US35665A - Improved metallic defensive armor for ships - Google Patents

Description

"o oooooo I gage@ ooo E P 1||-| ooo oo ou fw [E E] w. lill/Gufo] W//Qd/a/a N, PETERS. FlmLlTHOAPNER. WASNIWTON. D (L UNITED -ST1-fries Paritair @risica YVILLIAM BALLARD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVED METALLIC DEFENSBVE ARMOR FOR SHIPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 35,665, dated June 24, 1862.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, WILLIAM BALLARD, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Construction and Armament of Vessels of XVar; and I do heredy declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this speciteation, in which- Figure l is an elevation of part of the side of a vessel illustrating myinvention. Fig. 2 is a plan view corresponding with Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section of the vessel.A Fig. i is a horizontal section of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention consists in a certain novel construction of the frame of and mode of applying armor to vessels, whereby great strength and power of resisting t-he impact of the projectiles is obtained, and the armor, instead ol' weakening, is made to strengthen the vessel.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

The framing of the vessel is represented as composed of frames A A, of heavy wrought bar or plate iron, and interposed frames B B, of timber, made severally in the Various forms required for the transverse section of the vessel at different points in its length, and preferably of such form as to present an inclined face above the water-line. rIhe iron frames A A are arranged with their edges toward and from the interior and exterior of the vessel, and the interposed wooden frames B B entirely iill the spaces between them.

The iron and wooden frames may be bolted or otherwise secured together in pairs (one oi each) before being set up to form the vessel, or each wooden frame may have an iron one bolted to each side of it before being set up. As the several frames are set up one after another they may be secured together by bolting in any suitable manner, or by short plates of iron c a notched into the outer edges ofthe frames and bolted thereto, as shown 'in Fig.

l. This framing may be covered with wooden planking G G from the keel up to such distance below the water line as it is desired to commence the armor; but the armor may be applied directly to the framing without a planking of wood.

The armor is composed of several layers of plates or ilat bars of iron of the same or of different thickness, making in the aggregate the thickness required for eliicient protection. In the example represented Athere are four layers of iron, C D E F, three of which, C D E, are in the form of broad iiat bars, and the outer one, F, in the form of plates of as large size as can be conveniently rolled or forged. In the first layer the bars C C are arranged lengthwise of the vessel and bolted to thel framing A B. In the second and third layers the bars D D and E E are applied diagonally to cross each other, those of one layer running in one and those of the other in the reverse direction diagonally to the bars C C, and each bar is bolted separately at as many points as may be desired through the bar or bars behind it and to the frame. The outer layer of plates, F F, is bolted through all the bars C C D D E Eand through the frames. The number of layers of diagonal bars may be increased, if desirable, each layer crossing the one behind it. By this construction of the armor the armor is made to brace the framing, both diagonally and horizontally, and the several layers of the armor are made to brace each other, while by the construction of the frame of wood and iron, as desired, great strength is Obtained.

The inside of the frame is planked in the lusual manner, as .shown at H H in Fig. 3, to

form what is known as the ceiling7 or inner skin77 of the vessel; but between the portholes K K, I propose to construct inside of the` vessel solid buttresses I I of timber, as shown in Fig. 2, tapering the sides ofthese buttresses like the embrasures of forts. rIhe ports J which I employ are fitted to slide up anddown over the por.t-holes, and are made of iron of a V forni in their transverse section, as shown in Figs. land 4, and are beveled at top and bottom, as shown at the bot` toni of the port in Fig. 1, so that a projectile 2 Y I l 35,665

I strikingthem will not be very liable'to strike barsor plates D D and E E, and coveringplaltes F F, substantially as and for the purthem perpendicularly to their surface.

What-I claim as my invention, and desire l pose herein specified. to secure by Letters Patent, is ,e

The combination of iron frames A A, interposed wooden'frames'B B, .longitudinal covering bers or plates CVC, reversed diagonal Witnesses:

. R. GAWLEY., i I. W; COOMBs. r

^ WM. BALLARD.

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