IMPROVE- MENTS IN CONSTRUCTING AND ARMING SHIPS AND VESSELS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Josiah Jones, junior, of Ship Yard, Sefton Street,
Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CONSTRUCTING AND ARMING SHIPS AND VESSELS."
Sealed the 3rd October 1862, and dated the 9th April 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Josiah Jones at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th April
1862.
1, JOSIAH JONES, junior, of Ship Yard, Sefton Street, Liverpool, in the County
of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CONSTRUCTING AND ARMING SHIPS AND VESSELS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in constructing and arming
ships and vessels.
In order that the power of steam may be employed when alongside of an
enemy's ship to make a hole therein below the water, provision is made in
constructing a ship or vessel, and applying steam machinery thereto, for
employing what may be termed a steam battering ram adapted to produce the
effect above mentioned. For this purpose at the bow or other part or parts of
ship or vessel suitably constructed to resist projectiles and be propelled with
as much speed as may be, a ram is or rams are applied, each ram consists of
a shaft or bar capable of sliding water-tight to and fro through the bow or other
part of the ship or vessel. The inner end of this bar or shaft is in connection
with the piston of a steam cylinder so as to be worked by steam quickly to and

page_text: fro in a similar manner to a steam hammer. If desired, the ram may be made
hollow, so as to admit of a shell being passed through it into the enemy's ship.
In order that a ship may be enabled to fire a projectile through the bottom
of an enemy's ship below the water when attempting to run an enemy down
or otherwise to come against her, the bow or part of the bow of the vessel
is so made that it may pass to some extent under the enemy's ship or
vessel, and from this part of the bow an inclined passage rises to a position
above the level of the water so that a suitable gun or piece of ordnance may,
when loaded, be lowered down so as to come under the enemy's ship, and in
contact therewith or nearly so, and then fire its charge into or through the
enemy's ship. In some cases the bow is at a point somewhat below the water,
made very strong, and with a hollow passage through it to admit of a gun or
piece of ordnance being fired along the passage and through the side of an
enemy's ship or vessel immediately on the bow striking the enemy's ship, so
that if the damage consequent on the collision is not sufficient to sink the
enemy the discharge of the gun or piece of ordnance may effectually accom-
plish this end.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Josiah Jones in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th
October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME I, JOSIAH
JONES, junior, of Ship Yard, Sefton Street, Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of April, 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 Josiah Jones, Her special licence, that I, the said Josiah Jones,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Josiah Jones, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CONSTRUCTING AND ARMING SHIPS AND VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that. I, the said Josiah Jones, my executors or administrators, by

page_text: 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 Josiah Jones, 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 :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in constructing and arming
ships and vessels.
In order that the power of steam may be employed when alongside of an
enemy's ship to make a hole therein below the water, provision is made, in
constructing a ship or vessel and in applying steam machinery thereto, for.
employing what may be termed a steam battering ram adapted to produce the
effect above mentioned. For this purpose at the bow or other part or parts of
a ship or vessel (suitably constructed to resist projectiles and to be propelled
with as much speed as may be) a ram (or rams) is applied; each ram consists
of a shaft or bar capable of sliding water-tight to and fro through the bow or
other part of the ship or vessel. The inner end of this bar or shaft is in con-
nection with the piston of a steam cylinder so as to be worked by steam
quickly to and fro in a similar manner to a steam hammer.
Having thus stated the nature of the Invention, I will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same.
In ordinary war ships or vessels the parts below the water are for the most
part protected from the effects of shot by their being immersed some feet
below the water, which greatly diminishes the effect otherwise resulting
from the high velocity of shot.
According to this Invention a powerful steam ram or rams is or are applied to
a vessel of high speed and well protected by armour plating. The Drawings
shew machinery consisting of a ram or moving mass of about 35 tons, forming
the piston and piston rods of a steam cylinder. The Drawings represent the
machine as it would be fitted to work through the two opposite sides of a
vessel, but like machinery may also be fitted and applied to the prow,, in which
case the rain may be all on one end of the piston; the steam for actuating the
ram may be supplied from the boiler of the propelling engines, or additional
boilers may be employed. In case the boilers of the propelling engines be used,
it is desirable they should be capable of supplying steam, say at 40 lbs. above
the pressure of the atmosphere, and the ram worked as a high-pressure engine.

page_text: A is the main cylinder, which is provided at both ends with steam ports
As and exhaust ports A c. The latter are placed about 4 feet from the ends
of the cylinder in order to ensure a safe cushion should the ram meet with no
resistance. The ram and piston are preferred to be made in three parts, the
piston B is preferred to be of malleable iron forged in one piece, with two
pins or projections B, B, for attaching the piston to the rams C, C, which are
preferred to be of steel. The rams C, C, are arranged to work out through
the sides of the vessel through apertures D, D, which are provided with
sluices to be shut when the rams are not in use. The rams are worked in
strong metal tubes E, E, which are preferred to be made in two halves for
convenience of erection and repairs. The sides of the vessel are strengthened
round the apertures D, D, and for a considerable distance fore and aft by a
strong forging F, F. The rams represented are designed to strike at any
distance less than eleven feet from the side of the ship, but this may be varied
according to the construction of the vessel to which my Invention is applied,
and the ram may be caused to repeat its action many times in a minute.
G, G, are slide valves of cylindric section and of equilibrium construction,
which are the description of valves preferred. The outer ends of the chambers
of these valves are marked Gs, and these chambers are always open to fresh
steam, whilst the inner ends Ge are always open to the exhaust. The valves
K, K, by which the steam is admitted are differential ones, and so constructed
that they only permit the steam to enter the cylinder, but will not allow it to
return. These valves are liberated by the handles K¹, K'; H is a steam
cylinder and piston to work the slide valves G, G; J, J, are cylindric slide
valves to regulate the action of this piston H.
nected to the slide valves J, J, and by it the whole of the machine is controlled.
I is the steam cylinder and piston to move the slide valves J, J; L' is a slide
valve for the piston L, and is so constructed that by it the machine is rendered
self-acting. M, M are equilibrating valves opening to the main cylinder by
the grated ports M', M'. The tubes N, N, the pins N, N', and the levers
No, N2, form an arrangement by which the slide valves will be moved when
the main piston B approaches the end of its stroke. The operation of the
machine is such that the slide valves J, J, should be reversed independently of
this gearing, which is added as a safety apparatus to move the slide valves
only as much as will shut the ports, but not far enough to reverse the stroke.
S, S are the main steam pipes; E, the main exhaust pipe; O is a regulating
cock by which the length of stroke is determined when the machine is self-
acting. Its pipe o connects the middle of the main cylinder A, to the
middle of the casing L', the spindle in which carries a piston at each end,
J' is the starting handle con-

page_text: working in cylindrical parts of the casing, which parts are connected by the
pipes p, p, to the opposite extremities of the main cylinder, and thereby the
pressure on the pistons in L' will always be equal to that on the opposite side
of the main piston, and the pressure between the pistons in L¹ will be the same
as the pressure at the centre of the main cylinder. The handle O¹ with its
index plate regulates the opening in cock O, and by it the force of the blow
is regulated; P is a valve and pipe by which the condensed water is blown
out of the cylinder when the piston has passed its middle position. Qis a
rope, cord, or chain, indicating the position of the main piston in the main
cylinder. This rope, chain, or cord is connected with an alarm (not shewn in
the Drawing) which sounds when the piston makes a full stroke; R, R, are
man holes to get into the ram tubes to lubricate them. The ram tubes have
small cocks on the under side to let the water out of them, which, however, are
not shewn in the Drawing; U, U, are cotter ports in the ram tubes, through
which the cotters can be removed in case of injury to one of the rams, and the
machine can be used with the remaining one; V, V, are the stuffing boxes of
the rams so arranged that any water which may come in with the ram and
pass the first packing will be drained off by a pipe (not shewn in the Drawing)
from the next chamber, and will not pass the second packing which is next to
the main cylinder.
The action of the ram is as follows:-Suppose a hostile vessel to be at the
starboard side, the sluices D, D, are to be opened and the engineer is to see
that the cock O and the valves M, M, are open (but the latter not to their
full extent); he is also partially to lower the levers K, K; the steam will then
fill those parts of G, G, marked S, S; upon this the handle J is to be moved
to starboard; the steam will then act on the piston H, and move the slide
valves G, Ġ, towards the port side, thereby admitting steam to the starboard
end of the main or ram piston, and the ram will move to the port end; when
it passes M', the steam escapes to the other side of the piston, and according
as the valve M is open the steam will escape slowly or rapidly to the other
side of the piston, and a little after the piston has passed the exhaust port its
motion will cease. But when the main piston has passed its centre position
the pipe O would be open to the steam pressure on the main cylinder, and
steam will pass from there to the middle of the slide valve casing L', and as
the steam pressure has been during the rest of the stroke on the starboard end
of the main piston, it will also have been on the port end of the pistons in L',
and consequently the slide valves L will have moved to starboard. When the
steam is now admitted to the casing L' it will find a clear passage to the port
end of the cylinder L', the starboard end of that cylinder being open at the

page_text: same time to the exhaust. The piston L will therefore jerk the handle J', to
reverse it; the engineer will, however, retain it in its notch and need not release
it until he is ordered to strike. When he releases the handle the pressure on
the port end of the piston L will carry it and the slide valves J to the starboard,
and by this means open the port end of cylinder FL to the steam, and the
starboard end to the exhaust. The piston H and slide valves G will move to
starboard and admit full steam to the port side of the ram piston, and at the
same time open the other side to exhaust. The cylinder H is provided with
cushioning ports to prevent the slide valves G from over running their proper
positions. The ram will then strike out on the starboard side and immediately
If it has met with no resistance, the index rope will sound an alarm,
and the engineer will repeat the stroke with the steam valves only partially
open until the cessation of the alarm apprises him that the ram has met with
resistance, when he will lower the levers K', and admit full steam, and thus
cause the ram to be sent out with its full force several times a minute. The
engineer stands by the port handle K', ready to lift it as soon as the alarm
again sounds.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to the
mechanical parts separately, nor do I confine myself to the details herein
described; but what I claim is the application of steam rams and machinery
to ships and vessels as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Josiah Jones, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventh day of October, in the year of our Lord, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
JOSIAH JONES, JUN".
(L.S.)