Editing Inflatable boat (section)

===Early attempts===
[[File:Pontoon1.jpg|left|thumb|A rubber coated fabric bridge pontoon]]
[[File:Non-pareil-01.jpg|thumb|right|The Nonpareil inflatable boat]]
There are ancient carved images of animal skins filled with air being used as one-man floats to cross rivers. These floats were inflated by mouth.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

The discovery of the process to [[Vulcanization|vulcanize]] rubber was made by [[Charles Goodyear]] in 1838, and was granted a US patent in 1844. Vulcanization stabilized the rubber, making it durable and flexible. In late 1843, [[Thomas Hancock (inventor)|Thomas Hancock]] filed for a UK patent, which was also granted in 1844, after the [[Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company]] patent had been granted. In 1852, while traveling in England, Charles Goodyear discovered that Thomas Hancock's company was producing vulcanized rubber and sued. Thomas Hancock had been shown a sample of Goodyear's rubber in 1842, but had not been told the process that made it—and Hancock said he had developed his process independently. The last of the suits were settled in 1855.  Shortly thereafter, several people expanded on experimentation of rubber coated fabrics.

In 1839 the [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Duke of Wellington]] tested the first inflatable pontoons. In 1840, the English scientist Thomas Hancock designed inflatable craft using his new methods of rubber vulcanization and described his achievements in ''The Origin and Progress of India Rubber Manufacture in England'' published a few years later.

[[File:Halkett Boat.jpg|right|thumb|upright|A two-man Halkett boat, with and without its canvas cover|alt=Two small dinghies]]

In 1844–1845, British naval officer Lieutenant [[Peter Halkett]] developed two types of inflatable boats intended for use by Arctic explorers. Both were made of rubber-impregnated "[[Mackintosh]] cloth." In the [[Halkett boat]], the "boat cloak" served as a waterproof poncho or cloak until inflated, when it became a one-man boat. A special pocket held [[bellows]] for inflation, and a blade to turn a walking stick into a paddle. A special umbrella could double as a sail. Halkett later developed a two-man boat carried in a knapsack. When inflated, it could carry two men paddling on either side, and when deflated it served as a waterproof blanket for camping on wet ground.<ref name="Pain43">{{cite journal|last=Pain|first=Stephanie|date=2009-05-30|title=Don't forget your umbrella|journal=New Scientist|publisher=[[Reed Business Information]]|location=London|volume=202|issue=2710|page=42|issn=0262-4079|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227101.500-explorers-dont-forget-your-inflatable-cloak.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news  | last = Pain | first = Stephanie | title = Don't forget your umbrella | pages = 42–43 | newspaper = New Scientist | location = London | date = 30 May 2009 | url =https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227101.500-explorers-dont-forget-your-inflatable-cloak.html | access-date = <!-----18 September 2009----->  }}
</ref> The [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] was sceptical about potential uses for Halkett's designs; on 8 May 1845, [[Sidney Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea|Lord Herbert]], [[First Secretary to the Admiralty]], wrote to Halkett that "My Lords are of an opinion that your invention is extremely clever and ingenious, and that it might be useful in Exploring and Surveying Expeditions, but they do not consider that it would be made applicable for general purposes in the Naval Service".

The Admiralty saw no use for Halkett's designs in general naval service, but explorers liked this larger design. [[John Franklin]] bought one for the ill-fated [[Franklin's lost expedition|1845 expedition]], in which the entire expedition party of 129 men and two ships vanished.<ref name="Pain43" />

In his explorations along the [[Oregon Trail]], and the tributaries and forks of the [[Platte River]] in 1842 and 1843, [[John C. Frémont]] recorded what may have been the first use of an inflatable rubber boat for travel down rivers and rapids in the [[Rocky Mountains]]. In his account of the expedition he described his boat:<ref name="JC Fremont">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/exploringexpedi00unkngoog |quote=india-rubber%20boat%2C%2018%20feet%20long%2C%20made. |title=The Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, Oregon and California: To which is Added a Description of the Physical Geography of California, with Recent Notices of the Gold Region from the Latest and Most Authentic Sources |last=Frémont |first=John Charles |date=1850 |publisher=G.H. Derby |language=en}}</ref>

<blockquote>Among the useful things which formed a portion of our equipage, was an India-rubber boat, 18 feet long, made somewhat in the form of a bark canoe of the northern lakes. The sides were formed by two airtight cylinders, eighteen inches in diameter, connected with others forming the bow and stern. To lessen the danger of accidents to the boat, these were divided into four different compartments, and the interior was sufficiently large to contain five or six persons, and a considerable weight of baggage.</blockquote>

In 1848, [[George Washington Cullum|General George Cullum]], the [[US Army Corps of Engineers]], introduced a rubber coated fabric inflatable bridge pontoon, which was used in the Mexican–American War and later on to a limited extent during the American Civil War.<ref>{{cite book|title=Staff Ride Handbook for the Battle of Shiloh, 6–7 April 1862|publisher=Combat Studies Institute Press|year=1960|pages=32|url=http://www.usm.edu/armyrotc/Shiloh%20Staff%20Ride/Shilo%20Staff%20Ride.pdf}}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

[[File:TH-rubber-raft.jpg|thumb|An inflatable rubber boat, {{circa}} 1855]]

In 1866, four men crossed the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Britain on a three-tube raft called ''Nonpareil''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Longyard |first=William|title=A Speck on the Sea : Epic Voyages in the Most Improbable Vessels|publisher=International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press|date=2003-07-01|edition=1|pages=51–53|chapter=3|isbn=978-0-07-141306-0}}</ref>

From 1900 to 1910, the development of rubber manufacturing enabled attempts at producing circular rubber inflatable boats, similar to modern [[coracle]]s. These were only usable as rafts, and could only be propelled by paddling. In addition, they tended to crack at seams and folds due to the imperfect manufacturing process of the rubber.