KNEE

The branches of the knees form an angle of greater or smaller extent, according to the mutual situation of the pieces which they are designed to unite. One branch is securely bolted to one of the deck-beams, whilst the other is in the same manner attached to a corresponding timber in the ship's side, as represented by E in the MIDSHIP-FRAME, plate VII.

Plate VII

Besides the great utility of knees in connecting the beams and timbers into one compact frame, they contribute greatly to the strength and solidity of the.ship, in the different parts of her frame to which they are bolted, and thereby enable her, with greater firmness, to resist the effects of a turbulent sea.

In fixing of these pieces, it is occasionally necessary to give an oblique direction to the vertical, or side-branch, in order to avoid the range of an adjacent gun-port, or, because the knee may be so shaped as to require this disposition; it being sometimes difficult to procure so great a varicty of knees as may be necessary in the construction of a number of ships of war.

In France, the scarcity of these pieces has obliged their shipwrights frequently to form their knees of iron.

KNEES are either said to be lodging or banging. The former are fixed horizontally in the ship's frame, having one arm bolted to the beam, and the other across two or three timbers, as represented by F in the DECK, plate III. The latter are fixed vertically, as we have described above. See also BUILDING, DECK, and MIDSHIP-FRAME.

Plate III

Reference Works