The Metal Life Car

The Inventor, the Impostor, and the Business of Lifesaving

Nonfiction, History, Military
Cover of the book The Metal Life Car by George E. Buker, University of Alabama Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: George E. Buker ISBN: 9780817380373
Publisher: University of Alabama Press Publication: September 15, 2009
Imprint: University Alabama Press Language: English
Author: George E. Buker
ISBN: 9780817380373
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
Publication: September 15, 2009
Imprint: University Alabama Press
Language: English

For centuries sailing vessels crept along the coastline, ready to flee ashore in case of danger or trouble; this worked well until weather or poor sailing drove these ships against an unforgiving coast. Saviors and salvors (often the same people) struggled to rescue both humans and cargo, often with results as tragic for them as for the sailors and passengers.

 

Joseph Francis (b. Boston, Massachusetts, 1801) was an inventor who also had the ability to organize a business to produce his inventions and the salesmanship to sell his products. His metal lifeboats, first used in survey expeditions in Asia Minor and Central America, came into demand among the world’s merchant marine, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Revenue Service. His corrugated “life car” was the keystone to development of the U.S. Life-Saving Service. Francis’s metal bateaux and lifeboats played an important role in the Third Seminole War in Florida. His metal pontoon army wagons served in the trans-Mississippi campaigns against the Indians.

 

In Europe, he was acclaimed as a genius and sold patent rights to shipyards in Liverpool and the Woolwich Arsenal in England, Le Havre seaport in France, in the free city of Hamburg, and in the Russian Empire. But while Francis was busy in Europe, Captain Douglass Ottinger, U.S. Revenue Marine Service, claimed to be the inventor of Francis’s life car and obtained support in the U.S. Congress and the Patent Office for his claim. Francis had to battle for decades to prove his rights, and Americans remained generally unfamiliar with his devices, thereby condemning Civil War armies to inferior copies while Europe was using, and acclaiming, his inventions.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

For centuries sailing vessels crept along the coastline, ready to flee ashore in case of danger or trouble; this worked well until weather or poor sailing drove these ships against an unforgiving coast. Saviors and salvors (often the same people) struggled to rescue both humans and cargo, often with results as tragic for them as for the sailors and passengers.

 

Joseph Francis (b. Boston, Massachusetts, 1801) was an inventor who also had the ability to organize a business to produce his inventions and the salesmanship to sell his products. His metal lifeboats, first used in survey expeditions in Asia Minor and Central America, came into demand among the world’s merchant marine, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Revenue Service. His corrugated “life car” was the keystone to development of the U.S. Life-Saving Service. Francis’s metal bateaux and lifeboats played an important role in the Third Seminole War in Florida. His metal pontoon army wagons served in the trans-Mississippi campaigns against the Indians.

 

In Europe, he was acclaimed as a genius and sold patent rights to shipyards in Liverpool and the Woolwich Arsenal in England, Le Havre seaport in France, in the free city of Hamburg, and in the Russian Empire. But while Francis was busy in Europe, Captain Douglass Ottinger, U.S. Revenue Marine Service, claimed to be the inventor of Francis’s life car and obtained support in the U.S. Congress and the Patent Office for his claim. Francis had to battle for decades to prove his rights, and Americans remained generally unfamiliar with his devices, thereby condemning Civil War armies to inferior copies while Europe was using, and acclaiming, his inventions.

More books from University of Alabama Press

Cover of the book Paper Empire by George E. Buker
Cover of the book Prehistoric Indians of the Southeast by George E. Buker
Cover of the book The Road South by George E. Buker
Cover of the book Baking, Bourbon, and Black Drink by George E. Buker
Cover of the book Money and Modernity by George E. Buker
Cover of the book Rhetorical Education In America by George E. Buker
Cover of the book José de Bustamante and Central American Independence by George E. Buker
Cover of the book Center Places and Cherokee Towns by George E. Buker
Cover of the book The Trouble with Being Born by George E. Buker
Cover of the book Among the Garifuna by George E. Buker
Cover of the book Acorns and Bitter Roots by George E. Buker
Cover of the book Beyond Boundaries by George E. Buker
Cover of the book A Florida Fiddler by George E. Buker
Cover of the book The Land Was Theirs by George E. Buker
Cover of the book Hearing the Hurt by George E. Buker
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy