Energy & Power

Gasoline Pump

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.

Place: United States

Integral Compact Fluorescent Lamp

An unusual looking type of compact fluorescent lamp (CFLs) has spiral tubes, like this "Spiralux" lamp made by Duro-Test in 1996. Several manufacturers developed and now produce spiral CFLs.
Description
An unusual looking type of compact fluorescent lamp (CFLs) has spiral tubes, like this "Spiralux" lamp made by Duro-Test in 1996. Several manufacturers developed and now produce spiral CFLs. While the equipment to make these spiral tubes proved expensive to develop, the design addresses two problems.
CFL engineers faced a problem stemming from the fact that energy efficiency in fluorescent lamps depends in part on the distance the electric current travels between the two electrodes, called the arc path. A long arc path is more efficient than a short arc path. But most residential fixtures are designed to accept lamps the size of ordinary incandescent bulbs. So CFLs have been made with a variety of bent, folded, and connected tubes--all intended to put a long arc-path into a small lamp, the spiral design being one such.
The second problem centered on how light generated by the lamp interacted with shades and reflectors on fixtures. Most incandescent lamp fixtures are designed to use frosted or so-called soft white lamps. The coatings prevent the filament from being seen, making it look like the entire glass bulb is glowing. Shades and reflectors used in regular fixtures are designed using the science of optics to spread and direct the light in predictable patterns. CFLs, with their glowing tubes, are not shaped correctly for regular fixtures, causing light from the fixtures to be emitted in undesired patterns. Spiral CFLs closely mimic the shape of a glowing incandescent lamp so the optical design of the fixture operates as intended.
Lamp characteristics: Brass, medium-screw base with plastic skirt and glass base-insulator. Spiral-shaped discharge tube with internal phosphor coating, mercury, and two tungsten electrodes. The shape is intended to simulate an ordinary A-lamp.
date made
ca. 1996
Date made
ca 1996
manufacturer
DURO-TEST Corporation
ID Number
1997.0062.07
catalog number
1997.0062.07
accession number
1997.0062

Carbon "Stopper" Lamp with Adapter

Westinghouse made stopper lamps to avoid infringing Edison's patents. The lamp is based on Sawyer-Man patents and includes a removable adapter to allow use of the lamp in both the special sockets made for stopper lamps and standard Westinghouse sockets.
Description (Brief)
Westinghouse made stopper lamps to avoid infringing Edison's patents. The lamp is based on Sawyer-Man patents and includes a removable adapter to allow use of the lamp in both the special sockets made for stopper lamps and standard Westinghouse sockets.
date made
ca 1894
Maker
Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.
ID Number
1997.0388.81
catalog number
1997.0388.81
accession number
1997.0388

Experimental Incandescent Lamp

Experimental carbon filament lamp with electrode. This may be an Edison-effect lamp, forerunner to the radio tube.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Experimental carbon filament lamp with electrode. This may be an Edison-effect lamp, forerunner to the radio tube.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1895
ID Number
1997.0388.65
catalog number
1997.0388.65
accession number
1997.0388

"Stopper" Lamp Replica

Replica "stopper lamp" made to the original 1893 specifications for the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Replica "stopper lamp" made to the original 1893 specifications for the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1934
maker
Westinghouse Lamp Company
ID Number
2002.0020.01
accession number
2002.0020
catalog number
2002.0020.01

Edison "New Year's Eve" Lamp

Thomas Edison used this carbon-filament bulb in the first public demonstration of his most famous invention, the first practical electric incandescent lamp, which took place at his Menlo Park, New Jersey, laboratory on New Year's Eve, 1879.As the quintessential American inventor-
Description
Thomas Edison used this carbon-filament bulb in the first public demonstration of his most famous invention, the first practical electric incandescent lamp, which took place at his Menlo Park, New Jersey, laboratory on New Year's Eve, 1879.
As the quintessential American inventor-hero, Edison personified the ideal of the hardworking self-made man. He received a record 1,093 patents and became a skilled entrepreneur. Though occasionally unsuccessful, Edison and his team developed many practical devices in his "invention factory," and fostered faith in technological progress.
Date made
1879
used date
1879-12-31
user
Edison, Thomas Alva
maker
Edison, Thomas Alva
ID Number
EM.181797
catalog number
181797
accession number
33407

Experimental fluorescent lamp

The development of practical fluorescent lamps took decades, and many researchers contributed.
Description
The development of practical fluorescent lamps took decades, and many researchers contributed. Julius Plucker and Heinrich Geissler made glowing glass tubes in the 1850s, about the time George Stokes discovered that invisible ultraviolet light made some materials glow or "fluoresce." Alexandre Edmond Becquerel put fluorescent materials in a Geissler tube in 1859, though his tubes did not last long. Carbon dioxide-filled tubes by D. McFarlan Moore and mercury vapor tubes by Peter Cooper Hewitt around 1900 gave practical experience with gas-filled, discharge lamps and inspired the neon tubes of Georges Claude.
In 1926 Friedrich Meyer, Hans Spanner, and Edmund Germer of Germany patented an enclosed glass tube containing mercury vapor, electrodes at either end, and a coating of fluorescent powders called phosphors. This incorporated all of the features we see in modern fluorescent tubes, but their employer did not pursue development. William Enfield of General Electric saw phosphor-coated neon tubes in France in the early 1930s, and heard that European researchers were developing a fluorescent lamp. An especially urgent 1934 letter from a consultant, Nobel-laureate Arthur Compton, coming on the heels of European breakthroughs in low-pressure sodium and high-pressure mercury lamps, spurred both GE and its licensee Westinghouse into combined action.
Enfield created a team led by George Inman, and by the end of 1934 they made several working fluorescent lamps, including the one seen here. To save time, the team adopted the design of an existing tubular incandescent lamp in order to make use of available production equipment and lamp parts. Speed was important. In addition to European competitors, American companies like Sylvania were also working on fluorescents. A second GE group under Philip Pritchard worked on production equipment. Other GE groups in Schenectady and in Ft. Wayne assisted in developing ballasts and resolving problems of circuit design.
In 1936 GE and Westinghouse demonstrated the new lamp to the U.S. Navy (that lamp is in the Smithsonian's collection). The public finally saw fluorescent lamps in 1939 at both the New York World's Fair and the Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco. These early lamps gave twice the energy efficiency of the best incandescent designs. Production of fluorescent lamps, slow at first, soon soared as millions were installed in factories making equipment for the American military during World War 2.
Lamp characteristics: Double-ended without bases. Flat presses with an exhaust tip near one press. A tungsten electrode, CC-6 configuration coated with emitter, is set at either end. A mercury pellet is loose inside the lamp. The clear T-7 glass envelope has a phosphor coating covering about 3 inches (8 cm) of the lamp near the center.
date made
ca. 1934
Date made
ca 1934
manufacturer
General Electric
ID Number
1997.0388.41
accession number
1997.0388
catalog number
1997.0388.41

Mercury Vapor Sunlamp

A type RS sunlamp in original package. Lamp produced ultra-violet rays for tanning purposes and did not need a ballast.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
A type RS sunlamp in original package. Lamp produced ultra-violet rays for tanning purposes and did not need a ballast.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1950
Maker
General Electric
ID Number
1997.0387.24
accession number
1997.0387
catalog number
1997.0387.24

Experimental Tungsten Halogen Lamp

Experimental LEAP (Linear Exhaust And Processing) tungsten halogen lamp for a production method that used a laser.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Experimental LEAP (Linear Exhaust And Processing) tungsten halogen lamp for a production method that used a laser.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1972
maker
General Electric Lighting Company
ID Number
1996.0082.01
catalog number
1996.0082.01
accession number
1996.0082

Whaleback steamer Frank Rockefeller

Scotsman Alexander McDougall (1845-1924) was a ship captain on the Great Lakes when he patented the idea of a “whaleback” ship in the early 1880s. With low, rounded hulls, decks and deckhouses, his invention minimized water and wind resistance.
Description
Scotsman Alexander McDougall (1845-1924) was a ship captain on the Great Lakes when he patented the idea of a “whaleback” ship in the early 1880s. With low, rounded hulls, decks and deckhouses, his invention minimized water and wind resistance. Between 1887 and 1898, 44 whalebacks were produced: 23 were barges and 21 were steamships, including one passenger vessel.
Frank Rockefeller was the 36th example of the type, built in 1896 at a cost of $181,573.38 at McDougall’s American Steel Barge Company in Superior, WI. One of the larger examples of the type, Rockefeller measured 380 feet in length, drew 26 feet of water depth and had a single propeller.
Although it belonged to several different owners over its 73-year working life, the Rockefeller spent most of its early life transporting iron ore from mines in Lake Superior to steel mills along the shores of Lake Erie. In 1927, new owners put it in service as a sand dredge that hauled landfill sand for the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. From 1936-1942 the old ship saw service as a car carrier for another set of owners. In 1942 the ship wrecked in Lake Michigan, but wartime demand for shipping gave the old ship repairs, a new name (Meteor) and a new life as a tanker transporting petroleum products for more than 25 years. In 1969 Meteor ran aground off the Michigan coast, Instead of repairing the old ship, the owners sold it for a museum ship at Superior, WI. In poor condition today, Meteor is the last surviving example of McDougal’s whaleback or “pig boat”.
Date made
1961
date the Frank Rockefeller was built
1896
patentee of whaleback ships
McDougall, Alexander
company that built the Frank Rockefeller
American Steel Barge Company
ID Number
TR.318433
catalog number
318433
accession number
236171

Survey boat GRAND

Grand is one of four boats used to survey the "ruggedest" 300 miles of the Colorado River's Grand Canyon during the 1923 expedition by the U.S. Geological Survey. Led by Col.
Description
Grand is one of four boats used to survey the "ruggedest" 300 miles of the Colorado River's Grand Canyon during the 1923 expedition by the U.S. Geological Survey. Led by Col. Claude Birdseye, the expedition's primary purpose was to survey potential dam sites for the development of hydroelectric power. Indeed, the survey party mapped twenty-one new sites.
Grand is eighteen feet long, with a beam of four feet, eleven inches. Heavily built of oak, spruce, and cedar, the boat weighs about 900 pounds. Grand is one of three boats ordered in 1921 by the survey's sponsors, the Edison Electric Company, and built at the Fellows and Stewart Shipbuilding Works in San Pedro. The vessels were patterned after those designed by the Kolb brothers, who had based their boats on vessels used by trappers in the upper Colorado River canyons.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1921
associated date
1923
associated institution
US Geological Survey
maker
Fellows and Stewart Shipbuilding Works
ID Number
TR.034381
catalog number
034381
34381
accession number
71541

Display of Edison experimental light bulb filament

Date made
1881
maker
Hammer, William J.
Edison, Thomas Alva
ID Number
EM.320526
catalog number
320526
accession number
241402

Tipless Carbon Lamp

Carbon filament lamp with tipless envelope. Exhausted through bottom. The leads exit through envelope sides.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Carbon filament lamp with tipless envelope. Exhausted through bottom. The leads exit through envelope sides.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1895
maker
Adams-Bagnall Electric Co.
ID Number
1997.0388.64
catalog number
1997.0388.64
accession number
1997.0388

Model of Bucyrus-Erie Stripping Shovel

In 1960, the Bucyrus-Erie Company of South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, presented this 14-inch-high, scale model of what was to become the world's largest stripping shovel to President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Description
In 1960, the Bucyrus-Erie Company of South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, presented this 14-inch-high, scale model of what was to become the world's largest stripping shovel to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Later that year, the President transferred this gift to the Smithsonian Institution. The Bucyrus-Erie Company had custom-designed this monster machine for the Peabody Coal Company. Bucyrus-Erie engineers anticipated that they would need two years to manufacture the behemoth, and an additional six months to assemble it at the site of the open-pit mine. (They planned to ship the machine's parts in over 250 railcars.) When finished, the shovel would weigh 7,000 tons, soar to the roofline of a 20-story building (some 220 feet high), and be able to extend its enormous 115-cubic-yard dipper over 460 feet, or about the length of an average city block. (The dipper's capacity would equal that of about six stand-sized dump trucks.) Fifty electric motors-ranging from 1/4 to 3,000 horsepower-would power the shovel, which was designed to be controlled by a single operator, perched in a cab five stories high. Publicists for Bucyrus-Erie called this the "largest self-powered mobile land vehicle ever built."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1960
recipient
Eisenhower, Dwight D.
maker
Bucyrus-Erie Company
ID Number
MC.317688
catalog number
317688
accession number
231557

Experimental Compact Fluorescent Lamp

Compact fluorescent lamp made by GE’s Edward E. Hammer had a spiral discharge tube with a rare earth phosphor.
Description (Brief)
Compact fluorescent lamp made by GE’s Edward E. Hammer had a spiral discharge tube with a rare earth phosphor.
date made
ca 1976
Maker
Hammer, Edward E.
ID Number
1997.0212.01
catalog number
1997.0212.01
accession number
1997.0212

Reproduction Steinmetz Patent Lamp

A reproduction of Charles Steinmetz’s 1912 mercury vapor lamp made for defense of U.S. patent 3,234,421.
Description (Brief)
A reproduction of Charles Steinmetz’s 1912 mercury vapor lamp made for defense of U.S. patent 3,234,421.
date made
1965
maker
General Electric Lighting Company
ID Number
1996.0084.02
catalog number
1996.0084.02
accession number
1996.0084

Oil well among wheat fields

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1974-07-05
ID Number
2013.0327.0879
accession number
2013.0327
catalog number
2013.0327.0879

Experimental Tungsten Halogen Lamp

Experimental lamp made by co-inventor Edward Zubler.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Experimental lamp made by co-inventor Edward Zubler.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1975
maker
General Electric Lighting Company
ID Number
1996.0082.05
catalog number
1996.0082.05
accession number
1996.0082

H. M. Wood Windmill Patent Model

During most of the 19th century, the U.S. Patent Office required inventors seeking patent protection to submit both a written application and a three-dimensional model. This wood and metal patent model of a windmill succeeded in gaining its inventor, H. M.
Description
During most of the 19th century, the U.S. Patent Office required inventors seeking patent protection to submit both a written application and a three-dimensional model. This wood and metal patent model of a windmill succeeded in gaining its inventor, H. M. Wood, Patent Number 222,340, which was issued on December 2, 1879. As farms spread into the American heartland, windmills proved an extremely important technology, allowing settlers to use the renewable power of wind to pump groundwater for agricultural and household use. Efficiency and reliability were key attributes for rural windmills, and professional and lay inventors experimented with hundreds of design variations throughout the years.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1879
patent date
1879-12-02
inventor
Wood, Harvey M.
ID Number
MC.309136
catalog number
309136
accession number
89797
patent number
222,340

Reproduction Edison Lamp with Box

This lamp was mass-produced for the centennial of Edison’s invention.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This lamp was mass-produced for the centennial of Edison’s invention.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1979
ID Number
1984.0314.03
accession number
1984.0314
catalog number
1984.0314.03

Ceremonial trowel - one of three fabricated for use by President Eisenhower and dignitaries in dedication of U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's headquarters building, Germantown, MD on November 8, 1957

Background on the history and acquisition of ceremonial trowel; Object ID no.
Description
Background on the history and acquisition of ceremonial trowel; Object ID no. 2014.0124.01
On May 2, 2014, Joseph Ball donated to the National Museum of American History (NMAH) the ceremonial trowel in its box, together with a descriptive plaque, all mounted on a felt-covered, wooden platform enclosed in a clear plastic display case. The text inscribed on the plaque is as follows:
"This trowel is one of three fabricated for use by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in dedication of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's headquarters building, Germantown, Maryland on November 8, 1957."
"The blade of the trowel is uranium from CP-1, the world's first nuclear reactor. The ferrule and stem are zirconium from the initial critical assembly for the USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine. The handle is wood from the west stands of Stagg Field at The University of Chicago beneath which CP-1 was brought to criticality on December 2, 1942, by Enrico Fermi and his colleagues."
"The historic trowel was presented to Eisenhower College by Argonne National Laboratory through the courtesy of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission."
[Note: Due to radiation safety concerns of the Secret Service, the uranium trowels were dropped from the AEC building dedication ceremony and silver-plated trowels were used instead.]
For a history of the establishment of the AEC headquarters site in Germantown, MD, see
http://science.energy.gov/bes/about/organizational-history/germantown-natural-history/germantown-site-history/
Mr. Ball, an alumnus of Eisenhower College (established in 1968 in Seneca Falls, NY in honor of President Eisenhower), obtained the trowel in 2012 at a silent auction during the 40th alumni reunion of the charter class of 1972 of the now defunct college. (It closed in 1982 owing to lack of students and funding.) The College had many Eisenhower memorabilia, which had been put into storage when the school closed.
A number of the items from the Eisenhower memorabilia inventory were offered at the silent auction, along with the trowel. However, the trowel was not listed in the inventory. The College historian and others Mr. Ball asked knew nothing about the object or how it came to the College. He subsequently got in touch with Thomas Wellock, Historian of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), who was able to uncover the curious early history of the trowel. Mr. Ball agreed to loan it to the NRC, which displayed it in their headquarters lobby in Rockville, MD from 2012 to 2014.
Mr. Ball then donated the trowel to the Modern Physics Collection of the NMAH, where it is now in storage.
For a brief and fascinating historical account of the trowel, below are links to the text of two consecutive U.S. NRC Blogs on the subject by Mr. Wellock:
The Mystery of the Atomic Energy Commission Trowel – Part 1
Posted on U.S. NRC Blog on November 26, 2012; http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov/2012/11/26/the-mystery-of-the-atomic-energy-commission-trowel-part-i/
The Mystery of the Trowel – Solved
Posted on U.S. NRC Blog on November 28, 2012; http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov/2012/11/28/the-mystery-of-the-trowel-solved/
The other ceremonial trowels; their respective locations and descriptive plaques/inscriptions
It has been determined that three uranium-blade trowels were made, and that none of these was used in the cornerstone laying ceremony. Instead, three silver-plated plated trowels were made for use during the ceremony.
1) ANL. As noted above, one of the two other uranium trowels is at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), where it appears as part of an historical exhibit on nuclear energy. An image of the ANL display is in Nuclear News, April 2009, p.58. This display can be viewed at:
http://web.anl.gov/eesa/pdfs/2009NuclearExhibitinNuclearNews.pdf
With this trowel came a crude typewritten label reading as follows:
"TROWEL
The Blade is made of Uranium from CP-1.
The Shank and Ferrule is made from Zirconium from
The [First Pile_] Nautilus. [“First Pile” crossed out]
The Handle is made from Benches in the West
Stands close to where the pile was."
In the bottom left corner is a torn, unclear handwritten note: “]l for _________ at Germantown.” The name after “for” may be “Comerston,” “Elmer Loyd,” “Gomer Stoyd,” or something similar.
2) DOE Headquarters. DOE Historian Terry Fehner confirms that the third uranium trowel is in a display case, along with one of the silver-plated trowels and related ceremonial artifacts, in the lobby of the auditorium at the Department of Energy (DOE) administration building in Germantown, MD.
The uranium trowel has a plaque that reads:
"Symbolic Trowel
Blade - uranium from nuclear reactor
Stagg Field, Chicago (Dec. 2 1942)
Handle - portion of squash court door
Ferrule - zirconium from submarine Nautilus prototype reactor"
The silver-plated trowel has a plaque that reads:
"Trowel used in cornerstone laying ceremony November 8, 1957"
Inscription engraved on silver-plated blade:
"Atomic Energy Building
Cornerstone laid by
President Eisenhower
November 8, 1957"
3) Eisenhower Library. NRC Historian Tom Wellock confirms that a second silver-plated trowel is located at the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas. An image from the Library shows that this trowel has an inscription different from that on the DOE silver-plated trowel.
Inscription etched on silver plated blade:
“This trowel was used
by the President of the
United States at the laying of the
cornerstone of the U.S. Atomic Energy
Commission Headquarters Building,
Germantown, Maryland
November 8, 1957"
Presented to Dwight D. Eisenhower
President of the United States
by
Lewis L. Strauss, Chairman
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission”
Reference is made to two memoranda from the DOE archives: the first (Oct. 4 1957, from Acting Manager, AEC Chicago Operations Office to Director, AEC Division of Reactor Development, Washington) describes materials in uranium trowels made by ANL; the second (Oct. 21, 1957, Memorandum from AEC Secretary to AEC Director, Division of Construction & Supply) suggests the inscriptions for the three silver-plated trowels that were to be used at the cornerstone laying on November 8, 1957.
Tentative conclusions, comments, and remaining questions
Based on examination of available images of located trowels and their associated plaques, and the text of the cited AEC memoranda, we can reach the following tentative conclusions, assuming the language in the memoranda to be definitive:
Uranium Trowels
1) Three uranium trowels were fabricated at ANL but never used for the cornerstone laying ceremony. They are now located, respectively, at: the National Museum of American History, Washington; Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago; and the Department of Energy, Germantown, MD. The trowel on display at DOE apparently is missing its zirconium ferrule (reason unknown), although the accompanying plaque includes mention of ferrule.
2) The stems and ferrules of the uranium trowels were made from zirconium used in the first naval nuclear reactor critical assembly, Zero Power Reactor-1 (ZPR-1), which was essentially a prototype for design and testing at ANL. The lack of radioactivity in the metal shows that it cannot be zirconium removed from a reactor assembly that was installed and operated on the USS Nautilus. (Zirconium obtained from the actual Nautilus reactor would have attained prohibitively high levels of radioactivity.)
3) The handles of the uranium trowels were made of wood from a portion of the door to the converted squash court in which CP-1 was located under the west viewing stands of Stagg Field, and not from wood benches in the Field’s west stands.
4) Who authorized the donation of one of the uranium trowels to Eisenhower College, and when? We do not know; all we can say for now is that the label plaque for that trowel was prepared after 1965, when the College was founded, and before 1975, when the name “Atomic Energy Commission” went out of use.
Silver-plated trowels
1) Apparently three silver-plated trowels were intended to be used during the cornerstone laying ceremony by, respectively, President Eisenhower, AEC Chairman Strauss, and Congressional Joint Committee on Atomic Energy Chairman Durham. Displays for two of these trowels are now located at, respectively, The Eisenhower Presidential Library & Museum, and DOE Germantown, MD.
2) A comparison of images of these two displays shows that the two trowels have differently shaped blades and different types of wood handles. Further, the inscription on the Eisenhower Library trowel is identical to that suggested by the AEC Secretary for the President’s trowel, whereas the relatively brief inscription on the DOE trowel differs significantly and does not indicate for whom it was intended.
3) Thus, there is uncertainty concerning the DOE silver-plated trowel. Why is it of a slightly different shape and handle type? Was it actually used in the cornerstone laying ceremony by one of the three dignitaries, and if so, by which one – e.g., AEC Chairman Strauss?
4) What became of the silver-plated trowels used by AEC Chairman Strauss and Joint Committee Chairman Durham? Can their existence and current location be determined? Our investigations have so far yielded no further information.
Update on Uranium Trowels
Roger Tilbrook, Curator of the Nuclear Energy Exhibit, Nuclear Engineering Division, ANL, has investigated the inconsistencies regarding the uranium trowels. He makes the following points regarding the Argonne trowel:
An Argonne old-timer, A.B. Krisciunas, confirms that the handle is from wood in a squash court door under the stands of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago. The lack of activity from the stem and ferrule indicates that the source of the zirconium was the Zero Power Reactor-1 (ZPR-1) at ANL, rather than a fuel assembly used in the Submarine Test Reactor (STR), or in the USS Nautilus itself.
The uranium blade could have been made from a CP-1 fuel artifact or from CP-2 fuel (which came from CP-1). After comparison of activity measurements, the conclusion is that the blade is from CP-2 uranium.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Argonne National Laboratory
ID Number
2014.0124.01
accession number
2014.0124
catalog number
2014.0124.01

Multiwire proportional chamber from J-particle experiment of S. Ting at Brookhaven

This object consists of a rectangular frame (steel, copper) holding signal wires (gold plated wires) separated by planes of high voltage wires (Cu-Be wire). Three planes of signal wires oriented at 60 degree increments; at +80, +20 and at -40.
Description
This object consists of a rectangular frame (steel, copper) holding signal wires (gold plated wires) separated by planes of high voltage wires (Cu-Be wire). Three planes of signal wires oriented at 60 degree increments; at +80, +20 and at -40. In operation, the entire chamber was filled with gas: 80% argon to provide an ionization medium for creating a detectable electrical signal; and 20% methylal, both as a spark extinguishing and as a cleaning agent (to prevent ageing of the wires due to carbon deposits). This chamber is one of four from left arm of the spectrometer setup at the Brookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS), which measured electrons and positrons resulting from decay of a hypothesized massive "J" particle.
Basic Principles and History
A multiwire proportional chamber (MWPC) is constructed with alternating planes of high voltage wires (cathode) and sense wires (anode), which are at ground. All the wires are placed in a special gas environment. Spacing between planes is usually on the order of millimeters and voltage differences are typically in the kilovolt range. When a charged particle passes through the gas in the chamber, it will ionize gas molecules. The freed electrons are accelerated towards the sense wire (anode) by the electric field, ionizing more of the gas. In this way a cascade of charge develops and is deposited on the sense wires. The smaller the diameter of the sense wires, the higher the field gradient near the wire becomes. This in turn causes a larger cascade, increasing the efficiency of the chamber.
Georges Charpak built the first MWPC in 1968. Unlike earlier particle detectors, such as the bubble chamber and the first generation of spark chambers, which can record the tracks left by particles at the rate of only one or two per second, the multiwire chamber records up to one million tracks per second and sends the data directly to a computer for analysis. In 1992 Charpak received the Nobel Prize for Physics in acknowledgment of his invention of the MWPC, an electronic particle detector that revolutionized high-energy physics experiments and has had applications in medical physics.
The MWPC in the J-particle experiment of S.C.C. Ting at Brookhaven
The 1976 Nobel Prize in physics was shared by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist who used Brookhaven's Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) to discover a new particle and confirm the existence of the charmed quark. Samuel C.C. Ting was credited for finding what he called the "J" particle, the same particle as the "psi" found at nearly the same time at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center by a group led by Burton Richter. The particle is now known as the J/psi.
Ting's experiment took advantage of the AGS's high-intensity, 30 GeV proton beams, which bombarded a stationary beryllium target to produce showers of particles. The decay modes of these particles were identified using a two-arm spectrometer detection system. J particles decay into various combinations of lighter particles; one of these combinations is an electron and a positron. A small fraction of these enter the detection system, one particle in each arm of the spectrometer. Then dipole magnets deflect them out of the plane of the intense beam and measure their momentum; Cerenkov counters measure their velocity; multi-wire proportional chambers their position; scintillator hodoscopes their moment of passage; lead-glass and lead-lucite shower counters their total energy.
In each spectrometer arm there are 4 MWPCs (Ao, A, B, C) with 2 mm wire spacing and a total of 4,000 wires on each arm. There are eleven planes of proportional wires (2 in Ao, 3 each in A, B, & C), and in A, B, & C the planes are rotated 20 degrees with respect to each other to reduce multitrack ambiguities. To ensure the chambers have 100% uniform efficiency at low voltage and a long live time in the highly radioactive environment, a special argon-methylal gas mixture at 2 deg. C was used.
The identification of the J-particle and its significance
A strong peak in electron and positron production at an energy of 3.1 billion electron volts (GeV) led Ting to suspect the presence of a new particle, the same one found by Richter. Their discoveries not only won the Nobel Prize; they also helped confirm the existence of the charmed quark -- the J/psi is composed of a charmed quark bound to its antiquark.
The J/ψ (or J/psi) is a very special particle. Its discovery was announced in 1974 independently by two groups: one lead by Samuel Ting at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in New York and the second lead by Burton Richter at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in California. J/ψ is special because it established the quark model as a credible description of nature. Having been invented by Gell-Man and Zweig as a bookkeeping tool, it was not until Glashow, Iliopoulos and Maiani (GIM) that the concept of quarks as real particles was taken seriously. GIM predicted that if quarks were real, then they should come in pairs, like the up and down quarks. Candidates for the up, down, and strange were identified, but there was no partner for the strange quark. J/ψ was the key.
Like the proton or an atom, the J/ψ is a composite particle. This means that J/ψ is made of smaller, more elementary particles. Specifically, it is a bound state of one charm quark and one anti-charm quark. Since it is made of quarks, it is a “hadron“. But since it is made of exactly one quark and one antiquark, it is specifically a “meson.”
For further details, see
http://hitoshi.berkeley.edu/129A/Cahn-Goldhaber/chapter9.pdf
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1976/ting-lecture.pdf
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1972-1973
designer
Becker, Ulrich
ID Number
1989.0050.01.1
accession number
1989.0050
catalog number
1989.0050.01.1

Preampliier for multiwire proportional chamber from J-particle experiment of S. Ting at Brookhaven

One signal amplifier on rectangular plastic circuit board. Apparently one of these preamplifiers would have been plugged into one corresponding socket of Mulitwire Proportional Chamber 1989.0050.01.1.
Description
One signal amplifier on rectangular plastic circuit board. Apparently one of these preamplifiers would have been plugged into one corresponding socket of Mulitwire Proportional Chamber 1989.0050.01.1. A sticker accompanying this object reads "8 wire signals [from associated socket on chamber] get amplified .0002V to .8V" (to output to the computer). Similarly for all sockets of all four chambers in each of the two arms of the spectrometer setup at the Brookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchrotron, which was used to measure electrons and positrons resulting from decay of a hypothesized massive "J" particle.
Rectangular green plastic circuit board, with electronic components soldered on upper surface. As viewed from front of board: at left end of bottom edge are 12 contact strips, only 8 of which are connected to the circuits. Near the right end of the bottom edge are 10 such contact strips. Protruding from right edge are 10 pairs of short wires, which are inserted into a green plastic connector fitting, which has 9 contact sockets on the other side.
For background on the multiwire proportional chamber from J-particle experiment of S. Ting at Brookhaven see description for object ID no. 1989.0050.01.1
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1972-1973
designer
Becker, Ulrich
ID Number
1989.0050.01.2
accession number
1989.0050
catalog number
1989.0050.01.2

Brush arc lamp with two carbons

Date made
ca 1878
associated person
Brush, Charles F.
maker
Brush Electric Company
ID Number
EM.251230
accession number
48865
catalog number
251230

Mauzey’s Patent Model of a Solar Heater – 1880

This model was filed with the application to the U.S. Patent Office for Patent Number 227,028 issued to James P. Mauzey of Blackfoot, Montana Territory on April 27, 1880. His patent was for a new and improved solar heater. Mr.
Description
This model was filed with the application to the U.S. Patent Office for Patent Number 227,028 issued to James P. Mauzey of Blackfoot, Montana Territory on April 27, 1880. His patent was for a new and improved solar heater. Mr. Mauzey’s design provided for a series of reflecting mirrors mounted on a rectangular frame which could be oriented so as to focus the sun’s rays upon an object to be heated. The image of the patent model shows the frame and mirrors. The frame would be oriented to point the central, oval shaped mirror directly at the sun. This mirror was shaped and oriented so as to focus the sun’s rays along a line at some distance behind the mirror frame assembly. Additional mirror elements were mounted within the frame as shown, and these too were designed to focus energy at the same distance behind the frame. The brown colored rod and material at the top of the frame modeled a curtain which could be rolled across the frame to block the mirrors as necessary for repair or adjustment. The frame assembly shown in the image was intended to be mounted on a supporting base which could be used to tilt the frame up or down to track the sun’s position in the sky. The base was in turn mounted on wheels or rollers to allow additional adjustments to track the sun. The object to be heated would be located on the base at the focal point of the mirrors. Additionally, the mirror assembly could be moved up or down relative to the base allowing for an accurate focus on the object to be heated. Diagrams showing the complete design of the heater can be found in the patent document online www.USPTO.gov/patents/process/search/index.jsp). Research of available trade literature and other sources has not revealed any commercial use that may have made use of Mr. Mauzey’s invention. His work was mentioned by Charles H. Pope, a solar heating advocate, in his 1903 book titled Solar Heat: Its Practical Applications. However, Mr. Pope indicated no additional information on Mauzey had been found.
The patent model is constructed of tin, wood and fabric. It models the mirror assembly and curtain mechanism. Also shown are the side arms that would have attached the assembly to the supporting base.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1880
patent date
1880-04-27
inventor
Mauzey, James P.
ID Number
MC.251506
accession number
48890
catalog number
251506
patent number
227,028

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