Patent Model, Tug for Towing Canal Boats
date: label: Date made
content: 1871
label: patent date
content: 1871-01-03
name: label: patentee
content: Everson, Walter
label: inventor
content: Everson, Walter
notes: label: Description
content: This beautiful wood model accompanied Walter Everson's 1871 patent application for an “improvement in tugs for towing boats” that received patent number 110754 on January 3, 1871. Walter Everson, a ship carpenter from New York City, proposed a paddle-wheel-driven tug for towing canal boats. "Its objects are to secure strength and compactness of construction, with increased efficiency in towing, and to prevent the washing of the banks by obviating the usual side swell."
label: Description
content: Everson's solution was to place a single paddle wheel in a long, straight-sided channel, which would "confine the water...so that its expulsion is directly backward." For strength he designed the tug with two decks, heavily reinforced with internal framing. His model elegantly shows the complexity of this framing. Although he specified the use of two rudders, Everson made no mention of an engine for turning the paddle wheel.
place: label: associated place
content: United States: New York, New York City
topic: label: Subject
content: Maritime
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.325942
label: catalog number
content: 325942
label: accession number
content: 249602
label: patent number
content: 110,754
objectType: label: Object Name
content: tugboat, patent model
label: Object Name
content: patent model, tug for towing canal boats
label: Object Type
content: Patent Model
label: Other Terms
content: patent model, tug for towing canal boats; tugboat; Maritime; Paddle Wheel, Center
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 12 in x 4 1/4 in x 2 3/4 in; 30.48 cm x 10.795 cm x 6.985 cm