CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF MATERIALS POR, AND IN THE ARRANGEMENT OF, AND METHOD OF APPLYING APPARATUS TO BE USED AS TEMPLATES FOR ASCERTAINING & MARKING THE PROPER POSITIONS FOR THE RIVET AND BOLT HOLES REQUIRED IN THE PLATES, FRAMES, AND OTHER PIECES OR PORTIONS OF THE MATERIALS USED IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR MANUFACTURE OF IRON SHIPS OR VESSELS, BOILERS, TANKS, MASTS, SPARS, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES
Year: 1854

page_text: TTERS PATENT to Alexander Stephen, junior, of Kelvinbaugh, near
Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, Shipbuilder, and Alexander Pirnic,
residing at Kelvinhaugh aforesaid, Blacksmith, for the Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF MATERIALS POR, AND IN THE
ARRANGEMENT OF, AND METHOD OF APPLYING APPARATUS TO BE USED AS
TEMPLATES FOR ASCERTAINING & MARKING THE PROPER POSITIONS FOR THE
RIVET AND BOLT HOLES REQUIRED IN THE PLATES, FRAMES, AND OTHER PIECES
OR PORTIONS OF THE MATERIALS USED IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR MANUFACTURE
OF IRON SHIPS OR VESSELS, BOILERS, TANKS, MASTS, SPARS, AND OTHER SIMILAR
ARTICLES."
Sealed the 5th September 1854, and dated the 20th June 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Stephen and
Alexander Pirnie at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 20th June 1854.
We, ALEXANDER STEPHEN, junior, of Kelvinhaugh, near Glasgow, in the
County of Lanark, Shipbuilder, and ALEXANDER PIRNIE, residing at Kelvin-
haugh aforesaid, Blacksmith, do hereby declare the nature of our said Inven-
tion of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF MATERIALS FOR, AND IN
THE ARRANGEMENT OF, AND METHOD OF APPLYING APPARATUS TO BE USED AS TEX-
PLATES FOR ASCERTAINING & MARKING THE PROPER POSITIONS FOX THE RIVET AND
BOLT HOLES REQUIRED IN THE PLATES, FRAMES, AND OTHER PIECES OR PORTIONS OP
THE MATERIALS USED IN THE CONETRUCTION OR MANUFACTURE OF IRON SHIPS OR

page_text: VESSELS, BOILERS, TANKS, MASTS, SPARS, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES," to be
as follows:-
In constructing iron ships, for example, it is of the utmost importance that
the rivet holes in the plates should be so made as to correspond exactly with
the holes in the frames and in the adjoining plates, and to accomplish this
object various plans have been adopted. One system, formerly and still to a
considerable extent in use, is to transport the plates to the vessel or frame of
the vessel, there to hoist and adjust them exactly to the berth or place they
are to occupy, and being so placed to mark the positions of the holes required;
then lower the plates again, thence convey them to the punching machine, and
when the punching operation has been performed, re-convey them to the vessel,
and then hoist and re-adjust them in their intended place the second time. All
this, especially in the case of heavy plates, necessarily occasions great labour;
and not unfrequently, from the unwieldy nature of the materials or other causes,
it is found, after all this labour has been bestowed, that some of the holes have
not been punched with that degree of exactness which is requisite to secure
first-class workmanship.
The expense and inconvenience attendant upon the method above described
has led to various attempts to improve the construction of templates; but while
by means of these more recent alterations or modifications some improvements
have been effected, or particular differences overcome, not a little difficulty and
inconvenience are still experienced in the use or application of such existing
templates, either on account of their weight and unwieldiness, the intricacy of
their construction, and difficulty in shifting of parts, or their unsuitableness for
taking all sets of plates or curves of frames external and internal.
Having thus described an existing method, and referred to the defects or
disadvantages attending the same, which have hitherto been only partially
remedied or overcome by any of the templates in use, we now proceed to state
that the distinguishing feature in our improvements consists in the use or
application of open woven or closely perforated flexible materials for the
construction of templates, such as wire cloth, hair cloth, or cloth of other
suitable inaterial, or of closely perforated flexible sheets of zinc, copper, or
other metals or materials, the texture of such wire or other cloth, and the
perforation of such sheets of ziuc, copper, or other metal or materials being
such as when laid on the frames of the vessel or landings of plates, or
any other spot or place upon which a plate or picce of iron has to be fixed
or rivetted, the rivet holes that have been made in any such piece of work-
manship can be freely and distinctly seen through the wiro cloth or other
cloth, or perforated sheets of metal or other material, of which our template is

page_text: to be formed. The wire cloth or perforated sheets can be made of any dimen-
sions required, and by means of a sliding frame in which they may be fixed,
can be so constructed as to be capable of being extended or contracted in
breadth or in length as required, and that at one side or end, or at both sides
and ends, as found requisite. By the application of such templates to the
frames or landings of plates, the exact positions of the holes in these can with
the greatest facility be seen through and marked upon the template, and this
being done, these markings can with equal facility be transferred to the plate
or other piece or portion of material in which the corresponding holes fall, to
be made by placing the template over the same, and transferring the marks
through its open texture or perforated holes, as the case may be. If frames are
used for our templates, these frames can be made of thin steel or other pliable
material, so as to admit of the templates being bent and easily adapted to all
forms or curves external or internal, like the wire cloth or perforated sheets
within; which will not only be perfectly pliable, but from their texture or
openness, will admit of the dimensions of plates and other portions of materials,
as well as the holes therein, being seen and accurately laid off on its surface
when requisite; in short, the lightness and pliability of our templates will
render them capable of being used with a very small amount of manual labour,
and at the same time with a great facility of application or adaptation to all
sorts of formis and angles, or curves of plates and frames, and other pieces,
without that shifting or adjusting of parts, which forms one of the chief
disadvantages of the existing methods.
Altho' in thus describing our improvements, we have made reference to
a sliding frame for expanding or contracting or otherwise altering the shape
or dimensions of our template, we do not claim such frame or any portion of its
mechanism as forming part of our improvements, such frames and the mecha-
nical means employed for rendering them operative having already been more
or less in use in various forms; but, under reference to the foregoing description,
what we do claim as constituting or embraced by our improvements are,-
1. The use or application for the construction of templates of open woven
or closely perforated materials, such as wire cloth, hair cloth, or cloth of other
suitable material, or of closely perforated flexible sheets of zinc, copper, or
other metals or materials of the description before mentioned; and,
2. The method before described of applying such templates, first, for the
purpose of ascertaining and marking thereon the positions of rivet and bolt
holes required; and, secondly, for the purpose of having these markings trans-
ferred through the open texture or perforated holes to the plates or other
materials in which the corresponding holes fall, to be made or punched.

page_text: In conclusion, it is proper to explain, that while in our description we have
referred chiefly to shipbuilding purposes, our improvements are applicable to
and are intended to embrace the manufacture of boilers, tanks, masts, spars,
and generally all articles in the manufacture or construction of which rivet or
bolt holes are required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Stephen and Alexander Pirnie in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 19th December 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ALEXANDER
STEPHEN, junior, of Kelvinhaugh, near Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
Shipbuilder, and ALEXANDER PIRNIE, residing at Kelvinhaugh aforesaid,
Blacksmith, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, and in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Alexander Stephen, junior, and Alexander Pirnic, Her special
license that we, the said Alexander Stephen, junior, and Alexander Pirnic,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, tho said
Alexander Stephen, junior, and Alexander Pirnie, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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 Isles, and Isle of
Man, in such manner as to us and our foresaids should in our and their
discretion seem meet, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
APPLICATION OF MATERIALS FOR, AND IN THE ARRANGEMENT OF, AND METHOD OF
APPLYING APPARATUS TO BE USED AS TEMPLATES FOE ASCERTAINING AND MARKING
THE PROPER POSITIONS FOR THE RIVET AND BOLT HOLES REQUIRED IN THE PLATES,
FRAMES, AND OTHER PIECES OR PORTIONS OF THE MATERIALS USED IN THE CON-
CTRUCTION OR MANUFACTURE OF IRON SHIP3 OR VESSELS, BOILERS, TANKS, MASTO,
SPARS, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said Alexander Stephen, junior, and Alexander Pirnic, by an instru-
ment in writing under our hands and seals, or under the band and seal of
one of us, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause

page_text: 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 we, the said Alexander Stephen, junior, and Alex-
ander Pirnie, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, that is to say:-
In constructing iron ships, for example, it is of the utmost importance that
the rivet holes in the plates should be so made as to correspond exactly with
the holes in the frames and in the adjoining plates, and to accomplish this
object various plans have been adopted. One system, formerly and still to a
considerable extent in use, is to transport the plates to the vessel or frame of
the vessel, there to hoist and adjust them exactly to the berth or place they
are to occupy, and being so placed to mark the positions of the holes required;
then lower the plates again, thence convey them to the punching machine, and
when the punching operation has been performed, re-convey them to the vessel,
and then hoist and re-adjust them in their intended place the second time.
Such operations, especially in the case of heavy plates, necessarily occasion
great labour; and not unfrequently, from the unwieldy nature of the materials
or other causes, it is found, after all this labour has been bestowed, that some
of the holes have not been punched with that degree of exactness which is
requisite to secure first-class workmanship.
The expense and inconvenience attendant upon the method above described,
and others of a similar nature, have led to the use of what are known in the
trade by the name of templates, being articles or instruments used for taking,
marking, or fixing the positions of the rivet holes made or to be made, as
well as to various attempts to improve the construction of such templates;
but while, by means of these more recent alterations or modifications, some
improvements have been effected, or particular difficulties overcome, very
considerable difficulty and inconvenience are still experienced in the use or
application of such existing templates, either on account of their weight and
unwieldiness, the intricacy of their construction, and difficulty in shifting of
parts, or their want of adaptation and unsuitableness for being applied to all
sets of plates or curves of frames external and internal.
Having thus described an existing method and referred to the defects or
disadvantages attending the same, which have hitherto been only partially
remedied or overcome by any of the templates in use, we now proceed to state
that the distinguishing feature in our improvements consists in the use or
application of open, open-woven, or closely perforated flexible materials for the
construction of templates, such as wire cloth, hair cloth, or cloth of other

page_text: suitable material, or of perforated flexible sheets of zine, copper, brass, or other
metals or materials; the texture of such wire or other cloth, and the per-
foration of such sheets of zinc, copper, brass, or other metal or materials being
such, as when laid on the frames of a vessel, or landings of plates, or any other
spot or place upon which a plate or piece of iron has to be fixed or rivetted,
the rivet holes or other holes that have been made in any such piece of work-
manship, or the form of the plate or other piece of iron to which the template
has been applied as aforesaid, can be freely and distinctly seen through the
wire cloth or other cloth, or perforated sheets of metal or other material, of
which our template is to be formed.
Our improved template, whether formed of wire cloth, which we find to
answer well in practice, or of any of the other materials before mentioned,
may be constructed of such dimensions and in such shape or form as may be
deemed most suitable to the particular purpose to which the same is to be
applied. By way of example, and for the purpose of rendering the following
description more easily understood, the annexed Drawings are referred to as
exhibiting (Figure I) tho plan of a templato formed of iron wire cloth, and
having a frame formed of spring steel; (Figure II) an elevation view or plan
of a portion of the side of an iron ship, partly plated, and showing in con-
nection therewith the application of our said template, for the purpose of
having the position of the plate next to be put on lined off upon it, and the
positions of the bolt and rivet holes marked thereon; and (Figure 1II) a
plan, exhibiting (in full size) the kind of brush we find suitable for marking the
positions of the rivet and bolt holes, first upon the template, and afterwards
in transferring the same to the plate or other article in which holes have to be
punched.
In Figure I, representing the template by itself, the letters A, A, repre-
sent the iron wire cloth, of which the body of the template is formed, the
size or thickness of the wires being what is known as twenty-three wire-
guage, and of which, in weaving the cloth, eight wires are put to the inch.
a, a, a, a, represent the spring steel frame round the outer edge of the wire
cloth. That frame is made of slips of spring steel of the thickness of
number eighteen wire guage, and five-eighths of an inch in breadth; the
edge of the wire cloth being placed between two of these slips all round,
and the slips then rivetted together, so as to hold the wire cloth fast, and
form a frame for stiffening the template. b, b, represent a spring steel
stay placed across the middle of the template. That stay is also formed
of two slips of spring steel of number eighteen wire guage, but of the
breadth of three-eighths of an inch, which slips are placed on opposite

page_text: sides of the wire cloth, with their ends introduced between the slips which
form the frame, where the same are fixed with rivets, besides which the two
slips forming the stay are rivetted together through the wire cloth body of the
template. The object of the stay being merely to afford additional stiffening,
it may be dispensed with when, from the small size of the template, the frame
itself is found sufficient; and, on the other hand, more than one stay may be
requisite, if the size of the template materially exceeds that delineated in the
Drawing under description.
In Figure II, representing the same template in connection with or as
applied to a portion of the side of an iron ship in the course of being plated,
the letters B represent the angle-iron frames of the ship with the necessary
holes punched therein; C represent plates that have already been put on, and
shewing the positions of the bolt and rivet holes therein; D represent the
unplated portion of the centre strake, a part of which unplated portion is
represented as covered by the template.
The template is represented as so placed or applied for the purpose of mark-
ing off thereon not only the lines of what are technically called the "butts"
or ends, and of the edges or extreme sides of the plate next to be put on,
but also the positions of the bolt and rivet holes; as in Figure I, the letters
A, A, represent the iron wire cloth, of which the body of the template is
formed; a, a, a, a, the spring steel frame; and b, b, the spring steel stay, all as
before described. c, c, represent (as seen through the wire cloth texture of
the template) the right "butt" or end of the plate last put ou, the line of
which falls to be marked on the template in order that the left "butt"
or end of the plate about to be put on may be made to correspond. d, d,
represent (as seen through the template) a dotted line, marking the position
of the right "butt" or end of the plate about to be put on, which in like
manner falls to be marked on the template. e, e, & è, è, respectively represent
(as seen through the template) the dotted lines which mark the positions which
the extreme sides of the plate about to be put on are intended to occupy or
reach to, and which in like manner fall to be marked on the template.
Through the template, and within the limits of the four lines denoted by the
letters c, c, d, d, e, c, è, è, respectively, are seen the positions of the various rivet
and bolt holes which fall to be marked on the template in the first instance,
with the view of being afterwards transferred to the plate about to be
put on.
For marking upon the template (after it has been properly adjusted to and
fixed or held in its proper position by any of the ordinary means in use for that
purpose) the straight lines, denoting the butts or ends or the sides of plates,

page_text: we find a common chalk line very suitable; and where it happens that the
plates are curved, or otherwise of irregular figures or shapes, we find such
curves and irregular figures or shapes can be well marked by means of a piece
of cominon chalk. For marking the positions of the rivet or bolt holes, we
use a small hair brush, similar to that delineated on the annexed Drawings,
and forming Figure III, the end of which, after being dipped in a mixture
of whitening and water, is put upon the wire cloth of the template, exactly
opposite or over each of the rivet and bolt holes, as seen through the
template.
When the necessary lines and the positions of the rivet and bolt holes have
been marked upon the template in the manner above mentioned (or in any
other manner, which according to circumstances may be found inore suitable
or convenient), the next operation is to remove the template from the ship's
side, and place it upon or over the plate next to be put on, and the same being
adjusted and held or secured in the proper position; then to transfer through
the open texture (or perforated holes, as the case may be,) of the template to
the plate to be operated on, the corresponding lines of the butts or ends and
of the sides and the positions of the various bolt and rivet holes which had in
the first instance been marked on the template. This can be done by means of
the same or similar implements and materials as those by which the lines and
markings are first made on the template.
After the necessary delineations and markings have been so transferred to
the plate, it can be cut of the proper shape and dimensions, and the bolt and
rivet holes punched in conformity with the markings, whereupon it has only to
be removed to the ship's side, and placed and rivetted in its proper position.
For the better preservation of our templates formed of iron wire cloth, the
markings thereon should be washed off, by means of a hair brush and water,
as soon as conveniently may be, after the markings for the time being have
been transferred to the plate to be operated on; because, if the mixture of
whitning and water used for making the markings is allowed to dry and
harden, the operation of cleaning, which is necessary before the template
is rendered fit for being again used or applied, becomes more difficult.
While in thus describing the nature of our Invention, and referring, for the
sake of illustration, to Drawings exhibiting the manner in which our templates
may be constructed and applied for the purpose of shipbuilding, we are not
to be understood as thereby limiting ourselves either as to the precise materials
or to the particular mode or form of construction, or to the particular applica-
tion of the template represented by those Drawings; it will be obvious, that as
regards wire cloth, besides iron, the materials of which the wire composing the

page_text: cloth is made, may bo brass, copper, or other metals, or a combination of
metals; that it may be galvanized, and that the size of the wire and openness
of texture of the wire cloth may be varied, according to the extent of flexibility
desired, care being always taken, however, to preserve a sufficient degree of
openness in the texture, to admit of the positions of rivet and bolt holes, &.
being freely and distinctly seen through such texture, so as to be exactly
marked thereupon, and being so marked, to admit of the markings been readily
and freely transferred therethrough, in manner before described. As regards
perforated flexible sheets of zinc, copper, brass, or other metals, the thickness
of the sheets and the extent of perforations therein may in like manner be
varied, according to the degree of flexibility required, subject to the same pre-
caution or qualification last mentioned; and with this further explanation, that
the perforations should be made as small and as numerous as the nature of the
material will admit of, without rendering the sheet too weak for being safely
bent, so far as necessary, when applied to template purposes, as before
explained. As regards hair cloth, or other cloth of spun fibre or material,
while we consider the same less suitable than wire cloth for general purposes,
nevertheless such materials might also be used for the construction of our tem-
plates. The hair used in the case of hair cloth would require to be as thick and
strong as could be procured, and the spun fibres, in the case of other materials,
to be at least as thick as the wire used for the wire cloth herein-before described,
and the texture in either caso about the same degree of openness; for tem-
plates formed of such hair cloth, or cloth of spun fibre, frames and stays for
stretching and stiffening would be indispensable.
Besides shipbuilding purposes generally, it will be obvious that our improved
templates are no less applicable to the construction of boilers, tanks, and other
articles in the manufacture, construction, or making of which relative corre-
sponding rivet, bolt, or other holes are required, or where the lining off or
delineating of corresponding parts becomes necessary. And one general
characteristic and advantage of our Invention consists in this, viz', that from
the lightness and pliable nature of the materials of which our templates can be
constructed, the same are capable of being used with a very small amount of
manual labour, and at the same time with great facility of application or
adaptation to all sorts of forms and angles or curves of plates and other pieces
of workmanship.
Neither are we to be understood as limiting ourselves to any particular
shape or form of template, or to any particular kind or mode of constructing
frames for the same, although we do not lay claim to any novelty in either of

page_text: these respects; but, with reference to the foregoing description and explanation,
what we do claim as constituting or embraced by our improvements are,-
First, the use or application for the construction of templates of open woven
or closely perforated materials, such as wire cloth, hair cloth, or cloth of other
suitable material; or of perforated flexible sheets of zinc, copper, brass, or
other metals or materials of the description before mentioned.
And, second, the method before described of applying such templates, first,
for the purpose of ascertaining and marking thereon the positions of rivet and
bolt holes or other holes required, or the form or outlines of the plates or other
pieces of iron or other material to which our template may be applied; and,
secondly, for the purpose of having these markings or forms or outlines trans-
ferred through the open texture (or perforated holes, as the case may be,) of
the template to the plates or other piece or portion of material in which the
corresponding holes fall to be made or punched, or upon which the forms or
outlines fall, to be delineated in the manner herein-before explained.
In witness whereof, we, the said Alexander Stephen, junior, and
Alexander Pirnie, have hereto set our respective hands and seals, this
Eighteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord Eighteen hun-
dred and fifty-four.