Bell Ship Hull, Patent Model

Bell, A. John · 1874

This tin patent model accompanied A. John Bell’s patent application for an “improvement in the construction of ships”—awarded patent number 148,655 on March 17, 1874. The model demonstrates Bell's method of constructing ships in detachable parts. In a vessel built after Bell's principle, the upper deck and a portion of any lower decks would float free if the main hull were sunk in some calamity, "so that when the hull sinks the deck will float upon the water, carrying the passengers and crew with it, and thus saving their lives." Bell also devised a sectional mast that could easily be cleared away in an emergency, to prevent it becoming an obstruction to the smooth separation of the decks; the mast is missing in the model. Ignoring the dangers of exposure, hunger, and heavy seas that often attended the use of lifeboats, Bell claimed that the "advantage of this invention lies in the almost absolute certainty of saving the lives of all on board the vessel, by having such a large part thereof prevented from sinking when the hull goes down."