The greatest American: Inventor
Ever wonder if any American president was a U.S. patent-bearing inventor? The answer is yes and only one to date. Read on and discover the depth and passion this U.S. president had for invention and innovation. The story of his manifestation of these passions is an inspiration for all inventors to this day—a real testimony to not only its importance to our employers, but our nation and its economy. My own passion for invention is in some way validated by this little-known history.
Invention has been at the core of the American experience and history since the founding of the American Patent System by the act of April 10, 1790. Thomas Jefferson, then Secretary of State, observed during his residence abroad the encouragement and protection extended by other countries to inventive skill and industry, and the exclusive privileges granted to producing things new and useful in art, science, literature, and mechanics.1 A formal U.S. Patent System followed the founding of the country by a mere 14 years.
In 1849, “The Greatest American” Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was issued U.S. Patent No. 6469, “Manner of Buoying Vessels.”2
A little backstory on how Lincoln, at the age of 40, became an inventor of nautical things: During his brief stint as a ferryman (~1828, at 19 to 20 years old) along the Mississippi River, Lincoln was stranded twice on riverboats run aground.3
His invention used adjustable buoyant air chambers attached to the sides of a boat. They could be lowered into the water and inflated to lift the boat over obstructions within the water. Lincoln whittled the scale patent model while Walter Davis, a Springfield mechanic, provided tools and advice for the model. Up until 1880, the U.S. Patent Office required a scale model submitted with each patent application.4 The device was never produced for practical use and doubts remain as to whether it would have been a useful invention due to the amount of force needed to lower and fill the air chambers.
In his patent application, Lincoln provided the following abstract as to the intent and scope of his invention:
“Be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, of Springfield, in the County of Sangamon, in the State of Illinois, have invented a new and improved manner of combining adjustable buoyant air chambers with a steamboat or other vessel for the purpose of enabling their draught of water to be readily lessened to enable them to pass over bars, or through shallow water, without discharging their cargoes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings making a part of this specification.”