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 123 items.
Page 1 of 13
Cladding Fragment from the World Trade Center
- Description
- This crumpled piece of exterior sheathing was recovered from the debris pile of the World Trade Center after the building collapsed following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. While the towers withstood the initial damage caused by the impact of the hijacked jet liners being crashed into the structures, the intense fire that then raged proved to be too much.
- The twin towers of the World Trade Center, a New York City landmark and the tallest buildings in the world when completed in 1973, were noted for their incredible 110-story height and their gleaming exterior. The towers were clad in an aluminum alloy sheathing that gave the buildings a golden sheen at sunrise and sunset. The material covered the closely-spaced exterior steel columns, enhancing their soaring appearance. Architect Minoru Yamasaki choose to use an aluminum alloy after first considering the more expensive alternative of stainless steel. The highly reflective sheathing of the twin towers added to the building's impact as a memorable landmark.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- late 1960s-early 1970s
- ID Number
- 2002.0205.05
- accession number
- 2002.0205
- catalog number
- 2002.0205.05
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Keuffel & Esser Instructions for 4098 Ever-There Slide Rule
- Description
- The citation information for this 16-page tissue paper pamphlet is: Instructions for Operating Ever-There Slide Rule No. 4098 (New York: Keuffel & Esser, 1932). The pamphlet describes an earlier version of 1989.0325.06. It lists various uses for slide rules and provides detailed drawings and explanations for reading numbers and making calculations on the slide rule. Sample problems are solved in multiplication and division, proportion, squares and square roots, cubes and cube roots, trigonometry, and logarithms.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1932
- maker
- Keuffel & Esser Co.
- ID Number
- 1981.0933.09
- accession number
- 1981.0933
- catalog number
- 1981.0933.09
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Yankee Stadium Ticket Booth
- Description
- This 1923 ticket booth is from Yankee Stadium, called "The House that Ruth Built" because the star slugger, Babe Ruth (1895–1948), revitalized the game, bringing in thousands of new fans.
- Date made
- 1923
- played at
- Ruth, Babe
- user
- New York Yankees
- ID Number
- CL*310894.01
- accession number
- 310894
- catalog number
- 310894.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Protractor Retailed by Benjamin Pike & Son
- Description
- This brass circular protractor was manufactured in the mid-19th century and made available for sale by the New York City firm headed by Benjamin Pike (1777–1863). Pike, a dealer of optical, mathematical, and philosophical instruments whose firm serviced the entire United States, partnered at various times with his sons, Benjamin Jr., Daniel, and Gardner. The business was called “Benjamin Pike & Son,” as is marked on the vernier limb of this protractor, between 1831 and 1841 and between 1843 and 1850.
- This protractor likely would have been of interest to surveyors and engineers. The object is divided by single degrees. It bears two sets of markings by tens in the clockwise direction: from 0° to 90° to 0° to 90° to 0°, and from 10° to 360°. Brass arms extend into the center to divide the protractor into quadrants. The arms are not placed at the 0° and 90° points, as one might expect, but rather at the 50/50, 40/140, 50/230, and 40/320 markings. There are rounded, beveled notches at the 90/90 and 90/270 markings. A round hole (5/8" diameter) is at the center. Crosshairs would typically have been placed in this hole to mark the origin point for measuring angles, but no crosshairs are present. Instead, a brass piece fills about one-third of the hole.
- An arm pivoted from the center carries a vernier, which allows the user to read off angles to 10 minutes of arc. The vernier is marked by 30s from 60 to 0 to 60. The vernier arm is marked: Benj-n Pike & Son New York. The arm extends beyond the vernier. A brass strip, fastened on top of the arm, contains a sharp metal pin that pokes through a hole near the end of the arm. The pin was used to prick, or mark, angle points.
- This protractor has some notable differences from the circular protractor depicted in Pike catalogs of 1848 and 1856: its outer edge is smooth instead of appearing to bear gear teeth; it has one vernier arm instead of two; and it has two sets of markings instead of one.
- References: Deborah J. Warner, “Browse by Maker: Pike,” National Museum of American History Physical Sciences Collection: Surveying and Geodesy, http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/surveying/maker.cfm?makerid=22; Benjamin Pike Jr., Pike’s Illustrated Descriptive Catalogue of Optical, Mathematical, and Philosophical Instruments (New York, 1848), 43–45; Benjamin Pike Jr., Pike’s Illustrated Descriptive Catalogue of Optical, Mathematical, and Philosophical Instruments (New York, 1856), 43–45; facsimile with historical introduction by Deborah J. Warner (Dracut, Mass., and San Francisco, 1984).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1831-1850
- maker
- Pike, Jr., Benjamin
- ID Number
- MA*304826.059
- accession number
- 1973.304826
- catalog number
- 304826.059
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
[Overview of Niagara Falls area.] stereo photonegative
- Notes
- Currently stored in box 1.1.2 [158]. Orig. no., 126-C
- Date
- 1895
- 1921
- 1900-1910
- publisher
- Underwood & Underwood
- H.C. White Co
- Local number
- RSN 245
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Division of Transportation: Railroads' Engineering Data, 1912-1949
- Summary
- Includes statistics on electric train operation, drawings, blueprints, technical papers, train classifications, research and development reports, business and financial correspondence (1933, 1939-48, 1940-41), installation and operation instructions, locomotive system test procedures, locomotive operations data and calculations, records of locomotive mileages and part failures, suggested locomotive improvements, locomotive specifications, plans for fire extinguishing systems, tonnage ratings, etc
- Railroads represented are the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, Piedmont and Northern Railroad, Pennsylvania Railroad, Takata and Company Railroad, Philadelphia and Western Railroad, Sorocabana Railway, and Erie Railroad Company
- Cite as
- Division of Transportation: Railroads' Engineering Data, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1912
- 1912-1949
- 1930-1950
- collector
- Hamily, David
- Transportation, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Subject
- New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad
- Piedmont and Northern Railroad
- Pennsylvania Railroad
- Takata and Company Railroad
- Philadelphia and Western Railroad
- Sorocabana Railway
- Erie Railroad Company
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Keuffel & Esser 1740 Thacher Cylindrical Slide Rule
- Description
- This paper, brass, and wood cylindrical slide rule has 20 sets of A, B, and C scales, with each set 47 cm in length. The scales are printed on paper that is glued around a sliding brass drum (with wooden handles) and on brass slats that are attached to a round brass frame on either end. The frame is screwed to a wooden base. A sheet of instructions for THACHER'S CALCULATING INSTRUMENT is glued along the top front of the base.
- The right side of the paper on the drum is marked in italics: Patented by Edwin Thatcher [sic], C.E. Nov. 1st 1881. Divided by W. F. Stanley, London, 1882. Made by Keuffel & Esser Co. N.Y. A small silver metal tag affixed to the front right of the base is engraved: KEUFFEL & ESSER CO. (/) NEW-YORK (/) 663. Wayne Feely has suggested that K&E began manufacturing (as opposed to simply distributing) Thacher cylindrical slide rules in 1887, indicating 1887 is the earliest date for this example of the instrument. The latest date for the instrument is 1900, because K&E changed the design of the brass frame at that time.
- The object is contained in a wooden case that bears no identifying marks. According to the accession file, the rule was found in a Smithsonian collections storage locker in the Arts & Industries Building about 1964.
- See also MA*312866.
- Reference: Wayne E. Feely, "Thacher Cylindrical Slide Rules," The Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association 50 (1997): 125–127
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1887-1900
- maker
- Keuffel & Esser Co.
- ID Number
- 1987.0107.08
- catalog number
- 1987.0107.08
- accession number
- 1987.0107
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Gurley Cox's Stadia Computer Circular Slide Rule
- Description
- Some slide rules reveal transformations in materials. A later version of this paper circular slide rule was made from celluloid (1987.0221.02). Both were designed to reduce data obtained with a surveyor's transit.
- On the base, just outside the disc, is a logarithmic scale for readings of a stadia rod used with a transit telescope, in feet. The edge of the disc has two scales involving functions of angles. One scale allows for multiplying the stadia reading by 1/2 sin 2 A, where A is the vertical angle of the transit telescope. This multiplication gives the difference in elevation of the transit and the stadia rod, in feet. The second scale represents multiplying the stadia reading by the square of the cosine of A, to find the horizontal distance of the rod in feet. The instrument bears a copyright date of 1899. Compare this instrument to Webb’s stadia rule (MA*333636) as well as to 1977.1141.41 and 2001.0282.01.
- The slide rule has a cloth-covered cardboard cover. Pasted on the inside of the cover is an image of the Light Mountain Transit sold by W. & L. E. Gurley of Troy, N.Y., from 1897 to 1908. The image of the transit in the 1910 Gurley catalog is different, but it is not the same as the image on rule 1987.0221.02. Cox’s stadia computer is not mentioned in any of these catalogs; the device was probably given away as a promotional item.
- In 1904, W. M. Beaman, a topographer in the U.S. Geological Survey, devised the “Beaman stadia arc,” a transit attachment that obviated the need for separate computing rules. Beaman obtained a patent for his instrument in 1906, and it was offered in Gurley catalogs from at least 1908.
- References: W. & L. E. Gurley, A Manual of the Principal Instruments Used in American Engineering and Surveying, 42nd ed. (Troy, N.Y., 1908), 62–63; Florian Cajori, "A Stadia Slide-Rule," Engineering News 43 (April 5, 1900): 232; Richard Smith Hughes, "Stadia or Tacheometric Slide Rules, Part II," Journal of the Oughtred Society 16, no. 2 (2007): 32–41.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- after 1899
- maker
- W. & L. E. Gurley
- ID Number
- 1987.0221.01
- accession number
- 1987.0221
- catalog number
- 1987.0221.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Gurley Cox's Stadia Computer Circular Slide Rule
- Description
- This instrument consists of a plastic disc riveted to a plastic base. It is very similar to a paper instrument of the same name (see 1987.0221.01).
- The base, just outside the disc, has a logarithmic scale that represents readings in feet of a stadia rod used with a transit telescope. The base, just outside the disc, has a logarithmic scale that represents readings in feet of a stadia rod used with a transit telescope. The edge of the disc has two scales of functions of angles. Applying the first scale multiplies the stadia reading by 1/2 sin 2A, where A is the vertical angle of the transit telescope. This multiplication gives the difference in elevation of the transit and the stadia rod, in feet. The second scale multiplies the stadia reading by the square of cos A, to find the horizontal distance of the rod in feet.
- The back of the instrument bears an advertisement for W. & L. E. Gurley, a maker of instruments in Troy, N.Y. A transit is depicted; it appears to be Gurley's Explorers [sic] precise transit. This was the smallest and lightest Gurley transit, shown in the Gurley catalogs for 1910 and 1912 (with a different image than is on this rule) and 1921 (with same image as on rule), but not the 1928 catalog. The 1921 catalog advertises the celluloid form of the Cox stadia computer and indicates that it sold for 75 cents.
- A maker's mark at the bottom of the back of the computer is not legible, but the firm of Whitehead and Hoag of Newark, N.J., is known to have manufactured the instrument for Gurley in the second quarter of the 20th century.
- References: W. & L. E. Gurley, Catalogue of Gurley Engineering Instruments (Troy, N.Y., 1921), 50; Florian Cajori, "A Stadia Slide-Rule," Engineering News 43 (April 5, 1900): 232; Laine Farley, "Whitehead & Hoag Celluloid Bookmarks," http://www.bibliobuffet.com/on-marking-books-columns-195/archive-index-on-marking-books/1039-whitehead-a-hoag-celluloid-bookmarks-053109.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1921
- maker
- W. & L. E. Gurley
- ID Number
- 1987.0221.02
- accession number
- 1987.0221
- catalog number
- 1987.0221.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Niagara Falls Original Turbines
- Description
- Using this extremely fine wood model as part of its technical proposal, the Swiss firm Faesch & Piccard won the contract to design the original turbines for the Niagara Falls power station. The actual turbines were built by the I. P. Morris Company of Philadelphia and were installed in 1895, the year the Adams Station went on line. The hydroelectric power generation facility at Niagara Falls gained international acclaim for its ability to efficiently convert a portion of the Falls' awe-inspiring natural energy into electricity. This was the world's first large-scale central electric power station, demonstrating how falling water (or other power sources) could be used successfully to supply electricity over an extended geographical area.
- For additional information
- date made
- 1895
- ID Number
- 315850
- accession number
- 221414
- catalog number
- 315850
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
