IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON- STRUCTION OF SHIPS, VESSELS, CUPOLAS, AND FORTS, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Littell Tizard, of Mark Lane, in the City
of London, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF SHIPS, VESSELS, CUPOLAS, AND FORTS, AND IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Sealed the 18th March 1868, and dated the 15th September 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Littell Tizard
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th September 1862.
I, WILLIAM LITTELL TIZARD, of Mark Lane, in the City of London, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS, VESSELS, CUPOLAS, AND FORTS, AND IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in the construction of the hulls of ships or such
parts as may be required, cupolas, and forts of iron or steel slabs, or of both, in
one mass, by welding together the materials necessary for their construction in
situ.
Rivetted joints, separate armour plates, and when the metal is sufficiently
thick, both ribs and wooden lining may be dispensed with; at the same time
structures of greater stability, sounder workmanship, and of more enduring
powers will be produced than those made upon any previous plans. The
metal used may be of any thickness, but need not be in pieces of more than

page_text: one-fifth the area of ordinary loose armour plates, whereby economy in price
and facility in handling will be amongst the advantages obtained. The
principal conditions, plant, and processes necessary for carrying out this
Invention consist of,-1, tough iron plates or steel plates forged of suitable
thickness and generally to the shapes shown in Figure 1. 2, the usual
stationary and portable templates, showing the configuration of the work to be
executed. 8, the progressive erection of strong and roomy stages both inside
and outside of the intended hull or carcase or other work, on which are placed
tramways for the transit of trucks, locomotive fire cages, and small steam
hammers. The latter are made so as to deliver their blows on the plate to be
welded in any required direction. 4, planing machines, by which the edges
and ends of the slabs or other ironwork are serrated or grooved so as to be
expeditiously and equably fused without burning the metal or heating it at a
greater depth than is necessary to make a sound joint. 5, moulds, dies, and
bending machines to give the material proper forms and curvatures. 6, portable
coke fires of great purity and intensity, accelerated by the admission of oxygen
gas and capable of being instantaneously moderated, increased, and directed
towards or removed from their work. 7, small portable steam hammers
travelling on the tramways, some of which are more convenient by being
attached to the fire cages, hoisting gear, or their carriages. 8, suitable guides
attached to the adjacent work or to the templates to keep the welding parts
in true position while under the influence of the steam hammer. 9, intervening
cushions or striking blocks with serrated and grooved faces to protect the
outer edges of the slabs from injury by the hammers. 10, vertical and hori-
zontal steam and gas mains connected with their respective boilers and gas
holders, with branches leading to the fire cages, blow pipes, hammers, and
hoisting gear, fitted, where necessary, with connections of flexible hose, jointed
pipes, cocks, and unions. 1-1, blow-pipes for the delivery of pure oxygen and
also carburetted bydrogen and oxygen of sufficient power to weld seams two
feet thick and three or four feet in length. 12, fire bricks, known as lumps, to
close the back ends and other openings in the joint during the application of
the gaseous fires. Many of these tools, such as bending and planing machines,
stean hammers, and hoisting gear, are well known to mechanics, and used in
all iron ship-building establishments; consequently, I make no claim to their
employment, and they require no further description from me, but I proceed
to explain the improvements I have made in the apparatus and in the
formation of the necessary joints by which my Invention may be carried into
effect.
My apparatus by which the welding heat is generated consists of an iron

page_text: or fire-clay retort, in which burnt oxide of zinc and nitrate of soda are decom-
posed, or the latter with oxide of iron, their products being chiefly oxygen and
nitrogen. There are also a separator and atmospheric condenser by which
the products of distillation of the above ingredients are divided and cooled
before the oxygen enters the gas holder. I form my portable coke fire cage of
wrought iron, and with a double shell; a space is made in its sides through
which cold water is made to flow when the fuel in the cage is burning to
keep its vicinity sufficiently cool to allow the workman to inspect and watch
the progress of fusion without inconvenience. The ends of the cage are
fitted with double furnace doors, through which the fire is fed. The sizes
and forms vary to suit the length, depth, shape, and position of the seams to
be welded. Some of them are made to suspend opposite the joint to be welded,
others to travel on trucks or on their own wheels on the tramways in front of their
work. They are lined with fire-bricks, which are set in and coated with a plaster
composed of fire-clay and silicon covered with ganister to increase their dúra-
bility. I place a perforated bottom of fire-bricks, on which the fuel burns, some
6 or 8 inches above the real bottom; between these atmospheric air and
occasionally a little oxygen gas are admitted or propelled by fans to stimulate
the fire and carry it from the front of the cage into the open joint to be welded.
The apertures in front, through which the ignited gases and hot products pass,
correspond in form to that of the joints to be welded. There is also a
perforated oxygen gas pipe outside the fire cage, which delivers the gas into
the hot air as it issues from the cage. Besides this oxygen pipe, another is
fixed on the opposite side of the orifice, connected with the carburetted gas
main, so as to enable the operator to mix that gas with the oxygen, or with
the hot air as it issues from the cage. These contrivances intensify the fire
without burning out the fire cage. To bring the fire under the control of the
workmen, the cage is provided with a pair of trunnions, which work in suitable
bearings or standards. On one of the trunnions is fastened a worm wheel,
which is actuated by a corresponding worm attached to the standard, by turning
the worm, winch, or handle the heating gases are easily directed where most
required.
In order to render the workmen's control over the welding powers of the
apparatus as perfect as possible, I provide a flexible oxygen gas pipe, cou-
stituting, in fact, a movable blow-pipe, furnished with a regulating valve or
cock, and a perforated T-like delivery tube at its end, which (being cold) is
handled and directed to any part of the heated but still open joint requiring
the additional fusing power of oxygen. It being convenient in some cases to
dispense with the coke fire cages, I use carburetted bydrogen with the oxygen

page_text: gas, whereby great heat is produced, and as readily applied to the joint to be
welded as by the means before described. The best form of burner for this
purpose is that known as the "Argand," made to suit the joint, to which they
are applied. Instead, however, of being formed with one ring only, they are
composed of a series, or they are made like a nest of flat cells, the inner one
emitting ignited carburetted hydrogen, that which surrounds it or is next to it
gives forth oxygen, the third carburetted bydrogen, and so on alternately,
until the requisite size is attained. These burners are not made of equal
heights, those for oxygen being a little longer than those for the carburetted
bydrogen, to prevent ignition too near the burners. In order to render the
latter as durable as possible, they are made of fire-clay, and their faces covered
with ganister; they are also made of iron, roughened and coated with that
almost indestructible material. The gases are delivered to the burners through
separate tubes, and in unequal quantities, the supply of oxygen being the
smallest; and to make the gases maintain their relative proportions to each
other, so as to complete the combustion of both, supposing the pressure on
eash gas holder to be the same, they are both delivered through the plug of
one cock, formed with two apertures unequal, but correctly proportioned.
I fit a distinct cock on each gas tube of the blow-pipe, so as to enable the
operator to use oxygen alone when the metals are hot enough to be quickly
fused with that gas only. When it is preferred to make joints without
serrating or grooving, the edges of the metal slabs are rounded off a little, so
that should any scoria be accidentally formed, it will be ejected by the closing
şeam; or it may be easily brushed off before the edges are closed.
The following examples of making and welding butt joints by this Invention
will, it is presumed, satisfactorily attest to its practicability, expedition, and
trustworthiness :-
Sufficient materials having been prepared, the gas bolders charged, fires
lighted, and all things ready for uniting the iron materials, I will proceed to
make a butt joint by welding two plates together at their serrated ends. The
first slab is a little elevated, set on its edge, and firmly fastened to a bed plate.
No. 2 slab is fastened on a truck, also on its edge, with its front end projecting.
a foot or two over the truck towards No. 1, and its other end furnished with
a cushion; this truck runs on. a pair of V-shaped rails. The front end of
No. 2 slab is run up into the end of No. I, and adjusted to fit it, and run
back from 4 to 6 inches. A light horizontal steam hammer follows on another
truck until its head touches the cushion; in this place the truck wheels aro
scotched behind. Large fire-bricks and lumps are placed at the back and on
the top of the gap thus formed by the ends to be united, and other open places

page_text: where it is desirable to keep the heat in. On the pair of rails in front of the
work a fire cage sends forth its caloric into the gap during a few minutes, or
until the metals are white hot, or nearly so, to the depth of about an inch,
when its gas is turned off, fan stopped, and the fire truck moved to the right
or left, so as to be out of the way of the men in charge of the oxygen blow-
pipes; these are now made to play, with or without carburetted hydrogen, on
all parts of the serrations a few seconds, or until they are equally fused, when,
in obedience to a signal, the steam hammer pushes No. 2 slab, truck and all,
forward; thus the metals are welded together, and a few rapid blows from the
steam hammer make the joint. The men, with small hammers and swages,
trim up the exuding metal on both sides at the same time, and the joint is
finished. The work is now propped up, the truck released and loaded with
No. 3 slab, which is welded on to the end of No. 2 as before described, and so
the work progresses with facility and rapidity until the required length of a
man-of-war's keel, for example, is constructed in one piece.
The annexed Diagram, Figure 2, shows the way in which very large areas of
metal are made (of any thickness), such as the side of a "Warrior's" hull, or
the whole ship, stern post, and ram-like cutwater, and every inch of her, all in
one piece; also fortifications of unlimited dimensions and strength, by butt
joints alone, the slabs being guided dropping vertically or obliquely into their
respective places. Besides stages on each side of the work, another is made
over it to carry the hoisting gear, steam hammers, and other apparatus; its
On this upper stage,
pillars are also used for staying the guiding apparatus.
besides the hoisting gear, which does not occupy the middle of the rails, a
steam hammer, made with its striking head to pass down through its own
carriage, travels on rails directly over the work, the hoisting chains and guiding
and steadying apparatus being conducted horizontally under this stage, so as
to be out of the sphere of its action and onward progress. Nos. 1, 2, 3, & 4
slabs are welded together with a horizontal hammer, as before described. The
top edge of No. 5 is drilled and tapped near its ends for the reception of strong
eyed bolts, by which it is lifted, suspended, and lowered from the hoisting gear.
These bolts also connect guides, which work in adjacent rods to keep the slab
in position while being heated and welded down on Nos. 3 and 4.
After No. 5
has been lowered and the guiding apparatus adjusted by set screws and keys,
it is raised a few inches, backed up with fire-bricks, and the whole of its lower
edge, also the top edges of No. 4 and part of No. 3, are fused in the same
way as before; or instead of completing the fusion by blow-pipes, the streams of
oxygen which issue from the pipe near the orifice of the fire cage are increased
until the requisite heat is supplied, when, upon a given signal, the slab is

page_text: lowered on to Nos. 3 and 4, and the chains slackened, which being done, the
steam hammer, and the men with small hammers, complete the process, as
before. The next is No. 6, then No. 7, and, lastly, No. 8, which is made too
large to occupy its berth when cold, or until driven down in a welded state.
Brackets for carrying the ends of deck beams or girders are welded on either
before or after the hull is built, or they are bolted on in the usual manner.
There being situations in which it is necessary or more convenient to hoist
and deliver the plates to be welded by means of a travelling crane or derrick,
such are adopted and worked by steam power or manual labour; but I gene-
rally prefer the use of a crane made for the purpose, consisting of a carriage
to travel on V rails; on the carriage is mounted a central pillar with a radial
arm, carrying a carriage and pulleys; this pulley carriage travels on the top
part of the arm, and is actuated by a worm and wheel, spur and rack gear
similar to those in use in iron foundries, or the carriage may be made to travel
to and fro on the radial arm by means of a screw and nut, similar to a radial
drilling machine. I also occasionally employ similar hoisting gear for placing
the fire cage alongside its work. I sometimes use a steam hammer capable of
striking either vertically or at any required angle, and which may be elevated,
depressed, radiated, elongated, or shortened. These machines are connected
with their own portable boilers, or worked by stationary boilers with inter-
vening pipes, as before described.
I am aware that so long ago as 1854 it was proposed to build iron ships in
one piece by welding sheets of metal together with lap joints. Afterwards either
"sheets or plates" were to be used in the construction of" steam boilers, bridges,
and ships," so that it is fair to presume that the ordinary ship plates of the day
were designed to be used and no others, especially as no allusion was made to
the application of the plan to war vessels, which require not sheets but slabs of
metal of treble the thickness of any made 8 or 10 years ago. Be this as it
may, the proposed scheme has induced me to examine the merits of the lap
joint and its application to consecutive work of any kind, therefore attention is
solicited to the following conclusive observations:-Smiths shape their welding
joints to suit the character of their work, which shapes are universally known
as the lap (or scarf) and the butt joints. The first is made by thickening the
ends or edges of each piece, reducing their points, laying them one on the
other in a welding state, and applying the hammer until their doubled thick-
ncsses are reduced to nearly the same size as the unworked parts. It is used
when the ends or edges of the metal require upsetting prior to their union,
as is the case in small work or long thin seams. The butt is made by simply
putting the squared ends together in a fused state and enforcing their adhesion

page_text: by blows on their opposite ends. This plan is the most convenient when the
metals to be united are either large or thick or of peculiar form, and more
especially when they will not admit of any increase of length or breadth. A
lap joint is unexceptionable when applied to ordinary work, and particularly to
the welding together of sheets or thin plates of iron which require seams in
one direction only, such as girders and small steam boilers for example, because
these being unattached during their manufacture, and having unbound ends
and sides, are free to lengthen and widen by the absorption of all the spare
metal supplied by this doubling of their substances; besides, the protruding
metal at each end of the seam consequent on the hammering out of some of
the additional metal in those directions can be cut off and the work trimmed up.
It will be seen, however, that such a joint is unsuitable in the erection of con-
secutive tiers requiring a succession of horizontal, vertical, and oblique seams,
such, for instance, as iron forts and war vessels, because of the following all-
important reasons:-For the sake of intelligibility we will presume that all
the plates measure, after their four sides or edges have been upset and scarfed
off, exactly 4 feet square (or 16 feet super.), that the lower tier has been welded
together, and that the first plate of the second tier has been welded upon it,
and now measures by the widening of the lap joint under the hammers 4 feet
2 inches high, and 4 feet wide, it having been drawn out two inches by the
operation; the lower edge of the second plate is now welded upon the first tier
alongside its first plate or sheet, and as its elongation is similar, its top edge is
on a level with that of the first plate, and their unmade sides are in position
to be welded together.
We need hardly proceed further, for it must be already clear enough to
ordinary minds that by welding these plates together there will be the same
tendency for a horizontal elongation as there was for the vertical, so that in
making a side joint in such rigid structures where outlets for the disposable
metal do not exist, there being no legitimate scope for its distribution or
expansion, it must terminate in the formation of unsightly excrescences and
warping of the sheet or plate in its fruitless endeavours to stretch or straighten
itself under the restraint of its bottom seam. On the other hand, should the
bottom and side joints of the second plate be made at the same time, the con-
tortion of the work by the buckling of the plates is equally inevitable, and the
work equally valueless. Hence the impracticability of building iron or steel
structures of such dimensions as is herein designed with the lap or scarf
joint.
Now, in making butt joints of slabs of any thickness, no such failures can
occur, because such descending slab embeds itself directly into the placa

page_text: assigned to it without contributing more fused metal than is sufficient to seal
the slabs together in a true and substantial manner. Where I have used the
word "slab" in the foregoing description, the word "plate" is equally
applicable.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Littell Tizard in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th March 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
LITTELL TIZARD, of Mark Lane, in the City of London, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Littell Tizard, Her special licence, that I, the said William
Littell Tizard, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Littell Tizard, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS, VESSELS, CUPOLAS, AND FORTS,
AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Littell Tizard, 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 Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Littell Tizard, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
These improvements consist in the construction of the hulls of ships, or such
parts as may be required, cupolas, and forts, of slabs of iron or steel, or both in

page_text: one mass, by welding together the materials necessary for their construction
in situ.
Rivetted joints, separate armour plates, and when the metal is sufficiently
thick, both ribs and wooden lining may be dispensed with; at the same time
structures of greater stability, sounder workmanship, and of more enduring
powers will be produced than those made upon any previous plans. The
metal used may be of any thickness, but need not be in pieces of more than
one-fifth the area of ordinary loose armour plates, whereby economy in price
and facility in handling will be among the advantages obtained. The principal
conditions, plant, and processes necessary for carrying out this Invention con-
sist of,-1, tough iron or steel slabs or plates forged of suitable thickness, and
generally to the shapes shewn in Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings.
2, the usual stationary and portable templates, showing the configuration of
the work to be executed. 8, the progressive erection of strong and roomy
stages, both inside and outside of the intended hull or carcase or other work,
on which are placed tramways for the transit of trucks, locomotive fire cages,
and hammers; the latter made so as to deliver their blows on the plate to be
welded in any required direction. 4, planing machines, by which the edges of
the slabs or other work are "bevilled off," "squared up," or serrated, so as to
lock into each other and be expeditiously and equably fused, at a depth not
greater than one-tenth of an inch, which is found sufficient to make a sound
joint; one form of serrations is shewn in Figure 3. 5, portable coke fires of
great purity and intensity, occasionally accelerated by oxygen gas, and capable
of being instantaneously moderated, increased, and directed towards or removed
from their work. 6, portable steam hammers travelling on the tramways, also
screw and wedge presses, with which to bring the fused metals together.
7, suitable guides to keep the welding parts in true position while under the
influence of the steam hammer; see Figures 7, 8, and 9. 8, intervening
cushions or striking blocks, with serrated and plain faces, to protect the outer
edges of the slabs from injury by the hammers, wedges, or screws. 9, vertical
and horizontal steam and gas mains connected with their respective boilers,
and gas holders with branches leading to the fire cages, blow-pipes, hammers,
and hoisting gear, fitted, where necessary, with connexions of flexible hose,
jointed pipes, cocks, and unions. 10, blow-pipes for the delivery of pure oxygen,
and also carburetted hydrogen and oxygen, of sufficient power to weld seams
two feet thick and fifty feet in length. 11, fire-bricks, known as "lumps," to
close the back, ends, and other openings in the joint during the application of
the coke and gaseous fires. Many of these tools, such as planing machines,
steam hammers, and hoisting gear, are well known to mechanics, and used in

page_text: all iron ship-building establishments; consequently I make no claim to their
employment, and they require no further description from me; but I proceed
to explain the improvement I have made in the apparatus and in the formation
of the necessary joints by which my Invention may be carried into effect.
The apparatus by which the oxygen gas is generated consists of an iron or
fire-clay retort, in which burnt oxide of zinc and nitrate of soda are decom-
posed, or the latter with oxide of iron, their products being chiefly oxygen
with a little nitrogen. There is also a condenser, by which the products of
distillation of the above ingredients are cooled before they enter the gasholder.
I form my combined portable coke and oxygen fire cage of iron and fire-clay
cylinders set apart, and thus, with a double shell, a space is made in their
outer and inner sides, through which atmospheric air is propelled by a fan to
the fire to keep its vicinity sufficiently cool to allow the workman to inspect
and watch the progress of fusion without inconvenience. The sizes and forms
of their mouths vary to suit the length, depth, shape, and position of the seams
to be welded.
Figures 4 and 5 are sectional elevations of two of these cylindrical portable
furnaces. The same letters refer to similar parts in both of the Figures.
Figure 4 is designed to be suspended over the work to be heated and to emit
its caloric downwards. Figure 5 delivers its hot blast horizontally, or by
altering the direction of its mouth, vertically and obliquely, and may be moved
to and fro on a truck or otherwise.
a is a cast-iron cylinder, closed, or nearly so, both at top and bottom; b is
a fire-clay cylinder, somewhat less in diameter than the cylinder a, to allow
of an air space between them; this cylinder 6 is covered with a fire-clay
dome; c is another fire-clay cylinder, so much smaller than the cylinder b
as to leave a space between them of about 3 or 4 inches for the reception
of small particles of cinder or coke ashes that may be blown from the
coke fire d; e, furnace bars, which permit of renewal through doors f
in the bottom; g, ingress air pipe, on which a wired rubber or other
hose is fastened, and through which atmospheric air is propelled to the
fire d by a fan; h, furnace door with a fire-clay lump attached, or it may be
lined with fire-clay and ganister; i, fire-clay egress pipe, with a perforated
mouth through which the hot blast is propelled towards the work to be welded;
this is also lined with ganister; k is one of some dozen plugs in the bottom of
the ash receptacle, which plugs, when unscrewed, allow the accumulated ashes
&c. to gravitate for removal; is a hollow ring perforated like a gas burner
on its inner circumference, through which perforations oxygen gas passes into
the midst of the issuing hot blast, m, m, recesses filled with fire-clay to close

page_text: the joints; n shows one of two or more air passages which are cast in the
lower part of the cylinder a, which passages have an area equal to that of the
ingress pipe g; o, deposited coke ashes; p, ingress pipe for oxygen gas. The
numbered arrows indicate the course of the cold and hot air, also that of the
ashes, &c. Those marked 1 show the passage of the air to the coke fire, those
marked 2 the exit of the hot blast, and 3 indicate the course of the flying
ashes.
In order to render the workmen's control over the welding powers of
the apparatus as perfect as possible, I provide a flexible oxygen gas pipe,
constituting in fact a movable and manageable blow-pipe, furnished with a
regulating valve or cock and a perforated iron T-like delivery tube at its end
which (being cold) is handled and directed to any part of the heated but still
open joint requiring the additional fusing power of oxygen. It being con-
venient in some case to dispense with the coke fire cages, I use carburetted
bydrogen with the oxygen gas, whereby great heat is produced and as readily
applied to the joint to be welded as by the means before described. The best
form of burner for this purpose is that known as the "Argand," formed to
suit the joints to which they are applied. Instead, however, of being made
with one ring only, they are composed of a series, or they are made like a nest
of long flat cells, the inner one emitting ignited carburetted hydrogen, that
which surrounds it or is next to it gives forth oxygen, the third carburetted
hydrogen, and so on alternately until the requisite size is attained. The gases
are delivered to the burners through separate tubes fitted with distinct cocks,
so as to enable the operator to use oxygen alone with such double blow pipe
when the metals are hot enough to be quickly fused with that gas only.'
The following examples of making and welding butt joints by this Invention
will shew its practicability, expedition, and trustworthiness. Sufficient
materials having been prepared, the gas holders charged, fires lighted, and
all things ready for uniting the iron materials, I will proceed to make a butt
joint by welding two or three slabs together at their serrated ends, see Figure 2.
The first slab is a little elevated, set on its edge, and firmly fastened to a bed
plate. No. 2 slab is fastened on a truck also on its edge, with its front end
projecting a foot or two over the truck towards No. 1 and its other end
furnished with a cushion; this truck runs on a pair of V-shaped rails. The
front end of No. 2 slab is run up into the end of No. 1 and adjusted to
fit it and run back from four to six inches. A horizontal steam hammer
follows on another truck until its head touches the cushion, in this place the
truck wheels are scotched. Fire-bricks and lumps are placed at the back
and on the top of the gap thus formed by the ends to be united, and other

page_text: open places where it is desirable to keep the heat in. On the pair of rails
in front of the work one or more fire cages sends forth its caloric into the
gap during a few minutes, or until the metals are white hot or nearly so, to
the depth of about an inch, when its oxygen gas is turned off if it has been in
use, fan stopped, and the fire truck moved to the right or left so as to be out
of the way of the men in charge of the blow-pipes; these are now made to
play with or without carburetted hydrogen on all parts of the serrations a few
seconds or until they are equably fused, when in obedience to a signal the
steam hammer pushes No. 2 slab, truck and all, forward; thus the metals are
welded together, and a few rapid blows from the steam hammer make the
joint. The men with small hammers trim up the exuding metal and the joint
is finished. The work is now propped up, the truck released and loaded with
No. 3 slab, which is welded on to the end of No. 2 as before described, and so
the work progresses with facility and rapidity until the required length of a
man-of-war's keel, for example, is constructed in one piece. Figure 2 shows
the way in which very large areas of metal are made (of any thickness) such
as the side of a "Warrior's " hull, or the whole ship, stern post, and ram-like
cutwater, and every inch of her, all in one piece, also fortifications of unlimited
dimensions and strength by butt joints alone, the slabs being guided, dropping
vertically or obliquely into their respective places. Besides stages on each side
of the work, another is made over it to carry the hoisting gear, steam hammers
and other apparatus. On this upper stage, besides the hoisting gear, which
does not occupy the middle of the rails, a steam hammer, made with its striking
head to pass down through the bed plate of its own carriage, travels on rails
directly over the work, the hoisting chains being conducted horizontally under
this stage so as to be out of the sphere of its action and onward progress.
Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 slabs are welded together with a horizontal hammer,
as before described. The top edge of No. 5 is drilled and tapped
near its ends for the reception of eyed bolts, by which it is lifted, suspended,
and lowered from the hoisting gear. (This plan is also followed with numerous
other plates.) These bolts also connect guides which work on the sides of
adjacent plates to keep the slab in position while being heated and welded
down on Nos. 3 and 4; see Figures 7 and 8. After No. 5 has been
lowered to its destination, and the guiding apparatus adjusted, it is raised a few
inches, backed up with fire-bricks, and the whole of its lower edge, also the top
edges of No. 4 and part of No. 3, are fused in the same way as before, or
instead of completing the fusion by blow-pipes, the streams of oxygen which
issue from the ring-like or elongated pipe near the orifice of the fire cage are
increased until the requisite heat is supplied, when upon a given signal the slab

page_text: is lowered on to Nos. 3 and 4, and the chains slackened; the steam hammer and
the men with small hammers complete the process as before. The next is No. 6;
then No. 7, and lastly No. 8, which is made too large to occupy its berth when
cold or until driven down in a welding state. Brackets for carrying the
ends of deck beams or girders are welded on either before or after the hull is
built, or they are bolted on in the usual manner. There being situations in
which it is necessary or more convenient to hoist and deliver the materials to.
be welded by means of a travelling crane or derrick, such are adopted and
worked by steam power or manual labour, but I generally prefer the use of
a crane made for the purpose consisting of a carriage to travel on V rails.
On the carriage is mounted a central pillar, with a radial arm carrying a
carriage and pulleys; this pulley carriage travels on the top part of the arm
and is actuated by a worm and wheel spur and rack gear similar to those
in use in ironfoundries, or the carriage may be made to travel to and fro on
the radial arm by means of a screw and nut similar to a radial drilling
machine. I also occasionally employ similar hoisting gear for placing the
fire cage alongside its work. I sometimes use a steam hammer capable
of striking either vertically or at any required angle, and which may be
elevated, depressed, radiated, elongated, or shortened. These machines are
connected with their own portable boilers, or worked by stationary boilers
with intervening pipes, as before described. Similar mechanical powers
may also be applied in the formation of very large plates by welding
together a series of others laid flat on an iron table with suitable gaps in it
through which the fire may ascend.
Figure 6 is an end view of a crooked armour plate not bent but welded
together in segments by the apparatus herein described, and which is intended to
protect the bows and sterns of war vessels. The steam hammer may, however,
be dispensed with in this description of work, and also in some of the fore-
going illustrations, by substituting screw cramps, wedges, and bydraulic presses
with which to draw or squeeze the fused joints together. Figure 7 is a side
view of a series of iron slabs or plates with square edges welded together. No. 6
slab being suspended by eye bolts in a position to be welded, c is one of its
guides attached to the top edge of No. 5 slab by its former screwed eye bolt hole.
Figure 8 is a top view of the guide c, which shows its bowed form; this shape
is necessary to avoid the fire; d, is another guide fastened to the end of No. 6
slab; e is its frame with a jawf into which d slides. This frame is bolted on
to Nos. 3 and 4 slabs; g is a key or wedge, which is raised and lowered by
the screw h for the purpose of regulating the width of the inclined joint formed
by Numbers 5 and 6; i, i, are set screws, the points of which do not enter but

page_text: merely press against the sides of the slabs. There are similar set screws on
the opposite side of the work; 'k, k, holes for hoisting. tackle. Figure 9 is a
top view of guide and frame d; e. An ordinary mechanic will well understand
how these and other guides varying according to the form and position of the
work may be made and applied. Where I have used the word "slab" in the
foregoing description, the word "plate" is equally applicable.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Littell Tizard, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of March, One - thousand
eight hundred and sixty-three.