IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS OR VESSELS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Stephen, junior, of Glasgow, in tho
County of Lanark, North Britain, Ship Builder, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS OR VESSELS."
Sealed the 22nd August 1862, and dated the 26th February 1862..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Stephen at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th February 1862.
I, ALEXANDER STEPHEN, junior, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Ship Builder, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS OR VESSELS," to
be as follows, that is to say:
This Invention has for object to prevent or diminish the injurious cor-
rosion supposed to arise from galvanic action, and hitherto occurring in
those constructive details of ships or vessels in which two different metals and
wood are combined in such a way as to be accessible to moisture, and the
Invention consists in applying to such parts a protecting impervious or non-
conducting covering, coating, or varnish of a viscous, resinous, bituminous, or
vitreous substance, such as waterproof glue, or a waterproof or insoluble
cement, such as Portland cement.
In practising the Invention, as, for example, in those portions of a ship or

page_text: vessel where copper, yellow metal, or composition bolts or fastenings pass
through timber and then through iron, there is first interposed between the
iron and wood a layer of the protective coating, extending for a few inches
around the bolt hole, so as to exclude water or moisture, and after the bolt or
fastening has been passed through and fastened by clenching, rivetting by a
screw nut, or by other means the protective covering or coating is applied to
the inner end of the bolt or fastening; by these means the internal point or
end of the bolt or fastening, and also the part between the wood and iron and
the part passing through the iron, are effectually isolated and protected from
water or moisture, and the injurious action is thereby prevented from taking
place.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Stephen in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th August 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
STEPHEN, junior, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Ship
Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Alexander Stephen, junior, Her special licence that I, the said
Alexander Stephen, junior, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Alexander Stephen, junior, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS OR VESSELS," upon the
_condition, amongst others, that I, the said Alexander Stephen, junior, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Stephen, junior, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
My said Invention has for object to prevent or diminish the injurious
corrosion supposed to arise from galvanic action, such as that hitherto occurring
where the constructive details of ships or vessels have consisted of two different
metals and wood combined and disposed in such a way as to accessible to
moisture or water, and the Invention consists in applying to such parts a pro-
tecting impervious or non-conducting covering, coating, or varnish of a viscous,
resinous, bituminous, or vitreous substance, such as waterproof glue or a'
waterproof or insoluble cement, such as Portland cement, or a combination
of such coverings, coatings, or varnishes may be applied to the said parts.
This improved treatment is designed for use in constructing ships or vessels
of wood and iron combined, as, for example, with frames of iron and planking
of wood, and with or without an external sheathing of copper or other metal
or alloy different from iron, and it is equally applicablo in all cases wherein'
different metals are combined in such a way and are so situated or disposed
as to be accessible to moisture or water.
And. in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the
same may be properly understood, I will particularly describe the mode of
practising the same which I at present prefer to adopt, and to facilitate the
explanation thereof I have hereunto appended! a Drawing showing the appli-
cation of the improvements in a particular case to serve as an example:
The said Drawing is a longitudinal section of a portion of a ship's bottom,
comprising two of the iron frames or floors A, B, the wood planking C, and
one of the bolts D, of copper, yellow metal; or composition. In constructing
the vessel; and before fixing the planking C to the frame A, there is applied
to the surface of the plank C, or to the surface of the frame A, at the parts E.
immediately between the two, and surrounding the hole for the bolt D, a
layer or coating, of any of the substances herein-before mentioned! A con-
venient substance for the purpose is waterproof glue. The bolt hole' in the
frame A is, by preference, punched from the outside (the under side in the
Drawing), and it is in consequence slightly wider on the inner or upper-side..
Some of the coating substance is applied to the bolt hole in the frame A and
to the inside surface of the frame, so as to be between it and the washer F,
and a little tow or.oakum may be advantageously laid round the bolt with the
coating substance. The parts are then screwed hard! together by means of

page_text: the nut G, and this has the effect of squeezing out the superabundant portion
of the coating substance, leaving between the surfaces a compressed film,
which fills the joints, and completely excludes moisture or water therefrom.
It may not be necessary to apply the coating substance inside the bolt hole in
the frame A, as the screwing up or compression forces it sufficiently into the
hole from the layer between the frame A and the washer F; or a layer of
red lead with canvas may be applied between the frame A and the washer F.
And it may also here be remarked that canvas or other like material may be
interposed at the joints along with the coating substance, whatever this
substance may consist of, such canvas or material preventing the coating sub-
stance from being reduced to too thin a layer by the compression.on screwing
up or otherwise binding the parts together. In the Drawing the coating or
film of waterproof glue-or-other substance is colored red. To complete tho
protection of the parts, the inner end of the bolt D and its nut G are covered
by or embedded in a waterproof or insoluble cement, such as Portland
cement H, this cement being, by preference, made to fill up the angle or
corner of the frame A on the side of the bolts, and being continued to fill
up the corner at I of the next frame B. In some cases a portion of the
planking C between the frames, for example, that between the dotted lines h, i,
need not be covered by the cement, and in other cases again the cement
shown in the corner at I may also be dispensed with. In a vertical direction
the cement is, by preference, continued of a uniform or nearly, uniform
thickness or depth from the keel upwards as far as it is considered necessary
to protect the parts from moisture or water. In the Drawing the frame B
is supposed to be sectioned between two of the bolts, to show that the depth
of the cement H' is there the same as at the bolts. By the combination of
coatings or coverings thus described double provision is made against the
access of moisture or water to the parts where, from the immediate contact or
propinquity of the iron frame A and the bolt D, washer F, and nut G, (or
any of them,) of copper or other metal or metals different from iron, corrosion
or injurious action might arise; thus the cement at H and I covers the outer
edges or lines of the joints, whilst the impervious substance in the joints
themselves will prevent the further progress inwards of the moisture or
water, even if it should by any chance reach the outer edges or lines of the
joints.
A consideration of the herein-before described example of the application
of my said Invention will enable the practical shipbuilder to readily apply the
said Invention in the various circumstances that occur in practice, and it will
be evident that it is equally applicable whatever may be the form of bolt or

page_text: fastening, or the form or disposition of the iron frame, iron plate, or other
iron detail which may have to be attached to the wood by means of bolts or
other fastenings of copper or other metal or metals different from iron.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be performed, I have to state that I do
not restrict myself to the precise details herein described or delineated;
but that what I consider to be novel and original, and claim as the
Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent,
is, the applying in the construction of ships or vessels of a protecting
impervious or non-conducting covering, coating, or varnish of a viscous,
resinous, bituminous, or vitreous substance, or a waterproof or insoluble
cement, or a combination of such coverings, coatings, or cements to the
adjacent parts or joints occurring where iron is attached to wood by means
of bolts or other fastenings of copper or other metal or metals different from
iron, for the purpose and substantially in the manner herein-before described,
that is to say, in all cases wherein different metals are combined in such
a way and are so situated or disposed as to be accessible to moisture or
water.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Stephen, junior, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
•Patent Agent,
28, St. Enoch Square,
Glasgow.
AL. STEPHEN, JR. (L.S.)