water-line model

English

Noun

water-line model (plural water-line models)

1. (shipbuilding) a model of a vessel formed of boards which are shaped according to the water lines as shown in the plans and laid upon each other to form a solid model
   • 1854, John Willis Griffiths, Treatise on Marine and Naval Architecture, page 195:

     Assuming the body-plan to be already swept in by the diagonal lines, (it matters not for our present purpose whether they are swept in the half-breadth,) we may now divide the body-plan into sections parallel to the base-line, as high as the load-line of flotation; and on those assumed water-lines take the half-breadths, the same as we would were we laying down a water-line model, or laying down the water-lines, which in fact we would be.

   • 1902 June 15, “Queries and Replies”, in The Model Engineer and Practical Electrician, volume 6, page 282:

     The larger the boat, the more can these dimensions be exaggerated, and we are afraid that a model to scale would be very "crank." A 20-in. water-line model of the design given could not comfortably carry more than 400 sq. ins., and it would be advisable to drop the keel another inch to make the draught about 4½ ins.

   • 1911, Arthur Hamilton Clark, The Clipper Ship Era 1843-1869:

     Until 1794 ships had been built from skeleton models composed of pieces that showed the frames, keel, stem, and stern post, but were of little use in giving an accurate idea of the form of a vessel, while it required much time and labor to transfer the lines of the model to the mould loft. In this year, however, Orlando Merrill, a young shipbuilder of Newburyport, at that time thirty-one years old, invented the water-line model, which was composed of lifts joined together, originally by dowels and later by screws.

   • 1927, Report on the Progress and Condition of the U.S. National Museum, page 114:

     This is a water-line model, and was presented to the Museum by the North German Lloyd.

   • 1952 December, Wayne C. Leckey, “Thirty-six in. model of the SS United States”, in Popular Mechanics, volume 98, number 6, page 182:

     You have a choice of building a water-line model as pictured at the top of the page or a keel model as detailed in the plans.

References

• “water-line model”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• water-line model at Google Images
• “Water line (Shipbuilding)”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “Water line”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.