Natural Resources - Overview
The natural resources collections offer centuries of evidence about how Americans have used the bounty of the American continent and coastal waters. Artifacts related to flood control, dam construction, and irrigation illustrate the nation's attempts to manage the natural world. Oil-drilling, iron-mining, and steel-making artifacts show the connection between natural resources and industrial strength.
Forestry is represented by saws, axes, a smokejumper's suit, and many other objects. Hooks, nets, and other gear from New England fisheries of the late 1800s are among the fishing artifacts, as well as more recent acquisitions from the Pacific Northwest and Chesapeake Bay. Whaling artifacts include harpoons, lances, scrimshaw etchings in whalebone, and several paintings of a whaler's work at sea. The modern environmental movement has contributed buttons and other protest artifacts on issues from scenic rivers to biodiversity.
"Natural Resources - Overview" showing 675 items.
Page 68 of 68
- No Image Available
Calmet Model B-C Water Meter
- Description
- This oscillating piston water meter with split case and no serial number fit a ¾” pipe. It was made by the Well Machinery & Supply Company in Fort Worth, Texas. It has a cast-iron body and so was probably made during the materials restrictions of World War II.The city of Fort Worth agreed, in 1930, to purchase 8,000 oscillating piston meters from the California Meter Company of Los Angeles. The Well Machinery & Supply Company acquired California Meter soon thereafter, and advertised Calmet water meters as “A Texas Made Product.”
- Ref: “Water Meter Concern Cites Accepted Bid,” Los Angeles Times (Aug. 30, 1930), p. E1.
- Well Machinery & Supply Company, Calmet. The Precision Built Water Meter (Fort Worth, n.d.).
- date made
- early 1940s
- maker
- Well Machinery & Supply Company
- ID Number
- PH*325825
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325828
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
Hersey I.C.H.F. Water Meter
- Description
- This is a disc water meter of the sort that the Hersey Manufacturing Company introduced in the early 1940s. Its working parts are similar to those of the Model H.F. but, due to wartime material restrictions, the case is of cast iron rather than bronze. With a capacity of 20 gallons per minute, this example was the smallest of several sizes made. The bottom is marked “Hersey anti-frost.”
- date made
- early 1940s
- maker
- Hersey Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- PH*325845
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325845
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
Hersey I.C.F. Water Meter
- Description
- This is a disc water meter of the sort that the Hersey Manufacturing Company introduced in the early 1940s. Its working parts are similar to those of the Model F but, due to wartime material restrictions, the case is of cast iron rather than bronze. With a capacity of 20 gallons per minute, this example was the smallest of several sizes made. The bottom is marked “Iron Antifrost.” The serial number (2,022,580) dates from 1944.
- date made
- ca 1944
- maker
- Hersey Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- PH*325847
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325847
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
Sparling Water Meter
- Description
- This is a 4” water meter with a fan blade impeller and serial number 10,239. The markings--“Sparling K-473” and “Sparling – K 473”—refer to the Sparling Meter Company. This firm was formed in Los Angeles in 1912, and began manufacturing propeller meters in 1919. The cast iron body suggests that it was made during the materials restrictions of World War II.
- date made
- early 1940s
- maker
- Sparling Water Meter Company
- ID Number
- PH*325871
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325871
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
Watch Dog Water Meter
- Description
- This ⅝” disc water meter was made by the Worthington-Gamon Meter Company in Newark, New Jersey. It has a cast iron body and no serial number, and so was probably made during materials restrictions of World War II.
- date made
- early 1940s
- maker
- Worthington-Gamon Meter Company
- ID Number
- PH*325892
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325892
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center