Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Robert Fulton submarine design

Robert Fulton submarine design

Original - Cross-section of an 1806 submarine design by Robert Fulton.

Unrestored version - Provided for comparison.

Reason: This was a special find: the Library of Congress owns a set of original engineering designs by Robert Fulton, who invented the steamship and was a major innovator of the submarine. So this 1806 schematic doesn't come from a publisher's reprint--it's from Fulton's actual work in pencil, ink, and watercolor--and they made it available in a high resolution scan. Possibly because the file comes from an unusually good source and the original was well preserved, I had the unexpected pleasure of achieving a restoration of higher quality than would normally be possible. Not quite the original Nautilus, but darn close (most of Fulton's designs aren't available online in files that have comparable potential). Restored version of Image:Fultondesign.jpg.
Articles this image appears in: Robert Fulton, History of submarines, Nautilus (1800 submarine)
Creator: Robert Fulton

Support as nominator --Durova^Charge! 22:23, 10 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support Excellent work Durova! It looks wonderful :) — E ↗^T ^C ^B 22:35, 10 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support per nom. Papa Lima Whiskey (talk) 23:35, 10 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support. Great restoration job there! You wouldn't even know it once looked so stained and dated. Diliff | (Talk) (Contribs) 23:37, 10 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support That's great. Too bad there's no legend describing all the demarcated components. Still a great image. Fletcher (talk) 00:10, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Comment: Can you please remove the empty spaces on the top & bottom & crop the image. --59.92.36.202 (talk) 03:36, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support Awesome restoration. @ Fletcher That's what the next stage (creating an SVG version) is for. @ 59.92.36.202 I think the white space is just enough to keep it balanced, personally. Bastique ^demandez 06:00, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support but only if the caption is changed. Robert Fulton did not invent the submarine. As it explicitly states in the History of submarines article, there were many other proposed and constructed submarine designs before his Nautilus in 1800, including one by another American, David Bushnell. -- Grandpafootsoldier (talk) 07:20, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Hm, point. Changed. Durova^Charge! 07:33, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support but where is the legend for the letters? —Pengo 13:42, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I wish we had that. Durova^Charge! 17:31, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Here's a start: "A = anchor". :-) Anyone know what L might be? Is that a mine that drops down, or some sort of ballast? Fletcher (talk) 20:19, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, I could identify quite a few of these things. Former Navy, and all. But see Wikipedia:No original research. Durova^Charge! 21:59, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Meant only in the spirit of curiosity. Fletcher (talk) 22:13, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

In the spirit of curiosity, C is the anchor line. D-G are a pump to empty the forward water chamber and raise the submarine, and R is the water outlet. I moves the sail. J is a hand crank to move the propeller and P is a lever to change the propeller's angle. I'm not certain what some of the other items are, but H might be an airhole. Durova^Charge! 22:56, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Support Highly encyclopedic and historical, another great scan and restoration by Durova. Spencer^T♦^C 23:39, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support - wow - amazing restore on a clearly historical document. -- Tawker (talk) 02:54, 12 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support An outstanding image which easily meets all the criteria. Nick Dowling (talk) 01:52, 13 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support per nom. Excellent image, excellent restoration. Becky Sayles (talk) 00:23, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Fultondesign7.jpg MER-C 06:51, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]