARD SAUNDERS, of No. 8, Bridge Street, Westminster, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AFFIXING ARMOUR
PLATES TO VESSELS AND OTHER STRUCTURES, AND IN BOLTS, SCREWS, SPIKES, AND
RIVETS TO BE USED FOR THESE AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
When plates of iron are affixed to the side of a vessel or other structure
by means of the ordinary rigid screw bolts, the impact of heavy projectiles has
been found to shatter or break off the bolts at or near the head or end. When
the plates are very thick it becomes necessary to increase the size of the bolts

page_text: in order to support the augmented weight and hold the parts firmly in their
proper positions. This increase in the size of the bolts is accompanied by an
increased rigidity, so that a blow from a heavy projectile will in a greater
degree be expended injuriously upon the ends of the bolts. It is not necessary
that the blow should fall directly upon the bolt to produce this injury, for
violent concussions upon the plates may be injuriously. resisted by the rigidity
of the bolts, and even the shocks caused by the greater weight of the plates
when the ship is working in a sea may tend to the same results. To obviate
this difficulty the armour plates are according to this Invention affixed to the
ship or other structure by bolts, the body or shank of which is composed of a
collection of wires (or rods) so twisted or placed together that while the bolt
shall have all the required tensile strength, it shall also possess a certain
degree of elasticity, especially in the direction of its length, so that the rigid
resistance is more nearly equal throughout all parts of the structure. The best
arrangement of wire (or rods) for this purpose is that found in wire rope.
The wires at one end of each length of wire rope are welded together to form
a solid mass for the length necessary to form the screw and the thread cut
thereon to receive a nut in the usual manner of screw bolts (or wood screws).
The wires at the other end are also to be welded together to form a solid mass,
and so shaped as to form an appropriate form of head. Thus the metal at so
much of one end of the bolt as is necessary to form a head or attachment to
the armour plate, and at the other to form a screw thread for the nut, is solid,
whilst all between those points remains as a wire rope, and preserves of
course its proper elasticity. Armour plates may also be affixed to a vessel or
other structure by bolts composed of a number of wires twisted or placed
together, and instead of welding or forging the wires to form a tapering head,
they may be spread out and wedges driven in between them from the outside,
so as to cause the whole mass to conform to the hole in the plate, and then
covered, if necessary, by any suitable kind of metallic or other packing. The
material forming wire rope is by reason of its mode of manufacture of excel-
lent quality, since only good and tenacious iron can stand the process of wire-
drawing, the tension exerted being in fact a test of the strength of the
material, hence bolts constructed as above described will have the best and
strongest metal throughout their length, while the shank has besides the
elasticity due to wire rope.
Bolts, screws, spikes, and rivets for other purposes may also be constructed
in the manner above described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, file
by the said Edward Saunders in the Great Seal Patent Office, on the
23rd June 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
SAUNDERS, of No. 8, Bridge Street, Westminster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Edward Saunders, Her special licence that I, the said Edward
Saunders, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Edward Saunders, 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 "In-
PROVEMENTS IN AFFIXING ARMOUR PLATES TO VESSELS AND OTHER STRUCTURES, AND
IN BOLTS, SCREWS, SPIKES, AND RIVETS TO BE USED FOR THESE AND OTHER PURPOSES,"
a communication to me from abroad by Frederick Saunders, Providence,
in the United States of America, Civil Engineer, upon the cond (amongst
others) that I, the said Edward Saunders, my executors or a Ainistrators,
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 Edward Saunders, 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 (that is to say):-
This Invention consists in the substitution of screw and other bolts, spikes,
and rivets formed, used, and applied in the manner herein-after described
for general fastening purposes, and amongst others the fastening or securing
of iron and armour plates to marine and other batteries, ships of war and
other vessels, and for general purposes in lieu of the solid metal bolts, spikes,
and rivets as hitherto formed and used.

page_text: When solid bolts are used in affixing plates of iron to the above structures
they are liable to be either driven through or shattered or broken by the impact
of heavy projectiles; this liability increases as the size and consequent rigidity
of the solid bolts are augmented, as in the case of thick and heavy plates, in
fastening which it becomes necessary to increase the size of the bolts, in order
that they may support as well as fasten the same to the under work. To remely
the above defect in these fastenings is the object of my said Invention, which
.I propose to accomplish by making the body, shank, or centre part of the bolt,
spike, or rivet of a number of wires, rods, or strands twisted or so placed
together that in transverse section they shall possess the required tensile
strength and at the same time a considerable degree of elasticity, and to make-
the heads and ends or points solid by beating and welding, hammering or
compressing the same. The accompanying Drawing illustrates the general
forms of the said improved bolts, spikes, and rivets, in making which I prefer
to take a good piece of wire rope of proper diameter, cut the same to the
required length, and beat or forge the heads and points or ends solid, as before
.described. Instead of welding or forging the wires to form the head of the
bolt, they may in some cases be spread out and wedges driven in to spread
them from the outside, so as to cause the whole mass to conform to the taper-
ing hole in the plate, and then to cover it, if necessary, by any suitable kind of
metallic or other packing.
What I claim as my Invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,
the method of constructing a screw bolt, blunt bolt, spike, or rivet of wire
or rods of any shape, in such manner that with a solid end, with or without
thread, and solid or proper head, the shank or intermediate portion shall retain
a certain degree of elasticity not possessed by any ordinary solid rivet, spike,
screw, or bolt.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Saunders, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of June, One thousand eight
EDWARD SAUNDERS. (L.s.)