To mark what would have been a very happy 131st birthday for Abraham Lincoln (if he hadn't been shot), U.S. Patent Commissioner Conway P. Coe stood before a wooden model crafted by President Abraham Lincoln, and read aloud to a gathering of Lincoln groupies the patent application that the most beloved of Presidents had submitted in 1849. When the President was 40 years of age, he had conceived of an invention intended to make the daily lot of flatboat men just a bit easier, but nothing seemed to come of his efforts, and U.S. Patent Office Application 6489 was soon forgotten. The creative soul who penned this column ended his report on a human note, assuming he knew what was on Lincoln's mind that day:
"'This time I've really got something... No more dreary circuit-riding for me. No more nagging from Mary. This is going to make me rich.'
So he dreamed - even as you and I; even as you and I."
If this president aspired to be a successful inventor - this other president aspired to work in Hollywood; read about FDR's dreams here...
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