Proof of Concept, Navy Landing Pontoon
notes: label: Description
content: Ten Phillies Perfecto brand cigar boxes attached together with four 5/16” wide wood strips on the top and bottom corners using small screws, brass washers, and small nuts. The lids of the boxes are held shut by small finishing nails. The one side of the boxes are marked in pencil “2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9” with “10” missing on the one end and the end piece with “1” completely missing. On the top of the model, three boxes have the letter “B” marked in pencil. On the underside of the model, three boxes are marked with the letter “C” in pencil. One box is marked in pencil “5 x 7’”.
label: Description
content: The pontoon string cigar box proof-of-concept model is well-documented in the literary and photographic holdings of the U.S. Navy Seabee Museum and Naval History and Heritage Command. According to various interviews with Laycock, press releases, and other secondary histories, the cigar box model came into existence in the late summer of 1939. As a low-cost means of experimentation, Laycock acquired empty cigar boxes from concessionaires in the Navy Building in Washington. With the assistance of C.W. Ingram of BuDocks’ War Plans Division staff, Laycock assembled the cigar boxes into a pontoon string using four wood model kite sticks together with small nuts, bolts, and washers. This model demonstrated the feasibility of connecting individual pontoon boxes using continuous angles (via the wood strips) to create a well-diaphragmed sectional box girder. In simpler terms, the structural rigidity of a single pontoon could be imparted to a combination of pontoons, opening up the possibility of making an almost unlimited number of combinations through standardized pontoons and connections.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Naval
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Mildred Cole Laycock
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2019.0105.01
label: catalog number
content: 2019.0105.01
label: accession number
content: 2019.0105
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: cardboard, steel, wood, brass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 28 9/16 in x 8 3/4 in x 6 1/8 in; 72.54875 cm x 22.225 cm x 15.5575 cm