A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING LAND BATTERIES AND GUN BOATS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Arrowsmith, of Bilston, in the County of
Stafford, Engineer, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD
OF CONSTRUCTING LAND BATTERIES AND GUN BOATS."
Sealed the 29th May 1860, and dated the 8th December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Arrowsmith at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 8th December 1859.
I, JOHN ARROWSMITII, of Bilston, in the County of Stafford, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING LAND BATTERIES AND GUN BOATS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the method herein-after explained of constructing
land batteries and gun boats of wrought iron or puddled steel iron.
I will describe my Invention as applied to the construction of a land battery.
I roll bars of iron having a groove running their whole length on one side,
and a projection running their whole length on the other side, the said pro-
jection and groove being of nearly the same size. When bars of the kind
described are placed upon one another, the grooved sides being all turned in
the same direction, the groove on one engages with the projection of the next
the bars are curved to the required curvature. The walls of the battery
are formed of two thicknesses of the iron described, the outer and inner walls
formed by the said iron being separated, the enclosed space being filled with
oak; the joints are fitted with dovetail pieces, the bars being so placed as to
break joint. The structure is secured vertically by bolts passing between the
walls, and the parts are bound together horizontally by pins, which are secured

page_text: at one end to the dovetail pieces at top and bottom, and at the other end to
rings in the centre of the structure, the upper of these rings is supported by
bars of wrought iron. The roof is formed of iron similar to that employed for
the walls and the whole is framed internally with oak. The port holes are
closed by plates of hammered steel iron sliding between the walls and supported
by a lever and weight, so that by moving a catch the port hole is closed
immediately; the guns may be mounted on a turntable. An underground
magazine may be constructed behind the battery covered with the same sort
of iron, and connected with a tunnel leading to the centre of the battery, and
through which tunnel ammunition may be supplied as required. A steam
engine may be fixed at a distance baving an exhaust cylinder connected by
pipes with the batteries and having a valve to each opening as soon as the
guns are fired, and which will immediately exhaust the smoke.
I construct gun boats with iron of the kind herein described; I sometimes
face that portion of the iron which is placed outside with steel, which is
effected during the process of rolling.
Iron of the kind described may be used for constructing single walls as well
as double ones.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Arrowsmith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ARROWSMITH, of Bilston, in the County of Stafford, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said John Arrowsmith, Her special licence that I, the said
John Arrowsmith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Arrowsmith, 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 LAND BATTERIES AND GUN
BOATS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Arrowsmith,

page_text: 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 John Arrowsmith, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of the method herein-after explained, and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawings, of constructing land batteries and gun boats
of wrought iron or puddled steel iron.
I will describe and illustrate my Invention as applied to the construction of
a land battery. I roll bars of iron having a groove running their whole
length on one side, and a projection running their whole length on the other
side, the said projection and groove being of nearly the same size. When
bars of the kind described are placed upon one another, the grooved sides
being all turned in the same direction, the groove on one engages with the
projection of the next one; the bars are curved to the required curvature.
The walls of the battery are formed of two thicknesses of the iron described,
the outer and inner walls formed by the said iron being separated, and the
enclosed space filled with oak. The structure is secured vertically by bolts
passing between the walls, and the parts are bound together horizontally by
girders, which are secured at one end to rings in the middle of the battery,
and at the other end to vertical girders fixed in the foundation. The upper
of these rings is supported by bars of wrought iron. The roof may be formed
of iron similar to that employed for the walls, and the whole structure may be
framed internally with oak. The port holes are closed by plates of hammered
steel iron sliding between the walls, and supported by a lever and weight, so
that by moving a catch the port hole is closed immediately. The guns may
be mounted on a turntable. An underground magazine may be constructed
behind the battery, covered with the same sort of iron, and connected with
a tunnel leading to the centre of the battery, and through which tunnel
ammunition may be supplied as required. A steam engine may be fixed at
a distance, having an exhaust cylinder connected by pipes with the batteries,
and having a valve to each battery, the said valves being opened as soon as
the guns are fired; the smoke is thereby immediately exhausted from the
battery.

page_text: I construct gun boats with iron of the kind described; I sometimes face
that portion of the iron which is placed outside with steel, which is effected
during the process of rolling.
Iron of the kind described may be used for constructing single walls as well
as double walls.
In the accompanying Drawings I have represented a land battery of two
stories. I wish it, however, to be understood that batteries may be made
according to my Invention, of one or more stories.
Figure 1 represents a ground plan of the battery, and Figure 2 represents
a vertical section of the same; Figure 3 is a cross section of the iron of
which the walls of the battery are made, the said Figure 3 being on a larger
scale than Figures 1 and 2; Figure 4 is a plan of the centre of the roof, on
the same scale as Figures 1 and 2. The same letters indicate the same parts
in Figures 1 and 2. e, e, are the wrought-iron bars, forming the walls; a is
the oak filling-in, which oak is driven down tightly between the inner and
outer rings or bars e, e, forming the walls; b are wrought-iron bolts, running
from top to bottom of the battery, securing the entire fabric to the foundation;
the said bolts make the whole one solid mass, and bind it together vertically;
c, c, the port-hole sides dovetailed into the iron walls; d, d, the iron girders
running horizontally and vertically throughout the battery. The said girders
are secured to each other with plates and rivets, and bolted into the walls
with bolts. Fixed between these girders and the walls I place a piece of
india-rubber, of the thickness of about one and a half inches, compressed
by the bolting of the girders to the walls into the thickness of about
three-quarters of an inch. The girders d run into the foundation, fare
the rollers upon which the turntable revolves; j, the floor of the turn-
table; g, the oak stretcher pieces, to stay the girders between the car-
riages in which the rollers are fixed; h, h, the port-hole doors, which
are situated not over each other, but one over the space between, the other
two below it. Each port-hole door is supported on a rod with a lever
and balance weight underneath. On the discharge of the ordnance the
balance weight falls and the port-hole is closed by the door h. i, i, the
columns supporting the inner rings, the centre of the roof, and girders; k,
plates by which the girders are secured to each other; is a tube two feet
in diameter, partially filled in with oak, round which tube holes are drilled,
and by means of a valve having connection with an exhaust cylinder worked
by a steam engine the whole of the smoke arising from the discharge of the
artillery can be withdrawn from the battery simultaneously with the firing.
The manner in which the wrought-iron bars e, e, by which the walls of the

page_text: battery are formed, engage in one another will be readily understood by an
examination of Figure 3. The centre of the roof on which the ends of the
girders embed is shown separately in plan in Figure 4. The said centre is
made of cast iron, the spaces between the arms being filled in with oak. A
hoist may be fixed in the open space in the centre of the battery, so as to raise
ammunition to the level of the turntable floor. In making gun boats ac-
cording to my Invention, I construct the sides of the said gun boats of wrought-
iron bars made to engage with one another, in the manner described and
represented with respect to land batteries. The port-holes and doors of the
said gun boats may also be constructed as herein described with respect to
land batteries; but the application of my Invention to gun boats consists essen-
tially in constructing the sides of the said gun boats of iron of the kind
represented in the accompanying Drawings, and marked e. Although, for con-
venience of description, I have described the bars e as made of wrought iron,
yet I also make the said bars e of puddled steel iron or of iron faced with
steel.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the
same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but
I claim as my Invention,-
Firstly, constructing the walls or sides of land batteries and gun boats of
bars of wrought iron or puddled steel iron, or steeled wrought iron, the said
bars being made to engage with one another, in the manner described and
represented in Figures 2 and 3 of the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly, the general arrangement and method of construction of land bat-
teries, herein-before described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, and 4 of the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Arrowsmith have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JOHN ARROWSMITH. (L.S.)