IMPROVE- MENTS IN SHIPS AND NAVIGABLE VESSELS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Hodgson Potter, of Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, Ship Builder, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SHIPS AND NAVIGABLE VESSELS."
Scaled the 4th January 1876, and dated the 5th July 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Hodgson Potter
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th July 1875.
I, WILLIAM HODGSON POTTER, of Liverpool, in the County of Lan-
caster, Ship Builder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS AND NAVIGABLE VESSELS," to be as follows:-
:-
My Invention consists of certain novel distributions and combinations
of portions of the upper parts of the hulls of metal, timber, and com-
posite steam and sailing ships and navigable vessels, having for their
main objects to increase the strength of ships without augmenting tho

page_text: cost or reducing the carrying capacity; to provide desired free board;
to reduce the capacity of the ends where it is not desired, and increase
the capacity amidships where the buoyancy is greatest; to ensure a
better lead for the cables through the hawse pipes to the windlass, and
to allow of the present external general appearance being retained:
A ship constructed in accordance with my improvements has the
material of the upper deck and the binding so distributed that the mid-
ship part thereof is raised and the ends lowered, that is to say, the deck
and binding are so disposed as to give, as regards strength, the advan-
tages of an arch. The deck beams are secured to the frames at the
proper heights by the usual means and the stringers; tie plates and
ordinary parts are secured so as to largely strengthen the upper portion
of the vessel. Ordinarily the poop and topgallant forecastle are lowered
to the height of the topgallant rail. The lower decks are constructed
after the manner described above in reference to the upper deck, or they
are constructed and secured in any ordinary manner.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section, and Fig. 2 a transverse section, both
in outline, of a ship constructed in accordance with my Invention.
a, ribs or frames; b, decks; they are lowered at the ends as men-
tioned.
The dotted lines marked indicate those of a ship constructed as has
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Hodgson Potter in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th January 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HODGSON POTTER, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Ship
Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-ninth

page_text: year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William Hodgson Potter, Her special licence that
I, the said William Hodgson Potter, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Hodgson Potter, my exe-
cutors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SHIPS AND NAVIGABLE VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Hodgson Potter, 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

page_text: viewed longitudinally is raised and the ends lowered, all substantially in
the manner and for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hodgson Potter, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Fourth day of January,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-six.
In the presence of
J. T. KING,
Patent Agent,
Liverpool.
W. H. POTTER. (L.S.)
'