AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE KEELS OF SHIPS AND BOATS.” IMPROVEMENT IN THE KEELS OF SHIPS AND BOATS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Davis, of Cranbourne Street, Leicester
Square, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN THE KEELS OF SHIPS AND BOATS.”
IMPROVEMENT IN THE KEELS OF SHIPS AND BOATS."
.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Davis at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th April 1873.
·I, GEORGE DAVIS, of Cranbourne Street, Leicester Square, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE KEELS OF SHIPS AND BOATS," to be as
follows:-
The main object of my Invention is to steady ships and boats in
heavy seas; but the use of my improvement will not only greatly lessen
the pitching and rolling of the vessel, but also assist in diminishing the
drift when close hauled or otherwise; and further, but little ballast, if
any, will be needed when the vessel is light.

page_text: My improvement consists in the application of a flange projecting
horizontally on each side of the ordinary vertical keel to an extent
regulated by the description of vessel, and the amount of stiffness it is
desired to retain.
In applying my improvement to the keels of vessels already con-
structed (in which case I term it an auxiliary keel), I propose to form
the flanges by placing a plate or a series of plates of metal, wood, or
other suitable material across the bottom of the vertical keel, bolting or
otherwise fastening it or them thereto; or the flanges may be formed of
separate pieces of angle iron or other material bolted or otherwise fixed
on each side of the vertical keel.
When my improvement is adopted for a vessel in course of con-
struction the horizontal flanges may be made of one piece with the
vertical part of the keel. These horizontal flanges may or may not
extend the entire length of the vertical part of the keel, and the depth of
this latter is optional; in fact the horizontal plate or sole may alone
form keel in the case of certain round bottomed ships which actually
have no vertical keel.
When a ship or boat with my Invention applied is travelling fast
through the water, the pressure of the water upon the upper surface of
the flanges checks the tendency to roll on one side or the other, or to
pitch, and in case of sudden squall the bearing of the under surface of
the leeward flange upon the water in a downward direction, and the
resistance of the windward flange to an upward motion will greatly
lessen the risk of capsizing any boat or vessel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Davis in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th October 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
DAVIS, of Cranbourne Street, Leicester Square, in the County of 30
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of April, in the year of
•

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors
give and grant unto me, the said George Davis, Her special licence
that I, the said George Davis, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said George Davis, 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 IMPROVEMENT
IN THE KEELS OF SHIPS AND BOATS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said George Davis, 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

page_text: separate pieces of angle iron or other material, bolted or otherwise fixed
on each side of the vertical keel.
•
When my improvement is adopted for a vessel in course of construction
the horizontal flanges may be made of one piece with the vertical part.
of the keel. These horizontal flanges may or may not extend the entire
length of the vertical part of the keel, and the depth of this latter is
optional; in fact the horizontal plate or sole may alone form keel in
the case of certain round bottomed ships which actually have no vertical
keel.
When a ship or boat with my Invention applied is travelling fast 1
through the water the pressure of the water upon the upper surface of
the flanges checks the tendency to roll on one side or the other, or to
pitch, and in case of sudden squall the bearing of the under surface of
the leeward flange upon the water in a downward direction, and the
resistance of the windward flange to an upward motion will greatly
lessen the risk of capsizing any boat or vessel.
My auxiliary keel might with equal propriety be termed a horizontal
rudder, inasmuch that the more rapid the passage of the vessel through
the water the greater the pressure of the water between the flanges, the
vertical part of the keel and the bottom of the vessel keeping the vessel
always in a horizontal plane and checking all tendency to diverge there-
from by pitching or rolling.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Davis, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.