Industry & Manufacturing

The Museum's collections document centuries of remarkable changes in products, manufacturing processes, and the role of industry in American life. In the bargain, they preserve artifacts of great ingenuity, intricacy, and sometimes beauty.

The carding and spinning machinery built by Samuel Slater about 1790 helped establish the New England textile industry. Nylon-manufacturing machinery in the collections helped remake the same industry more than a century later. Machine tools from the 1850s are joined by a machine that produces computer chips. Thousands of patent models document the creativity of American innovators over more than 200 years.

The collections reach far beyond tools and machines. Some 460 episodes of the television series Industry on Parade celebrate American industry in the 1950s. Numerous photographic collections are a reminder of the scale and even the glamour of American industry.

This is a rectangular bucket divided by a central splitter edge into two hollow semicylindrical compartments. The bucket is designed to receive and divide the jet upon the slitter edge and direct the water to either side, discharging at the sides.
Description
This is a rectangular bucket divided by a central splitter edge into two hollow semicylindrical compartments. The bucket is designed to receive and divide the jet upon the slitter edge and direct the water to either side, discharging at the sides. No provision is made for the flow of water in a radial direction along bucket, and the outer end of the bucket makes sharp angles with the sides and bottom. The extreme lip of the bucket is very slightly depressed, suggesting the notched lip developed later. The back of the bucket is provided with lugs, which slip over the rim of the wheel center to which it is attached by the bolts passing through the lugs and rim parallel to the shaft. The bucket is made of cast iron, measures about 11.5 inches wide, and weighs 30 pounds. This bucket was made about 1901.
Reference:
This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1901
ID Number
MC.310386
catalog number
310386
accession number
117363
This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to J. and F. M. Cottle, October 21, 1879, no.
Description
This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to J. and F. M. Cottle, October 21, 1879, no. 220751.
This mill has a double-rimmed steel wind wheel made up of small wedge-shaped vanes, which are removable to permit regulation of the power of the mill. The wind wheel cannot be swung out of its position, but the shaft is carried in sliding bearings so that the gear on the shaft can be disengaged to let the wheel run free. It is equipped with a selective gear transmission. The model shows the mill attached to the bucket chain of a well.
Reference:
This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1879
patent date
1879-10-21
inventor
Cottle, Zorah
Cottle, F. M.
ID Number
ER.309131
accession number
89797
catalog number
309131
patent number
220,751
These are two identical HOT KISS paper tags collected with the dress production instructions seen in object number 2014.3041.04. The tags were intended to be attached to the final garment along with the tag seen in 2014.3014.16.
Description
These are two identical HOT KISS paper tags collected with the dress production instructions seen in object number 2014.3041.04. The tags were intended to be attached to the final garment along with the tag seen in 2014.3014.16. The label is printed on a white background with the red "HOT KISS" logo at the top. The label reads, "The irregularities and variations of shading and texture are characteristics of embellishment, which adds to it's uniqueness and is in no way to be considered defective."
date made
1990's - 2000's
maker
Hot Kiss, Inc.
ID Number
2014.3041.15
catalog number
2014.3041.15
nonaccession number
2014.3041
These are two size and care garment labels for the Hot Kiss brand of clothing collected with the dress production instructions seen in object number 2014.3041.04. The tags were intended to be attached to the final garment along with the tag seen in object 2013.3041.15.
Description
These are two size and care garment labels for the Hot Kiss brand of clothing collected with the dress production instructions seen in object number 2014.3041.04. The tags were intended to be attached to the final garment along with the tag seen in object 2013.3041.15. The label bears Hot Kiss’s lips logo, with the tagline “Remember your First” below the trademarked “Hot Kiss” logo. The size and care label reads “L/96% Cotton/4% Spandex/Made in Hong Kong/Fabrique A/Hong Kong/RN# 96120/Machine Wash Warm/Tumble Dry Low/Do Not Bleach.”
date made
1990's - 2000's
maker
Hot Kiss, Inc.
ID Number
2014.3041.16
catalog number
2014.3041.16
nonaccession number
2014.3041
This model was filed to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to G. E. Dow, of San Francisco, California, November 4, 1879, no.
Description
This model was filed to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to G. E. Dow, of San Francisco, California, November 4, 1879, no. 221220.
The model represents a form of valve gear for a direct-connected steam engine in which the main valve is partially operated by a system of cam-shaped levers actuated from the main piston rod and partially by a supplementary steam piston, the movement of which is controlled by valves connected to the same levers.
Reference:
This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1879
patent date
1879-11-04
inventor
Dow, George E.
ID Number
ER.308703
accession number
89797
catalog number
308703
patent number
221,220
This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to William A. Doble, of San Francisco, California, February 7, 1899, no.
Description
This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to William A. Doble, of San Francisco, California, February 7, 1899, no. 619149.
The model represents a small sector of the rotor of a water wheel to which are attached three buckets, which illustrate, generally, the characteristics of the modern [1930s] tangential water-wheel bucket, i. e., the notched lip, the splitter wedge, the curved face and back, and the method of attaching the buckets to the rotor.
The feature of this particular bucket is the form of the curved faces, which are designed to disturb the jets of water as little as possible in any way except in the plane of the wheel’s rotation. The curves are developed upon the theory that the water moving at high velocity has a tendency to remain in one plane, called “kinetic stability”, so that the resultant angles of reaction caused by the reversing curves of the bucket faces are not a normal result of these curves but are divergent therefrom.
Reference:
This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1899
patent date
1899-02-07
inventor
Doble, William A.
ID Number
MC.309207
catalog number
309207
accession number
89797
patent number
619,149
This Thai passport was seized in the well-publicized 1995 El Monte, Calif., sweatshop raid.
Description
This Thai passport was seized in the well-publicized 1995 El Monte, Calif., sweatshop raid. The passport is part of a larger Smithsonian collection of artifacts documenting apparel industry sweatshops, focusing on the El Monte operation (72 workers were discovered working as slaves). With a legitimate U.S. visa, the passport looks official. In fact, the El Monte operators doctored a real passport, inserting a new photo into someone else's document, in order to smuggle workers into the country.
Recruited from Thailand, the El Monte workers were tricked into accepting employment by misrepresentations of their future working and living conditions. They were told they would sew in a clean factory, receive good pay, and have the weekends off. They were even shown photographs of company parties and outings to Disneyland. After signing contracts (indenture agreements) committing themselves to repay 120,000 baht (about $5,000 in 1997 dollars), they were smuggled into the United States on fraudulent passports.
On arrival, the sweatshop operators confiscated the passports and the workers were forced to sew 18 hours a day seven days a week. The debt, a guard force, and threats of physical harm to the workers and their families in Thailand discouraged them from escaping. Although the physical confinement of the work force was unusual, many aspects of the business, such as recruiting and smuggling workers, are relatively common. Less enslaving forms of debt peonage occur surprisingly often in some Asian immigrant communities.
Sweatshops occur in many sectors of manufacturing, but are most often associated with the garment industry. While garments are designed and marketed through big name companies, assembly is often left to contract and sub-contract operations. In these small shops, where profits are razor thin and competition is excessive, abuses are rampant.
date made
1992
ID Number
1997.0268.01
accession number
1997.0268
catalog number
1997.0268.01
This is a gravity oiler similar to the Hay oiler in which the lubricating oil is contained in a glass reservoir from which it flows by its own weight through a valve in the bottom of the reservoir.
Description
This is a gravity oiler similar to the Hay oiler in which the lubricating oil is contained in a glass reservoir from which it flows by its own weight through a valve in the bottom of the reservoir. The valve through which the oil flows is a small conical valve held closed by the weight of the oil above it. A stem projects downward from the lubricator, which when pushed upward lifts the valve from its seat and allows the oil to flow. It is probable that this lubricator was designed to release a drop of oil upon the surfaces of some slow-moving machine, such as the guides of a planer when a cam or lug on the moving part engaged the valve stem and raised it.
Reference:
This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1878
patent date
1878-09-24
ID Number
MC.311184
catalog number
311184
accession number
89797
patent number
208,245
Esmeralda Bordales was an illegal immigrant working for S&K Fashion, a small apparel manufacturing operation in the Los Angeles garment district. Although her pay stub indicates that she worked 40 hours and received $ 155.30 neither are probably true.
Description
Esmeralda Bordales was an illegal immigrant working for S&K Fashion, a small apparel manufacturing operation in the Los Angeles garment district. Although her pay stub indicates that she worked 40 hours and received $ 155.30 neither are probably true. Sweatshop workers toil long hours and are almost always paid by the piece.
On August 2, 1995, police officers raided a fenced compound of seven apartments in El Monte, California. They arrested eight operators of a clandestine garment sweatshop and freed 72 illegal Thai immigrants who had been forced to sew in virtual captivity. Authorities also raided the front shop where Esmerelda worked. The 50 to 80 Latina employees in the front shop provided the theoretical source of garment production when representatives from retailers and manufacturers came to inspect facilities and the merchandise they ordered. However, even this shop was in violation of wage and hour codes. Workers, mostly women, finished the garments, put them on hangers, and added tags in preparation for delivery to stores and manufacturers.
date made
1995
ID Number
1997.0336.29
accession number
1997.0336
catalog number
1997.0336.29
This bronze bucket has a notched lip and ellipsoidal face. The bucket bowls are ground but not polished. Cast in the metal is “W. A. Doble – Pat. Sept 19, 1899.” The bucket is 7.5 inches wide, weighs about 9.5 pounds, and has the lug type of back.
Description
This bronze bucket has a notched lip and ellipsoidal face. The bucket bowls are ground but not polished. Cast in the metal is “W. A. Doble – Pat. Sept 19, 1899.” The bucket is 7.5 inches wide, weighs about 9.5 pounds, and has the lug type of back. It was made about 1912.
Reference:
This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1912
ID Number
MC.310390
catalog number
310390
accession number
117363
This model was filed with the application to the U.S. Patent Office for Patent Number 131,779 issued to Washington R. Pitts and George K. Gluyas of San Francisco, California, on October 1, 1872.
Description
This model was filed with the application to the U.S. Patent Office for Patent Number 131,779 issued to Washington R. Pitts and George K. Gluyas of San Francisco, California, on October 1, 1872. The claim of the inventors was a new design for an improved high pressure condenser for a steam engine. The purpose was for the steam exhausted from the engine’s cylinder to be passed through the condenser and be converted back to water and returned to the boiler for reuse.
The condenser design was intended for use on side-wheel steam boats. It would be located behind the paddle wheel where the water splashed up by the wheel would pass over the condenser and in the process cool the hot steam inside the condenser. The condenser consisted of a series of tubes passing between chambers at each end as shown in the image. Steam entered the condenser via an opening at the bottom left (not shown) and any remaining steam could be exhausted via the outlet pipe shown at the bottom right. This outlet had a valve that would cover it in normal operation since the goal was to have the steam converted to water prior to exiting. However, the engineer could open the valve as needed in operation to reduce any undue buildup of steam pressure within the condenser. The condense water exited via a series of tubes not shown at the back of the picture.
Note, that the condenser was intended to be mounted with the steam exhaust up and to the right and the condense water outlet pipes on the bottom. The chambers at each end of the condenser were divided into compartments to cause the steam to travel back and forth two times prior to reaching the exhaust. The compartments were of decreasing volume with fewer tubes contained within them (seven rows of tubes in the first diminishing to four in the last) as can be seen by the grouping and gaps between tubes in the image. The intent was to balance the amount of condense water collected throughout the condenser.
To control the flow of condense water and prevent steam pressure from blocking it, Pitts and Gluyas provided metal flanges over each of five exit holes for the water. The inventors did not claim as new the tubing, chambers and valves. Their claim was based primarily on two details. The first was division of the chambers at each into compartments having diminishing volumes. The second was the inclusion of the covers over the outlet pipes. Research of available trade literature and other sources has not revealed any commercial product that may have made use of this invention.
The patent model is constructed of brass. The end plate is inscribed “Wash’n R. Pitts and Geo. K. Gluyas, San Fran’co.” The key features of the invention are illustrated by the model to include the end chambers, tubing, condense water outlet pipes, steam inlet, and the steam outlet with rubber valve. Diagrams showing the complete design can be found in the patent document online at www.uspto.gov.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1872
patent date
1872-10-01
inventor
Pitts, Washington R.
Gluyas, George K.
ID Number
ER.309239
accession number
89797
catalog number
309239
patent number
131,779
In the fictional universe of George Lucas' Star Wars films, robots called droids (short for android) come in many shapes and serve many purposes. Two droids-R2-D2 and C-3PO-have won enormous popularity for their supporting roles in all six of the series.
Description
In the fictional universe of George Lucas' Star Wars films, robots called droids (short for android) come in many shapes and serve many purposes. Two droids-R2-D2 and C-3PO-have won enormous popularity for their supporting roles in all six of the series. In the collections of the museum are costumes of R2-D2 and C-3PO from "Return of the Jedi," released in 1983 and the third film in the Star Wars series.
Designed from artwork by Ralph McQuarrie in 1975, R2-D2 looks more like a small blue-and-white garbage can than a human being. In the films, R2-D2 is the type of droid built to interface with computers and service starships-a kind of super technician suited for tasks well beyond human capability. By turns comic and courageous, this helpmate communicates with expressive squeals and head spins, lumbers on stubby legs, and repeatedly saves the lives of human masters .
Several R2-D2 units, specialized according to function and edited into a final composite, were used for making a single movie scene. Some units were controlled remotely. Others, like this one, were costume shells, in which actor Kenny Baker sat and manipulated the droid movements.
R2-D2's sidekick and character foil, also based on art by Ralph McQuarrie, is C-3PO. Termed a protocol droid in the films, C-3PO can speak six million languages and serves the diverse cultures of Lucas' imaginary galaxy as a robotic diplomat and translator. Where R2 is terse, 3PO is talkative. Where R2 is brave, 3PO is often tentative and sometimes downright cowardly. Where R2 looks like a machine, 3PO-in spite of the distinctive gold "skin" -more closely resembles a human in movements, vision, and intelligence
In each of the Star Wars films, actor Anthony Daniels wore the C-3PO costumes. Like the R2-D2 units, more than one C-3PO costume was used for each movie.
The Star Wars films are much more than pop entertainment. Since the first of the series was released in 1977, they have been so immensely popular that they have become cultural reference points for successive American generations. And like other popular works of science fiction, they play a powerful role in shaping our vision of the future.
Likewise, the droids are more than movie stars in these influential films. They are also indicators of the place of robots in the American experience. Conceived at a time when more robots inhabited the imaginative worlds of science fiction than the real world, R2-D2 and C-3PO represent the enduring dream of having robots as personal servants, to do things we will not or cannot do for ourselves. Today, real robots are more numerous. They mostly work on industrial production lines, but researchers are working to extend the use of robots for tasks not humanly possible. It is likely we will see more of them in the future--as aids for medicine and surgery, for military and security, and even for exploring, if not a galaxy far away, at least the far reaches of our own solar system.
ID Number
1984.0302.01
catalog number
1984.0302.01
accession number
1984.0302
In the fictional universe of George Lucas' Star Wars films, robots called droids (short for android) come in many shapes and serve many purposes. Two droids--R2-D2 and C-3PO--have won enormous popularity for their supporting roles in all six of the series.
Description
In the fictional universe of George Lucas' Star Wars films, robots called droids (short for android) come in many shapes and serve many purposes. Two droids--R2-D2 and C-3PO--have won enormous popularity for their supporting roles in all six of the series. In the collections of the museum are costumes of R2-D2 and C-3PO from "Return of the Jedi," released in 1983 and the third film in the Star Wars series.
Designed from artwork by Ralph McQuarrie in 1975, R2-D2 looks more like a small blue-and-white garbage can than a human being. In the films, R2-D2 is the type of droid built to interface with computers and service starships--a kind of super technician suited for tasks well beyond human capability. By turns comic and courageous, this helpmate communicates with expressive squeals and head spins, lumbers on stubby legs, and repeatedly saves the lives of human masters.
Several R2-D2 units, specialized according to function and edited into a final composite, were used for making a single movie scene. Some units were controlled remotely. Others, like this one, were costume shells, in which actor Kenny Baker sat and manipulated the droid movements.
R2-D2's sidekick and character foil, based on art by Ralph McQuarrie, is C-3PO. Termed a protocol droid in the films, C-3PO serves the diverse cultures of Lucas' imaginary galaxy as a robotic diplomat and translator, speaking six million languages. Where R2 is terse, 3PO is talkative. Where R2 is brave, 3PO is often tentative and sometimes downright cowardly. Where R2 looks like a machine, 3PO--in spite of the distinctive gold "skin"--more closely resembles a human in movements, vision, and intelligence.
In each of the Star Wars films, actor Anthony Daniels wore the C-3PO costumes. Like the R2-D2 units, more than one C-3PO costume was used for each movie.
The Star Wars, films are much more than pop entertainment. Since the first of the series was released in 1977, they have been so immensely popular that they have become cultural reference points for successive American generations. And like other popular works of science fiction, they play a powerful role in shaping our vision of the future. Likewise, the droids are more than movie stars in these influential films. They are also indicators of the place of robots in the American experience. Conceived at a time when robots inhabited the imaginative worlds of science fiction rather than the real world, R2-D2 and C-3PO represent the enduring dream of having robots as personal servants, to do things we will not or cannot do for ourselves. Today, real robots are more numerous. They mostly work on industrial production lines, but researchers are working to extend the use of robots for tasks not humanly possible. It is likely we will see more of them in the future--as aids for medicine and surgery, for military and security, and even for exploring, if not a galaxy far away, at least the far reaches of our own solar system.
ID Number
1984.0302.02
accession number
1984.0302
catalog number
1984.0302.02
The wooden screw sloop of war USS Alaska was built in 1868 and spent much of her career in the southern Pacific and Far East representing the American nation in foreign ports.
Description
The wooden screw sloop of war USS Alaska was built in 1868 and spent much of her career in the southern Pacific and Far East representing the American nation in foreign ports. In June 1878, she cleared New York for San Francisco and stopped at several South American ports on the way.
One of Alaska's port calls from 20-29 September 1878 was to Talcahuano, in the center of Chile's coast and that nation's main naval port. It also was one the principal stops for American whalers in the Pacific seeking fresh supplies and entertainment. This massive sperm whale's tooth was probably purchased there and engraved by one of Alaska's crew to commemorate his visit. While the carver of this tooth is unknown, it may have been one of the officers who kept the official ship's logbooks, because the calligraphy on the covers of the logs for this voyage is exceptionally elaborate and colorful.
As this tooth indicates, the Talcahuano visit and liberty calls were memorable. Sent ashore on liberty, 54 of Alaska's crew went AWOL (Absent WithOut Leave), and three more were confined to double irons (feet and hand cuffs) for drunk and boisterous behavior or fighting.
Date made
1878
USS Alaska port call to Chile, Talcahuano
1878-09
ID Number
DL.374477
catalog number
374477
accession number
136263
Levi's Brown Duck Trousers1873-1896The brown cotton trousers shown here were made by Levi Strauss & Co. of San Francisco, California sometime during the two decades after the company's founding in 1873.
Description
Levi's Brown Duck Trousers
1873-1896
The brown cotton trousers shown here were made by Levi Strauss & Co. of San Francisco, California sometime during the two decades after the company's founding in 1873. Levi Strauss was a 24-year old, newly minted American citizen from Bavaria when he set sail for San Francisco in 1853 to open a branch of his brother's New York City dry-goods business. He prospered by supplying blankets, handkerchiefs, and clothing to merchants in the West for the next two decades. In 1872, he received a business proposition from Jacob Davis, a Latvian-born tailor in Reno, Nevada. Davis had invented a way to strengthen trousers by reinforcing their pocket openings with copper rivets in order to help a customer who complained about his constantly torn pockets. He asked Levi Strauss to join him in patenting the process; then they would go into business together to sell their patented riveted pants.
Patent number 139,121 was granted on 20 May 1873, and production began immediately. The printed leather label at the center back waistband of these "waist overalls," as they were known in the late nineteenth century, suggests that the product was instantly popular with hard-working men who needed indestructible trousers. The label proclaims "Levi Strauss & Co." of "14 & 16 Battery Street SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. " to be the "Sole Proprietors and Manufacturers" of "PATENT RIVETED DUCK & DENIM CLOTHING. . . EVERY PAIR GUARANTEED. None Genuine Unless Bearing This Label. Any infringement on this Patent will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. LABEL COPYRIGHTED."
The company's patent expired in 1890, but the popularity of their riveted trousers became an American legend. Iron-clad cotton "duck" canvas (mentioned on the label, and seen in this pair of pants) was gradually phased out in favor of flexible cotton denim, a fabric that was much like the twilled cotton "jean" that had long been used for men's work clothes. By 1960, Levi's had come to be called "jeans" in both corporate advertising and the public's imagination.
Made of a heavy cotton canvas known as "duck," the pants feature a pair of short tapered belts with a buckle to cinch the back waist yoke, and white top-stitching everywhere except along the outside leg seams below the two front pockets. A small watch pocket is set inside the right front pocket, and a single back patch pocket with Levi's now-famous double arcuate stitching is placed on the right hip. A printed leather label is centered on the back waistband.
The patented copper rivets that reinforced the upper corners of each pocket and the base of the fly set these trousers apart from all other work clothing of their day. Each rivet is inscribed "L. S. & CO. S. F. PAT. MAY 1873." The pants were fastened and supported by four-hole metal buttons; the two buttons hidden in the concealed fly are unmarked, but the rims of the one at the front waist, and the six suspender buttons around the waistband, are marked "LEVI STRAUSS & CO. S. F. CAL."
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1873 - 1896
maker
Levi Strauss and Company
ID Number
CS.256979.002
catalog number
256979.002
accession number
256979

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