US46037A - Improved vessel of war - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

J. S. UNDERHILL, OF NET YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVED VESSEL` OF WAR.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 46,037, dated January 24, 1865.

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, J. t. UNDEEHILL, of the city., county, and State ot' New York, have invented a new and usetul Improvement in the Construction ot' Vessels ot' lVar and Fortiiications; and l do hereby declare that the following is a l'ull, clear, and exact description ot' the same, reference being had to the accompanying' drawings, forming part ot' this specification, in which- Figure lisa central vertical section ot" a turret constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse section, on a much smaller scale, illustrating the application ot' my invention to the plating ot' the side ot' a war vessel.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both tigures.

This invention consists, in the construction ot' the turrets for vessels or batteries and ot' the armor t'or the hulls or other parts ot vessels of war, ot' plates arranged horizontally, or nearly so, with their edges inward and out ward and secured together by bolts which pass through them in a vertical or nearly vertical direction` in combination with vertical plates, applied in the mannerhereinafter speci- 'lied, to prevent the penetration ot' projectiles in the joints between the horizontal plates.

To enable others skilled in the art to apply my invention to use, l will proceed to describe it with reference to the drawings.

ln the construction ot' turrets the whole structure may be composed ot plates c a, arranged horizontally one upon another, as hereinbet'ore mentioned, and illustrated in Fig. Il, and bolts b b', passing vertically or upward and downward through holes drilled in the said plates. On thc lett-hand side of Fig. l the plates are represented as all secured together by a single bolt7 I), long` enough to pass through the whole series, and on the righthand side they are shown as secured by shorter bolts, b, each passing through several ot' the series. l propose to alternate the longer and shorter bolts. rEhe plates are so arranged that their ends break joint with cach other. rilhe thickness of the turret may be composed of single plates ot' suitable width, as shown at the left-hand ot Fig. l, and in the upper part ot' the right side thereof; but in the lower part ot' the latter side the thickness is represented as composed otl plates of unequal width arranged to break joint. The lower part is represented of greater thickness than the upper part, and near the top two of the platrs are represented of greater width and projecting externally to t'orm a ledge i'or the suppoit ot' the root' of the turret.

In applying my invention to the armor-plating of the hullot` a vessel a stout double-angle plate, c, is bolted to the hull ot the vessel at a suitable distance below the water-line for the support of the plates, and the bolts b are inserted through this angle-plate and bent to correspond with the vertical curvature of the side otI the vessel.

To prevent pointed shot from enteringl between and wedging apart the plates a 0,1 apply to the exterior of the plating one or more thicknesses ot vertical plates, d d, by screwing them to the plates a a by short screws e c.

The system ot' plates a a, by supl'iorting one another, make a very strong structure for turrets, and when used as armor for the hulls do not strain the vessel like plates which are bolted through the hull, and in either application the bolts cannot be started by the impact ot' projectiles. the advantage of which, more especially in the case ot' turrets, has been deu'ionstratcd by recent experience.

Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

rlllie combination of the horizontal plates ct a, vertical bolts b b', vertical plates d d, and screws e c, all constructed, applied, and secured in the manner and for the purposes herein specilied.

J. S. UNDERHH.

Yitnesses J. W. Cocinas, GEO. W. REED.

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