IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF IRON AND STEEL BUILT SHIPS AND IN RUDDERS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Grantham, of King's Arms Yard, in the
City of London, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF IRON AND STEEL BUILT SHIPS AND IN
RUDDERS."
Sealed the 13th November 1868, and dated the 18th May 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Grantham at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th May 1868.
I, JOHN GRANTHAM, of King's Arms Yard, in the City of London,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF IRON AND STEEL BUILT SHIPS AND IN
RUDDERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction
of iron and steel built ships and in rudders.
I form the ship with an external and an internal frame as is described
in the Specification of a former Patent granted to me, and dated the
4th day of July 1849, No. 12,684, but in place of making a vertical

page_text: external frame as is there described I make the external frame hori-
zontal, and in place of making this frame of flat iron I make it of
angle bars; I form the flange of the angle bars in such a way that a
sheathing of timber may be secured on the outside of the ship between
the horizontal frames. The internal framing of the ship is also of angle
bars vertical, or it may be partly vertical and partly horizontal. A
metal sheathing is applied over the timber. Where a sheathing of copper
or an alloy of copper is employed I sometimes lay the sheet lead
under the timber, so that the lead is in contact with the iron or steel
skin and frame of the ship and is interposed betweeen them and the
sheathing metal.
Also according to my Invention, in constructing iron and steel ships
I cast the stern or rudder post in brass or an alloy of copper, and to
obtain sufficient stiffness without too great an expenditure of metal
I cast the post hollow or tubular, and I cast upon it brackets or flanges
to which the longitudinal frame of the ship can be conveniently and
securely fixed.
Also according to my Invention I make the rudder of brass or of an
alloy of copper, and so I obtain a rudder which will not corrode in
consequence of its proximity to the sheathing, as would be the case
with an iron rudder. Or in some cases I make the frame of the rudder
of iron or steel and cover it with sheets of copper or brass or of an alloy
of copper.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Grantham in the Great Seal Patent Office 25
on the 18th November 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
GRANTHAM, of King's Arms Yard, in the City of London, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 30
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Grantham, Her special licence

page_text: that I, the said John Grantham, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Grantham, 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
THE CONSTRUCTION OF IRON AND STEEL BUILT SHIPS AND IN RUDDERS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Grantham, 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 Grantham, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, 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 the construction of
iron and steel built ships and in rudders.
I form the ship with an external and an internal frame as is described
in the Specification of a former Patent granted to me, and dated the
4th day of July 1849, No. 12,684, but in place of making a vertical
external frame as is there described I make the external frame hori-
zontal, and in place of making this frame of flat iron I make it of
angle bars; I usually form the flange of the angle bars in such a way
as to aid in securing a sheathing of timber which I apply on the outside
of the ship between the horizontal frames. The internal framing of the
ship is also of angle bars vertical, or it may be partly vertical and
partly horizontal. A metal sheathing is applied over the timber.
Figure 1 is an elevation of a part of the side of an iron or steel built
ship thus constructed; Figure 2 is a vertical section of the same;
Figure 3 is a vertical section of an arrangement in which the hori-
zontal frames are put somewhat further apart, and supplemental
fastenings are used to secure the timber; Figure 4 is a horizontal
section.

page_text: A, A, are the skin plates of the ship; B, B, the external horizontal
frames, they are rolled with flanges, inclined webs, and double flanges
so as the better to secure the timber C; this timber is stepped vertically
into its place, the lower end being fashioned to fit the frame B on
which it rests, and the upper end cut parallel with the web of the
frame B above; D are blocks which are driven in over the timbers and
lock them in their places. The timbers and blocks should be dipped in
melted pitch just before they are put up; E, E, is an external horizontal
timber sheathing or planking in long lengths fixed by yellow metal
wood screws to the timber C; F is a sheathing, also by preference of
yellow metal, secured to the planking E in the usual manner of sheathing
wooden ships; G, G, are the inner vertical frames or ribs of the ship;
H, H, are bolts, one of which may be applied in the centre of each length
of timber C to fix it more securely when the distances between the
horizontal external frames B are large.
In some cases I fill in the timber between the horizontal external
frames by laying the timbers in parallel to these frames in place of at
right angles to them. This arrangement is shown in elevation at
Figure 5, where A is the horizontally laid timbering; B, the horizontal
frames; C, the blocks for securely wedging in the timbering between the
frames; D, the external sheathing or planking of timber on which the
metallic sheathing is applied. Sometimes I apply the external timbering
in an inclined direction, as is shown at Figure 6.
Figure 7 is a vertical section of the arrangement shown at Figure 5.
It is not essential that the external frame should be double flanged;
I sometimes make them of ordinary angle iron or steel as shown at
Figure 8.
Also according to my Invention I make the rudder of brass or of an
alloy of copper, and so I obtain a rudder which will not corrode in
consequence of its proximity to the sheathing, as would be the case
with an iron rudder. I cast the frame of the rudder in brass or alloy of
copper in the same form as when making rudders as heretofore with a
wrought-iron frame, and on both sides of the open frame so cast I apply
rolled sheets of brass or alloy of copper, and I rivet them to the frame by
rivets passing through the sheets on either side and through holes bored
in the frame to receive the rivets.
I would remark that I am aware that rudders have sometimes been
made with open frames of brass or alloy of copper filled in with blocks

page_text: of wood and afterwards sheathed with thin sheathing metal plates, but
by making the rudder entirely of brass or alloy of copper as I have
described a stronger and lighter structure is obtained.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Grantham, have hercunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
JOHN GRANTHAM. (L.S.)