Abraham Lincoln Patent Model Replica

Abraham Lincoln Patent Model Replica

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Description
Abraham Lincoln had considerable maritime background, although it is usually eclipsed by his political heritage. At the age of 19 in Anderson Creek, Ind., he built a flatboat for $24, loaded it with a local farmer’s produce, and floated it 1,000 miles down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans, where he sold both the boat and its cargo. When he was 22, he was hired by an Illinois store owner to take some goods down the Mississippi and sell them in New Orleans. Lincoln built another flatboat and successfully piloted it from New Salem, Ill. to New Orleans over a three-month period.
In the mid-1840s, as a lawyer in Springfield, Ill., his law partner William Herndon recalled watching Lincoln working on a large boat model with a local craftsman. A Springfield resident recalled Lincoln demonstrating the idea for his model in public. His model embodies an idea Lincoln had for raising vessels over shoal waters by increasing their buoyancy. That idea became patent #6,469 in May 1849—the only patent ever obtained by an American president. After he became president in 1860 and moved to Washington, he visited his model in the nearby Patent Office at least once. He also enjoyed reviewing naval vessels and ideas, and he personally approved inventor John Ericsson’s idea for the ironclad warship Monitor.
Lincoln’s original patent model was acquired by the Smithsonian in 1908 and has left the Mall only once since then, for an exhibit at the US Patent Office. This replica was built by the Smithsonian in 1978 for long-term display to preserve the fragile original.
Object Name
patent model
date made
1978
Physical Description
wood (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 26 3/4 in x 5 in x 10 1/2 in; 67.945 cm x 12.7 cm x 26.67 cm
ID Number
TR.336769
accession number
1978.2284
catalog number
336769
related event
Expansion and Reform
See more items in
Work and Industry: Maritime
Work
Energy & Power
Industry & Manufacturing
Transportation
On the Water exhibit
Exhibition
On the Water
Exhibition Location
National Museum of American History
Data Source
National Museum of American History
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Comments

Lincoln's brilliant idea could be updated using simple polyurea spray to create airbags. By using plastic wrap as an adheasion preventative against the hull, polyurea could then be sprayed using a folding technique at the bottom and forming total attachment above and below the hull side (above and below the plastic wrap. This would quickly form a strong airbag in a matter of minutes. Once in place is would be an easy matter to fill or evacuate the floats easily securing them with near vacuum when not in use and simple inflating when required using basic equipment. Since polyurea floats despite its weight and has tremendous resistance to friction and impact it would be ideal as an expandable flotation device. By providing inexpensive "well drilling" mud pumps strategically, further assistance can be made by blasting water under the stuck hull. Flotation and water jets should loosen any craft unless it is left until extreme low tide. ,

Joel House

Tue, 2017-05-23 09:57

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