IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CAULKING DECKS, CEILINGS, AND FLOORS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John McIntyre, of Jarrow-upon-Tyne, in the County
of Durham, Iron Ship-builder, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR CAULKING DECKS, CEILINGS, AND FLOORS."
Sealed the 1st February 1856, and dated the 7th September 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John McIntyre at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th
September 1855.
I, JOHN MCINT RE, of Jarrow-upon-Tyne, in the County of Durham, Iron
Ship-builder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CAULKING DECKS, CEILINGS. AND FLOORS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of self-
acting caulking machine for caulking decks, ceilings, or floors, when oakum or
other material as a substitute is used, whether such decks, ceilings, or floors
be for wood or iron ships.
This apparatus consists of a wrought-iron carriage,travelling on four running
wheels, and carrying a transverse shaft, fitted at one end with a spur wheel and
at the other with cams, which latter actuate the caulking tools. These tools
are guided on the side frames over the seams to be caulked. The wheels of the
caulking tools are made to guide the machine in the line of the seams, whilst
[Price 8d.]

page_text: the carrying wheels of the machine are made to guide the oakum or other
material employed into its place in the seams. The machine may be fed by
hand or by self-acting mechanism, and may carry a pitch kettle for paying
the seams with pitch as fast as they are caulked. One or more seams may
obviously be caulked at one time by simply increasing the number of sets
of caulking hammers. The machine is moved forward by a rope or chain,
fitted to any portion of the ship or other surface to be caulked ahead of the
machine, whilst the other end of this rope or chain is wound round a barrel on
the shaft of the pinion for driving the cam wheel, on which shaft is also fitted
the winch handle for working the machine. The whole machine may, how-
ever, be made to work by steam if found desirable. The caulking tools and
hammers are arranged in such a manner as to enable them to be adjusted
to suit the varying widths of the deck floor or other planking.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John McIntyre in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th March 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MCINTYRE, of Jarrow-upon-Tyne, in the County of Durham, Iron Ship-
builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and graut unto me,
the said John McIntyre, Her special license that I, the said John McIntyre,
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
McIntyre, my executors, administrators, or 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 law fully 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 APPARATUS FOR
CAULKING DECKS, CEILINGS, AND FLOORS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John McIntyre, by an instrument in writing under hand
and seal, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW I, that 1, the said John Mintyre, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner to same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
self-acting caulking machine for caulking decks, ceilings, or floors, when
oakum or other material as a substitute is used, whether such decks, ceilings,
or floors be for wood or iron ships.
This apparatus consists of a cast-iron carriage, travelling on four running
wheels, and carrying a transverse shaft, fitted with a spur wheel and cams,
which latter actuate the caulking tools.
These tools are guided on suitable wrought-iron standards orbracketsover
the seams to be caulked. The caulking tools are in the form of wheels with
sharp edges,and are made to guide the machine in the line of the seams, whilst
the carrying wheels of the machine are made to guide the oakum or material
employed into its place in the seams. The machine may be fitted with a pitch
kettle for paying the seams with pitch as fast as theyare caulked. One or more
seams may obviously be caulked at one time bysimplyincreasing the number
of tools and caulking hammers. The machine is moved forward by a rope or
chain, fitted to any portion of the ship or other surface to be caulked ahead of
the machine, whilst the other end of this rope or chain is wound roundabarrel
on one of the shafts of the machine. The whole machine may, however, be
made to work by steam if found desirable.
Thecaulking tools and hammers are arranged in such a manner as to enable
them to be adjusted to suit the varying widths of the deck floor or other
planking.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall refer to
the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the same
letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents a side elevation of my caulking ma-
chine; Figure 2 is a corresponding end elevation of the same; and Figure 3
is a plan of the machine. A, A, is a cast-iron carriage, fitted with suitable
standards B, B, and running on four carrier wheels C, C; D is the first
motion or main driving shaft, working in the bearings E, E, in the standards
B. This shaft is fitted at one or both ends with a winch handle F, and carries
a pinion G, gearing into the spur wheel H, fast on the second motion or cam
shaft I, which is carried in the bearings J, J, in the side standards B. K, K,

page_text: are two tappet wheels or cams fast on the second motion or cam shaft, for the
purpose of actuating the hammers L, L, of the rotatory caulking tools M, M,
The hammers are constructed somewhat after the manner of tilt hammers.
and work on the fixed centres N, N, in the supports O, O, secured to the bed
plate of the carriage A. Each tappet wheel is made to work two hammers,
and in order that the rotation of the tappets may elevate both hammers,
although worked from opposite sidesthereof,a secondarylever Pisintroduced,
working on a centre at Q in a suitable support, and bearing at one end on the
tail of the hammer, whilst its other end is actuated by the ascending tappets
of the tappet wheel.
The caulking tools M are fitted into the lower forked ends of the vertical
spindles R, which are guided vertically by the brackets S, bolted to each end
of the carriage.
A strong helical spring Tround each spindle serves to keep the tools always
in the seams when in action.
The tools and hammers may be adjusted laterally in the slots U, U, to suit
various widths of flooring or planking, the tappet wheels being made to slide
along the shaft I. A barrel or drum V, fast on the third motion shaft W,
serves to move the machine along the seams during the process of caulking.
This is effected by means of a rope fixed at one end to any convenient portion
of the deck or flooring, whilst its other end is secured to and wound round the
drum V. Motion is communicated to the drum shaft W from the cam or
tappet shaft I, by the two pinions X and Y, either of which may (by suitable
lever handles and clutches) be thrown in or out of gear, as required, with the
large spur wheel % fast on the drum shaft W, by which means the motion of
that shaft may be reversed at pleasure. a is a crank fast on the end of the
shaft W, which crank imparts a rotatory motion to the running or travelling
wheels C, C, by means of the triangular framing or coupling bar b, which is
connected to the crank a, and to the cranks d, d, fast on the ends of the axes
e, e, of the travelling wheels. By thus imparting a rotatory motion to the
travelling wheels, the traverse of the machine is rendered more easy, and a
certain portion of the strain is thereby removed from the hauling rope. The
machine may be traversed either fore or aft without removing or raising the
tools from the seams by reversing the motion of the shaft W, which is effected
by causing its spur wheel K to receive its motion either direct from the pinion
Y fast on the shaft I, or indirectly from that pinion through the intermediate
pinion X, which runs loose upon a fixed stud y, the pinions X and Y being
always in gear with each other, although alternately in gear with the spur
wheel Z, according as the machine is to travel fore or aft. h, h, are four

page_text: additional travelling wheels, running in the arms i, i, which are fast on the
two transverse shafts k, k. These wheels are for raising the machine and
caulking tools bodily out of the seams, which is effected by bringing the wheels
down on to the deck by means of the lever 1, which is formed with a socket
at its lower end to fit on to the end of an arm m, fast on one extremity of
each of the shafts . It will thus be obvious, that by turning down or
depressing the lever 1, each pair of wheels h, h, may be brought down on to
the deck or flooring, and so raise the entire machine, which will then run
entirely upon the wheels h, h, for the simple purposes of transport.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variatious may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of my said Invention; but
what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general construction and arrangement of machinery or apparatus
for caulking decks, ceilings, or floors, as herein-before described.
Second, the system or mode of propelling caulking machines, by means of
a fixed rope coiled round a drum or barrel, carried by the machine itself,
and by imparting à rotatory motion to the running wheels of the machine,
as herein-before described.
Third, the system or mode of working the hammers of caulking machines
by means of tappets or cams, in the manner and for the
herein-before
described.
purpose
Fourth, the peculiar construction, arrangement, and mode of working the
caulking tools, as herein-before described.
Fifth, the so disposing of the caulking tools and hammers that they may
be readily adjusted to suit various widths of boards or planks, as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John McIntyre, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of March, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-six.
JOHN MCINTYRE. (L.S)