5. Abraham Lincoln was an inventor before he became president
In his youth, Abraham Lincoln made several trips on flatboats and steamboats on the rivers of the mid-west and South as a hired hand. He later acquired additional experience with the problems of navigating America’s rivers as a passenger while working as a lawyer. Boats often were delayed when they encountered shoals or milldams due to low water conditions. When a boat Lincoln was traveling on grounded in shoal water, which required a great deal of hard labor to free, the 23-year-old Lincoln began to consider the means of elevating boats over the shoals. With no engineering background to speak of, Lincoln considered the idea of inflatable flotation, using fabric waterproof bags to lift the boat’s hull out of the water, or at least high enough to clear the obstruction.
With the help of a Springfield, Illinois artisan, Lincoln designed and built a working model of his vision, and wrote a description of the design and its use. During his first term in Congress, he retained a patent attorney, had drawings of his invention prepared, and was awarded a patent for his design, which he called “Buoying Vessels over Shoals. The patent was awarded on May 22, 1849, though Lincoln never took any steps to enter production with the device and it was never put into use. Later engineers have expressed doubt that it was a practical solution. Nonetheless, Lincoln remains the only person to date to both hold a patent and serve as President of the United States. The model was placed in the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American History.