Science & Mathematics

Chemical Balance

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.

Place: Philadelphia

Chromolithograph of bird species "Phalacrocorax Brasilianus"

Thomas Sinclair (ca 1805-1881) of Philadelphia produced this chromolithographic print of "Phalacrocorax brasilianus [GM]" or Neotropic cormorant, from an original illustration by William Dreser (ca 1820, fl. 1849-1860).
Description (Brief)
Thomas Sinclair (ca 1805-1881) of Philadelphia produced this chromolithographic print of "Phalacrocorax brasilianus [GM]" or Neotropic cormorant, from an original illustration by William Dreser (ca 1820, fl. 1849-1860). The image was published as Plate XXVIII in Volume 2, following page 204 of Appendix F (Zoology-Birds) by John Cassin (1813-1869) in the report describing "The U.S. Naval Astronomical Expedition to the Southern Hemisphere during the Years 1849, 1850, 1851, and 1852" by James M. Gillis (1811-1865). The volume was printed in 1855 by A. O. P. Nicholson (1808-1876) of Washington, D.C.
Location
Currently not on view
date of book publication
1855
graphic artist
Sinclair, Thomas
original artist
Dreser, William
publisher
United States Navy
printer
Nicholson, A. O. P.
author
Cassin, John
Gilliss, James Melville
ID Number
2008.0175.02
accession number
2008.0175
catalog number
2008.0175.02

Engraved printing plate "Pleiodus strigirostris"

This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image of "Pleiodus strigirostris" (now Didunculus strigirostris - Tooth-billed Pigeon or Samoan Pigeon) for the publication "United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842," Volume 8, Mammalo
Description (Brief)
This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image of "Pleiodus strigirostris" (now Didunculus strigirostris - Tooth-billed Pigeon or Samoan Pigeon) for the publication "United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842," Volume 8, Mammalogy and Ornithology, plate 34, in the edition Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1858. The engraving was produced by W. H. Dougal after T. R. Peale.
Description
William H. Dougal (1822–1895) of New York and Washington, D.C., (after 1844) engraved this copper printing plate after a drawing by Expedition Naturalist Titian Ramsey Peale. The image depicts the Pleiodus strigirostris (now Didunculus strigirostris, Tooth billed pigeon or Samoan Pigeon). The engraved illustration was published as Plate 34 in Volume VIII, Mammalogy and Ornithology, by John Cassin, 1858.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1858
publisher
Wilkes, Charles
original artist
Peale, Titian Ramsay
graphic artist
Dougal, William H.
printer
Sherman, Conger
author
Cassin, John
ID Number
1999.0145.414
catalog number
1999.0145.414
accession number
1999.0145

Joseph Priestley

In the late 1790s at the behest of the American Philosophical Society, the American artist, Gilbert Stuart (1756-1828), began working on a half-length oil portrait of Joseph Priestley, the famous English chemist and political dissident who had recently settled in the United State
Description
In the late 1790s at the behest of the American Philosophical Society, the American artist, Gilbert Stuart (1756-1828), began working on a half-length oil portrait of Joseph Priestley, the famous English chemist and political dissident who had recently settled in the United States. This portrait showed Priestley wearing a white stock and dark vest and jacket, his head turned slightly to his right, his hair parted in the middle and hanging low on his neck.
Although he had received American funds for this project, Stuart sold the portrait to T. B. Barclay, an Englishman who visited his Boston studio. After taking the painting to his home near Liverpool, Barclay hired an English artist named William Artaud to complete the parts that Stuart had left unfinished. He also let Artaud make three oil copies of the portrait. One copy came into the possession of Priestley’s descendants in Pennsylvania, and it was from this that American artist, Albert Rosenthal (1863-1939), made this copy. The American Chemical Society presented to the Smithsonian in 1921.
Ref: Henry C. Bolton, ed., The Scientific Correspondence of Joseph Priestley (New York, 1892), pp. 177-179.
Robert E. Schofield, The Enlightened Joseph Priestley (University Park, Pa., 2004).
Edgar Fahs Smith to Albert Rosenthal, Oct. 28, 1921, in Albert Rosenthal papers, Archives of American Art.
Charles M. Mount, “Gilbert Stuart in Washington: With a Catalogue of his Portraits Painted between December 1803 and July 1805,” Records of the Columbia Historical Society 71-72 (1972): 81-127, on pp. 103, 119.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
PH.318492
catalog number
318492
accession number
67389

Engraved printing plate "Scolopax meridionalis, Zaporina umbrina"

This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image of "Scolopax meridionalis, Zapornia umbrina" (now Galinago shicklandii - Cordilleran snipe and Porzana porzana - Spotted Crake) for the publication "United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840,
Description (Brief)
This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image of "Scolopax meridionalis, Zapornia umbrina" (now Galinago shicklandii - Cordilleran snipe and Porzana porzana - Spotted Crake) for the publication "United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842," Volume 8, Mammalogy and Ornithology, plate 35, in the edition Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1858. The engraving was produced by W. H. Dougal after W. E. Hitchcock.
Description
William H. Dougal (1822–1895) of New York and Washington, D.C. (after 1844) engraved this copper printing plate after drawings by William E. Hitchcock. The image depicts the Scolopax meridionalis (now Galinago shicklandii, or Cordilleran snipe) and Zapornia umbrina (now Porzana porzana, or Spotted Crake). The engraved illustration was published as Plate 35 in Volume VIII, Mammalogy and Ornithology, by John Cassin, 1858.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1858
publisher
Wilkes, Charles
original artist
Hitchcock, W. E.
graphic artist
Dougal, William H.
printer
Sherman, Conger
author
Cassin, John
maker
Peale, Titian Ramsay
ID Number
1999.0145.415
catalog number
1999.0145.415
accession number
1999.0145

Engraved printing plate "Ichthyology, Pl."

This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image showing four fish species in the never published Volume 21-22, Ichthyology, part of the series of publications the "United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842." The plate images wer
Description (Brief)
This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image showing four fish species in the never published Volume 21-22, Ichthyology, part of the series of publications the "United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842." The plate images were engraved by W. H. Dougal after Joseph Drayton.
Description
William H. Dougal (1822–1895) of New York and Washington, D.C., (after 1844) engraved this copper printing plate depicting four species of fish documented by the U.S. Exploring Expedition. The illustrations were to be published in Volumes XXII and XXIII, Ichthyology, by Louis Agassiz. Dougal engraved 26 of the 28 plates for this volume which was never printed.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1849
1862
publisher
Wilkes, Charles
original artist
Drayton, Joseph
graphic artist
Dougal, William H.
author
Agassiz, Louis
ID Number
1999.0145.435
accession number
1999.0145
catalog number
1999.0145.435

Engraved printing plate "Ichthyology, Pl."

This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image showing three species of shark in the never published Volume 21-22, Ichthyology, part of the series of publications the "United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842." The plate image
Description (Brief)
This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image showing three species of shark in the never published Volume 21-22, Ichthyology, part of the series of publications the "United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842." The plate images were engraved by W. H. Dougal after Joseph Drayton.
Description
William H. Dougal (1822–1895) of New York and Washington, D.C., (after 1844) engraved this copper printing plate depicting three species of shark documented by the U.S. Exploring Expedition. The engraved illustrations were to be published in volumes XXII and XXIII, Ichthyology, by Louis Agassiz. Dougal engraved 26 of the 28 plates for this volume which was never printed.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1849
publisher
Wilkes, Charles
original artist
Drayton, Joseph
graphic artist
Dougal, William H.
author
Agassiz, Louis
ID Number
1999.0145.437
accession number
1999.0145
catalog number
1999.0145.437

Engraved printing plate "Ptilouopus Perousei"

This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image of "Ptilonopus Perousei" (now Many-colored Fruit Dove, Ptilinopus perousii Peale (S.
Description (Brief)
This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image of "Ptilonopus Perousei" (now Many-colored Fruit Dove, Ptilinopus perousii Peale (S. polynesia)) for the publication "United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842," Volume 8, Mammalogy and Ornithology, plate 33, in the edition Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1858. The engraving was produced by Robert Hinshelwood after T. R. Peale.
Description
Robert Hinshelwood (1812–after 1875) of New York City engraved this copper printing plate after a drawing by Expedition Naturalist Titian Ramsey Peale. The image depicts the Ptilonopus Perousei (now Many-colored Fruit Dove, Ptilinopus perousii Peale [S. polynesia]). The engraved illustration was published as Plate 33 in Volume VIII, Mammalogy and Ornithology, by John Cassin, 1858.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1858
publisher
Wilkes, Charles
original artist
Peale, Titian Ramsay
graphic artist
Hinshelwood, Robert
printer
Sherman, Conger
author
Cassin, John
ID Number
1999.0145.413
catalog number
1999.0145.413
accession number
1999.0145

Chromolithograph of "Fort Massachusetts at the Foot of the Sierra Blanca Valley of San Luis"

This tinted lithograph of “Fort Massachusetts at the Foot of the Sierra Blanca Valley of San Luis" was produced by Thomas Sinclair (1805-1881), Philadelphia, after a sketch by John Mix Stanley (1814-1872) and an original sketch by expedition artist R. H. Kern (1821-1853).
Description
This tinted lithograph of “Fort Massachusetts at the Foot of the Sierra Blanca Valley of San Luis" was produced by Thomas Sinclair (1805-1881), Philadelphia, after a sketch by John Mix Stanley (1814-1872) and an original sketch by expedition artist R. H. Kern (1821-1853). It was printed as a plate in Volume II following page 38, in the "Report of Explorations for a Route for the Pacific Railroad, by Captain J. W. Gunnison (1812-1853), Topographical Engineers, Near the 38th and 39th Parallels of North Latitude, from the Mouth of the Kansas River, Missouri to the Sevier Lake in the Great Basin" by Lieutenant E. G. Beckwith (1818-1881), Third Artillery.
The volume was printed as part of the "Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean" in 1855 by A. P. O. Nicholson (1808-1876) of Washington, D.C.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1855
engraver
Stanley, John Mix
artist
Kern, Richard H.
printer
Sinclair, T.
publisher
U.S. War Department
author
Beckwith, Edward Griffin
Gunnison, John Williams
printer
Tucker, Beverley
publisher
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Topographic Command
ID Number
GA.10729.27
accession number
62261

Barrett Model 123E Adding Machine

This full-keyboard printing electric adding machine has a metal case painted black and nine columns of black and white color-coded keys. The steel keyboard is painted green. To the left of the keyboard are a non-print lever and a subtract lever.
Description
This full-keyboard printing electric adding machine has a metal case painted black and nine columns of black and white color-coded keys. The steel keyboard is painted green. To the left of the keyboard are a non-print lever and a subtract lever. To the right are a subtotal key, a total key, an add bar, a repeat key, a correction key, and a non-add key. Above the keyboard is a set of small dials that indicates totals. Next to these on the left is a crank that may be used to shift the dials to the left or to the right in multiplication.
Behind the dials are the ribbon, printing mechanism, and narrow fixed carriage. This example has no paper tape. There are 13 type bars, and 12-digit results may be shown. The spools for the ribbon are under metal covers which are screwed down. At the back of the machine, outside the case, is the motor. The cord is cloth-covered. The legs at the back of the machine are longer than those in front, so that the machine sits at an angle.
The machine is marked on the front: Barrett Desk Electric (/) REG. U.S. PAT. OFF. (/) LANSTON MONOTYPE MACHINE COMPANY (/) PHILADELPHIA, PA. U.S.A.; It is marked on a metal tag attached to the front of the machine: MODEL ROOM. It is also marked there: 133820-123E; It is marked on a white paper tag attached to the machine: to E. Racz 11-22-44K. It is marked on a red paper tag attached to the machine: PATENT DEPT. (/) #149. The machine is from the Patent Division of Burroughs Corporation.
References:
American Office Machines Reference Services, May, 1939, 3.21, p. 1-6 describes this model.
Ernst Martin, The Calculating Machines, pp. 240-243, indicates that a manual Barrett machine was introduced in 1910, with production passing to Lanston Monotype in 1922. No electric Barrett machines are shown in McCarthy, American Digest of Business Machines, 1924 or in the Business Machines and Equipment Digest for 1928.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1940
maker
Lanston Monotype Machine Company
ID Number
1982.0794.26
catalog number
1982.0794.26
accession number
1982.0794

Rectangular Protractor Sold by McAllister & Co.

This ivory rectangular protractor is three times larger in area than many surviving ivory rectangular protractors from the nineteenth century, which tend to be short and narrow enough to fit in a pocket.
Description
This ivory rectangular protractor is three times larger in area than many surviving ivory rectangular protractors from the nineteenth century, which tend to be short and narrow enough to fit in a pocket. (See MA.335349, MA.321754, and MA.321014.) Catalogs of the time period advertise foot-long rectangular protractors comparable to this one, but at approximately $12 each, they were 3 to 8 times as expensive as 6-inch versions. Thus, surveyors probably did not purchase and use the large protractors as often.
This protractor is graduated to half-degrees and marked by tens from 10 to 170 in both the clockwise and counterclockwise directions. The interior of the protractor contains a maker's mark: LONDON MADE. FOR MCALLISTER & CO. PHILADELPHIA. The front of the protractor also contains a diagonal scale; a scale of chords which is divided by half-degrees and marked by tens from 10 to 90; and scales for dividing 1 inch into 10, 20, and 30 parts. These scales were used to create drawings in which 1 inch represented 1, 2, and 3 feet, respectively.
A chain scale is on the bottom edge of the protractor, facing outwards (i.e., appearing upside-down as one looks at the front of the protractor). The scale is graduated to half-units and marked by ones from 1 to 44 and from 44 to 1. The numbers from 44 to 1 are called an "offset." Ten units on the scale total 1/4" in length. A surveyor's chain was 66 feet long and contained 100 links. Thus, this chain scale represented 4 links to each inch. The number 40 (described as a "line of 40" or a "scale of 40" in trade catalogs) is marked at the midpoint of the protractor, in between the chain scale and the scale dividing 1 inch into 30 parts. The markings are worn off the protractor in a few places.
The back of the protractor bears scales for dividing the inch into 80, 60, 55, 50, 45, 40, 35, and 30 parts. There are also scales for 1/8, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 5/8, 3/4, 7/8, and 1 inch to the foot. The protractor is stored in a black and red leather and cardboard case that is badly worn.
William Young McAllister (1812–1896) was a third-generation optician and dealer of mathematical instruments in Philadelphia. His firm was known as McAllister & Co. between 1836 and 1853. From 1830 to 1836, he partnered with his father, John McAllister Jr., and between 1853 and 1865 he partnered with his brother, Thomas, who subsequently worked as an optician in New York City. This protractor is slightly different from the 12-inch ivory protractor described in McAllister's 1867 catalog: this object is 1/4" wider; there are eleven scales of equal parts instead of ten; there are eight scales of feet and inches instead of twelve; there is one scale of chords instead of two; and there is a chain scale. John C. Armstrong of Washington, D.C., donated the protractor to the Smithsonian in 1933.
References: William Ford Stanley, Mathematical Drawing and Measuring Instruments 6th ed. (London: E. & F. N. Spon, 1888), 227–230; Catalogue of Keuffel & Esser, 33rd ed. (New York, 1909), 176; "McAllister Family Business Timeline," The John A. McAllister Collection, Library Company of Philadelphia, http://www.librarycompany.org/mcallister/pdf/McAllister%20family%20business%20timeline.pdf; A Priced and Illustrated Catalogue of Mathematical Instruments . . . Sold Wholesale and Retail by William Y. McAllister (Philadelphia, 1867), 25; Peggy A. Kidwell, "James Prentice's Rectangular Protractor," Rittenhouse 1, no. 3 (1987): 61–63.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1836-1853
maker
McAllister, William Young
ID Number
MA.310743
accession number
127352
catalog number
310743

Irregular Curve or French Curve, Possibly Queen and Company Catalog #918, #22

This long, relatively thin transparent plastic curve has a single relatively narrow opening in the bottom half. Similar but not identical curves were sold by Dietzgen and by Keuffel & Esser Company.
Description
This long, relatively thin transparent plastic curve has a single relatively narrow opening in the bottom half. Similar but not identical curves were sold by Dietzgen and by Keuffel & Esser Company. Dietzgen assigned the curve number 18 (part of catalog entry 2152 in the 1926 catalog), while Keuffel & Esser gave it the number 20 (part of catalog entry 1860 in the 1921 catalog). A mark on the object reads: 22. In its 1883 catalog, James Queen and Company listed a similar curve made out of hard rubber as catalog number 653, #22. However, it does not list plastic curves in this catalog. In a 1922 catalogue, Queen lists a curve very similar to this one as number 22. It cost eighty cents in pearwood, one dollar in rubber, and $1.20 in celluloid.
References:
Eugene Dietzgen Company, Catalog, 1926, p. 221.
James W. Queen and Company, Catalogue, 1883, p. 57. This catalog has no celluloid curves.
Queen & Co., Inc., Catalogue of Engineering Instruments and Materials, rev., Part I, Philadelphia, by 1922, p. 160. These curves have catalog number 918 (in celluloid). The catalog is in the James W. Queen & Company Collection in the NMAH Archives Center.
Keuffel & Esser Company, Catalogue, 1921, p. 148.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1910
maker
Queen and Company
ID Number
MA.304722.10
accession number
1973304722
catalog number
304722.10

Baldwin Arithmometer

This is the United States Patent Office model for a machine for adding a column of digits patented by Frank S. Baldwin, who is listed on the patent as a resident of Philadelphia.
Description
This is the United States Patent Office model for a machine for adding a column of digits patented by Frank S. Baldwin, who is listed on the patent as a resident of Philadelphia. It is the second of several patents Baldwin filed relating to adding and calculating machines.
The machine's back is roughly a half-disc, with the digits from 0 to 9 engraved across the top. A steel arrow rotates to point to any one of these digits. Rotating a brass knob returns the arrow to place. The knob is linked by gears to a small movable carriage at the base of the device. Returning the knob to its original position rotates two small register wheels. One of the wheels records the sum of the number entered and the number already set in the wheels. The other records the complement of this number. There are four sets of register wheels, linked to one another so that the machine carries, hence the machine may add numbers up to 9999.
A committee of J. W Nystrom, John Groesbeck, and Pliney E. Chase commented favorably on this machine before the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. It received the Scott Medal of the Franklin Institute in 1874, and was produced in small numbers.
References:
U.S. Patent 153,522, July 28, 1874.
Thomas A. Russo Sr., and Conrad Schure, “The Calculating Engines of Frank S. Baldwin,” Rittenhouse, 11 #3 (May 1997), pp. 93-96.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1874
patentee
Baldwin, Frank S.
maker
Baldwin, Frank S.
ID Number
MA.308935
accession number
89797
catalog number
308935

Patent Model for Circular Slide Rule Invented by John W. Nystrom

The expansion of American engineering in the nineteenth century created a new market for aids to computation.
Description
The expansion of American engineering in the nineteenth century created a new market for aids to computation. The Swedish-born Philadelphia engineer, John William Nystrom (1824–1885), contributed to this movement by inventing a circular slide rule in 1848 and writing a pocket book of mathematical tables that was reprinted at least 21 times between 1854 and 1895.
This is the patent model for Nystrom's calculator. The surface is a brass disc that rests on three wooden feet. It has two graduated brass arms, pivoted about a central spindle, which may be clamped to any desired angular separation and rotated together. Glass magnifiers are attached to both arms. A small dial on the top of the central knob can be moved to record rotations of more than one full circle.
There are four unlabeled circles on the calculating rule, here called a, b, c, and d. They go from the outer rim inward. Circle b is divided into 20 equal parts. Subdivisions of these parts are represented by a series of parallel curves extending between the outer rim and circle b. These, in combination with scales marked on the rim of the arms, allow one to measure subdivisions of the distance between equal parts. The outermost circle (a) is a logarithmic scale ranging from 1 to 10 twice. A series of lines between the two outer circles give intermediate values, which are read from the rotating arms. The circle c, just inside b, is divided from 0 to 90 degrees so that the sine of an angle indicated is given on the outer circle a. The parts of the scale are unequal, with the tens value of degrees from 10 to 49 indicated by large digits. The innermost circle d is divided for finding cosines.
Nystrom promoted the device and solicited a manufacturer in the May 17, 1851, issue of Scientific American. By 1852, he offered the device at three price points, $10.00, $15.00, and $20.00. He was likely making the instrument himself. From 1864 to 1887, the Philadelphia firm established by William J. Young sold Nystrom calculators that were probably handcrafted by George Thorsted. It is unlikely that more than one hundred of these devices ever existed.
References: J. W. Nystrom, "Calculating-Machine" (U.S. Patent 7,961 issued March 4, 1851); Description and Key to Nystrom's Calculator (Philadelphia, 1854), http://history-computer.com/Library/Nystrom's%20Calculator.pdf; "Nystrom's New Calculating Machine," Scientific American 6, no. 35 (May 17, 1851): 273; "Nystrom's Calculating Machine," Scientific American 7, no. 36 (May 22, 1852): 284; John W. Nystrom, Pocket-Book of Mechanics and Engineering, 10th ed. (Philadelphia, 1867); Robert C. Miller, "Nystrom's Calculator," Journal of the Oughtred Society 4, no. 2 (1995): 7–13; Peggy A. Kidwell, "Nystrom's Calculating Rule," Rittenhouse 1 (1987): 102–105.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
before 1851
patentee
Nystrom, John William
maker
Nystrom, John William
ID Number
MA.252682
catalog number
252682
accession number
49064

Groesbeck's Calculating Machine

This stylus-operated non-printing flat adding machine has five cogged, linked wheels. Five windows at the bottom show sums of numbers entered. Five windows at the top show complementary digits and are used in subtraction.
Description
This stylus-operated non-printing flat adding machine has five cogged, linked wheels. Five windows at the bottom show sums of numbers entered. Five windows at the top show complementary digits and are used in subtraction. The outer casing of the instrument is nickel-plated brass, the mechanism is brass. The device lacks a stylus. It is marked: GROESBECK’S CALCULATING MACHINE (/) PATENTED MAR. 18 1870. It is also marked: ZIEGLER & McCURDY (/) PHILAPA.CINN.O.CHICAGO,ILL. (/) ST.LOUIS,MO.SPRINGFIELD,MASS.
This machine is the invention of John Groesbeck (1834-1884), a consulting accountant, operator of the Crittenden Commercial College in Philadelphia, and author of several textbooks on commercial arithmetic. It apparently was his only invention. According to a review in the Philadelphia School Journal, it sold for $6.00 in 1871. The firm of Ziegler & McCurdy dissolved in 1872, suggesting that this object was made quite near the time of the patent. It was given to the Smithsonian in 1944 as a gift of Lt. John P. Roberts of the U.S. Naval Reserve.
References:
John Groesbeck, “Improvement in Adding-Machines," U.S. Patent 100,288, March 1, 1870.
“Groesbeck’s Calculating Machine,” Pennsylvania School Journal, vol. 19 #7, January, 1871., p. 216.
E. Martin, The Calculating Machines (Die Rechenmaschinen), trans. P. A. Kidwell and M. R. Williams, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992, p. 383.
George P. Donehoo, editor. Pennsylvania A History - Biographical, Chicago/New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., Inc., 1928, 290 to291.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1870
patentee
Groesbeck, John
maker
Ziegler & McCurdy
ID Number
MA.312824
accession number
167256
catalog number
312824

James W. Queen & Co. Triangular Offset for Architect's Rule

This three-inch triangular boxwood rule is grooved on each side. The top edge of one side is divided to 1/10" and numbered by ones from 0 to 3. The bottom edge is divided to 1/50" and numbered by twos from 0 to 14. This side is marked: QUEEN & CO.
Description
This three-inch triangular boxwood rule is grooved on each side. The top edge of one side is divided to 1/10" and numbered by ones from 0 to 3. The bottom edge is divided to 1/50" and numbered by twos from 0 to 14. This side is marked: QUEEN & CO. PHILAD'A.
The second side is divided to 1/60" and numbered by twos from 0 to 18 along one edge and divided to 1/30" and numbered by twos from 0 to 8 on the other edge. The third side is divided to 1/40" and numbered by twos from 0 to 12 along one edge and divided to 1/20" and numbered by ones from 0 to 6.
James W. Queen of Philadelphia sold a two-inch triangular boxwood scale for offsets as model 464-1/2 from at least 1874 to at least 1884 for 75¢. No three-inch scale is mentioned in catalogs from this time period. The Department of Mathematics at Brown University gave this object to the Museum in 1973.
References: James W. Queen & Co., Priced and Illustrated Catalogue and Descriptive Manual of Mathematical Instruments and Materials (Philadelphia, 1874), 41; James W. Queen & Co., Priced and Illustrated Catalogue and Descriptive Manual of Mathematical Instruments and Materials (Philadelphia, 1884), 44.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 19th century
Maker
Queen & Co.
ID Number
MA.304722.05
accession number
304722
catalog number
304722.05

Reuter's Calculating Machine

This stepped drum manual non-printing calculating machine has a brass top that fits closely into a roll-top wooden case. The top is stuck and cracked at the front. The seven German silver levers on the machine (another one is missing) are rotated counterclockwise to set digits.
Description
This stepped drum manual non-printing calculating machine has a brass top that fits closely into a roll-top wooden case. The top is stuck and cracked at the front. The seven German silver levers on the machine (another one is missing) are rotated counterclockwise to set digits. The number entered appears in a row of windows over the levers.
Above this is a steel rod with one sliding decimal marker. The operating handle is right of the levers. The zeroing lever for the entry and the addition & multiplication / subtraction & division lever are left of the levers. Left of this is a small empty compartment with room for an inkwell and cover.
Behind the levers is a carriage with nine revolution register windows and 16 result register windows. Both registers have thumbscrews for setting numbers and two decimal markers that slide on steel rods. The revolution register does not carry as numbers are added. When the entry in the result register would become negative (as it might in subtraction or division), a bell rings. It rings again if a number is added so the result is once again zero or positive. There are four rubber feet. The brass stepped drums are visible through a sliding panel in the bottom of the case. Metal lifting handles are on both ends of the machine.
The machine is marked above the entry levers: REUTER’S (/) MULTIPLYING AND DIVIDING MACHINE (/) PHILADELPHIA,PA. It is marked on metal tags near the front of the case: D.R.G.M. 394014 and: AUSL. PAT. ANGEM. It is marked under the crank: D.R.G.M. (/) 329403. It is marked to the left of the entry levers: PATENT (/) GERMANY. The serial number marked below the carriage on the left side of the machine and at the center back edge of the case is 3100. A slip of paper under the glass is marked: Received for trial MAY 27 1913 (/) overhauled (/) and (/) returned June 4 1922.
This is an example of the Saxonia calculating machine, made by Schumann and Company in the German city of Glasshütte, and imported and distributed by the Philadelphia firm of Carl H. Reuter. It is from the collection of Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company.
Reference:
E. Martin, The Calculating Machines (die Rechenmaschinen), trans. P. A. Kidwell and M. R. Williams, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992, pp. 126–127.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1913
maker
Schumann & Cie.
ID Number
MA.323596
catalog number
323596
accession number
250163

Topoangulator, an Instrument for Photogammetry, with Manual for Trimetrogon

During and after World War II, the U.S. armed forces took extensive photographs using a system of three cameras known as a trimetrogon camera. These cameras took one vertical and two oblique photographs simultaneously, for use in topographic mapping.
Description
During and after World War II, the U.S. armed forces took extensive photographs using a system of three cameras known as a trimetrogon camera. These cameras took one vertical and two oblique photographs simultaneously, for use in topographic mapping. Various instruments were used to reduce data from the photographs to useful form. According to the mark on the case, this instrument was a topoangulator, used to measure vertical angles in the principal plane of oblique photographs (particularly those taken by a trimetrogon camera). The instrument has a metal base with handles at each end and two sets of scales. A square metal plate is also included, as well as a 1953 manual relating to the measurement of trimetrogon photographs. The diagrams in the manual do not show this instrument.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1953
maker
Theodore Alteneder and Sons
ID Number
MA.333659
accession number
300659
catalog number
333659

William W. Wythes Cyclo-Ellipto-Pantograph Patent Model

This is the patent model for a drawing devices granted U.S. Patent 21,041 to William W. Wythes on July 27, 1858.
Description
This is the patent model for a drawing devices granted U.S. Patent 21,041 to William W. Wythes on July 27, 1858. “Be it known that I, WILLIAM WYTHES, of the city of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Instrument for Drawing and Copying.” (U.S. Patent Application). The Smithsonian also owns a patent model by Wythes for a cloth-measuring machine (U.S. Patent 18313). (The original patent drawings and descriptions can be viewed at Google Patents.) Special about this patent model is that the inventor has engraved “Wm W Wythes, inventor” on the large brass disc on the model.
Wythes was awarded a degree in medicine from Philadelphia College of Medicine in July 1851. He served as an assistant surgeon in the U.S. Volunteers, part of the Union forces, during the Civil War and was singled out in the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1861--1865, as having been a notable member of the Asylum General Hospital in Knoxville during the war.
An oval shape, the ellipse is one of the four conic sections, the others being the circle, the parabola, and the hyperbola. Ellipses are important curves used in the mathematical sciences. For example, the planets follow elliptical orbits around the sun. Ellipses are required in surveying, engineering, architectural, and machine drawings for two main reasons. First, any circle viewed at an angle will appear to be an ellipse. Second, ellipses were common architectural elements, often used in ceilings, staircases, and windows, and needed to be rendered accurately in drawings. Several types of drawing devices that produce ellipses, called ellipsographs or elliptographs, were developed and patented in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The inventor claimed that the device could draw not only ellipses, but also epicycloids and spirals, thus the “cylco" in the title of the model. An epicycloid is the curve traced by a point on the circumference of a circle as it rolls about another circle. (See Schilling models 1982.0795.01, 1982.0795.02, 1982.0795.03, and 1982.0795.05 in the National Museum of American History collection.) As the name also implies, this device could be used as a pantograph, a mechanical devices used to copy line drawings. As the original drawing is traced, the pencil attached to the opposite end of the devices produces, through a series of linkages, a copy. The copy can also be scaled up or down in size. One common application of a pantograph (before the advent of computers) was to reduce the size of a drawing for use in minting money. For example, the original line drawings found on U.S. bills were full-size drawings. They were reduced and etched in order to be printed. Pantographs were also used, notably by Thomas Jefferson, for making a copy of a letter as the final draft of the original was being written out.
The Wythes Cyclo-Ellipto-Pantograph consists of a wooden beam of 38 cm (15 in) long. At one end is a large vertical brass disc with gear teeth on the back. This gear turns a horizontal disc that is attached to a brass beam under the device. There are two movable pieces along the beam. One is the pivot point of the device, under the wooden handle. The other is the writing point below the horizontal brass disc placed along the beam. As the large disc at the end of the beam is turned, the gears cause a chain (similar to a miniature bicycle chain) to circulate along the length of the beam. As the long brass beam beneath the device turns, the smaller brass beam below the movable disc traces a similar shape. By adjusting the location of the pivot point and the small horizontal disc, various shapes are formed. However, it is not clear that all the claims of the inventor are warranted. It appears that only portions of curves or ellipses can be generated. The device was offered in the J. W. Queen “Illustrated Catalogue” of 1859.
Resources:
Announcement of the Philadelphia College of Medicine, for the Collegiate Year, 1854-5, (Philadelphia: King and Baird, 1854), 13.
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1861-1865, (Washington, D.C.: National Archives, Microcopy 262, 1959), 537.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1858
maker
Wythes, William W.
ID Number
MA.308910
accession number
89797
catalog number
308910

Microscope

Microscope used by Charles Valentine Riley (1845-1895), a British-born entomologist who settled in the United States, worked for the Smithsonian Institution, and convinced Congress to create the United States Entomological Commission.
Description
Microscope used by Charles Valentine Riley (1845-1895), a British-born entomologist who settled in the United States, worked for the Smithsonian Institution, and convinced Congress to create the United States Entomological Commission. It is a compound monocular with coarse and fine focus, triple nosepiece, inclination joint, circular stage, and sub-stage iris diaphragm; the sub-stage mirror is missing. The inscription on the tri-leg base reads “Queen & Co. Philada” and “1392.”
This appears to be an Acme No. 3. Sidle & Poalk began making Acme microscopes in 1879. By 1880, the firm had moved from Philadelphia to Lancaster, and was trading as John W. Sidle & Co. and/or the Acme Optical Works. Queen & Co. took over production soon thereafter.
Describing the Queen business in April 1888, a reporter for Scientific American noted that “The microscopes of the various ‘Acme’ patterns are made here, these being finished up in lots of from 25 to 50 of a kind; many of the parts are made up by hundreds at a time. As the best drawn steel pinions to be found in the market have proved to be of insufficient exactness to make a perfect rack and pinion movement, all the pinions and racks used here in the manufacture of microscopes are cut by fine machinery specially adapted to this work. To secure smoothness in motion, each rack and pinion is ‘ground in.’ The making and adjustment of the rack and pinion is one of the most vital points of a microscope; indeed, it is an art of itself.”
Ref: James W. Queen & Co., Priced and Illustrated Catalogue of Microscopes and Accessories (Philadelphia, 1890), pp. 46-48.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1880-1900
maker
James W. Queen & Co.
ID Number
MG.124271
catalog number
M-9780
accession number
124271

Microscope

This is a compound monocular with rack-and-pinion, trunnion, tri-leg base, and one Crouch objective. The stage, large, solid and circular, has a screw that moves it from side to side, and a “J. W. Queen & Co. / PHILADA / 1184” inscription.
Description
This is a compound monocular with rack-and-pinion, trunnion, tri-leg base, and one Crouch objective. The stage, large, solid and circular, has a screw that moves it from side to side, and a “J. W. Queen & Co. / PHILADA / 1184” inscription. A printed paper tag in the wooden box reads “JAMES W. QUEEN & CO.” While this instrument was obviously sold by Queen, it may have been made by Bausch & Lomb. Indeed, it resembles the American Type (or Library) stand, model DD, that Bausch & Lomb described as “a good working, simple instrument” designed “to take the place of the unreliable cheap foreign microscopes.”
Ref: Bausch & Lomb, Microscopes, Microtomes, Apparatus for Photo-Micrography (Rochester, 1896), pp. 30-31.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1886-1896
maker
James W. Queen & Co.
ID Number
MG.M-11519
accession number
260035
catalog number
260035.13
M-11519

Merritt Beam Scale Slide Rule

This paper linear slide rule was designed to assist architects and construction workers with computing the strength of steel beams.
Description
This paper linear slide rule was designed to assist architects and construction workers with computing the strength of steel beams. There are seven scales: A, safe load in pounds per square foot; B, section of beams; C, spacing of beams in feet; D, span in feet; E, total safe load in net tons; F, manner of loading; G, span in feet. Scales A-B-C-D are meant to be used together, as are scales E-B-F-G. The back of the instrument gives instructions. The instrument fits in an orange paper envelope.
The front of the instrument and the envelope are marked: The Merritt Beam Scale (/) FOR COMPUTING THE STRENGTH OF STEEL BEAMS. They also are both marked: THE JOHN HOWARD HERRICK CO. (/) BALTIMORE, MD., U.S.A. and PRICE ONE DOLLAR. The front of the instrument also is marked: Copyright (/) 1899 (/) by (/) James S. Merritt (/) M.E. and PAT. JULY 1ST, 1902. This last mark refers to a patent for a "slide-scale" taken out on that date by the mechanical engineer James S. Merritt of Philadelphia. The Merritt Beam Scale was mentioned in a textbook as late as 1921.
Although the instrument is named for Merritt, its invention is credited to Edward Wager-Smith (1872–1920), who worked for Merritt & Co. of Philadelphia from 1893 to 1910. See also his Wager Timber Scale (1987.0108.01).
References: James S. Merritt, "Slide Scale" (U.S. Patent 703,437 issued July 1, 1902); "Wager-Smith, E.," National Cyclopaedia of American Biography (New York: James T. White, 1926), xix:136–137; Ernst McCullough, Practical Structural Design (New York: U.P.C. Co., 1921), 81.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1902-1921
maker
Wager-Smith, Edward
ID Number
1987.0108.02
accession number
1987.0108
catalog number
1987.0108.02

Wager Timber Scale Slide Rule

Edward Wager-Smith (1872–1920), a native of New Jersey, graduated from the Spring Garden Institute in Philadelphia in 1889 and in 1893 gained employment as a draftsman for Merritt & Company, a structural steel firm in Philadelphia.
Description
Edward Wager-Smith (1872–1920), a native of New Jersey, graduated from the Spring Garden Institute in Philadelphia in 1889 and in 1893 gained employment as a draftsman for Merritt & Company, a structural steel firm in Philadelphia. As he rose to the position of structural engineer by 1910, he invented the Wager Timber Scale and the Merritt Beam Scale (1987.0108.02). This rule assisted architects and construction workers with computing the strength of wooden beams. It has 11 scales: A, thickness in inches; B, depth in inches; C, spacing in feet; D, span in feet; E, fibre [sic] stress in pounds per square inch; F, load in pounds per square foot; G, type of wood; H, depth in inches; I, method of loading; J, span in feet; and K, fibre stress in pounds per square inch. Scales A-B-C-D-E-F are meant to be used together, as are scales A-B-I-J-K-L and scales G-H-I-J.
The back of the instrument gives government recommendations and regulations for safe stresses on wooden beams and a moisture classification chart by A. L. Johnson, "Economical Designing of Timber Trestle Bridges," U.S. Department of Agriculture Division of Forestry Bulletin No. 12 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1902), 11–12. The instrument fits in an orange paper envelope, which has instructions on its flap.
This rule was distributed by the John Howard Herrick Company of Baltimore, a dealer of hardware and building materials. A photographer by avocation, Wager-Smith also designed the Wager Exposure Scale (patented in 1901—see 1993.0386.01) for correctly timing photographic exposures and the Wager Definition Scale (copyright 1905—see 1993.0386.02 and PG*4750) for determining the longest exposure allowable to produce clearly defined images of moving objects.
The instrument is marked on the front and on the envelope: The Wager Timber Scale (/) FOR COMPUTING THE STRENGTH OF WOODEN BEAMS. It is also marked in both places: THE JOHN HOWARD HERRICK CO. (/) BALTIMORE, MD., U.S.A. It is also marked in both places: PRICE ONE DOLLAR. It is also marked on the front: PAT. JULY 1ST, 1902. This refers to a patent for a "slide-scale" resembling the Merritt Beam Scale and issued on that date to James S. Merritt of Philadelphia. The Wager Timber Scale was advertised for sale from Philadelphia by January 1905 and was mentioned in a textbook as late as 1921.
References: "Wager-Smith, E.," National Cyclopaedia of American Biography (New York: James T. White, 1926), xix:136–137; "Notes and Comment," The New Photo-Miniature 6, no. 3 (1904): 558; James S. Merritt, "Slide Scale" (U.S. Patent 703,437 issued July 1, 1902); "The Wager Timber Scale," Municipal Journal and Engineer 18, no. 1 (1905): 48; "Municipal and Technical Literature: New Publications," Municipal Engineering 29, no. 6 (1905): 448–449; Ernst McCullough, Practical Structural Design (New York: U.P.C. Co., 1921), 81.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1902-1921
maker
Wager-Smith, Edward
ID Number
1987.0108.01
accession number
1987.0108
catalog number
1987.0108.01

Instructions for Amsler's Polar Planimeter

In 1854 Jacob Amsler, a Swiss teacher and mathematician, devised a planimeter that did not need the cones or wheel-and-disc constructions of earlier instruments such as 1983.0474.02 and 1986.0633.01.
Description
In 1854 Jacob Amsler, a Swiss teacher and mathematician, devised a planimeter that did not need the cones or wheel-and-disc constructions of earlier instruments such as 1983.0474.02 and 1986.0633.01. His smaller and simpler device also used polar coordinates rather than the Cartesian coordinate system. Amsler established a workshop to produce polar planimeters, and he built a network of agents in Europe and the United States to distribute the instrument. Over 50,000 polar planimeters of at least six different types were sold by the time Amsler died in 1912, and the firm continued under his son's name (Alfred J. Amsler & Co.) until at least 1960.
This three-page leaflet was printed for one of Amsler's agents, Amsler & Wirz. Charles T. Amsler, a Swiss immigrant, and possibly a relative of Jacob Amsler, began to sell European instruments in Philadelphia in 1848 and briefly partnered with A. H. Wirz from 1855 to 1857. In 1861 C. T. Amsler sold his business to William Y. McAllister and returned to Switzerland.
The leaflet shows a Type 3 Amsler polar planimeter and explains how to use the instrument. Amsler & Wirz sold it for $20.00, filled orders within six weeks, and recommended the planimeter to draftsmen, engineers, surveyors, ship builders, architects, and machinists. The year 1856 is written in pencil at the top of the first page, and the top left corner is embossed with the words "Turkey Mill" and a ship, presumably referring to the English paper manufacturer. The leaflet was found in the Museum before 1984.
References: Peggy Aldrich Kidwell, "Planimeter," in Instruments of Science: An Historical Encyclopedia, ed. Robert Bud and Deborah Jean Warner (London: Garland Publishing, 1998), 467–469; Michael S. Mahoney, "Amsler (later Amsler-Laffon), Jakob," in Dictionary of Scientific Biography, ed. Charles Coulston Gillispie (New York: Scribner, 1970), i:147–148; C. T. Amsler's Illustrated Catalogue of Optical, Mathematical, and Philsophical Instruments (Philadelphia, 1855); C. T. Amsler and A. H. Wirz, advertisement, Ohio Journal of Education 4, no. 12 (December 1855): 411; C. T. Amsler, advertisement, Scientific American 13, no. 1 (September 12, 1857): 7; William Y. McAllister, A Priced and Illustrated Catalogue of Mathematical Instruments (Philadelphia, 1867), 9–11.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1856
maker
Amsler and Wirz
ID Number
1987.0107.10
accession number
1987.0107
catalog number
1987.0107.10

Reuter's Calculating Machine

This manually operated, non-printing calculating machine has a brass top painted black that fits closely into a roll-top wooden case, sloping toward the operator. Eight German silver levers on the machine rotate counterclockwise to set a digit.
Description
This manually operated, non-printing calculating machine has a brass top painted black that fits closely into a roll-top wooden case, sloping toward the operator. Eight German silver levers on the machine rotate counterclockwise to set a digit. The number entered appears in a row of windows over the levers. Above this row is a steel rod with one sliding decimal marker.
The handle for operating the machine is right of the levers. The zeroing lever for the entry, as well as the addition & multiplication / subtraction & division lever, are left of the eight German silver levers. Left of this is a compartment with room for an inkwell and loose pieces. The cover of this compartment is missing and it is empty.
Behind the levers is a carriage with nine revolution register windows and 16 result register windows. Both registers have thumbscrews for setting numbers and sliding decimal markers. There is no carry in the revolution register. Two levers on the right side of the carriage zero its registers.
When the entry in the result register would become negative (as in subtraction or division), a bell rings. It rings again if a number is added to bring the total to zero or more.
The brass stepped drums are visible through a sliding panel in the bottom of the case. Metal lifting handles are on both ends of the case.
The machine is marked above the entry windows: REUTER’S (/) MULTIPLYING AND DIVIDING MACHINE (/) PHILADELPHIA,PA. Metal tags toward the front of the machine read: D.R.G.M. 394014 and: AUSL. PAT. ANGEM. A mark under the operating crank reads: D.R.G.M. (/) 329403. A mark to the left of the entry levers reads: PATENT (/) DEUTSCHLAND No. 217048 (/) OSTERREICH ANGEM. The serial number, inscribed under the carriage on the machine at the right, is 1363.
This is an example of the Saxonia calculating machine made by Schumann and Company in the German city of Glasshütte, and imported and distributed by the Philadelphia firm of Carl H. Reuter. Reuter advertised as an importer of the Brunsviga and Burkhardt calculating machines in 1906. A machine with a later serial number is from 1913.
This machine was used at the Sproul Observatory of Swarthmore College.
Compare MA.323596.
References:
E. Martin, The Calculating Machines (die Rechenmaschinen), trans. P. A. Kidwell and M. R. Williams, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992, pp. 126–127.
Railway Age, 42, August 17, 1906, p. 219.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1910
distributor
Carl H. Reuter
maker
Schumann & Cie.
ID Number
1986.0684.01
catalog number
1986.0684.01
accession number
1986.0684

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