IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS AND VESSELS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Prince, of the Office for Patents, 4,
-
Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS AND VESSELS."-
A communication from abroad by Hermann Hirsch, of Berlin, in the
Kingdom of Prussia.
Sealed the 25th November 1859, and dated the 25th May 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Prince at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th May 1859.
I, ALEXANDER PRINCE, of the Office for Patents, 4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS AND
VESSELS," (a communication from abroad by Hermann Hirsch, resident at
Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia,) to be as follows:-
The objects of this Invention are to entirely prevent the possibility of breaking
the keel (known as breaking back) of ships, and imparting to the bottoms
of ships a normal form, giving a maximum of steadiness without retardation of
velocity. These objects are effected in the following manner:-Take a plain
horizontal surface bounded by two arcs, the chords of which give the longer
axis bearing the proportion to the shorter axis of 271 to 10. A semicircular
aperture is made in the centre of the plane, the diameter of which stands-in

page_text: the proportion to the shorter axis of 1 to 4. This aperture allows of the plain
surface being curved (or folded or bent) in such a manner as to give the peculiar
form of the new ship's bottom. This form is obtained, first, by bending one
semi-axis downwards, and the other upwards, thus giving to the edge of each
arc a waved line or the "line of beauty;" the keel being in the centre of the
two arcs is prevented breaking; the bottom being formed as above described
affords more room for cargo, no necessity for ballast, and prevents the ship
pitching and rolling.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Prince in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 25th November 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
PRINCE, of the Office for Patents, 4, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alexander Prince, Her special licence that I, the said Alexander
Prince, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Alexander Prince, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS AND VESSELS," (a communication from
abroad by Hermann Hirsch, resident at Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia,)
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Prince, my
executors or administrators, 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 Alexander Prince, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
The objects of this Invention are to entirely prevent the possibility of
breaking the keel (known as breaking back) of ships, and imparting to the
bottoms of ships a normal form, giving a maximum of steadiness without
retardation of velocity. These objects are effected in the following manner:-
Take a plain horizontal surface bounded by two arcs, the chords of which give
the longer axis bearing the proportion to the shorter axis of 27 to 10. A
semicircular aperture is made in the centre of the plane, the diameter of which
stands in the proportion to the shorter axis of 1 to 4. This aperture allows of
the plain surface being curved (or folded or bent) in such a manner as to give
the peculiar form of the new ship's bottom. This form is obtained, first, by
bending one semi-axis downwards, and the other upwards, thus giving to the
edge of each arc a waved line, or the "line of beauty;" the keel being in the
centre of the two arcs is prevented breaking; the bottom being formed as
above described affords more room for cargo, no necessity for ballast, and
prevents the ship pitching and rolling.
In order to explain the said Invention as completely as possible, I will now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the sanie
into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Sheet of Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference marked
thereon respectively, as follows:-—
Figure 1 represents a plane surface of the form above described, in the
centre of which is made a circular aperture e, h, d, i, for I would have it
understood, that when I stated above that a semicircular aperture is made in
the centre of the plane, I thereby intended and do intend to signify that in
each half of the said plane the opening is of semicircular form, the total
aperture being therefore circular, as represented in the Figure. Figure 2 is a
plan view of Figure 1, when bent in the form of Figure 3, which is a longi-
tudinal elevation of the same plane when curved as above described, that is to
say, half of the longer axis of the plane b, e, being folded upwards, and the
other half a, d, being folded downwards, so that the outline b, f, a, g, of the
plane assumes a waved form, and the central aperture is narrowed by causing
the sides h, i, thereof to approach to one another. The keel k, a, d, b, e, passes
through this narrow aperture, and is secured to the folded plane along the lines
of fold a, d, and e, b. It will be readily understood that sides of any convenient
form can be attached to this folded plane, which is to be considered as the
bottom of the ship or vessel.
Having now fully described the nature of the said Invention of " Improve-

page_text: ments in the Construction of Ships and Vessels," and the manner in which the
same is to be performed, I hereby declare that this Invention applies only to
the said bottom and keel, and that I do not confine myself to the particular
form or proportions of plane and aperture herein described; but what I claim
is, the mode of forming the bottom and keel of a ship or vessel by the wave-
like curvature of a symmetrical plane surface with an aperture in or near the
centre thereof for the reception of the keel, in the manner and for the purpose
herein described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Prince, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of November, in the
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
year of
'Witness,
ALEX". PRINCE, jun".,
Patent Office,
4, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross.
ALEX. PRINCE. (L.S.)