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 889 items.
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Simplex '50' Racing and Touring Car, 1912
- Description
- This Simplex '50' is an early example of a type of car marketed as a touring car that could also be raced. Thus it is an example of what came to be termed, in the 1940s, a "sports car."
- American automobile racing is characterized by many widely divergent types of racing, each type having its own distinct history. Many aspects are/have been unique to each racing type: the general design of its participating cars, its sanctioning organization, its funding sources and owner-participants, the types of courses raced on, the different designated classes within an overall design, the official rules governing design details of the cars (rules that usually change every few years), and an enthusiastic base of fans who are often uninterested in the other types of motor racing. A century-long and complex history explains these distinctions and their genesis. A "fascination with speed" is only the seed of the story of each type and explains very little of what was seen in the past, or what is seen today, on race tracks around the United States.
- "Sports cars" came to the US as a post-World War II phenomenon. Ex-servicemen who had been based in England began bringing British sports cars to American soil in 1948. Auto dealerships selling such makes as MG, Triumph, and Jaguar - and Porsche from Germany and Ferrari from Italy - opened in the US for the first time. These cars were typical of European engineering for two-door performance cars: light, agile, many with small or medium-sized engines compared to general US custom, and right at home on curving, twisting roads where a driver could test his or her cornering skill.
- The provenance of this Simplex is not known in detail, nor whether it has a racing history. In 1922, it was registered to a Dunbar Adams of Bay Shore, Long Island; in 1929 it was given to the Smithsonian by a Mr. and Mrs. John D. Adams of the same town. The car has a stock Simplex '50' chassis with a 'skeleton' body - meaning, a sporting as distinct from a commodious body - by the Holbrook Co. (A customer purchasing a chassis-and-engine from an auto manufacturer and a body separately for fitting-on by a body manufacturer was a common practice in the first decade of the 20th century, though a rapidly declining practice by the mid-1910s.) The car is red (the semi-official color for American cars in international races of the time), with a four-cylinder engine and chain drive.
- The car was repainted and reupholstered by a contractor to the Smithsonian in 1950. At that time, Harvey Firestone, Jr., donated the seven 33-inch x 5-inch tires now fitted
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1912
- contributed
- Firestone, Jr., Harvey S.
- through
- King, George S.
- maker
- Simplex Automobile Co.
- ID Number
- TR*309549
- catalog number
- 309549
- accession number
- 104418
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
Robert Scofield Condon Engineering Papers, ca. 1924-1973
- Notes
- Robert S. Condon, engineer at Continental Can Co., was born in Bloomington, Ill. Graduate engineer, University of Illinois. Married Catherine Behrens, 1924 (d. 1958); they spent 15 years in Rutland, Vermont, where he was a founder of the Fibre Can Machinery Corp., later sold to the Continental Can Co. His second wife was Ilza de Souza Condon. After retirement, Condon continued consulting work; his last project was the "Marvel" pencil pointer or sharpener
- Summary
- Documents and photographs (including prints and negatives) relating to the patents, inventions, and designs of mechanical engineer Robert Scofield Condon. The bulk of the material concerns the development of his small "Marvel" pencil sharpener
- Cite as
- Robert Scofield Condon Engineering Papers, ca. 1924-1973, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1924
- 1924-1973
- ca 1924-1973
- 1920-1980
- 20th century
- author
- Condon, Robert Scofield (engineer) 1896-1973
- donor
- Condon, Robert B
- Subject
- Fibre Can Machinery Corp. Rutland (Vt.)
- Continental Can Co
- Local number
- 1991.8049 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
[Howard University School of Engineering : acetate film photonegative, ca. 1930s.]
- Summary
- Uncaptioned. Four students working with large machinery. "Agfa Safety Film" edge imprint. Technically excellent image
- Cite as
- Scurlock Studio Records, ca. 1905-1994, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1930
- 1940
- ca 1930s
- 20th century
- 1930-1940
- photographer
- Scurlock, Addison N. 1883-1964
- film manufacturer
- Agfa
- Subject
- Howard University
- Local number
- 618ns0178956hu.tif (AC Scan)
- Freezer box 35
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
[Howard University School of Engineering : acetate film photonegative, ca. 1930s.]
- Summary
- Three students with machinery, uncaptioned. "Agfa Safety Film" edge imprint
- Cite as
- Scurlock Studio Records, ca. 1905-1994, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1930
- 1940
- ca 1930s
- 1930-1940
- 20th century
- photographer
- Scurlock, Addison N. 1883-1964
- film manufacturer
- Agfa
- Subject
- Howard University
- Local number
- 618ns0178957hu.tif (AC Scan)
- Freezer box 35
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
[Howard University School of Engineering : acetate film photonegative, ca. 1930s.]
- Summary
- Three students with machinery, reading gauges: uncaptioned. "Agfa Safety Film" edge imprint
- Cite as
- Scurlock Studio Records, ca. 1905-1994, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1930
- 1940
- ca 1930s
- 20th century
- 1930-1940
- photographer
- Scurlock, Addison N. 1883-1964
- film manufacturer
- Agfa
- Subject
- Howard University
- Local number
- 618ns0178960hu.tif (AC Scan)
- Freezer box 35
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Probably the earliest photograph of Bachelet's working model of his magnetically levitated railway in Mt. Vernon, New York (1910) [black and white photoprint]
- Notes
- In Box 1, Folder 12
- Summary
- "Edwin Levick / New York" blind-stamp at lower right
- Cite as
- Emile Bachelet Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of Albert E. Bachelet
- Date
- 1910
- 1910-1920
- photographer
- Levick, Edwin
- Subject
- Bachelet, Emile (inventor) 1863-1946
- Local number
- AC0302-0000014.tif (AC Scan)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Alexander Binder Company Records, 1910-1965 (bulk 1921-1955)
- Notes
- Clinton B. Alexander patented and sold loose-leaf binders, tape splicers and plummet adjustors for plumb bobs
- Summary
- The collection consists of samples of marketing and sales materials produced by other businesses in the 1920s and 1930s, correspondence between Alexander and his vendors and customers, sales records sorted by year, and artifacts such as binders and material samples related to the production of binders
- Cite as
- Alexander Binder Company Records, 1921-1965, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1921
- 1921-1965
- 1910-1965 bulk 1921-1955
- 20th century
- creator
- Clinton B. Alexander Binder Company Washington, D.C
- Creator
- Alexander, Clinton B
- Work and Industry, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Local number
- 2007.3162 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Beam Compass
- Description
- This instrument consists of a wooden beam and a single German silver trammel with a micrometer and needle point. A large round hole in one end of the beam allows the instrument to be hung. The other end of the beam is marked in pencil at each of the first six inch points. The trammel is similar but not fully identical to Dietzgen's model number 646, which sold with a pair of trammels, two needle/pencil points, and a pen point for $9.20 in 1904–1905. This instrument was owned by the renowned American designer of steam engines, Erasmus Darwin Leavitt Jr. (1836–1916), and donated by his granddaughter, Margaret van D. Rice.
- Reference: Catalogue & Price List of Eugene Dietzgen Co., 7th ed. (Chicago, 1904), 71.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1900
- ID Number
- 1977.0460.04
- accession number
- 1977.0460
- catalog number
- 336075
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Child's Tool Chest
- Description
- As illustrated in this child's tool chest from around 1900, children in the early 20th century encountered their society's gender expectations at a young age. The tool chest from R. Bliss & Co. declared carpentry to be boys' work. It came with a hinged lid and a sliding, removable top tray. Inside is a colored picture of boys building a house under a banner that reads "BLISS UNION TOOL CHESTS FOR BOYS." R. Bliss & Co., established in 1845, started as a tool company, making wooden screws and clamps for piano and cabinetmakers, before it became a leading manufacturer of toys by the turn of the 20th century.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1900-1924
- maker
- R. Bliss and Co.
- ID Number
- 1977.1101.0167
- accession number
- 1977.1101
- catalog number
- 1977.1101.0167
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Hemmi Duplex Slide Rule Retailed by Post (Versalog 1460)
- Description
- The Frederick Post Company, a 20th-century manufacturer and retailer of scientific instruments based in Chicago, did not make its own slide rules. From 1932, its exclusive supplier of linear slide rules was Hemmi, a Japanese firm. Hemmi was known for using a large-diameter variety of bamboo grown in Kagoshima Prefecture on the island of Kyushu. Company founder Jiro Hemmi (1878–1953) patented this innovation in several nations, including the United States in 1920.
- While Post usually sold standard Hemmi models, around 1951 Hemmi created two ten-inch slide rules solely for Post, which sold in the United States as the model 1450 Versatrig and model 1460 Versalog. The Versalog was especially popular, selling several hundred thousand copies.
- This example is bamboo, coated on all sides (except the ends) with white celluloid. The rule is held together with metal posts, one of which is engraved on the front: Wm. Krutz. The glass indicator has a metal frame with plastic sides. One side is marked: HEMMI JAPAN. The other side bears a Post logo in red, which has largely been rubbed away. The red Post logo and the serial number 015836 appear on the right front of the slide. The serial number indicates the rule was manufactured in 1959. This is confirmed by the date code JI on the bottom edge of the rule, which corresponds to a manufacturing date of September 1959.
- The top edge of the rule is marked: CAT. NO. 1460; VERSALOG; FREDERICK POST CO.; HEMMI BAMBOO – JAPAN. The front of the base has LL0, LL/0, K, DF, D, R1, R2, AND L scales. The front of the slide bears CF, CIF, CI, and C scales. The LL/0, CIF, and CI scales are numbered in red. The back of the base has LL/1, LL/2, LL/3, D, LL3, LL2, AND LL1 scales. The back of the slide has T, Sec T and ST, Cos and S, and C scales. The LL/1, LL/2, LL/3, T, and Sec T scales are numbered in red. All the other scales are navy.
- The rule fits into a black Fabrikoid case with a leather flap (stamped POST). The case could be hung from the user's belt, and it is labeled: W. K. KRUTZ. The case is stored in a red, white, and black cardboard box, along with a guarantee from Post and a ruler-sized white plastic set of conversion tables, copyrighted in 1950 by the Eugene Dietzgen Co., another prominent slide rule manufacturer. The rule also arrived with an instruction booklet, 1978.0800.02.
- References: Jiro Hemmi, "Slide-Rule" (U.S. Patent 1,329,902 issued February 3, 1920); Walter Shawlee II, Ted Hume, and Paul Ross, "The Post Slide Rule Archive," Sphere Research Corporation, http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/post.html; Bob Otnes, "Notes on Frederick Post Slide Rules," Journal of the Oughtred Society 7, no. 1 (1998): 7–10; Paul Ross and Ted Hume, "Slide Rules of the Frederick Post Company," Journal of the Oughtred Society 9, no. 2 (2000): 37–46; Ted Hume, "The Popular Post Versalog Slide Rule," Journal of the Oughtred Society 15, no. 1 (2006): 53–55; William Lise, "Japanese Slide Rules," 19 August 2004, accessed via Internet Archive Wayback Machine; E. I. Fiesenheiser, The Versalog Slide Rule: An Instruction Manual (Chicago: The Frederick Post Company, 1951).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1959
- maker
- SUN HEMMI JAPAN CF
- inventor
- Frederick Post Co.
- ID Number
- 1978.0800.01
- catalog number
- 336682
- accession number
- 1978.0800
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
