1837 Steamboat Relic

[Ripcon]

I found more wreckage from the steamboat wreck site in north Mississippi and found this "door" looking iron relic. It measures 9 inches by 11 inches and was hinged at the top. It has the year 1837 stamped into the inside.
Can anybody help me identify this artifact. What is it and what did it go to on the ship. Thanks for any assistance.

 

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[Ripcon]

Could this be a boiler door cover?
Can anyone verify this?

 

[agflit]

Boiler door cover imo

ag

 

[Blak bart]

I agree. Those old boilers seem to last a long time. They built them tuff.

 

[Ripcon]

Questions:
On the front there seems to be words. Possibly a manufacturer or foundry name? If so, is there a good resource to look up that information?
On the 1837 date it appears that the letter B was used for the number 8. Was that a common practice?

 

[agflit]

First order of business would be to properly clean/conserve the item...than you'll have much better detail to examine.

ag

 

[agflit]

Steamboats 1811-29

 

[tamrock]

I found a similar looking door maybe 30 feet from a long abandoned railroad grade.
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/what/421422-some-kind-stove-door.html

 

[Ripcon]

Another picture - this one is of the front side writing


The year 1837 is on the back.
This is a picture I took after cleaning the front of the boiler door.
It has writing on it but is hard to decipher after 150+ years underwater.
Kind of looks like: GOULE (?)
Not sure what it says underneath.
Can anyone out there shed light on this. It's driving me crazy.
It may be the name of a foundry (?)
Thanks!

 

[agflit]

Ezra Gould; Gould Machine Co.
Newark, NJ, U.S.A.

Wood Working Machinery, Metal Working Machinery & Steam and Gas Engines


Sometime between 1833 and 1835 Samuel F. Farrand and Ezra Gould opened a machine shop and foundry, Farrand & Gould, in Newark. Their shop was a mere 12 by 16 feet. We do not know what products they may have made in their early years. In or shortly after 1840, Farrand left the partnership and the shop operated under the name of Ezra Gould. In about 1847, A. Inslee became a partner and the business became Gould & Inslee. Inslee had been a partner in W. R. & A. Inslee, which made tinsmithing tools. At the beginning of the Gould & Inslee partnership they introduced a solid-chisel mortiser. The Gould-Inslee partnership was short-lived, and afterwards Gould took his brother Stephen as partner in E. & S. D. Gould, while Inslee partnered with one John G. Dod in Dod & Inslee, which subsequently became W. R. & A. Inslee. All of those firms made mortisers, which were apparently similar but not identical.


Possibility??

ag

 

[Ripcon]

Fantastic. Thanks

 

[Blak bart]

Nice work ag. Hope your getting back to normal as much as possible.

 

[agflit]

On the road...drove down thursday to be available to Old man if needed...headed back to WI next day or 2.

ag