Energy & Power
The Museum's collections on energy and power illuminate the role of fire, steam, wind, water, electricity, and the atom in the nation's history. The artifacts include wood-burning stoves, water turbines, and windmills, as well as steam, gas, and diesel engines. Oil-exploration and coal-mining equipment form part of these collections, along with a computer that controlled a power plant and even bubble chambers—a tool of physicists to study protons, electrons, and other charged particles.
A special strength of the collections lies in objects related to the history of electrical power, including generators, batteries, cables, transformers, and early photovoltaic cells. A group of Thomas Edison's earliest light bulbs are a precious treasure. Hundreds of other objects represent the innumerable uses of electricity, from streetlights and railway signals to microwave ovens and satellite equipment.
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Experimental Incandescent Projection Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- Experimental type “DNE” projection lamp.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1960
- maker
- GTE Sylvania, Inc.
- ID Number
- 1998.0005.06
- catalog number
- 1998.0005.06
- accession number
- 1998.0005
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Tungsten Filament Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- GE Mazda C floodlamp, circa 1943. Steel medium-screw base with glass insulator. C-5BD tungsten filament with 5 upper, 4 lower support hooks set in a glass bead which is affixed to the press with a metal rod, crimp connectors, offset-dumet leads. Tipless G-shape envelope. Stamped: "Floodlight / Mazda / [GE logo] / 250W 120V / Burn Base Down to Horizontal". The steel base means that this lamp was produced during World War II. Restrictions on brass supplies meant that lamp makers used steel instead.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1943
- maker
- General Electric Company
- ID Number
- EM.320680
- catalog number
- 320680
- accession number
- 242716
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Electrically Welded Specimen, Bicycle Top Tubing
- Description
- This bicycle’s welded steel top tube was created using Elihu Thomson’s electric welding apparatus (see object number MC*181724). Welding samples demonstrated potential industrial applications of electric welding, and illustrations of these samples were published in journals, brochures, and advertisements. Elihu Thomson’s invention of electric welding in 1885 resulted in numerous applications including the manufacture of automobile parts, tools, screws, ball bearings, and wire lines. Thomson’s welding apparatus passed an electric current through two pieces of metal pressed together. Resistance to the current at the contact point between the metal pieces created heat and welded the metals together.
- Scientist and inventor Elihu Thomson (1853-1937) played a prominent role in the industrialization and electrification of America with over 700 patents in his name. His inventions and patents helped change the nature of industry in the United States and included the “uniflow” steam engine, automobile muffler, producing fused quartz, stereoscopic x-ray pictures, electric arc lamps, lightning arrestors, and perhaps most notably—the process of electrical welding. Thomson and partner Edwin Houston established the Thomson-Houston Electric Company in 1883. In 1892 Thomson-Houston merged with the Edison Electric Company to form General Electric.
- date made
- 1886
- maker
- Thomson, Elihu
- ID Number
- EM.181672
- catalog number
- 181672
- accession number
- 33015
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Display of Edison experimental light bulb filament
- Date made
- 1881
- maker
- Hammer, William J.
- Edison, Thomas Alva
- ID Number
- EM.320526
- catalog number
- 320526
- accession number
- 241402
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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funnel
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1930
- ID Number
- 1977.0935.01E
- catalog number
- 1977.0935.01E
- accession number
- 1977.0935
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Integral compact fluorescent lamp
- Description
- When incandescent lamp manufacturers want to make lamps with different ratings, 40 watt and 60 watt lamps for example, they simply alter the length of the coiled tungsten filament. Since the filament is rather small in either case, there's little apparent difference in the two lamps. Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are different.
- This lamp is a demonstration triple-tube compact fluorescent lamp made by Philips about 1995. One way to increase the light output from CFLs is to make the tube longer. In this lamp the three tubes are connected by thin glass passages called bridge-welds, creating a continuous path for the electric current to travel. Using bridge-welds allowed the engineers to place the three tubes very close together, reducing the size of the lamp as a whole. The plastic base-skirt that houses the control electronics is clear so that whoever is demonstrating the lamp can show the electronic circuitry.
- Lamp characteristics: Nickle-plated, medium-screw base with clear plastic skirt that houses an electronic ballast and a starter. Three fluorescent tubes are connected by bridge-welds. Included are two electrodes, mercury, and a phosphor coating. No external cover is placed over the tubes. Lamp was operational when donated.
- Date made
- ca 1995
- date made
- ca. 1995
- maker
- Philips Lighting Company
- ID Number
- 1997.0389.30
- catalog number
- 1997.0389.30
- accession number
- 1997.0389
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Tungsten Filament Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- A second generation tungsten filament lamp with globe-shaped envelope.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1916
- maker
- General Electric Company
- ID Number
- EM.307581
- catalog number
- 307581
- accession number
- 68492
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Holiday Bubble Lite Set
- Description (Brief)
- A set of 8 bubble lights in original package, series circuit. Lamps: brass miniature bases with glass insulators, 2-piece plastic "Biscuit-style" skirts (used 1947-1960). One lamp is not original to the set and has a "Royal Biscuit-style" skirt. The plastic skirt-halves are a mix of colors (red, yellow, blue, orange, and green). Tipped tubular glass envelopes filled with colored liquid (1 green, 2 blue, 2 orange, 1 yellow, 1 amber, 1 red), a clear cylinder is contained inside each tube. Liquid is methylene chloride. Bakelite miniature sockets with brass shells. Green-colored plastic-insulated wires lead to all sockets except the last, this has woven cloth-insulated gold wires with red stripes. Bakelite 2-prong plug with receptacle on back and thru-wire passage. 4 metal clips (for attaching sockets to tree limbs) and one metal spiral clip(?) included in box.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1950
- maker
- NOMA
- ID Number
- 2003.0030.06
- accession number
- 2003.0030
- catalog number
- 2003.0030.06
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Integral Compact Fluorescent Lamp
- Description
- Inventors seeking to develop energy-efficient lamps could not simply start with a blank piece of paper. They needed to work within the capabilities of existing lighting and power systems. Sometimes even small features had an influence, like the use of the screw-in base and socket.
- What became the standard screw-in lamp base and socket was introduced by Thomas Edison in 1883, and it hasn't changed since. To this day often referred to as an "Edison base," it's formally known as the medium-screw base. While there are other base sizes (and types), the medium-screw base is the most common, especially in residential light fixtures.
- Since sockets for this base are so widespread, designers of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) like this 1993 Panasonic "Light Capsule" needed to ensure their products would fit that size. This model EFG16LE lamp is an integral unit--it's all in one piece, including the screw-in base. Other modular lamps used specially designed plug-in bases. The plug-in base has several advantages over the medium-screw base. One of the most important is that if the light fixture takes a plug-in base, one can't use a cheap regular lamp in place of the more expensive CFL.
- But few homes had fixtures with plug-in bases. And lamp makers realized that few homeowners would replace their fixtures just to use the new lamps. So inventors needed to design their lamps with the screw-base, or develop an adaptor.
- Lamp characteristics: Medium-screw base with plastic skirt containing an electronic ballast and starter. Fluorescent tube assembly containing two electrodes, mercury, and an internal phosphor coating. White, G-shaped glass envelope covers the tube assembly. This lamp came in its original package. Rated at 16 watts, it's intended as a replacement for 60 watt incandescent lamps.
- date made
- ca. 1993
- Date made
- ca 1993
- manufacturer
- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
- ID Number
- 1996.0357.01
- accession number
- 1996.0357
- catalog number
- 1996.0357.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Nier Mass Spectrograph
- Description
- Background on Nier Mass Spectrograph; object id no. 1990.0446.01; catalog no. N-09567
- This object consists of the following three components: ion source with oven and acceleration electrode; semicircular glass vacuum chamber; ion collector with two plates. The original device included an electromagnet, which is not part of this accession.
- In 1939, as political tensions in Europe increased, American physicists learned of an astonishing discovery: the nucleus of the uranium atom can be split, causing the release of an immense amount of energy. Given the prospects of war, the discovery was just as worrying as it was intellectually exciting. Could the Germans use it to develop an atomic bomb?
- The Americans realized that they had to determine whether a bomb was physically possible. Uranium consists mostly of the isotope U-238, with less than 1% of U-235. Theoreticians predicted that it was the nuclei of the rare U-235 isotope that undergo fission, the U-238 being inactive. To test this prediction, it was necessary to separate the two isotopes, but it would be difficult to do this since they are chemically identical.
- Alfred Nier, a young physicist at the University of Minnesota, was one of the few people in the world with the expertise to carry out the separation. He used a physical technique that took advantage of the small difference in mass of the two isotopes. To separate and collect small quantities of them, he employed a mass spectrometer technique that he first developed starting in about 1937 for measurement of relative abundance of isotopes throughout the periodic table. (The basic principles of the mass spectrometer are described below.)
- As a measure of the great importance of his work, in October 1939, Nier received a letter from eminent physicist Enrico Fermi, then at Columbia University, expressing great interest in whether, and how, the separation was progressing. Motivated by such urging, by late February 1940, Nier was able to produce two tiny samples of separated U-235 and U-238, which he provided to his collaborators at Columbia University, a team headed by John R. Dunning of Columbia. The Dunning team was using the cyclotron at the University in numerous studies to follow up on the news from Europe the year before on the fission of the uranium atom. In March 1940, with the samples provided by Nier, the team used neutrons produced by a proton beam from the cyclotron to show that it was the comparatively rare uranium-235 isotope that was the most readily fissile component, and not the abundant uranium-238.
- The fission prediction was verified. The Nier-Dunning group remarked, "These experiments emphasize the importance of uranium isotope separation on a larger scale for the investigation of chain reaction possibilities in uranium" (reference: A.O. Nier et. al., Phys. Rev. 57, 546 (1940)). This proof that U-235 was the fissile uranium isotope opened the way to the intense U.S. efforts under the Manhattan Project to develop an atomic bomb. (For details, see Nier’s reminiscences of mass spectrometry and The Manhattan Project at: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ed066p385).
- The Dunning cyclotron is also in the Modern Physics Collection (object id no. 1978.1074.01; catalog no. N-09130), and it will be presented on the SI collections website in 2015. (Search for “Dunning Cyclotron” at http://collections.si.edu/search/)
- The Nier mass spectrometer used to collect samples of U-235 and U-238 (object id no. 1990.0446.01)
- Nier designed an apparatus based on the principle of the mass spectrometer, an instrument that he had been using to measure isotopic abundance ratios throughout the entire periodic table. As in most mass spectrometers of the time, his apparatus produced positive ions by the controlled bombardment of a gas (UBr˅4, generated in a tiny oven) by an electron beam. The ions were drawn from the ionizing region and moved into an analyzer, which used an electromagnet for the separation of the various masses. Usually, the ion currents of the separated masses were measured by means of an electrometer tube amplifier, but in this case the ions simply accumulated on two small metal plates set at the appropriate positions. Nier’s mass spectrometer required that the ions move in a semicircular path in a uniform magnetic field. The mass analyzer tube was accordingly mounted between the poles of an electromagnet that weighed two tons, and required a 5 kW generator with a stabilized output voltage to power it. (The magnet and generator were not collected by the Smithsonian.) The ion source oven, 180-degree analyzer tube, and isotope collection plates are seen in the photos of the Nier apparatus (see accompanying media file images for this object).
- Basic principles of the mass spectrometer
- When a charged particle, such as an ion, moves in a plane perpendicular to a magnetic field, it follows a circular path. The radius of the particle’s path is proportional to the product of its mass and velocity, and is inversely proportional to the product of its electrical charge and the magnetic field strength. A mass spectrometer consists of three components: an ion source, a mass analyzer, and a detector. The ion source converts a portion of the sample into ions. There is a wide variety of ionization techniques, depending on the phase (solid, liquid, gas) of the sample and the efficiency of various ionization mechanisms for the unknown species. An extraction system removes ions from the sample and gives them a selected velocity. They then pass through the magnetic field (created by an electromagnet) of the mass analyzer. For a given magnetic field strength, the differences in mass-to-charge ratio of the ions result in corresponding differences in the curvature of their circular paths through the mass analyzer. This results in a spatial sorting of the ions exiting the analyzer. The detector records either the charge induced or the current produced when an ion passes by or hits a surface, thus providing data for calculating the abundance and mass of each isotope present in the sample. For a full description with a schematic diagram of a typical mass spectrometer, go to: http://www.chemguide.co.uk/analysis/masspec/howitworks.html
- The Nier sector magnet mass spectrometer (not in Smithsonian Modern Physics Collection)
- In 1940, during the time that Nier separated the uranium isotopes, he developed a mass spectrometer for routine isotope and gas analysis. An instrument was needed that did not use a 2-ton magnet, or required a 5 kW voltage-stabilized generator for providing the current in the magnet coils. Nier therefore developed the sector magnet spectrometer, in which a 60-degree sector magnet took the place of the much larger one needed to give a 180-degree deflection. The result was that a magnet weighing a few hundred pounds, and powered by several automobile storage batteries, took the place of the significantly larger and heavier magnet which required a multi-kW generator. Quoting Nier, “The analyzer makes use of the well-known theorem that if ions are sent into a homogeneous magnetic field between two V-shaped poles there is a focusing action, provided the source, apex of the V, and the collector lie along a straight line” (reference: A.O. Nier, Rev. Sci. Instr., 11, 212, (1940)). This design was to become the prototype for all subsequent magnetic deflection instruments, including hundreds used in the Manhattan Project.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca 1940-02
- associated person
- Nier, Alfred O.
- maker
- Nier, Alfred O.
- ID Number
- 1990.0446.01
- accession number
- 1990.0446
- catalog number
- 1990.0446.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Tungsten Filament Projection Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- Coiled tungsten filament lamp for use in a projector.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1950
- Maker
- Western Union Corporation
- ID Number
- EM.333057
- accession number
- 294351
- catalog number
- 333057
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Heat Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- Incandescent infra-red lamp for drying. These large and bulky lamps were replaced by tungsten halogen heat lamps.
- Production Incandescent Lamp, Infra-red Drying lamp. 500 watts. Steel bi-pin base. Triangular filament configuration. Circa 1955. Printed on top: "Westinghouse Drying Lamp 500[W] 115V". "500-115" and "I-9 11/28/[5]5" handwritten on glass base.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1955
- Maker
- Westinghouse Electric Corp.
- ID Number
- 1997.0389.45
- accession number
- 1997.0389
- catalog number
- 1997.0389.45
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Mercury Vapor Sunlamp
- Description (Brief)
- A type RS sunlamp in original package. Lamp produced ultra-violet rays for tanning purposes and did not need a ballast.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1950
- Maker
- General Electric
- ID Number
- 1997.0387.24
- accession number
- 1997.0387
- catalog number
- 1997.0387.24
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Experimental Short Arc Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- Experimental 5,000 watt mini-arc lamp that lamp burned for 25 hours with no evident blackening.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1967-05-26
- maker
- Fridrich, Elmer G.
- ID Number
- 1996.0147.11
- catalog number
- 1996.0147.11
- accession number
- 1996.0147
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Whaleback steamer Frank Rockefeller
- Description
- Scotsman Alexander McDougall (1845-1924) was a ship captain on the Great Lakes when he patented the idea of a “whaleback” ship in the early 1880s. With low, rounded hulls, decks and deckhouses, his invention minimized water and wind resistance. Between 1887 and 1898, 44 whalebacks were produced: 23 were barges and 21 were steamships, including one passenger vessel.
- Frank Rockefeller was the 36th example of the type, built in 1896 at a cost of $181,573.38 at McDougall’s American Steel Barge Company in Superior, WI. One of the larger examples of the type, Rockefeller measured 380 feet in length, drew 26 feet of water depth and had a single propeller.
- Although it belonged to several different owners over its 73-year working life, the Rockefeller spent most of its early life transporting iron ore from mines in Lake Superior to steel mills along the shores of Lake Erie. In 1927, new owners put it in service as a sand dredge that hauled landfill sand for the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. From 1936-1942 the old ship saw service as a car carrier for another set of owners. In 1942 the ship wrecked in Lake Michigan, but wartime demand for shipping gave the old ship repairs, a new name (Meteor) and a new life as a tanker transporting petroleum products for more than 25 years. In 1969 Meteor ran aground off the Michigan coast, Instead of repairing the old ship, the owners sold it for a museum ship at Superior, WI. In poor condition today, Meteor is the last surviving example of McDougal’s whaleback or “pig boat”.
- Date made
- 1961
- date the Frank Rockefeller was built
- 1896
- patentee of whaleback ships
- McDougall, Alexander
- company that built the Frank Rockefeller
- American Steel Barge Company
- ID Number
- TR.318433
- catalog number
- 318433
- accession number
- 236171
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Reproduction Edison Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- This lamp was mass-produced for the centennial of Edison’s invention.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1979
- ID Number
- 1992.0593.01
- accession number
- 1992.0593
- catalog number
- 1992.0593.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Red Incandescent Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- “Colortone” incandescent lamp rated at 10 watts. The lamp is made with red glass rather than being spray-coated.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1970
- maker
- Westinghouse Electric Corp.
- ID Number
- 1997.0389.25
- accession number
- 1997.0389
- catalog number
- 1997.0389.25
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Caterpillar Diesel Engine, 1930
- Description
- This is the first mass-produced diesel engine ever made in the United States. The four-cylinder engine uses a variety of fuels, including furnace oil and generates 86.8 horsepower at 700 revolutions per minute.
- "Old Betsy" was employed to drive earth-moving equipment in the construction industry before its retirement in the mid-20th century. The transition from gasoline to diesel was preferred by manufacturers of heavy equipment due in part to the efficiencies available with the heavier classes of motor fuel, in addition to diesel's ability to run cleaner than ordinary gasoline.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1930
- maker
- Caterpillar Tractor Co.
- ID Number
- MC.335000
- catalog number
- 335000
- accession number
- 310685
- serial number
- 1-A-14
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Experimental Tungsten Halogen Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- Early experimental tungsten halogen lamp made in mid 1955 by co-inventor Elmer Fridrich.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1955
- maker
- Fridrich, Elmer G.
- ID Number
- 1996.0147.01
- catalog number
- 1996.0147.01
- accession number
- 1996.0147
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Integral Compact Fluorescent Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- Early compact fluorescent lamp, production model.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1985
- ID Number
- 1992.0553.04
- catalog number
- 1992.0553.04
- accession number
- 1992.0553
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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