Patent Model, Life Boat
date: label: Date made
content: 1858
label: patent date
content: 1858-03-23
name: label: patentee
content: Francis, Joseph
label: manufacturer
content: Novelty Iron Works
label: inventor
content: Francis, Joseph
notes: label: Description
content: In 1845, Joseph Francis patented the use of stamped corrugated metal to make boats. Through collaboration with the Novelty Iron Works in New York, he began to manufacture lifeboats, military cutters, and coastal rescue craft, along with other marine safety gear. His sturdy products proved popular, and he sold many to commercial steamship operators, life-saving stations, and the United States Navy. By 1853, strong sales warranted the construction of a dedicated factory at Green Point, New York, where each hydraulic press could turn out parts for 40 boats a day. Francis continually experimented with new designs for his stamping process, and this patent model reflects changes to the shape of his boats’ corrugations that he developed in the late 1850s.
label: Description
content: Joseph Francis (1801-93) is best known today for designing an enclosed rescue craft called a life-car, which was extensively used in coastal life-saving stations in the second half of the 19th century. The first life-car he made was used to spectacular effect in the rescue of all but one of the passengers and crew of the immigrant vessel <I>Ayrshire</I>, which ran aground on the New Jersey shore in a storm in January 1850. The Smithsonian preserves that life-car in addition to numerous models and ephemera documenting Joseph Francis’s work.
place: label: associated place
content: United States: New York, New York City
label: life boat used for rescue
content: Atlantic Ocean
topic: label: related event
content: Expansion and Reform
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
label: See more items in
content: On the Water exhibit
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.308546
label: catalog number
content: 308546
label: accession number
content: 89797
label: patent number
content: 19,693
objectType: label: Object Name
content: patent model, lifeboat
label: Object Type
content: Patent Model
label: Other Terms
content: lifeboat, metallic; patent model, lifeboat; Maritime
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: copper or brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paint (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: black (overall color)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 ft; x .6096 m