The museum deals with the local history of the Rossland area, which centres around the mines on the mountain above the museum.
One of the best known, most revered, denizens of both Rossland and much of the British Columbia Central Interior was
Father Pat, an Anglican Priest whose real name was Henry Irwin. Traveling throughout the interior, Father Pat provided aid and comfort to the miners, gamblers, painted women, land sharks and prospectors of the area, coming to be loved and respected by all. Born in 1859 in Ireland, by 1902 he had worked himself into ill health, and while homeward bound to England to recover, he died in Montreal. When word of his passing reached the rough and tumble town of Rossland,
Rosslanders quickly raised enough funds to build the Father Pat memorial drinking fountain currently located on Columbia Ave., a new St. George's Church, and the Father Pat Memorial Ambulance.
Now housed safely within the Rossland Museum and Discovery Centre, the Centre continues with fundraising in an effort to further restore the Father Pat Memorial Ambulance, a part of which fundraising was the creation of this replica (see below) which resides immediately beside the original.
FATHER PAT MEMORIAL AMBULANCE
Although Reverend Henry "Father Pat" Irwin was only in Rossland for a few short years, he made a lasting impact. After he passed in early 1902, Rosslanders banded together to purchase a memorial. People from around the West Kootenays contributed to the Father Pat Memorial Fund and raised over $1200 (approximately $30,000 today). The Father Pat Memorial Fountain (Columbia Ave & Queen Street) and the Father Pat Memorial Ambulance were purchased using the fund.
Philadelphia's Fulton & Walker Company built the Father Pat Memorial Ambulance for $445 (over $10,000 today). The ambulance was outfitted with two stretchers with adjustable headrests, a seat for the physician, an internal medicine chest, brass lamps, and a receptacle for instruments. The interior was covered in Fantascote leather and had a corrugated rubber floor. The ambulance's roof was covered in treated leather for waterproofing. The memorial plaques on the sides of the ambulance feature quotes from Oliver Goldsmith's poem "The Deserted Village".
The ambulance was operated out of the
Rossland Fire Hall by the City of Rossland for decades. The Father Pat Memorial Ambulance was brought to the Rossland Museum in 1967 and displayed on the front lawn until it was brought inside in 2017. Fundraising for the care and preservation of the Father Pat Memorial Ambulance is ongoing.
From a plaque at the ambulance
3D Printing Father Pat’s Ambulance
The Rossland Museum contacted I/O Design to assist with a fundraising effort to restore Father Pat’s Ambulance. The goal was to create a
miniature 3D printed version of the original ambulance on display at the museum. This was a unique opportunity for I/O Design to use cutting edge technology to replicate the horse drawn ambulance that is now a part of Rossland history.
The start of I/O Design’s work was a visit to the Rossland Museum to conduct a 3D LiDAR scan of the ambulance. LiDAR scanning works by rapidly emitting laser pulses while rotating 360 degrees about 2 axis, capturing all surfaces within line of sight of the scanner. Six scans were taken around the perimeter of the ambulance. After stitching these individual scans together through a process called registration, a point cloud model of the ambulance was created.
The point cloud was then used as a reference to model the ambulance. Because of the complex geometry surrounding the front wheel assembly, some simplifications were made while trying to preserve the overall look of the ambulance.
The next step was to commence 3D printing. The ambulance was printed in 8 unique parts, with the cab and box portions of the ambulance proving to be the most finicky. Numerous iterations were created, until a satisfactory print was obtained by utilizing different techniques from increasing wall thickness, adding stiffening ribs and changing the print orientation, to changing the geometry of the printed section.
With all of the unique parts printed, assembly was all that remained. A glue was created by mixing acetone and the plastic from failed prints. Parts were initially glued together based on their colour, before being placed in an airtight bowl with acetone vapour, creating an acetone bath that melded the print together. This process was slow, as there was a risk of leaving the ambulance in the acetone bath for too long, melting the print. To complicate the process, the acetone continues to have an affect on the print for a period of time after removal from the bath – therefore a series of shorter duration baths were used.
The final result was a
1:20 scaled version of Father Pat’s Ambulance that is now on display in the JD McDonald Hall in the Rossland Museum.
From The Rossland Museum