Specification of the Patent granted to CHARLES Earl STANHOPE; for certain important Improvements respecting the Form, Construction, and Manner of building and fitting out Ships and Vessels for the Purpose of Navigation, and especially for counteracting or diminishing the Danger of that most mischievous Invention for destroying Ships and Vessels, known by the Name or Appellation of submarine Bombs, Carcasses, or Explosions.

With a Plate.

Dated February 16, 1807.

To all to whom these presents shall come, &c. Now KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I the said Charles Earl Stanhope do hereby declare, that the following written description, and drawings hereunto annexed, contain a particular description of my said discovery or invention; that is to say: In the first place, the object of my said invention is to construct ships and vessels, which, as far as it is in the nature of things possible, shall unite the maximum of advantages with the VOL. XII.-SECOND SERIES. minimum

B

minimum of disadvantages; and especially with respect to the following, amongst other, important properties; viz. That ships and vessels constructed agreeably to my said invention shall be capable of sailing very fast, on every point on which ships in general usually sail; and shall likewise (when properly rigged) be capable of sailing very near the wind, and of weathering most admirably. That ships and vessels constructed agreeably to my said invention shall ride very easy at anchor; shall be uncommonly lively in a rough sea, and also in a head sea ; and shall be what is technically called excellent sea-boats. That ships and vessels constructed agreeably to my said invention shall have the valuable property of drawing much less water than is usual for such ships or vessels as are of the same number of tons respectively, and as are at the same time good sea-boats. It is a very important fact, that the resistance of water increases gradually and regularly as the depth of the water increases, although in a less rapid ratio; so that the minimum of resistance to the progressive motion of ships and vessels cannot be obtained, except upon the principle of their being so constructed as not to descend into that part of the fluid, where the unalterable law respecting fluids would render the resistance so much more considerable than at a more moderate depth. To construct ships and vessels of a small draught of water, with the maximum of advantages, is a high and important problem, which never has been solved, to the best of my knowledge or belief, by any other person; but which I have endeavoured to solve, and I trust successfully. When the draught of water is unnecessarily great, it is highly disadvantageous in an immense variety of respects.

The object of my said invention is also, that ships and vessels constructed agreeably thereto shall have the ex

cellent.

cellent property of making less lee-way than other ships or vessels of the same draught of water; and shall have the lateral resistance to the lee-way more mechanically and more advantageously applied than in any other ships or vessels of any draught of water whatsoever; and shall moreover have the advantage of not being made to heel by means of such lateral resistance, as, in certain situations, is the case when keels are used, which, from their nature are always unscientifically placed too much below the center of gravity of the ship or vessel. That ships and vessels constructed agreeably to my said invention shall, notwithstanding their comparatively small draught of water, have sufficient stability to carry proper sail; and that they shall roll and pitch less than ships or vessels of the common construction. That ships and vessels constructed agreeably to my said invention shall be capable of keeping a true and steady course; and shall be capable of being, at pleasure, turned readily and rapidly out of their course, by means of the rudder, or by means of the gills hereinafter mentioned to be used for that purpose; and shall also be capable of coming about well in stays. And that ships and vessels constructed agreeably to my said invention (if properly rigged) shall, when sailing near the wind, be capable of having their long axis kept in, or nearer to, the intended course, than has ever yet been accomplished by any other method whatso

ever.

And, secondly, the figures hereunto annexed, from 1 to 7, both inclusive, together with the explanation thereof herein given, contain a full description of one ship or vessel to be constructed agreeably to my said invention, in order that I may be the better enabled to explain hereinafter the nature of my said invention generally, and the manner in which it is to be performed.

Fig. 1 (Plate I.) represents the hull of a ship or vessel constructed agreeably to my said invention, supposed to be viewed from below.

Fig. 2 is a side-view of the hull of the same ship or vessel, and is that representation which is commonly called the sheer-draught.

Fig. 3 is a midship-section of the boundary of the hull of the same ship or vessel.

Fig. 4 is a perspective front-view of the hull of the same ship or vessel.

Fig. 5 is a perspective stern-view of the hull of the same ship or vessel.

In Figs. 1, 2, 4, 5, and 8, the corresponding colours * represent corresponding perpendicular distances from the lowest part of the ship or vessel. And the corresponding letters in the different figures represent corresponding parts.

Figs. 6 and 7 represent respectively an oblique section of the hull of the same ship or vessel, from U to v V, in Fig. 1. The difference between Figs. 6 and 7 is this: in Fig. 6 the gills hereinafter mentioned, invented by me, are represented at W w, down or open; whereas in Fig. 7 those same gills are represented at W w up, or shut. In this latter case, the outward surface of the gills is exactly -flush or level with the outside of the ship or vessel, as their thickness may be let into the plank.

A gill is the reverse of a rudder.

A rudder, whether

works on an axis

of the common sort or of the equipollent species, is a thick instrument (generally of wood), that which is vertical, or nearly vertical.

.

Whereas a gill is a

thin plate of stiff metal (that need not exceed threeeighths of an inch in thickness), and that works on an

* The colouring is necessarily omitted in the plate.

axis which is horizontal, or nearly so. A gill might also be made of wood, or of any other strong substance; but metal is far preferable to wood for that purpose. That common sort of cast metal, which by many of the founders is called strong metal, and which is composed of ten parts of pure copper and of one part of grain-tin, when cast flat, clean, and perfect, will (amongst others) be very excellent for casting gills; as various experiments made by me with that metal, for these last twenty years, fully convince me. The gills may also be made of wrought metal, or of wrought metal combined with cast, or of a combination of metals, or of any combination of strong substances. It will be proper to make the lower edge, and also the fore and aft edges of the gills sharp, in order to diminish their resistance through the water when down or open,

In Figs. 1 and 2 a great number of gills are represented, at the head-end of the ship or vessel, between b and e, in those two figures respectively, as the gills would be seen in perspective if shut or up. Gills, similarly or otherwise situated, may be placed on the opposite side of the same ship or vessel at the head-end, and on both sides at the stern-end also. I can apply to a ship or vessel (in the same ship-planes, or in any other, fewer or more ship-planes) one set or tier of gills only, or two or more, as circumstances may require. And I can open or shut any one or more of the gills, as I find it expedient, I applied a small number of gills to a small `vessel of mine, both at the head and stern, many years ago with great success; but I herein describe the true scientific method of producing a most admirable combined effect, which I believe to be without a parallel in the history of navigation. The head gills are of the most importance. But the stern gills, particularly when act