IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF SHIPS OF WAB
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Meadows Rendel, of No. 8, Great George
Street, in the City and Liberty of Westminster, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF SHIPS OF
WAB."
Sealed the 10th July 1860, and dated the 16th January 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Meadows
Rendel at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 16th January 1860.
I, ALEXANDER MEADOWS RENDEL, of No. 8, Great George Street, in the
City and Liberty of Westminster, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF SHIPS
OF WAR," to be as follows:-
I employ defensive plates of iron, steel, or other material backed with
timber or not, or otherwise protected, which I hereafter called armour, in-
board of the ship, upon longitudinal and transverse bulkheads or girders
extending upwards from the ship's bottom, or other convenient place, to the
height requisite for the shelter of the gun deck, with or without plating of
any thickness laid upon timber, or otherwise protected and strengthened
overhead. The armour necessary for the protection of the ship may be placed
on the girders, or only so much as is necessary for the protection of the gun
deck and deck below; it may be placed on the girders, the remainder being
placed upon the ship's sides, or otherwise connected together.

page_text: In arranging ships of war, whether armour, as above described, be applied,
either in whole or in part, I proceed as follows:-
First, I place the heavy weight of the armour as near the centre of gravity
as possible, with a view to diminish the oscillations it would occasion.
Secondly, I place the guns as near the centre of the ship as possible, in
order to increase the steadiness of the platform from which they are fired.
Thirdly, in furtherance of these objects I construct the vessel with a gang-
way all round the battery between the ship's sides and the space enclosed for
the battery.
Lastly, I arrange and construct the vessel in such manner as to incorporate
some of the material necessary for the protection of the battery into the.
strength of the ship, reduce the cost of the armour by the use of flat plates
only, save the ship's sides from the straining which would result from the
armour being laid upon them, and in combination with wrought-iron upper
and lower decks, divide the ship into the greatest possible number of water-1
tight compartments.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Meadows Rendel in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th July 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
MEADOWS RENDEL, of No. 8, Great George Street, in the City and Liberty of
Westminster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of January, in the year-of-our-Lord-
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said.
Alexander Meadows Rendel, Her special licence that I, the said, Alexander
Meadows Rendel, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Alexander Meadows Rendel, my executors, admi-.
nistrators, 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 AND ARRANGE-
MENT OF SHIPS OF WAR," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said.
Alexander Meadows Rendel, my executors or administrators, by an instrument

page_text: in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Alexander Meadows Rendel, 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:-
I employ armour in the form of iron or steel plates, or plates of other
material, or armour in any other form backed with timber or not, or otherwise
protected in-board of the ship, upon longitudinal and transverse bulkheads or
girders extending upwards from the ship's bottom, or other convenient place
to the height requisite for the shelter of the gun deck, with or without plating
of any thickness, laid upon timber or otherwise protected and strengthened
overhead. The armour necessary for the protection of the ship may be placed
wholly on the girders, or only so much as is necessary for the protection of the
gun deck and deck below; it may be placed on the girders, the remainder
being placed on the ship's sides, or otherwise connected together.
In arranging ships of war, whether the armour, as above described, bo
applied, either in whole or in part, I proceed as follows:-
First, I place the weight of the armour as near the centre of gravity of the
ship as possible, with a view to diminish the oscillations it would occasion.
Secondly, for the same purpose, and also in order to increase the steadiness
of the platform from which they are fired, I place the guns as near the centre
of the ship as possible.
Thirdly, in furtherance of these objects, and to assist in working the ship, I
construct it with a gangway all round the battery between the ship's sides and
the space enclosed for the battery.
Lastly, I arrange and construct the ship in such manner as to incorporate
some of the material necessary for the protection of the battery into the
strength of the ship, save the ship's sides from the straining which would
result from the armour being laid upon them, and in combination with
wrought-iron upper and lower decks divide the ship into a great number of
water-tight compartments.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I do not claim as of my
Invention, or the exclusive use of the metal plates herein-before referred to,
except when the same are employed in and for the purposes of my said

page_text: Invention, which I hereby declare to consist in the construction and arrange-
ment of ships of war, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Meadows Rendel, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of July, in the year
of our-Lord-One-thousand.eight.hundred and sixty.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the above-
named Alexander Meadows Rendel in
the presence of
ARTHUR METCALFE, Sol'.,
A. M. RENDEL. (L.S.)
28, Parliament St., Westminster.
JOHN RENDEL,
8, Great George Street, Westminster.