Iм- PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BARGES, BOATS, FLOATING BATTERIES, AND OTHER FLOATING STRUCTURES."
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Grahame, of Lansdowne Place,
Leamington, in the County of Warwick, for the Invention of "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BARGES, BOATS, FLOATING BATTERIES,
AND OTHER FLOATING STRUCTURES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Grahame
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 3rd July 1869.
I, THOMAS GRAHAME, of Lansdowne Place, Leamington, in the
County of Warwick, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BARGES, BOATS, FLOATING BATTERIES,
AND OTHER FLOATING STRUCTURES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction
of barges, boats, floating batteries, and other floating structures. In
order to obtain a very light, strong, and buoyant structure, I use the
husk of the cocoa nut, a material which I find to combine in an
extreme degree the properties of lightness, clasticity, or resilience, and

page_text: strength. In some cases I make a vessel with a double skin of very
thin metal, and to give sufficient rigidity and strength I fill the space
between the skins with pieces of cocoa nut husk cut to a regular form
so as to fit closely together, and entirely fill the space between the skins.
The pieces of cocoa nut husk may be cemented the one to the other
with a waterproof cement, so as to form a solid mass of great strength,
giving a firm support to the skin to enable it to resist any blows to
which it may be exposed. Should the outer skin in any case be perforated
the cement will prevent the husk from becoming saturated with water,
and the buoyancy of the vessel will not be impaired. The cocoa nut
husk may be confined in its place by a light wooden planking, or by
wirework, suitable means being taken to protect it from contact with
the bilge water. Sometimes, especially in the case of floating batteries
and life boats, I entirely fill the vessel in this manner up to the water
line with cocoa nut husk, and so form as it were a raft which cannot
be sunk by shot or by injury to the skin resulting from other causes.
In place of making the vessel with a double skin I in some cases use
an outer skin only, and I in this case fill the spaces between the frames
or ribs with the cocoa nut husk and cement, so as to form a flush
surface to the interior of the vessel. Buoys may very advantageously
be constructed according to my Invention.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Grahame in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 3rd January 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
GRAHAME, of Lansdowne Place, Leamington, in the County of
Warwick, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of July, in the year.
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Grahame, Her special licence
that I, the said Thomas Grahame, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said. Thomas Grahame, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no

page_text: 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
THE CONSTRUCTION OF BARGES, BOATS, FLOATING BATTERIES, AND OTHER FLOATING
STRUCTURES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Grahame, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 Thomas Grahame do hereby
declare the nature of the 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, that is to say :-
In
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction
of barges, boats, floating batteries, and other floating structures.
order to obtain a very light, strong, and buoyant structure I use
the husk of the cocoa nut, a material which I find to combine in an
extreme degree the properties of lightness, elasticity or resilience, and
strength. In some cases I make a vessel with a double skin of very
thin metal, and to give sufficient rigidity and strength I fill the space
between the skins with pieces of cocoa nut husk cut to a regular form
so as to fit closely together, and entirely fill the space between the skins.
The pieces of cocoa nut husk may be cemented the one to the other
with a waterproof cement, so as to form a solid mass of great strength,
giving a firm support to the skin to enable it to resist any blows to
which it may be exposed. Should the outer skin in any case be perforated
the cement will prevent the husk from becoming saturated with water,
and the buoyancy of the vessel will not be impaired. The cocoa nut
husk may be confined in its place by a light wooden planking, or by
wirework, suitable means being taken to protect it from contact with
the bilge water. Sometimes, especially in the case of floating batteries
and life boats, I entirely fill the vessel in this manner up to the water
line with cocoa nut husk, and so form as it were a raft which cannot be
sunk by shot or by injury to the skin resulting from other causes. In
place of making the vessel with a double skin I in some cases use an

page_text: outer skin only, and I in this case fill the spaces between the frames or
ribs with the cocoa nut husk and cement, so as to form a flush surface to
the interior of the vessel. Buoys may very advantageously be constructed
according to my Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Grahame, have here- 5
unto set my hand and seal, this First day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
THOMAS GRAHAME. (L.S.)