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.

Aaron D. Crane (1804-1860) of Caldwell, New Jersey, was a clockmaker of brilliant inventiveness who worked outside the mainstream. Most of his contemporaries concentrated their energies on the mass production of technically unremarkable clocks.
Description
Aaron D. Crane (1804-1860) of Caldwell, New Jersey, was a clockmaker of brilliant inventiveness who worked outside the mainstream. Most of his contemporaries concentrated their energies on the mass production of technically unremarkable clocks. Crane was a versatile inventor whose best-known work, the torsion pendulum clock (patented in 1841), was startlingly original. This clock employed a torsion pendulum, slowly revolving about the vertical axis in alternating directions, and incorporated a new escapement of Crane's own design. It worked with such freedom of friction that it was capable of running for extremely long periods. Crane advertised his clocks as "month clocks," "twelve-month clocks," and "376-day clocks." He liked to refer to himself as the "One Year Clockmaker."
He installed most of his torsion pendulum clocks in unpretentious, rectangular cases, but in the last decade of his life he built a few clocks based on the ornate design of this one. Five survive.
In addition to telling time, this clock has a dial marked "astronomical" that indicates the day of the year, the position of the sun in the zodiac, the phase of the moon, the length of day and night, and the time of the tides.
Besides his clocks, Crane tried to market a variety of inventions through a number of businesses in Newark, New York City, and Boston. For all his mechanical ingenuity, he had little commercial success.
Some twenty years after his death, the torsion pendulum clock was reinvented independently in Germany and marketed as a "400-day clock" or "anniversary clock."
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1850
maker
Crane, Aaron
ID Number
ME.319768
catalog number
319768
accession number
241309
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 model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to H. Uhry and H. A. Luttgens, of Paterson, New Jersey, March 20, 1855, no. 12564.The model represents a “link motion” applicable to marine, locomotive, or stationary steam engine.
Description
This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to H. Uhry and H. A. Luttgens, of Paterson, New Jersey, March 20, 1855, no. 12564.
The model represents a “link motion” applicable to marine, locomotive, or stationary steam engine. It is a combination of three eccentrics, the ordinary Stephenson link motion, an additional link pivoted to the Stephenson link, a differential rocker, and a main rocker. The main rocker and the Stephenson link operate one valve, which distributes steam to the cylinder, supplies outside lead, and cuts off the steam in proportion to the decrease of travel. The valve operated by the differential rocker exhausts the steam and opens and cuts off the admission of steam near full stroke of the piston.
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
1855
patent date
1855-03-20
inventor
Uhry, H.
ID Number
MC.308656
catalog number
308656
accession number
89797
patent number
12,564
Three Bakelite billiard balls, in their original wooden box, made by the Hyatt-Burroughs Billiard Ball Co. of Newark, N.J. The label on the box states that "Bakelite Billiard balls are of the same resilience as the best ivory balls.
Description
Three Bakelite billiard balls, in their original wooden box, made by the Hyatt-Burroughs Billiard Ball Co. of Newark, N.J. The label on the box states that "Bakelite Billiard balls are of the same resilience as the best ivory balls. 2-3/8 inch balls weigh exactly seven ounces, are of exact diameter, are perfectly and permanently round and balanced, unaffected by climactic conditions, and are practically indestructible."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1907
after 1910
invented hyatt billiard ball
Hyatt, John Wesley
patentee of bakelite
Baekeland, L. H.
maker
Hyatt-Burroughs Billiard Ball Company
ID Number
1981.0976.01
catalog number
1981.0976.01
accession number
1981.0976
Date made
1951
maker
Pennsylvania Lawn Mower Works
ID Number
1992.0358.01
accession number
1992.0358
catalog number
1992.0358.01
This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to Henry R. Worthington, of New York, New York, June 20, 1871, no.
Description
This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to Henry R. Worthington, of New York, New York, June 20, 1871, no. 116131.
The model is a relief panel showing a section through the two steam cylinders of a duplex pump arranged to use steam at boiler pressure in one steam cylinder of small diameter, expand the exhaust steam in a receiver of much larger volume than the small cylinder, and use the steam at low pressure in a second cylinder of larger diameter. This arrangement was devised to permit the use of steam expansively in a duplex pump without the use of two compound cylinders, as was formerly the method.
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
1871
patent date
1871-06-20
inventor
Worthington, Henry R.
ID Number
ER.308681
accession number
89797
catalog number
308681
patent number
116,131
Bookmark die-cut from a sheet of celluloid in the shape of a sprightly older man in spats and a straw hat, labeled "Foxy Grandpa Book Mark 2nd Year of the Musical Comedy." Foxy Grandpa was a comic strip created by Charles Edward "Bunny" Schultze that first appeared in January 190
Description (Brief)
Bookmark die-cut from a sheet of celluloid in the shape of a sprightly older man in spats and a straw hat, labeled "Foxy Grandpa Book Mark 2nd Year of the Musical Comedy." Foxy Grandpa was a comic strip created by Charles Edward "Bunny" Schultze that first appeared in January 1900. It featured a lively grandfather who was constantly one-upping his two grandsons' attempts at pranks and practical jokes.
The strip was incredibly popular, eventually printed as anthologies, becoming a Broadway hit and finally a series of live-action silent movies.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1903
maker
Whitehead & Hoag Company
ID Number
2006.0098.0702
accession number
2006.0098
catalog number
2006.0098.0702
The Lippincott Steam Specialty and Supply Co. manufactured this steam engine indicator, serial number 1380.
Description
The Lippincott Steam Specialty and Supply Co. manufactured this steam engine indicator, serial number 1380. It consists of a steel piston with two grooves and a bottom guide; a brass cylinder; an internal spring, which is missing; a small drum with a spiral spring and single record. The stylus is missing, but assumed to be a lead pencil point. Accompanying the indicator is a box with four springs, and extra piston, a wrench, reduction pulleys, record cards, and scales.
An engine indicator is an instrument for graphically recording the pressure versus piston displacement through an engine stroke cycle. Engineers use the resulting diagram to check the design and performance of the engine.
A mechanical indicator consists of a piston, spring, stylus, and recording system. The gas pressure of the cylinder deflects the piston and pushes against the spring, creating a linear relationship between the gas pressure and the deflection of the piston against the spring. The deflection is recorded by the stylus on a rotating drum that is connected to the piston. Most indicators incorporate a mechanical linkage to amplify the movement of the piston to increase the scale of the record.
When the ratio of the frequency of the pressure variation to the natural frequency of the system is small, then the dynamic deflection is equal to the static deflection. To design a system with a high natural frequency, the mass of the piston, spring, stylus, and mechanical linkage must be small, but the stiffness of the spring must be high. The indicator is subjected to high temperatures and pressures and rapid oscillations, imposing a limitation on the reduction in mass. Too stiff a spring will result in a small displacement of the indicator piston and a record too small to measure with accuracy. Multiplication of the displacement will introduce mechanical ad dynamic errors.
The parameters of the problem for designing an accurate and trouble free recorder are such that there is no easy or simple solution. Studying the variety of indicators in the collection shows how different inventors made different compromises in their designs.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
MC.316800
catalog number
316800
accession number
228496
patent number
1380
This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to Matthias Gabriel, of Newark, NJ, August 6, 1867, no.
Description
This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to Matthias Gabriel, of Newark, NJ, August 6, 1867, no. 67527.
The engine represented in the model is one of a great many similar designs for rotary steam engines, in which a vane or paddle on a rotary drum fits closely in the annular chamber between the drum and an outer casing and is driven around the chamber by the pressure of steam expanding between the paddle and an abutment that temporarily closes the chamber back of the paddle.
This engine has two sliding abutments, which are moved in (to close the chamber) and out (to clear the paddle as it passes) by means of a cam on the shaft of the engine and a system of followers and yokes. A plain D-slide valve is operated by pinions and rack from an eccentric on the shaft. Two expansions per revolution are obtained.
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
1867
patent date
1867-08-06
inventor
Gabriel, Matthias
ID Number
ER.309196
accession number
89797
catalog number
309196
patent number
67,527
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
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
CE.P-1106ab
catalog number
P-1106ab
accession number
225282
During the 1970s, energy crises lamp makers scrambled to develop products that would be more energy efficient. One manufacturer, Duro-Test, began working with researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on an improved version of the ordinary incandescent lamp.
Description
During the 1970s, energy crises lamp makers scrambled to develop products that would be more energy efficient. One manufacturer, Duro-Test, began working with researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on an improved version of the ordinary incandescent lamp. The resulting product was called the "MI-T-Wattsaver" and was produced by the company from 1981 through 1989.
The basic concept seemed simple. The hotter a tungsten filament operates, the more efficient it becomes. Most of the energy emitted by the filament is in the form of invisible infrared rays that we feel as heat. If some of that heat could be directed back at the filament to raise its temperature, the lamp would give more light with no additional electricity needed. The researchers at Duro-Test and MIT called this concept a heat-mirror. They developed a special coating that would allow visible light to pass while reflecting infrared back to the filament, and put the coating on the inside of the glass bulb.
The concept worked but problems emerged. Tests showed that the coating aged with use, reducing the amount of heat reflected to the filament. The lamp was also difficult to make since the coating needed to be precisely applied and the filament needed to be mounted exactly in the center of the round bulb. As the price of compact fluorescent lamps fell in the late 1980s, Duro-Test decided to discontinue the MI-T-Wattsaver. The heat-mirror concept continues in use today in some tungsten-halogen lamps though.
The lamp seen here is a prototype sent to the U.S. Department of Energy for testing and evaluation in 1981.
Lamp characteristics: The piece has two sections-the lamp itself and a base adapter. The lamp has a brass bi-pin base (1/2" pin spacing with exhaust tube in between). Tungsten filament (broken) in CC-8 configuration with crimp connectors. A metal disc inside bottom of envelope may serve as a heat shield (the base pins pass through this disc). Tipless, G-24 glass envelope made in two halves. Both halves have an interior coating of infrared-reflecting film. The base adapter has a brass medium-screw shell, the insulator is part of a three-piece plastic skirt. Twist-lock receptacle on top connects to lamp.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1980
date made
ca. 1980
collaborator
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
maker
DURO-TEST Corporation
ID Number
1992.0553.09
catalog number
1992.0553.09
accession number
1992.0553
Alfred Vail made this key, believed to be from the first Baltimore-Washington telegraph line, as an improvement on Samuel Morse's original transmitter.
Description
Alfred Vail made this key, believed to be from the first Baltimore-Washington telegraph line, as an improvement on Samuel Morse's original transmitter. Vail helped Morse develop a practical system for sending and receiving coded electrical signals over a wire, which was successfully demonstrated in 1844.
Morse's telegraph marked the arrival of instant long-distance communication in America. The revolutionary technology excited the public imagination, inspiring predictions that the telegraph would bring about economic prosperity, national unity, and even world peace.
Date made
1844
used date
1844
demonstrator
Morse, Samuel Finley Breese
Vail, Alfred
maker
Vail, Alfred
Morse, Samuel Finley Breese
ID Number
EM.181411
catalog number
181411
accession number
31652
Celluloid button with black and white photograph of man identified as "Hanlan, Oarsman."Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Celluloid button with black and white photograph of man identified as "Hanlan, Oarsman."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1896
Associated Name
Hanlan, Edward
advertiser
American Tobacco Company
maker
Whitehead & Hoag Company
ID Number
2006.0098.0403
accession number
2006.0098
catalog number
2006.0098.0403
This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to George H. Babcock, of Plainfield, Hew Jersey, and Stephen Wilcox, of Brooklyn, New York, April 4, 1876, no.
Description
This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to George H. Babcock, of Plainfield, Hew Jersey, and Stephen Wilcox, of Brooklyn, New York, April 4, 1876, no. 175548.
The model represents the typical elements of an inclined tube, horizontal longitudinal drum boiler upon which are shown the mode of mounting and supporting such boilers and the provisions for making the connections of the parts that are the subject of the patent.
The drum of the boiler is represented as having cast-iron ends, each of which is formed with a stout horn near the top adapted to receive a suspension link from a cross girder resting upon columns at the sides of the boiler. Each end casting is further provided with a series of holes near the bottom properly adapted to receive tubes joined thereto by the process known as expanding. These tubes are joined at the front and back to the vertical tubes rising from the water-tube headers by means of hollow castings in which hand holes are provided that permit both sets of tubes to be expanded in the openings in the castings.
These improvements are said to be the results of the inventors’ experience with the boiler patented by them February 18, 1873, no. 135877.
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
1876
patent date
1876-04-04
inventor
Babcock, George H.
Wilcox, Jr., Stephen
ID Number
ER.308690
accession number
89797
catalog number
308690
patent number
175,548
Die-cut from celluloid sheet stock. The bookmark is decorated with an image of a woman reading next to a lamp. A verse about the virtues of a Welsbach light is printed on the front. A 1901 calendar is printed on the back.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Die-cut from celluloid sheet stock. The bookmark is decorated with an image of a woman reading next to a lamp. A verse about the virtues of a Welsbach light is printed on the front. A 1901 calendar is printed on the back.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1901
maker
Whitehead & Hoag Company
ID Number
2006.0098.0657
accession number
2006.0098
catalog number
2006.0098.0657
This pair of iron gates from the 1870s hung in the Dobson textile mill in Philadelphia, Penn., until 1991.In the late 18th century most workers were farmers or artisans, accustomed to overseeing their own work and schedules, and setting the pace of their work by the seasons and c
Description
This pair of iron gates from the 1870s hung in the Dobson textile mill in Philadelphia, Penn., until 1991.
In the late 18th century most workers were farmers or artisans, accustomed to overseeing their own work and schedules, and setting the pace of their work by the seasons and centuries-old traditions. With the rise of the factory system of production in the 19th century, managers sought to mold workers into disciplined and coordinated armies of employees. They tried to regulate each laborer's schedule, pace, and work habits. They prohibited amusements, reading, games, and consumption of alcohol—diversions that had been permitted in the flexible work schedule of artisans' shops.
Fences around factories protected property and symbolically established who was in control. A fence forced workers to file through a gate past a timekeeper's office. Americans who worked in textile mills were among the first to experience the new relationship between managers and workers. Not everyone adapted to the new rules. Some workers found ways to continue to control their own work, formed unions to enforce their own work rules, or quit.
user
Dobson Mill
owner of the mill
Dobson, John
ID Number
1991.0731.01
accession number
1991.0731
catalog number
1991.0731.01
This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to G. H. Babcock and S. Wilcox, Jr., of Providence, Rhode Island, April 24, 1866, no.
Description
This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to G. H. Babcock and S. Wilcox, Jr., of Providence, Rhode Island, April 24, 1866, no. 54090.
The valve gear represented by the model is an early governable one of the class of riding cut-off valves in which the riding valve is operated by a small independent auxiliary steam cylinder, equipped with its own steam valve. The valve controlling the admission of steam to the auxiliary steam cylinder is in turn controlled by the action of the engine governor.
The main valve of the engine is a flat lap valve, machined top and bottom with mortises through the valve near each end. The valve functions as a common D-valve admitting steam through the mortises instead of at its ends. Solid cut-off valves working on the back of the main valve, over the mortises, are joined by a rod, which passes through a small auxiliary steam cylinder and at the middle of which within the cylinder is the small actuating piston. The valve of the auxiliary cylinder is operated transversely across the cylinder by an eccentric on the end of a lay shaft. This shaft revolves at the same speed as the crankshaft and the main-valve eccentric, but its position at any time relative to the main-valve eccentric is determined by the governor as follows:
The lay shaft is divided into two shafts, one driving, the other driven. The connection between the two is maintained by means of a driving bevel gear on the driving shaft, an intermediate idling bevel gear, and a driven bevel gear on the driven shaft. Though the driving and driven shafts turn in opposite directions, they turn with the same relative positions so long as the intermediate gear remains in one position. However, the axle of the intermediate fear is pivoted about the driving shaft and is held in position only by the governor rod, and the position of the intermediate gear changes with each change of position of the governor rod. A change in position of the intermediate gear advances or sets back the position of the driven shaft relative to the driving shaft and varies the action of the auxiliary steam valve relative to the action of the main-valve eccentric.
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
1866
patent date
1866-04-24
inventor
Babcock, George H.
Wilcox, Jr., Stephen
ID Number
MC.308673
catalog number
308673
accession number
89797
patent number
54,090
Celluloid button with photographic image of "The Misses Volk," two young women posed cheek to cheek. On the back a paper insert reads "Sweet Caporal Cigarette," and may be an advertisment for that company.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Celluloid button with photographic image of "The Misses Volk," two young women posed cheek to cheek. On the back a paper insert reads "Sweet Caporal Cigarette," and may be an advertisment for that company.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1896
advertiser
American Tobacco Company
maker
Whitehead & Hoag Company
ID Number
2006.0098.0398
accession number
2006.0098
catalog number
2006.0098.0398
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
This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to John A. Roebling, of Saxonburg, Pennsylvania, July 16, 1842, no. 2728.The model represents a section of a steam-boiler flue and head to which is attached the safety gauge.
Description
This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to John A. Roebling, of Saxonburg, Pennsylvania, July 16, 1842, no. 2728.
The model represents a section of a steam-boiler flue and head to which is attached the safety gauge. The gauge consists of a box fastened to the top of the flue and containing a fusible metal upon which rests a weight connected through a lever to a valve in the boiler head. Should the level of water within the boiler fall below the top of the flue, the fusible metal would melt and allow the weight to fall and open the valve, attracting the attention of the engineer. A rod is provided by which the lever and weight are raised by the engineer before admitting more water, so that the fused metal will solidify below the weight and the gauge will be in a position to function again.
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
1842
patent date
1842-07-16
inventor
Roebling, John A.
ID Number
ER.308651
accession number
89797
catalog number
308651
patent number
2,728

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.