AN IMPROVEMENT IN FASTENING WOOD TO IRON APPLICABLE IN SECURING THE PLANKING OF COMPOSITE SHIPS TO THE IRON FRAME, AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Laing, of Deptford Yard, Sunderland, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN FASTENING WOOD TO IRON APPLICABLE
IN SECURING THE PLANKING OF COMPOSITE SHIPS TO THE IRON FRAME, AND
FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES."
Sealed the 7th January 1868, and dated the 12th July 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Laing at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th
July 1867.
I, JAMES LAING, of Deptford Yard, Sunderland, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN FASTENING WOOD TO
IRON APPLICABLE IN SECURING THE PLANKING OP COMPOSITE SHIPS TO THE IRON
FRAME, AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," to be, as follows:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in fastening wood to iron
applicable in securing the planking of composite ships to the iron frame, and
for other similar purposes. When ordinary screw bolts and nuts are used to
fasten a wooden planking to an iron frame it is difficult to obtain sound and

page_text: secure work because the holes punched in the iron frame are taper, and
therefore the bolt touches the frame only on a line of inappreciable width,
even assuming that the hole is punched exactly of the proper size; hence the
rigidity of the structure depends mainly on the nip of the nut against the
frame.
According to my Invention, I employ nuts baving a thin and somewhat
taper ferrule formed on them on the under side, and this as the nut is
screwed on enters the upper end of the taper hole, and when the nut is
screwed home becomes jammed and ground into it so as effectually to fill the
taper hole around the bolt. Such bolts and nuts are applicable in most
cases in which it is desired to make an attachment to a metal frame having
holes punched in it to receive bolts.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Laing in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th
January 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
LAING, of Deptford Yard, Sunderland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Iler Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Laing, Her special licence that I, the said James
Laing, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said James Laing, 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 FASTENING WOOD TO IRON, APPLICABLE IN SECURING THE
PLANKING OF COMPOSITE SHIPS TO THE IRON FRAME, AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR
PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Laing, 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

page_text: Figure 1 is a transverse section of a wooden plank secured to an iron frame
by bolts and nuts, the nuts having ferrules upon them to fill the taper
holes punched in the frames; Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the same
parts.
a is the wooden plank; b, the iron frame; c, c, the screw bolts; and d, d,
the nuts which the bolts receive upon them. A side view of one of the nuts
is shown at Figure 3, and an under side view at Figure 4. d'is the ferrule
formed on the nut; its length should be nearly equal to the thickness of the
frame b, but less rather than greater, it should be slightly taper, and of a size
just to enter the mouth of the taper-punched hole in the frame, as is shown
at the left-hand side of Figure 2; then as the nut is screwed home the

page_text: ferruled becomes ground to fit and fill the hole in the frame, as is shown at
the right-hand side of Figure 2, and in this way the working of the bolt in
the bolt hole is effectually prevented.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Laing, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Tenth day of January, in the year of our Lord One 5
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
JAMES LAING. (L.S.)