An Appliance for Use in the Cementing of Armour Plates.
Year: 1896

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Appliance for Use in the Cementing of Armour Plates.
I, DOUGLAS VICKERS, a Managing Director of Vickers Sons & Co. Limited,
Steel Manufacturers, Sheffield, in the County of York, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to an appliance for use in the cementing of armour plates
the object which I have in view being to retain the plates undergoing cementation
in close contact with the charcoal employed. For this purpose, in a suitable
furnace chamber, I place on brickwork supports a plate which is to be cemented on
its upper face.
On the sides and ends of this plate near the edges I place pieces of pipe lying on
their sides, thus forming a kind of trough which I fill with powdered charcoal above
the level of the sides formed by the pipes.
On this bed of charcoal I place another plate, which by its weight compresses
the charcoal until it takes a bearing on the pipes. The furnace chamber is then
heated and cementation goes on. As the depth of the charcoal diminishes, the pipes
being softened by the heat, become flattened by the partly unsupported weight of
the upper plate, thus allowing the plate to descend along with the upper surface of
the charcoal with which the plate continues to be in close contact, during the whole
period of cementation.
Instead of pipes, strips of metal plate may be used, these being bent in section, so
as to present a rounded longitudinal ridge on the one side and a corresponding
furrow on the other side, or several such ridges and furrows or corrugations.
These strips, which form the sides of the charcoal trough, become more and more
bent as the charcoal layer becomes thinner, allowing the upper plate to descend.
Dated this 18th day of February 1896.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Appliance for Use in the Cementing of Armour Plates.
I, DOUGLAS VICKERS, a Managing Director of Vickers Sons & Co. Limited,
Steel Manufacturers, Sheffield in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to an appliance for use in the cementing of armour plates
the object which I have in view being to retain the plates undergoing cementation
in close contact with the charcoal employed.
For this purpose I proceed as I shall describe referring to the accompanying
drawings.
In a suitable furnace chamber A Fig. 1 I place on brickwork supports B a
plate which is to be cemented on its upper face.

page_text: On the sides and ends of this plate near the edges I place pieces of pipe D lying
on their sides, thus forming a kind of trough which I fill with powdered charcoal C
above the level of the sides formed by the pipes.
On this bed of charcoal C I place another plate Q which by its weight com-
presses the charcoal C until it takes a bearing on the pipes D. The furnace
chamber is then heated and cementation goes on. As the depth of the charcoal C
diminishes, the pipes D being softened by the beat, become flattened by the partly
unsupported weight of the upper plate as shewn in Fig. 2, thus allowing the
plate Qto descend along with the upper surface of the charcoal with which the
plate continues to be in close contact, during the whole period of cementation.
Instead of pipes, strips of metal plate S may be used as shewn in Fig. 3, these
being bent in section so as to present a rounded longitudinal ridge on the one side
and a corresponding furrow on the other side, or several such ridges and furrows
or corrugations.
These strips S which form the sides of the charcoal trough, become more and
more bent as the charcoal layer becomes thinner, allowing the upper plate to
descend.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what inanner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
An appliance for cementing a pair of armour plates consisting of pieces of pipe
or bent metal interposed between the plates and enclosing a bed of charcoal,
substantially as described.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.