Energy & Power

The Museum's collections on energy and power illuminate the role of fire, steam, wind, water, electricity, and the atom in the nation's history. The artifacts include wood-burning stoves, water turbines, and windmills, as well as steam, gas, and diesel engines. Oil-exploration and coal-mining equipment form part of these collections, along with a computer that controlled a power plant and even bubble chambers—a tool of physicists to study protons, electrons, and other charged particles.

A special strength of the collections lies in objects related to the history of electrical power, including generators, batteries, cables, transformers, and early photovoltaic cells. A group of Thomas Edison's earliest light bulbs are a precious treasure. Hundreds of other objects represent the innumerable uses of electricity, from streetlights and railway signals to microwave ovens and satellite equipment.

An early commercial Edison lamp. The bamboo filament is attached to the lead wires with copper-plated connectors.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
An early commercial Edison lamp. The bamboo filament is attached to the lead wires with copper-plated connectors.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1883
maker
Edison Lamp Company
ID Number
EM.318643
catalog number
318643
accession number
232729
Experimental incandescent lamp used at the U.S. Government Torpedo Station in Newport, Rhode Island.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Experimental incandescent lamp used at the U.S. Government Torpedo Station in Newport, Rhode Island.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1880
maker
Farmer, Moses G.
ID Number
EM.181978
catalog number
181978
accession number
2015.0173
Original switch key put in on introduction of the second dynamo, November, 1881. A wooden knife switch mounted on a wooden base. Four binding posts. Used in the Hinds-Ketchum printing plant as part of the first commercial installation of the Edison lighting system.
Description (Brief)
Original switch key put in on introduction of the second dynamo, November, 1881. A wooden knife switch mounted on a wooden base. Four binding posts. Used in the Hinds-Ketchum printing plant as part of the first commercial installation of the Edison lighting system.
Date made
1881
maker
Edison Electric Co.
ID Number
EM.180944
catalog number
180944
accession number
24315
Original safety plugs put in on system in December, 1881. Prior to this a small section of lead wire had been soldered into the trunk line and there were no safety plugs [fuses] on any of the main lines to the lamps.
Description (Brief)
Original safety plugs put in on system in December, 1881. Prior to this a small section of lead wire had been soldered into the trunk line and there were no safety plugs [fuses] on any of the main lines to the lamps. Used in the Hinds-Ketchum printing plant as part of the first commercial installation of the Edison lighting system
Date made
1881
maker
Edison Electric Co.
ID Number
EM.180943
catalog number
180943
accession number
24315
Original switch key by which current was turned on lamps in the building. #499 and 451 Water Street, New York City, on the evening of January 15, 1881. A wooden pivot switch mounted on a wooden base. Four binding posts.
Description (Brief)
Original switch key by which current was turned on lamps in the building. #499 and 451 Water Street, New York City, on the evening of January 15, 1881. A wooden pivot switch mounted on a wooden base. Four binding posts. Used in the Hinds-Ketchum printing plant as part of the first commercial installation of the Edison lighting system.
Date made
1881
ID Number
EM.180942
catalog number
180942
accession number
24315
Donor reported: "Fixture and lamp socket, with covered tin shade, used by engravers to concentrate the light on a small space.
Description (Brief)
Donor reported: "Fixture and lamp socket, with covered tin shade, used by engravers to concentrate the light on a small space. This fixture and shade excited great interest at the time as it was apparently the first shade that any one had ever seen which covered the top of the lamp or light without ventilation. Double swing gas pipe brackets with rough tin shades - one extra shade." A converted gas fixture with a keyless Edison socket for a Johnson bevel-ring incandescent lamp. Used in the Hinds-Ketchum printing plant as part of the first commercial installation of the Edison lighting system.
Date made
1881
ID Number
EM.180939
catalog number
180939
accession number
24315
This bicycle’s welded steel tapered head tube was created using Elihu Thomson’s electric welding apparatus (see object number MC*181724).
Description
This bicycle’s welded steel tapered head tube was created using Elihu Thomson’s electric welding apparatus (see object number MC*181724). Welding samples demonstrated the potential industrial applications of electric welding, and illustrations of these samples were published in journals, brochures, and advertisements. Elihu Thomson’s invention of electric welding in 1885 resulted in numerous industrial applications including the manufacture of automobile parts, tools, screws, ball bearings, and wire lines. Thomson’s welding apparatus pressed two pieces of metal together while an electric current ran through the metal. Resistance to the current at the contact point between the metal pieces created heat and welded the metals together.
Scientist and inventor Elihu Thomson (1853-1937) played a prominent role in the industrialization and electrification of America with over 700 patents in his name. His inventions and patents helped change the nature of industry in the United States and included the “uniflow” steam engine, automobile muffler, producing fused quartz, stereoscopic x-ray pictures, electric arc lamps, lightning arrestors, and perhaps most notably—the process of electrical welding. Thomson and partner Edwin Houston established the Thomson-Houston Electric Company in 1883. In 1892 Thomson-Houston merged with the Edison Electric Company to form General Electric.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1886
maker
Thomson, Elihu
ID Number
EM.181673
catalog number
181673
accession number
33015
Date made
1885
ID Number
EM.314917
catalog number
314917
accession number
212336
In the 1880s—the early days of commercial electric power—convenient, rugged, and reliable instruments for measuring that power did not exist.
Description
In the 1880s—the early days of commercial electric power—convenient, rugged, and reliable instruments for measuring that power did not exist. Engineers had to struggle with complex, delicate, laboratory-type instruments that required leveling, calibration, and manipulation to yield a reading, which then required calculation to yield a meaningful number. Edward Weston, an immigrant English entrepreneur and electrical inventor and engineer, developed this instrument for measuring direct current potential, patented in 1886, to answer the demand for a better way. Although its leveling screws, delicate suspension, and glass shade (now missing) betray its laboratory antecedents, the hefty magnet, the moving coil design, and the "direct reading" pointer and scale show the direction in which Weston was heading. His subsequent instruments soon secured a worldwide reputation for reliability, precision, and ease of use.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
about 1888
maker
Weston, Edward
ID Number
EM.318562
accession number
232729
catalog number
318562
Edison lamp with carbon filament and frosted envelope. Unit was long-ago welded to a corner-iron for display.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Edison lamp with carbon filament and frosted envelope. Unit was long-ago welded to a corner-iron for display.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1883
Maker
Edison
maker
Edison Electric Light Company
ID Number
1997.0388.61
catalog number
1997.0388.61
accession number
1997.0388
An electric motor was one of the critical components needed to make an electrical power system based on alternating current.
Description (Brief)
An electric motor was one of the critical components needed to make an electrical power system based on alternating current. Electrical inventor Nikola Tesla developed a revolutionary motor based on electromagnetic induction that featured rotating magnetic fields to drive the central armature. Engineers working for George Westinghouse refined Tesla’s concept and introduced this model A two-phase motor in 1888. The armature core is of the Siemens drum-type, a design intended to minimize the number of wire windings.
Westinghouse 2-phase induction motor marked "M-68". Metal plate reads: " The Westinghouse Electric Co. Pittsburgh, 271". Case has radial fins for heat dissipation. Connection is made through two binding posts on the base. An electrodynamic rotation motor designed by Nikola Tesla, without commutator or contact brushes. A series of field magnets are built of laminated sheet iron and wound with two sets of coils. Two alternating currents are sent through the field at the same time, one a 1/4 phase behind the other. References: Electrical World, vol. 12, 27 October 1888, pages 221-223. Westinghouse Engineer, January 1950, page 72.
date made
1888
maker
Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.
ID Number
EM.315975
accession number
223204
catalog number
315975
Edison carbon lamp. A typical commercial incandescent lamp of the late 1880s.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Edison carbon lamp. A typical commercial incandescent lamp of the late 1880s.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1889
maker
Edison Lamp Company
ID Number
EM.181805
catalog number
181805
accession number
33407
Incandescent lamp, U.S. Patent #344343. The lamp has two glass envelopes to prevent breakage due to cold air.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Incandescent lamp, U.S. Patent #344343. The lamp has two glass envelopes to prevent breakage due to cold air.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1886
maker
Buell, Charles E.
ID Number
EM.308601
catalog number
308601
accession number
89797
patent number
344343
This lamp was not intended for illumination but rather for providing resistance in an electrical circuit.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This lamp was not intended for illumination but rather for providing resistance in an electrical circuit.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1888
Maker
Western Union Corporation
ID Number
EM.333033
accession number
294351
catalog number
333033
Weston carbon lamp with United States Company base and sinusoidal carbon filament.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Weston carbon lamp with United States Company base and sinusoidal carbon filament.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1885
Maker
Weston
maker
Weston Electric Light Co.
ID Number
1997.0388.60
catalog number
1997.0388.60
accession number
1997.0388
Experimental incandescent lamp, U.S. Patent # 317676. The radiator consists of two corrugated copper ribbons.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Experimental incandescent lamp, U.S. Patent # 317676. The radiator consists of two corrugated copper ribbons.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1885
1880
maker
Sawyer, William E.
ID Number
EM.308596
catalog number
308596
accession number
89797
patent number
317676
Invention rarely stops when the inventor introduces a new device. Thomas A. Edison and his team worked to improve his electric lighting system for some years after the initial introduction in 1880.
Description (Brief)
Invention rarely stops when the inventor introduces a new device. Thomas A. Edison and his team worked to improve his electric lighting system for some years after the initial introduction in 1880. This lamp shows changes made after about ten years of labor aimed at lowering costs and increasing production. The simplified base required little material; the diameter and thread-pitch are still used today. The filament was changed from bamboo to a treated cellulose, based on an invention by English chemist Joseph Swan. The bulb was probably free blown by Corning Glass Works, but would soon be replaced by a bulb made by semi-skilled laborers blowing glass into iron molds. The cost had dropped from about $1.00 per lamp to less than 30¢.
date made
ca 1886
ca 1889
maker
Edison Lamp Company
ID Number
EM.318685
catalog number
318685
accession number
232729
Date made
c1882
ca 1882
ID Number
EM.318717
catalog number
318717
accession number
232729
Date made
1882
date made
1887
associated person
Edison, Thomas Alva
maker
Bergmann & Co.
ID Number
EM.181754
catalog number
181754
accession number
33261
Reproduction platinum filament lamp. Moses Farmer purportedly used lamps like this in his home in September 1859.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Reproduction platinum filament lamp. Moses Farmer purportedly used lamps like this in his home in September 1859.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1880
maker
Farmer, Moses G.
ID Number
EM.181352.01
catalog number
181352.01
accession number
2015.0173
Inventing a new technical device not only involves creating the device itself, but often entails creating special tools to produce the device or the component pieces of the device.
Description
Inventing a new technical device not only involves creating the device itself, but often entails creating special tools to produce the device or the component pieces of the device. Thomas Edison conducted experiments on hundreds of different types of natural fibers in his search for a material that would serve as a light bulb filament.
Date made
1880
associated user
unknown
maker
Edison, Thomas Alva
S. R. Wells & Co.
ID Number
EM.314259
catalog number
314259
accession number
198085
An early commercial Edison lamp. The bamboo filament is attached to the lead wires with copper-plated connectors.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
An early commercial Edison lamp. The bamboo filament is attached to the lead wires with copper-plated connectors.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1884
inventor
Edison, Thomas Alva
maker
Edison Lamp Company
ID Number
EM.318648
catalog number
318648
accession number
232729
Reproduction platinum filament lamp. Moses Farmer purportedly used lamps like this in his home in September 1859.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Reproduction platinum filament lamp. Moses Farmer purportedly used lamps like this in his home in September 1859.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1880
maker
Farmer, Moses G.
ID Number
EM.181352.02
catalog number
181352.02
accession number
2015.0173
Date made
c1885
ca 1885
date made
ca. 1885
associated person
Edison, Thomas Alva
maker
Edison Electric Co.
ID Number
EM.337118
catalog number
337118
accession number
1979.0430

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