Artificial Leg
date: label: date made
content: 1852
notes: label: Description
content: Patent model for Benjamin Franklin Palmer, “Artificial Leg,” U.S. Patent 9,200 (Aug. 17, 1852). Benjamin Franklin Palmer obtained several patents for artificial legs.
label: Description
content: According to a glowing review in 1849, Palmer’s invention was “beyond a doubt vastly superior to any that has preceded it, either in Europe or America; indeed, so perfect is its adaptation to the purpose for which it is intended, there seems to be no room left for improvement.” The review went on to say that Palmer. “who wears a let of his own construction, with an artificial joint at the knee, is enabled to walk without halting, and in a manner which would lead no one unacquainted with the fact to suspect that he was not walking upon a sound natural limb.” The firm of B. F. Palmer & Co., established in Meredith, N.H., had recently relocated to Springfield, Ma. During the Civil War, Palmer established the American Artificial Limb Co.
label: Description
content: Ref: “Palmer’s Artificial Leg,” The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 41 (Aug. 15, 1849): 44-45.
label: Description
content: B. Frank. Palmer, The Palmer Arm and Leg, Adopted for the U.S. Army and Navy (n.d.).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine, Prostheses
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1978.0273.06
label: accession number
content: 1978.0273
label: catalog number
content: 1978.0273.06
label: patent number
content: 9200
objectType: label: Object Name
content: leg, prosthetic
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 28 cm x 12 cm; 11 1/32 in x 4 23/32 in