Energy & Power - Overview
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.
"Energy & Power - Overview" showing 10 items.
Heat-Mirror Tungsten Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- Duro-Test tungsten lamp developed with M.I.T. An infrared-reflecting coat raised the filament temperature.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1981
- maker
- DURO-TEST Corporation
- ID Number
- 1992.0466.03
- catalog number
- 1992.0466.03
- accession number
- 1992.0466
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Integral Compact Fluorescent Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- Early compact fluorescent lamp, production model.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1985
- ID Number
- 1992.0553.04
- catalog number
- 1992.0553.04
- accession number
- 1992.0553
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Experimental Silica-Carbide Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- Experimental silica-carbide incandescent lamp made by John and Peter Milewski.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1988
- maker
- Milewski, John V.
- ID Number
- 1992.0554.02
- catalog number
- 1992.0554.02
- accession number
- 1992.0554
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Electronic Halarc Evaluation Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- “Electronic Halarc” consumer evaluation lamp. Miniature metal halide lamp for indoor residential use.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1980
- Maker
- General Electric Co.
- ID Number
- 1998.0231.11
- accession number
- 1998.0231
- catalog number
- 1998.0231.11
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Laser Dyes
- Description
- Scientists first made lasers using solid crystals or mixtures of gasses in 1960. Lasers using liquid dyes were developed in 1965. Dyes proved useful for making lasers that could be tuned over a range of light frequencies, somewhat similar to a musical instrument that can be tuned to different sound frequencies. Each of these five glass ampoules contains about 1 microgram of dye in a solution with 50 milliliters of ethyl alcohol. The glass ampoules are storage containers. In operation a dye is typically pumped through the laser apparatus.
- These dye samples come from the Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation Program (ALVIS) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Light from a copper-vapor laser changed color (or frequency) by passing through a given dye, resulting in a laser beam with a specific frequency. Different frequencies equal different energy levels. Since atoms absorb energy at different frequencies, changing the laser light's color is a good way to impart just the right amount of energy needed to separate atoms such as isotopes that are almost, but not quite, identical.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1984
- maker
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
- ID Number
- 1985.0236.12
- accession number
- 1985.0236
- catalog number
- 1985.0236.12
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Laser for Compact Disc Player
- Description
- As scientists and engineers came to better understand lasers, they developed a multitude of uses for this light source. The development of Compact Discs (CDs) and Digital Video Discs (DVDs) revolutionized the audio and video recording industries. Lasers are essential in making and playing both types of discs. Scientists refer to laser light as "highly coherent," meaning that the photons stay tightly focused rather than spreading out like the light from a flashlight. Coherent light can be focused on a very small spot. The pits on CDs and DVDs are microscopic.
- This is the laser assembly from a Sony model D-5 "Discman" portable CD player. Donated in 1985, it shows how small lasers had become only 25 years after their invention. This object also shows the dramatic decrease in the amount of power needed to operate a laser. The power supply for Theodore Maiman's 1960 ruby laser is about 6 feet tall by 2 feet square and weights about 500 pounds. By contrast, the Sony "Discman" weighed less than 1 pound and operated on AA batteries.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1983
- 1984
- maker
- Sony Corporation
- ID Number
- 1985.0387.01
- accession number
- 1985.0387
- catalog number
- 1985.0387.01
- model number
- D-5
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Target for Military Laser
- Description
- Potential military uses for lasers have attracted both government funding and popular interest. While laser ”ray guns” remain in the realm of science fiction, significant research has been conducted toward that goal. In the 1980s, tests of a deuterium-fluoride (or DF) chemical laser were conducted at the U.S. Army's Redstone Arsenal. A chemical reaction created the energy necessary to generate a laser beam. As this object shows, that beam can be quite powerful.
- In 1985, the Army transferred this test target to the Smithsonian. The target consists of six steel plates, each about 2 mm thick, bolted together. A hole of decreasing diameter is burned through the target from front to back. Information provided with the target reported that a 130 kilowatt laser illuminated the target from a distance of 60 meters for 5 seconds.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1984
- ID Number
- 1985.0321.01
- accession number
- 1985.0321
- catalog number
- 1985.0321.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Laser Level
- Description
- Lasers have proven very useful in the construction industry. One example is this Spectra-Physics model 910 "LaserLevel" made in the early 1980s. In use, a construction worker attached the unit to a tripod and adjusted it so that it was nearly parallel to the ground. The level automatically completed the adjustment process when activated, and then emitted a beam of infrared light from a rotating head. The worker then moved to where-ever a measurement was needed and used a special laser detector to complete the task.
- The "LaserLevel" self-adjusted if bumped slightly and completely shut off if bumped too much. The level operated automatically so it allowed one person to do work of two, resulting in cost savings since fewer assistants were needed.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1985
- maker
- Spectra-Physics Scanning Systems, Inc.
- ID Number
- 1985.0417.01
- accession number
- 1985.0417
- catalog number
- 1985.0417.01
- model number
- 910
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Laser Level Detector
- Description
- This Spectra-Physics model 1077 "Level-Eye" laser light detector was made in the early 1980s. After setting-up a laser-emitter a construction worker could use this detector to take readings and check for level on a job site. The unit has both a visual display and an audible tone to tell the worker when the detector is centered on the signal. It has two accuracy settings, plus or minus 1/8 of an inch or 1/16 of an inch.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1984
- maker
- Spectra-Physics Scanning Systems, Inc.
- ID Number
- 1985.0417.02
- accession number
- 1985.0417
- catalog number
- 1985.0417.02
- model number
- 1077
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Energy Ontario DriveSave Fuel Economy Calculator Slide Rule
- Description
- In 1982 the government of the Canadian province of Ontario prepared this silver and orange paper linear slide rule for motorists. The front cover is marked: Energy (/) Ontario. It is also marked: fuel (/) economy (/) calculator. It is also marked: DriveSave (/) Improving the Fuel Economy (/) of Automobiles in Ontario. Inside are instructions for tracking distances driven and fuel purchases on a provided "fuel economy log" and for calculating miles per gallon or liters per 100 kilometers with the provided slide rule.
- The back cover contains driving and maintenance tips for improving fuel economy. It is marked: Ontario. It is also marked: Ministry of (/) Transportation and (/) Communications (/) Hon. James W. Snow (/) Minister. It is also marked: Ministry (/) of (/) Energy (/) Hon. Robert Welch (/) Minister. DriveSave was located in the Ministry of Transportation offices in Downsview, Ontario. Snow served from 1975 to 1984, and Welch served from 1979 to 1983.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1982
- maker
- Province of Ontario
- ID Number
- 1988.3078.04
- nonaccession number
- 1988.3078
- catalog number
- 1988.3078.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center