In 1929/30 my father built and patented a pontoon boat designed to be
able to drive a car on the water  propelled by the rear wheels of a
car. He demonstrated this in Corpus Christi Texas bay before
abandanding the project due to financial conditions of the depression.
It was reported in the local papers. Can you obtain the news article or patent.

walt23543-ga:

I believe that I have found the patent that you are looking for. I
base this statement on several clues that you provided. First, the
mention of Corpus Christi. Second, the time-frame. And third, your
Google username "walt23543", I'm thinking that 'walt' is your first
name, and that you may have been named after your father?

If so, this is the patent you are looking for:

US Patent 1,804,262 
Filed: June 20, 1930
Issued: May 5, 1931 
To: Walter C. Lewis and Howard T. Powers of Corpus Christi, Texas

http://patimg2.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=01804262&idkey=EA43113CB27D

Note: this is a link to the full-page scanned images of the original
patent as archived by the US Patent and Trademark Office. There are
seven pages in total.

If the above link does not work for you, please follow these steps to
locate and view the patent:

1. Go to http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/search-adv.htm
2. In the Query field, type "PN/1804262" (without the quotes)
3. In the Select Years pull-down list, select "1790 to 1975"
4. Click Search
5. On the resulting page, click on the 'Images' link at the bottom of
the top menu (it's in a red box)

Please note that you will need to have Apple Quicktime installed in
order to view the patent page images, as that is the format that the
USPTO has chosen for its electronic archive to facilitate fair public
access.

Finding a newspaper article from this era for Corpus Christi will be
difficult unless you happen to be in Corpus Christi. If you are, then
there is a possibility that the city's public library may have
archived the city's newspapers from that time on microfiche. The
timeframe to target is the period immediately following the filing
date, June 20, 1930. Your father would have been wanting to protect
his invention until after he had filed the patent application; after
filing, he most likely would have wanted to demonstrate the results of
all his hard work.

I hope that this information is helpful to you! Please let me know if
you require any clarification on how to access the electronic copy of
the patent.

Regards,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher


----------------------------------
Search strategy:

- ran a query of the USPTO database for "pontoon boat" to determine
the classification code (CCL/440/11)
- ran another query on the classication code for the years 1790 through 1975
- viewed several patents to narrow down to the year 1930
- matched up information on patent to information provided by Client