IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING AND ARMING SHIPS AND VESSELS, AND ALSO FLOATING AND LAND BATTERIES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Scott Russell, of Great George Street, West-
minster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING AND ARMING
SHIPS AND VESSELS, AND ALSO FLOATING AND LAND BATTERIES."
Sealed the 12th April 1861, and dated the 28th December 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Scott Russell
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th December 1860.
I, JOHN SCOTT RUSSELL, of Great George Street, Westminster, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING AND
ARMING SHIPS AND VESSELS, AND ALSO FLOATING AND LAND BATTERIES," to be
as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in constructing and arming
ships and vessels, and also floating and land batteries. For these purposes in
constructing the sides of ships, vessels, or batteries, they are constructed double,
with an inner and outer skin or plating, and the space between the two skins
is divided by longitudinal and upright partitions, or by longitudinal partitions
only, or upright partitions only, as may be required, which connect the two skins
and produce numerous cells. Suitable angle or other iron is used in the
structure, as is now well understood in iron shipbuilding. Into each of these
cells which come near to or are above the line of floatation of a ship or floating
A

page_text: battery, or which in a land battery is desired to be rendered more or less
strong to resist shell and shot, a thick protecting plate of iron, in size suitable
to fit into the cell is introduced, and it is preferred that its outer surface
should come flush against the inner surface of the outer skin or plating, and
where necessary, such inner surface of the outer skin or plating is made flush
by plates corresponding in thickness with the plating or angle iron used
therewith; or the space between the inner surface of the outer skin or
plating may be otherwise filled in between it and the outer surface of the
thick protecting plate introduced into the cell. The space between the inner
surface of the thick protecting plate and the outer surface of the inner skin or
plating is filled with wood, so that the thick protecting plate of iron intro-
duced into the cell will be securely retained in position without other fastenings.
The inner as well as the outer skin or plating as well as the longitudinal and
upright partitions-should when for ships or floating batteries, be made water-
tight in all parts when under any circumstances they may be liable to be
under water. In place of using one thick plate of iron in a cell the requisite
thickness and substance may be obtained by introducing two or more plates in
like manner to what is above described-in-respect_to_a_single_protecting plate.
By thus using the requisite plates of iron to resist shell and shot they will be
found to increase, and not, as heretofore, to reduce the strength of the.structure,
and such protecting plates will not be injured by bolt holes being made through
them in order to their being fixed by bolts to the structure as heretofore has
been the practice.. Or, instead of filling the cells with a combination of thick
protecting plates of iron and wood filling, the cells may be entirely filled
with iron plates of such a thickness as may be required; in which case it may
be found desirable to have longitudinal cells only, and to arrange the butts of
the filling plates in such a manner that the butts of no two strakes in the same
cell are in the same plane, technically called breaking the joints.
In certain cases upright webs only are used, and the cells are then filled
with bars or plates of iron placed with their edges against the inner surface of
the outer skin or plating, and the outer surface of the inner skin or plating.
These bars or plates may be placed close together, thus entirely filling up the
cells, or there may, in some cases, be spaces left between the bars. These
spaces may be filled with cement, wood, or other substance, if desired, and the
bars may be of any shape or size that may enable them to add strength to
each other and to the general structure.
In some cases thick protecting plates are affixed to the outside or inside, or
both, of the skin or plating of a ship, vessel, or battery, either by means of
double-angle iron, or other suitable forms of iron, which being rivetted or

page_text: otherwise fixed to the skin or plating stand out therefrom at right angles to
the surface or at any required angle, and to a sufficient extent to receive the
desired thickness of protecting plate or plates, and then to admit of the pro-
jecting parts of such angle or suitably formed iron being turned over and
hammered, or folded down upon the thick protecting plate or plates. Thus in
using two or double-angle irons back to back in this way, one will be
hammered or folded over or bent in one direction to hold one edge of one thick
protecting plate or plates, and the other will be hammered or bent over in the
opposite direction, so as to hold one edge of a neighbouring thick protecting
plate or plates, the other edges of the protecting plates being held in a similar
manner by other angle or other irons; or, by using a single-angle iron, or
T-iron, the edges of the thick protecting plates being rounded or chamfered at
the angle furthest from the skin or plating, that part of the angle iron, or
T-iron that projects beyond the thick protecting plate or plates may be
hammered or rivetted down, so as to hold the adjoining edges of two thick
protecting plates.
From the above description it will be understood that by thus using
angle or suitably formed iron on the skin or plating of the side of a ship,
vessel, or battery, a number of recesses will be formed, each of a depth suitable
for receiving a thick protecting plate or plates, at the same time allowing
sufficient material to be hammered or bent over the edges of the thick pro-
tecting plates. The holding of the protecting plates to the skin or plating of
the structure may by these means be very advantageously accomplished, and
in a superior manner to that heretofore practised, when holes have been
formed in the protecting plates, and also in the structure to receive bolts,
which have passed through the protecting plates and through the structure,
thus tending materially to weaken both the protecting plates and the structure..
In some cases the requisite plates of iron for protecting a ship or battery
from shell and shot are fixed by means of angle or suitably formed iron fixed
to the skin or plating, the projecting ribs of such angle iron being made suit-
able not only for receiving the desired thickness of protecting plate on either
side of each of such ribs, but also to allow of the rib to project beyond the
protecting plates on either side, and thus to allow of having other angle or
suitably formed iron to come on either side of the rib, and be riveted or other-
wise fixed thereto.
It may be stated that-it is a great object in my Invention to avoid the
injurious effects of having the protecting plates and the structure to which
they are fixed perforated with numerous holes for the reception of bolts, and at
the same time to prevent the weakening effects to the structure and to the

page_text: protecting plates consequent on the use of the number or large bons heretofore
necessary for fixing protecting plates.
In some cases I tongue and feather the edges of the plates, or I connect
them together by means of iron dowels, thereby greatly reducing the number
of bolts necessary to connect the thick protecting plates with the other portions
of the structure. Thus recesses may be formed on the outer skin or plating
by means of angle or other suitably formed iron, as before described; but in
the present case it may not be thought necessary to allow the said angle or
other iron to project beyond the thick protecting plate, but to be flush with it.
Then over this I put another covering of thick protecting plates with the
strakes in a direction at right angles with the other or inner covering of thick
protecting plates; the edges of the other plates may be connected together by
means of tongues and feathers formed on their edges, or by means of iron
dowels, as before described, and then a certain number of through bolts used
to tie the whole structure together.
In some cases, in place of using protecting plates, the requisite extent of
mass is obtained by the system of plating resorted to, and which is accom-
plished by a mode of using several thicknesses-of-plating riveted or bolted
together, combined with a system of breaking joint, and also by reversing the
direction in which the succeeding layers of plates or sheets of iron are used;
thus, supposing in one layer the length of the plates is upright, in the next
layer the length of the plates is horizontal, the plates of one layer covering the
joints of the plates of the next layer, and then in the following layer, though
in the direction of a previous layer, the joints of the plates are arranged to
come at a distance from those of the plates of the other layer, which is laid in
the same direction as well as at a distance from the layer or layers which are
in a different direction, by which means the joints of no two layers of plates
will come in the same positions, but each layer, whether placed in the same or
in a different direction, will cover and extend on either side of the joints of the
other layers; and such combinations of platings may be used as only part of
the means of obtaining the requisite mass, and a structure such as above
described may have additional protecting plates applied thereto in any con-
venient manner; and I use parts of any or all of these arrangements, and
combine them partly together, instead of using them wholely, according to the
particular purpose I have in view.
One advantage that I obtain by the method I adopt of using a number of
plates of equal or various thicknesses to make up the total required thickness,
is the facility I thereby obtain of varying the total thickness according to circum-
stances, and the necessity there may be of protecting more or less any part or

page_text: parts, as for instance, I may make the parts of the ship near the centre of the
vessel where engines, boilers, and magazines are placed of a greater thickness,
and towards the ends of the vessel or wherever protection is less vital, or
wherever the surfaces are more oblique to certain lines of fire, I may reduce
the thickness in proportion to the obliquity and importance of protection.
In the above description plates of iron have been mentioned, but it will be
evident that steel may be employed in like manner.
In arming ships or vessels, more particularly those which are propelled by
screws, or submerged propellers, with a view to the use of large pivot guns,
the "chain-wales" or projecting platforms heretofore used for the purpose of
extending the shrouds are, in carrying out my Invention, suitably constructed
and made flush with the deck of the ship or vessel, so as to be armed with
pivot guns, and suitable pivot holes, and ways are to be formed on such pro-
jecting platforms or "chain-wales," and on the deck near thereto, so that the
pivot guns may be readily moved into position from the deck on to such pro-
jecting platforms, and from them to the deck, as occasion may require. By
such means pivot guns may with facility be fired in a direction fore-and-aft, or
parallel to the keel of a ship or vessel. In constructing the bulwarks of a
ship or vessel thus constructed, they may, and it is preferred that they should
follow the ordinary line of the deck, such parts being made moveable. Or the
bulwarks may be made to take the outline of the projecting platform, and be
constructed with ports through them. It may be stated that in the Speci-
fication of a previous Patent granted to me, dated 10th October 1850 (No.
13,276), is described a method of arming ships or vessels propelled by paddle-
wheels at the sides, by taking advantage of the platforms fore-and-aft, the
paddle-wheel boxes, in order, by constructing them in a suitable manner, to
admit of pivot guns being fired therefrom, and which mode of arming such
descriptions of ships and vessels has been found in practice to be very effective;
and my present improvements apply not only to the taking advantage in a
similar manner of the spaces afforded by the projecting platforms necessary
for extending the shrouds, but also to constructing ships and vessels with
similar projecting platforms in parts of the deck where no shrouds are required
to come, and where no paddle-wheels are used, such projecting platforms being
in such cases made expressly for the purpose of receiving pivot guns.
In
arming ships, vessels, and batteries, in order to reduce the size of the port-
holes and embrasures, guns are, according to part of my improvements
mounted on or between two bars, on which they are capable of sliding, there
being india-rubber or other springs, or elastic buffing apparatus used to receive
the shock consequent on the discharging such a gun, and in addition to such

page_text: elastic resistance provision is also made to nip one of the bars more and more
by a nipping apparatus, in order to offer increasing friction, and thus to resist
the backward motion of a gun, which is most conveniently accomplished by
an excentric or inclined surface caused to bear more and more tightly on one
or both of the bars, and such nipping apparatus may be conveniently brought
into action by the gun or apparatus connected therewith, or acted on as the
gun is passing back in a recoil. The outer ends of the two bars are connected
with a ring around the opening, through which the gun carried by the bars is
pointed, such ring being hung on gimbals, so that the-fore ends of the two
bars, and consequently the gun carried thereby, may be moved or pointed in
varying directions as may be required. The hinder ends of the two bars are
connected together by a cross-head or suitable connecting piece, which may be
supported from above, or on a sledge or wheels, which may rest on a deck or a
floor. Provision is to be made for raising and lowering the breech end of the
gun and the hinder ends of the two bars.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters-Patent,-filed-
by the said John Scott Russell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th June 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN SCOTT
RUSSELL, of Great George Street, Westminster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Scott Russell, Her special licence that I, the said
John Scott Russell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John. Scott Russell, 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,
AND ALSO FLOATING AND LAND BATTERIES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Scott Russell, 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,

page_text: 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 Scott Russell, 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 constructing and arming
ships and vessels, and also floating and land batteries. For these purposes, in
constructing the sides of ships, vessels, or batteries, they are constructed double
with an inner and outer skin or plating, and the space between the two skins.
is divided by longitudinal and upright partitions, or by longitudinal partitions
only, or upright partitions only, as may be required, which connect the two
skins and produce numerous cells. Suitable angle or other iron is used in the
structure, as is now well understood in iron shipbuilding. Into each of these
cells which come near to or are above the line of floatation of a ship or floating
battery, or which in a land battery is desired to be rendered more or less strong
to resist shell and shot, a thick protecting plate of iron, in size suitable to fit into
the cell, is introduced, and it is preferred that its outer surface should come
flush against the inner surface of the outer skin or plating, and where necessary,
such inner surface of the outer skin or plating is made flush by plates corre-
sponding in thickness with the plating or angle iron used therewith. Or the
space between the inner surface of the outer skin or plating may be otherwise
filled in between it and the outer surface of the thick protecting plate intro-
duced into the cell. The space between the inner surface of the thick protecting
plate, and the outer surface of the inner skin or plating, is filled with wood, so
that the thick protecting plate of iron introduced into the cell will be securely
retained in position without other fastenings. The inner as well as the outer
skin or plating, as well as the longitudinal and upright partitions, should, when
for ships or floating batteries, be made water-tight in all parts when under any
circumstances they may be liable to be under water.
Figure 1 shews a transverse section of so much of the side of a ship or
vessel as will enable a shipbuilder readily to understand this part of my
Invention. a is the outer plating or skin of the vessel; and 6 is the inner
plating or skin of the vessel, and they are shewn to be.connected by longitudinal
partitions c, c, and it is preferred that both longitudinal and upright partitions
and angle iron should be used; d, d, is the protecting plate, there being a
filling plate e, e, intervened between the outer skin and the protecting plate, or
the surface of the protecting plate may be planed or otherwise formed to fit

page_text: close to the angle iron, and the outer skin; ff, are fillings of wood or of any
any other suitable and comparatively elastic material. I do not, however,
claim the use of such material when separately employed, and such elastic
filling may be dispensed with, and the inner skin may be brought in contact
with the inner surface of the protecting plate, or the quantity of elastic filling
may be greatly reduced. In place of using one thick plate of iron in a cell
the requisite thickness and substance may be obtained by introducing two or
more plates in like manner to what is above described in respect to a single
protecting plate. By thus using the requisite plates of iron to resist shell and
shot, they will be found to increase, and not as heretofore, to reduce the strength
of the structure, and such protecting plates will not be injured by bolt holes
being made through them, in order to their being fixed by bolts to the structure,
as heretofore has been the practice. Or instead of filling the cells with a
combination of thick protecting plates of iron and wood filling, the cells may
be entirely filled with iron plates of such a thickness as may be required, in
which case it may be found desirable to have longitudinal cells only, and to
arrange the butts of the filling plates in such a manner that the butts of no
two-strakes-in-the-same-cell-are_in_the_same_plane, technically called breaking
the joints.
Figure 2 shews a vertical section; and Figure 3 a horizontal section of part
of the side of a ship, or of a fortification, wherein protecting plates are em-
ployed one over the other, in such manner as to break joint. The plating of
the inner and outer skin is rivetted in the ordinary manner, and if desired,
there may be applied "through" bolts or rivets, so that the outer skin and
inner skin, together with the interposed protecting plates may be all fixed
together, and to the inner ribs or framing of angle iron, whether of L or T or
other form. In certain cases, upright webs only are used, and the cells are
then filled with bars or plates of iron placed with their edges against the inner
surface of the outer skin or plating, and the outer surface of the inner skin or
plating; these bars or plates may be placed close together, thus entirely filling
up the cells, or there may in some cases be spaces left between the bars.
These spaces may be filled with cement, wood, or other substance desired, and
the bars may be of any shape or size that may enable them to add strength to
each other and to the general structure.
Figure 4 shows a section, which may either represent a horizontal or a ver-
tical section, according as the angle iron or other partitions are used in a
vertical or horizontal direction. a is the outer plating or skin, and b is the inner
plating or skin, having between them angle iron partitions c, c; d, d, are the
projecting bars or plates, which are bent so as to fit into and on each other.

page_text: The edges of the plates or bars d, d, it will be seen come against the inner and
outer platings. I would state that in place of using bent plates or bars, or
bars or plates of other forms of convexity and concavity, so as to fit one into and
over the other flat bars or plates may be similarly used when desired, though
bolts may be applied in addition to the ordinary rivetting of the skins or
platings. In some cases thick protecting plates are affixed to the outside or
inside or both of the skin or plating of a ship, vessel, or battery, either by
means of double-angle iron or other suitable forms of iron, which being
rivetted or otherwise fixed to the skin or plating stand out therefrom at right
angles to the surface or at any required angle, and to a sufficient extent to
receive the desired thickness of protecting plate or plates, and then to admit
of the projecting parts of such angle or suitably formed iron being turned over
and hammered, or folded down upon the thick protecting plate or plates. Thus,
in using two or double-angle irons back to back in this way, one will be ham-
mered or folded over or bent in one direction to hold one edge of one thick
protecting plate or plates, and the other will be hammered or bent over in the
opposite direction so as to hold one edge of a neighbouring thick protecting
plate or plates, the other edges of the protecting plates being held in a similar
manner by other angle or other irons. Or by using a single angle iron or
T-iron, the edges of the thick protecting plates being rounded or chamfered at
the angle furthest from the skin or plating, that part of the angle iron or T-iron
that projects beyond the thick protecting plate or plates may be hammered or
rivetted down so as to hold the adjoining edges of two thick protecting plates.
From the above description it will be understood that by thus using angle
or suitably formed iron on the skin or plating of the side of a ship, vessel, or
battery a number of recesses will be formed, each of a depth suitable for
receiving a thick protecting plate or plates, at the same time allowing suffi-
cient material to be hammered or bent over the edges of the thick protecting
plates. The holding of the protecting plates to the skin or plating of the
structure may by these means be very advantageously accomplished, and in a
superior manner to that heretofore practised, when holes have been formed in
the protecting plates; and also in the structure to receive bolts which have
passed through the protecting plates and through the structure, thus tending
materially to weaken both the protecting plates and the structure.
Figures 5 and 5b shew two sections of means of fixing protecting plates to
the outer skin of a vessel or of a fortification. In these Figures the outer skin
is shewn to be of more than one thickness, which is preferred to be the case
when fixing protecting plates in the manner shewn and described. In some cases
the requisite plates of iron for protecting a ship or battery from shell and shot

page_text: are fixed by means of angle or suitably formed iron fixed to the skin or plating,
the projecting ribs of such angle iron being made suitable not only for receiving
the desired thickness of protecting plate on either side of each of such ribs,
but also to allow of the rib to project beyond the protecting plates on either side,
and thus to allow of having other angle or suitably formed iron to come on
either side of the rib and be rivetted or otherwise fixed thereto. Figure 6
shows a section of an arrangement where two angle irons c, c, are used back
to back, to which the outer skin or plating is rivetted; these angle irons
extend beyond the protecting plates d, d, which may be single plates of con-
siderable thickness, as shewn, or two or more plates may be used to make up
the required thickness; g, g, are other angle irons, which being rivetted on
either side securely hold the whole together.
Figure 7 shews another section where, in place of using two single angle
irons back to back, L or T-angle iron may be used; and this Figure also
shews the use of protecting plating outside of the skin a, as well as inside
thereof, the direction of the inner and outer protecting plates being reversed,
and by through-bolts or rivets the outer and inner protecting plates may be
secured to each other, and to-the angle iron h is a filling plate when a single
thick inner protecting plate is used, such filling plate h-making up for the
thickness of the angle iron. It may be stated that it is a great object in my
Invention to avoid the injurious effects of having the protecting plates and the
structure to which they are fixed perforated with numerous holes for the
reception of bolts, and at the same time to prevent the weakening effects to
the structure and to the protecting plates consequent on the use of the number
of large bolts heretofore necessary for fixing protecting plates, and with this
object when I use through bolts I employ them as sparingly as may be,
having recourse to the other modes of fixing herein described. Screw bolts
may be used, introduced from the interior the inner surfaces of the thick
protecting plates in such cases being tapped to receive the screws; but it is
preferred that the screws when thus introduced from the interior of the
structure should not pass through the protecting plates, so as to appear on
the outer surface thereof.
In some cases I tongue and feather the edges of the plates, or I connect
them together by means of iron dowels, thereby greatly reducing the number
of bolts necessary to connect the thick protecting plates with the other portions
of the structure, to which tongueing and feathering of the edges of the pro-
tecting plates I make no claim. Recesses may be formed on the outer skin
or plating by means of angle or other suitably formed iron, as before described,
but in the present case it may not be thought necessary to allow the said

page_text: angle or other iron to project beyond the thick protecting plate, but to be
flush with it; I do not, however, make any claim to the application of angle
iron external of the skin of the ship or vessel or other structure when
separately considered. Over this combination of protecting plates and angle
iron, applied external of the skin, I put another covering of thick protecting
plates, with the strakes in a direction at right angles with the other or inner
covering of thick protecting plates. The edges of the other plates may be
connected together by means of tongues and feathers formed on their edges,
or by means of iron dowels, as before described, and then a certain number,
of through-bolts used to tie the whole structure together. This will be under-
stood by reference to Figure 8, which represents a section of part of a ship or
vessel, or of a fortification so constructed or put together.
In some cases, in place of using protecting plates of considerable thickness,
the requisite extent of mass is obtained by the system of plating resorted to,
and which is accomplished by a mode of using several thicknesses of plating
rivetted or bolted together, combined with a system of breaking joint, and
also by reversing the direction in which the succeeding layers of plates or
sheets of iron are used; thus, supposing in one layer the length of the plates
is upright, in the next layer the length of the plates is horizontal, the plates
of one layer covering the joints of the plates of the next layer, and then in
the following layer, though in the direction of a previous layer, the joints of
the plates are arranged to come at a distance from those of the plates of the
other layer, which is laid, in the same direction, as well as at a distance from
the layer or layers which are in a different direction, by which means the
joints of no two layers of plates will come in the same position, but each
layer, whether placed in the same or in a different direction, will cover and
extend on either side of the joints of the other layers, and such combinations
of platings may be used as only part of the means of obtaining the requisite
mass, and a structure such as above described may have additional protecting
plates applied thereto in any convenient manner. This will be understood by
reference to Figure 9, where the requisite mass of protecting iron is obtained by
a system of breaking joint in regard to several plates of iron, which are affixed
to the general structure by the requisite number of through bolts or rivets.
If one or more of these layers is or are to act as a skin for a ship or vessel
and to form part of the main structure, then the plates forming such layer or
layers are to be flush, rivetted in the ordinary manner, to produce a water-tight
skin or skins. I would state that I use parts of any or all of these arrange-
ments, and combine them together instead of using them separately according
to the particular purpose I have in view. One advantage that I obtain by the.

page_text: method I adopt of using a number of plates of equal or various thicknesses to
make up the total required thickness is, the facility I thereby obtain of varying
the total thickness according to circumstances, and the necessity there may be
of protecting more or less any part or parts, as, for instance, I may make the
parts of the ship near the centre of the vessel where engines, boilers, and
magazines are placed, of a greater thickness, and towards the ends of the
vessel or wherever protection is less vital, or wherever the surfaces are more.
oblique to certain lines of fire, I may reduce the thickness in proportion to the
obliquity and importance of protection.
In the above description plates of iron have been mentioned, but it will be
evident that steel may be employed in like manner.
In the Drawings I have not thought it necessary to shew the rivetting of
the parts together, nor the through bolts or long rivets used, as engineers
acquainted with such like structures will know how and where to apply such
means of fastening the parts together.
In arming ships or vessels, more particularly those which are propelled by
screws or submerged propellers, with a view to the use of large pivot guns, the
"chain-wales" or projecting platforms heretofore used for the purpose of
extending the shrouds are, in carrying out my Invention, suitably constructed
and made flush with the deck of the ship or vessel, so as to be armed with
pivot guns and suitable pivot holes, and ways are to be formed on such
projecting platforms or "chain-wales," and on the deck near thereto, so that
the pivot guns may be readily moved into position from the deck on to such
projecting platforms, and from them to the deck, as occasion may require. It
may be stated that in the Specification of a former Patent granted to me,
dated 10th October 1850, No. 13,276, is described a method of arming ships
or vessels propelled by paddle wheels at the sides, by taking advantage of the
platforms fore and aft the paddle wheel boxes, in order by constructing them
in a suitable manner to admit of pivot guns being fired therefrom, and which
mode of arming such descriptions of ships and vessels has been found in
practice to be very effective; and my present improvements apply not only to
the taking advantage in a similar manner of the spaces afforded by the
projecting platforms necessary for extending the shrouds, but also to con-
structing ships and vessels with similar projecting platforms in parts of the
deck where no shrouds are required to come, and where no paddle wheels are
used, such projecting platforms being in such cases made expressly for the
purpose of receiving pivot guns.
Figure 10 shews the plan of the deck of a ship or vessel constructed and
arranged according to this part of my. Invention, provision being made for the

page_text: use of four pivot guns at the four projecting platforms or "chain-wales." By
such means pivot guns may with facility be fired in a direction fore and aft,
and parallel or nearly so to the keel of a ship or vessel.
In thus constructing the bulwarks of a ship or vessel they may, and it is
preferred that they should, follow the ordinary line of the deck, such parts
being made moveable. Or the bulwarks may be made to take the outline of
the projecting platform, and be constructed with ports through them.
Figure 11 shews part of a plan of part of a deck of a ship or vessel where
platforms are constructed at parts where there are no chain wales required,
and where no paddle wheels are used.
In arming ships, vessels, and batteries in order to reduce the size of the
portholes and embrasures guns are, according to part of my improvements
mounted on or between two bars, on which they are capable of sliding, there
being india-rubber or other springs or elastic buffing apparatus used to receive
the shock consequent on the discharging such a gun, and in addition to such
elastic resistance provision is also made to nip one of the bars more and more
by a nipping apparatus in order to offer increasing friction, and thus to resist
the backward motion of a gun, which is most conveniently accomplished by
an excentric or inclined surface caused to bear more and more tightly on one
or both of the bars, and such nipping apparatus may be conveniently brought
into action by the gun or apparatus connected therewith, or acted on as the
gun is passing back in a recoil. The hinder ends of the two bars are connected
together by a crosshead or suitable connecting piece, which may be supported
from above or on a sledge or wheels, which may rest on a deck or a floor.
Provision is to be made for raising and lowering the breech end of the gun
and the hinder ends of the two bars.
Figure 12 shews a vertical section, and Figure 13 a plan, partly in section
of the arrangement preferred when a gun is mounted between two bars; and
Figure 14 shews a transverse section taken near the ends of the two bars.
A, A, are two bars which are connected at the ends by a crosshead B, and
at the other end the bars are connected by a crosshead or bar, which is hollow
for the under side of the gun to rest on; the gun is also supported in and
connected with the two rods or bars by two slides C, C, which at their ends
embrace the two bars, and there are friction surfaces which are acted on by
the screws D, so as to offer any desired friction according as the screws D
are more or less screwed up.
These bars are arranged to move freely up and down and to and fro
horizontally, and it is by such movements of the bars that the pointing of the
gun is obtained. E is an under framing to the bars, which at one end is con-

page_text: nected to the cross head B, and at the other end to the cross head under the
gun. The end of the frame E, together with the bars A pivot on the hori-
zontal axis F and the vertical axis G, and I would state that I prefer to have
the axes F and G below the fore part of the gun, as shewn; but in place
thereof the bars might be connected to a ring carried by vertical and
horizontal axes or gimbals, so as to obtain similar motions of the bars A
together with the gun. In the arrangement shewn, a screw H, connected to
a forked connecting rod I, is used to raise and lower the breech end of the
gun; such screw working in a screw nut J, carried by a suspending or radius
rod K; but in place thereof tackle may be used above the gun, as tackle is
used on either side of the gun at L, L. In addition to the friction surfaces
acted on by the screw D, spring buffers may be used behind the gun and
between it and the crosshead B. Tackle is also applied at M, M, to run out
the gun.
In thus supporting a gun on bars it is not essential that the bars
should be so arranged as to admit of the gun being placed between them, as
a gun may be carried by and slide on a bar or bars otherwise placed, so long
as such bars are arranged to pivot with the gun, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said-John-Scott-Russell, have hereunto set_my_
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.