IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIP'S KEELSONS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Johnson Thompson, of Sunderland, Builder, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIP'S KEELSONS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Johnson Thompson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
January 1856.
I, JOHNSON THOMPSON, of Sunderland, Builder, do hereby declare the nature
of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIP'S KEELSONS" to be as follows:-
These improvements are more particularly intended for timber built ships,
but they may also be applied when building iron ships; and the object of the
improvements is to get greater strength in constructing the keelsons of ships.
For these purposes the keelson of a ship is composed of plates of sheet iron on
edge, or of angle iron in combination with pieces of timber, the iron and the
timber being bolted together horizontally by bolts, and the keelson is bolted
to the keel as heretofore, the bolts or fastenings which fix the keelson to the
keel passing by preference through the timber, of which the keelson is partly
made. The arrangement and number of plates of iron and of angle iron may
be varied, and such is also the case in respect to the pieces of timber combined
therewith, and where the several pieces of timber are scarfed, it is desirable
that the scarfs of the different longitudinal pieces of timber should be at a
distance from each other, or what is called break joint.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Johnson Thompson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th July 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHNSON
THOMPSON, of Sunderland, Builder, 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 fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Johnson Thompson, Her special licence that I, the said Johnson Thompson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Johnson
Thompson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agreo
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 SHIPS'
KEELSONS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Johnson
Thompson, 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 I, the said Johnson Thompson, 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:-
These improvements are more particularly intended for timber built ships.
but they may also be applied when building iron ships; and the object of the
improvements is to get greater strength in constructing the keelsons of ships.
For these purposes the keelson of a ship is composed of plates of sheet iron on
edge, or of angle iron in combination with pieces of timber, the iron aild the
timber being bolted together horizontally by bolts, and the keelson is bolted to
the keel as heretofore, the bolts or fastenings which fix the keelson to the keel
passing by preference through the timber, of which the keelson is partly.made.
The arrangement and number of plates of iron and of angle iron may be varied,
and such is also the case in respect to the pieces of timber combined therewith;
and where the several pieces of timber are scarfed, it is desirable that the scarfs

page_text: of the different longitudinal pieces of timber should be at a distance from each
other, or what is called break joint.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same:
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
No. 1 shows a transverse section of a sister keelson; No. 2 shows a
transverse section of a keelson or sister keelson; No. 3 shows so much of a
transverse section of a ship or vessel, as is required to show the application and
construction of a keelson according to my Invention, the keelson shown being
similar to that at No. 2. I would state that the form of the angle iron, and
the mode of combining wood therewith, may be varied; and I would state that
I do not confine myself to the precise arrangements shown, but have for the
information of ship builders represented various sections of keelsons, constructed
of iron and wood according to my Invention at No. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10; and
at No. 11 I have shewn a longitudinal section of a ship or vessel, with a
keelson fitted thereto according to my Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Johnson Thompson, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
JOHNSON THOMPSON. (L.S.)
Witness,
JAMES TODD,
Clerk to Mr. J. M. Cooper, Sol",
Sunderland.