Engineering, Building, and Architecture - Overview
Not many museums collect houses. The National Museum of American History has four, as well as two outbuildings, 11 rooms, an elevator, many building components, and some architectural elements from the White House. Drafting manuals are supplemented by many prints of buildings and other architectural subjects. The breadth of the museum's collections adds some surprising objects to these holdings, such as fans, purses, handkerchiefs, T-shirts, and other objects bearing images of buildings.
The engineering artifacts document the history of civil and mechanical engineering in the United States. So far, the Museum has declined to collect dams, skyscrapers, and bridges, but these and other important engineering achievements are preserved through blueprints, drawings, models, photographs, sketches, paintings, technical reports, and field notes.
"Engineering, Building, and Architecture - Overview" showing 41 items.
Page 1 of 5
E. Howard and Company Tower Clock
- Description
- In places that required many clocks—factories, office and public buildings, or schools—time was often distributed by a system of "master" and "slave" clocks. In such a system, a central timekeeper, the master clock, sent periodic impulses, usually electric or pneumatic, to any number of secondary or slave clocks. These slave clocks could be located anywhere, without regard for convenience of winding, because they needed none. The master clock could also drive other time signals like classroom bells, factory whistles, or time stamps. More economical to install and more convenient to maintain than an equal number of independent clocks, the system also ensured that all dials within the system agreed.
- The museum collection contains such a timekeeping system. The system's master clock (Cat. 310,569), built by E. Howard and Company of Boston, is a mechanical tower clock movement equipped with electrical contacts. Once a minute the escapement, through a pair of rotary switches, closes an electrical circuit and sends an impulse to the slave dial (Cat. 310,570), where electromagnets advance the hands. Batteries at the base of the master clock supply current.
- This clock and dial were components of a system that served the Smithsonian between about 1881 and 1932. First housed in the north tower of the Arts and Industries Building, the clock movement distributed impulses to eighteen dials in that building and the Castle, the Smithsonian's earliest building. Tunnels under the floors carried the wiring. The clock room also housed a telephone switchboard, a watchman's clock, a central burglar alarm, and call bells—all of which, like the time distribution system, relied on the newly harnessed power of electricity. "Indeed," boasted the Smithsonian's annual report for 1881, "it is believed that in no building in the world, with the exception of the Grand Opera House in Paris, is there so perfect and complete an application of electricity to practical services."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1880
- manufacturer
- E. Howard & Co.
- ID Number
- ME*310569
- catalog number
- 310569
- accession number
- 123081
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Hart House Architectual Elements from Ipswich, Mass.
- Description
- The largest artifact in the museum, this Georgian-style, 2 ½-story timber-framed house was built in the 1760s and stood at 16 Elm Street in the center of Ipswich, Massachusetts, until 1963 when efforts by Ipswich citizens saved it from the bulldozer. The house was carefully taken apart—the frame, chimney, and many other pieces were shipped to the Museum and reassembled.
- Today, the house is the centerpiece of the exhibition Within These Walls , and visitors are able to peer through its walls, windows, and doors to view settings played out against the backdrop of Colonial America, the American Revolution, the abolitionist movement, the industrial era, and World War II. The exhibition tells the story of five ordinary families, selected from many, who lived in this house over 200 years and made history in their kitchens and parlors, through everyday choices and personal acts of courage and sacrifice.
- Date made
- ca. 1760s
- ca 1760
- resident
- Caldwell, Josiah
- Caldwell, Lucy
- Choate, Abraham
- Choate, Sarah
- Dodge, Abraham
- Dodge, Bethiah
- Lynch, Catherine
- Lynch, Mary
- owner
- Dodge, Abraham
- Caldwell, Josiah
- Choate, Sarah
- Dodge, Bethiah
- Caldwell, Lucy
- Lynch, Catherine
- Lynch, Mary
- resident
- Scott, Mary
- owner
- Choate, Abraham
- ID Number
- DL*64.545
- catalog number
- 64.545
- accession number
- 252318
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Knox Hydraulic Pump Slide Rule
- Description
- This rule consists of a clear plastic envelope, glued together along the back bottom edge, and a white plastic slide. The front is marked: KNOX (/) SO. WALPOLE/W. SPRINGFIELD. MASS./BRIDGEPORT, CONN. (/) PNEUMATIC & (/) HYDRAULIC SYSTEMS & (/) COMPONENTS. By setting the force in pounds opposite the PSI of a line, a user can read the diameter of a cylinder in inches. By setting the rule to the desired diameter of a cylinder, the user reads the displacement in cubic inches opposite the length of a stroke in inches. By setting the back of the rule to a desired pump delivery in gallons per minute, the user reads the time in seconds opposite displacement in cubic inches and the velocity of oil flowing through the pipe (in feet per second) opposite the area of the pipe in square inches.
- Knox, Inc., manufactured hydraulic pumps. From its headquarters on Foxhill Drive in South Walpole, Mass., the company filed for trademarks in 1966 and 1968 and was assigned U.S. Patent 3,599,849 in 1971. Thus, this rule likely dates to around 1970. By 1980, the company was renamed Knox-Norton, Inc., and headquartered in Hartford, Conn.
- Reference: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark Electronic Search System.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1970
- maker
- Knox, Inc.
- ID Number
- 1988.0795.02
- accession number
- 1988.0795
- catalog number
- 1988.0795.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Ford Coupe Stock Car, 1952
- Description
- In 1952, Leon Hurd extensively modified this 1932 Ford coupe, beefing-up the frame and installing stronger springs, and installing a 1942 Ford "59A"-block "flathead" V-8 engine. Initially the car ran without fenders, during the short time that was permitted by the Atlantic Racing Association racing rules. (NASCAR was in its infancy.)
- Hurd raced in New England from 1952 through 1955, winning more than 100 races in that time. The car carried racing number "00." In 1979, Hurd did some minor restoration on the car.World War II period saw a relative explosion of motor racing on both sides of the Atlantic and a proliferation of distinctly American types of racing with no counterparts in Europe. One such uniquely American type was "stock car" racing. Popular interest was whetted by races run with cars that were entirely like - or mostly looked like - those for sale in the showrooms or on the used-car lots. Fans could cheer for cars that looked like the cars they drove in everyday use.
- Most auto racers preferred two-door coupes: a smaller, two-door car was lighter for better acceleration yet could house a powerful engine; and a coupe had a roof, which helped protect the driver in roll-overs, which were not uncommon in the pell-mell anarchy of beach races. To help him set rules for stock-car racing, Bill France created the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, NASCAR, in 1948; NASCAR's first season was 1949. Then France had another idea: too many spectators could enjoy his beach races without paying the admission charges for his viewing areas closer to the course. So why not build a modern oval race track away from the beach, surrounded by bleachers, and thus configured so that any and all spectators had to pay to see the races - and far more spectators at that?
- It was an old idea, actually. In the US from about 1910, the dominant money in the early years of auto racing came from entrepreneurial track owners (many of whom had previously owned bicycle tracks or velodromes). Track owners knew that strict control of access to the racing venues was the key to maximum income from spectators. And oval tracks gave by far the best view to the most customers, also a motivating factor for ticket buyers. (In contrast, Europe and Britain never developed such enclosed oval tracks. Very wealthy car-owners and manufacturers have always controlled auto racing there, and such elite car-owners and manufacturers have strongly preferred open-road courses as more sporting - and also more likely to help improve auto design technology. Thus modern European closed tracks still follow the "open road" idea, with lots of turns and curves.)
- Bill France saw the success of the paved oval track built at Darlington, SC, in 1950. So, with his business model in hand based on droves of paying race fans, France began raising money in 1953 and, a few years later, opened a new Daytona Speedway. NASCAR came of age in 1959, with the first running of the Daytona 500.
- "Stock-car" racing found a home quickly in the South, where "moonshiners" or "rum runners" during Prohibition had been modifying ordinary-looking cars with "souped-up" engines (i.e., modified for greater power) and stiffened suspensions -- and hidden tanks for booze -- to outrun federal marshals on backwoods roads when necessary to elude arrest. But organized stock-car racing on closed courses -- beginning in the late 1940s -- found eager fans as well in the Northeast, Midwest, and Far West; the South had no monopoly. Sponsorship money, particularly from local auto dealers, became more plentiful; "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" soon became a byword among retail car dealers. The cheaper, individually owned stock cars -- coupes that were often referred to as "jalopies" -- raced on local and regional dirt tracks. Well-sponsored cars fielded by wealthier owners with funding and engineering assistance from Detroit manufacturers raced at larger, paved oval tracks with extensive bleachers for the fans.
- Track owners set the pattern for organized stock-car racing. Bill France, of Daytona Beach, Florida, had witnessed the popularity of pre-war "beach racing" (see Web entry on the racing automobile, Winton 'Bullet' No. 1). In the late 1940s, he organized beach races for any local car-owners who liked the idea of competing against each other with more-or-less "stock" automobiles.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1952
- maker
- Hurd, Leon H.
- ID Number
- 1992.0029.01
- accession number
- 1992.0029
- catalog number
- 1992.0029.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Ship Model, Schooner Fredonia
- Description
- This model represents the fishing schooner Fredonia, designed by the well-known yacht designer Edward Burgess of Boston. Burgess designed several America’s Cup racing yachts, including the Puritan, the Mayflower, and the Volunteer, which successfully defended the cup in 1885, 1886, and 1887, respectively. From Burgess’s plans, Moses Adams built the Fredonia in 1889, at Essex, Mass. The schooner measured 111’-6” long, with a beam (width) of 23’-6”, and a depth of 10’-3”. Adams also built the schooner Nellie Dixon from the same plans in East Boston that year.
- After launching, the Fredonia was used as a yacht and made a transatlantic cruise before being refitted for work in the offshore fisheries. The vessel became known for its speed, and attracted attention for its fine lines. Its clipper-style bow with carved trail boards led to a long bowsprit (a spar extending forward from the bow that carried the jib). The design influenced fishing schooners for years to come, and vessels built on the Fredonia model came to represent the quintessential New England fishing schooner.
- The Fredonia’s influence belied its short life. In 1896 the vessel met with disaster while fishing for cod on the Grand Banks. During a December storm the Fredonia sank, with all but two of its crew of 23 saved by other schooners fishing in the area.
- date made
- 1889
- ship built
- 1889
- ship sank
- 1896-12
- designer
- Burgess, Edward
- shipbuilder
- Adams, Moses
- ID Number
- TR*076253
- catalog number
- 076253
- accession number
- 28022
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Weeden Toy Engine with Sawmill
- Description (Brief)
- The Weeden Manufacturing Company of New Bedford, Massachusetts produced this toy engine with sawmill during the early 20th century. The toy consists of a black fire box below an upright brass boiler with sight glass and a vertical engine connected to a flywheel. The drive wheel is connected by a string to a pulley on the sawmill that moves a log carriage to simulate the sawmill’s operation.
- The Weeden Manufacturing Company was founded in New Bedford, Massachusetts by William M. Weeden in the early 1880s, originally producing a variety of tinplate household items. In 1884 it introduced the Weeden No. 1 Steam engine as “a new and great premium for boys” who were subscribers to the Youth’s Companion magazine. Weeden made over a hundred different models of toy steam engines until the company ceased operations in 1952.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- early 20th century
- ID Number
- MC*329062
- catalog number
- 329062
- accession number
- 278175
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Ship Model, Fishing Schooner Dauntless
- Description
- This model represents the fishing schooner Dauntless, built at Essex, Mass., about 1855. Its hull is of the “sharpshooter” type, meaning the bottom has a sharp V-shape, as distinct from the rounded hulls of most fishing craft built in New England. The model shows the typical deck arrangement for a schooner sailing to or from the offshore fishing grounds, with the dory boats nested together and lashed bottom-up on the deck. All of the sails are set, including the jib and flying jib on the vessel’s long bowsprit.
- Fishing on the shallow banks stretching from Georges Bank east of Massachusetts to the Grand Bank off the coast of Newfoundland was a dangerous enterprise. Thousands of lives were lost in the race to catch more fish and deliver them to market before the competition. The demand for fast schooners led to designs that favored speed over safety. The Dauntless is an example of a mid-century schooner with a fast hull and a great deal of sail. The sailing rig would have required crewmen to venture out on the bowsprit to furl the jib, a dangerous proposition, especially in rough weather.
- Details of what happened to the Dauntless and its crew in September 1870 are unknown. But the schooner was lost at sea with all hands aboard, while making a passage to the Bay of St. Lawrence from Gloucester. Those lost included Jas. G. Craig, master, John La Pierre, Martin Costello, John Todd Jr., George Todd, Daniel Herrick, Edward Smith, James Smith, James Welch, George Goodwin, and two others, whose names are unknown.
- Date made
- 1894
- date made
- 1855
- model built
- ca 1855
- schooner was lost at sea
- 1870-09
- master of schooner's crew
- Craig, Jas. G.
- sailor
- La Pierre, John
- Costello, Martin
- Todd, Jr., John
- Todd, George
- Herrick, Daniel
- Smith, Edward
- Smith, James
- Welch, James
- Goodwin, George
- ID Number
- TR*076244
- catalog number
- 076244
- accession number
- 028022
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Half Model, Fishing Schooner Helen B. Thomas
- Description
- Unlike most of the half-hull models in the Smithsonian’s National Watercraft Collection, this one was not intended for use in shipbuilding. Instead, this half model of the fishing schooner Helen B. Thomas was made to show a radical design innovation to potential vessel owners. Its maker, Thomas F. McManus, a naval architect in Boston, adapted an idea from sailing yachts to the fishing schooners of New England. He eliminated the bowsprit, the spar projecting forward from the schooner’s bow, in an attempt to make the vessel safer for the fishermen working in treacherous conditions far offshore. In McManus’s new design, fishermen would not have to clamber out on the bowsprit to tend the jib (the vessel’s forward-most sail), a dangerous task especially in bad weather that, in McManus’s view, resulted too often in injury or death.
- McManus made this half-hull model and displayed it in his Boston office, hoping to attract a client. After nearly a year, Capt. William Thomas of Portland, Maine, decided to try the design and contracted with the Oxner & Story yard in Essex, Mass., to build the schooner. The Helen B. Thomas was launched in 1902 and measured 106’-7” overall, with a beam (width) of 21’-6” and 13’ deep. The vessel became a successful fishing schooner. While no other schooners were built to this exact design, many were built without the bowsprit, a schooner design that became known as the “knockabout.”
- date made
- 1901
- Associated Date
- early 20th century
- ship built from model design
- 1902
- Captain who contracted the design
- Thomas, William
- contractors who built the ship
- Oxner & Story
- maker
- McManus, Thomas F.
- ID Number
- TR*310888
- catalog number
- 310888
- accession number
- 131237
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Cast Iron Whale
- Description
- The words “BAKER NEW BEDFORD.” appear on the back of this cast-iron sperm whale, which has two mounting lugs on the bottom for fastening to a flat surface. These features suggest that it was a shop sign for one of the many stores in New Bedford, Massaschusetts that provided items to whalers needed for their dirty and dangerous business. In the 1878 New Bedford city directory, the only person listed with the surname Baker was Ansol Baker, a machinist.
- New Bedford was the largest American whaling port in the industry, which flourished until the Civil War and lasted into the early 20th century.
- Date made
- 19th century
- possible owner of sign
- Baker, Ansol
- ID Number
- CL*25052
- catalog number
- 25052
- accession number
- 2009.0157
- catalog number
- 2009.0157.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from Bigelow, Kent, Willard & Co.]
- Date
- 1900s
- Company Name
- Bigelow, Kent, Willard & Co.
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_7619
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- Next Page