Ross Winans, 1st Personal Craft

**SOLD**

51”length x 15”height x 5”width

Ross Winans (1796-1877) was an American inventor, mechanic, and builder of locomotives, railroad machinery, an early Multi-Millionaire, and later, creator of a unique and forward-looking series of unusual looking “cigar” ships.

The first coal-powered cigar ship was launched in Baltimore in 1858. The spindle hull was built in two sections with a unique radial propeller amidships, and joined by a shroud ring over the propeller.  Power was provided on a single shaft by two railroad steam engines in each hull.  The only superstructure was a narrow deck with railings, a lookout tower atop the propeller shroud, and narrow smokestacks on each hull.  The helmsman sat in a compartment in the bow with a small, forward-looking view port.  

The Winans carried on a lively public debate with the editors of Scientific American about the merits and detriments of the design.  In the end the only good thing the editors would say was that the Winans had spent only their own money on what the magazine characterized as an extravagant folly.