GB2277291A - Building ship or floating structure using ferrocement laminations - Google Patents

Abstract

This invention describes the use of a novel mould building method together with sequential construction system to build a ferrocement ship. The ferrocement ship has the outward appearance of an old timber or old iron ship. The ferrocement ship may have the inner appearance of an old wooden ship or old iron ship by the use of moulding techniques, colouring techniques and texture imprinting techniques. <IMAGE>

Description

Method of mould building and shipbuilding.

Whereas shipbuilding methods have developed through the ages and there are long established techniques for the construction of ships in wood, steel, glass reinforced plastic and ferrocement: Here is described a novel method of building a ferrocement ship, by use of the ferrocement laminating process and of creating moulds which facilitate the use of this process. The process is described in UK Patent 2218453 'Methods of Construction' and may be used to construct ships and other floating structures.

In particular these methods permit the creation of moulds to replicate the outwaid appearance and texture of old wooden ships, riveted iron slate ships and similar type vessels.

UK Patent 22184)5 describes the use of ferrocement laminating techniques and the use of membrane casting and slipforming to for, various structures.

To utilise UK Patent 2218453 for the construction of a ship shape it is first necessary to construct a suitable mould and membrane into and upon which the process of ferrocement laminating and sequential construction may be carried out.

Here is described a novel method of creating a ship shaped mould with surfaces to replicate the texture of that mould and additionaly to replicate the original timber plank or iron plates of an old ship.

Here is described an economic method of assembling the component parts of a ship built by sequential laminating of ferrocement and by sequentialy joining these parts within the said mould.

It is required to construct and support a mould with a surface which when loff the mould' de. when demoulded, will replicate the appearance and texture of an ol@ wooden ship or iron plated ship.

The mould o requirel to have a firm but compliant surface and to be capable of assembly and positioning so as to form the required ship shape.

mould ;aoeoials.

Such a firm but compliant surface may be assembled by securing together of thin plywood or plastic materials and a wire reinforcing mesh material of the type used in the construction industry.

For example 3/16ths or 5mm sheet, say 8' x 4' may be secured to a mesh, say type A 142, to form the required membrane. The method of joining together will allow the bending of the composite sheet.

This joining is done by glueing and or wiring together as shown in the figure io 1.

These materials are relatively light weight and relatively low cost.

@hen assembled together and adequately supported, they can be bent into compound curves and are sufficiently firm and stable to withstand the ferrocement laminating process upon them without distortion.

These materials may be varied in size ,weight, and thickness for any particular moulding requirement. However, these materials are considerably less expensive and are light weight in comparison with conventional concrete casting formworks, more particularly, for the ferrocement laminating process only one form ie. one side of the form, is required.

By loose fastening the plywood or plastic. sheet material to the mesh material, z compliant but semi-stiff membrane is provided. This membrane may then be further supported by a scaffold as is well understood in the construction industry. The sheet and mesh 'mould membrane' may be shape; and supported/ViftingSjackingS and placing of scaffold support poles between the adjacent scaffold structure and/ or floor of the site.

This arrangement is shown in drawing figure no 2.

y additional steel reinforcing bars, preferably small diameter and high tensile steel rods,placed between the scaffolding and the reinforcing mesh, permits the creation of very fair curves which is a necessary requirement for the construction of a ship with fair iines Flank and Plate Simulation.

From the plywood faced mould membrane it is possible to fix and support mould features to be incorporated into the ship construction.

i.e. port holes,rigging points,emblems,and positions for through hull openings all as required by design.

h further example would be to attach timber planking of say 6" to 12" in width and approx 5/8th?? thick to the mould. These planks can be nailed through the plywood to secure their position. The nail heads used in this case,when appropriately sized, will leave an 'off the mould' impression simulating the fixing points of the old timber vessel, The planking will simulate the original timber ship planking.

The high velocity sprayed mortar and ferrocement laminating process permits the high definition off the mould. This cannot be reproduced in a thin concrete section by any other means.

A further example is the placing of thin timber 'slips' to cover the joints between planks, these would be approx 1/4" x 1/4" and off mould these produce a recess which in turn simulates the seams between the planks of an old vessel.

A further example is the use of larger and stiffer plywood sheets to simulate the ships side of an old iron riveted ship. In this case rivet heads would be created by recessed marking of the mould t produced simulated rivet heads when demoulded.

Any desired effect can be produced by using these te@niques and by ad@ing.

colour and others textures as required by design, Forming of ship shape.

To form t'ne correct shapcof a snip, station frames are used. In a conventional ship building the station frames may be created in a mould loft from the ships drawings and the frames are then built into tie ship.

Alternatively the frame shape may be used to shape a mould for G.R.P.

ship constructions or tub facilitate the placing a plates of timber or steel in a hard chine construction system. In all cases a number or frames are required using up much labour and materials.

In this innovative method only a enall number of frames are - use as station frames and these are made adjustable so as to pe@mit @@ their use several times over and in addition they may be maoe as @ station frame i.e. the ship shape since they can be used on both sides of @@e @@@@ the ship having similar shape to port and starboard of the -r- AC Figure No 3 shows how this station frame might be constructed @nd positionthe frame may be constructed with adjustable materials such ai @aft poles or slotted angle iron or a combination of both. @@e @@@ @@@ @@@ are adjustable against the centre line and at their ends @@@@@ the @@ tensile bar which in turn defines the shape required an as taken for the ships design drawings particularly the ship's fore and aft @@@ The method of use is to position the station frames, after set to conform to the ship's drawings, along the centre line i.e. or the keel and square and perpendicular to the keel. The mould membrane as then positioned by lifting or jacking till it touches the station frame and it is then secured in that position.

The station frames may be 'swung'to give the same shape at the opposite side of the ship and the proceedure repeated. Depending on the curvature required and the ships sideor bottom area to be 'set' several frames will be required to sit upon the keel line , when the mould is set,they may be removed to allow for the construction work to continue. They can be re-set ready for use again as the ship construction progresses from one end of the ship to the other0 wee figure @o 5.

A further innovation of this ship building method is that of sequentialy building the ship from one end to the other within a temporary structure and with the m minimum use of cranes aud transporting equipment.

In this inventive method the temponry support structure required to give weather protection for the construction site revises three functions : .i ne Temporary structure - scaffold structure - provides the support for the light weight mould menbrane.

) It support the cheating which in turn provides environmental control 3) protection to the site. This permits the use of humidification control within the protective envelope.

A further innovation is that this system of construction can be carried out wi th the use of only one piece of lifting and carrying equipment.

The structure is provided with a doorway at one end -- through which @ rough terrain fork lift machine with extending jib or similar type of '@@@@@@@' forh lift machine may operate. This machine may carry weights of approx 2.000 KGs and lift those weights to approx 8 or 9 metres and rea@@ a@eadby @ to 3 metres. Such a machine is @@visaged as the principal car@@in @@@ @@@@@@@ machine for use in this process.

z ---' @ of of ship cot~ truction en s-a- be carried o t en a level building site a@jacent to water --ere the completed structure may be lifted into the water.

Alternatively the construction can take place upon a conventional ship building slipway. Construction can commence from either end as is convenient.

Drawings figures 2 and 5 show the possible arrangements when building a ship of approx 35@ length and 9 metres width and 8 metres height.

This method of mould construction and use permits the re-use of the mould materials several times over during the course of construction.

For example, since the sequential ferrocement laminating process progresses along the length of the vessel being constructed, the ferrocement which has set and cured may be released from the mould or the mould can be demoulded i.e. taken away after about three to four weeks and given that a ship of say 30 metres may take three months to complete,in which case the mould membrane materials may be re-used three times over, this will of course save on the costs of production.

The construction takes place with the setting up of the temporary structure and the building of the mould from one defined end.

Working from the keel upwards and outwards, first the bottom of the ship is 'shot' by the spray and laminating ferrocement process. Pre casted units of flat plate ferrocement for the1 floors1 of the ships double bottom are placed and secured into position by a'ferrocement welding' - joining of one plate to another or to the ships side.

As the works progress forwards the mould membrane is eonstructed on each side of tne ship leaving access over the keel and in the middle of the ship for the 'loadall type machine to continue bringing in materials and the precast units.

As the floors progress it is then required to place a deck or tank top over those floors and this is facilitated be placing prcast ferrocement plates to span the voids between floors and onto these plates is casted ferrocement decking in stages , completely across the ship.

To construct the other decks required for the ship , the beams are part precast remote from the mould and are carried into the mould using the loadall machine, the beams are set in position using conventional constEuction props and positioned against the ships side already part completed an from which certain starter bars and mesh extends to iocate with the beams . The starters and the beam positions have been previously determined by measurement. ~11hen the beam is set into position it too is laminated into the ships hull structure by similar methods.

So the procedures are repaated along and upwards through the length of the vessel until it is almost complete and until it is necessary to close the mould at either the bow or stern of the ship. At this stage materials for future complete on work arelifted into the ship ready for the final closing of the mould and completing the ships shell. This work has to be carried out from inside the ship.

Claims (5)

Claims

1) A method of sequential casting of ferrocement laminated materials upon and within a mould to build a ship or other floating structure.

2) A method and system of combining precast ferrocement elements to form a ship structure.

3) A method of creating a suitable light weight but semi-rigid mould membrane onto which various textured materials may be positioned to give offmould features of wooden ships and old iron ships.

4) A method of sequential ferrocement ship construction which uses only one form of mechanical lifting and positioning equipment.

Key to Figures 1 - 5 on Pages 7,8,9, Fig 1. a) 1. Inner could Surface.

2.Plywood or Plastic Sheet.

3.Reinforcement Mesh.

4.Glued Timber Bridge Fastenings.

5. Double Bottom.

Fig 5 Side Elevation 1,2,3, Ship's Decks.

4 Temporary Shed Structure.

5 Access Door.

6 Progressive construction.

7 Direction of Progressive Construction.

8 'Loadall' type machine

5. Wire Loose Fastenings.

b) 7. 'Planks' nailed into plywood mould 8.No planking below water line.

9. Inserts to simulate seans.

Fig 2. l.Ship Inside.

2.Mould Xembrane.

3.Keel Blocks.

4. Support Structure 5.Adjustable Support Poles.

Fig 3. 1.Station profile 'swing'.

2. Ship built inside temporary structure.

3.Adjustable mould supports.

Fig 4. End Elevation 1,2,3, Ship's Decks.

4. Temporary Shed Structure/Scaffold.