Elastic Lanyard, Patent Model
date: label: Date made
content: 1872
label: patent date
content: 1872-01-30
name: label: patentee
content: Jones, John E.
label: inventor
content: Jones, John E.
notes: label: Description
content: John E. Jones of Waretown, New Jersey, designed an elastic lanyard for use in setting up a vessel's standing rigging. This is the model he sent to Washington in 1871 with his application for a patent protecting the device.
label: Description
content: Wire rope became more common in the second half of the nineteenth century. Aboard sailing vessels, it first replaced natural-fiber ropes in standing rigging, which didn't require constant handling. Later, as mechanical winches came into greater use, it replaced frequently handled running rigging as well. For many centuries, the ropes supporting a vessel's masts were adjusted using short ropes run between special blocks called deadeyes. Or, as a sailor would say, shrouds and backstays were set up using lanyards. Wire rope was more readily adjusted using turnbuckles, which, along with bottlescrews, remain the standard devices for the purpose today. Jones thought a more effective arrangement would employ a series of rubber cushions; tension was to be adjusted with a single short screw, instead of a turnbuckle's pair of long threaded bolts. It is not known if his invention was ever commercially produced.
label: Description
content: Jones also patented the use of rubber springs to relieve the strain on chain cables, and his surge reliever patent model is also in the collection.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Associated Place
content: United States: New Jersey, Waretown
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: TR.308556
label: catalog number
content: 308556
label: accession number
content: 89797
label: patent number
content: 123,178
objectType: label: Object Name
content: patent model, lanyard, elastic
label: Object Type
content: Patent Model
label: Other Terms
content: valve, elastic lanyard; patent model, elastic lanyard; patent model, lanyard, elastic; Maritime
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal; rubber (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 9 in x 1 1/2 in x 1 1/4 in; 22.86 cm x 3.81 cm x 3.175 cm