AN IMPROVED METHOD OR MEANS OF INDEXING OR REGISTERING THE CONDITION OR STATE OF IRON OR METAL SHIPS, VESSELS, OR OTHER FLOATING BODIES, AS WELL AS OF MARINE AND LAND BOILERS, RESERVOIRS, TANKS, MASTS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF METAL
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Taylor at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th
January 1872.
I, WILLIAM TAYLOR, of Woolwich, in the County of Kent, Naval
Architect, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED METHOD OR MEANS OF INDEXING OR REGISTERING THE CONDITION OR
STATE OF IRON OR METAL SHIPS, VESSELS, OR OTHER FLOATING BODIES, AS WELL AS
OF MARINE AND LAND BOILERS, RESERVOIRS, TANKS, MASTS, AND OTHER ARTICLES
OF METAL," to be as follows;....
This Invention relates to an improved simple and efficient method
or means of indexing or registering the reports or accounts made
out from time to time of surveys of the condition or state of the
plates or other metallic parts of iron or metal ships, vessels, or other
floating bodies, and also of marine and land boilers, reservoirs, tanks,
metallic masts of vessels, and other articles of metal of the state or
condition of which it is desirable to keep a record.
The object of the Invention is to lay open to view on an index or
plan the whole of the interior and exterior surfaces of the hulls of iron

page_text: or metal ships, vessels, or other floating bodies, also the shells of marine
and land boilers, reservoirs, tanks, metallic masts of vessels, and other
articles of metal required to be surveyed or reported on, and thus to
expose to view and at the same time have registered on such index
or plan all defects and the gradual or rapid deterioration of all and
every single plate of which the ship or other vessel is composed from
the date when each hull of vessel, shell of boiler, or each reservoir, tank,
mast, or other article was new until the same becomes entirely worn
out. By this method will be shown which plates have deteriorated.
gradually and which have deteriorated rapidly, also which may have
deteriorated first slowly and afterwards rapidly, or first rapidly and
afterwards slowly, in fact the index or plan is designed to show every
change and degree of deterioration from first to last, and by its employ-
ment the cause may be discovered why one plate deteriorates more
rapidly than another when both have been apparently exposed to the
same deteriorating influences.
The Invention consists mainly in making a novel and peculiar form of
index or register which to indicate the thickness of the plates of a vessel
(for example) will have made on it as many circles as the plates arc
thick in (say) sixteenths of an inch. The deterioration of the inside
of the vessel will be shewn by filling in or marking with a distinguish-
ing colour (as herein-after mentioned) the circles from the top left hand
corner, each circle representing (say) one-sixteenth of an inch, and the
deterioration of the outside of the vessel will be shown by filling in the
circles, beginning at the right hand corner at the bottom and filling in
backwards. The circles left or remaining empty between will show
how thick the plates are left, and the circles filled in how much the
plates have wasted away or deteriorated. In order to shew the deterior-
ation of the plates on the starboard or one side of any vessel, the circles
on the index may be colored blue, & they may be colored red for the
port or other side of the vessel.
The removal or repair of any plates will be indicated by a new index
being put on the plan, and the old one will be removed, crossed off,
or the part marked with a distinguising colour..
Holes that may be drilled in the plates to ascertain their thickness in
(say) sixteenths of an inch will be marked on the index or plan, and
they may be coloured (say) black for the starboard or one side of a vessel,
and red for the port or other side.

page_text: On the index or register will also be shown the keel, stem, and stern
post, with the position of every frame and bulkhead in the ship or vessel,
also the sheathing plates of the hull, or the shell of the boiler, reservoir,
or tank, or the mast or other article, together with the length, breadth,
and thickness when new, and the distinguishing number or mark on
every plate, so that on an accident happening away from home, and
the vessel (for example) needing repair, the exact plate or plates and
their position would be readily ascertained and the extent of damage
made known at home (for instance) by telegram and reference to the
index register or plan.