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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Toda Especie Oil
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1884
- ID Number
- MG.002673
- catalog number
- 002673
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Tamara Larix Bon Bon
- Description
- The indications or uses for this product as provided on its packaging:
- For the cure of constipation and liver diseases and thereby for the prevention of headache, dyspepsia, cerebral congestion, biliousness, piles, etc., etc. Cures constipation and thus prevents congestion of the brain, apoplexy, insanity, convulsions. It is almost a cure for sea sickness.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1872-1883
- maker
- McKesson and Robbins
- F. Crosby
- ID Number
- MG.M-12151.15
- accession number
- 271464
- catalog number
- M-12151.15
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Calomel and Opium Pills
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1880
- maker
- Henry Thayer & Company
- ID Number
- ZZ.RSN81583D54
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Animal Oil, Fetid
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1883
- ID Number
- ZZ.RSN81583D71
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Pancreatis Extractum
- Description
- Indigestion in infants, vomiting of curd, uraemic vomiting, gastric ulcer, gastric catarrh, intestinal indigestion
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- after 1881
- maker
- Fairchild Brothers & Foster
- ID Number
- 1981.0227.209
- accession number
- 1981.0227
- catalog number
- 1981.0227.209
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Dr. Titus L. Brown
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1850s-1880s
- ID Number
- MG.M-01168
- catalog number
- M-01168
- accession number
- 66736
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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medicine bowl
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1880
- ID Number
- MG.111421
- catalog number
- 111421
- accession number
- 85A00007
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Davis & Kidder's Patent Magneto-Electric Machine for Nervous Diseases
- Description
- Ari Davis (ca. 1811-1855) was a skilled American craftsman who received two patents in 1854. #10,788 (of April 18) described a machine for producing wooden boxes with metal-reinforced dovetail corners. #11,415 (of August 1) described a magneto-electric machine. While this second patent was still in process, Davis sold the rights to both patents to Walter Kidder, a physician in Lowell, Massachusetts, allegedly for $4000. Advertisements for DAVIS’ (later DAVIS & KIDDER’S) PATENT MAGNETO-ELECTRIC MACHINE, FOR NERVOUS DISEASES were soon to be seen, with testimonials from three Americans involved with science: Benjamin Silliman at Yale College, Charles G. Page in Washington, D.C., and James R. Chilton, an instrument dealer in New York City. These machines were “MANUFACTURED BY W. KIDDER, Sole Proprietor, whose signature is attached to all genuine Machines.” By 1857, the business was in the hands of William H. Burnap (b. 1825), also of Lowell. By 1865, Burnap was working in New York City, and advertising as “Manufacturer of Davis & Kidder’s Electric Machines.”
- This example has a wood box with brass corners and ivory handle. The paper label is marked “DAVIS & KIDDER’S / PATENT MAGNETO-ELECTRIC MACHINE / FOR NERVOUS DISEASES” with testimonials from Silliman (at left) and Paige (at right). The text at bottom reads “Manufactured and sold by W. H. BURNAP Sole Proprietor 259 West 27th St., New York, whose signature is attached to all genuine / Machines. All infringements upon his Patent will be prosecuted.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- c. 1854
- date made
- 1865-1885
- maker
- W. H. Burnap
- ID Number
- MG.M-10425
- catalog number
- M-10425
- accession number
- 246707
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Davis & Kidder's Patent Magneto-Electric Machine for Nervous Diseases
- Description
- Ari Davis (ca. 1811-1855) was a skilled American craftsman who received two patents in 1854. #10,788 (of April 18) described a machine for producing wooden boxes with metal-reinforced dovetail corners. #11,415 (of August 1) described a magneto-electric machine. While this second patent was still in process, Davis sold the rights to both patents to Walter Kidder, a physician in Lowell, Massachusetts, allegedly for $4000. Advertisements for DAVIS’ (later DAVIS & KIDDER’S) PATENT MAGNETO-ELECTRIC MACHINE, FOR NERVOUS DISEASES were soon to be seen, with testimonials from three Americans involved with science: Benjamin Silliman at Yale College, Charles G. Page in Washington, D.C., and James R. Chilton, an instrument dealer in New York City. These machines were “MANUFACTURED BY W. KIDDER, Sole Proprietor, whose signature is attached to all genuine Machines.” By 1857, the business was in the hands of William H. Burnap (b. 1825), also of Lowell. By 1865, Burnap was working in New York City, and advertising as “Manufacturer of Davis & Kidder’s Electric Machines.”
- This example has a wood box with brass corners. The paper label is marked “DAVIS & KIDDER’S / PATENT MAGNETO-ELECTRIC MACHINE / FOR NERVOUS DISEASES” and “PATENTED AUG. 1, 1854” with testimonials from Silliman (at left) and Paige (at right). The text at bottom reads “Manufactured and sold by W. H. BURNAP, Sole Proprietor, 163 West 27th St., New York, whose signature is attached to all genuine / Machines. All infringements upon his Patent will be prosecuted.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1865-1885
- maker
- W. H. Burnap
- ID Number
- MG.M-02875
- catalog number
- M-02875
- accession number
- 111157
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Gargling Oil
- Description
- The indications or uses for this product as provided by the manufacturer are: as a Liniment
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- c. 1865 - 1880
- c. 20th Century
- c. 1877
- ca 1875
- maker
- Merchant's Gargling Oil Co.
- ID Number
- MG.256193.332
- accession number
- 256193
- catalog number
- 256193.332
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Pilulae Quiniae Sulphatis (Sulphate of Quinia), 3 gr.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1861-1864
- associated dates
- 1963 06 10 / 1963 06 10
- ID Number
- MG.M-10439.01
- catalog number
- M-10439
- accession number
- 251548
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Improvement in Mouth-Pieces for Nursing Bottles
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1878
- patent date
- 1880-02-17
- ID Number
- MG.M-04345
- catalog number
- M-04345
- accession number
- 89797
- patent number
- 224,557
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Hydrometer Set
- Description
- Box containing four glass hydrometers with paper labels and shot ballast, and a copper jar, used for assessing the alcoholic strength of beverages for tax purposes. The set was made by Giuseppe Tagliabue (1812-1878), an Italian immigrant who began in business in New York in 1834.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1877
- ca 1880
- Associated Name
- Tagliabue, Giuseppe
- maker
- Tagliabue, Giuseppe
- ID Number
- MG.M-06758
- catalog number
- M-06758
- accession number
- 202250
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Tracheotome
- Description
- A patent model of a metal tracheotome invented by Lewis J. Lyman of Manhattan, Kansas, patent US241036A, approved on May 5th, 1881:
- "The object of my invention is to provide for more easily effecting an entrance to the trachea than can be done by instruments heretofore in use, and for retaining the instrument in proper place after insertion.
- The invention consists in a blade of peculiar shape upon a spring-arm fitted between two spring holding-arms that are formed with T ends, and also in a catch for simultaneously securing and loosening the spring-arms ..."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1880
- patent date
- 1881-05-03
- ID Number
- MG.M-04328
- catalog number
- M-04328
- patent number
- US241036A
- accession number
- 89797
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Sulph Quinine
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1882
- maker
- Rosengarten and Sons
- ID Number
- MG.M-01636
- catalog number
- M-01636
- accession number
- 69510
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Sulph Quinine
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1882
- maker
- Zimmer Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- MG.M-01639
- catalog number
- M-01639
- accession number
- 69510
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Sulph Quinine
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1882
- maker
- Pelletier DeLondre
- ID Number
- MG.M-01644
- catalog number
- M-01644
- accession number
- 69510
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Lancet
- Description
- Lancet with bone handle, and a "Rodgers Cutlers to Her Majesty" inscription on the blade. John William Stalnaker (1831-1883) used this when he began medical practice in Wytheville, Virginia, in the 1850s, and later as a physician with the Confederate Army.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- MG.M-07017
- catalog number
- M-07017
- accession number
- 216104
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Microscope
- Description
- This medium-sized compound monocular is a Zeiss model IIa with coarse and fine focus, triple nosepiece (with three Leitz objectives), large circular stage made of vulcanite, trunnion, Abbe condenser with iris diaphragm that can swing into or out of the line of sight, sub-stage mirror, and horse-shoe base. The inscription on the tube reads, in cursive, “Carl Zeiss / Jena / No. 12778.”
- Victor Vaughan (1851-1929) was a professor at the University of Michigan Medical School who lobbied for a local Hygienic Laboratory. In the summer of 1888, after having convinced the Michigan Legislature to provide funds to build and equip such a facility, Vaughan and his assistant, Frederick Novy (1864-1957), went abroad to study with Louis Pasteur in Paris and Robert Koch in Berlin—and apparently bought this microscope at that time. Returning home, Novy offered the first bacteriology course in the United States, and is now remembered as an important American pioneer of the science.
- Ref: Carl Zeiss, Microscopes and Microscopical Accessories (Jena, 1889), pp. 34-35.
- Powel H. Kazanjian, “The Beginnings of Bacteriology in American Medicine: Works of Frederick Novy 1888-1933,” PhD, University of Michigan, 2012.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1888
- maker
- Zeiss, Carl
- ID Number
- MG.253100.35
- catalog number
- 253100.35
- accession number
- 253100
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Hypodermic Syringe
- Description
- Steel syringe with glass cylinder and a “Pat. Aug. 25, 1885” inscription. The referenced patent was issued to Charles Joseph Tagliabue (1852-1922), a New York manufacturer who specialized in thermometers and other meteorological instruments.
- Ref: Charles J. Tagliabue, “Syringe,” U.S. Patent 325,132 (Aug. 25, 1885).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1885
- maker
- C. J. Tagliabue Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- MG.M-06997
- catalog number
- M-06997
- accession number
- 216553
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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