Transportation - Overview
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.
"Transportation - Overview" showing 10 items.
Patent Model, Life Boat
- Description
- Many 19th-century inventors turned their attention to life boats, a large number of them focusing their efforts on simplicity of construction, ease of launching, and imperviousness to sinking. By contrast, two Bavarian immigrants living in New York City—George Tremberger, carpenter, and Michael Stein, patterns machinist—focused on the “comfort, convenience, and safety of the passengers.” Their main innovation was to design the boat as a cylinder in which the cabin rolled independently from the overall motion of the boat. A geared wheel inside allowed the crew to adjust the cabin’s tilt by hand or to lock it in place. The inventors also fitted a telescoping mast, hand-lever-operated propeller, and external rubber bumpers for increased buoyancy.
- This is a cutaway model of Tremberger and Stein’s idea. It shows seats and benches running lengthwise in the interior of the cabin. A wheel inside turns a gear that keeps the inner cabin from rolling as the outer hull rolls in the sea. Four hatches on deck slide open for access. The telescoping mast with sail can be operated from inside, while two interior levers activate the propeller. There is also a steering wheel forward connected by a line to the rudder.
- Date made
- 1879
- patent date
- 1879-01-28
- patentee
- Tremberger, George
- Stein, Michael Joseph
- inventor
- Tremberger, George
- Stein, Michael Joseph
- ID Number
- 1978.2282.06
- catalog number
- 1978.2282.06
- accession number
- 1978.2282
- patent number
- 211,807
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Patent Model, Life Raft
- 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
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Patent Model, Life Boat
- Description
- Although Joseph Francis is the best-known inventor of lifesaving boats in the 19th century, other people from diverse walks of life developed their own ideas for improving safety at sea. Among these were two fishermen from Peaks Island near Portland, Maine, Alpheus G. and Abram T. Sterling, who patented their design for lifeboat improvements in 1874.
- In the Sterlings’ design, the hold below the boat’s watertight deck was fitted with a rubber “air reservoir,” which conformed to the shape of the boat. A series of “apertures,” or openings, in the hull allowed water into the space around the air-filled chamber. This water-ballast helped the boat resist capsizing while air sealed inside rubber fenders and in a second interior chamber preserved the vessel’s buoyancy. The rubber air-filled reservoir was also meant to prevent the boat’s sinking if it hit an obstruction.
- Date made
- 1874
- patent date
- 1874-12-12
- 1874-04-21
- patentee
- Sterling, Alpheus G.
- Sterling, Abram T.
- inventor
- Sterling, Alpheus G.
- Sterling, Abram T.
- ID Number
- TR*325947
- accession number
- 249602
- catalog number
- 325947
- patent number
- 149,891
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Oil Painting, Collins Line Steamship SS Atlantic
- Description
- In 1840, Canadian Samuel Cunard inaugurated regular transatlantic steamship service from Liverpool, England to North America. Within a few years, he had two competitors, one of whom was American Edward Knight Collins (1802-1878), owner of the Dramatic Line of Atlantic sailing packets.
- Collins had been lobbying the U.S. government for nearly a decade for the subsidy of an American overseas steamship mail service, and in 1847 Congress authorized an annual transatlantic mail contract for $385,000. Won by Collins, the contract called for five steamships and bimonthly mail service from New York to Liverpool.
- Collins founded the New York and Liverpool United States Mail Steamship Company (known as the Collins Line) and commissioned the four sister steamships Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic and Baltic. When service started in 1850, the Collins ships were the fastest, largest, and most magnificently appointed steamships in the world, with stained glass skylights, steam heat in the public rooms and 3,500-bottle wine cellars.
- This painting shows the arrival of the Collins liner Atlantic in May 1850 after her maiden voyage from New York to Liverpool. Measuring 282 feet long and 2,856 tons, the Atlantic set a speed record on this passage, while consuming 87 tons of coal per day. Although the Collins line ceased operations in February 1858, the Atlantic was acquired by the U.S. Government for Civil War service. After the war it was operated by other owners until scrapped in 1871.
- date made
- 1800s
- US Congress awarded an annual transatlantic mail contract to Collins
- 1847
- Collins Line service started
- 1850
- Collins Line service ended
- 1858
- Atlantic acquired by the government for Civil War service
- 1858
- Atlantic scrapped
- 1871
- Collins steamship line
- New York and Liverpool United States Mail Steamship Company
- ship owner
- Collins, Edward Knight
- ship owner and Knight's competitor
- Cunard, Samuel
- built SS Atlantic
- Dramatic Line of Atlantic Sailing Packets
- maker
- Louis Honore Frederick Gamain
- ID Number
- TR*336491
- accession number
- 1978.0362
- catalog number
- 336491
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
New England Whale Ship
- Description
- This model represents a typical Massachusetts whaleship of the mid-19th century, fully rigged and ready for a long cruise that might last for as much as four years. The name “U.S. Grant, Edgartown” on the ship’s stern is fictional—no ship by that name ever sailed for the whaling fleet. The ship’s bottom is lined with copper sheathing, to keep out the teredo navalis, a tropical worm that bored into the wood of ship’s hulls and weakened the structure, as the termite does to wooden structures on land.
- The whaleboats are the most prominent features. After whales were sighted by lookouts perched at the mast tops, the boats were dropped over the sides of the mother ship to chase them. Also over the side are the cutting stages, where the whale’s fat, or blubber, was sliced off the body in long strips.
- The main feature on the ship’s deck is the try-works, or giant pots set into a brick framework, where the whale’s blubber, was boiled down into oil. After the blubber became liquid, it was drawn off to cool and then poured into heavy barrels and stored below in the ship’s cargo hold.
- This model was purchased in 1875 at Edgartown, on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.; it was one of the first objects in the Smithsonian’s National Watercraft Collection.
- Date made
- 1875
- model was purchased
- 1875
- ID Number
- TR*025726
- catalog number
- 025726
- accession number
- 4353
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Ship Model, SS Frisia
- Description
- This model is a cutaway of the German steamship Frisia. Originally launched as the Alsatia, the Frisia was a transatlantic passenger ship, with room for 820 passengers. Built in 1872 by Caird & Co. in Scotland, Frisia was owned by the Hamburg-American Line. Rigged for both sail and steam power, the Frisia could make the Atlantic crossing in about 12 days.
- Many of the passengers who traveled aboard the Frisia were immigrants bound for America. In 1876, a group of some 70 Russian immigrants boarded the Frisia in Hamburg, Germany. Originally from Kratzke, a city in Russia near the Volga River, these men, women, and children left their homes with hopes of owning farmland in the United States. Upon arriving in New York, the Kratzke immigrants traveled west and settled in Russell County, Kansas, in October 1876. Although life was hard on the prairie, most immigrants did not return to their homeland. More Russian immigrants arrived in December 1876, and together they founded the Bender Hill community in Kansas.
- The Frisia was one of the last iron steamships of its era. Shortly afterwards, steel-hulled ships became standard. Following its run as an immigrant ship, the Frisia was renamed and sold to Italian owners who converted it into a coal carrier. In 1902, the SS Frisia, then known as the Arno, was scrapped in Italy.
- Date made
- ca 1975
- SS Frisia built
- 1872
- SS Frisia scrapped
- 1902
- made for
- Division of the History of Technology. Transportation
- built SS Frisia
- Caird & Co.
- owned SS Frisia
- Hamburg-American Line
- ID Number
- TR*336909
- catalog number
- 336909
- accession number
- 1979.0408
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Whaler's Mincing Knife
- Description
- Whaling crews used mincing knives to cut the blubber strips into thin slices down to, but not through, the thick whale skin. This process increased the surface area of the blubber and helped it melt faster in the try-pots. Cut in this fashion, the sections of whale blubber and skin were known as “bible leaves” because they resembled the pages of a book.
- date made
- 1876
- collected
- 1876
- ID Number
- AG*025912
- accession number
- 005019
- catalog number
- 025912
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Whaler's Boarding Knife
- Description
- The work of carving blubber from a whale carcass and hauling the long, narrow strips of flesh, called “blanket pieces,” aboard the ship onto the deck was called “boarding.” The boarding knife was an extremely sharp, double-edged sword blade at the end of a short wooden pole. It served a variety of purposes, from cutting a hole in the whale’s flesh for the blubber hook, to cutting the long strips of flesh into shorter sections for further processing.
- These tools were kept extremely sharp to cut the whale’s flesh easily. With the decks and tools so slippery from the whale processing, using them was reserved for the ship’s officers.
- date made
- 1876
- collected
- 1876
- ID Number
- AG*026608
- catalog number
- 026608
- accession number
- 4927
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
USS Alaska Scrimshaw Sperm Whale Tooth
- Description
- The wooden screw sloop of war USS Alaska was built in 1868 and spent much of her career in the southern Pacific and Far East representing the American nation in foreign ports. In June 1878, she cleared New York for San Francisco and stopped at several South American ports on the way.
- One of Alaska's port calls from 20-29 September 1878 was to Talcahuano, in the center of Chile's coast and that nation's main naval port. It also was one the principal stops for American whalers in the Pacific seeking fresh supplies and entertainment. This massive sperm whale's tooth was probably purchased there and engraved by one of Alaska's crew to commemorate his visit. While the carver of this tooth is unknown, it may have been one of the officers who kept the official ship's logbooks, because the calligraphy on the covers of the logs for this voyage is exceptionally elaborate and colorful.
- As this tooth indicates, the Talcahuano visit and liberty calls were memorable. Sent ashore on liberty, 54 of Alaska's crew went AWOL (Absent WithOut Leave), and three more were confined to double irons (feet and hand cuffs) for drunk and boisterous behavior or fighting.
- Date made
- 1878
- USS Alaska port call to Chile, Talcahuano
- 1878-09
- ID Number
- DL*374477
- catalog number
- 374477
- accession number
- 136263
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Rigged Model, Sidewheel Cotton Packet J.M. White
- Description
- The Mississippi River sidewheel steamboat J.M. White was built at Jeffersonville, Ind., in 1878 for the Greenville and New Orleans Packet Company. Measuring 321’ long and 91’ in beam across the paddlebox guards, the White only sat 10’-6” deep in the water when fully laden. The steamboat was designed for Mississippi River packet service between New Orleans, La., and Greenville, Miss.
- The White was one of the largest, most expensive, luxurious, and most powerful river steamers ever built, with 2,800 horsepower and a capacity of 250 first-class passengers and 10,000 bales of cotton. Named after famous riverboat captain J. M. White (1823–1880), the “supreme triumph in cotton boat architecture” was a masterpiece of the gaudy, glamorous style known as “steamboat Gothic.” It had multiple bridal chambers; stained glass skylights and windows; rare wood veneers and gilded finishes; seven gilded “Egyptian-style” chandeliers; a sterling silver Tiffany water cooler in the 250’-long main cabin; monogrammed flatware and china; and a full concert grand piano.
- The White spent most of its eight-year career in service on the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Vicksburg, Miss. Despite its economy of size, the White’s high initial $220,000 cost, a spotty economy, and the rapidly expanding railroad network made the steamboat unprofitable. It caught fire, blew up, and burned to the waterline at a Louisiana landing in December 1886, killing several aboard.
- Date made
- 1974
- built
- 1878
- used date
- late 19th century
- ID Number
- TR*334847
- catalog number
- 334847
- accession number
- 315419
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center