Senat

1850 · Best.-Nr. 50052 — Washington DC: Office of Printers to the Senate 1850. This volume especially notable for including a patent awarded to future president Abraham Lincoln for an Improved method of li . Washington DC: Office of Printers to the Senate 1850. This volume especially notable for including a patent awarded to future president Abraham Lincoln for an Improved method of lifting Vessels over shoals. The Lincoln patent is listed on page 57 and 96 and described on page 262. According to Lincoln's statement his device relied upon the combination of expansible bouyant chambers connected by "a shaft or shafts across the bottom of the vessel to lift it. This was of particular importance to the whaling industry in the 1840s when the entrance to Nantucket's harbor was becoming too shallow for larger whaleships to pass. The text also includes a fascinating essay on the propulsion of steamers including numerous comparisons to biological methods of propulsion and plates illustrating "propellers" in the animal kingdom as well as diagrams of steamboat propellers. This volume closely predating the American Civil War the subject of steam propulsion was of immense importance at the time both for improving the competitive efficiency of merchant shipping and to the development of novel tactics in naval warfare adaptive to the changing technology. Quarterbound black leather and marbled paper boards w/ gilt lettering on spine. Library stamp on title page. Contents in good condition covers have worn edges and corners. 22.5 cm. 626 pp. b/w plates . Office of Printers to the Senate hardcover