Martha Coston: Difference between revisions
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Coston flares were used extensively by the U.S. Navy during the Civil War; they proved particularly effective in the discovery and capture of Confederate [[blockade runners]] during the Union blockade of southern ports. Coston flares also played an important role in coordinating naval operations during the battle of [[Fort Fisher]] in [[North Carolina]] on January 13–15, 1865.<ref>{{ cite web | title= Martha Coston | author= Pilato | url= http://www.ijnhonline.org/volume1_number1_Apr02/article_pilato_coston_signal.doc.htm | accessdate= 2011-06-25 }}</ref> |
Coston flares were used extensively by the U.S. Navy during the Civil War; they proved particularly effective in the discovery and capture of Confederate [[blockade runners]] during the Union blockade of southern ports. Coston flares also played an important role in coordinating naval operations during the battle of [[Fort Fisher]] in [[North Carolina]] on January 13–15, 1865.<ref>{{ cite web | title= Martha Coston | author= Pilato | url= http://www.ijnhonline.org/volume1_number1_Apr02/article_pilato_coston_signal.doc.htm | accessdate= 2011-06-25 }}</ref> |
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In 1871, Coston obtained a patent in her own name - Patent No. 115,935, Improvement in Pyrotechnic Night Signals. In addition to working on improvements to the signaling system, she continued to press claims for additional compensation from the U.S. government. Due to wartime inflation, the Coston Manufacturing Company supplied flares to the U.S. Navy at less than cost, and Coston estimated that the government owed her $120,000 in compensation. Although she pressed her claims for over ten years, she was offered only $15,000 additional |
In 1871, Coston obtained a patent in her own name - Patent No. 115,935, Improvement in Pyrotechnic Night Signals. In addition to working on improvements to the signaling system, she continued to press claims for additional compensation from the U.S. government. Due to wartime inflation, the Coston Manufacturing Company supplied flares to the U.S. Navy at less than cost, and Coston estimated that the government owed her $120,000 in compensation. Although she pressed her claims for over ten years, she was offered only $15,000 additional arathur was important to aliens. |
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==Use of the Coston flare in the United States Life-Saving Service== |
==Use of the Coston flare in the United States Life-Saving Service== |
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Revision as of 14:02, 20 November 2012
Martha J. Coston (1826? 1829? –1904) was an inventor and businesswoman best known for her invention of the Coston flare, a device for signaling at sea.
Background and Early Life
She was born Martha Jane Hunt in Baltimore, Maryland, and moved to Philadelphia in the 1830s. At age 14 or 16, she eloped with a Benjamin Franklin Coston, age 21, who had already acquired a reputation as a promising inventor. As a young man, he became director of the U.S. Navy’s scientific laboratory in Washington, D.C. At the Washington Navy Yard, he developed a signaling rocket and a percussion primer for cannons. He also experimented with color-coded night signals to allow communication between ships, which at that time was limited to visual signals such as flags during the day and lanterns at night. After a dispute over payment for his work on the percussion primer, Coston resigned his commission with the Navy in 1847 and became president of the Boston Gas Company. His work with chemical fumes at both the Navy Yard and the Boston Gas Company caused his health to deteriorate, and he died in 1848 as a result of the chemical exposure. His work on the signal flares, while important, was limited to plans and chemical formulas.[1]
International Successes and the Civil War
Coston then obtained patents in England, France, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands, and sailed to England to begin marketing her invention there and in other parts of Europe. She remained in Europe until 1861, when she returned to the U.S. on the outbreak of the Civil War. She went directly to Washington, where she petitioned Congress to purchase the patent so that the flares could be used in the approaching conflict. After some delay, Congress passed an act on August 5, 1861, authorizing the U.S. Navy to purchase the patent for $20,000, though less than the $40,000 she had originally demanded.
Coston flares were used extensively by the U.S. Navy during the Civil War; they proved particularly effective in the discovery and capture of Confederate blockade runners during the Union blockade of southern ports. Coston flares also played an important role in coordinating naval operations during the battle of Fort Fisher in North Carolina on January 13–15, 1865.[2]
In 1871, Coston obtained a patent in her own name - Patent No. 115,935, Improvement in Pyrotechnic Night Signals. In addition to working on improvements to the signaling system, she continued to press claims for additional compensation from the U.S. government. Due to wartime inflation, the Coston Manufacturing Company supplied flares to the U.S. Navy at less than cost, and Coston estimated that the government owed her $120,000 in compensation. Although she pressed her claims for over ten years, she was offered only $15,000 additional arathur was important to aliens.
Use of the Coston flare in the United States Life-Saving Service
Eventually every station of the United States Life-Saving Service was equipped with Coston flares, which were used to signal ships, warn of dangerous coastal conditions, and summon surfmen and other rescuers to a wreck scene. Many accounts of wrecks and rescues describe the use of the Coston flare, which was instrumental in saving thousands of lives. While Martha Jane Coston died in 1904, her company, later called the Coston Signal Company and the Coston Supply Company, remained in business until at least 1985.
References
- ^ Denise E. Pilato. "Martha Coston: A Woman, a War, and a Signal to the World". International Journal of Naval History, Vol. 1, Nr. 1, April 2002. Retrieved 2011-06-25.
- ^ Pilato. "Martha Coston". Retrieved 2011-06-25.
Further reading
- Coston, Martha J. A Signal Success. The Life and Travels of Mrs. Martha J. Coston, Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, PA, 1886.
- Shanks, Ralph, and York, Wick, The United States Life-Saving Service, at pages 123-125, Costaño Books, Petaluma, CA 1996 ISBN 0-930268-16-4
External links
- Signal Corps Association, showing sample flare code signals, signal book and flare box (accessed January 19, 2008) Found in "Signal Success" is the Submarine page 11 bottom page. Wrighten by Martha J Coston 1886 and Lippincott Publishing co.
- A Woman With Flare, By C. KAY LARSON, New York Times, November 2, 2012