IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUC- " TION OF BOATS, BARGES, BUOYS, AND OTHER LIKE STRUCTURES OF METAL, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Ramsell, of Deptford, in the County of
Kent, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUC-
"
TION OF BOATS, BARGES, BUOYS, AND OTHER LIKE STRUCTURES OF METAL, AND
IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Sealed the 29th April 1862, and dated the 6th November 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Ramsell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th
November 1861.
I, WILLIAM RAMSELL, of Deptford, in the County of Kent, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF BOATS; BARGES, BUOYS, AND OTHER LIKE STRUCTURES OF METAL,
AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in constructing metal boats, barges, buoys, and
other like structures, by-stamping the same from one or more plates of metal
by means of machinery, consisting of top and bottom dies or stamps and moulds,
between which the plate of metal is pressed by steam or other gas, or by
hydraulic pressure.
I employ a cylinder containing a piston, armed, by
preference, with five piston rods, each and all of which are capable of being
connected to and disconnected from the die or stamp, according to the work
[Price Sd.]

page_text: to be performed. I drive the piston by admitting sicam or other gas into the
cylinder, or by hydraulic pressure.
For making small boats, say twenty feet long, and four feet six inches beam,
I take a single sheet of metal, say, iron, heat it and stamp it by the machinery
before described, either with a corrugated flat bottom or with a curved bottom,
as desired.
For larger boats, I stamp up, say two separate curved side
plates, and unite them after the insertion of a rib in the centre, to form a keel,
and use as many lengths as may be requisite to make up the length of the
boat; or I form them of two side plates curved to the desired midship section,
and insert a flat or corrugated flat plate to form the bottom. In fact, by suit-
ably shaping my dies and moulds, 1 produce in one piece or in several pieces
the form of structure desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Ramsell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th
May 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME I, WILLIAM
RAMSELL, of Deptford, in the County of Kent, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Ramsell, Her special licence that I, the said William Ramsell,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Ramsell, executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 BOATS, BARGES, BUOYS. AND OTHER LIKE
STRUCTURES OF METAL, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Ramsell, my executors, or adminis-
trators, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Ramsell, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, 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:
My Invention consists in constructing metal boats, barges, buoys, and other
like structures, by stamping the same from one or more plates of metal by
means of machinery, consisting of top and bottom dies or stamps and moulds,
between which the plate of metal is pressed by steam or other gas, or by
hydraulic pressure. 1 employ a cylinder containing a piston armed, by pre-
ference, with five piston rods, each and all of which are capable of being
connected to and disconnected from the top die or stamp, according to the
work to be performed. I drive the piston by admitting steam or other gas
into the cylinder, or by hydraulic pressure.
For making small boats, say 20 feet long, and 4 feet 6 inches beam,
I take a single sheet of metal, say, iron, heat it, and stamp it by the machinery
before described, either with a corrugated flat bottom, or with a curved bottom,
as desired. For larger boats, I stamp up, say, two separate curved side plates,
and unite thein after the insertion of a rib in the centre to form a keel, and
use as many lengths as may be requisite to make up the length of the boat;
or I form them of two side plates curved to the desired midship section, and
insert a flat or corrugated flat plate to form the bottom. In fact, by suitably
shaping my dies and moulds, I produce, in one piece, or in several pieces, the
form of structure desired.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a vertical section, and Figure
2 is a side elevation partly in section of the machinery I employ for the
construction, by stamping, of metal structures; a is the cylinder supported by
the beams b, b, one only of which is seen, and by side supports c, c; d is the
piston carrying five rods e, e, three only of which are seen in connection with
the die or stamp, which in the side elevation is shewn in the form of one
side of a boat, say 20 feet long; the corrugations seen in Figure 1 are
intended to produce a corrugated surface to the bottom of the boat. g, g, are
guides connected to the upper end of the die or stamp f, free to slide up and
down in grooves formed in the side supports h, h; i is the lower die or matrix
on which the metal to be shaped is placed, it is made to correspond with the
upper die f. The shape of these dies may be greatly varied so as produce
any form desired, as will be hereafter more fully described. The upper die
f is connected to the piston rods by links k, k, which are secured to the rods
e, e, the distance between the two dies can be regulated by inserting longer

page_text: KATT
red by une stamps.
Steam or other gas being admitted to the cylinder motion is imparted to the
piston and die, which as the die descends on the plate and matrix, gives that
form to the metal corresponding with the shape of the said die and matrix.
Figure 3 is a vertical section of a die and matrix for stamping the stem and
stern post of a boat or ship, or for stamping a piece of metal into the shape
of the keel for a boat or ship; Figure 4 shews in vertical section tools or dies
for stamping plates into a concave and convex form; Figure 5 shews also in
vertical section tools or dies for hammering out or flattening slabs of iron.
As before stated the shape of the dies or stamps may be greatly varied
without departing from my Invention according to the purposes to which the
plates shaped and stamped by the dies are to be applied. Thus for example
I take a flat piece of metal, place it on a concave bed, and allow a convex
stamp to descend on it. When the plate is removed it has received the shape
or form of the stamps, which by way of example I will suppose to represent
the curve or form required for plates of metal used in the building of ships
or boats. These plates are particularly adapted for building and coating ships
for war and other purposes, and are ready to be put together as soon as they
leave the stamps; Figure 6 is a longitudinal, Figure 7 a horizontal, and
Figure 8 is a vertical section of a battery or ship constructed of plates made
as before described; A is the stem, and A¹ is the stern ram cutter which
extends in a longitudinal direction for about say 40 feet, strengthened by
transverse partitions P, P, P, which run from one end of the battery to the
other B is the outer shell or hull of the battery, which is formed of from
1 to any number of plates, which may be of any desired thickness, all the
plates are struck out from one radius or centre. When the hull is made of
more than one thickness of plates, they are stamped in such manner that one
plate may bed within the other, giving a uniformity of strength throughout
the structure without the aid of many timbers; T, angle or strip iron for
the butts, is stamped by the same means as the plates; M is an inner skin
or shield stamped to the same radius as the plates; C, E, are perforated
wrought-iron tops over all the openings for ventilating the battery, and to
prevent shells and other projectiles from being thrown on to the decks; D is
the main deck made of strong wrought iron extending the whole length and
breadth of the vessel; F is the fighting deck; J is the space for the funnel;
K is an air space and for affording communication between the various decks:
L is the space for the propeller; N, N, are water-tight compartments between
the outer shell or hull, and the inner skin or shield above the main deck
running the whole length of the vessel; 0, 0, are water-tight compartments.

page_text: below the main deck; H and I are the two decks below the principal deck;
G is a globe or circular tower also made of the plates constructed as before
described. Figures 9 and 10 are views in vertical section of two buoys
stamped in two parts by means of dies, of a shape somewhat corresponding
with that illustrated at Figure 4. When stamped the two corresponding
parts are rivetted or otherwise secured together, and fitted with apparatuses
commonly applied to buoys.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my "Improve-
ments in the Construction of Boats, Barges, Buoys, and other like Structures
of Metal, and in Machinery employed therein,"
First, the construction of boats, barges, buoys, and other like structures
by stamping the same from one or more metal plates substantially in manner
herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
And second, the machinery herein-before described, consisting of a cylinder
containing a piston carrying rods and dies or stamps, which are caused to
descend on their matrices on plates of metal placed between them, in order
to stamp and shape such plates in manner and for the purposes herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Ramsell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of May, One thousand eight hundred and
sixty two
WILLIAM RAMSELL. (L.S.)