Out with the Old, In with the New

David J Kent Lincoln Memorial centennial

On Tuesday evening, May 21, 2024, I officially became “the old.” At that time, I relinquished the role of Lincoln Group of DC president, handing the gavel (figuratively, since we do not have an actual gavel) to “the new,” President Ed Epstein. In keeping with our long history, we had a peaceful transition.

I get to stay around as the Immediate Past President of LGDC. Lincoln, as you may recall, had the misfortune of being unceremoniously assassinated less than six weeks into his second term. He never got to see the organization carry on after his tenure was completed. Luckily, I will.

I walk away from the presidency after serving three years in that role. Previously, I had served two non-consecutive terms as VP of Education and Outreach sandwiched around one term as VP of Programs. I was fortunate that during my tenure the Lincoln Forum recognized with their Wendy Allen Award the Lincoln Group of DC’s eight+ decades of contributions to Lincoln scholarship. LGDC also organized, and I had the privilege to emcee, the 2022 Lincoln Memorial Centennial celebration on the National Mall. There have been tours, picnics, special programs, and many dozens of superb presentations – both at dinners and via Zoom. I have also had the opportunity to contribute articles to the Lincolnian newsletter in addition to my regular book review column for the last ten years. I have written many posts for the current website news blog and moderated or presented dozens of LGDC programs. And then there was the privilege of sharing one Saturday morning a month for the last ten years with the members of LGDC’s Study Forum as we dug deep into twenty different Lincoln books (and counting).

In short, it has been a wonderful experience.

You can read more about the Lincoln Group and the new board in an article I wrote for Lincolnian.org, from which this piece is derived.

So, what’s next for me?

To begin with, I’ll still be around the Lincoln Group as Immediate Past President. One task going forward is taking on the role of Historian. I’ll also continue to write for the website and newsletter, as well as other Lincoln organizations’ newsletters and journals. I’ll dig into the Lincoln Group’s files and write a full history. Lincoln is still my main focus for the time being.

But I’ll also be exploring the other aspects of my life that need greater attention. As I wrote in my end of year 2023 Travel Post, I will continue to travel the world. Next up is southern Africa. Next year will likely be South America. The following year, Antarctica. I’m also looking at some domestic trips. One area that I’ve been overlooking is the idea of short “excursions,” day trips to local sites or overnighter trips for slightly less local sites. Knowing me, I’m sure there will be more road trips (like the one to Maine coming up).

Then there is the writing. I mentioned in my 2023 end of year Writing Post that I was working on a book proposal, and that work in progress continues. I’ll also be putting out expanded and updated second editions of my earlier e-books as softcover print books – complete with a ton of new material. With more time, I’ll focus on getting the other partial books completed and out the door. And I already have new ideas for the next books, plus some articles for both Lincoln academic journals and popular media.

With so much more to do, I don’t expect to get bored anytime soon.

[Photo credit: Bruce Guthrie, taken at Lincoln Memorial Centennial, May 22, 2022]

 

Fire of Genius

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America is available at booksellers nationwide.

Limited signed copies are available via this website. The book also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. Please leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon if you like the book.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity andEdison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Abraham Lincoln: The Only President with a Patent

Lincoln Patent ModelAbraham Lincoln is the only U.S. president to own a patent. His idea for “an improved method of lifting vessels over shoals” was given Patent No. 6369 on May 22, 1849. The development of the patent stemmed from his personal experience getting his flatboat hung up on the New Salem mill dam and his observation of a steamship run aground in the shallows of the Detroit River passing Fighting Island. He watched as the captain of the steamship Canada ordered his crew to collect “all the loose planks, empty barrels, boxes, and the like which could be had” and force them under her hull to buoy the ship higher in the water. Ever the inquisitive one, Lincoln was enthralled with the ongoing operation. The incident got him thinking seriously about how to solve this particular kind of problem.

Combining his own experiences and some self-study, Lincoln settled on the physics concept of displacement. He probably picked up the basic idea of displacement in his early studies of geometry when preparing to be a surveyor. Displacement in geometric terms is simply the straight-line distance from one position to another. When applied to ships, this translates into the distance a vessel sinks into the water before its weight equalizes with the pressure of the water pushing up. A ship is said to have a certain degree of buoyancy, defined simply as the ability of something to float in a liquid, usually water.

To raise a ship that has run aground, another concept of physics is employed—the Archimedes principle. Archimedes was an ancient Greek mathematician and physicist who lived in the third century BCE. Among his many discoveries, besides deriving an accurate approximation of π (pi), was the principle of buoyancy that bears his name. In his treatise On Floating Bodies, Archimedes states: “Any object, totally or partially immersed in a fluid or liquid, is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object.” He supposedly discovered this principle after noticing that the level of water in his tub rose as he got in to take a bath, realizing this effect could be used to determine the volume of any irregularly shaped object. In practice, displacement is the occupation of a submerged body (like the hull of a ship) that would otherwise be occupied by a liquid, or the weight of fluid that would fill the volume displaced by a floating ship. This is measured in tons, which is why a ship’s size is usually referred to in tonnage.

According to Herndon, Lincoln had watched intently how the Canada’s captain used the power of displacement to buoy up the stranded vessel. Empty casks contain air, much lighter than the displacement of water. As additional lighter-than-water materials were placed under the hull, the ship gradually lifted until it was clear of the sandbar. Lincoln recognized intuitively the application of the Archimedes principle, that the objective of underwater vehicle flotation systems was to counteract the weight of the vessel pushing down with some additional buoyancy pushing up. The wooden planks, boxes, barrels, and casks would provide that buoyancy. As Lincoln continued on his way, he undoubtedly pondered deeply the problem of getting stranded vessels afloat. There had to be a better way. Obsessed with the idea, Lincoln decided to invent that better way.

For his design to lift stranded vessels, Lincoln decided on “expansible buoyant chambers placed at the sides of a vessel . . . in such a manner that . . . the buoyant chambers will be forced downwards into the water and at the same time expanded and filled with air for buoying up the vessel by the displacement of water.” Fleshing out his idea to get the design in line with the physics, Lincoln worked with a Springfield mechanic named Walter Davis to build a working model of the device. How much of the model Lincoln himself manufactured is uncertain, but at the very least he fashioned the central pillars. When it was finished, Lincoln showed off the model in “the big water trough at the corner opposite” his office in downtown Springfield. One witness noted that the four-foot model was set afloat in the trough, then forced downward with bricks to simulate a grounding. Lincoln “then applied the air pumps modeled like the old fire bellows, four in number, two on each side that were beneath the lower or first deck and in a few moments, it slowly rose above the water about six inches.” The gathered crowd, although much impressed, was not entirely convinced the device would help open up the Sangamon River for navigation, but they gave him three cheers for the entertainment value.

When Lincoln returned to Washington for another session of Congress, he sought out Zenas C. Robbins, an experienced patent agent, to help navigate the cumbersome patent process. “He walked into my office one morning with a model of a western steamboat under his arm,” reported Robbins. “After a friendly greeting he placed his model on my office-table and proceeded to explain the principles embodied therein and what he believed was his own invention, and which, if new, he desired to secure by letters patent.” Robbins helped Lincoln create the necessary drawings and paperwork, and the patent application was submitted on March 10, 1849.

While the theoretical concept of the invention was simple, the actual mechanism to achieve buoyancy was somewhat unwieldy, as was the ninety-six-word opening sentence of his application:

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 steam boat 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 made to the accompanying drawings making a part of this specification.

His astounding grasp of both the necessary physics and the intricacy of the design is demonstrated in three accompanying figures—a side elevation, a transverse section, and a longitudinal vertical section—that show the placement of the buoyant chambers on the sides of the vessel.

“Each buoyant chamber,” he explains, “is composed of plank or metal, of suitable strength and stiffness, and the flexible sides and ends of the chambers, are composed of India-rubber cloth, or other suitable waterproof fabric, securely united to the edges and ends of the top and bottom of the chambers.” These are in effect inflatable rubber bellows held in place within a strong collapsible frame that can be raised or lowered as needed. “A suitable number of vertical shafts or spars” would be secured to the bottom part of the bellows and to a main shaft passing horizontally through the center of the vessel. Ropes wound around the main shaft would, upon turning, raise or lower the vertical spars, thus inflating or deflating the chambers.

And on he went, describing in great detail every aspect of the system: how the bellows were to be operated, how the devices were attached to the vessel, how the system of ropes and pulleys was used to manipulate the positioning of the spars. Lincoln even considered the scalability of the design such that it could be operated by manpower on smaller vessels or by steam power on larger steamships. He incorporated enough flexibility in the design to cover a range of mechanical arrangements, thus providing broader protection for his patent. What he claimed as his patent was not to be limited by the specific design shown in the drawings, but the “combination of expansible buoyant chambers placed at the sides of the vessel” and a system to deploy them as needed. When finished, “the buoyant chambers will be contracted into a small space and secured against injury.”

Lincoln had used his still growing knowledge of hydraulics, hydrology, mechanics, and construction to successfully develop an application for “an improved method of lifting vessels over shoals.” After submitting the application, Lincoln put his focus back on his responsibilities as U.S. congressman, which included drafting a bill that would have emancipated enslaved people in the District of Columbia if it had passed. A year earlier Congress had passed a new patent law that gave sole power of issuing patents to the commissioner of patents and increased the salaries of examiners to $2,500 per year, thus increasing the professionalism of the office. A law passed the following year moved the patent office from the State Department to the newly created Department of Interior (originally called the Home Department).

On April 13, Robbins wrote excitedly to Lincoln: “It affords me great pleasure to inform you that I have obtained a favorable decision on your application. . . . The patent will be issued in about a month.” On May 22, Abraham Lincoln received Patent Number 6469 from the U.S. Patent Office, the only president ever to receive a patent. A few weeks later, Lincoln recommended his model creator, Walter Davis, be appointed receiver of the Land Office in Springfield. While he had regaled Herndon with his belief of “the revolution it was destined to work in steamboat navigation,” Lincoln made no attempt to commercialize the invention. In truth, the apparatus was probably heavy enough in itself to weigh down the vessel, plus presented a potentially insurmountable array of ropes and pulleys on the deck that might limit room for cargo or crew movement. Still, the overall concept of inflatable chambers or pontoons has been employed in more recent times to raise sunken ships, so there is some merit to Lincoln’s design even if he never promoted it.

The original patent drawings, lost at some point, were rediscovered in 1997 in the patent office director’s office. The original model is stored in the Smithsonian Institution’s vault. A second model, and possibly a third, may also exist. Clark Moulton Smith, who was married to Mary Lincoln’s sister Ann, found the second model in the attic of Lincoln’s Springfield home shortly after his assassination. The model was given to Shurtleff College in Alton but disappeared after the college closed in 1957. In 1864, Adam S. Cameron requested Lincoln’s consent to reproduce the model for the benefit of the Sanitary Commission. Given Lincoln’s prominence, the model was sure to fetch considerably donations that the commission would use to support sick and wounded Union soldiers, according to Cameron. There is no evidence this third model was ever created.

[Adapted from Lincoln: The Fire of Genius]

 

Fire of Genius

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America is available at booksellers nationwide.

Limited signed copies are available via this website. The book also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. Please leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon if you like the book.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Lincoln and the Permanent Commission of the Navy

Lincoln testing a SpencerLincoln’s enthusiasm for mathematics, science, and technology made him a national sounding board for innovations, but he simply could not handle all the inventors pouring letters into his mailbox or showing up at the White House expecting a stamp of approval for their miraculous “war-ending invention.” Unlike today, there was no military-industrial complex developing new weapons during the Civil War. When it came to innovation, the government relied on “the chance, unreliable labors of inventors and amateurs of science” who “literally besieged official Washington after the outbreak of the war.”

Probably with Lincoln’s knowledge, Joseph Henry proposed to Secretary Welles an advisory board to serve as a more efficient mechanism for evaluating new ideas to aid the war effort. The navy had earlier tried a similar idea with its Naval Examining Board, but it failed in six months due to insufficient funding. By early 1863 Welles was willing to implement Henry’s idea, in part because any experimental research would be conducted by the originator, not the navy. With Lincoln’s approval, Welles created the Permanent Commission of the Navy Department “to which all subjects of a scientific character on which the Government may require information may be referred.” The three-member commission—Henry was joined by equally ubiquitous Alexander Dallas Bache (superintendent of the Coast Survey) and Charles Henry Davis (chief of the Bureau of Navigation)—met several times a week to evaluate the stream of proposals. After more than three dozen meetings in the first few months, Henry grumbled to Harvard botanist Asa Gray that his duties on the commission were overwhelming; the commission “occupied nearly all my time” other than that devoted to Smithsonian business.

From its creation in early 1863, the commission evaluated over three hundred proposals ranging from warship designs to underwater guns to torpedoes, all of which their originators claimed would immediately end the war in the Union’s favor. Despite the optimism of the inventors, mostly these ideas were oversold and underperforming. After the war, Henry bragged that the Permanent Commission kept the government “from rushing into many schemes which, under guise of patriotism, were intended to advance individual interest.”

The commission relieved Lincoln of the steady stream of inventors that had besieged him since the beginning of the war, but it did not stop all of them. Lincoln continued to receive letters and visits for the remainder of the war, and the always curious commander-in-chief continued to personally test some of the weapons that came his way. As the burdens of war became overwhelming, more and more often Lincoln would refer inventors to the Permanent Commission or directly to the military personnel most likely capable of evaluating the proposal.

And yet inventors still badgered Lincoln even after their proposal had been evaluated by the commission, either because the commission had refused their self-professed miraculous discovery or because a decision was bogged down in endless bureaucratic delay. John H. Schenk angrily wrote to Lincoln in early 1864 complaining he had been waiting a year to get approvals, yet the evaluation “is still throttled nearly to death with Red tape.” A few months later, John D. Hall wrote to Lincoln about his idea to lay cable across waterways to cut enemy obstructions lower than the keel of Union ironclads. He had originally written to Gideon Welles, who forwarded it to the Permanent Commission, and now impatiently was writing Lincoln. He complained that “notwithstanding these devices are so simple that any mechanical mind may easily comprehend them in the space of ten minutes of time,” he had yet to receive any report after thirty days. He asked Lincoln to speed up the acceptance. He received a reply that his invention was under consideration. Sometimes even Lincoln’s positive intervention had no effect. Inventor Peter Yates had proposed an “Improvement on Steam Engines” that was the subject of several letters between Yates, Lincoln, Welles, and the members of the commission. In the end, Charles Henry Davis grumbled to Welles that the “invention has not been described with sufficient clearness to be perfectly understood,” but based on what he could infer, “the loss of power which this invention is intended to prevent does not exist.”

On the other hand, Thomas Schuebly wrote Lincoln in late 1863 enthusiastically thanking him for supporting development of his new “impregnable” ironclad steamer, which the Permanent Commission told him to build at his own expense. Testing of this new ironclad, Schuebly cautioned in his letter, would be delayed slightly. It apparently was never built.

Despite its name, the Permanent Commission petered into nonexistence midway into 1865 as new weaponry became less important than mass manufacture of conventional rifles for the postwar occupation. The idea has been resurrected over the years as new wars required evaluation of new technology. One such board, the Naval Consulting Board, was chaired by Thomas Edison during World War I and led to the creation of the internally integrated Naval Research Laboratory, which still exists in Washington, DC.

[Adapted from Lincoln: The Fire of Genius]

 

Fire of Genius

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America is available at booksellers nationwide.

Limited signed copies are available via this website. The book also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. Please leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon if you like the book.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Lincoln’s Influence on Civil War Science at York Civil War Round Table

York PA CWRT logo

I’m excited to report that I will be presenting at the York (Pennsylvania) Civil War Round Table on Wednesday, May 15, 2024. This will be an in-person meeting at the York Historical Society Museum, 250 East Market Street, York, PA 17403. It will also be broadcast via Zoom. Both in-person and Zoom attendance is open to the public and free from 7:00 to 8:30 pm.

Please register for this free program in advance for head-count purposes:

In Person registration: Click Here

For Zoom link: Click Here

More information below per the York CWRT website:

David J. Kent will speak on the topic of “Lincoln’s Influence on Science and Technology in the Civil War.” Abraham Lincoln had a lifelong fascination with science and technology, a fascination that would help institutionalize science, win the Civil War, and propel the nation into the modern age. Kent will discuss how science and technology gradually infiltrated Lincoln’s remarkable life and influenced his growing desire to improve the condition of all men. The presentation will show where Lincoln gained his scientific knowledge, and how that background led him to encourage its further development and use during the war.

David J. Kent is an Abraham Lincoln historian, a former scientist, and the current President of the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia. He is also on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Abraham Lincoln Institute and the Board of Advisors of the Lincoln Forum. He is a frequent speaker on Abraham Lincoln topics and served as Master of Ceremonies for the Lincoln Memorial Centennial program in 2022. David has won numerous awards both for his scientific work and as an Abraham Lincoln historian. He has written several books, including his most recent, Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and his previous Lincoln book for young people, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. He has also written books on Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. He is currently working on a book about Lincoln’s two visits to New England.

The York Civil War Round Table is a non-profit organization that seeks to promote, interpret, preserve, and protect the Civil War heritage of York County, Pennsylvania, through the education and exchange of information with its members and the general public. Membership is free and open to anyone interested in learning more about the American Civil War.

Founded as the White Rose Civil War Round Table, the York CWRT holds monthly meetings the third Wednesday of every month except December at 7:00 p.m. in the Meeting Hall of the York County History Center’s Historical Society Museum at 250 East Market Street in York, Pennsylvania. Each meeting features a guest speaker talking about a Civil War topic of local or national interest. Meetings are FREE and open to the public.  For upcoming programs, please visit the Cannonball webpage http://www.yorkblog.com/cannonball/york-cwrt/.

I look forward to seeing everyone there soon.  Signed books can be purchased at the in-person event, or order via this website or Amazon or Barnes and Noble or your favorite independent bookstore.

 

Fire of Genius

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America is available at booksellers nationwide.

Limited signed copies are available via this website. The book also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. Please leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon if you like the book.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.