IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS' MAGAZINES
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-second day of August, in the fourteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward Newton, Her especial license, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said William Edward Newton, my exors,
admors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said William Edward Newton,
my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colo-
nies and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney,
Sark and Man, an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS'
MAGAZINES," being a communication from abroad; in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Edward Newton,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Edward Newton, do hereby declare that the nature of the said In-
vention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particu-
larly described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof,
reference being bad to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
The Invention for which I have obtained Letters Patent as aforesaid, and
which has been communicated to me by my Foreign Correspondent, consists
in Improvements in Gunpowder Magazines for Ships, whereby the magazines
are rendered more safe from the action of fire, either in the time of battle
or from accidental conflagration, the said magazines having also improvements
for entering and leaving the same, and for conveying powder into or from
them without risk from external fire. To accomplish all this, I construct the
magazine so as to have attached to it certain pipes, which lead to and termi-
nate at the sides of the ship, through which openings are made whereby water
may flow into the said pipes. In these pipes are also proper valves or cocks,
by which the water entering the pipes may be allowed to flow through or into
the magazine and fill it, or to otherwise exclude the same, as the case may
require.
One part of the Invention consists, in the adaptation to the said cocks and
pipes of an apparatus, which is of such nature that heat will cause an action
to take place, or will produce such an effect that the cocks or valves will be
opened, and thus cause the flooding of the magazine with water, long before
fire shall actually come in contact with the said magazine or apparatus, thus
protecting the ship from explosion by reason of unsuspected fire.
And, secondly, the improved magazines have a certain contrivance for
entering and leaving the same, and removing the powder therefrom, if neces-
sary, while the ship itself may be on fire.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation, shewing so much of the magazine as is necessary
to exhibit the manner of attaching the pipes and the apparatus connected
therewith; and Figure 2 is a plan view of this apparatus detached.
.
The magazine should be composed of sheet metal, and be made water
tight. In the side of the magazine there is inserted the usual lens for light-
ing the interior, and at the bottom there is also a cock of common construction
for discharging the water after the operation of flooding has been performed.
C, D, are the flooding pipes, which, it will be seen, are placed in different parts
of the magazine: C enters the magazine near the top, and its opposite end
terminates at the side of the vessel, while D is connected with the magazine

page_text: at or near the bottom, and passes out at the bottom of the vessel. The object
of this is to produce a circulation of water in the magazine, by a well-known
law, whereby heat, acting on fluids in certain places, causes a change in the
specific gravity of the parts thereof, so that, the equilibrium of the mass being
disturbed, the rarified parts seek their proper level. Thus, if the magazine A
is full of water, and heat is applied externally, it would soon change the
gravity of a portion of the fluid, so that a current would be produced which
would flow outward through the pipe C, and inwards through the pipe D.
Thus a complete circulation is produced in the magazine, by which any
material increase of the temperature of the water is prevented. E, F, are
stopcocks on the pipes C and D, to cut off or admit the water for flooding
the magazine. These are connected together by a rod G, so that they shall
be opened simultaneously by a proper movement of the said rod. II is a
heavy weight fixed to the vertical rod G, and which by its gravity will cause
the cocks E and F to open, by causing the rod G to descend whenever it is
released from certain parts, which otherwise keep the weight and rod G
elevated, and the cocks thereby closed. The apparatus whereby the other
parts are kept clevated is seen at I, K, L, and consists of a rod and spiral
spring. The spring is attached at one end to the magazine at L, and by the
opposite end I to the connecting rod G. This spring is of sufficient power
to support the weight H, and thus it keeps the bar up and the cocks conse-
quently closed. A portion of this rod, as at K, is made of some substance
which will yield, that is, melt, give way, or expand, by the action of a mode-
rate degree of heat, without coming in direct contact with firo. And for this
purpose, the article known as "gutta percha" is preferred, as that substance
is known to possess the quality of being easily softened and rendered quite
plastic at comparatively low temperatures. The operation of this part of the
Invention is as follows:-Suppose the hold of a vessel to be on fire, the
moment the temperature of the air surrounding the magazine becomes suffi-
ciently high to soften the " 'gutta percha" bar K, so that it will no longer
have the strength to overcome the tension caused by the weight Hand the
spring L, then the cocks will be immediately opened by the descent of the
weight H and bar G, as will be clearly seen by inspecting the Drawings,
and by this means water will be admitted through the pipe D, and the flooding
of the magazine at once effected. At M is a rod connecting the two cocks E, F,
by additional handles or levers on their plugs. The length of this rod is such,
that it may extend up through the deck, and thus afford means of flooding
the magazine at any moment by hand from above.
The second part of the Invention consists of means of entering or leaving

page_text: the magazine, without exposing the interior thereof to danger from the external
action of fire.
Fig. 3 is a vertical section, Fig. 4 is a plan view, and Figs. 5 and 6 are
horizontal sections, of the apparatus. The apparatus consists of two cylinders
the one fitted closely within the other, but so that the inner one may revolve;
for this purpose it plays upon a centre or pivot e, projecting through the
bottom of the outer cylinder. In the side of each cylinder a door is cut, as
at a, b (Figs. 5 and 6). The inner cylinder terminates in a cap m, with a
ring or handle affixed to it, and both the outer and the inner cylinders have
closed or solid bottoms. In the top of the magazine a hole is cut to receive
the cylinders as combined together, and shewn by the dotted lines in Fig. 1.
The plate of the magazine around the hole has a packing ring, as seen at o, o,
Fig. 3. When it is required to bring this part of the Invention into use,
the cylinders are raised or drawn out by the ring or handle in the cap or
cover m, and then, by turning the said cap m, the inner cylinder is made to
revolve until the door or opening 6 in its side is opposite to the opening a of
the outer cylinder, as seen at a, b, Fig. 6. The two cylinders then have these
motions (viz.), first a sliding up-and-down motion on being drawn out or in,
and, secondly, a revolving motion of one within the other.
a person to gain access to the magazine, it is necessary to raise or draw out
the cylinders until the bottom of the outer cylinder shall be above the level
of the top of the magazine. Next the inner one is to be put in revolution,
until the opening or door b, made in its sides, comes opposite to the opening a
made in the outer cylinder. The person to be sent into the magazine now
enters the inner cylinder, which is revolved until 6 is passed around to the
opposite side, and thus the door a is closed, as shewn at Fig. 5. The cylinders
are now lowered into the magazine until the flange edge of the cap m rests
upon the top of the magazine, as seen by the dotted lines in Fig. 1. The inner
cylinder is made to revolve once more, until the doors are again opposite,
when the party can quit the cylinder and go to any part of the magazine,
then return with powder, and be raised from the magazine, and escape as
before described.
Now, in order for
What I claim as new in the above-described Invention, and desire to secure
by Letters Patent, is, attaching a connecting piece, made of some easily melted
or fusible material, to and combining the same with the governing cocks of the
ejection and injection pipes employed for keeping a circulation of cold water
through magazines, or for flooding the same when required; such connecting
piece being made of such materials, and adapted to the magazine or governing
cocks connected therewith in such a manner, as to be affected by heat without

page_text: necessarily coming in contact with the fire, this connecting piece being also
governed by a spring, and being capable, when acted on by heat, of liberating
certain other parts, which will open the cocks and flood the magazine. I also
claim attaching and combining with the magazine a double tube or cylinder,
or equivalent arrangement, by which articles may be conveyed into or from
the magazine without in any way exposing the interior of the magazine to
fire from without, by which several arrangements a perfect security is effected
against firing the magazines of vessels of war.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of February, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-one.
W. E. (L.S.)
(L.S.) NEWTON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of February,
in the year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid William Edward Newton came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-second day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.