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.

Date: 1880s

Engraved woodblock of "Bringing down the batten"

This engraved woodblock of “Bringing down the batten” was prepared, after a photograph, by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Plate XXXVIII (p.390) in an article by Dr.
Description
This engraved woodblock of “Bringing down the batten” was prepared, after a photograph, by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Plate XXXVIII (p.390) in an article by Dr. Washington Matthews (1843-1905) entitled “Navajo Weavers” in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian, 1881-82.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884
publisher
Bureau of American Ethnology
printer
Government Printing Office
author
Matthews, Washington
Powell, John Wesley
block maker
A. P. J. & Co.
ID Number
1980.0219.1365
catalog number
1980.0219.1365
accession number
1980.0219

Model for Descriptive Geometry by A. Jullien - Angle of a Plane with Planes of Projection

Given plane APA’, c’ is a point on the intersection line of the plane with the vertical plane. Point b on the horizontal intersection of the plane is chosen so it that bc’ is perpendicular to PA. Connect b and c’ to from the red string.
Description
Given plane APA’, c’ is a point on the intersection line of the plane with the vertical plane. Point b on the horizontal intersection of the plane is chosen so it that bc’ is perpendicular to PA. Connect b and c’ to from the red string. The horizontal projection of bc’ is bc and the vertical projection is cc’. By rotating bc’ about bc to the horizontal, point C1 is found. Now angle cbC1 is the angle of the plane with the horizontal plane. Similarly, the angle bC1C is the angle with the vertical plane.
For more details, see COLL.1986.0885 and 1986.0885.01.01.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1880
maker
Jullien, A.
ID Number
1986.0885.01.24
catalog number
1986.0885.01.24
accession number
1986.0885

Engraved woodblock of "Weaving diamond-shaped diagonals"

This engraved woodblock of “Weaving diamond-shaped diagonals” was prepared, after a photograph, by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Plate XXXV (p.380) in an article by Dr.
Description
This engraved woodblock of “Weaving diamond-shaped diagonals” was prepared, after a photograph, by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Plate XXXV (p.380) in an article by Dr. Washington Matthews (1843-1905) entitled “Navajo Weavers” in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian, 1881-82.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884
publisher
Bureau of American Ethnology
printer
Government Printing Office
author
Matthews, Washington
block maker
W. T. & B.
ID Number
1980.0219.1359
catalog number
1980.0219.1359
accession number
1980.0219

Bouchet Adding Machine

This is the second form of the key-driven adding machine patented by Michael Bouchet (1827-1903), a French-born Catholic priest who came to the United states in 1853 and worked in Louisville, Kentucky, from 1860.
Description
This is the second form of the key-driven adding machine patented by Michael Bouchet (1827-1903), a French-born Catholic priest who came to the United states in 1853 and worked in Louisville, Kentucky, from 1860. Bouchet was of an inventive turn of mind, devising automatic snakes to frighten his acolytes, and a folding bed and fire escape for his own use. He had considerable responsibility for the financial affairs of his diocese and, according to his biographer, as early as the 1860s invented an adding machine to assist in keeping these accounts. Of these devices, Bouchet patented only later versions of the adding machine, taking out patents in 1882 and in 1885.
The machine added single columns of digits. Depressing a key depressed a lever and raised a curved bar with teeth on the inside of it. The teeth on the bar engaged a toothed pinion at the back of the machine, rotating it forward in proportion to the digit entered. A wheel at the left end of the roller turned forward, recording the entry. A pawl and spring then disengaged the curved bar, preventing the roller and recording bar from turning back again once the key was released. Two additional wheels to the left of the first one were used in carrying to the tens and hundreds places, so that the machine could record totals up to 99. Left of the wheels was a lever-driven tack and pinion zeroing mechanism.
This example of the machine has a tin cover and a brass base and nine key stems arranged in two rows (the keys are missing). It was the gift of Mrs. Joseph S. McCoy, widow of Joseph S. McCoy, Actuary of the U.S. Treasury from 1889 until his death in 1931. McCoy and his predecessor, Ezekial Brown Elliott, were most open to inventions in adding machines. According to one of McCoy’s colleagues, the Bouchet machine was left in the office by the inventor in the year 1890 or thereabouts to be tried out. Bouchet did not return.
This machine has serial number 960. Compare to 323620.
References:
Michael Bouchet, “Adding Machine,” U.S. Patent 251823, January 3, 1882.
Michael Bouchet, “ “Adding Machine,” U.S. Patent 314561, March 31, 1885.
Dan Walsh, Jr., The Stranger in the City, Louisville, Ky.: Hammer Printing Co., 1913, esp. pp. 49-70.
Accession File.
“Joseph Sylvester McCoy,” National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 24: p. 382.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1885
maker
Bouchet, Michael
ID Number
MA.310230
maker number
960
accession number
113246
catalog number
316230

Geometric Model by J. Schroeder, 19, Regular Tetrahedron

This wooden model of a regular tetrahedron has four equilateral triangles for sides.The model is part of a series of models sold by J. Schroeder of Darmstadt.
Description
This wooden model of a regular tetrahedron has four equilateral triangles for sides.
The model is part of a series of models sold by J. Schroeder of Darmstadt. The identity of the maker has been deduced from the similarity of the numbers stamped on models 1982.0795.39, 1982.0795.40, and 1982.0795.41 through 1982.0795.44 with the numbers of the Schroeder models of simple solids listed in the Johns Hopkins University Circular for January, 1885, p. 36. This list includes 41 wood models of simple solids and 10 wood models of quadric surfaces, and states that all were made by Schroeder. It also notes that Schroeder's agent in the U.S. was James W. Queen Company of Philadelphia. An 1884 catalog of Queen Company indicates that they sold three sets of Schroeder models of "simple solids", one with twelve pieces, one with forty pieces, and the third with 118 pieces. J. Schroeder was in business in Darmstadt from at least 1844 until at least 1893.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1889
ID Number
1982.0795.39
catalog number
1982.0795.39
accession number
1982.0795

Beaker

This beaker is made by Schott & Genossen. Short, squat beakers are referred to as Griffin beakers, differentiating them from taller, thinner beakers known as Berzelius beakers. The Griffin beaker’s name refers to John Joseph Griffin (1802–1877), an English chemistry enthusiast.
Description (Brief)
This beaker is made by Schott & Genossen. Short, squat beakers are referred to as Griffin beakers, differentiating them from taller, thinner beakers known as Berzelius beakers. The Griffin beaker’s name refers to John Joseph Griffin (1802–1877), an English chemistry enthusiast. His interest in bringing chemistry to the common man led him to publish popular works on the subject and eventually to begin supplying scientific apparatus, including his eponymous beakers.
Glastechnisches Laboratorium Schott und Genossen (Glass Technology Laboratory, Schott & Associates), later the Jenaer Glasswerk Schott & Gen. (Jena Glassworks, Schott & Associates), was founded in 1884 by Otto Schott (1851–1935), Ernst Abbe (1840–1905), Carl Zeiss (1816–1888), and Zeiss' son Roderick.
In 1881 Schott, a chemist from a family of glassmakers, and Abbe, a physicist with an interest in optics, formed a research partnership. Together they hoped to perfect a chemical glass formula for lenses in optical instruments like microscopes and telescopes. Their original goal was to develop glasses of high quality and purity with consistent optical properties. As their research expanded, they eventually developed the first borosilicate glasses. Their strength against chemical attack and low coefficient of thermal expansion made them better suited to the harsh circumstances of the chemical laboratory than any other glass.
Jena Glass quickly became a success among the scientific community, widely considered the best on the market until World War I.
Sources:
Baker, Ray Stannard. Seen in Germany. Chautauqua, N. Y.: 1908. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433043165608.
Cauwood, J.D., and W.E.S. Turner. “The Attack of Chemical Reagents on Glass Surfaces, and a Comparison of Different Types of Chemical Glassware.” Journal of the Society of Glass Technology 1 (1917): 153–62.
Hovestadt, Heinrich. Jena Glass and Its Scientific and Industrial Applications. London, New York: Macmillan, 1902.
Pfaender, H. G. Schott Guide to Glass. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012.
Sella, Andrea. “Classic Kit: Griffin’s Beaker.” Chemistry World, 2011. http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2011/August/GriffinsBeaker.asp.
Walker, Percy H. Comparative Tests of Chemical Glassware. Washington, D.C.: 1918. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015086545707.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1884
maker
Jena Glasswork, Schott & Associates
ID Number
MG.M-12931
catalog number
M-12931
accession number
286284
collector/donor number
191

Engraved woodblock of a "Bottle with geometric figures"

This engraved woodblock of a “Bottle with geometric figures” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Figure 166 (p.116) in an article by William Henry Holmes (1846-1933) entitled “Ancient Art of the Province of Chiriqui, Colo
Description
This engraved woodblock of a “Bottle with geometric figures” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Figure 166 (p.116) in an article by William Henry Holmes (1846-1933) entitled “Ancient Art of the Province of Chiriqui, Colombia” in the Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian,1884-85.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1888
publisher
Bureau of American Ethnology
graphic artist
Government Printing Office
author
Holmes, William Henry
ID Number
1980.0219.1061
catalog number
1980.0219.1061
accession number
1980.0219

Model for Descriptive Geometry by A. Jullien - Intersection of Two Planes with Parallel Horizontal Projections

Planes APA’ and BQB’ are parallel in the horizontal plane (see their respective horizontal projections AP and BQ) and intersect along line (o, c’)-(d, d’) (wire).
Description
Planes APA’ and BQB’ are parallel in the horizontal plane (see their respective horizontal projections AP and BQ) and intersect along line (o, c’)-(d, d’) (wire). This intersection is also parallel to the horizontal projections of the two planes (observe that cd is also parallel in the horizontal plane).
For more details, see COLL.1986.0885 and 1986.0885.01.01.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1880
maker
Jullien, A.
ID Number
1986.0885.01.15
catalog number
1986.0885.01.15
accession number
1986.0885

Model for Descriptive Geometry by A. Jullien - General Construction of the Intersection of a Line and a Plane

The plane APA’ is intersected by line bc’ represented by the black string. The red string represents a line on the plane which bc’ intersects at point (m, m’).
Description
The plane APA’ is intersected by line bc’ represented by the black string. The red string represents a line on the plane which bc’ intersects at point (m, m’). Horizontal and vertical projections of these lines are shown.
For more details, see COLL.1986.0885 and 1986.0885.01.01.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1880
maker
Jullien, A.
ID Number
1986.0885.01.17
catalog number
1986.0885.01.17
accession number
1986.0885

Model for Descriptive Geometry by A. Jullien - Rotation of a Point about an Axis in the Horizontal Plane

Point (m, m’) is rotated about line ab. Point n on the horizontal plane is the foot of the perpendicular from the point to line ab.
Description
Point (m, m’) is rotated about line ab. Point n on the horizontal plane is the foot of the perpendicular from the point to line ab. Point M1 is the result of rotation of the point about line nm; M2 is the result of rotation about line ab.
For more details, see COLL.1986.0885 and 1986.0885.01.01.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1880
maker
Jullien, A.
ID Number
1986.0885.01.11
catalog number
1986.0885.01.11
accession number
1986.0885

Telescope

Seth Chandler earned his living as an actuary but made his mark as an astronomer. His most important scientific achievement was the discovery of what became known as polar motion, the wobble of the Earth around its axis of rotation.
Description
Seth Chandler earned his living as an actuary but made his mark as an astronomer. His most important scientific achievement was the discovery of what became known as polar motion, the wobble of the Earth around its axis of rotation. He observed this phenomenon with a zenith telescope of his own design—which he called an "almucantar"—for viewing stars as they passed overhead. After the first example proved promising, he had a larger one made.
This telescope came from Chandler’s home in Vermont. It does not seem to be either of the almucantars described in his scientific papers, but it may have been part of the instrument for which he obtained a patent in 1881.
It has a cylindrical draw-tube telescope made of brass that measures 22¾ inches long when closed. The objective lens has a clear aperture of 2 inches. The tube is blackened on the inside, and has no internal diaphragms.
The lenses may have been figured by John Clacey, an optical instrument maker who worked in Cambridge, Ma., in the late 1870s, and who is credited with having made the optical elements of Chandler’s almucantars.
Ref: Seth Chandler, "Altitude Instrument," U.S. Patent 239,315 (1881).
Seth Chandler, “The Almucantar. An Investigation Made at the Observatory in 1884 and 1885,” Annals of the Harvard College Observatory 17 (1887): 1-222.
W. E. Carter and M. S. Carter, “Seth Carlo Chandler, Jr.,” Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (1995): 45-79.
“John Clacey—Optician,” Popular Astronomy 38 (1930): 472-477.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1880
ID Number
1980.0709.02
accession number
1980.0709
catalog number
1980.0709.02

Duplex Pendulum Seismograph

A paper label on this seismograph reads “Made from the Designs of Professor Ewing of Dundee, by the California Electric Works, 35 Market street, San Francisco; and recommended for use in California by Professor LeConte of Berkeley and by Professor Holden, Director of the Lick Obs
Description
A paper label on this seismograph reads “Made from the Designs of Professor Ewing of Dundee, by the California Electric Works, 35 Market street, San Francisco; and recommended for use in California by Professor LeConte of Berkeley and by Professor Holden, Director of the Lick Observatory.”
James Alfred Ewing was a young Scottish physicist/engineer who, while teaching in Tokyo in the years between 1878 and 1883, designed several seismographs. Among these was a duplex pendulum instrument that recorded the two horizontal components of earthquakes. It was, he claimed, “comparatively cheap and simple” and was “employed by many private observers in Japan.”
The Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company in England began manufacturing Ewing’s several seismographs in 1886. The first examples in the United States were installed in the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton and in the University of California at Berkeley. Edward Holden was then director of the former and president of the latter, and Joseph LeConte was professor of geology at Berkeley.
Enthusiastic about the new science of seismology, Holden and LeConte convinced Paul Seiler, head of an electrical apparatus supply firm in San Francisco, to manufacture duplex pendulum seismographs that would sell for $15 apiece (rather than the $75 charged by the English firm). Over a dozen examples are known to have been distributed across the country and around the world, some recording earthquakes as early as 1889. This one came to the Smithsonian in 1964, a gift of Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio.
Ref: Edward S. Holden, Handbook of the Lick Observatory (San Francisco, 1888), pp. 54-56.
Edward S. Holden and Joseph LeConte, “Use of the Ewing Duplex Seismometer” (1887), reprinted in Holden, “Earthquakes on the Pacific Coast,” Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 1087 (1898).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 1880s
maker
California Electrical Works
ID Number
PH.323669
catalog number
323669
accession number
251332

Microscope

This is a compound monocular designed for petrographic work. It has coarse and fine focus, analyzer in the tube, square stage with circular top graduated to degrees, sub-stage polarizer, sub-stage mirror, heavy horseshoe base, and wooden box.
Description
This is a compound monocular designed for petrographic work. It has coarse and fine focus, analyzer in the tube, square stage with circular top graduated to degrees, sub-stage polarizer, sub-stage mirror, heavy horseshoe base, and wooden box. The inscription on the tube reads “Dr. E. Hartnack / Potsdam.” The serial number “19544” appears on a smaller wooden box that holds seven lenses. A brass plate on the box reads “C. Whitman Cross.”
Edmund Hartnack (1826-1891) was an accomplished microscope maker in Paris who received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bonn in 1868, moved to Potsdam in 1870, at the start of the Franco-Prussian War, and adopted the "Dr. E. Hartnack" signature in 1879.
Charles Whitman Cross (1854-1959) was an American geologist who graduated from Amherst College, studied in Göttingen, and received a PhD from the University of Leipzig. His dissertation was supervised by Ferdinand Zirkel, an early proponent of microscopical petrography, the practice of using a polarizing microscope to observe thin sections of rocks. Joining the U.S. Geological Survey, Cross specialized in the classification of igneous rocks. He became an active member of the National Academy of Sciences, and an Associate in Petrology at the Smithsonian Institution.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1880
maker
Hartnack, Edmund
ID Number
2014.0264.02
catalog number
2014.0264.02
accession number
2014.0264

Engraved woodblock of the "Arikara sign for lie or falsehood"

This engraved woodblock of an “Arikara sign for a lie or falsehood” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the print was published in 1881 as Figure 233 (p.
Description
This engraved woodblock of an “Arikara sign for a lie or falsehood” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the print was published in 1881 as Figure 233 (p. 393) in an article by Garrick Mallery (1831-1894) entitled “Sign Language Among the North American Indians” in the First Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian, 1879-80.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1881
publisher
Bureau of American Ethnology
printer
Government Printing Office
author
Mallery, Garrick
block maker
V. W. & Co.
ID Number
1980.0219.0340
accession number
1980.0219
catalog number
1980.0219.0340

Engraved woodblock of a "Basket with pendants"

This engraved woodblock of “Basket with pendants” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C; the print was published as Figure 313 (p.213) in an article by William H.
Description
This engraved woodblock of “Basket with pendants” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C; the print was published as Figure 313 (p.213) in an article by William H. Holmes (1846-1933) entitled “A Study of the Textile Art in its Relation to the Development of Form and Ornament” in the Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian,1884-85.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1888
publisher
Bureau of American Ethnology
printer
Government Printing Office
author
Holmes, William Henry
ID Number
1980.0219.0504
accession number
1980.0219
catalog number
1980.0219.0504

Model for Descriptive Geometry by A. Jullien - Intersection of Two Planes Parallel to a Line on the Ground (The x-axis)

Planes CDD’C’ and ABB’A’ are both parallel to the x-axis (crease in the card). They intersect in line (e, e’)-(f, f’) (wire) which is also parallel to the x-axis. The planes can be visualize by imagining both red strings extending left and right.
Description
Planes CDD’C’ and ABB’A’ are both parallel to the x-axis (crease in the card). They intersect in line (e, e’)-(f, f’) (wire) which is also parallel to the x-axis. The planes can be visualize by imagining both red strings extending left and right. Both projections of this intersection are shown as well as the rotation of it about the horizontal line perpendicular to the x-axis PA.
For more details, see COLL.1986.0885 and 1986.0885.01.01.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1880
maker
Jullien, A.
ID Number
1986.0885.01.16
catalog number
1986.0885.01.16
accession number
1986.0885

Engraved woodblock of a "Navajo blanket"

This engraved woodblock of a "Navajo blanket" was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Figure 53 (p.387) in an article by Dr.
Description
This engraved woodblock of a "Navajo blanket" was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Figure 53 (p.387) in an article by Dr. Washington Matthews (1843-1905) entitled “Navajo Weavers” in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian, 1881-82.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884
printer
Government Printing Office
publisher
Bureau of American Ethnology
block maker
W. T. & B.
author
Matthews, Washington
ID Number
1980.0219.1180
catalog number
1980.0219.1180
accession number
1980.0219

Microscope

The Universal microscope that Bausch & Lomb introduced in 1884 was similar to the popular Investigator but larger and heavier and equipped with several new features. The basic stand with case cost $55; with two objectives and camera lucida it cost $80. This example of that sort.
Description
The Universal microscope that Bausch & Lomb introduced in 1884 was similar to the popular Investigator but larger and heavier and equipped with several new features. The basic stand with case cost $55; with two objectives and camera lucida it cost $80. This example of that sort. It is a compound monocular with coarse and fine focus, bullseye condenser attached to the body, large circular mechanical stage, inclination joint, sub-stage condenser and iris diaphragm, sub-stage two-sided mirror, and tri-leg base. The inscription on the stage reads “BAUSCH & LOMB OPTICAL CO.” That on the arm reads “PAT. OCT. 3 1876.”
Ref: Bausch & Lomb, Microscopes, Objectives and Accessories (Rochester, N.Y., 1884), pp. 20-22.
Ernst Gundlach, “Microscopes,” U.S. Patent 182,919 (Oct. 3, 1876).
Julius Wilhelm Behrens, The Microscope in Botany (Boston, 1885), pp. 21-22 and pl. xi.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1876-1884
maker
Bausch & Lomb
ID Number
2009.0116.15
catalog number
2009.0116.15
accession number
2009.0116

Comptograph

This full-keyboard printing manual adding machine has a cherrywood case and eight columns of metal keys, with white discs set in the metal key tops. Digits and complements of digits are shown on the discs. Each column has nine keys, with a spring around each key stem.
Description
This full-keyboard printing manual adding machine has a cherrywood case and eight columns of metal keys, with white discs set in the metal key tops. Digits and complements of digits are shown on the discs. Each column has nine keys, with a spring around each key stem. The cover under the keys consists of wooden slats with holes drilled in them. Each column of keys has one slat. These are alternately of cherry and a lighter-colored wood. A shaped tin plate at the front has nine windows cut in it to show nine metal wheels that record totals. Eight levers above the dials serve as decimal markers. On the right side toward the front are a knob and a small lever. Depressing the lever allows one to turn the knob and zero the total.
To the right of the keyboard is a large button that advances the paper tape and may print the total. This tape and the mechanisms for printing the numbers entered and the totals are behind the keyboard. Apparently printed totals can have up to eight digits. The paper tape is set inside a cherrywood lid that folds down when the machine is not in use. A knob on the right side at the back advances the carriage when loading paper. Different widths of paper tape can be used and the tape position adjusted.
This machine is shown in Turck, p. 118. According to that reference, it was purchased and used for ten years by the Merchants and Manufacturers Bank of Pittsburgh, Pa., and presented by Felt to the National Museum. In fact, this machine did not come to the Museum until long after Felt’s death. The same picture is in the Accession Journal of the Felt & Tarrant Collection, with object #19. There is no indication there where this object was used.
Compare to MA.322454.
References:
J. A. V. Turck, Origin of Modern Calculating Machines, Chicago: Western Society of Engineers, 1921, pp. 116-120.
Felt & Tarrant, Accession Journal, 1991.3107.06.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1889
maker
Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company
ID Number
MA.323633
catalog number
323633
maker number
31
accession number
250163

Engraved woodblock of a "House-burial"

This engraved woodblock of a “House-burial” was prepared by Henry Hobart Nichols (1838-1887); the print was published by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C. in 1881 as Figure 27 (p. 175) in an article by Dr. H. C.
Description
This engraved woodblock of a “House-burial” was prepared by Henry Hobart Nichols (1838-1887); the print was published by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C. in 1881 as Figure 27 (p. 175) in an article by Dr. H. C. Yarrow (1840-1929) entitled “Mortuary Customs of the North American Indians” in the First Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian, 1879-80.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1881
printer
Government Printing Office
publisher
Bureau of American Ethnology
graphic artist
Nichols, H. H.
author
Yarrow, Harry Crecy
ID Number
1980.0219.0084
catalog number
1980.0219.0084
accession number
1980.0219

Engraved woodblock of hilltop pueblos

This engraved woodblock of hilltop pueblos was engraved and printed by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C. for the Bureau of American Ethnology in about 1880.Currently not on view
Description
This engraved woodblock of hilltop pueblos was engraved and printed by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C. for the Bureau of American Ethnology in about 1880.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1880
publisher
Bureau of American Ethnology
printer
Government Printing Office
block maker
A. P. J. & Co.
ID Number
1980.0219.1813
catalog number
1980.0219.1813
accession number
1980.0219

Grant Improved Calculating Machine Model

This is the U.S. Patent Office model for a lever-set non-printing barrel-type calculating machine patented by George B. Grant of Maplewood, Massachusetts on August 16, 1887. It represents an improvement on machines Grant had patented July 16,1872 (U.S.
Description
This is the U.S. Patent Office model for a lever-set non-printing barrel-type calculating machine patented by George B. Grant of Maplewood, Massachusetts on August 16, 1887. It represents an improvement on machines Grant had patented July 16,1872 (U.S. Patent 129,335) and April 29, 1873 (U.S. Patent 138245), and on the machine he exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876.
The model has a rectangular wooden base. The frame is made up of two plates at either end of the base connected by metal shafts. The mechanism has a large upper cylinder and a small lower cylinder linked by gears of equal size. Fifteen centimeters (6”) of the upper cylinder has a metal collar that can be set at any of eight positions on the cylinder. This collar supports eight movable rings, each of which represents a digit entered. Each ring has an adding pin and a stud on it that may be set at any of 10 positions, labeled by the digits from 0 to 9.
The lower cylinder has ten recording wheels on it, each provided with 30 teeth. Paper loops numbered from 0 to 9 three times run around each wheel. On a bar between the cylinders is a row of ten spring claws, one for each recording wheel. If a claw is pushed down, it engages the gear of the recording wheel, causing it to rotate. Studs on the wheel lead to carrying by engaging the next claw over.
The model has no mechanism for displaying the multiplier or multiplicand.
This object was collected by L. Leland Locke and displayed at the Museums of the Peaceful Arts in New York City before coming to the Smithsonian.
George B. Grant (1849–1917) was born in Maine, studied for three terms at the Chandler Scientific School of Dartmouth College, and entered the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard University in 1869, graduating in 1873. As an undergraduate, he became interested in computing devices, publishing an article on a new form of difference engine in 1871. During this time, he also took out two patents for calculating machines. Grant’s study of computing devices also led him to take a great interest in improved gears. He formed a total of five gear works in various American cities, and wrote treatises on the subject.
For a related object, see MA.310645.
According to L. Leland Locke, the models for Grant’s first two calculating machine patents were not preserved.
References:
George B. Grant, “Improvement in Calculating Machines,” U.S. Patent 138245 (April 29, 1873).
George B. Grant, “On a New Difference Engine,” American Journal of Science, ser. 3, vol. 2 (August 1871), pp. 113–117.
George B. Grant, “A New Calculating Machine,” American Journal of Science, ser. 3, vol. 8 (1874), pp. 277–284.
L. Leland Locke, “George Barnard Grant,” Dictionary of American Biography, vol. 7, New York: Scribners, 1931, pp. 487–488.
Robert K. Otnes, “Calculators by George B. Grant,” Historische Buerowelt, no. 19, October 1987, pp. 15–17.
George B. Grant, “Calculating-Machine,” U. S. Patent 368528 (August 16, 1887).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1887
inventor
Grant, George B.
maker
Grant, George B.
ID Number
MA.311940
catalog number
311940
accession number
155183

Engraved woodblock of three individuals, two on horses and one standing

This engraved woodblock of three American Indians, two on horseback and one standing, was engraved by F. S. King and printed by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C. for the Bureau of American Ethnology in about 1880.Currently not on view
Description
This engraved woodblock of three American Indians, two on horseback and one standing, was engraved by F. S. King and printed by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C. for the Bureau of American Ethnology in about 1880.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1880
publisher
Bureau of American Ethnology
printer
Government Printing Office
block maker
V. W. & Co.
graphic artist
King, Francis Scott
ID Number
1980.0219.1242
catalog number
1980.0219.1242
accession number
1980.0219

Geometric Model by J. Schroeder, 39, Regular Octahedron

This wooden model of a regular octahedron has eight equilateral triangles for sides. Maker and number deduced from listing described at 1982.0795.39.Currently not on view
Description
This wooden model of a regular octahedron has eight equilateral triangles for sides. Maker and number deduced from listing described at 1982.0795.39.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1889
ID Number
1982.0795.41
catalog number
1982.0795.41
accession number
1982.0795

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