Engineering, Building, and Architecture - Overview
Not many museums collect houses. The National Museum of American History has four, as well as two outbuildings, 11 rooms, an elevator, many building components, and some architectural elements from the White House. Drafting manuals are supplemented by many prints of buildings and other architectural subjects. The breadth of the museum's collections adds some surprising objects to these holdings, such as fans, purses, handkerchiefs, T-shirts, and other objects bearing images of buildings.
The engineering artifacts document the history of civil and mechanical engineering in the United States. So far, the Museum has declined to collect dams, skyscrapers, and bridges, but these and other important engineering achievements are preserved through blueprints, drawings, models, photographs, sketches, paintings, technical reports, and field notes.
"Engineering, Building, and Architecture - Overview" showing 24 items.
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Lasico L30-A Electronic Polar Compensating Planimeter Prototype
- Description
- This metal prototype for an electronic polar planimeter has an adjustable 12" tracer arm with lens. The top of the arm is divided to millimeters and numbered from 10 to 24 centimeters. The bottom is marked with a serial number: 45254. The arm slides into a painted metal holder for an electronic measuring unit with a plug. The holder has a vernier for the scale on the tracer arm and is marked: LASICO. The plug attaches to a Series 40 processor with a digital screen for displaying the measurement and a knob for setting the instrument to OFF, A, ACCU, or B. An AC adapter by Calrad, a Taiwanese company, powers the processor.
- An adjustable 10" pole arm fits into the holder at one end and a rectangular painted metal pole weight at the other end. The weight is marked: LASICO (/) U.S.A. The arm is divided to millimeters and numbered by tens from 30 to 60 millimeters. The adjusting part of the arm is marked: LASICO. An additional tracer arm with a point instead of a lens has serial number: 45275. A business card for the designer, who also donated the instrument, an extra lens, and two plastic washers for the lens are inside a black plastic case lined with foam.
- Maximilian Berktold (b. 1929) immigrated from Kempten-Allgäu, West Germany, in 1950 and almost immediately began working for the Los Angeles Scientific Instrument Company. He oversaw design and production of the firm's planimeters, integrators, pantographs, and various optical instruments until Lasico closed in 2008. He developed this prototype around 1970 from the company's model L30 mechanical planimeter, but the final version was sold as model series 40 and 50. These devices cost several hundred dollars.
- An 18-page booklet, "LASICO Instruction Manual [for] Digital Compensating Polar Planimeters," was received with the instrument. It contains the calibration settings for a model L50-E, serial number 65879. For company history, see 2011.0043.01.
- Reference: Accession file.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1970
- maker
- Los Angeles Scientific Instrument Company
- ID Number
- 2011.0043.03
- accession number
- 2011.0043
- catalog number
- 2011.0043.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from Bechtel]
- Date
- 1900s
- Company Name
- Bechtel
- Related companies
- Bechtel Power Corp. ; Bechtel Inc. ; Bechtel Corp. ; Bechtel Corp., Mining and Metals Div.
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_7920
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from City Street Improvement Co.]
- Date
- 1900s
- Variant company name
- Incorporated 1891
- Company Name
- City Street Improvement Co.
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_11499
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- No Image Available
Roland C. Hawes Papers, 1908-1997
- Notes
- The career of Roland C. Hawes, born Oct. 4, 1908, Riverside, California, began in chemical analysis and led him into the scientific apparatus and instruments industry, where he worked in the field of spectrophotometry. B.S., chemistry, California Institute of Technology, 1930. He died in 1999
- Summary
- Correspondence, handwritten notes and sketches, memorandum reports, catalogs, printed material, patent documents, drawings, blueprints (original and diazo copies), and photographs document Hawes's work in the field of immunnassay, spectrophotometry, scientific apparatus and instruments industry, and administrative duties at Applied Physics Corporation/Cary Instruments
- The bulk of the papers consist of materials found in Series 2: Research files A-Z, 1913 (1927-1990) (4.5 cubic feet). Series 5: Cary Instruments 1937-1992 (4 cubic feet) and Series 6: Consulting, 1908-(1939-1992) (3.5 cubic feet)
- Cite as
- Roland C. Hawes Papers, 1908-1997, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1908
- 1997
- 1908-1997
- 20th century
- 1930-1950
- 1890-1920
- creator
- Hawes, Roland C. 1908-1999
- author
- Applied Physics Corporation
- Cary Instruments
- Subject
- Cary, Howard
- Beckman, Arnold O
- George, Kenyon
- Duffield, Jack J
- National Technical Laboratories
- Beckman Instruments, Inc
- Applied Physics Corporation
- Cary Instruments
- Varian Associates
- Aviv & Associates, Inc
- Local number
- 1997.3139 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from Kaiser Industries Corp.]
- Date
- 1900s
- Company Name
- Kaiser Industries Corp.
- Related companies
- Kaiser Aluminum & Chemicals Sales, Inc.; Kaiser Steel Corp.; Kaiser Engineers; Kaiser Motors Corp.; Kaiser Mfg. Corp.; Willys Motors, Inc.; Willys-Overland Motors, Inc.
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_22722
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from Pan American Engineering Co.]
- Date
- 1900s
- Variant company name
- A 1935 catalog states that Pan American Corp. Ltd consists of consulting engineers for the mining , metallurgical and mechanical industries. It also mentions that the company had an ore testing plant.
- Company Name
- Pan American Engineering Co.
- Related companies
- Pan American Engineering Corp., Ltd. of San Francisco
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_28005
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from Chas. C. Moore & Co.]
- Date
- 1900s
- Company Name
- Chas. C. Moore & Co.
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_32103
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from Regal Industries Co.]
- Date
- 1900s
- Company Name
- Regal Industries Co.
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_10006
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from Reliance Gas Regulator and Machine Co.]
- Date
- 1900s
- Company Name
- Reliance Gas Regulator and Machine Co.
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_10418
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from Riverside Steel Construction]
- Date
- 1900s
- Variant company name
- Founded in 1921
- Company Name
- Riverside Steel Construction
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_12711
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries