#1
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Two horse power horse boat ferry.
Here is a boat from the era when horse walked on water. Under the deck is a large turntable. In each house is a hose, each facing opposing directions. There is a space in the deck cut out so the horses are standing on the leather padded turntable. When the horse walks, the table turns, and the gear and shafts pass that power to the small paddle wheels. With river current such a boat would make 6-7 miles an hour. Against a current maybe about 4 miles per hour. These ferries stayed busy from the 1820 to about 1911, when the internal combustion engine finally proved reliable. Customers liked the horse boats because of the fact that horse rarely, if ever, exploded as did the boilers on steam ships.
My ship is based on one being examined at the bottom of Lake Champlain. However, the boats came in all shapes and sizes, and many would use the tread mill design as well. The tread mill allowed for teams of horses to be used in the same way they are used on wagons, and the set up used less deck space. Anyhow, I thought it would be neat. CT
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#2
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Another fascinating bit of history, CT -- you must spend hours and hours crawling through the library stacks. This would make a great model, particularly if the turntable and screw could be made operable. But I wonder if there might be a little mistake in your last picture -- if the two horses are supposed to be on opposite sides of the turntable, shouldn't one be headed forward and the other aft?
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#3
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Yes, I think your right. The plans were draw with just one horse visible though.
I though, and still might, make a 1/25 scale model as I think the simple gears could be fabricated out of heavy card and work at that size. It would be cool. For now this will be in 1/250 waterline and 1/72 full hull. CT
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#4
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Geez, the could have put a couple of windows for the horses! There was probably people powering those things for a while, that was why they blocked up the windows! (Just some speculation)
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#5
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The inboard sides of the houses will be open and fences, or half walled. I think there be some louvered vents on the outboard side, but the less the horse gets distracted the better.
CT
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#6
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Very interesting! I wonder if any of these were utilized at Lake George, NY?
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#7
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Where did they keep the hay?
Horses don't work for free.
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#8
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They likely had water and feed bags or troughs and they had vents at turntable level that opened to the water to get rid of the horse crap. Apparently, horse poop...a lot.
CT
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#9
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So that's why the river smells funny.
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#10
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Hores powered turntable ferryboats on Lake Champlain, side paddle wheel aircraft carriers on Lake Michigan, what else is lurking in those dusty stacks?
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