IMPROVE- MENTS IN PROTECTING IRON SHIPS AND OTHER SUBMERGED STRUCTURES FROM OXIDATION AND CORROSION
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Ritherdon, of Fenchurch Street, in the
City of London, Surveyor of Shipping, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PROTECTING IRON SHIPS AND OTHER SUBMERGED STRUCTURES FROM
OXIDATION AND CORROSION."
Sealed the 3rd October 1865, and dated the 5th April 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Ritherdon at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th April 1865.
I, EDWARD RITHERDON, of Fenchurch Street, in the City of London,
Surveyor of Shipping, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROTECTING IRON SHIPS AND OTHER SUBMERGED STRUCTURES
FROM OXIDATION AND CORROSION," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in first securing harpings or ribbons of wood by
means of metal plates screwed, rivetted, or otherwise fixed to the structure to
be protected. I then screw to the harpings, taking care that the screws shall
not pass entirely through them, planking, and that by preference in a diagonal
direction; I then caulk the planking and cover it with felt and copper. The
spaces between the metal plates and the inside of the planking may be
filled in with cement, cork, or other material, or not, at will.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Ritherdon in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th October 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
RITHERDON, of Fenchurch Street, in the City of London, Surveyor of Shipping,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Edward Ritherdon, Her special licence that I, the
said Edward Ritherdon, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Edward Ritherdon, 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 PROTECTING IRON SHIPS AND OTHER SUB-
MERGED STRUCTURES FROM OXIDATION AND CORROSION," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Edward Ritherdon, 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 Edward Ritherdon, 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 first securing harpings or ribbons of wood by
means of metal plates screwed, rivetted, or otherwise fixed to the structure to
be protected. I then screw to the harpings, taking care that the screws shall
not pass entirely through them, planking, and that by preference in a diagonal
direction; I then caulk the planking and cover it with felt and copper.
The spaces between the metal plates and the inside of the planking may be
filled in with wood, cement, cork, or other material or not at will.
Figure I of the accompanying Drawings is a transverse section of a portion

page_text: of an armour-plated vessel with any metal, of protecting it from oxidation and
corrosion applied thereto; Figure 2 is an external view with portions removed
to shew the different parts; Figure 3 is a transverse section of the keel.
A, A, are wood harpings or ribbons extending fore and aft; B, B are metal
plates which are first secured to the harpings A, A, by iron screws a, a,
which do not pass through the harpings; the plates B, B, are then tap-screwed
on to the armour plates E, E, by iron screws b, b. Below the level of the
armour plates the plates B, B, are secured to the bottom plates and frames F
by iron rivets c, c; C, C, are diagonal wood fillings between the harpings A, A,
and which should be caulked so as to be water-tight; D, D, is diagonal wood
planking or sheathing secured to the harpings A, A, by yellow metal or copper
screws d, d, which penetrate sufficiently into the harpings to secure the
planking, but must not pass through them. The planking D, D, is then
caulked and covered with felt and copper.
Figures 4 and 5 are two views of an arrangement in which the plates B, B,
are in the form of angle irons, the screws a, a, which secure them to the
harpings A, A, being passed through the horizontal parts of the angle irons
and through the harpings.
Figures 6 and 7 are similar views to Figures 4 and 5, but with the plates
B, B, shaped like railway chairs, the bed of the chair forming a backing to the
harping which is secured thereto by a screw as shewn.
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 protecting iron
ships and other submerged structures from oxidation and corrosion by means
of ribbons of wood, wood planking, and copper, applied substantially in
manner herein-before described and represented in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Ritherdon, have hereunto set
.my hand and seal, this Fifth day of October, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-five.
EDWARD RITHERDON. (L.s.)