A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING ARMOUR-PLATED SHIPS AND VESSELS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS, PATENT to John Moore Hyde, of Greenwich, in the County of
Kent, Ship Builder, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD
OF CONSTRUCTING ARMOUR-PLATED SHIPS AND VESSELS."
Sealed the 12th February 1867, and dated the 22nd August 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Moore Hyde at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd August 1866.
I, JOHN MOORE HYDE, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent, Ship
Builder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR
IMPROVED METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING ARMOUR-PLATED SHIPS AND VESSELS," to be
as follows:-
I construct the sides and ends of war ships with two deflecting surfaces or
sides continued all round the ship, and so arranged that a projectile striking
the vessel will be deflected either over or under the said vessel; the apex of
this angular or deflecting side being by preference about 4 to 6 feet out of
the water, and the deflecting angles being arranged, according to circum-
stances, about 20 or 30 degrees from the horizontal, thus causing projectiles
to glance off either over or under the ship, and admitting of a less thickness
of armour plating, and giving greater buoyancy and crew accommodation to
such vessel than is usual. I also place vertical or up-and-down pieces of
timber on the outside of the deflecting sides. I also place flat or horizontal
plates of iron between the run of the vessel and the screw-shaft tubes of

page_text: twin screws; these plates adding strength to the screw shaft tubes, and
forming flat horizontal surfaces to act as a check to the pitching. motion of
such vessels in a sea way.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Moore Hyde in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd February 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MOORE HYDE, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent, Ship Builder, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said John Moore Hyde, Her special licence that I, the said
John Moore Hyde, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Moore Hyde, 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
"A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING ARMOUR-PLATED SHIPS AND
VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Moore
Hyde, 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 1, the said John Moore Hyde, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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, that is to say :-
According to my Invention I construct the sides and ends of war ships
with two deflecting surfaces or sides continued all round the ship, and so
arranged that a projectile striking the vessel will be deflected either over or
under the said vessel; the apex of this angular or deflecting side being by

page_text: preference about 4 to 6 feet out of the water, and the deflecting angles being
about 20 or 30 degrees from the horizontal, thus causing projectiles to glance
off either over or under the ship, and admitting of a less thickness of armour
plating, and giving greater buoyancy and crew accommodation to such vessel
than is usual. I also place vertical or up-and-down pieces of timber on the
outside of the deflecting sides.
The manner in which I prefer to carry my said Invention into effect is
illustrated by the annexed Drawings.
It will be seen that I construct and arrange the inclined surfaces in such
manner that the apex of the angle forms a rigid rib of metal so fitted and
rivetted together at their junction as to present to projectiles a horizontal
mass of metal of (by preference) not less than 18 inches in width, the outside
or outward edge being rounded off. These angular surfaces are intended to cause
projectiles to glance or ricochet either over or under the ship, and the armour
plating will therefore admit of being made of metal of less thickness than is
usually used for the armour plating of war ships. The two ends of the vessels
are made available by means of this angular system for fixed turrets, as
shown in Drawing No. 2. The top angular surface at the ends is carried
more in-board than in the central part of the ship, and also athwart or across
the said ship. At a suitable distance from the extreme ends is a semi-
partition armour plated and inclined in the opposite direction, so as to admit
of forming loopholes for musketry to protect the deck from boarders. I also,
as before mentioned, fix upon the outside of the angular surfaces vertical or
up-and-down pieces of timber; they are secured by screw bolts, the upper
ends on the top sides butting against an angle or other bar of iron placed to
receive them, and the lower ends on the under sides butting against a similar
bar of angle or other bar iron; this external system of timber being intended
to act as a cushion or fender or buffer to influence the line of flight and
receive the first impact of a projectile, and thus protect the armour plate
beneath the said system of timber.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Moore Hyde, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.