IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC PLATES OR BLOCKS PAR-1 TICULARLY APPLICABLE AS ARMOUR FOR SHIPS, FORTS, AND OTHER LIKE STRUCTURES
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on.
the 14th September 1868.-A communication from abroad by
Eugene Frederic Goguel, of St. Etienne, France.
I, CLINTON EDGCUMBE BROOMAN, of the Firm of Robertson,
Brooman, and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London,
Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC PLATES OR BLOCKS PAR-1
TICULARLY APPLICABLE AS ARMOUR FOR SHIPS, FORTS, AND OTHER LIKE
STRUCTURES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in manufacturing metallic plates or blocks
by superposing in a metal box a certain number of pieces of sheet
iron or steel, tinned, galvanized, or coated with lead, zinc, or other suitable
fusible metal or composition. The number of pieces or sheets thus
superposed depends upon the thickness of the plate or block required.
The box containing the sheets of iron or steel coated with tin, lead,
or other metal as aforesaid is kept by a furnace or fire-place at a
sufficient temperature to fuse the tin or lead which covers the surface
of the sheets which are intended by their union to form the plate or

page_text: block. Pressure is exerted in the box on the pile of sheets thus heated
and between two rigid movable plates, the pressure being strong enough
to weld or solder all the sheets or pieces together. The sheets com-
pressed between the two plates are then withdrawn from the box by
tackles or other appliances, and the whole is allowed to cool before
disengaging the pile of sheets from the plates between which they were
pressed. The block composed of the tinned or coated metallic sheets
all welded or united together is then dressed at the edges, punched,
and finished. The characteristic feature in the manufacture of these
blocks is the uniting of the sheets by the simple fusion of the metal
which covers or coats each of them, the whole being rendered one solid
block by pressure. All the sheets for forming a block may be of equal
thickness, or for the purpose of favoring malleability they may be of
varying thicknesses, thicker, for example, on the outside, and diminishing
in thickness towards the centre of the pile.
The Invention applies to the manufacture of armour and other plates,
walls, and other structures which can advantageously be made of iron
or steel sheets which are coated with tin, lead, or other fusible metal
or composition, then united by the fusion of the metal or composition
and rendered into a solid block by pressure. In some cases when the
sheets are in the box some of the fusible metal may be added during
the operation to partially or totally immerse the pile and the better
assure the uniting of the sheets, especially when thick. The uniting
of the sheets may also be effected in tinning establishments in crucibles
in which the sheets are covered separately, with a coating of tin, lead,
or other metal; during the course of this operation the sheets are
agglomerated or united by the fusion of the metal, then welded and
rendered into one solid block by pressure before the piles are removed
from the boxes or crucible.