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 patent model demonstrates an invention for a double bed-and-platen power press with a frisket at each end and is considered an unnumbered patent. The bed was raised by toggles beneath against the fixed platen.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a double bed-and-platen power press with a frisket at each end and is considered an unnumbered patent. The bed was raised by toggles beneath against the fixed platen. This patent provided the basis for the single-ended Adams Power Press, a well-loved iron machine later produced by R. Hoe & Co. In the 1870s it was still considered to produce finer letterpress work than any other machine on the market. It was pre-eminently a book press. Isaac Adams (1803-1883), with no schooling but ample inventive genius, introduced his power press at the age of 25 and derived his living from its success.
Date made
1830
ca 1830
patent date
1830-10-04
maker
Adams, Isaac
ID Number
GA.11024
accession number
48865
catalog number
GA*11024
GA.11024
patent number
6178X
The Remmey and Crolius families dominated the New York stoneware industry from the early 1700s through the early 1800s. Both families emigrated from Germany, bringing with them the stoneware traditions of their homeland.
Description
The Remmey and Crolius families dominated the New York stoneware industry from the early 1700s through the early 1800s. Both families emigrated from Germany, bringing with them the stoneware traditions of their homeland. Sometimes business associates, the two families also inter-married. Remmey family members went on to establish stoneware factories in Philadelphia and Baltimore, as well.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1795-1830
maker
Remmey III, John
ID Number
1980.0614.363
accession number
1980.0614
catalog number
1980.0614.363
This is a patent model of a typecasting machine, assigned patent number 632. This is patentee David Bruce's first patent for a typecasting machine, provided the basis for a generation of pivotal casters.
Description (Brief)
This is a patent model of a typecasting machine, assigned patent number 632. This is patentee David Bruce's first patent for a typecasting machine, provided the basis for a generation of pivotal casters. The model is damaged.
Description
This is a patent model of a typecasting machine, assigned patent number 632. This is patentee David Bruce's first patent for a typecasting machine, provided the basis for a generation of pivotal casters. The model is damaged.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
March 17, 1838
Patent Date March 17, 1838
ca 1838
date made
ca 1838
patent date
March 17, 1838
maker
Bruce, Jr., David
Bruce, Jr., David
ID Number
GA.89797.000632
patent number
000632
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.000632
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a machine to smooth the sides of type; the invention was granted patent number 631.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a machine to smooth the sides of type; the invention was granted patent number 631. In the inventor's opinion, this foot-driven machine allowed the operator to rub around sixty thousand types in a day, in conditions of less "unhealthiness" than the usual. The model is missing its treadle.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1838
patent date
1838-03-10
maker
Bruce, Jr., David
ID Number
GA.89797.000631
patent number
000631
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.000631
Stoneware maker Nathan Clark partnered with Ethan S. Fox, a relative by marriage, in 1829.
Description
Stoneware maker Nathan Clark partnered with Ethan S. Fox, a relative by marriage, in 1829. In response to increasing competition they began selling more elaborately decorated “Fancy Ware made to order.” The names on this inkwell, LYON & ASHLEY, may refer to the people or firm that placed the order.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1829-1838
maker
Clark, Nathan
Fox, Ethan
ID Number
CE.300894.029
accession number
300894
catalog number
300894.029
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c.1838
1838
ID Number
CE.P-123
catalog number
P-123
accession number
225282
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1834
maker
Sevres
ID Number
CE.P-1057
catalog number
P-1057
accession number
225282
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1832
maker
Sevres
ID Number
CE.P-1056C
catalog number
P-1056C
accession number
225282
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1825 -1830
ID Number
CE.P-519Eab
catalog number
P-519Eab
accession number
225282
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c.1820
1825-1830
ID Number
CE.P-519A
catalog number
P-519A
accession number
225282
The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this token around 1836. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this token around 1836. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, medals, coins, and tokens.
Obverse: The legend reads: AMERICAN INSTITUTE/ NEW YORK/ H.
Reverse: The legend reads: COPY OF GOLD MEDAL AWARDED TO R & W ROBINSON, FOR THE BEST MILITARY, NAVAL, SPORTING, & PLAIN FLAT BUTTONS 1836.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1836
referenced
R & W Robinson
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1532
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1532
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1825-1830
ID Number
CE.P-519Dab
catalog number
P-519Dab
accession number
225282
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c.1820
1825-1830
ID Number
CE.P-519Cab
catalog number
P-519Cab
accession number
225282
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1830
ID Number
CE.P-500ab
catalog number
P-500ab
accession number
225282
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1839
ID Number
CE.P-379
catalog number
P-379
accession number
225282
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1839
ID Number
CE.P-766A
catalog number
P-766A
accession number
225282
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1831
maker
Sevres
ID Number
CE.P-1059
catalog number
P-1059
accession number
225282
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1835 -1838
ID Number
CE.P-128ab
catalog number
P-128ab
accession number
225282
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a platen-printing press; the invention was granted patent number 1315. On the press, the feeding, inking and printing actions were directed by grooves on a driving cylinder.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a platen-printing press; the invention was granted patent number 1315. On the press, the feeding, inking and printing actions were directed by grooves on a driving cylinder.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1839
patent date
1839-09-07
maker
Schuebly, William
Schuebly, Thomas
ID Number
GA.89797.001315
accession number
089797
patent number
001315
catalog number
GA*89797.001315
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1830
ID Number
CE.P-380ab
catalog number
P-380ab
accession number
225282
The depression of 1837 hit Connecticut clock manufacturers so hard that they feared the entire industry might collapse. On a trip to Virginia to collect old bills, Chauncey Jerome--a successful clock producer from Bristol, Connecticut, and a disciple of Eli Terry—had a new idea.
Description
The depression of 1837 hit Connecticut clock manufacturers so hard that they feared the entire industry might collapse. On a trip to Virginia to collect old bills, Chauncey Jerome--a successful clock producer from Bristol, Connecticut, and a disciple of Eli Terry—had a new idea. A simple, weight-driven, one-day clock made of brass, he thought, could be produced far more cheaply and in much greater quantities than the standard wooden clock. When he returned home, he described the idea to his brother Noble. Noble Jerome, a talented clockmaker, quickly made a prototype and received a U.S. patent on it in 1839.
By that time, mechanized production of clock movements was already underway and would soon reach unprecedented numbers. Whereas the typical factory might produce several thousand wooden clocks per year, the Jeromes--and their principal imitators and rivals--were soon mass-producing brass clocks in the hundreds of thousands. For these brass clocks, Chauncey Jerome adopted a simple case introduced by several other New England clockmakers. The case became famous as the "Ogee" for its characteristic S-shaped moldings.
Unlike wooden clocks, brass movements were unaffected by humidity and could be transported by ship. The entire world, clockmakers quickly recognized, was a potential market. The reception Chauncey Jerome's clocks received in England, home of some of the world's finest clockmakers, illustrates the impact of his innovation. When the first clocks traveled arrived in 1842, valued at an improbable $1.50 each, English customs inspectors assumed that Jerome had set the figure far below cost to avoid paying the proper duties. To teach Jerome a lesson, the inspectors bought the whole shipment at the declared price. When a similar cargo at the same valuation arrived a few days later, they did the same. Only with the third shipment did they recognize that they were unwittingly becoming distributors for Yankee clock manufacturers. Jerome was content with the prices British customs agents had been paying him and would have happily supplied them indefinitely. From then on Jerome's clocks entered the English market unimpeded. Over the next twenty years, in part because of American competition, the British clock industry declined to near extinction.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1839
patent date
1839-06-27
ID Number
ME.309112
catalog number
309112
accession number
89797
patent number
1,200
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a crank-driven guillotine paper cutter; the invention is considered an unnumbered patent.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a crank-driven guillotine paper cutter; the invention is considered an unnumbered patent.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1834
patent date
1834-02-28
maker
Ames, J.
ID Number
1997.0198.17
catalog number
1997.0198.17
accession number
1997.0198
patent number
8030X
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1839
ID Number
CE.P-142
catalog number
P-142
accession number
225282
This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to William H. Baker and Samuel H. Baldwin, of Cohoes, New York, August 21, 1839, no.
Description
This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to William H. Baker and Samuel H. Baldwin, of Cohoes, New York, August 21, 1839, no. 1295.
This is an early example of a steam engine in which two cams turn together in a closed casing so that steam admitted to the casing will force apart abutments on the cams and cause the cams and the shafts on which they are mounted to turn. This engine may also be used as a pump.
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
1839
patent date
1839-08-21
inventor
Baldwin, Samuel H.
Baker, William H.
ID Number
ER.308647
accession number
89797
catalog number
308647
patent number
1,295

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