Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Wednesday search challenge (10/3/12): Who thought that river needed improvement?

Quite a while ago this device was promoted as a solution for a navigation problem.  The man who created it lived by the side of a river that was difficult to navigate at certain times of year.  

Not long after he had trouble getting downstream, this man proposed that the state should improve the condition of the river.

The question for today is pretty simple, but fun to figure out:  

     1.  Who is the inventor of this gadget? 

     2.  What is the name of the river that prompted this call for improvements?  

     3.  What did he propose doing to improve the river?  

This sounds like an ordinary search question, but the answers will probably surprise you! 

Let us now how you solved it! 

Search on! 

44 comments:

  1. google's image search (give it a link to image) was a one stop solution.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 1. Abraham Lincoln

    2. Sangamon River

    3. Straighten it by cutting through the peninsulas formed by the zig zag shape.

    Search path:

    Searched by the image in the post gave me results about Lincoln's patent for the boat.

    This page http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/education/patent.htm gave me a link to his speech about what he proposed for the river.

    3 min.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Image search using the above image revealed that it was patented by Abraham Lincoln.
    Further searching revealed that he had proposed building a canal from the Sangamon river to the Illinois river as the Sangamon was frequently impassable for commercial traffic.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I did a drag-and-drop image search on the image above. That gave me several results, among the first of which I found that it was from a patent (US 6469) granted to Abraham Lincoln. Another item, from Wikipedia, told me that the river was the Sangamon. Lincoln proposed fitting boats with air chambers that would lift them over obstructions in a river.

    ReplyDelete
  5. 1. Abraham Lincoln

    2. Sangamon River

    3. How to lift vessels over river obstructions and shoals.

    google.images.com - search by image :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. 1. Abraham Lincoln
    2. Sangamon River
    3. Make large portions of the Sangamon River between Springfield, Illinois, and Beardstown, Illinois, navigable via a canal.

    Image search of the drawing 5 minutes

    ReplyDelete
  7. 1. Who is the inventor of this gadget? Abraham Lincoln

    2. What is the name of the river that prompted this call for improvements?
    Sangamon River

    3. What did he propose doing to improve the river?
    To cut it a new channel across the prarie to straighten its route.

    I used an image search from the drawing, which took me to http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/education/patent.htm, which explained the drawing and named the river, and a link on that page took me to http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/1832.htm which describes his solution.

    ReplyDelete
  8. 1. Abraham Lincoln
    2. Sangamon River
    3. The proposed improvements involved "removing the turf, a sufficient width and damming up the old channel, the whole river in a short time would wash its way through, thereby curtailing the distance, and increasing the velocity of the current very considerably, while there would be no timber upon the banks to obstruct its navigation in future;"

    I simply searched for images with " navigation, boat, patent, river, " which took me to a blog with the answers to 1 and 2. For answer 3, the Wikipedia entry for Sangamon river, led me to a page on Lincoln's patent which in turn led me to his first political announcement which includes the proposed improvements. http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/1832.htm

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is an image of a patent by Abraham Lincoln for a way to raise a boat over a sandbar without unloading its cargo (neat!). It was easily found via a image search, which also linked to this very informative page: http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/education/patent.htm
    That page revealed that the river was the Sangamon, and a search for "Lincoln Sangamon river improvement" brings up a speech that he gave to the Illinois state legislature: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Life_and_Works_of_Abraham_Lincoln/Volume_3/The_Improvement_of_Sangamon_River
    In that speech, he suggested damming the Sangamon to deepen and straighten the route.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Here's my solution. Some 5 minutes, could be a lot less if I hadn't follow a dead-end path at first.

    Solution:
    1. Google Search by Image - first result is the name of the inventor (from now on, InventorName).
    2. Google [InventorName river improvement], although I didn't fancy using "improvement", because it can be said in so many different ways. Anyway, first result = RiverName.
    3. Opened the first result (from showcase.netins.net) to find out what the improvement was but it's a dead end.
    4. Opened the secon result (Wikipedia article) and followed the citation 42. Clicked on the ISBN in order to try to find the info I need within the book. Opened it on Google Books and then on Amazon, both dead ends.
    5. Different approach now. Google [InventorName RiverName state proposal]. First result a Wikipedia article that is the answer: http://goo.gl/yFQfD

    ReplyDelete
  11. 1_ Abraham Lincoln
    2_ Sangamon River
    3_ lift boats over shoals

    How many time... ha ha ha the time to copy and paste from the very first result on reverse image search using the image provided.
    http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/education/patent.htm
    Less than a minute!
    And indeed the answer surprise me.

    ReplyDelete
  12. It took me a few seconds to do an image search and get to the wikipedia page showing that Abraham Lincoln was the inventor; the Sangamon River was the motivator. Because English is not my first language, I had to do a side search for [define shoal].
    Then a new search on [lincoln sangamon proposed improvements] got me to the wikipedia article on the Beardstown and Sangamon Canal.
    All in all, I think it took me longer to write this answer than to search for it. Much less than 5 minutes.

    ReplyDelete
  13. 1. Abraham Lincoln
    2. Illinois River
    3. He proposed straightening the river

    Took about five minutes. A Google Image search brought up this page:

    http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/education/patent.htm

    which led to this page:

    http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/education/patent.htm

    ReplyDelete
  14. 1. Noenunz Yvapbya
    2. Fnatnzba Evire
    3. Phggvat guebhtu gur inevbhf "mvt-mntf" va gur evire naq nyybjvat gur punaary n fgenvtug fubg qbja gb Orneqfgbja.

    [Answers encoded in ROT13 so as to avoid spoiling it. Decode here: www.rot13.com]

    Took me about 5 minutes to find the answer to #3. Answers to #1 and #2 were pretty much instant given that I just plugged the drawing into Google Image Search. Not sure if that is allowed around these parts or not, hence the encoding of my answers. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  15. The inventor is Abraham Lincoln; the river is the Sangamon. My understanding is that he was not so much trying to improve the river with this invention, as to improve the boats. This device was to enable barges to ride higher so they could pass over sandbars, so broadly you could say he was improving navigation of the river.

    From your fine power searching class, I knew to drop the image you posted into the Google Images search box. From there I was led to http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/education/patent.htm .
    John jacobj49@google.com

    ReplyDelete
  16. I dropped the image into image search and found the answer in about a minute.

    It was invented by Abraham Lincoln. The river was the Sangamon. He intended to devise a method for boats to pass over sandbars or through shallow water without discharging their cargoes.

    Here is a quote from the patent applicsation: 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..."

    ReplyDelete
  17. I performed a Google search using: river navigation device inventor.
    The first result on the list was this: http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/education/patent.htm

    Answers for questions 1 and 2 are in here.

    As for question #3, I searched for: Sangamon River improvement Abraham Lincoln

    I found the answer at this link: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Life_and_Works_of_Abraham_Lincoln/Volume_3/The_Improvement_of_Sangamon_River

    ReplyDelete
  18. Searched in images with your picture.

    Found: abraham lincoln's patent
    and http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/02/celebrity-invention-abraham-lincolns-boat-floater/71427/

    Searched [abraham lincoln] then Patents
    Found: www.google.com/patents/US6469


    Searched [abraham lincolon proposals improve river]
    Found:

    http://sangamonriver.org/2012/07/abraham-lincoln-river-rat/

    http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/education/patent.htm

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beardstown_and_Sangamon_Canal
    


    Answers:

    1.Who is the inventor of this gadget?
    R= President Abraham Lincoln invented before being President:"Buoying Vessels Over Shoals". It was patented May 22, 1849. Patent No. 6469. Only U.S.

    president to hold a patent


    2. What is the name of the river that prompted this call for improvements?
    Sangamon River

    3. What did he propose doing to improve the river?
    In 1832, Lincoln published his first political announcement. The improvement of navigation of the Sangamon River. He proposed carry commerce.

    He proposed:

    The Beardstown and Sangamon Canal. This was a canal plan developed in the mid-1830s, to make large portions of the Sangamon River between Springfield, Illinois,and Beardstown, Illinois, navigable via a canal to the junction with the Illinois River, which in turn flows into the Mississippi River.

    ReplyDelete
  19. This is my first time doing a search here. I'm in the midst of taking the "Power Searching" course and wanted to test my skills.

    The answers are:

    1. Abraham Lincoln the inventor of this gadget.

    2. The name of the river is the Illinois River.

    3. Lincoln proposed/backed a plan to make large portions of the Sangamon River between Springfield, Illinois, and Beardstown, Illinois, navigable via a canal to the junction with the Illinois River.

    It took me about twenty minutes to solve but only five minutes to answer the first two questions.

    I did an image search using the image url in the image search box at Google Image search and the first two websites were an educational article and a wikipedia article, which answered the second question.

    http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/education/patent.htm

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln's_patent

    Then I went back to Goole Ca (my home page) and entered the following search terms: lincoln improve "Illinois River" which led me to another wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beardstown_and_Sangamon_Canal).

    My third answer could use additional searching because I'm not happy that my answer completely answers the question.

    ReplyDelete
  20. XVI☞ A. Lincoln
    XVI☞ Sangamon River
    XVI☞ eliminate impeding timbers along banks & straighten the course -
    in lieu and until rail lines could be constructed... and, of course,
    removal of all vampires.

    No. 6,469
    river improvements

    how: took a guess & thought it might be a President - went too far back (pre patent office - TJ reviewed the 1st U.S. patent [potash improvement/Hopkins] but the Patent office wasn't formed until 1802, after 1836 patents were given numbers)) and searched [thomas jefferson boat invention] using image search... 3rd result was this - showed the illustration you used - Dykas, Shaver, and Nipper, LLP
    then ran down the Sangamon & river improvement proposal from when Abe was running for his first seat in the Illinois General Assembly.

    ReplyDelete
  21. A Lincoln. The only patent registered to a POTUS.
    Sangamon River
    He wanted to widen and straighten the river to make it easier to reach the Illinois River.
    A image search on the boat picture found the initial information. A search for Lincoln Sangamon River improvement took me to:
    http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Life_and_Works_of_Abraham_Lincoln/Volume_3/The_Improvement_of_Sangamon_River
    Less than 5 min to get the first two questions. The third took a bit longer because the wikisource article was quoting Lincoln and it took him a bit to get to the point.

    ReplyDelete
  22. 1) Abraham Lincoln
    2) Sangamo (Sangamon) River
    3) Clear the turf and cut a path through the meanderings allowing the river to cut a new straight channel that would be shorter, flow faster and be less obstructed with debris.

    Solution time about 10 minutes (most of which was distraction reading the patent application :) ).

    Solution method:
    1) TinEye search on the image
    2) That took me to a couple pages that said it was Abraham Lincoln' invention. This page http://indiauncut.com/workoutable lead me to
    3) A description of the patent at http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/education/patent.htm which linked to
    4) His first political announcement at http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/1832.htm which provided the method of improving the river.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Solved it in one go by doing a Google "Search by Image". I dragged your photo over to a google search in a new tab and was brought to a handy Wiki page with the answers.

    Inventor: Abraham Lincoln! Wow!
    River: Sangamon River

    I had to search a bit more to find out what he proposed to improve. I tried [Lincoln Sangamon River] and found that his biggest complaint was navigation. I'm not sure if this is as specific as you're looking for, but apparently Lincoln made it part of his platform to improve the navigation on the river. I can't seem to find what particular improvements he recommended though!

    ReplyDelete
  24. The inventor is President Abraham Lincoln.
    The river is the Sangamon River in Illinois.
    Lincoln proposed digging a new channel for the river and damming the old channel.
    I searched "river navigation vessel patent"
    The first result took me to the answers.
    This search took less than five minutes.

    ReplyDelete
  25. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  26. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  27. 1. Abraham Lincoln; 2. Sangamon River 3. Remove turf and damn up a channel to increase the current of the river to remove timber.

    I searched using the image above to figure out questions 1 and 2. Through that link I found another link that took me to Lincoln's first political announcement which included a description of the changes he proposed to the river.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I used Google Image Search to discover that this is Abraham Lincoln's Patent for lifting boats over shoals. Once I identified the device, I then switched to the web corpus and was directed to various sites, including abraham lincoln online. From there I was able to learn that he developed it after getting snagged on a sandbar in the Sangamon River. In his first political announcement, he advocated blocking the old channel and rerouting the river to avoid driftwood buildup.

    ReplyDelete
  29. 1. I took the image and dragged it into a Google Images search - Abraham Lincoln.
    2. From the image I selected:
    NMAH | Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life - A Would-be Inventor
    where I found - "A trip to Niagara Falls inspired the design"
    searched...
    [abraham lincoln niagara falls river]
    added 'patent'
    [abraham lincoln niagara falls river patent]
    selected -
    Abraham Lincoln in Western New York
    Ctrl F 'river' Found passage on the Detroit River. but nothing about improvements to the river.
    3. Searched...
    [abraham lincoln river navigation]
    Selected... The History Place presents Abraham Lincoln. Found info on the Sangamon River
    [abraham lincoln river navigation sangamon]
    Selected... Abraham Lincoln's Patent
    and followed the link to..
    First Political Announcement
    "by removing the turf, a sufficient width and damming up the old channel...."

    ReplyDelete
  30. I found it by searching patents for navigating difficult rivers. One of the early results mentioned something Lincoln invented that looked close to the drawing, but not quite right. I next searched for Abraham Lincoln's river invention and found the exact drawing. This makes Lincoln the inventor after being stuck in the Sangamon river. To solve the third question, I searched Lincoln improvements sangamon river and found that he proposed what almost amounted to straightening out sections of the river by hand. Hopefully I got it right! It took me about 20 minutes to solve, most of which was reading the actual proposal of improvements written by Lincoln in March, 1832.

    ReplyDelete
  31. 1. Who is the inventor of this gadget?
    Abrahamn Lincoln

    2. What is the name of the river that prompted this call for improvements?
    The Sangamon River

    3. What did he propose doing to improve the river?
    Straightening it out -- cutting through the peninsulas of the winding river to speed up the current and lower distance traveled.

    I found this information by dragging the image into my Google search field in Firefox because I know this will search for the URL and show a search by image link. I then clicked on search by image and the first result had the information above.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Abraham Lincoln invented the device to lift boats over the shoals of the Sangamon River to facilitate passage.

    Copy image URL, paste into Google Images, go to Wikipedia article. 10 seconds.

    ReplyDelete
  33. 1. Who is the inventor of this gadget? Abraham Lincoln

    2. What is the name of the river that prompted this call for improvements? Sangamon River

    3. What did he propose doing to improve the river? dredging the river and building a dam.

    I pasted the image url into the google image search which lead me to which lead me to http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/education/patent.htm (#1 search result). There was a hyperlink to a copy of Lincoln's first political announcement which described his plan for the Sangamon River.

    ReplyDelete
  34. http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/education/patent.htm

    ReplyDelete
  35. 1. Abraham Lincoln
    2. Sangamon River
    3. Inflation/floatation device to lift boats over shoals.

    Took less than five minutes. I thought the device was either a dredging device or some design for a lock & dam. I researched those ideas and then just uploaded the image to Google. The correct information came up right away.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Hello Russell

    Answers:
    1. By Abraham Lincoln. The picture is the design of his invention "A Device for Buoying Vessels Over Shoals" on May 22, 1849.(Patent No. 6469 )
    2. Sangamon River
    3. Lincoln proposed for 'Beardstown and Sangamon Canal.' A Canal between Springfield, Illinois, and Beardstown, Illinois

    ReplyDelete
  37. Abraham Lincoln
    Sangamon River
    To straighten it.

    " by removing the turf a sufficient width, and damming up the old channel, the whole river in a short time would wash its way through,"

    Google image search for the patent image, then search for "Abraham Lincoln Sangamon River improvements"

    ReplyDelete
  38. Abraham Lincoln
    Sangamon River
    Damming the channel which ran into the river thereby increasing the velocity of the water going into the river and making it more navigable.

    I saved the image and then uploaded it into google image search. That led to the answer that Lincoln had invented the gadget. Then after reading the wikipedia article about the invention I found that it was the Sangamon River. Next I did a search query Lincoln "sangamon river" and that led to an article "Life and Works of Abraham Lincoln/Volume 3/The Improvement of Sangamon River" and found the answer to what he wanted to do to improve the river.

    ReplyDelete
  39. 1. Abraham Lincoln patented this device, the only US president to hold a patent..

    2. He was involved in an incident on the Sangamon River earlier on that led him to thinking about this problem.

    3. He bought stock in a company that planned to build a Beardstown and Sangamon Canal.

    I saved the image of the device to my desktop, then uploaded it to Google Imagines where it was immediately recognized.
    Then I searched for "Abraham Lincoln" and "improving the Sangamon River"

    ReplyDelete
  40. 1. Pasted the image into Google images search.
    2. Results list: Abraham Lincoln patent hits, went to Wikipedia article, which discussed his experiences with the Sangamon River.
    3. Google search for: Sangamon River Lincoln improve, which led me to this web page:
    4. http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/education/patent.htm, which led me to his 1st political speech ( http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/1832.htm) in which he said: "This route is upon prairie land the whole distance;--so that it appears to me, by ‎removing the turf, a sufficient width and damming up the old channel, the whole ‎river in a short time would wash its way through, thereby curtailing the distance, ‎and increasing the velocity of the current very considerably, while there would be ‎no timber upon the banks to obstruct its navigation in future‎..."

    It took me longer to describe my search process, than to actually do the search (About 3-4 minutes)

    ReplyDelete
  41. 1. Abraham Lincoln
    2. Sangamon River
    3. Damming the channel
    Google search: river navigation device inventor

    To find this page:http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/education/patent.htm

    Then clicked on the link to his political announcement: http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/1832.htm

    ReplyDelete
  42. I still say that number two refers to the Detroit River and the Steamship Canada, if you are talking about inspiration for the invention in the picture.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Jeff -- you can say that, but you need to give us some data to go on! Where did you get "Detroit River" and "Steamship Canada" from?

    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  44. From the image search (drag and drop) I selected:
    NMAH | Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life - A Would-be Inventor
    where I found - "A trip to Niagara Falls inspired the design"
    searched...
    [abraham lincoln niagara falls river]
    using the preview option, I selected -
    Abraham Lincoln in Western New York
    Ctrl F 'river' Found passage on the Detroit River (4 of 9).

    "The Globe chugged up the Detroit River in the early morning hours of September 29th. All on board, including Lincoln, observed the steamboat Canada as it lay helpless near Fighting Island. Captain Van Allen of the Canada had run the ship aground in shallow waters as it came down the river during the night. She did not escape until October 2nd, long after the Globe had passed it. Having witnessed the plight of the unfortunate Canada, Lincoln's mind now searched for an answer to resolve the issue of such boat strandings. "He determined that a ship should have a built-in system of bellows that could be inflated whenever necessary to float a trapped vessel free of sandbars or other obstructions"9 The mechanical minded Lincoln pondered this for the remainder of the voyage."

    ReplyDelete