Work

Gilbreth Stopwatch

The tools, rules, and relationships of the workplace illustrate some of the enduring collaborations and conflicts in the everyday life of the nation. The Museum has more than 5,000 traditional American tools, chests, and simple machines for working wood, stone, metal, and leather. Materials on welding, riveting, and iron and steel construction tell a more industrial version of the story. Computers, industrial robots, and other artifacts represent work in the Information Age.

But work is more than just tools. The collections include a factory gate, the motion-study photographs of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, and more than 3,000 work incentive posters. The rise of the factory system is measured, in part, by time clocks in the collections. More than 9,000 items bring in the story of labor unions, strikes, and demonstrations over trade and economic issues.

Patent Model of a Book-sewing Machine

This patent model demonstrates an invention for various improvements to David Smyth's book sewing patents of 1868 and 1869; the invention was granted patent number 151507.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for various improvements to David Smyth's book sewing patents of 1868 and 1869; the invention was granted patent number 151507.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1874
patent date
1874-06-02
maker
Parkhurst, Edward G.
Thompson, Henry G.
ID Number
GA.89797.151507
patent number
151507
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.151507

Patent model for autographic printing

This patent model demonstrates an invention for the conversion of a sheet of paper into a printing plate by writing using a special ink. The invention was granted patent number 200759. Josiah Pumphrey was from Birmingham, England.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for the conversion of a sheet of paper into a printing plate by writing using a special ink. The invention was granted patent number 200759. Josiah Pumphrey was from Birmingham, England.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1878
patent date
1878-02-26
maker
Pumphrey, Josiah
ID Number
GA.89797.200759
accession number
089797
patent number
200759
catalog number
GA*89797.200759

Printing press and sheet-fed apparatus

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a press for printing material such as envelopes, and the pneumatic apparatus for feeding sheets to the press. The two patents, numbers 303550 and 386440, are demonstrated on a single model.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a press for printing material such as envelopes, and the pneumatic apparatus for feeding sheets to the press. The two patents, numbers 303550 and 386440, are demonstrated on a single model. Despite the dates of the patents, both applications were made on 10 July 1880. They were granted after unusually long delays.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1884
ca 1888
patent date
1884-08-12
1888-07-17
maker
Swift, Henry D.
Swift, D. Wheeler
ID Number
GA.89797.303550
patent number
GA*303550
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.303550
386440

Patent Model for Automated Postmarking and Canceling Stamps

This patent model demonstrates an invention for the automated cancelling of postal stamps. A cylinder was engraved with place and state names; the date was inserted in moveable type. The invention was granted patent number 121099.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for the automated cancelling of postal stamps. A cylinder was engraved with place and state names; the date was inserted in moveable type. The invention was granted patent number 121099.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1871
patent date
1871-11-21
maker
Hargrave, Thomas C.
ID Number
GA.89797.121099
accession number
089797
patent number
121099
catalog number
GA*89797.121099

Patent Model of a Typesetting for Stereotype Plates

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a typesetter for stereotype plates which was granted patent number 52073. The invention included the use of a "perpetual font of type" for impressing letters into a plastic molding material.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a typesetter for stereotype plates which was granted patent number 52073. The invention included the use of a "perpetual font of type" for impressing letters into a plastic molding material. Type was stored in a permanent holder, each piece tied by a thin strip of metal. At the touch of a key, type fell to casting position, the faces protruding below the holder. After casting, the type was returned to the storage cell.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1866
patent date
1866-01-16
patentee
Paulding, John
ID Number
GA.89797.052073
patent number
052073
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.052073

Patent Model for Color Printing Blocks

This patent model demonstrates an invention for color printing blocks which was granted patent number 172340. The invention included multicolor printing blocks particularly intended for oilcloths, requiring colors to be applied thickly and in an intricate pattern.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for color printing blocks which was granted patent number 172340. The invention included multicolor printing blocks particularly intended for oilcloths, requiring colors to be applied thickly and in an intricate pattern. The blocks were pierced by channels, which conducted the ink from reservoirs of converging tubes surmounting the blocks.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1876
patent date
1876-01-18
patentee
Perkins, Joseph
ID Number
GA.89797.172340
patent number
172340
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.172340

Patent Model of a Book Clamp

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a clamp for holding books while they were backed; the invention was granted patent number 50597. Joshua Wiestling Jones (born 1831) was apprenticed to the printing and binding trades. For a time he worked with the binder W. O.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a clamp for holding books while they were backed; the invention was granted patent number 50597. Joshua Wiestling Jones (born 1831) was apprenticed to the printing and binding trades. For a time he worked with the binder W. O. Hickok and helped in building Hickok's prototype paper-ruling machine. Later he worked in public printing, particularly at the state printing house in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Jones pioneered the use of electric arc lighting in Harrisburg, one of the first American cities to adopt the system.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1865
patent date
1865-10-24
maker
Jones, Joshua W.
ID Number
GA.89797.050597
patent number
050597
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.050597

Patent Model of a Type-setting and Type-distributing Machine

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a typesetting machine which was granted patent numbers 152868 and 152869.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a typesetting machine which was granted patent numbers 152868 and 152869. Type stored in a case of vertical channels was selected and pushed out by keyboard action to a moving belt, then dropped down a slot to be assembled in a composing stick. For distribution, the dead matter was placed in front of the operator who read off and keyed in a line of letters. Each piece of type was pushed in turn onto the moving belt and dropped into its appropriate slot for return to the storage case. The two patents are demonstrated on a single model.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1874
patent date
1874-07-07
maker
Reynolds, John A.
ID Number
GA.89797.152868
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.152868

Patent Model for a Type Rubbing Machine

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a type-rubbing machine which was granted patent number 13935. Type was passed endwise through the cutters, one piece at a time.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a type-rubbing machine which was granted patent number 13935. Type was passed endwise through the cutters, one piece at a time. This avoided the damage to hairlines or to the face produced by machines that took the type either sideways or in an endwise procession.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1855
patent date
1855-12-11
maker
Moore, Daniel
ID Number
GA.89797.013935
patent number
013935
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.013935

Patent Model of a Book-stitching Machine

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a book-stitching machine which passed a needle lengthwise through the folded leaves of books; the invention was granted patent number 184989. Patentee James Crawford Smyth was one of David McConnel Smyth's family.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a book-stitching machine which passed a needle lengthwise through the folded leaves of books; the invention was granted patent number 184989. Patentee James Crawford Smyth was one of David McConnel Smyth's family. The two worked together on a number of inventions.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1876
patent date
1876-12-05
maker
Smyth, James C.
ID Number
GA.89797.184989
patent number
184989
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.184989

Patent Model of a Typecasting Machine

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a typecasting machine which was granted patent number 187278. The patent describes a machine for the rapid production of replica type, from originals made for the purpose in a hard metal such as steel.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a typecasting machine which was granted patent number 187278. The patent describes a machine for the rapid production of replica type, from originals made for the purpose in a hard metal such as steel. The type could have raised or sunken letters, and a straight, concave, or convex surface for printing on flatbed or rotary presses.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1877
patent date
1877-02-13
maker
Howard, Anson M.
ID Number
GA.89797.187278
patent number
187278
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.187278

Offset press: Harris Seybold, miniature

This one-twentieth scale model of the Harris-Seybold 4-color sheet-fed offset press dates from about 1950.
Description (Brief)
This one-twentieth scale model of the Harris-Seybold 4-color sheet-fed offset press dates from about 1950. The press has a height of 7.5 inches a length of 32.5 inches and a width of 9.5 inches.
Donated by Lithographers National Association, 1953.
Citation: Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
circa 1950
date made
ca 1950
maker
Harris-Seybold Company
ID Number
GA.20396-a
accession number
1953.198538
catalog number
20396-a

Patent Model for a Flatbed Cylinder Press

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a press with a stationary bed which was granted patent number 15740. The cylinder followed an endless rack that lifted it for the return trip over the bed.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a press with a stationary bed which was granted patent number 15740. The cylinder followed an endless rack that lifted it for the return trip over the bed. This patent covered the Newbury Country Press, a small hand-powered printing machine that was popular with country newspaper shops in the 1860s.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1856
patent date
1856-09-16
maker
Newbury, Alonzo
Newbury, Boliver
ID Number
GA.89797.015740
accession number
089797
patent number
015740
catalog number
GA*89797.015740

Babcock and Wilcox Boiler Model

This is a half-size model of the boiler that won the award for sectional steam generators at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876.
Description
This is a half-size model of the boiler that won the award for sectional steam generators at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. It was in service until recent years and is now preserved by the Babcock and Wilcox Co., the makers.
The boiler represented is a hand-fired, inclined-tube boiler, with two parallel longitudinal drums connected by a cross steam drum. The headers are of the earliest type of cast-steel sinuous header and are seven tubes high. The boiler is suspended from two cast-iron arched beams that rest upon the side walls of the brickwork. The highly ornamental cast-iron front is trimmed in gold paint. The boiler is equipped with a ball-and-lever safety valve, three water-level sight gauges, and a pressure gauge.
The Centennial boiler was sold to the De Castro and Donner Sugar Refinery in Brooklyn, New York, after the exposition and was continued in service through the early 20th century.
Reference:
This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.
Location
Currently on loan
Currently not on view (Part)
ID Number
ER.309868
accession number
110403
catalog number
309868

Patent Model for an Inking Apparatus for Color Printing

This patent model demonstrates an invention for an inking apparatus for color printing; the invention was granted patent number 79910. The press combines two forms on the bed of a press, one to be printed in a single color, and the other in bands of several colors.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for an inking apparatus for color printing; the invention was granted patent number 79910. The press combines two forms on the bed of a press, one to be printed in a single color, and the other in bands of several colors. Double sheets were printed, rotated, and printed again.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1868
patent date
1868-07-14
maker
Hunt, Joshua
ID Number
GA.89797.079910
accession number
089797
patent number
079910
catalog number
GA*89797.079910

Patent Model of a Sheet-Feed Apparatus with Vacuum Pipes

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a sheet-feed apparatus which was granted patent number 100059. The top sheet was lifted by suction cups, the table dropped a little, and jets of air completed the separation of the sheet from the pile.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a sheet-feed apparatus which was granted patent number 100059. The top sheet was lifted by suction cups, the table dropped a little, and jets of air completed the separation of the sheet from the pile.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1870
patent date
1870-02-22
maker
Norelius, Oliver
ID Number
GA.89797.100059
accession number
089797
patent number
100059
catalog number
GA*89797.100059

Patent Model of a Sheet-delivery Apparatus for Web Presses

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a sheet delivery apparatus which was granted patent number 192954. The patent describes mechanisms to cut, convey, and collect sheets from a web press.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a sheet delivery apparatus which was granted patent number 192954. The patent describes mechanisms to cut, convey, and collect sheets from a web press. One of several Tucker patents dealing with the problem of receiving sheets at high speed. This invention was patented in England in 1873. The application for the U.S. patent was filed in May 1874.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1877
patent date
1877-07-10
maker
Tucker, Stephen D.
ID Number
GA.89797.192954
accession number
089797
patent number
192954
catalog number
GA*89797.192954

Patent Model for a Vacuum Cylinder Sheet-Feed Apparatus

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a sheet-feed apparatus which was granted patent number 21591.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a sheet-feed apparatus which was granted patent number 21591. The patent details a sheet-feeding apparatus, operating independent of the printing machine, with improved registration.
William Bullock (1813-1867) made himself a name in 1852 with a hand-cranked wooden press to which a self-feeder was attached. He followed this with other fast presses, focusing on the problems of feeding. This led him to his most famous press, the web perfecting press (Patent 38200). In 1867 Bullock was caught in a press he was installing for the Philadelphia Public Ledger, and died from the injuries.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1858
patent date
1858-09-21
patentee
Bullock, William
ID Number
GA.89797.021591
accession number
089797
patent number
021591
catalog number
GA*89797.021591

Patent Model of a Sheet-delivering Apparatus for Printing Machines

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a sheet-delivery apparatus which was granted patent number 197700.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a sheet-delivery apparatus which was granted patent number 197700. The patent describes an apparatus at which several sets of sheets, such as the inside and outside sheets of a newspaper, were collected, folded, and delivered from the press.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1877
patent date
1877-11-27
maker
Tucker, Stephen D.
ID Number
GA.89797.197700
accession number
089797
patent number
197700
catalog number
GA*89797.197700

Patent Model of a Feed Mechanism for Power Presses

This patent model demonstrates an invention for an apparatus for the automatic feeding of strip material to power presses, not necessarily printing presses. The patent was granted patent number 354480.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for an apparatus for the automatic feeding of strip material to power presses, not necessarily printing presses. The patent was granted patent number 354480.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1886
patent date
1886-12-14
maker
Leist, William
ID Number
GA.89797.354480
accession number
089797
patent number
354480
catalog number
GA*89797.354480

Patent model for a method of making curved electrotype and stereotype plates

This patent model demonstrates an invention for the manufacture of curved printing plates from flat plates, without altering the dimensions of the printing image; the invention was granted patent number 86021.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for the manufacture of curved printing plates from flat plates, without altering the dimensions of the printing image; the invention was granted patent number 86021.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1869
patent date
1869-01-19
maker
Lovejoy, Henry W.
Ferguson, James H.
ID Number
GA.89797.086021
accession number
089797
patent number
086021
catalog number
GA*89797.086021

Patent Model of a Sheet-delivery Apparatus for Web Presses

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a folding and collecting apparatus for printing machines which was granted patent number 214067.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a folding and collecting apparatus for printing machines which was granted patent number 214067.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1879
patent date
1879-04-08
maker
Tucker, Stephen D.
ID Number
GA.89797.214067
accession number
089797
patent number
214067
catalog number
GA*89797.214067

Patent model for printing press for uneven surfaces

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a self-inking clamshell press, treadle-operated, "particularly for small work." The invention was granted patent number 111581.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a self-inking clamshell press, treadle-operated, "particularly for small work." The invention was granted patent number 111581.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1871
patent date
1871-02-07
patentee
Smith, Earle H.
ID Number
GA.89797.111581
accession number
089797
patent number
111581
catalog number
GA*89797.111581

Patent Model of an Inking Apparatus for Printing Presses

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a method of improved ink distribution on flatbed cylinder presses. The patent was granted number 173085.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a method of improved ink distribution on flatbed cylinder presses. The patent was granted number 173085.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1876
patent date
1876-02-01
maker
Tucker, Stephen D.
ID Number
GA.89797.173085
accession number
089797
patent number
173085
catalog number
GA*89797.173085

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