AN IMPROVEMENT OF ARMOUR PLATES
Year: 1884

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION..
We, THOMAS ENGLISH of Hawley in the County of Kent, Major Royal
Engineers and ALEXANDER WILSON of Sheffield in the County of York, Steel
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT OF ARMOUR PLATES" to be as follows:-
Armour Plates, when made wholly or partly of steel, are liable when struck by
shot to break in pieces. Our invention relates to means of reducing the liability
to fracture, and preventing the pieces from separating, which we effect in tho
following manner..
In each edge of the plate we cut a groove, preferably rounded at the angles and
corners, and in this groove we wind all round the plate wire or ribbon of steel so as
to fill up the groove therewith. When the plate is only slightly curved the groove
may be straight, but in case of considerable curvature the groove should be
approximately parallel to the curve. When a plate is thinned at one edge, which is
usually done by bevilling off the back, we make the reduction of thickness by steps,
and in each step we form a groove to receive some of the convolutions of the wire
or ribbon.
"
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicants,
28, Southampton Buildings,
London, W.C.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION,
We, THOMAS ENGLISH of Hawley in the County of Kent, Major Royal
Engineers and ALEXANDER WILSON of Sheffield in the County of York, Steel
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of our invention for AN IMPROVEMENT
OF ARMOUR PLATES" and in what manner the same is to be performed to bo
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
Armour plates, mado wholly or partly of steel, are liable, when struck by
projectiles, to break in pieces. Our invention relates to means of reducing the
liability of such plates to fracture and of preventing the pieces from separating
when fracture occurs. We effect this as we will describo reforring to the
accompanying drawings
Fig. 1 is a front view, Fig. 2 a transverso section and Fig. 3 an elevation of one
edge, of an arinour plate to which our invention is applied. The plate may consist,
as shewn, of iron I faced with steel S, or it might be entirely of steel. All round
in the edges of the plate, within its thickness, we cut a groove A, making this
groove with its bottom rounded at the corners a and also somewhat rounded in
profile at the angles b. In this groove we wind around the plate numerous
convolutions of wire or ribbon preferably of steel, so as to fill up the groove and
form a strong girdle around the body of the plate.
When the plate is slightly curved the groove may be straight but when the
curvature is considerable, tho groove should follow the like curvature, as shown in
Fig. 4; so that it is parallel or approximately parallel to the face and back of the
plate.
When a plate is thinned at one edge, which is usually done by bevilling off a
portion of the back, we form the groove as shewn in the end view Fig. 5, cutting
it in several steps c formed in the bovilled part, these stops converging along the
ends into a single groove A cut along the wide edge. Several of the convolutions
of the wire or ribbon occupy each of these step grooves c, all thoso convolutions
occupying conjointly the wide groove A.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what ||
we claim is
Strengthening armour plates against fracture and preventing separation of their
pieces when they are fractured, by means of wire or ribbon wound in numerous
convolutions around the plate in a groove cut in its edges, or in the case of a plate
thinned towards one edge, in a groove cut partly in steps, substantially as herein
described;