Joseph Francis, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetJoseph Francis
American boat builder
Date of Birth: 12-Mar-1801
Place of Birth: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Date of Death: 10-May-1893
Profession: inventor
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Pisces 
About Joseph Francis
- Joseph Francis (March 12, 1801 – May 10, 1893) was a 19th-century American inventor who devoted his life to improving maritime equipment, especially life-saving tools.
- His most famous invention, the metallic life-car, rescued thousands of stranded passengers and crew from shipwrecks near the shore. Francis was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and started building boats early in life.
- He won his first prize in a public competition at age eighteen.
- As an adult, he worked for the U.S.
- Government, building life boats for war ships.
- He was the first person to use iron in the construction of life boats.
- The government declined to fund his metal boats, so he began his own business on the Jersey Shore, near Long Branch.
- His boats, rafts, life-car, and other watercraft became popular in Europe before eventually being adopted in the United States as well.
- Francis died at age 92 while summering at Otsego Lake in New York.The first life-car ever used, which rescued 200 of 201 people from the Scottish brig Ayrshire wreck in 1850, is on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
- Also on display are some of Francis' numerous awards that he received in gratitude for his inventions.
- These include the Congressional Gold Medal, which was designed by the famous American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens and was given to him by President Benjamin Harrison on August 27, 1888, as well as a diamond-encrusted snuff box from Emperor Napoleon III of France. Although Francis was considered one of the most well-known heroes of the 19th century, his popularity waned with the decrease in maritime accidents and he is virtually unknown today.
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