Industry & Manufacturing - Overview
The Museum's collections document centuries of remarkable changes in products, manufacturing processes, and the role of industry in American life. In the bargain, they preserve artifacts of great ingenuity, intricacy, and sometimes beauty.
The carding and spinning machinery built by Samuel Slater about 1790 helped establish the New England textile industry. Nylon-manufacturing machinery in the collections helped remake the same industry more than a century later. Machine tools from the 1850s are joined by a machine that produces computer chips. Thousands of patent models document the creativity of American innovators over more than 200 years.
The collections reach far beyond tools and machines. Some 460 episodes of the television series Industry on Parade celebrate American industry in the 1950s. Numerous photographic collections are a reminder of the scale and even the glamour of American industry.
"Industry & Manufacturing - Overview" showing 124 items.
Page 1 of 13
Patent model for printers' quoins
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for quoins whose two sides were opened or closed by wedges governed by a central double-threaded screw; the invention was granted patent number 139351.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1873
- patent date
- 1873-05-27
- maker
- Ames, Chauncey W.
- Sprague, E. H.
- ID Number
- 1996.0062.01
- patent number
- 139351
- accession number
- 1996.0062
- catalog number
- 1996.0062.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Patent model for printers' shooting sticks
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for a shooting stick, used for driving in quoins, or wedges, to tighten a form in its chase; the invention was granted patent number 107154. These sticks had different-sized notches to fit different quoins, and two wings to help open spaces for the quoins among the furniture.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1870
- patent date
- 1870-09-06
- maker
- Blackwell, Benjamin B.
- ID Number
- 1996.0062.03
- patent number
- 107154
- accession number
- 1996.0062
- catalog number
- 1996.0062.03
- patent number
- 107154
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Patent model for loose leaf binder
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for a loose leaf binder with adjustable sides; the invention was granted patent number 787353.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1905
- patent date
- 1905-04-18
- maker
- Carlson, Charles A.
- ID Number
- 1996.0062.05
- patent number
- 787353
- accession number
- 1996.0062
- catalog number
- 1996.0062.05
- patent number
- 787353
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Patent Model for a Type Mold
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for a type mold which was granted patent number 5846. The Universal Hand Type-Mold cast type of any size.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1848
- Date made
- 1848
- patent date
- 1848-10-10
- maker
- Day, Hartley W.
- ID Number
- 1996.0062.06
- patent number
- 005846
- accession number
- 1996.0062
- catalog number
- 1996.0062.06
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Patent Model for Stencil Frames for Autographic Writing.
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for a stencil-printing frame which was granted patent number 219665. The frame is adjustable to take stencil sheets of different sizes.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1879
- patent date
- 1879-09-16
- maker
- De Zuccato, Eugenio
- ID Number
- 1996.0062.07
- catalog number
- 1996.0062.07
- accession number
- 1996.0062
- patent number
- 219665
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Patent model for sidesticks and quoins
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for a combination of quoins and sidesticks which was granted patent number 218518. The quoins swiveled on the ends of wide screws that turned into the sides of the metal sidesticks. A guage in the center of each sidestick told the compositor how far the quoin could be extended.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1879
- patent date
- 1879-08-12
- maker
- Gosorn, George T.
- ID Number
- 1996.0062.09
- patent number
- 218518
- accession number
- 1996.0062
- catalog number
- 1996.0062.09
- patent number
- 218518
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Patent model for printers' sidesticks and quoins
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for sidesticks with several tapering sections, and grooves or steps to guide the quoins on their path; the invention was granted patent number 145574.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1873
- patent date
- 1873-12-16
- maker
- Keehn, Francis
- ID Number
- 1996.0062.10
- patent number
- 145574
- accession number
- 1996.0062
- catalog number
- 1996.0062.10
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Patent model for printers' quoins
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for a three-part quoin, the parts being held together by a key passing through a slot in the central wedge; the invention was granted patent number 148308. Roughened sides of the quoin prevented slippage on other furniture.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1874
- patent date
- 1874-03-10
- maker
- Lame, Samuel C.
- Briggs, Ferdinand Sherwin
- ID Number
- 1996.0062.11
- patent number
- 148308
- accession number
- 1996.0062
- catalog number
- 1996.0062.11
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Patent model for printers' sidesticks and quoins
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for sidesticks made with two symmetrical series of inclined surfaces; the invention was granted patent number 133948. Matching quoins were adjusted by turning a double-threaded screw.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1872
- patent date
- 1872-12-17
- maker
- McGrath, Thomas
- ID Number
- 1996.0062.12
- patent number
- 133948
- accession number
- 1996.0062
- catalog number
- 1996.0062.12
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Patent model for printers' quoins
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for a screw quoin, adjustable with any common wrench; the invention was granted patent number 167780.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1875
- patent date
- 1875-09-14
- maker
- O'Shea, Andrew Jackson
- ID Number
- 1996.0062.13
- patent number
- 167780
- accession number
- 1996.0062
- catalog number
- 1996.0062.13
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center