Shipyard Plate Puller
Shipyard Plate Puller
Usage conditions apply
- Description
- The assembly line revolutionized labor and production in early 20th-century America, and its innovations of prefabricated parts and streamlined processes were applied to shipbuilding in World War I. This tool was used by shipyard workers to align pre-punched holes in standardized hull plates before riveting them together with steam-powered hydraulic riveting guns. Riveting was an exhausting task, but essential for ensuring the overall strength of these mass-produced freighters.
- Beginning in 1918, the U.S. federal government initiated many programs designed to boost morale among workers on the home front. A popular event at shipyards was a riveting competition. The first record was set at the Baltimore Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company, where a riveting gang drove 658 rivets in eight hours. As reports of this spread across the country, other shipyards tried for their own records and newspapers began offering cash prizes. The record climbed to 2,919 rivets in nine hours, but the United States Shipping Board soon realized that these publicity stunts were wearing out the riveting gangs. The board halted the contests, but began publishing a ranking system of each shipyard’s daily riveting totals to continue the friendly (and productive) rivalries.
- Object Name
- plate puller
- Other Terms
- Plate Puller, Davis; plate puller; Maritime
- date made
- 1918
- first riveting competitions
- 1918
- hosted riveting competitions
- Baltimore Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company
- regulated riveting gangs and competitions
- United States Shipping Board
- Physical Description
- steel (overall material)
- brass (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 20 in x 5 1/4 in; x 50.8 cm x 13.335 cm
- ID Number
- TR.336914
- catalog number
- 336914
- accession number
- 1979.0413
- Credit Line
- Gift of Walter Davis
- World War I
- The Emergence of Modern America
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: Maritime
- Work
- Engineering, Building, and Architecture
- On the Water exhibit
- Exhibition
- On the Water
- Exhibition Location
- National Museum of American History
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
Nominate this object for photography.
Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.
If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.
