Transportation

1955 Ford Country Squire

Americans have always been a people on the move—on rails, roads, and waterways (for travel through the air, visit the National Air and Space Museum). In the transportation collections, railroad objects range from tools, tracks, and many train models to the massive 1401, a 280-ton locomotive built in 1926. Road vehicles include coaches, buggies, wagons, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, and automobiles—from the days before the Model T to modern race cars. The accessories of travel are part of the collections, too, from streetlights, gas pumps, and traffic signals to goggles and overcoats.

In the maritime collections, more than 7,000 design plans and scores of ship models show the evolution of sailing ships and other vessels. Other items range from scrimshaw, photographs, and marine paintings to life jackets from the Titanic.

Place: Great Lakes

Self-unloading Ore Carrier James R. Barker

The James R. Barker was built in 1976 by the American Shipbuilding Co. at Lorain, OH for the Interlake Steamship Co. It was named after the head of the Moore-McCormack Steamship Company, which owned Interlake.
Description
The James R. Barker was built in 1976 by the American Shipbuilding Co. at Lorain, OH for the Interlake Steamship Co. It was named after the head of the Moore-McCormack Steamship Company, which owned Interlake. Costing over $43 million, Barker was the third 1000-footer to sail the Great Lakes, and the first built entirely on the Lakes. These big bulk coal and ore carriers were constructed to fit the largest locks connecting the Great Lakes.
Barker's two big 8,000-hp engines turn two 17-1/2-foot propellers, pushing the vessel at a speed of 15.75 knots (18 mph). The ship can transport 59,000 tons of iron ore pellets or 52,000 tons of coal. The self-unloading rig has a 250-foot-long boom that can unload 10,000 tons of ore or 6,000 net tons of coal per hour. By contrast, Interlake’s first bulk carrier, the 1874 wooden-hulled steamer V.H. Ketchum, could carry only 1,700 tons of ore and took nearly twelve days to unload using manual wheelbarrows.
The Barker was still in service in 2009.
Date made
1978
year the James R. Barker was built
1976
built James R. Barker
American Shipbuilding Co.
bought the James R. Barker
Interlake Steamship Co.
maker
Boucher-Lewis Precision Models, Inc.
ID Number
TR.336153
catalog number
336153
accession number
1978.0374

Propeller Indiana’s Steam Whistle

The ship’s steam whistle was powered by a steam line from the boiler. It was used to signal other ships or the shore, to let them know of its presence or its intentions. It was especially useful when approaching or leaving port, or in foggy or dark waters.
Description
The ship’s steam whistle was powered by a steam line from the boiler. It was used to signal other ships or the shore, to let them know of its presence or its intentions. It was especially useful when approaching or leaving port, or in foggy or dark waters.
Date made
1848
ID Number
1982.0241.01
accession number
1982.0241
catalog number
82.0241.01

Ship Model, Schooner Ed McWilliams

As the United States expanded westward in the 1800s, the Great Lakes and inland rivers provided a route for transportation, commerce, and communication. Before railroads, waterways were a primary means of transporting bulk cargoes and heavy loads.
Description
As the United States expanded westward in the 1800s, the Great Lakes and inland rivers provided a route for transportation, commerce, and communication. Before railroads, waterways were a primary means of transporting bulk cargoes and heavy loads. Indeed, the first locomotive used in Chicago was shipped there by a Great Lakes schooner in 1837. Stretching from Buffalo, New York, to Duluth, Minnesota, and spotted along the way with port cities such as Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee, the Great Lakes brought thousands of people into the Midwest and in turn carried out the crops, lumber, and raw minerals produced in the region.
Schooners like the Ed McWilliams dominated the Great Lakes trade for much of the 19th century. Designed with a shallow hull for operating in small, inland harbors, Lakes schooners like the Ed McWilliams were also built with a long middle section to accommodate large loads of cargo.
Constructed in 1893 at West Bay City, Michigan, the Ed McWilliams was managed by John A. Francombe. Like most of his crew, Francombe immigrated to the United States in the middle of the century, he from England and the crew more likely from Scandinavia, Germany, or Ireland. The Ed McWilliams was one of thousands of vessels sailing on the Great Lakes in the 1800s, carrying cargoes of wheat, corn, iron ore, coal, and timber.
Date made
1978
date Ed McWilliams was built
1893
managed the Ed McWilliams
Francombe, John A.
ID Number
TR.336150
catalog number
336150
accession number
1978.0383

Wood from Propeller Indiana

The abundance of timber along the shores of the Great Lakes gave steamboats a ready supply of fuel. Partly burned logs from Indiana’s boiler grate indicate that the boiler had been stoked just before the steamboat sank.Pound for pound, coal provides more energy than wood.
Description
The abundance of timber along the shores of the Great Lakes gave steamboats a ready supply of fuel. Partly burned logs from Indiana’s boiler grate indicate that the boiler had been stoked just before the steamboat sank.
Pound for pound, coal provides more energy than wood. Coal was found in the vicinity of the boiler in the hold, and historical sources indicate that it was a common fuel on upbound (northerly) voyages, while wood was the principal downbound fuel.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
1979.1030.64.01
catalog number
1979.1030.64
accession number
1979.1030

Ship Tools from the Propeller Indiana, Shovel

All the hand tools were found in the engine and boiler space below decks in Indiana’s hold, indicating that they were used for the machinery. The crew used the shovel to add coal to the fires.
Description
All the hand tools were found in the engine and boiler space below decks in Indiana’s hold, indicating that they were used for the machinery. The crew used the shovel to add coal to the fires.
date made
mid-1800s
when the Indiana was found
1972
ID Number
1979.1030.59
accession number
1979.1030
catalog number
1979.1030.59

Patent Model, Life Raft

This model represents a raft made up of four rows of watertight sheet-metal cylinders enclosed by two wood decks and fastened together with metal bolts. It was submitted to the U.S.
Description
This model represents a raft made up of four rows of watertight sheet-metal cylinders enclosed by two wood decks and fastened together with metal bolts. It was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office in 1874 by George Clark, of Ecorse, Michigan, to accompany his design for an improved life raft.
A contemporary compiler of accidents noted 1,167 marine accidents on the Great Lakes for the year 1871 alone. “Of this number, 225 were caused by collisions,” he clarified, “280 vessels went ashore, 81 were burned, 26 capsized, 19 foundered, 182 sprung a leak, 65 waterlogged, 60 were dismasted, 110 lost deck-loads, and 10 exploded their boilers.” In the context of these harsh statistics, some inventors looked for ways to prevent accidents, while others sought ways to preserve life after the accident had occurred. George Clark was aiming for the second goal with this raft. He wrote, “The nature of this invention . . . has for its object the preservation of life in case of disaster at sea, by making the raft very buoyant, thoroughly protecting the float-cylinders, so they will not be injured under any ordinary circumstances, and furnishing a much more durable, a lighter, and more easily handled raft than those heretofore in use for this purpose.”
Clark envisioned these rafts carried on the hurricane decks of steamers, where they would be easily accessible in a disaster. The materials and construction made for a fairly lightweight raft, which could be thrown into the water “by one or two persons of ordinary strength, thus avoiding the delay and uncertainty of working falls and cranes in launching boats.” Because both sides of the raft were the same, it didn’t matter how it was tossed into the water. Clark acknowledged that cylindrical floats were already in use for other life rafts, but they tended to be much longer, extending the raft’s entire length or breadth. Under heavy conditions at sea, these long floats could have worked loose and destroyed the raft. Clark claimed that his use of shorter cylinders, arranged in courses and enclosed by the wooden decks, were less likely to cause such an accident, while providing the raft with greater flexibility.
Date made
1874
patent date
1874-01-13
patentee
Clark, George
inventor
Clark, George
ID Number
TR.325945
catalog number
325945
accession number
249602
patent number
146,316

Coal from Propeller Indiana

The abundance of timber along the shores of the Great Lakes gave steamboats a ready supply of fuel. Partly burned logs from Indiana's boiler grate indicate that the boiler had been stoked just before the steamboat sank.Pound for pound, coal provides more energy than wood.
Description
The abundance of timber along the shores of the Great Lakes gave steamboats a ready supply of fuel. Partly burned logs from Indiana's boiler grate indicate that the boiler had been stoked just before the steamboat sank.
Pound for pound, coal provides more energy than wood. Coal was found in the vicinity of the boiler in the hold, and historical sources indicate that it was a common fuel on upbound (northerly) voyages, while wood was the principal downbound fuel.
ID Number
1979.1030.07
accession number
1979.1030

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