IMPROVEMENTS IN SHEATHING IRON SHIPS OR VESSELS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Frederick Muntz, of the French Walls,
near Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SHEATHING IRON SHIPS OR VESSELS."
Scaled the 5th September 1861, and dated the 13th March 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Frederick Muntz
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th March 1861.
I, GEORGE FREDERICK MUNTZ, of the French Walls, near Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SHEATHING IRON SHIPS OR VESSELS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in sheathing iron ships or
vessels, and consists in sheathing them with sheets of compound metal con-
taining copper and zinc, such sheathing being attached by means of india-
rubber to iron sheets according to Dafts' patent process of coating (described
in his Patents of the 22nd November, 1859, No. 2643, and the 28th January,
1860, No. 227,) such iron sheets being then fixed to the ship's side or bottoni
by screws, rivets, or other convenient fastenings in such manner that the
compound metal sheathing shall be insulated and separated from the iron by
the india-rubber.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Frederick Muntz in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th September 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
FREDERICK MUNTZ, of the French Walls, near Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said George Frederick Muntz, Her special licence that I, the said George
Frederick Muntz, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said George Frederick Muntz, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN SHEATHING IRON SHIPS OR VESSELS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said George Frederick Muntz, 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 per-
formed, 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 George Frederick Muntz, 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:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in sheathing iron ships or
vessels, and consists in sheathing them with sheets of compound metal con-
taining copper and zinc, such sheathing being attached by means of india-
rubber to iron sheets according to Dafts' patent process of coating (described
in his Patents of the 22nd November, 1859, No. 2643, and the 28th January,
1860, No. 227), such iron sheets being then fixed to the ship's side or bottom
by screws, rivits, or other convenient fastenings in such manner that the
compound metal sheathing shall be insulated and separated from the iron by
the india-rubber.

page_text: Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same.
I take a sheet of iron of the size of yellow metal sheets for sheathing ships,
and about of an inch thick, and having scoured or cleaned the surface so
as to free it from scale or rust, I place it upon the plate of a press cor-
responding with it in size, and upon the sheet iron I place a sheet of clean
sulphurized india-rubber of the same size, and about 1 thick. I then take a
piece of yellow metal sheathing and pierce holes of about
of an inch
diameter and about four inches apart round the edges of the sheet, the holes
being made one inch or thereabouts from the edges of the sheet, and then
clean the sheet and free it from oxidation, and in this state I lay it upon the
sheet of sulphurized india-rubber, so that the sheet of india-rubber is between
the sheet of iron and sheet of yellow metal. I then place over these three
sheets the top plate of the press, and cramp the whole together so as to cause
intimate contact between the sheets and india-rubber, and to entirely exclude
the air. Whilst held together in this way I place them in a chamber heated
by steam for the purpose of vulcanizing the india-rubber as is well understood,
and which process of vulcanizing causes adhesion between the sheet iron and
yellow metal, as described in the Specifications above mentioned. The three
sheets being now firmly fixed together, I pierce holes of about of an inch
diameter through the iron and india-rubber in the centre of the holes pre-
viously pierced in the yellow metal, and I attach such sheets to the side of an
iron ship by first drilling holes to agree with the piercings of the iron sheets
attached to the india-rubber and yellow metal, and of a depth short of the
thickness of the plates so drilled. I then with suitable iron nails or rivets of
a size so as to drive tightly into the drilled holes, and with heads small enough
in diameter to escape touching the yellow metal, but sufficiently large to hold
the sheet iron well and firmly to the ship's side, nail or rivet on the iron
sheet, and thus the yellow metal is held fast to the iron sheet without touching
it by means of the india-rubber, which at the same time insulates it. Screws
may be used in place of nails or rivets, but I prefer rivets.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Frederick Muntz, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
G. F. MUNTZ. (L.S.)