This beautiful wood model accompanied Walter Everson's 1871 patent application for an “improvement in tugs for towing boats” that received patent number 110754 on January 3, 1871. Walter Everson, a ship carpenter from New York City, proposed a paddle-wheel-driven tug for towing canal boats. "Its objects are to secure strength and compactness of construction, with increased efficiency in towing, and to prevent the washing of the banks by obviating the usual side swell."
Everson's solution was to place a single paddle wheel in a long, straight-sided channel, which would "confine the water...so that its expulsion is directly backward." For strength he designed the tug with two decks, heavily reinforced with internal framing. His model elegantly shows the complexity of this framing. Although he specified the use of two rudders, Everson made no mention of an engine for turning the paddle wheel.