Abraham Lincoln’s Steampunk Presidency!

"The only commander-in-chief to hold a patent presided over one of the country’s most inventive periods."

By Jacopo della Quercia

President Lincoln welcomed inventors to the White House, and presided over a technological boom that flooded the U.S. Patent Office with thousands of new inventions.

Photo illustration by Juliana Jiménez Jaramillo. Photos via Tyrus Flynn/CC and Alexander Gardner/LOC.

When most people picture Abraham Lincoln, “inventor” is probably not the first image that comes to mind. After all, our nation’s 16th president already enjoys widespread recognition as “Honest Abe,” the “Great Emancipator,” the fallen “Captain” from Walt Whitman’s poems, the “political genius” from Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals, and—at least in our imagination—both a vampire hunter and an incarcerated time traveler in San Dimas. The idea that Honest Abe was an inventor to boot may sound like the stuff of steampunk fantasy, but the truth is he was a patented inventor whose lifelong appreciation for innovation spurred a technological revolution of global consequences. In hindsight, the remarkable journey of Abraham Lincoln as an inventor reads like the closest thing in U.S. history to a steampunk presidency.

The Union was fortunate to have elected its only inventor-president in 1860.

It should not be too surprising that young Abe Lincoln shares more in common with Doc Brown than Van Helsing, but it has little to do with science fiction and everything to do with the U.S. Patent Office. Specifically, U.S. Patent No. 6,469: a device for “buoying vessels over shoals” according to its inventor, a 40-year-old Abraham Lincoln. Apparently, this self-taught prairie lawyer also taught himself how to buoy vessels in his early 20s, when a flatboat he worked on ran aground on a milldam in New Salem, Illinois. As retold by his friend and bodyguard Ward Hill Lamon: “the boat stuck for one night and the better part of a day ... in momentary danger of breaking in two, or sinking outright.” Fortunately, the 23-year-old Lincoln was able to engineer his way out of the predicament with a “singular experiment” that everyone in New Salem apparently came to watch. Despite reading like a mix between a folk tale and a 19th-century episode of MacGyver, such is the fascinating history behind the device currently on display in the Smithsonian as the first and only patented invention attributed to a U.S. president.

Whether or not this New Salem episode marks the beginning of Lincoln’s interest in engineering, it clearly left an impression which he carried all the way to Washington, D.C., two decades later. According to historian Jason Emerson in his aptly titled Lincoln the Inventor:

Lincoln was so enamored of inventions and mechanics that during his first session as a Congressman, he took his four-year-old son, Robert, to the U.S. Patent Office to examine the invention models on public display. The visit must have been an awe-inspiring revelation to the two Lincolns.

Robert Todd Lincoln, who so shared his father’s passions that he even installed a private observatory in his Manchester mansion, cherished their visit to the U.S. Patent Office as one of his fondest memories. As for Abraham, his experience as an inventor soon blossomed into an appreciation for the patent system, which he believed “added the fuel of interest to the fire of genius.”

As a wartime president, Abraham Lincoln quickly found himself in a unique position to oversee and approve some of the latest developments for the U.S. military. Lincoln welcomed inventors to the White House, personally tested some of the new rifles being developed, and presided over a technological boom that flooded the U.S. Patent Office with thousands of new inventions. Among these were the Gatling gun, repeating rifles, and, perhaps most revolutionary of all, a remarkable, iron-hulled warship that, much like Jules Verne’s Nautilus, was “a masterpiece containing masterpieces.” That is, he helped oversee the creation of the USS Monitor—an invention containing more than 40 patentable inventions.

When Swedish-American inventor John Ericsson approached the U.S. Navy with his designs for a most unusual ironclad steamship, it was understandably met with skepticism. One sailor reported that the Monitor resembled “a cheese-box on a shingle” while crueler critics ridiculed the idea as “Ericsson’s folly.” However, with the Confederates developing an ironclad of their own, the Virginia, Lincoln overruled Ericsson’s detractors and approved the warship. “All I have to say,” Lincoln remarked after inspecting a model of the vessel, “is what the girl said when she stuck her foot into the stocking. It strikes me there's something in it.”

Once the futuristic gunboat was completed, it met the Confederate ironclad Virginia for the most technologically consequential naval engagement of the 19th century: the battle of Hampton Roads. The previous day had been a disaster for the wooden ships of the U.S. Navy, and Lincoln’s Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton feared the Virginia might steam up the Potomac and shell Washington. Could such a horrific scenario have befallen the Lincoln White House? Lincoln’s Naval Secretary Gideon Welles doubted it when asked directly. “I told the President [the Virginia] could not ... with her heavy armor, cross the Kettle Bottom Shoals.” Apparently, the Confederate Navy had not perfected a method for buoying vessels over shoals as well as Lincoln did.

The clash between the ironclads on March 9, 1862, was as revolutionary as it was bizarre. None of the skeptics in Washington could compare to Confederate reactions to the Monitor: “An immense shingle floating in the water, with a gigantic cheese-box rising from its center; no sails, no wheels, no smokestack, no guns. What could it be?” Fighting so close that the two gunboats rammed each other repeatedly, the Monitor and the Virginia engaged in what was ultimately an indecisive standoff. However, long before the Virginia withdrew from the fighting, the winner to all the navies of the world was obvious: The ironclad had effectively trumped every wooden ship ever built. “Nine-tenths of the British Navy have been rendered comparatively useless,” observed the London Times. Sir John Hay of the British Naval Commission was more damning: “The man who goes into action in a wooden ship is a fool, and the man who sends him there is a villain.” Ericsson’s inventions and Lincoln’s instincts had completely changed the way wars would be fought.

As a revolutionary weapon made possible by a president who was able to appreciate its many marvels, it was not long before Abraham Lincoln got to inspect the USS Monitor up close. The president visited the vessel and its crew on May 7, 1862, during which time “he examined everything about the vessel with care, manifesting great interest, his remarks evidently showing that he had carefully studied what he thought to be our weak points & that he was well acquainted with all the mechanical details of our construction.” It was a radical departure from the wooden flatboat of Lincoln’s youth, but one familiar to a mind as inventive and industrious as his own.

In hindsight, it appears the Union was fortunate to have elected its only inventor-president in 1860. Although Lincoln’s support for technological innovation was not a factor for most voters, it completely revolutionized the nation he presided over. The tools of war changed in ways that would more closely resemble World War I not only through the Monitor, but due to the inventive nature of Lincoln’s generals Grant and Sherman at trench and modern warfare. The tools of industry expanded to include such useful items as the twist drill and ratchet wrench. In the Midwest, construction of the nation’s First Transcontinental Railroad began at Council Bluffs, Iowa: a site chosen by President Lincoln. The number of patents issued by the U.S. government doubled from 1861 to 1865, and by 1866, the number tripled. The stage was set for a second Industrial Revolution that Abraham Lincoln would never see, but helped invent.

Source: slate.com

Household items turned into functional Steampunk Art!

"Man specializes in turning mundane household items into steampunk works of art!"

Household-appliance repairman, Dmitry Tihonenko, from Belarus, took his passion for everything steampunk to an impressive level. Although he primarily uses his workshop to fix broken appliances, he has this amazing hobby going on on the side – creating steampunk masterpieces out of everyday objects.

If you walk into Dmitry’s home, you will see a collection of his steampunk creations. The kitchen has a copper-bound table, standing next to a copper oven. The microwave, fridge and even the coffee machine are also coverd in copper. In the living room, he’s created a custom copper casing for his flat screen TV, making it look like a strange, past-meets-present device straight out of a sci-fi novel.

Although he does work on custom orders, Dmitry refuses to discuss pricing, because most of his works are not for sale. But Dmitry is quite happy, even if none of his articles sell. “My friends call me a happy man,” he said. “Besides the fact that I have a lovely wife and children, I work on my favorite hobby that brings in a little bit of money. What more do I need to enjoy life?”

 

Source: thechive.com

Airships rise again!

"This Giant Balloon May Become the Way We Explore the Skies!"

MAY 21, 2014. BY JACK DOYLE

Why you should care ?
Because aviation is due for a 21st-century update, and zeppelins can do it in style.

Picture the scene: A massive balloon resembling a prehistoric whale slips out of the fog, looming over the majestic Manhattan skyline. 

It might sound like something out of a fantastical steampunk film, but fewer than 100 years ago, this image wouldn’t have been out of place in the popular imagination. And plans are afoot to bring it all back.

Zeppelins — giant, rigid airships powered by engines — appeared to be the future of transportation in the early 20th century. 

"Goodyear is now leading the way in breathing life back into the giant airships as feasible ways to fly."

The great dirigibles left their mark on science fiction, warfare and even how we shaped our cities. The Empire State Building’s spire, for example, was originally intended as a zeppelin mooring. While airplanes were still in their infancy, nations used zeppelins to wreak havoc in World War I, traverse oceans and spread propaganda and advertisements to millions. 

So what happened to them? The Hindenburg.

Built in 1936, the aerial behemoth was the pride of Germany’s airship achievements and made luxury flights around the world. A one-way ticket cost $400 — $7,000 today — and a transatlantic flight took three to four days. The Nazis also used it as a floating billboard — pictures still exist of the swastika-bedecked airship hovering over Manhattan and Washington, D.C. But on May 6, 1937, the hydrogen-filled zeppelin burst into flames as it docked in New Jersey, killing 36 people. 

The tragedy quickly put an end to further developments — until now.

SOURCE: NY DAILY NEWS/GETTY
The Hindenburg dirigible attempting to land at Lakehurst, N.J.

Goodyear caused a stir three years ago when it announced that the company’s trademark blimp would be phased out. So instead, they decided to bring back zeppelins (though they’re still calling them blimps). 

But these new airships won’t be full of hydrogen like the ill-fated Hindenburg, but rather helium, a safer alternative that was considered too expensive and inaccessible back in the day. In the wake of the Hindenburg disaster, however, modern blimps have chosen the safer, non-flammable route. And today’s zeppelins are also more fuel efficient, making them the modern era’s first ”green aviation” machines. 

The Zeppelin company — the same German company that designed zeppelins in the late 1800s, built the Hindenburg and was re-established in 1993 — has started producing a new class of airship for the 21st century. Zeppelin NTs (“New Technology”) cruise at the leisurely rate of about 70 mph, fly just over 1,000 feet off the ground and measure a whopping 246 feet long. They have internal skeletons, unlike yesteryear’s blimps, which allow them to carry up to 7,000 more pounds in cargo.

Renewing their 70-year-old partnership with Zeppelin, Goodyear is taking the lead in breathing life back into giant airships as feasible ways to fly. They’ve trained 10 new pilots, the first people to fly zeppelins in decades, and have invited the public to participate in naming contests and sign up for free rides in the next-generation fleet. 

For now, today’s zeppelins are mostly used to attract tourists, sell advertisements or conduct scientific research. Zeppelin tourism, still largely based in Germany, attracts thousands every year for scenic aerial views, despite the steep price tag of about $350. But with Goodyear leading the way, others are starting to wonder if zeppelins might have an even bigger future in the skies.

The avionics of Goodyear’s new $20 million airship, code-named the Zeppelin NT

Aeroscraft, a private American aviation company, just got a $3 million grant from the U.S. government to construct giant silver airships that will be able to carry more than 66 tons of goods. By the time the planned 24-ship fleet comes together, the Aeroscraft zeppelins could revolutionize transport, and U.S. government and military contractors won’t be the only ones to benefit. 

"We are able to prove that this technology works."

Because they land and take off vertically, like a helicopter, Aeroscraft zeppelins could bring significant quantities of food and other emergency supplies to isolated areas where jets can’t reach. This could make responding to natural disasters, war zones and food crises faster and more efficient.

Aeroscraft has conducted initial float tests with a prototype of the airship, proving that its new buoyancy system works, and it has received a Federal Aviation Administration certificate for airworthiness. More tests will follow, but the team is excited by the prospect of forging a new path for cargo transport.

“We are able to prove that this technology works,” says Sadia Ashraf, of Worldwide Aeros, the company that built the prototype. 

Zeppelins may not travel at jet speed, but they use less fuel than helicopters and carry far more cargo, making them a great alternative to shipping and airplanes.

The new models are expected to be up and running by next year, and if the trend takes off, demand for zeppelins could lead to increased supply and lower costs, making a zeppelin commute or vacation trip accessible to everyone.

One thing’s for sure: The thrill and romance of zeppelins still have the power to inspire, prompting today’s innovators to transform a symbol of luxury and awe into a bold new way for people to explore the skies.

Source: ozy.com

Punks of steam listen up: Beards keep healthy!

"It most probably will put a smile on everyone's face when reading this but, In the Victorian Era, Doctors Prescribed Beards to Help Keep Men Healthy."

The mid-19th century beard boom was motivated, in part, by health concerns!

Charles Darwin: sailor, scientist, beard aficionado.

Like all fashion accessories, beards tend to rise and fall in popularity as social ideals shift. Lumberjack-esque millennials followed the metrosexuals of yesteryear much as how, in mid-1800s England, the ideal of the rugged outdoorsman replaced the image of the clean-shaved gentlemen. But as medical historian Alun Withey writes on his blog, the Victorian resurgence of the big, bushy beard had to do with more than just fashion.

“By 1850,” writes Withey, “doctors were beginning to encourage men to wear beards as a means of warding off illness.”

As Oldstone-Moore points out, the Victorian obsession with air quality saw the beard promoted as a sort of filter. A thick beard, it was reasoned, would capture the impurities before they could get inside the body. Others saw it as a means of relaxing the throat, especially for those whose work involved public speaking. Some doctors were even recommending that men grew beards to avoid sore throats.

The idea of beardliness as a medical remedy seems sort of ridculous, but put in context it actually makes a fair bit of sense.

The mid-19th century had a lot going on, medically: the germ theory of disease was slowly gaining ground, and with it the understanding that illness could come from wee beasties. In England, the mid-1800s was also a particularly bad time for air pollution says the EPA:

By the 1800s, more than a million London residents were burning soft-coal, and winter "fogs" became more than a nuisance. An 1873 coal-smoke saturated fog, thicker and more persistent than natural fog, hovered over the city of days. As we now know from subsequent epidemiological findings, the fog caused 268 deaths from bronchitis. Another fog in 1879 lasted from November to March, four long months of sunshineless gloom.

That people might consider a beard a helpful filter against airborne ailments doesn't seem so ludicrous.

The reality, of course, says Lauren Friedman for Business Insider, is that beards are more a medical risk than a cure:

One recent study in Behavioral Ecology points out that "hair on the face and body are potential localized breeding sites for disease-carrying ectoparasites." And a London dermatologist told The Guardian that since "facial hair is more likely to trap bacteria and food... there is actually more chance of infection with a beard than a clean-shaven face."

Then again, modern medicine and antibiotics are things that exists (for now, anyway), so we wouldn't worry too much about the health effects of your chin muffler.

By Colin Schultz, smithsonian.com, May 15, 2014

Source: smithsonianmag.com

New steampunk style TV Series!

TV Review: Showtime’s New Gothic Drama ‘Penny Dreadful’

Josh Hartnett and Eva Green in Penny Dreadful.

Showtime’s newest scripted drama is a costumer set in late 19th Century called Penny Dreadful. “Penny dreadfuls” were Victorian-era sensational fictions, serialized for the masses. Showtime’s take, set in the 1890s is Gothic horror, complete with monsters, steamy, narrow London streets, a mysterious spiritualist, and a wealthy, brooding explorer with a missing daughter. Enter an American sharpshooter touring Europe as the lone survivor of Custer’s last stand, a missing child and corpses protected by exoskeletons and covered with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, and you have Penny Dreadful.

It is truly a delight to see Timothy Dalton playing the brooding Sir Malcolm , trying to find his daughter, “taken.” By whom or what, we do not know, and that mystery seems to form the premise of the new series. To find her, Sir Malcolm and his associate/friend/confidant Vanessa Ives (Eva Green) engage said American sharpshooter Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett) as muscle. But they are clearly going to need more than muscle as the trio believe they’ve found where the missing daughter might be found. They do not find her, but what they do find is horrifying, and the perfect stuff of Gothic horror–and penny dreadfuls.

Hints of vampirism, and hosts of other “undead” lurk in the dark, dank cellar beneath an opium den, and although Sir Malcom and Ethan manage to destroy these supernaturally evil dudes, we know (as do they) there are many more residing beneath London’s busy streets. They manage to cart away one of the corpses, bringing it to a laboratory where anatomists and surgeons are busy at work preparing limbs for medical school students. It is more slaughterhouse than laboratory, but there they find one young, arrogant “researcher” who is quite disinterested, until he actually examines the body. And what he finds is shocking them all. But the young man is on to something quite on his own as well, and how that factors into the story, I might only guess.

Penny Dreadful is beautifully shot and costumed; the settings of post Jack-the-Ripper London are evocative. The acting is great, if occasionally a bit over the top. Green as the mysterious Vanessa Ives appears as frail and corpse-like as we know she is not. This is a strong, resolute woman, and she clearly has a secret, well kept with her mate Sir Malcolm. Dalton was born to play the brooding Victorian with a secret life. 

(His Edward Rochester in the BBC Jane Eyre has never been bettered, and of course no one has ever played the brooding James Bond of Ian Fleming’s novels quite as literarily on the mark.) 

Hartnett is well cast as the cocky American who is quickly near out of his depth.

I’m intrigued by the pilot, and I’m curious, especially, about the relationship between Ives and Sir Malcolm, and how that is all tied into the disappearance of the daughter. The series creators promise Victor Frankenstein, Dorian Gray, and assorted characters out of the Dracula legend. Episode one introduces one of these iconic characters from 19th Century literature, and I’m anxious to learn how they will fit into the overarching danse macabre of Penny Dreadful.

Source: blogcritics.org

Rebels Market - The Alternative for Steampunks!

RebelsMarket Launches First International Alternative Marketplace - a Home for the Fashion Rebels to Buy & Sell Alternative Inspired Items

"What makes RebelsMarket interesting is being able to offer the fashion rebel an international marketplace carrying curated goods from coveted underground brands and independent sellers . Our style is influenced by the edgiest of fashion from Goth to Emo."

RebelsMarket - an international marketplace carrying curated goods from coveted underground brands and independent sellers. Our style is influenced by the edgiest of fashion -- from goth to burlesque, from tattoo to steampunk.

Los Altos, California (PRWEB) May 12, 2014

RebelsMarket.com has launched the first alternative-inspired online marketplace and community for the anti-mainstream and fashion-forward. The site caters to individuals with unique interests in different fashion subcultures, including glam goth, punk, street, emo, rock, skate, steampunk, burlesque, fantasy and tattoo.

With co-founders hailing from Kenya, Germany and the U.S., RebelsMarket offers international goods from antiestablishment and indie brands. According to co-founder Robert Wagner, the idea stemmed from his personal experiences growing up as a self-proclaimed rebel. He refused to accept what was socially acceptable and instead preferred a more edgy and rebellious lifestyle. After launching a tattoo-themed Facebook page and gaining 4 million “likes,” he knew there was a large, underserved counterculture fan base who would value a marketplace to buy and sell edgy, alternative items.

RebelsMarket provides sellers from all over the world with the opportunity to create free online storefrontsand charges a 15-percent transaction fee once an item is sold. Vendors can connect with a niche audience of subculture fans in search of hard-to-find unconventional products. Featured sellers include Tattoo Fast Online, Steampunk Retro, Kate Clothing and InkAddict just to name a few. Since its inception in 2012, RebelsMarket has realized 45 percent growth month over month.

Some of the trending items on RebelsMarket include avant-garde layered cardigans, leather wristbands, journals,tattoo, goth, vintage clothing retro messenger bags, temporary tattoos and more. RebelsMarket also features a blog which highlights new fashion - from rebellious looks to edgy street style and makeup techniques, interviews with sellers and subculture trend pieces.

Source: prweb.com

Steampunk Photo Story...

"Steampunk Photography By Gary Nicholls"

Gary Nicholls, Samandiriel. Image courtesy and copyright of the artist.

Gary Nicholls is a photographer trying to convey the narrative of a story through a set of 150 photographs — with 22 currently on display in this exhibition. It’s a story about an orphan who must find her destiny without being thwarted by villainous characters and is ably supported by heroic figures. It may seem like a story that has been told many times within novels or on the big screen, but the unique selling point

of this tale is its quirky steampunk style.

Featuring genuine steampunk enthusiasts, these heavily stylised photographs craft an alternate universe featuring glowing metal orbs and mechanised angels. Impressive shots include lightning bolts awakening a villain a la Frankenstein and two angels sat atop a roof with the Empire State building and sky both a deep purple in the background.

It’s not just the style that is captivating as Nicholls is able to successfully convey the intensity and sorrow of featured characters — an impressive feat considering they are masked with only their eyes visible. Props and costumes from the photographs are also on display and these add to the otherworldliness of this exhibition.

This show may have a short run time but the photography

is both fun and inventive and well worth a look.

The Imaginarium exhibition is on at Arch Collective, 12 Raymouth Road, SE16 2DB until 21 May. Entrance is free.

For more steampunk designs, see Longitude Punk’d at the Royal Observatory.

Source: londonist.com

Steampunk video game....come to life!

"Forevertron Is A Strange Steampunk Video Game World Come To Life"

A few miles away from the Wisconsin Dells stands the Forevertron, one of America's strangest roadside attractions.

Forevertron was built by Tom O. Every, a British born Wisconsinite who worked in the salvage and wrecking business. In 1983, Emery renounced his former name and assumed a new identity as Dr. Evermor. According to Emery, "I became Dr. Evermor around 1983 when we started to build the Forevertron outside of Baraboo, Wisconsin. I was a bit upset with the world, not so much the economic conditions as the judicial system and things like that, and I wanted to perpetuate myself back into the heavens on this magnetic lightning force field."

Every concocted a complex backstory for Dr. Evermor, detailed in a PBS Independent Lens article:

"Dr. Evermor was a slightly eccentric Victorian-era professor-inventor from Eggington, England. As a child, Evermor had been trapped in a huge electrical storm with his father, a Presbyterian minister. Such a storm, his father said, could only come from the hand of God. This event made a big impression on the future doctor. From that day forward, Dr. Evermor knew what he had to do. He would move to Wisconsin and from relics of the industrial age, he would build the Forevertron. This circa 1890s spacecraft would be his salvation."

Starting in 1983, Dr. Evermor started to accumulate junk and salvage from industrial sites and - without any blueprints or engineering experience - began crafting the giant Forevertron he claimed would one day transport him into the skies. He also populated the grounds with increasingly strange and complex metalwork creatures that wouldn't be out of place in a particularly eccentric Japanese RPG. The grounds are a close approximation of a steampunk fan's greatest fantasies come true.

I was lucky enough to be in the Baraboo area last summer, and went visited the Forevertron at a friend's urging. It's an amazing place. The scale of the Forevertron itself is impressive - it stands between two and three stories tall. The gates are open; there are no tour guides, no one trying to sell anything. As I wandered around the grounds, I couldn't help but feel transported into the world of

a video game. If you're ever close, I highly recommend you go. The following are some pictures I took, along with a large panoramic view of the Forevertron. I've also included a brief video walkthrough I took with my phone. It's not of the highest quality but gives you an idea of the scale.

Source: gameinformer.com