Science & Mathematics

The Museum's collections hold thousands of objects related to chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy, and other sciences. Instruments range from early American telescopes to lasers. Rare glassware and other artifacts from the laboratory of Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen, are among the scientific treasures here. A Gilbert chemistry set of about 1937 and other objects testify to the pleasures of amateur science. Artifacts also help illuminate the social and political history of biology and the roles of women and minorities in science.

The mathematics collection holds artifacts from slide rules and flash cards to code-breaking equipment. More than 1,000 models demonstrate some of the problems and principles of mathematics, and 80 abstract paintings by illustrator and cartoonist Crockett Johnson show his visual interpretations of mathematical theorems.

The discovery of nuclear fission in uranium, announced in 1939, allowed physicists to advance with confidence in the project of creating "trans-uranic" elements - artificial ones that would lie in the periodic table beyond uranium, the last and heaviest nucleus known in nature.
Description
The discovery of nuclear fission in uranium, announced in 1939, allowed physicists to advance with confidence in the project of creating "trans-uranic" elements - artificial ones that would lie in the periodic table beyond uranium, the last and heaviest nucleus known in nature. The technique was simply to bombard uranium with neutrons. Some of the uranium nuclei would undergo fission, newly understood phenomenon, and split violently into two pieces. In other cases, however, a uranium-238 nucleus (atomic number 92) would quietly absorb a neutron, becoming a nucleus of uranium-239, which in turn would soon give off a beta-particle and become what is now called neptunium-239 (atomic number 93). After another beta decay it would become Element 94 (now plutonium-239)
By the end of 1940, theoretical physicists had predicted that this last substance, like uranium, would undergo fission, and therefore might be used to make a nuclear reactor or bomb. Enrico Fermi asked Emilio Segre to use the powerful new 60-inch cyclotron at the University of California at Berkeley to bombard uranium with slow neutrons and create enough plutonium-239 to test it for fission. Segre teamed up with Glenn T. Seaborg, Joseph W. Kennedy, and Arthur C. Wahl in January 1941 and set to work.
They carried out the initial bombardment on March 3-6, then, using careful chemical techniques, isolated the tiny amount (half a microgram) of plutonium generated. They put it on a platinum disc, called "Sample A," and on March 28 bombarded it with slow neutrons to test for fission. As expected, it proved to be fissionable - even more than U-235. To allow for more accurate measurements, they purified Sample A and deposited it on another platinum disc, forming the "Sample B" here preserved. Measurements taken with it were reported in a paper submitted to the Physical Review on May 29, 1941, but kept secret until 1946. (The card in the lid of the box bears notes from a couple of months later.)
After the summer of 1941, this particular sample was put away and almost forgotten, but the research that began with it took off in a big way. Crash programs for the production and purification of plutonium began at Berkeley and Chicago, reactors to make plutonium were built at Hanford, Washington, and by 1945 the Manhattan Project had designed and built a plutonium atomic bomb. The first one was tested on July 16, 1945 in the world's first nuclear explosion, and the next was used in earnest over Nagasaki. (The Hiroshima bomb used U-235.)
Why is our plutonium sample in a cigar box? G.N. Lewis, a Berkeley chemist, was a great cigar smoker, and Seaborg, his assistant, made it a habit to grab his boxes as they became empty, to use for storing things. In this case, it was no doubt important to keep the plutonium undisturbed and uncontaminated, on the one hand, but also, on the other hand, to make it possible for its weak radiations to pass directly into instruments - not through the wall of some closed container. Such considerations, combined probably with an awareness of the historic importance of the sample, brought about the storage arrangement we see.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1941-05-21
Associated Date
1941-05-29
referenced
Segre, Emilio
Seaborg, Glenn T.
Kennedy, Joseph W.
Wahl, Arthur C.
Lewis, G. N.
University of California, Berkeley
maker
Segre, Emilio
Seaborg, Glenn
ID Number
EM.N-09384
catalog number
N-09384
accession number
272669
William Healy and Grace Fernald of Chicago used puzzles to study to abilities of delinquent children. This one shows one day in the life of a schoolboy. It was given to soldiers who failed the Army group examinations.This test is in a black, cloth-covered paper box.
Description
William Healy and Grace Fernald of Chicago used puzzles to study to abilities of delinquent children. This one shows one day in the life of a schoolboy. It was given to soldiers who failed the Army group examinations.
This test is in a black, cloth-covered paper box. It consists of two nearly square boards which are displayed next to one another. Each board has a cloth backing. A picture printed on paper is attached to the front. The pictures show a total of eleven scenes from the life of a schoolboy. Each scene has a square hole cut in it. The teat also has sixty square wooden pieces that fit into the holes in the boards. Each piece has a picture on the front and is numbered on the back. The pieces fit, ten to a row, into a wooden rack with six long indentations. Places on the rack are numbered from 1 to 60. A piece of black cloth nailed to the bottom front of the rack allow it to be removed from the box. The test also contains a blue pamphlet: William Healy, Manual for Pictorial Completion test II Cat. No. 46235, Chicago: C.H. Stoelting.
This test is a version (differing, at least, in its box) of a test described in; C.H. Stoelting, Apparatus, Tests and Supplies, Chicago, 1936, p. 157. See also C.H. Stoelting, List 350, Apparatus and Supplies for Practical Mental Classification Used by Dr. William Healy, p. 7 in Stoelting’s publication Psychology and Physiology Apparatus and Supplies, Chicago, 1921.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1917
maker
C. H. Stoelting Company
ID Number
1990.0570.03
accession number
1990.0570
catalog number
1990.0570.03
A cathetometer is an upright ruler equipped with a telescope that is designed to measure the vertical difference between two points with great accuracy.
Description
A cathetometer is an upright ruler equipped with a telescope that is designed to measure the vertical difference between two points with great accuracy. The form was introduced in Paris around 1815 and the name around 1847.
This example was made by William Gaertner, a German immigrant who, in 1896, established a shop in Chicago for manufacturing astronomical and other instruments of precision. A quarter century later Gaertner would be honored for “having emancipated American educational and scientific institutions from their dependence on foreign made scientific instruments.”
This is one of Gaertner’s heaviest and most accurate cathetometers. It was also one of the most expensive, costing $400 when new. The signature—WM GAERTNER & CO. CHICAGO, USA—indicates that it was made between 1896 when the firm began in business under that name, and 1924 when it became the Gaertner Scientific Corp.
The silvered scale is graduated to 0.05 inches and read by vernier to 0.001 inches; it is also graduated in millimeters and read by vernier to tenths.
Ref: D. J. Warner, “Cathetometers and Precision Measurement: The History of an Upright Ruler,” Rittenhouse 7 (1993): 65–75.
Wm. Gaertner & Co., Instruments of Precision (Chicago, 1919), pp. 28–29.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1896 - 1923
1896 - 1924
maker
Wm. Gaertner & Co.
ID Number
PH.336364
catalog number
336364
accession number
1978.0230
Background on the history and acquisition of ceremonial trowel; Object ID no.
Description
Background on the history and acquisition of ceremonial trowel; Object ID no. 2014.0124.01
On May 2, 2014, Joseph Ball donated to the National Museum of American History (NMAH) the ceremonial trowel in its box, together with a descriptive plaque, all mounted on a felt-covered, wooden platform enclosed in a clear plastic display case. The text inscribed on the plaque is as follows:
"This trowel is one of three fabricated for use by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in dedication of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's headquarters building, Germantown, Maryland on November 8, 1957."
"The blade of the trowel is uranium from CP-1, the world's first nuclear reactor. The ferrule and stem are zirconium from the initial critical assembly for the USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine. The handle is wood from the west stands of Stagg Field at The University of Chicago beneath which CP-1 was brought to criticality on December 2, 1942, by Enrico Fermi and his colleagues."
"The historic trowel was presented to Eisenhower College by Argonne National Laboratory through the courtesy of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission."
[Note: Due to radiation safety concerns of the Secret Service, the uranium trowels were dropped from the AEC building dedication ceremony and silver-plated trowels were used instead.]
For a history of the establishment of the AEC headquarters site in Germantown, MD, see
http://science.energy.gov/bes/about/organizational-history/germantown-natural-history/germantown-site-history/
Mr. Ball, an alumnus of Eisenhower College (established in 1968 in Seneca Falls, NY in honor of President Eisenhower), obtained the trowel in 2012 at a silent auction during the 40th alumni reunion of the charter class of 1972 of the now defunct college. (It closed in 1982 owing to lack of students and funding.) The College had many Eisenhower memorabilia, which had been put into storage when the school closed.
A number of the items from the Eisenhower memorabilia inventory were offered at the silent auction, along with the trowel. However, the trowel was not listed in the inventory. The College historian and others Mr. Ball asked knew nothing about the object or how it came to the College. He subsequently got in touch with Thomas Wellock, Historian of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), who was able to uncover the curious early history of the trowel. Mr. Ball agreed to loan it to the NRC, which displayed it in their headquarters lobby in Rockville, MD from 2012 to 2014.
Mr. Ball then donated the trowel to the Modern Physics Collection of the NMAH, where it is now in storage.
For a brief and fascinating historical account of the trowel, below are links to the text of two consecutive U.S. NRC Blogs on the subject by Mr. Wellock:
The Mystery of the Atomic Energy Commission Trowel – Part 1
Posted on U.S. NRC Blog on November 26, 2012; http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov/2012/11/26/the-mystery-of-the-atomic-energy-commission-trowel-part-i/
The Mystery of the Trowel – Solved
Posted on U.S. NRC Blog on November 28, 2012; http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov/2012/11/28/the-mystery-of-the-trowel-solved/
The other ceremonial trowels; their respective locations and descriptive plaques/inscriptions
It has been determined that three uranium-blade trowels were made, and that none of these was used in the cornerstone laying ceremony. Instead, three silver-plated plated trowels were made for use during the ceremony.
1) ANL. As noted above, one of the two other uranium trowels is at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), where it appears as part of an historical exhibit on nuclear energy. An image of the ANL display is in Nuclear News, April 2009, p.58. This display can be viewed at:
http://web.anl.gov/eesa/pdfs/2009NuclearExhibitinNuclearNews.pdf
With this trowel came a crude typewritten label reading as follows:
"TROWEL
The Blade is made of Uranium from CP-1.
The Shank and Ferrule is made from Zirconium from
The [First Pile_] Nautilus. [“First Pile” crossed out]
The Handle is made from Benches in the West
Stands close to where the pile was."
In the bottom left corner is a torn, unclear handwritten note: “]l for _________ at Germantown.” The name after “for” may be “Comerston,” “Elmer Loyd,” “Gomer Stoyd,” or something similar.
2) DOE Headquarters. DOE Historian Terry Fehner confirms that the third uranium trowel is in a display case, along with one of the silver-plated trowels and related ceremonial artifacts, in the lobby of the auditorium at the Department of Energy (DOE) administration building in Germantown, MD.
The uranium trowel has a plaque that reads:
"Symbolic Trowel
Blade - uranium from nuclear reactor
Stagg Field, Chicago (Dec. 2 1942)
Handle - portion of squash court door
Ferrule - zirconium from submarine Nautilus prototype reactor"
The silver-plated trowel has a plaque that reads:
"Trowel used in cornerstone laying ceremony November 8, 1957"
Inscription engraved on silver-plated blade:
"Atomic Energy Building
Cornerstone laid by
President Eisenhower
November 8, 1957"
3) Eisenhower Library. NRC Historian Tom Wellock confirms that a second silver-plated trowel is located at the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas. An image from the Library shows that this trowel has an inscription different from that on the DOE silver-plated trowel.
Inscription etched on silver plated blade:
“This trowel was used
by the President of the
United States at the laying of the
cornerstone of the U.S. Atomic Energy
Commission Headquarters Building,
Germantown, Maryland
November 8, 1957"
Presented to Dwight D. Eisenhower
President of the United States
by
Lewis L. Strauss, Chairman
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission”
Reference is made to two memoranda from the DOE archives: the first (Oct. 4 1957, from Acting Manager, AEC Chicago Operations Office to Director, AEC Division of Reactor Development, Washington) describes materials in uranium trowels made by ANL; the second (Oct. 21, 1957, Memorandum from AEC Secretary to AEC Director, Division of Construction & Supply) suggests the inscriptions for the three silver-plated trowels that were to be used at the cornerstone laying on November 8, 1957.
Tentative conclusions, comments, and remaining questions
Based on examination of available images of located trowels and their associated plaques, and the text of the cited AEC memoranda, we can reach the following tentative conclusions, assuming the language in the memoranda to be definitive:
Uranium Trowels
1) Three uranium trowels were fabricated at ANL but never used for the cornerstone laying ceremony. They are now located, respectively, at: the National Museum of American History, Washington; Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago; and the Department of Energy, Germantown, MD. The trowel on display at DOE apparently is missing its zirconium ferrule (reason unknown), although the accompanying plaque includes mention of ferrule.
2) The stems and ferrules of the uranium trowels were made from zirconium used in the first naval nuclear reactor critical assembly, Zero Power Reactor-1 (ZPR-1), which was essentially a prototype for design and testing at ANL. The lack of radioactivity in the metal shows that it cannot be zirconium removed from a reactor assembly that was installed and operated on the USS Nautilus. (Zirconium obtained from the actual Nautilus reactor would have attained prohibitively high levels of radioactivity.)
3) The handles of the uranium trowels were made of wood from a portion of the door to the converted squash court in which CP-1 was located under the west viewing stands of Stagg Field, and not from wood benches in the Field’s west stands.
4) Who authorized the donation of one of the uranium trowels to Eisenhower College, and when? We do not know; all we can say for now is that the label plaque for that trowel was prepared after 1965, when the College was founded, and before 1975, when the name “Atomic Energy Commission” went out of use.
Silver-plated trowels
1) Apparently three silver-plated trowels were intended to be used during the cornerstone laying ceremony by, respectively, President Eisenhower, AEC Chairman Strauss, and Congressional Joint Committee on Atomic Energy Chairman Durham. Displays for two of these trowels are now located at, respectively, The Eisenhower Presidential Library & Museum, and DOE Germantown, MD.
2) A comparison of images of these two displays shows that the two trowels have differently shaped blades and different types of wood handles. Further, the inscription on the Eisenhower Library trowel is identical to that suggested by the AEC Secretary for the President’s trowel, whereas the relatively brief inscription on the DOE trowel differs significantly and does not indicate for whom it was intended.
3) Thus, there is uncertainty concerning the DOE silver-plated trowel. Why is it of a slightly different shape and handle type? Was it actually used in the cornerstone laying ceremony by one of the three dignitaries, and if so, by which one – e.g., AEC Chairman Strauss?
4) What became of the silver-plated trowels used by AEC Chairman Strauss and Joint Committee Chairman Durham? Can their existence and current location be determined? Our investigations have so far yielded no further information.
Update on Uranium Trowels
Roger Tilbrook, Curator of the Nuclear Energy Exhibit, Nuclear Engineering Division, ANL, has investigated the inconsistencies regarding the uranium trowels. He makes the following points regarding the Argonne trowel:
An Argonne old-timer, A.B. Krisciunas, confirms that the handle is from wood in a squash court door under the stands of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago. The lack of activity from the stem and ferrule indicates that the source of the zirconium was the Zero Power Reactor-1 (ZPR-1) at ANL, rather than a fuel assembly used in the Submarine Test Reactor (STR), or in the USS Nautilus itself.
The uranium blade could have been made from a CP-1 fuel artifact or from CP-2 fuel (which came from CP-1). After comparison of activity measurements, the conclusion is that the blade is from CP-2 uranium.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Argonne National Laboratory
ID Number
2014.0124.01
accession number
2014.0124
catalog number
2014.0124.01
By 1902, dealers like Eugene Dietzgen of Chicago offered sets of several dozen “Copenhagen ship curves” in wood and hard rubber. In their 1904-1905 catalog, Dietzgen added curves of transparent amber. By 1926, transparent celluloid had replaced these materials.
Description
By 1902, dealers like Eugene Dietzgen of Chicago offered sets of several dozen “Copenhagen ship curves” in wood and hard rubber. In their 1904-1905 catalog, Dietzgen added curves of transparent amber. By 1926, transparent celluloid had replaced these materials. The number of curves rose from 45 in 1902 to 121 in 1926 and 1931. This selection of curves in this set matches the description of the 1938 Dietzgen catalog, which lists a set of fifty-six celluloid (not acrylic) curves. Dietzgen offered them through at least 1949. Dietzgen first used the term Clearcite in commerce in 1946, filed for a trademark February 29, 1952, and received the trademark June 23, 1953. Hence the curves are from after that date.
The curves are stored in a wooden case with metal hooks. A mark on a tag on the front of the case reads: DIETZGEN (/) MADE IN U.S.A.
By the 1970s, flexible drawing curves were replacing fixed ones like these.
The objects were given to the Smithsonian in 1986.
The donor, Philip Krupen (1915–2001), was a physicist who graduated B.S. from Brooklyn College in 1935, worked on the development of the proximity fuse during and after World War II, earned a master's degree in physics from George Washington University, and spent a total of thirty-eight years working for the U.S. government before he retired in 1973.
References:
Benjamin Pike, Jr., Pike’s Illustrated Descriptive Catalog, vol. 1, New York, 1856, pp. 40-43. This catalog includes ship curves, but not with the standard numbers used by Keuffel & Esser from at least 1890.
Keuffel & Esser Company, Catalog, New York, 1890, pp. 138-139.
Eugene Dietzgen Company, Catalog, Chicago, 1902.
Eugene Dietzgen Company, Catalog, Chicago, 1905, p. 218.
Eugene Dietzgen Company, Catalog, Chicago, 1910, p. 274. The numbering of ship curves in the 1890, 1902, 1905, and 1910 Dietzgen catalogs is not the same as that adopted by 1926.
Eugene Dietzgen Company, Catalog, Chicago, 1926, pp. 226-227. The numbering of ship curves in this and later Dietzgen catalogs follow a scheme used by Keuffel & Esser at least as early as 1890. This is the same numbering system used on these curves.
Eugene Dietzgen Company, Catalog, Chicago, 1931, pp. 245-246.
Eugene Dietzgen Company, Catalog, Chicago, 1938, pp. 310-311.
Eugene Dietzgen Company, Catalog, Chicago, 1949, pp. 310-311.
TESS, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark Registration 0576302.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1955
maker
Eugene Dietzgen Company
ID Number
1986.0790.07
accession number
1986.0790
catalog number
1986.0790.07
This full keyboard non-printing adding machine has a brown metal frame and mechanism with plastic keys. The eight columns of color-coded green and white octagonal keys include nine keys in each column. Odd-numbered keys are concave, even-numbered ones flat.
Description
This full keyboard non-printing adding machine has a brown metal frame and mechanism with plastic keys. The eight columns of color-coded green and white octagonal keys include nine keys in each column. Odd-numbered keys are concave, even-numbered ones flat. Complementary digits are indicated. A row of subtraction levers is below the number keys. Digits in the running total appear in a set of nine windows in front of the keys. A red button is to the right of the keyboard releases the keyboard afer a partial keystroke error has been corrected. A metal zeroing lever is on the right side. A rubber cord attaches to the back. The on/off switch is on the front at the top right.
The machine is marked on the left corner of the top of the case: K350690. It is marked on the front and back sides: Comptometer.
According to “Date of Manufacturing by Serial Number. . .,” Lewiston, Idaho: Office Machine Americana, 2002 (relying on the NOMDA “Blue Book” for May, 1975), Felt & Tarrant introduced the Model K with serial number 350000 in 1934.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1934
maker
Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1989.0325.03
maker number
K350690
catalog number
1989.0325.03
accession number
1989.0325
The base of this orange, black, and white cardboard circular chart has scales for the number and size of plows and for the size of combines, planters, or harrows. Riveted to the rectangular base is a disc with a scale of tractor speed in miles per hour.
Description
The base of this orange, black, and white cardboard circular chart has scales for the number and size of plows and for the size of combines, planters, or harrows. Riveted to the rectangular base is a disc with a scale of tractor speed in miles per hour. Setting the dial for the appropriate tractor speed opposite the size and type of machinery employed reveals the approximate number of acres worked per day.
According to its markings, Perry Graf Corporation of Maywood, Ill., copyrighted this "Tractor Calculator" in 1938 and made it for the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company's Tractor Division in Milwaukee, Wis. A curator's note indicates the copyright was not issued until November 27, 1941. Perrygraf (spelled variously as "Perrygraf" and "Perry Graf") designed special purpose "slide charts," which were often distributed by manufacturers to their customers.
The back of the calculator contains an advertisement for Allis-Chalmers, titled: WORK-PER-DAY THE A-C WAY. For other rules distributed by Perrygraf, see 1983.3009.06 and 1996.3029.01.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1941
maker
Perry Graf Corporation
ID Number
1983.3009.04
catalog number
1983.3009.04
nonaccession number
1983.3009
This key-driven, non-printing adding machine is an early example of a Comptometer with a metal case.It has eight columns of plastickeys.
Description
This key-driven, non-printing adding machine is an early example of a Comptometer with a metal case.
It has eight columns of plastickeys. The keys in the two rightmost columns, which represent cents, are white, the three middle columns are black, and the three lftmost columns are white. Such color coding was common in machines designed for financial calculations. Complementary numbers are indicated. The keys are alternately concave (for odd digits) and flat (for even digits). The keys are worn, and one is missing. The key stems are flat, and become progressively longer as the digits become larger. The subtraction levers are at the same level as the decimal markers.
The nine numeral wheels are white or turquoise around the rim, depending on the decimal place of the digit indicated. They are visible through windows in the glass. The zeroing handle is on the left. The Model A Comptometer was Felt & Tarrant’s first “duplex” machine, in that it would add in more than one column at a time, each column having the capacity to add, receive, and carry simultaneously. This was not true of the earlier wooden box models.
The first Model A Comptometer was produced in January 1904 and had serial number 15000. Over 6,200 machines were produced in the next two years. This machine has serial number 17536, which is marked in the center front. It has a metal tag screwed to the top that reads in part: TRADE COMPTOMETER MARK. There are ten patent dates on this tag.
This machine came to the Smithsonian in 1981 from the collection of Esther S. and James C. Henderson, who ran an office equipment business in Corvallis, Washington.
For a related adding machine section, see MA.323643.
References:
Felt & Tarrant, "Accession Journal ,"1991.3107.06.
J. H. McCarthy, American Digest of Business Machines, 1924, Catalog Section, p. 71.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1904
maker
Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1982.0234.01
maker number
17536
catalog number
1982.0234.01
accession number
1982.0234
This convex orange-coated tin combination rule and paper cutter has a 9" scale divided to sixteenths of an inch along one long edge. The other long edge is shaped into a tube, which may serve as a handle while cutting or tearing paper.
Description
This convex orange-coated tin combination rule and paper cutter has a 9" scale divided to sixteenths of an inch along one long edge. The other long edge is shaped into a tube, which may serve as a handle while cutting or tearing paper. A small hole at the right end may be for hanging the rule. The rule is marked: Compliments (/) of (/) THE HARTFORD FIRE INS. Co. (/) HARTFORD, CONN. The company's logo of a stag appears between the words "HARTFORD" and "FIRE." The tube notes that the company had paid $33,000,00 for claims in New York City in 1835, Nantucket, Mass., in 1846, St. Louis, Mo., in 1849, Portland, Me., in 1866, Chicago in 1871, Boston in 1872, and St. John, New Brunswick, "and other places" in 1877. These were all historic destructive fires. The back of the rule is marked: AGENCIES IN ALL CITIES AND TOWNS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY (/) Commenced Buisness 1794 • Charter Perpetual (/) The Chicago Stamping Co. Combination Rule and Paper Cutter. Patent Sept. 8th 1885. Hartford Fire Ins. Co. Sole Owner and Manufacturer. All Infringements prosecuted.
Richard S. Thain (1845–1912) received the patent mentioned on the instrument. He fought for the Union in the Civil War, was advertising manager of a Chicago publication, Western Rural, and organized an advertising firm with George W. Sharp in 1868. He spent some time in New York City after the Chicago fire of 1871. From 1882 to 1889, he worked for a Chicago advertising agency, Lord & Thomas. Another ruler made from Thain's design is 293320.2815.
The Chicago Stamping Company was in business from at least as early as 1868 to at least as late as 1911. The firm made enameled cylindrical tin containers, such as milk and trash cans; published sheet music and stationery items; and manufactured the United States Wheel brand of bicycles. Although text on the rule says The Hartford started selling fire insurance in 1794, the history on the company's website indicates it was not incorporated until May 10, 1810. The firm adopted its stag logo in 1875. As of 2013, it was one of the biggest insurance companies worldwide.
References: Richard S. Thain, "Combination Ruler and Paper Cutter" (U.S. Patent 325,992 issued September 8, 1885); "Men of the Ninety-sixth Regiment with Millburn Connections," excerpted from Charles A. Partridge, ed., History of the Ninety-Sixth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry (Chicago, 1887), Historic Millburn Community Association, http://www.hmca-il.org/k6men.htm; "The Hartford's Historical Timeline," http://www.thehartford.com/about/.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1890
distributor
Hartford Fire Insurance Company
maker
Chicago Stamping Company
ID Number
MA.293320.2814
accession number
293320
catalog number
293320.2814
This cardboard sheet describes a Thacher cylindrical slide rule with a magnifying glass that was manufactured and sold by Keuffel & Esser of New York in the early 20th century as model 4013.
Description
This cardboard sheet describes a Thacher cylindrical slide rule with a magnifying glass that was manufactured and sold by Keuffel & Esser of New York in the early 20th century as model 4013. (In the late 19th century, K&E numbered the instrument as 1741.) It apparently was used as an exhibit label around 1966 at the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago, the previous owner of the related instrument.
See also MA.327886.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1966
maker
Museum of Science and Industry
ID Number
MA.271855.01.02
accession number
271855
catalog number
271855.01.02
This full-keyboard non-printing adding machine represents the successful adoption of mechanical aids to computation by American scientists. It was one of several computing devices owned by the meteorologist Daniel Draper.
Description
This full-keyboard non-printing adding machine represents the successful adoption of mechanical aids to computation by American scientists. It was one of several computing devices owned by the meteorologist Daniel Draper. Draper used Comptometers in his work at the New York Meteorological Observatory from about 1886. He acquired this machine in 1914 or later.
The machine has a metal case painted brown and a metal mechanism, with eight columns of octagonal, color-coded plastic keys. Complementary digits are indicated on the keys. Keys for odd digits are concave, and those for even digits are flat. The length of the key stems increases going from front to back. There are subtraction levers, numbered decimal markers in front of the keys, and nine windows to show the result in front of the decimal markers. A zeroing handle is on the right side. The machine fits on a wooden stand and has a metal cover painted black.
The machine has serial number F58074. It is marked on a metal plaque screwed to the back of the machine: TRADE COMPTOMETER MARK (/) PAT'D [. . .] (/) Felt & Tarrant Mfg. Co. (/) CHICAGO. It is also marked there with several patent dates, the last of which is; SEP.15.14. It is marked on the front of the metal cover: COMPTOMETER (Pronounced like Thermometer) (/) FELT & TARRANT MFG. CO. (/) CHICAGO. U.S.A. (/) Adds - Divides (/) Multiplies - Subtracts
Reference:
P. A. Kidwell, “American Scientists and Calculating Machines: From Novelty to Commonplace,” Annals of the History of Computing, 12, 1990, pp. 31-40.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
maker
Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company
ID Number
MA.335357
maker number
F58074
catalog number
335357
accession number
304826
After Dorr E Felt invented and began to sell successfully a key-driven adding machine known as the Comptometer, he designed a printing adding machine dubbed the Comptograph.
Description
After Dorr E Felt invented and began to sell successfully a key-driven adding machine known as the Comptometer, he designed a printing adding machine dubbed the Comptograph. This example has a cherrywood case and eight columns of metal key stems, with turquoise and white color-coded discs set in the metal key tops. Digits and complements of digits are shown on the discs. Each column has nine keys. The cover under the keys consists of metal slats with holes drilled in them, with one slat for each column of keys. A glass window at the front shows nine metal wheels that record totals.
On the right side toward the front are a knob and a lever. Depressing the lever allows one to turn the knob and zero the total. Immediately to the right of the keyboard is a small lever, which is pushed up to release the keys. Further to the right are two large buttons attached to levers. When the button at the right back is depressed, the carriage moves to a new column. The other button on the right may advance the paper. To the left at the front is another large button on a straight shaft (depressing this button probably is intended to print totals or subtotals). At the back of the machine is a wide carriage, the printing mechanism for the adding machine, and a ribbon. This mechanism prints eight-digit entries and totals. A bell on top of each of the spools for the ribbon rings to warn that the ribbon is almost unwound.
The machine is stamped on the front below the glass window: 1902. It is marked on a metal plate screwed to the right side: MODEL A No 1902 (/) PATENTED. It is also marked there: MAR. 11. 1902. It is also marked there: OTHER PATENTS PENDING. (/) COMPTOGRAPH CO. (/) CHICAGO, U.S.A.
The coloring of the keys resembles that on the Comptometer with catalog number MA.248688, which dates from 1898, and the Comptograph with typewriter MA.323636. The Accession Journal dates this machine to 1900, but the tag screwed to the machine indicates a slightly later date.
References:
Felt & Tarrant, Accession Journal, 1991.3107.06.
Pamphlet 1994.3060.05.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1900
maker
Comptograph Company
ID Number
MA.323632
catalog number
323632
maker number
1902
accession number
250163
This printing key-driven adding machine machine has a cherry case, a steel mechanism, steel keys with German silver and plastic key tops, and steel dials at the front that record the result. The eight columns of keys have nine keys in each column.
Description
This printing key-driven adding machine machine has a cherry case, a steel mechanism, steel keys with German silver and plastic key tops, and steel dials at the front that record the result. The eight columns of keys have nine keys in each column. The celluloid discs in the key tops are color-coded for cents (the two rightmost columns that are white), dollars to hundreds of dollars (the three middle columns that are turquoise), and thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars (the two leftmost columns that are white). Complementary digits are indicated on the discs. Nine numeral dials show the result through a single glass window in a metal piece at the front of the machine. A zeroing knob with lever is on the right side at the front. The printing mechanism is at the back, with a roll of paper tape above it. The paper tape is held down by a heavy curved wire. The wooden container for the paper tape folds down, covering the printing mechanism for transfer.
The machine has serial number 189, indicated at the center of the machine in front of the numeral wheels. It is marked on a metal tag on the right side of the machine: COMPTOGRAPH (/) PATENTED (/) JULY. 19. 87. 366945 [. . .] NOV. 25 90. 441,233 (/) FELT & TARRANT MFG. CO. (/) 52-53 ILLINOIS ST. (/) CHICAGO. The patent numbers and patent dates given are the first and last of those listed.
This device is from the collection of Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company, as passed down to Victor Comptometer Corporation. It is described as #18 in that collection, an “improved narrow printing comptograph.”
References:
U.S. Patents 568020 and 568021.
Accession Journal 1991.3107.06.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1890
maker
Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company
ID Number
MA.323634
catalog number
323634
maker number
189
accession number
250163
This roughly built wooden and metal device is the U.S. patent model for a counter patented by Alexander P. Atkinson of Vermont, Ill., on November 7, 1871. It has an open wooden frame, with a window at the front for viewing the registering wheels.
Description
This roughly built wooden and metal device is the U.S. patent model for a counter patented by Alexander P. Atkinson of Vermont, Ill., on November 7, 1871. It has an open wooden frame, with a window at the front for viewing the registering wheels. The three wheels are mounted on a crosswise shaft, along with a fourth wheel, which drives the others. Lowering a crank on the right side of the frame moves the driving wheel and the rightmost registering wheel one unit back. Returning the crank upright moves the driving but not the registering wheel.
The wheels are wooden. The registering wheels are covered with paper bands around the edge which have the digits marked from 0 to 9. Screws are used as gear teeth in much of the mechanism. The device carries. According to the patent, the machine was intended for use in counting the number of bushels or other measures of grain that passed a given point.
A mark on the front above the window reads: A.P. Atkinson (/) Vermont (/) Ill’s.
Alexander P. Atkinson (1840-1906) lived in Vermont, Ill., and founded the Vermont Loan and Building Association in 1889. He remained President of that bank into the 20th century.
References:
Alexander P. Atkinson, “Improvement in Counting-Registers,” U.S. Patent 120,609, November 7, 1871.
J. S. McCullough, Twelfth Annual Report of the Condition of Building, Loan and Homestead Associations Doing Business in Illinois, Springfield, Illinois: Phillips Brothers, 1903, p. 307.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1874
patentee
Atkinson, Alexander P.
maker
Atkinson, Alexander P.
ID Number
MA.309342
accession number
89797
catalog number
309342
This full-keyboard non-printing adding machine has a black metal case with six columns of black and white, octagonal keys, colored according to the place value of the digits entered. Complementary digits are indicated on the keys.
Description
This full-keyboard non-printing adding machine has a black metal case with six columns of black and white, octagonal keys, colored according to the place value of the digits entered. Complementary digits are indicated on the keys. Keys representing even digits are flat, those for odd digits are indented. In back of the keyboard is a movable carriage that contains a counter register and a result register above it. Numbers in the counter register can have up to seven digits. Those in the result register 13 digits.
To the left of the number keys are two white keys, one for the key drive and one for the crank drive. To the right of the number keys is a white key that, when pushed, releases the keys. On the right side of the machine is a crank that may be rotated to enter numbers into the register when the “crank drive” key is pushed down. The machine is designed to combine key-driven addition and crank-driven multiplication. It is the first model of a “Duo” Comptometer, and comes from the collection of models at Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company. There is no provision for subtraction.
A patent for the invention was filed July 31, 1923 and granted just over nine years later on August 2, 1932. It is patent 1,869,872. A metal tag stored with the object is marked: 134.
Reference: Felt & Tarrant, Accession Journal 1991.3107.06.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1922
maker
Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company
ID Number
MA.323651
catalog number
323651
accession number
250163
This lever-set non-printing adding machine has an etched steel case, painted black and resting on four rubber feet. Seven levers move in circular arcs between slots in the case.
Description
This lever-set non-printing adding machine has an etched steel case, painted black and resting on four rubber feet. Seven levers move in circular arcs between slots in the case. The case is painted along the edges of the slots with digits from 0 to 9 (large and in black and white) and 9 to 0 (small and in red). The large digits are used in addition, the small ones in subtraction. The cover has a corrugation or depression for each digit. Digits are set by placing the index finger in the corresponding depression and raising the lever by the thumb until it is stopped by the finger. They are entered by moving down a metal handle with a wooden knob on the right side. If no number has been entered, moving the knob zeros the machine. The result appears in seven windows above the levers. Another handle on the right side zeros digits set incorrectly.
The machine is marked on a plaque attached to the front: AMERICAN (/) ADDING MACHINE (/) AMERICAN CAN COMPANY (/) ADDING MACHINE DIVISION (/) CHICAGO, ILL. No 23096. It is also marked there: PAT. AUG. 27, 1912 (/) OTHER PATS. PEND.
Compare MA.323606.
By 1924, American adding machines were made by the American Adding Machine Company of Chicago.
Reference:
J. H. McCarthy, The American Digest of Business Machines, Chicago: American Exchange Service, 1924, p. 27, 518.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1916
maker
American Can Company Adding Machine Division
ID Number
MA.333921
accession number
304369
maker number
23096
catalog number
333921
This small pamphlet gives instructions for using the wooden box model of the Comptometer. The document was received with a later model of the Comptometer (see MA.335357).Reference:P. A.
Description
This small pamphlet gives instructions for using the wooden box model of the Comptometer. The document was received with a later model of the Comptometer (see MA.335357).
Reference:
P. A. Kidwell, “American Scientists and Calculating Machines: From Novelty to Commonplace,” Annals of the History of Computing, 12, 1990, pp. 31-40.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1890
maker
Felt & Tarrant Mfg. Co.
ID Number
MA.304826.61
accession number
304826
catalog number
304826.61
This instrument has four hardwood bars with mahogany edges. The bars are 41 inches long. The fulcrum, joints with thumbscrews, and interchangeable tracer and pencil points are metal (no lead in the pencil point). Each bar has thirty-four holes drilled in it.
Description
This instrument has four hardwood bars with mahogany edges. The bars are 41 inches long. The fulcrum, joints with thumbscrews, and interchangeable tracer and pencil points are metal (no lead in the pencil point). Each bar has thirty-four holes drilled in it. These are spaced the same way on each bar, but not at equal intervals. The holes are labeled from 1 to 34 and also from 1 1/8 to 8. The device may be used to enlarge a drawing up to eight times the original size or reduce to as little as one eighth.
A mark on one bar reads: EUGENE DIETZGEN CO. (/) CHICAGO-NEW YORK (/) SAN FRANCISCO-TORONTO-NEW ORLEANS.
Reference:
Eugene Dietzgen Co., Catalog, 1926, p. 192. This model is not shown in the catalog for 1905. In the catalogs for 1912 and 1921 it has catalog number 1875 1/2. It is shown in the 1938 catalog.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1930
distributor
Eugene Dietzgen Company
maker
Eugene Dietzgen Company
ID Number
MA.321783
catalog number
321783
accession number
246883
This U.S. Patent Office model for a stylus-operated non-printing adding machine has a rectangular wooden base. Four adjacent rotating wheels are inset in the base, with a metal cover that fits over them.
Description
This U.S. Patent Office model for a stylus-operated non-printing adding machine has a rectangular wooden base. Four adjacent rotating wheels are inset in the base, with a metal cover that fits over them. The three small wheels on the right each have a metal arm pivoted at their centers and ten evenly spaced indentations around the edge. The digits from 0 to 9 are marked on the cover just outside each of these wheels. The numbers increase counterclockwise going around the first and third wheels and clockwise going around the second wheel. The two middle wheels also have ten pins arranged just inside the indentations. The pins of one wheel are linked to the arm of the wheel to the right of it. The fourth, leftmost, wheel is larger and has 20 indentations and 20 pins. The indentations are numbered from 0 to 19 going counterclockwise. A two-wheeled device was manufactured under this patent.
A paper tag attached to the machine reads: No.137,107 (/) A.M. Stephenson (/) Adding Machines (/) Patented March 25th 1873. A second paper tag attached to the machine reads: A.M. Stephenson (/) Adding Machine (/) Received March 5th, 1872.
This instrument was in the collections of the Museums of the Peaceful Arts in New York City before coming to the Smithsonian Institution as a gift of L. Leland Locke.
Archibald M. Stephenson (1844-1913), the inventor of this instrument, was born in Indiana and spent most of his adult life in Illinois. He manufactured a version of this instrument in Joliet.
References:
U.S. Patent 137107, March 25, 1873.
R. Otnes, “A.M. Stephenson and His Adder,” Journal of the Oughtred Society, vol. 13 #2 (Fall 2004): pp. 55-60.
W. W. Stevens, Past and Present of Will County, Illinois, Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1907, pp. 348-349.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1873
patentee
Stephenson, Archibald M.
maker
Stephenson, Archibald M.
ID Number
MA.311961
accession number
155183
catalog number
311961
This is a model of a section of a Comptometer. It has a single column of white plastic numeral keys. Alternate keys are concave (odd digits) and flat (even digits). Left of the number keys are two red keys. One is marked: UNIVERSAL (/) KEY (/) DRIVE.
Description
This is a model of a section of a Comptometer. It has a single column of white plastic numeral keys. Alternate keys are concave (odd digits) and flat (even digits). Left of the number keys are two red keys. One is marked: UNIVERSAL (/) KEY (/) DRIVE. The other is marked: INDIVIDUAL (/) KEY (/) DRIVE. The section of a metal case under the keys is painted brown. The mechanism is steel. The model has no numeral wheels, no zeroing lever, no base, and no cover.
During the late 1920s, J. A. V. Turck of Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company worked on inventing an adding machine that could either be driven by striking individual keys (have an individual key drive, in his language), or by setting keys and then driving them simultaneously (having a universal key drive, in his language). This object relates to that effort. Comptometers had traditionally used individual key drive.
References:
U.S. Patent 1869872, granted August 2, 1932.
Felt & Tarrant, Accession Journal, #134, 135, 136, 150.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1927
maker
Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company
ID Number
MA.323640
catalog number
323640
accession number
250163
This is a model of a section of a relatively late Comptometer, a full-keyboard non-listing adding machine built in Chicago.This model has one column of white plastic keys and two partial columns. Odd numbered digit keys are concave, even numbered ones, flat.
Description
This is a model of a section of a relatively late Comptometer, a full-keyboard non-listing adding machine built in Chicago.
This model has one column of white plastic keys and two partial columns. Odd numbered digit keys are concave, even numbered ones, flat. It has a steel mechanism, aluminum numeral wheels, a bell, and a metal handle to the right of the keys. Next to the keyboard at the back right is a red key. The model has no case. A label received with the collection dates the model M Comptometer to 1939.
The machine was part of the collection of Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company, makers of the Comptometer. It was donated to the Smithsonian by the successor firm of Victor Comptometer Corporation.
Reference:
Accession Journal 1991.3107.06.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1939
maker
Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company
ID Number
MA.323638
catalog number
323638
accession number
250163
This adding machine section has a glass case with a wooden base that holds a steel mechanism for two columns of white keys. The keys are covered with white plastic key tops that have both digits and complements of digits.
Description
This adding machine section has a glass case with a wooden base that holds a steel mechanism for two columns of white keys. The keys are covered with white plastic key tops that have both digits and complements of digits. The keys are alternately concave (odd digits) and flat (even digits). There are three decimal markers and two subtraction levers. Three number wheels are at the front, and a zeroing crank is on the right.
Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company began manufacturing the Model C Regular Comptometer in 1909 and the Model C Light Comptometer in 1911. It gave this section to the Smithsonian in 1912.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1910
maker
Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company
ID Number
MA.273177
catalog number
273177
accession number
54382
By the 1880s, American business and government used reams of figures to track how they were doing. The Comptometer, invented in Chicago by Dorr E. Felt in the mid-1880s, was one of the first machines that sold successfully to help with this work.
Description
By the 1880s, American business and government used reams of figures to track how they were doing. The Comptometer, invented in Chicago by Dorr E. Felt in the mid-1880s, was one of the first machines that sold successfully to help with this work. This key-driven machine is one of the first eight Felt built for customers. It has eight columns of metal keys with nine keys in each column. The keys are stamped with the digits from 1 to 9. The case is of cherry, with a metal plate at the front. Nine windows in this metal plate reveal digits on nine number wheels that indicate the total. A zeroing lever and knob are on the left side of the machine.
This particular Comptometer was used for many years by Joseph S. McCoy, Actuary of the U.S. Treasury. Felt and his associates would greatly improve the machine, and sell it successfully throughout much of the world.
References:
U.S. Patent 366945, (Application July 6, 1887, granted July 19, 1887); U.S. Patent 371496 (application March, 1887, granted October 11, 1887).
Accession Journal 1991.3107.06.
J. A. V. Turck, Origin of Modern Calculating Machines, Chicago: Western Society of Engineers, 1921.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1886
maker
Felt, Dorr E.
ID Number
MA.273035
catalog number
273035
accession number
54244
This lever-set printing manual adding machine has an etched steel case painted black. Seven levers that move in circular arcs between slots in the front of the case.
Description
This lever-set printing manual adding machine has an etched steel case painted black. Seven levers that move in circular arcs between slots in the front of the case. The case is painted along the edges of the slots with the digits from 0 to 9 (large and in black and white) and 9 to 0 (small and in red). The large digits are used in addition, the small ones in subtraction. Corresponding to each digit is a corrugation or depression in the cover. Digits are set by placing the index finger in the corresponding depression and raising the lever by the thumb until it is stopped by the finger. They are entered by moving down a metal handle with a wooden knob on the right side. If the red clear key to the left of the levers is pressed down, moving the knob zeros the machine.
The result appears in eight windows above the levers. Another handle, on the left side, zeros digits set incorrectly. The printing mechanism at the back top of the machine prints up to eight digits. This example has no paper tape. There are four rubber feet.
Compare 1986.0894.01. The American adding machine was introduced in 1914, and models 1 and 3 were made previous to October, 1917. By 1924, American adding machines were made by the American Adding Machine Company of Chicago.
The machine is marked on a plaque attached to the front: AMERICAN (/) ADDING MACHINE (/) AMERICAN CAN COMPANY (/) ADDING MACHINE DIVISION (/) CHICAGO, ILL. No. It is also marked there: PAT. AUG. 27, 1912 (/) OTHER PATS. PEND. It is marked under the levers: PAY ROLL DISTRIBUTION - SEE INSTRUCTIONS.
Reference:
J. H. McCarthy, The American Digest of Business Machines, Chicago: American Exchange Service, 1924, p. 27, 518.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
maker
American Can Company Adding Machine Division
ID Number
MA.316199
accession number
224213
catalog number
316199

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