This memorial medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut during the 1840s. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including commemorative medals.
Obverse: Bust portraits of Presidents, with labels: GEORGE WASHINGTON/ JOHN ADAMS/ THOMAS JEFFERSON/ JAMES MADISON/ JAMES MONROE/ JOHN QUINCY ADAMS/ ANDREW JACKSON/ MARTIN VAN BUREN.
Reverse: Two branches wreath rim. The central legend reads: FIRST PRESIDENT/ GEORGE WASHINGTON./ SECOND/ JOHN ADAMS./ THIRD/ THOMAS JEFFERSON./ FOURTH/ JAMES MADISON./ FIFTH/ JAMES MONROE./ SIXTH/ JOHN QUINCY ADAMS./ SEVENTH/ ANDREW JACKSONS./ EIGHTH/ MARTIN VAN BUREN.
On 6 June 1858, the propeller Indiana sank in Lake Superior transporting its owner, three passengers and 280 tons of iron ore from Marquette, MI to Sault Ste. Marie, MI. The ship was insured for $9,000; the ore was insured separately for an undisclosed amount. One contemporary newspaper stated that it was the “first cargo of Lake Superior iron ore ever lost on the lakes.”
The ship landed upright and slightly bow down on the lakebed in 120 feet of water; the bow split open and ore spilled out onto the sandy bottom. The deck of the shipwreck remains covered with iron ore today, and the cargo hold is filled about three feet deep with ore as well.
Samples of the ore were recovered in 1979; upon analysis, they revealed that a high percentage of pure iron.
These hand tools were found in the engine and boiler space belowdecks in Indiana’s hold, indicating that they were used for the machinery. The crew used the shovel to add coal to the fires.
The hand truck—virtually identical to modern examples—is one of four found aboard Indiana and used for moving cargo into, out of, and around the cargo hold of the ship. This hand truck was the artifact that actually identified the vessel when it was located in 1972, for the words “PROPR INDIANA” were stamped into its handle. The other three had different ships’ names stamped on them, indicating that they were secondhand or borrowed equipment.
George S. Stearns and William Hodgson of Cincinnati, Ohio, submitted a patent application for an improvement in governors for steam engines to the United States Patent Office. They received patent 9,236 on August 31, 1852. A governor regulates the speed of an engine. Their governor was of normal design, but Stearns and Hodgson claimed as new their use of quadrants with teeth at the end of each arm supporting a fly ball. The inventors claimed the advantages of such a design were simplicity of operation and low cost of construction.
The patent model as shown in the image is constructed of cast iron and steel. All of the key elements of the patent are illustrated by the model. It includes a hand crank to permit demonstration of actual operation. A full description of the workings of the governor and diagrams showing the complete design of the patent can be found in the patent document online at the United States Patent and Trademark Office website, www.uspto.gov.
This presidential campaign medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1852. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, and campaign medals. This medal has a hole at the top so that it could be strung and worn.
Obverse: Bust of Winfield Scott facing left. Legend reads: MAJOR GEN: WIN: SCOTT.
This campaign medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1852.The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, and campaign medals.
Obverse: Bust of Winfield Scott facing left. Legend reads: MAJOR GENL. WINFD. SCOTT.
Reverse: Fasces topped with a “Liberty Cap,” surrounded by six flags, with a plaque that reads: CHIPPEWA/LUNDY’s LANE/VERA CRUZ/& MEXICO. The legend reads: A GALLANT & SKILLFUL HERO. THE PEOPLES CHOICE.
Half hull ship models were carved by shipwrights to a shape negotiated with the future owners of the ship. Once finished, the builder lifted the curved shape of the outer hull off the model and scaled it up to the dimensions of the full-sized ship on the floor of the molding loft. Then the ship’s timbers were cut to fit the lines drawn on the floor and lifted into position in the ship’s framework.
African American shipwright and former slave John Mashow built the whaler Jireh Swift in 1853 at Dartmouth, Mass. near New Bedford. The vessel measured 122 feet in length and 454 tons. Its first voyage was to the northern Pacific and lasted nearly four years. The ship collected 45 barrels of sperm oil, 2,719 barrels of whale oil and 14,900 lbs of whalebone. Swift’s second voyage, to the same grounds, lasted more than four years and netted much more oil and bone for her owners. Nearly three years into her third voyage, on 22 June 1865 she was captured in the Arctic by the Confederate raider Shenandoah and burned, for a loss of more than $40,000.
This model was filed with the application to the U.S. Patent Office for Patent Number 20,894 issued to Charles T. Porter of New York, New York on July 13, 1858. The patent was for an improvement in controlling the speed of a steam engine by use of a fly ball governor. This design was one of the earliest weighted fly ball governors. It differed from the common fly ball governor in that the balls were of very light weight, and the governor was intended to be operated at much higher speeds of rotation. The governor included gearing that rotated the fly balls at approximately ten times the speed of the engine's rotation. The design did not suffer from the increased friction of heavy fly balls which would reduce responsiveness. The inventor claimed the advantages of his design were more sensitive and rapid responses to small changes in engine speed. The Porter governor design was used in the Porter-Allen engine introduced about 1867, and the weighted fly ball principle was widely used from then on.
The patent model is constructed of cast iron and steel. All of the key elements of the patent are illustrated by the model. It includes a hand crank to permit demonstration of actual operation. A full description of the workings of the governor and diagrams showing the complete design of the patent can be found in the patent document online at the United States Patent and Trademark Office website, www.uspto.gov.
Souvenir Fan commemorating the 1853 New York World's Fair. The fan features images of George and Martha Washington.
New York's 1853 Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations was the United States' attempt to emulate the success of Britain's groundbreaking 1851 Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, or Great Exhibition. To that aim, a Crystal Palace exhibition building, similar to the iconic structure built for the Great Exhibition, was constructed in the area now known as Manhattan's Bryant Park. Another architectural landmark, the Latting Observatory, was also constructed. A 315-foot-tall wooden tower, the Observatory was, at the time, the tallest structure in New York, allowing visitors unprecedented views of the surrounding landscape.
The exposition, America's first attempt at a World's Fair, ran from July 14, 1853, until November 14, 1854. It attracted over one million visitors, who could see innovations such as Elisha Otis' safety lift (which allowed for the development of passenger elevators,) photographs from Matthew Brady, a demonstration of the Morse telegraph, and theatrical productions from PT Barnum.
Both the New York Crystal Palace and the Latting Observatory were destroyed by fire not long after the conclusion of the Fair: The Observatory in 1856 and the Palace in 1858.
Souvenir dish commemorating the Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in New York. Interior of the dish is decorated with a depiction of the exterior of the ehibition's Crystal Palace, inspired by one built for London's international exhibition in 1851. The dish conists of two pieces, plate and cover.
New York City's Exhibition of the All Nations was held from July 14, 1853 to November 14, 1854. In addition to its own Crystal Palace, the Fair also constructed a 315 foot wooden tower called the Latting Observatory. While over 1 millions visitors attended the Expostion, it was a financial loss.
In March 1856, the University of Michigan named a committee “to contract for the construction of a suitable microscope for the University.” Within a year or so, this committee had spent $469 for a microscope made by Charles Achilles Spencer, America’s first successful microscope maker. This enormous sum was charged to the account of "Natural History" and the microscope was placed in the hands of Alexander Winchell, a professor of geology who would soon be named Geologist of the State. Twenty years later, after Winchell had left the University, the costly microscope was transferred to the Physiological Laboratory in the Medical School. The transfer was arranged by Charles Stowell, a young doctor who would spend his career teaching physiology and microscopy, and who was clearly aware of the historic importance of the instrument. In an obituary notice penned shortly after Spencer’s death in 1881, Stowell explained that the objective was a 1/16 of “as near 180°as can be obtained.” That is, it had a very short focal length and a very wide angular aperture. When Stowell got his hands on this objective, he saw a crack “running across about 1/3 of the field,” and so returned it to the firm. Spencer replied that he could make a new objective nearly as cheap as he could remedy this, “for it is one of my first glasses.” Accepting the inevitable, Stowell ordered a new 1/18. We have not yet measure the objective, but note that it does not appear to have a crack.
Spencer referred to the stand of this microscope as a Pritchard, recognizing that the form had been popularized by Andrew Pritchard, an important London naturalist and optician. The “C. A. & H. Spencer / Canastota, N.Y.” inscription on the tube refers to the partnership between Charles A. Spencer and his cousin Hamilton, a partnership that began around 1848 and ended around 1854.
This campaign medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1856. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, and campaign medals.
Obverse: Bust of John C. Frémont facing right. Legend reads: JOHN. C. FREMONT. FREE SOIL & FREE SPEECH.
Reverse: Image of eagle with shield, holding a laurel branch and three arrows in its talons. Legend reads: WM. L. DAYTON FREE SPEECH. FREE MEN.
This campaign medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1856. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including campaign medals. John Frémont was the first Republican candidate for President in 1856.
Obverse: Bust of John C. Frémont facing left. Legend: J. C. FREMONT BORN JAN 21 1813.
Reverse: Open-winged eagle perched on a globe, reads “Our Country” around the top and 13 stars around the lower portion.
This presidential campaign medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1852. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including campaign medals.
Obverse: Bust of Winfield Scott facing right. The legend reads: GEN. WINFIELD SCOTT/ FIRST IN WAR FIRST IN PEACE.
Reverse: Spread-winged eagle with shield, clutching a laurel branch in one talon and three arrows in the other. Legend reads: SCOTT & GRAHAM/ UNION & CONSTITUTION.
The Buckeye State was built at Shousetown, Pa., south of Pittsburgh. In 1849 the hull was completed and hauled up the Ohio River to Pittsburgh to be finished. Under the supervision of David Holmes, the Buckeye State was completed in February 1850. It was owned and operated by the Pittsburgh & Cincinnati Packet Line, which ran it regularly on the Ohio River between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. The company owned six or seven steamers at a time, and ran daily departures between the two cities. By the mid-1840s the Pittsburgh & Cincinnati Packet Line was praised by a Pittsburgh newspaper editor as “the greatest convenience . . . ever afforded the citizens on the banks of the Upper Ohio.”
On May 1, 1850 the Buckeye State left Cincinnati for Pittsburgh and completed the trip in a record 43 hours. Under Capt. Sam Dean, the steamer made 24 stops along the route, needing coal once and wood three times. One hundred years later, the Buckeye State still held the record for the fastest trip ever made by a steamboat between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.
In 1851, showman P. T. Barnum organized a race between the Buckeye State and the Messenger No. 2 as a publicity stunt to advertise Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind’s American tour. Steamboat racing was growing in popularity, and so a race was the perfect promotion. Although Lind and Barnum were aboard the Messenger No. 2, the Buckeye State won the race. The Buckeye State continued its service up and down the Ohio for six more years until it was retired and dismantled in 1857.
