Industry & Manufacturing

Eli Terry Mass-Produced Clock

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.

Date: 1860s

Horatio Seymour Campaign Badge

This presidential campaign badge was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company around 1868. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
This presidential campaign badge was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company around 1868. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that 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, and campaign badges.
Obverse: Tintype photograph of Horatio Seymour, labeled “H. SEYMOUR.” Legend reads: OUR CHOICE FOR PRESIDENT.
Reverse: Tintype photograph of Francis Blair labeled “F.P. BLAIR.” The legend around the rim reads: FOR VICE PRESIDENT.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1868
depicted
Seymour, Horatio
Blair, Jr., Francis P.
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1178
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1178

Abraham Lincoln Campaign Medal

This medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1860. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
This medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1860. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that 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, and campaign medals.
Obverse: Bust of Abraham Lincoln, and is inscribed around the rim with the text “Republican Candidate Abraham Lincoln 1860.”
Reverse: Eagle with a shield, clutching three arrows and an olive branch in its talons. The legend reads: LIBERTY UNION AND EQUALITY.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1860
depicted
Lincoln, Abraham
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1122
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1122

Abraham Lincoln Campaign Medal

This presidential campaign medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1860. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
This presidential campaign medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1860. 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, and campaign medals.
Obverse: Profile image of Abraham Lincoln facing right. The legend reads: ABRAHAM LINCOLN 1860.
Reverse: Image of two men working in tandem to split logs. The legend reads: PROGRESS / 1830
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1860
depicted
Lincoln, Abraham
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1296
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1296

Abraham Lincoln Campaign Medal

This presidential campaign medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1860. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer, and is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
This presidential campaign medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1860. 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, and campaign badges. This badge has a hole in the top so it could be worn.
Obverse: Tintype photograph of Abraham Lincoln, the legend on the rim reads: LINCOLN & HAMLIN.
Reverse: Tintype photograph of Hannibal Hamlin, the legend on the rim reads: 1860.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1860
depicted
Lincoln, Abraham
Hamlin, Hannibal
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1082
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1082

Martin Van Buren Memorial Medal

This memorial medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1862. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
This memorial medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1862. 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 commemorative medals.
Obverse: Bust of Martin Van Buren facing left. Legend: MARITIN VAN BUREN/THE FEARLESS DEMOCRAT.
Reverse: Legend: BORN 1782. U.S. SENATOR 1821. GOVERNOR OF N.Y. 1828. SECRETARY OF STATE 1828/ MINISTER TO ENGLAND 1831. SEC'Y OF THE TREASURY 1832. VICE PRES. U.S. 1833/ PRESIDENT U.S. 1837/ DIED 1862.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1862
depicted
Van Buren, Martin
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1253
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1253

Straight’s Shoe Store Advertising Token

The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this advertising token around 1863. 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 advertising token around 1863. 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: Image of a walking elephant wearing shoes. The legend reads: STRAIGHT'S ELEPHANTINE SHOE STORE/ 398 BROADWAY/ 1863.
Reverse: The legend reads: REDEEMED AT MY SHOE STORE/ 398 BROADWAY ALBANY N.Y.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1863
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1540
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1540

Ulysses S. Grant Campaign Badge

This presidential campaign badge was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1868. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
This presidential campaign badge was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1868. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that 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 campaign badges. The eagle has a pin so the badge could be worn.
Obverse: Labeled tintype photograph of Ulysses S. Grant and Schuyler Colfax. The photo is in a golden colored frame featuring a spread-winged eagle, flanked by two golden American flags, and a scroll “E PLURIBUS UNUM.”
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1868
depicted
Grant, Ulysses S.
Colfax, Schuyler
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1181
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1181

John A. Bell Campaign Medal

This presidential campaign medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1860. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
This presidential campaign medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1860. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that 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, and campaign badges.
Obverse: Tintype photo of John A. Bell. The legend reads: JOHN BELL 1860.
Reverse: Tintype photograph of Edward Everett. The legend reads: EDWARD EVERETT 1860.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1860
depicted
Bell, John
Everett, Edward
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1102
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1102

George B. McClellan Campaign Medal

This presidential campaign medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1864. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer, and is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
This presidential campaign medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1864. 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, and campaign badges.
Obverse: Bust of George B. McClellan facing left, surrounded by a wreath. Legend reads: MAJ. GEN. GEO. B. McCLELLAN.
Reverse: Image of a shield that is surrounded by flags and a “liberty cap.” Legend reads: THE PEOPLES CHOICE FOR PRESIDENT 1864.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1864
depicted
McClellan, George B.
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1081
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1081

Stephen A. Douglas Campaign Badge

This presidential campaign badge was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1860. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
This presidential campaign badge was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1860. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still in business today. Scovill is an important example of early American industrial manufacturing that adapted armory machines to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, and campaign badges. This tintype is in a circular bronze frame, and there is a hole in the top of the frame allowing the badge to be worn.
Obverse: Tintype photograph of Stephen A. Douglas, labeled “STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS.”
Reverse: Tintype photograph of Herschel V. Johnson labeled “HERSCHEL V. JOHNSON.”
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1860
depicted
Douglas, Stephen A.
Johnson, Herschel V.
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1110
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1110

Abraham Lincoln Campaign Medal

This presidential campaign medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1860. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
This presidential campaign medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1860. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that 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, and campaign medals.
Obverse: Bust of Abraham Lincoln facing right. The legend reads: ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1860.
Reverse: Legend reads: FREEDOM NATIONAL SLAVERY SECTIONAL.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1860
depicted
Lincoln, Abraham
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1199
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1199

Ulysses S. Grant Campaign Badge

This presidential campaign badge was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1868. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
This presidential campaign badge was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1868. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that 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, and campaign badges. The colorful pink ring in this badge makes it especially attractive.
Obverse: Tintype photograph of Ulysses S. Grant and Schuyler Colfax imbedded into a brass badge.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1868
depicted
Grant, Ulysses S.
Colfax, Schuyler
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1165
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1165

Stephen A. Douglas Campaign Medal

This presidential campaign medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1860. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
This presidential campaign medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1860. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that 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, and campaign medals.
Obverse: Bust of Stephen Douglas facing forward. The legend reads: STEPHEN A DOUGLAS.
Reverse: The legend reads: DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY/THE CHAMPION OF POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1860
depicted
Douglas, Stephen A.
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1187
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1187

Invention for Improvement in the Construction of Ordnance

Ericsson’s improvement in the construction of ordnance was one of many inventive achievements, including the design for the battleship U.S.S. Monitor during the American Civil War. In 1863 he was granted a patent for this improved gun carriage.
Description (Brief)
Ericsson’s improvement in the construction of ordnance was one of many inventive achievements, including the design for the battleship U.S.S. Monitor during the American Civil War. In 1863 he was granted a patent for this improved gun carriage. It allowed the cannon to recoil backward in its tracks when fired and was made to be worked by fewer hands within a confined space such as a gun turret.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1864
patentee
Ericsson, John
maker
Ericsson, John
ID Number
AF.252590
catalog number
252590
accession number
49064
patent number
41208

Stevens Steam-Engine Condenser, Patent Model

This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to Francis B. Stevens, November 3, 1863, no.
Description
This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to Francis B. Stevens, November 3, 1863, no. 40510.
The condenser represented in the model consists of a large vertical cylinder and pump plunger with various connected chambers designed to function as a condenser, a condenser air pump, and feed-water hot well and heater.
The invention “consists in simplifying the apparatus that condenses the steam discharged by the first eduction from the cylinder of a condensing steam engine by closing the hot well of the engine against the atmosphere and by keeping a portion of the space of the hot well free from water, and by delivering the steam discharged from the cylinder by the first eduction into the hot well, so that it may be condensed or partially condensed by the water delivered by the air-pump into the hot well.” The hot well is thus made “to act also as an additional condenser and dispense altogether with an additional air pump to draw the water from the additional condenser.”
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
1863
patent date
1863-11-03
inventor
Stevens, Francis B.
ID Number
MC.309238
catalog number
309238
accession number
89797
patent number
40,510

Patent model for printers' sidesticks and quoins

This patent model demonstrates an invention for paired sidesticks, grooved and tapered on the inside surfaces to take matching quoins; the invention was granted patent number 87339. The sticks were held together loosely by dowels.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for paired sidesticks, grooved and tapered on the inside surfaces to take matching quoins; the invention was granted patent number 87339. The sticks were held together loosely by dowels.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1869
date made
ca 1869
patent date
1869-03-02
maker
House, Thomas J.
ID Number
GA.89797.087339
patent number
087339
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.087339

William of Wykeham porcelain jug

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c.1860s
ID Number
CE.P-1098A
catalog number
P-1098A
accession number
225282

Patent model for engraver's vice

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a vise that held the engraving plate firmly, while offering the yielding surface that the engraver needed; the invention was granted patent number 27253.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a vise that held the engraving plate firmly, while offering the yielding surface that the engraver needed; the invention was granted patent number 27253.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1860
patent date
1860-02-21
maker
Wood, A. H.
ID Number
GA.89797.027253
patent number
027253
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.027253

Shoemaker's Knife

Cornelius Hinds used this knife as a shoemaker in Templeton, Massachusetts during the mid-19th century. The knife is part of a large accession documenting the numerous tools necessary to make shoes by hand before the mechanization of the industry.
Description
Cornelius Hinds used this knife as a shoemaker in Templeton, Massachusetts during the mid-19th century. The knife is part of a large accession documenting the numerous tools necessary to make shoes by hand before the mechanization of the industry. The shoemaker used a variety of knives to cut the raw leather by hand and mold it into the necessary shapes to make a shoe.
date made
1840 - 1860
ID Number
AG.A.6312C
accession number
153037
catalog number
A006312C
A006312C

Stoneware Crock

This stoneware butter crock was made by John Burger, who operated a pottery in Rochester, New York, between 1839 and 1870. It is one gallon in capacity with a maker’s mark just below the rim.
Description
This stoneware butter crock was made by John Burger, who operated a pottery in Rochester, New York, between 1839 and 1870. It is one gallon in capacity with a maker’s mark just below the rim. Its floral design is rendered in cobalt blue, and the interior is brown glazed.
John Burger came from Alsace-Lorraine in France, and first worked at a pottery in Lyons on the Erie Canal. In 1839 he moved to Rochester and joined Nathan Clark and Company as manager of the pottery. In 1855 Burger became the owner of the pottery and continued in the business of making stoneware for domestic uses—preserve jars, churns, pitchers and batter pitchers, cream pots, jugs, molasses jugs, water fountains, beer bottles, stove tubes, and the butter pot seen here. He was joined in the business by his sons in the 1860s. Decorative floral motifs of this kind were common by the 1850s.
Early in the 19th century, the potters themselves executed the designs, but later they employed women to paint the pottery’s motifs onto the vessels. Women’s skills in writing and in decorative techniques expressed in the home prepared them to execute designs with fluency and without any formal art education.
date made
1854-1867
maker
Burger, John
ID Number
CE.319884.161
catalog number
319884.161
accession number
319884

Corliss Marine-Boiler Improvements, Patent Model

This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patents issued to George H. Corliss, Providence, Rhode Island, August 26, 1862, nos.
Description
This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patents issued to George H. Corliss, Providence, Rhode Island, August 26, 1862, nos. 36279 and 36281.
The model represents a pair of internally fired, fire-tube boilers of the “locomotive” type, each equipped with a steam main connected to the steam space at six different points for the purpose of diffusing the draft of steam from over the whole surface of the water in the boiler and thus prevent priming; and provided with a salt-water evaporator located in the breeching, so as to obtain heat from the hot flue gases, and connected to the surface condenser to lower the pressure on the boiling salt water to facilitate evaporation.
The purpose of the peculiar arrangement of steam pipes is to provide a method of obtaining steam free from water without the necessity of a high steam chamber, which would be a vulnerable part of a naval vessel. The theory is that the filling of any of the many tubes with water, due to the pitching of the vessel, would cause the other tubes to supply the steam to the engines and the water would not travel far in the immersed tubes.
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
1862
patent date
1862-08-26
inventor
Corliss, George H.
ID Number
MC.308666
catalog number
308666
accession number
89797
patent number
36,279
36,281

Patent Model of a Lithographic Printing Press

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a cylinder press, in which a carriage bearing the flat stone moved through an arc of a circle and under the rotating cylinder; the invention was granted patent number 46390.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a cylinder press, in which a carriage bearing the flat stone moved through an arc of a circle and under the rotating cylinder; the invention was granted patent number 46390.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1865
patent date
1865-02-14
maker
Reynolds, Edwin
ID Number
GA.89797.046390
patent number
046390
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.046390

Sewell and Cameron Steam Pump, Patent Model

This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to William Sewell and Adam S. Cameron, of New York, New York, May 10, 1864, no.
Description
This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to William Sewell and Adam S. Cameron, of New York, New York, May 10, 1864, no. 42694.
The model represents a direct-connected steam pump in which the water piston rod is keyed in a socket in the end of the steam piston rod, so that the two may be disconnected when it is desired to operate the pump by hand. The socket is sufficiently long to serve as a guide for the water piston rod, and a suitable rock shaft and capstan head is provided for working the pump by hand.
The purpose of the combination is to provide a hand pump for the various purposes for which a pump might be required aboard a vessel when steam is down and the steam pump cannot be used, while eliminating some of the piping that would be necessary if separate pumps were provided.
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.
date made
1864
patent date
1864-05-10
inventor
Sewell, William
Cameron, Adam S.
ID Number
MC.308669
catalog number
308669
accession number
89797
patent number
42,694

Shoemaker's Knife

Cornelius Hinds used this knife as a shoemaker in Templeton, Massachusetts during the mid-19th century. The knife is part of a large accession documenting the numerous tools necessary to make shoes by hand before the mechanization of the industry.
Description
Cornelius Hinds used this knife as a shoemaker in Templeton, Massachusetts during the mid-19th century. The knife is part of a large accession documenting the numerous tools necessary to make shoes by hand before the mechanization of the industry. The shoemaker used a variety of knives to cut the raw leather by hand and mold it into the necessary shapes to make a shoe.
date made
1840 - 1860
ID Number
AG.A.6312B
accession number
153037
catalog number
A006312B

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.