Improvement in Naval Architecture, &c. 4*9 



deprived of its oxygen, or that principle which maintains 

 combustion, no burning can take place. 



" The means employed to eti'ect thjs are horizontal cur* 

 yilinear flues, made of cast iron, adapted lo the forms in- 

 tended to be given to the wood, and furnished with a 

 powerful, but simple, apparatus for applying the force re- 

 quisite to bend the timbers into the required form. 



" Bv this process even timbers of large dimensions can 

 be bent to almost any shape. They are heated throughout 

 their whole length and substance, without alternations of 

 temperature in the different parts, as when exposed to open 

 fires. 



** By this. process the necessity of procurag bent timbers 

 is done away ; while, at the same time, that loss which is 

 incurred by cuttinsi straight or ill-shaped timbers into pro- 

 per forms, is avoided^ and that weakness which results 

 from cutting cross the grain and from scarfing is obviated. 



" By this process also there will be a saving of that waste 

 of time which is necessary, in the ordinary process of ship- 

 building, {'or seasoning, as it is called; and, which is of 

 great importance, much of thejabour now bestowed on 

 trimming and chipping, to give form both to straight and 

 crooked timbers, will be avoided, while the natural strength 

 of the pieces will be left unimpaired. 



" The preparation of ship timbers, as above described, 

 applies to the system now in use, in which the framing 

 consists of pieces of wood, bent by nature, and brought 

 into form by sawing and chipping. The pieces, to which 

 we allude are known by the name of ribs, and much of the 

 •trength of the present structure of ships is attributed to 

 them. 



" But strange as it must appear to those who have never 

 once started a question on the subject, the ribs give but 

 little strength, comparatively, and we propose to discard. 

 Almost entirely, from sliip-building those pieces called ribs, 

 And to present to our country a system infinitely preferable 

 in point of strength, cheapness of construction, durability, 

 •ud the facility with which the requisite materials may be 

 obtained. 



*' We beg to premise, that the principal defect of the 

 present method lies in this : — The ribs owe what stability 

 they possess in the structure entirely to the connexion they 

 have with the beams, planks, and lining, having but little 

 of their own. Their stability depends on the structure of the 

 planks with which they arc covered, and which arc attached 

 10 them wiihin and wiihoiu. Thoy afford little or no direct 



support 



