Object Details
- Description
- 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.
- "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.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- patentee
- Alvord, Luther
- inventor
- Alvord, Luther
- Date made
- 1876
- patent date
- 1876-02-29
- Physical Description
- metal (blades and rollers material)
- wood (frame material)
- Measurements
- overall: 12 in x 3 1/2 in x 5 1/4 in; 30.48 cm x 8.89 cm x 13.335 cm
- Object Name
- propeller, endless chain, patent model
- patent model, propeller, endless chain
- Object Type
- Patent Model
- Other Terms
- patent model, propeller, endless chain; propeller, endless chain; Maritime
