Bell Ship Hull, Patent Model
date: label: Date made
content: 1874
label: patent date
content: 1874-03-17
name: label: patentee
content: Bell, A. John
label: inventor
content: Bell, A. John
notes: label: Description
content: This tin patent model accompanied A. John Bell’s patent application for an “improvement in the construction of ships”—awarded patent number 148,655 on March 17, 1874. The model demonstrates Bell's method of constructing ships in detachable parts. In a vessel built after Bell's principle, the upper deck and a portion of any lower decks would float free if the main hull were sunk in some calamity, "so that when the hull sinks the deck will float upon the water, carrying the passengers and crew with it, and thus saving their lives." Bell also devised a sectional mast that could easily be cleared away in an emergency, to prevent it becoming an obstruction to the smooth separation of the decks; the mast is missing in the model. Ignoring the dangers of exposure, hunger, and heavy seas that often attended the use of lifeboats, Bell claimed that the "advantage of this invention lies in the almost absolute certainty of saving the lives of all on board the vessel, by having such a large part thereof prevented from sinking when the hull goes down."
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: associated place
content: United States: Kentucky, Ashland
topic: label: Subject
content: Patent Models
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
label: See more items in
content: America on the Move
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1979.1029.01
label: catalog number
content: 79.1029.01
label: accession number
content: 1979.1029
label: patent number
content: 148,655
objectType: label: Object Name
content: ship hull construction, patent model
label: Object Name
content: patent model, ship hull
label: Object Type
content: Patent Model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: tin (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 12 in x 5 1/4 in x 4 1/4 in; 30.48 cm x 13.335 cm x 10.795 cm