Patent Model, Endless Chain Propeller
date: label: Date made
content: 1876
label: patent date
content: 1876-02-29
name: label: patentee
content: Alvord, Luther
label: inventor
content: Alvord, Luther
notes: label: Description
content: This model accompanied Luther Alvord’s patent application for an “endless chain propeller” that received patent number 174,178 on February 29, 1876. He also claimed it would work as a dredge for removing sand and mud from shipping channels.
label: Description
content: "This invention consists, generally," Alvord wrote, "of a series of blades connected to form an endless apron or railway, which, moving over rollers at both of its ends [and] attached to the bottom of the boat, acts directly upon the water to produce the desired propulsion." Although he did not claim to have invented "the principle of an endless chain of buckets or floats," he asserted that his V-shaped interlocking blades were an original design that would be strong and resistant to strain as well as suitable for canal-boat propulsion, as "the water escaping behind a boat employing this device...will not make a wash" that could damage a canal's banks.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: associated place
content: United States: Massachusetts, South Hadley Falls
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.325943
label: catalog number
content: 325943
label: accession number
content: 249602
label: patent number
content: 174,178
objectType: label: Object Name
content: propeller, endless chain, patent model
label: Object Name
content: patent model, propeller, endless chain
label: Object Type
content: Patent Model
label: Other Terms
content: patent model, propeller, endless chain; propeller, endless chain; Maritime
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (blades and rollers material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (frame material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 12 in x 3 1/2 in x 5 1/4 in; 30.48 cm x 8.89 cm x 13.335 cm