Taffrail Log
date: label: date patent
content: Sept 17, 1878
label: date made
content: 1880's
name: label: maker
content: Bliss, John
notes: label: Description
content: Bliss’s Patent American Taffrail Log–which was introduced around 1871 and which received a medal at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876–was based on the inventions of Captain Truman Hotchkiss, a sea captain living in Stratford, Connecticut. This example incorporates two features designed by John and George H. Bliss in the late 1870s. One is a register with three dials that read tenths of a mile, ten miles, and 100 miles. The other is a rotator designed to prevent sea-weed accumulation. It was probably made before 1884 when the Bliss brothers obtained another patent for a further improved rotator.
label: Description
content: Ref: T. Hotchkiss, "Nautical Log," U.S. patent #45,042.
label: Description
content: T. Hotchkiss, "Screw Propeller," U.S. patent #63,520.
label: Description
content: J. & G. H. Bliss, "Ships’ Logs," U.S. patent #178,261.
label: Description
content: J. & G. H. Bliss, "Rotators for Ships’ Logs," U.S. patent #208,061.
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York
topic: label: Subject
content: Whaling
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Fisheries
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1990.0018.071
label: accession number
content: 1990.0018
label: catalog number
content: 1990.0018.071
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Taffrail Log
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: rotator: 9 1/2 in x 4 1/2 in x 4 1/2 in; 24.13 cm x 11.43 cm x 11.43 cm
label: Measurements
content: recorder: 11 in x 2 in x 3 in; 27.94 cm x 5.08 cm x 7.62 cm