Reeling, Spinning, and Twisting Silk Machine Patent Model
Patent No. 1,367, issued October 12, 1839
Jacob Pratt of Sherborn, Massachusetts
Pratt is an example of an inventor who thought he had a more complicated original invention than he actually had. In his patent application file, his specification makes four claims. Out of those four, only one was approved by Charles M. Keller, the patent examiner, and that claim was for using a trough of zinc. The trough held spools of silk fibers prior to spinning and was filled with warm water, which kept the fibers from sticking together.
The Journal of the Franklin Institute, 1840, commented: “Its construction is, in general, similar to such as is well known, and is not claimed as new . . . No particular reason is given for making the troughs of zinc, and we suppose that copper would do equally well; but from the special mention of this metal we were led to look for some ground of preference to it.”
This Saxony-style flax wheel is fashioned of wood, with small leather parts. It was probably made in the 18th century, possibly in Genoa, New York. Family records trace ownership of the wheel as far back as Mary Shaw, of Genoa, who was born in 1813. However, a study of the wheel's construction indicates it may have been made before Mary was born. Mary Shaw died in 1903. The wheel was given to the Museum by one of her descendants.
Spinning is the simple act of drawing out a few fibers and twisting them together to form a yarn. The process predates written history, and was first done by hand and with sticks. Spinning wheels are believed to have originated in India between 500 and 1000 A.D. By the 13th century, they were seen in Europe, and were a standard piece of equipment for those making fiber into yarn. By the 17th century they were commonly found in homes in the colonies of North America, where the production of fabric was a cottage industry. Spinning was generally seen as a woman's job. Women spun yarn at home, as well as with friends at spinning bees, where food was served and prizes might be given to the person who produced the most or best yarn. The industrial revolution brought mechanization to the textile industry, and eventually spinning was done on large machines in textile mills.
In 1928, the E. I. DuPont de Nemours Co. hired Wallace Carothers Ph. to conduct pure research in any area of chemistry he chose. His interest was in the construction of long chain polymers, similar to those found in nature. There was no product in mind when he and his team began their work, they simply wanted to learn as much about large molecules as possible. The work done by Carothers and his team lead to the discovery of polyesters and polyamides. DuPont went with the polyamides, and nylon was born. It was the first fiber produced entirely in the laboratory, and was introduced to the public in the form of women's stockings at the 1939 World's Fair. Nylon stockings went on sale May 15, 1940, and were a smashing success. Prior to the production of nylon stockings, American women wore stockings made of silk or rayon. By 1942, nylon stockings were taking twenty percent of the stocking market. With U.S. entry into World War Two, nylon was declared a defense material and withdrawn from the civilian market. Nylon's most famous use during the war was as a replacement for silk in parachutes. However, it was also used in ropes, netting, tire cord, and dozens of other items. So many uses were found for nylon that some referred to it as the "fiber that won the war." When the war ended, nylon stockings were brought back and quickly replaced silk and rayon in the stocking market.
This is the first pair of experimental nylon stockings made by Union Hosiery Company for Du Pont in 1937. The leg of the stocking is nylon, the upper welt, toe, and heel are silk, and cotton is found in the seam. The nylon section of the stocking would not take the silk dye, and dyed to black instead of brown.
This is an experimental sound recording made in the Volta Laboratory, Washington, D.C., on 15 April 1885. It is a recording of Alexander Graham Bell s voice.
In a ring around the center, it is inscribed in the wax: Record made April 15 1885/AGB and C.A.B. [Chichester A. Bell]/to test reproduction of numbers./ Disk A. G. B. No. 1. A paper document, probably in Alexander Graham Bell s handwriting, with a transcription of the recording is 287881.02
Leslie J. Newville, Development of the Phonograph at Alexander Graham Bell's Volta Laboratory, in Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology, United States National Museum Bulletin 218, Paper 5 (1959): 69-79.
one hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, three hundred thousand, four hundred thousand, five hundred thousand, six hundred thousand, seven hundred thousand, eight hundred thousand, nine hundred thousand, one million
three thousand five hundred and seventy one / one hundred and twenty three thousand nine hundred and forty one/ one hundred and twenty five thousand eight hundred and seventy three
one million nine hundred and forty five thousand eight hundred and seventy six / thirty-five thousand nine hundred / thirty three thousand eight hundred and seventy eight
forty eight thousand seven hundred and fifteen/ seven hundred and ninety thousand [no?] hundred and forty two / four million five hundred and thirty thousand eight hundred and seventy
forty five dollars and a half / eighty nine dollars and seventy three cents / four thousand [no?] hundred and twenty nine dollars and forty-six cents
thirty five cents / twenty five cents / thirty cents / fifty cents
half a dollar [a? seems to be missing] quarter dollar
three dollars and a half / five dollars and a quarter / seven dollars and twenty nine cents
ten dollars and a half / three thousand seven hundred and eighty five dollars and fifty six cents
This record has been made by Alexander Graham Bell
in the presence of Dr. Chichester A. Bell ----
on the 15th of April, eighteen hundred and eighty five at the Volta Laboratory
Twelve hundred and twenty one Connecticut Avenue, Washington [D.C. ?]
In witness whereof --- hear my voice Alexander Graham Bell
According to his patent specification, Yerkes patented “the revolving arrangement and combination of the sliding shaft, with the broach, or with the spool, for the purpose of removing and renewing the latter . . . .” The action of the sliding shaft enabled the operator to remove and change the spool when the spring was pressed down. In addition, he patented the ring in combination with the flyers that distributed the yarn on the spool. Yerkes intended his improvements to be used on machines for spinning cotton and other fibers.
John E. Jones of Wiretown (now Waretown), New Jersey, invented a mechanism in 1870 to relieve strain on anchor cables. This is his patent model for the device, which employs rubber springs in a pivoting frame as a surge buffer. "This is a most durable and efficient arrangement for" preventing damage from strained cables, he argued, "and its advantages will be readily understood by all sea-faring men."
Strong, rot-resistant iron chains increasingly replaced natural-fiber anchor cables beginning in the 1850s, and by the 1870s they were almost universal on larger vessels. Jones's invention responded to the less elastic nature of iron compared to hemp, jute, and manila by providing a way to relieve any sudden tension that might occur in a cable. Jones also patented the use of rubber springs in adjustable lanyards, the patent model for which is also in the collection.
John E. Jones of Waretown, New Jersey, designed an elastic lanyard for use in setting up a vessel's standing rigging. This is the model he sent to Washington in 1871 with his application for a patent protecting the device.
Wire rope became more common in the second half of the nineteenth century. Aboard sailing vessels, it first replaced natural-fiber ropes in standing rigging, which didn't require constant handling. Later, as mechanical winches came into greater use, it replaced frequently handled running rigging as well. For many centuries, the ropes supporting a vessel's masts were adjusted using short ropes run between special blocks called deadeyes. Or, as a sailor would say, shrouds and backstays were set up using lanyards. Wire rope was more readily adjusted using turnbuckles, which, along with bottlescrews, remain the standard devices for the purpose today. Jones thought a more effective arrangement would employ a series of rubber cushions; tension was to be adjusted with a single short screw, instead of a turnbuckle's pair of long threaded bolts. It is not known if his invention was ever commercially produced.
Jones also patented the use of rubber springs to relieve the strain on chain cables, and his surge reliever patent model is also in the collection.
This is a wool carder owned by the Copp family of Stonington, Connecticut during the 18th and 19th century. The carding process is part of preparing wool for spinning into yarn. Wool is brushed between two hand carders (see DL*006833.02) to align fibers in the same direction. The wool is rolled off the carder into a rolag and then spun.
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
This is a wool carder owned by the Copp family of Stonington, Connecticut during the 18th and 19th century. The carding process is part of preparing wool for spinning into yarn. Wool is brushed between two hand carders (see DL*006833.02) to align fibers in the same direction. The wool is rolled off the carder into a rolag and then spun.
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Apron; weaver's, blue and white striped cotton ticking. Half apron. Apron has one large pocket, 13.875" (35cm) deep; inside is a 1.25" (3.2cm) wide strip sewn with channels to hold reed hooks. The reverse has two pockets 6" (15cm) deep along the bottom edge of the apron. A strip, 16.75" (45cm) and 19" (48.2cm) is sewn at its center to each top corner of the apron; they appear to have been used to tie on the apron.
Girls built America. Girls’ work gave other women leisure time, they made industries more profitable, their cheap labor sparked a consumer revolution, and their activism reshaped labor laws. Through their labor and activism, they made workplaces safer for everyone.
Not all girls had a childhood because they had to work.
Young girls often worked as spinners or bobbin girls. Spinners ran machines that twisted fiber into yarn. Bobbin girls replaced full bobbins of yarn with empty ones. Often, girls wore aprons such as this one to protect their clothes.
The crafting of this quilt was made possible by William Grover’s 1851 invention of the double-thread chain stitch. He and William Baker were issued U.S. Patent No. 7,931 for a machine that used this stitch. The Grover and Baker Sewing Machine Co. of Boston, Mass., began manufacturing the machines in 1851, and by 1856 were producing for the home market. “Quilting on a Grover & Baker’s sewing machine, is no trouble at all, and the rapidity with which it is accomplished, enables us to apply it to many things which would cost too much time and labor for hand sewing.” ( The Ladies’ Hand Book of Fancy Ornamental Work Florence Hartley, Philadelphia, 1859.)
The most elaborate quilting of the 19th century was done by hand. It is unusual that the unknown maker of this quilt used a machine to stitch the design of each square through two layers of cotton fabric. The design areas were then stuffed with cotton fibers. The squares were sewn together by hand to make the quilt top, and an overall lining was added. The three layers were quilted by hand along each side of the seams where the squares of the quilt top were joined.
By 1870, the Grover and Baker double-thread, chain-stitch was being replaced by a lockstitch. The lockstitch machines used one-third the amount of thread and made less bulky seams. The lockstitch remains the standard stitch of home sewing machines to this day.
The motifs on this all-white quilt top are similar to those found on many of the colorful appliqué quilts of the mid-19th century. Although more complex than most of the work for which the new machines were used, the quilt’s design and the use of the Grover and Baker stitch suggest that this is an early example of machine quilting.
This intriguing quilt, “Solar System,” was made by Ellen Harding Baker (1847-1886), an intellectually ambitious Iowa wife and mother. It came to the National Museum of American History in 1983, a gift from her granddaughters.
The maker, Sarah Ellen Harding, was born in Ohio or Indiana, in 1847, and married Marion Baker of Cedar County, Iowa, on October 10, 1867. In the 1870s they moved to Johnson County, where Marion had a general merchandise business in Lone Tree. Ellen had seven children before she died of tuberculosis on March 30, 1886.
The wool top of this applique quilt is embellished with wool-fabric applique, wool braid, and wool and silk embroidery. The lining is a red cotton-and-wool fabric and the filling is of cotton fiber. The design of this striking and unusual quilt resembles illustrations in astronomy books of the period. Included in the design is the appliqued inscription, “Solar System,” and the embroidered inscription, “E.H. Baker.” Mrs. Baker probably began this project in 1876, as per the “A.D.1876” in the lower right corner.
The “Solar System” quilt was probably completed in 1883 when an Iowa newspaper reported that “Mrs. M. Baker, of Lone Tree, has just finished a silk quilt which she has been seven years in making.” The article went on to say that the quilt “has the solar system worked in completely and accurately. The lady went to Chicago to view the comet and sun spots through the telescope that she might be very accurate. Then she devised a lecture in astronomy from it.” This information was picked up the by the New York Times (September 22, 1883).
The large object in the center of the quilt is clearly the Sun, and the fixed Stars are at the outer edges. Around the Sun are the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Moon, and Mars. Not shown are the two moons of Mars that were first seen, at the U.S. Naval Observatory in 1877. The four curious clumps beyond Mars represent the asteroids. The first asteroid (Ceres) had been found in 1801, and with the proliferation of ever more powerful telescopes, ever more objects came into view. Then there is Jupiter with its four moons first seen by Galileo, and Saturn with its rings. The six moons orbiting Uranus are somewhat confusing, as astronomers did not agree on the actual number. Neptune has the one moon discovered by an English astronomer in 1846, shortly after the planet itself was seen.
The large item in the upper left of the quilt is surely the naked-eye comet that blazed into view in the spring of 1874, and that was named for Jerome Eugene Coggia, an astronomer at the Observatory in Marseilles. Americans too took note. Indeed, an amateur astronomer in Chicago put a powerful telescope on the balcony of the Interstate Industrial Exposition Building (1872-1892), a large glass structure recently erected along the shore of Lake Michigan, and offered to show Coggia’s Comet to citizens of and visitors to the Windy City.
The New York Times described Mrs. Baker’s intention to use her quilt for pedagogical purposes as “somewhat comical”---but it was clearly behind the times. Most Americans knew that women were teaching astronomy and other sciences in grammar schools, high schools and colleges, in communities across the country. Mrs. Baker, for her part, may have been inspired by the fact that the famed Maria Mitchell, professor at Vassar College, had brought four students and piles of apparatus, to Burlington, Iowa, to observe a solar eclipse in August 1869.
Sample of wool fiber, 1951, as used for blending with other fibers, natural and synthetic, for making yarn and then fabric, by Goodall-Sanford, Inc. Sanford Maine. Part of a gift of 14 fabric samples and 11 fiber samples by Goodall-Sanford Inc., Sanford, Maine, to illustrate "Fiber Blending for Better Performance", in September 1951. The Goodall Worsted Company (maker of the mohair and cotton blend fabric "Palm Beach Cloth"), and the Sanford Mills (maker of mohair and wool velvets, plushes, and imitation fur fabrics) merged in 1944 to form Goodall-Sanford Inc. Palm Beach cloth was a menswear summer staple, and was one of the first fabrics considered "easy-care", although both its components were natural fibers. This donation illustrates some of the company's other efforts at blending fibers, in this case natural and synthetic blends. Goodall-Sanford's sales headquarters were at 545 Madison Avenue, NY 22, NY.
Mounted by donor for display, in a clear plastic domed container (now yellowing) with a black marker or paint lettering label.
Sample of Alpaca fiber, 1951. Alpaca, like the fibers from other camelids (camel, vicuna, and llama) is a hair, not a wool. Alpaca fiber is fine and soft, and often blended with other fibers for strength. Part of a gift of 14 fabric samples and 11 fiber samples by Goodall-Sanford Inc., (mills at Sanford, Maine), to illustrate "Fiber Blending for Better Performance", in September 1951.
The Goodall Worsted Company (maker of the mohair and cotton blend fabric "Palm Beach Cloth"), and the Sanford Mills (maker of mohair and wool velvets, plushes, and imitation fur fabrics) merged in 1944 to form Goodall-Sanford Inc. Palm Beach cloth was a menswear summer staple, and was one of the first fabrics considered "easy-care", although both its components were natural fibers. This donation illustrates some of the company's other efforts at blending fibers, in this case natural and synthetic blends. Goodall-Sanford's sales headquarters were at 545 Madison Avenue, NY 22, NY.
Mounted by donor for display, in a clear plastic domed container (now yellowing) with a black marker or paint lettering label.
Sample of cotton fiber; 1951, as used for blending with other fibers, natural and synthetic, for making yarn and then fabric, by Goodall-Sanford, Inc. Sanford Maine. Part of a gift of 14 fabric samples and 11 fiber samples by Goodall-Sanford Inc., Sanford, Maine, to illustrate "Fiber Blending for Better Performance", in September 1951. The Goodall Worsted Company (maker of the mohair and cotton blend fabric "Palm Beach Cloth"), and the Sanford Mills (maker of mohair and wool velvets, plushes, and imitation fur fabrics) merged in 1944 to form Goodall-Sanford Inc. Palm Beach cloth was a menswear summer staple, and was one of the first fabrics considered "easy-care", although both its components were natural fibers. This donation illustrates some of the company's other efforts at blending fibers, in this case natural and synthetic blends. Goodall-Sanford's sales headquarters were at 545 Madison Avenue, NY 22, NY.
Mounted by donor for display, in a clear plastic domed container (now yellowing) with a black marker or paint lettering label.
Sample of nylon fiber, as used for blending with other fibers, natural and synthetic, for making yarn and then fabric, by Goodall-Sanford, Inc. Sanford Maine. {NB: this nylon probably was purchased by Goodall-Sanford from the DuPont Co., or one of its licensees. Goodall-Sanford did not manufacture nylon]
Part of a gift of 14 fabric samples and 11 fiber samples by Goodall-Sanford Inc., (mills at Sanford, Maine), to illustrate "Fiber Blending for Better Performance", in September 1951. The Goodall Worsted Company (maker of the mohair and cotton blend fabric "Palm Beach Cloth"), and the Sanford Mills (maker of mohair and wool velvets, plushes, and imitation fur fabrics) merged in 1944 to form Goodall-Sanford Inc. Palm Beach cloth was a menswear summer staple, and was one of the first fabrics considered "easy-care", although both its components were natural fibers. This donation illustrates some of the company's other efforts at blending fibers, in this case natural and synthetic blends. Goodall-Sanford's sales headquarters were at 545 Madison Avenue, NY 22, NY.
Mounted by donor for display, in a clear plastic domed container (now yellowing) with a black marker or paint lettering label.
