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Gerber Fabric Cutter Video Documentation, 1995-1996
- Notes
- H. Joseph Gerber invented the computer-controlled fabric cutter
- Summary
- This videohistory documents the inventor, engineers, assembly workers, operators and other technicians who worked with the Gerber S-70 computer-controlled fabric cutter
- Cite as
- Gerber Fabric Cutter Video Documentation, February 1995-1996, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1995
- 1995-1996
- 1940-1990
- 1920-2000
- 1990-2000
- creator
- Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation
- Liebhold, Peter
- Subject
- Gerber, H. Joseph inventor
- Gerber Company
- Local number
- 1997.3157 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Bread-slicing Machine
- Description
- This commercial bread-slicing machine was designed and manufactured in 1928 by Otto Frederick Rohwedder (1880-1960). It was used to slice loaves of fresh bakery bread at Korn's Bakery, in Rohwedder's home town of Davenport, Iowa, beginning in late 1928. This is Rohwedder's second automatic bread-slicer, the first having fallen apart after about six months of heavy use at Bench's Bakery, in Chillicothe, Missouri.
- The public loved the convenience of sliced bread and, by 1929, Rohwedder's Mac-Roh Company was feverishly meeting the demand for bread-slicing machines. By the following year, the Continental Baking Company was selling sliced bread under the Wonder Bread label. Having achieved success, Mr. Rohwedder reflected on his invention in the June 1930 issue of the Atlanta-based bakery trade journal, New South Baker: "I have seen enough bakers benefit in a big way from Sliced Bread to know that the same results can be obtained by any baker anywhere if he goes about the matter correctly. A good loaf, a proper presentation of Sliced Bread to the grocers and a truthful, clean advertising program based upon successful experiences and the baker can build his business far beyond what he could do without Sliced Bread. . . We are continuing our experimental and developmental work confident in the belief that the real possibilities of Sliced Bread have scarcely been scratched."
- This 1928 bread-slicing machine was manufactured by the Micro Machine Company, of Bettendorf, Iowa, for the Davenport-based Mac-Roh Sales and Manufacturing Company. It was donated to the Museum by Mr. Rohwedder's daughter, Mrs. Margaret R. Steinhauer, of Albion, Michigan, in 1974.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1928
- maker
- Micro Machine Company
- ID Number
- 1975.315261.1
- accession number
- 1975.315261
- catalog number
- 1975.315261.1
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Scrimshaw Ivory Whale Stamp
- Description
- Carved from the teeth of captured sperm whales, whale stamps were used to record the type of whale and number of barrels of oil they yielded.
- The stamps were inked onto the page of whaleship logbooks or sailors’ journals, with an empty space in the whale’s body for writing in the number of barrels. This example in the form of a sperm whale is decorated with steel pin heads and a turned handle.
- date made
- 1800s
- ID Number
- 1978.0052.06
- accession number
- 1978.0052
- catalog number
- 1978.52.6
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Wood and Ivory Parallel Rule
- Description
- Part of the navigator’s tool kit, parallel rules were used to transfer compass points, course lines and other directional information across large charts without change. This large wooden set has a carved ivory whale inlaid into its surface, with a brass tack for the whale’s eye.
- ID Number
- 1978.0052.08
- accession number
- 1978.0052
- catalog number
- 1978.52.31
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Miner's Carbide Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- This mining lamp is a “Guy’s Dropper” model made by the Shanklin Manufacturing Company of Springfield, Illinois, first manufactured in 1913. The lamp is named after its inventor, Frank Guy, a miner from Springfield. Frank Guy partnered with George and Edgar Shanklin to produce this lamp, and the lamp saw tremendous success through World War I. The Shanklin Mfg. Co. was sold to the Universal Lamp Company in 1932, who continued to make "Guy's Dropper."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 1978.2497.02
- accession number
- 1978.2497
- catalog number
- 1978.2497.02
- 78.2497.02
- MHI-MI-1215
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Steamship John Heckmann’s Steam Whistle
- Description
- Ships’ steam whistles were powered by steam lines from the boilers. They were used to signal other ships or the shore, to announce a vessel’s presence or its intentions. Whistles were especially useful when approaching or leaving a port or landing, or in foggy or dark waters.
- This whistle originally belonged to the 1895 Army Corps of Engineers towboat Gen. H. L. Abbot, built at Jeffersonville, Ind. and named after a famous general in the U. S. Army Corps. In 1906 it was renamed Gen. J. H. Simpson, after another Army Corps staff. The vessel was dismantled in 1919.
- The cabin fittings, the ship’s wheel, and the whistle were purchased by Edward Heckmann for his new Missouri River packet boat, the John Heckmann. The Heckmann was 165’ long and 30’-6” in beam but only drew 4’-6” of water. Uniquely, the Heckmann had two independently operated or “split” sternwheels, which provided much greater maneuverability than a single, wide sternwheel could offer. Its boilers came from the hulk of the steamer Majestic, which had wrecked in 1914 at Chain of Rocks, St. Louis. The Heckmann’s engines were acquired from the obsolete Army Corps sternwheel towboats Aux Vasse and Isle de Bois. Employed in the packet trade between St Louis and Jefferson City, the Heckmann lost money because of competition from the railroads.
- The John Heckmann was later converted to a Missouri River 1,200-passenger excursion boat by the Heckmann family. Operating on the Missouri as far north as Sioux City, Iowa, its normal summer route was between Kansas City and Omaha, Nebraska. In winter, it resumed packet service on the Cumberland, Tennessee, Illinois, and Ohio Rivers. Wrecked in an ice breakup at its homeport of Hermann, Mo. in 1928, it was dismantled.
- date made
- 1895
- purchased whistle
- Heckmann, Edward
- ID Number
- 1979.0542.01
- accession number
- 1979.0542
- catalog number
- 1979.0542.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
The Propeller Indiana’s “Philadelphia Wheel”
- Description
- Indiana's propeller was manufactured by Spang & Co. of Pittsburgh, PA, as stamped on one of the blades. This firm, a large iron manufacturing company centered in Pittsburgh, PA, was founded in 1828 and was one of the earliest and largest manufacturers of iron products in the United States.
- The hub of the propeller is cast iron; the blades are rolled iron. One of the intact blades is chipped and dented, suggesting a collision. Another blade is missing outside the yellow line, which marks where a large section broke loose, probably from hitting an object in the water. This piece struck the Indiana's sternpost, literally “shivered her timbers,” and started the leak that sank the ship. The blade broke off completely when the ship struck the lakebed and was found at the wreck site, buried in the sand under the stern post. It is reproduced here in fiberglass.
- The closest design is by Richard Loper of Philadelphia, who registered three propeller-related patents in 1844 and 1845 and licensed his ideas to shipbuilders Reany, Neafie & Co., also of Philadelphia. Contemporary accounts state that Loper’s design was the most popular in the Great Lakes region, and some Lakes propeller manufacturers even advertised his design as the “Philadelphia Wheel.”
- Date made
- 1848
- possible patentee
- Loper, Richard
- maker
- Spang & Company
- ID Number
- 1979.1030.05
- catalog number
- 1979.1030.05
- accession number
- 1979.1030
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Coal from Propeller Indiana
- Description
- The abundance of timber along the shores of the Great Lakes gave steamboats a ready supply of fuel. Partly burned logs from Indiana's boiler grate indicate that the boiler had been stoked just before the steamboat sank.
- Pound for pound, coal provides more energy than wood. Coal was found in the vicinity of the boiler in the hold, and historical sources indicate that it was a common fuel on upbound (northerly) voyages, while wood was the principal downbound fuel.
- ID Number
- 1979.1030.07
- catalog number
- 1979.1030.07
- accession number
- 1979.1030
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Propeller Indiana’s Cargo of Iron Ore
- Description
- On 6 June 1858, the propeller Indiana sank in Lake Superior transporting its owner, three passengers and 280 tons of iron ore from Marquette, MI to Sault Ste. Marie, MI. The ship was insured for $9,000; the ore was insured separately for an undisclosed amount. One contemporary newspaper stated that it was the “first cargo of Lake Superior iron ore ever lost on the lakes.”
- The ship landed upright and slightly bow down on the lakebed in 120 feet of water; the bow split open and ore spilled out onto the sandy bottom. The deck of the shipwreck remains covered with iron ore today, and the cargo hold is filled about three feet deep with ore as well.
- Samples of the ore were recovered in 1979; upon analysis, they revealed that a high percentage of pure iron.
- date propeller Indiana sank
- 1858-06-06
- samples of the ore were collected
- 1979
- ID Number
- 1979.1030.12
- catalog number
- 1979.1030.12
- accession number
- 1979.1030
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Propeller Indiana’s Hand Bell
- Description
- Found on the wreck of the propeller steamer Indiana, a bell as small as this one would have been too small to serve as a fog signal for any distance. It probably would have been used to signal crew watch changes, as a dinner bell, or possibly to signal someone on a nearby shore.
- ID Number
- 1979.1030.15
- catalog number
- 1979.1030.15
- accession number
- 1979.1030
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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