Energy & Power

• 

  Experimental fluorescent lamp

  Description

  The development of practical fluorescent lamps took decades, and many researchers contributed. Julius Plucker and Heinrich Geissler made glowing glass tubes in the 1850s, about the time George Stokes discovered that invisible ultraviolet light made some materials glow or "fluoresce." Alexandre Edmond Becquerel put fluorescent materials in a Geissler tube in 1859, though his tubes did not last long. Carbon dioxide-filled tubes by D. McFarlan Moore and mercury vapor tubes by Peter Cooper Hewitt around 1900 gave practical experience with gas-filled, discharge lamps and inspired the neon tubes of Georges Claude.

  In 1926 Friedrich Meyer, Hans Spanner, and Edmund Germer of Germany patented an enclosed glass tube containing mercury vapor, electrodes at either end, and a coating of fluorescent powders called phosphors. This incorporated all of the features we see in modern fluorescent tubes, but their employer did not pursue development. William Enfield of General Electric saw phosphor-coated neon tubes in France in the early 1930s, and heard that European researchers were developing a fluorescent lamp. An especially urgent 1934 letter from a consultant, Nobel-laureate Arthur Compton, coming on the heels of European breakthroughs in low-pressure sodium and high-pressure mercury lamps, spurred both GE and its licensee Westinghouse into combined action.

  Enfield created a team led by George Inman, and by the end of 1934 they made several working fluorescent lamps, including the one seen here. To save time, the team adopted the design of an existing tubular incandescent lamp in order to make use of available production equipment and lamp parts. Speed was important. In addition to European competitors, American companies like Sylvania were also working on fluorescents. A second GE group under Philip Pritchard worked on production equipment. Other GE groups in Schenectady and in Ft. Wayne assisted in developing ballasts and resolving problems of circuit design.

  In 1936 GE and Westinghouse demonstrated the new lamp to the U.S. Navy (that lamp is in the Smithsonian's collection). The public finally saw fluorescent lamps in 1939 at both the New York World's Fair and the Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco. These early lamps gave twice the energy efficiency of the best incandescent designs. Production of fluorescent lamps, slow at first, soon soared as millions were installed in factories making equipment for the American military during World War 2.

  Lamp characteristics: Double-ended without bases. Flat presses with an exhaust tip near one press. A tungsten electrode, CC-6 configuration coated with emitter, is set at either end. A mercury pellet is loose inside the lamp. The clear T-7 glass envelope has a phosphor coating covering about 3 inches (8 cm) of the lamp near the center.

  date made

  ca. 1934

  Date made

  ca 1934

  manufacturer

  General Electric

  ID Number

  1997.0388.41

  accession number

  1997.0388

  catalog number

  1997.0388.41

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Experimental integral compact fluorescent lamp

  Description

  As energy prices soared in the 1970s, lamp makers focused research efforts on raising the energy efficiency of electric lamps. A great deal of effort by many researchers went into designing small fluorescent lamps that might replace a regular incandescent lamp. These efforts led to modern compact fluorescent lamps that use bent or connected tubes, but many other designs were tried. This experimental "partition lamp" from 1978 shows one such design.

  Soon after the 1939 introduction of linear fluorescent lamps, inventors began receiving patents for smaller lamps. But they found that the small designs suffered from low energy efficiency and a short life-span. Further research revealed that energy efficiency in fluorescent lamps depends in part on the distance the electric current travels between the two electrodes, called the arc path. A long arc path is more efficient than a short arc path. That's why fluorescent tubes in stores and factories are usually 8 feet (almost 3 meters) long.

  Inventors in the 1970s tried many ways of putting a long arc path into a small lamp. In this case there are thin glass walls inside the lamp, dividing it into four chambers. Each chamber is connected in such a way that the electric current travels the length of the lamp four times when moving from one electrode to the other. So the arc path is actually four times longer than the lamp itself, raising the energy efficiency of the lamp. This unit was made by General Electric for experiments on the concept, though other makers were also working on partition lamps.

  While the partition design works, it proved to be expensive to manufacture and most lamp makers decided to use thin tubes that could be easily bent and folded while being made.

  Lamp characteristics: No base. Two stem assemblies each have tungsten electrodes in a CCC-6 configuration with emitter. Welded connectors, 3-piece leads with lower leads made of stranded wire. Bottom-tipped, T-shaped envelope with internal glass partition that separates the internal space into four connected chambers. Partition is made of two pieces of interlocked glass and is not sealed into the envelope. All glass is clear. No phosphors were used since the experimenter wanted to study the arc path.

  Date made

  ca 1978

  date made

  ca. 1978

  maker

  General Electric Corporate Research & Development Laboratory

  ID Number

  1998.0050.16

  accession number

  1998.0050

  catalog number

  1998.0050.16

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Abraham Lincoln Patent Model Replica

  Description

  Abraham Lincoln had considerable maritime background, although it is usually eclipsed by his political heritage. At the age of 19 in Anderson Creek, Ind., he built a flatboat for $24, loaded it with a local farmer’s produce, and floated it 1,000 miles down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans, where he sold both the boat and its cargo. When he was 22, he was hired by an Illinois store owner to take some goods down the Mississippi and sell them in New Orleans. Lincoln built another flatboat and successfully piloted it from New Salem, Ill. to New Orleans over a three-month period.

  In the mid-1840s, as a lawyer in Springfield, Ill., his law partner William Herndon recalled watching Lincoln working on a large boat model with a local craftsman. A Springfield resident recalled Lincoln demonstrating the idea for his model in public. His model embodies an idea Lincoln had for raising vessels over shoal waters by increasing their buoyancy. That idea became patent #6,469 in May 1849—the only patent ever obtained by an American president. After he became president in 1860 and moved to Washington, he visited his model in the nearby Patent Office at least once. He also enjoyed reviewing naval vessels and ideas, and he personally approved inventor John Ericsson’s idea for the ironclad warship Monitor.

  Lincoln’s original patent model was acquired by the Smithsonian in 1908 and has left the Mall only once since then, for an exhibit at the US Patent Office. This replica was built by the Smithsonian in 1978 for long-term display to preserve the fragile original.

  date made

  1978

  ID Number

  TR.336769

  accession number

  1978.2284

  catalog number

  336769

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Experimental Sulphur-Selenium Lamp

  Description

  In the mid-1990s Fusion Lighting began selling a microwave-powered lighting system. The small, spherical bulbs contained a small amount of the element sulfur that gave a large amount of good quality light when energized by microwaves. Company researchers began investigating other materials to learn more about their new light source and perhaps to discover another saleable product.

  The lamp is from one of those follow-on experiments and contains a mix of sulfur and another element, selenium. Both elements have related properties. Chemists refer to them as Group VI elements since they appear in the same column of the Periodic Table. Fusion researchers felt that these related elements might work well together in the new system. The company donated two other sulfur-selenium lamps from the same experiment that contain mixtures with differing ratios of the two elements.

  Lamp characteristics: A quartz stem with a notched metal sleeve near the bottom serves as the base. The notch locks the lamp into its fixture. The sphere has an argon gas filling with a tiny amount of Krypton-85 to help start the discharge. The orange material condensed on the inner wall is an equal mix of sulfur and selenium. The pattern of condensation indicates lamp was burned vertically. Tipless, G-shaped quartz envelope.

  Date made

  1997

  maker

  Fusion Lighting, Inc.

  ID Number

  1996.0359.08

  catalog number

  1996.0359.08

  accession number

  1996.0359

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Experimental electrodeless compact fluorescent lamp

  Description

  As energy prices soared in the 1970s, General Electric, like other lamp makers, focused research efforts on raising the energy efficiency of electric lamps. One research program conducted by John Anderson at the GE Corporate Research and Development Laboratory in Schenectady, New York, sought to make a small fluorescent lamp that might replace a regular incandescent lamp.

  Most fluorescent lamps, large and small, operate by passing an electric current through a gas between two electrodes. The current energizes the gas that in turn radiates ultraviolet (UV) light. The UV is converted to visible light by a coating of phosphors inside the glass envelope of the lamp. Electrodes are responsible for much of the energy lost in a fluorescent lamp and are usually the part of the lamp that fails. Instead of electrodes, Anderson's design used a donut-shaped, ferrite (an iron oxide compound) to generate an electric field. The field energized the gas.

  He called his design a Solenoidal Electric Field (SEF) lamp. The one seen here is an experimental unit made around 1978. While the lamp worked in the lab, the electronics to control it were expensive and generated heat that needed to be dissipated. As with other electrodeless lamps, radio-frequency interference was a concern. By the early 1980s GE decided to shelve the SEF lamp and market a miniature metal-halide lamp instead. In the late 1990s, however, GE took advantage of the lower cost and higher capability of electronic components and marketed an electrodeless lamp that built on prior work—including the SEF lamp.

  Lamp characteristics: No base. A 1.5" (outside dia.) toroid-shaped ferrite is mounted vertically inside the lamp and held in place by a wire cradle. The conducting wire is insulated with woven nylon and wrapped ten turns around the top of the ferrite. A woven nylon mat is wrapped around the ferrite under the conductor, and another is placed between the conductor and the top-plate of the mount-cradle. A metal lead extends from the bottom of the ferrite into the exhaust-tip where it spirals around a metal cylinder. Tipless, AT-shaped envelope.

  Date made

  ca 1978

  date made

  ca. 1978

  maker

  General Electric Corporate Research & Development Laboratory

  ID Number

  1998.0050.07

  accession number

  1998.0050

  catalog number

  1998.0050.07

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Bryant’s New Showboat

  Description

  Bryant’s New Showboat was built at Point Pleasant, W. Va., in 1917. Launched in 1918, it could seat around 880 people in its theater. Most of the shows put on for Bryant’s patrons in small towns along the Kanawha, Ohio, Monongahela, Illinois, and Mississippi Rivers were vaudeville or follies productions.

  The ornate stage of Bryant’s New Showboat was home to dozens of plays like Hamlet and Little Nell of the Ozarks, and even the antics of a trained bucking mule named January. Owner Billy Bryant offered $10 to anyone who could stay on the animal’s back, but he had to retract that offer in mining towns, as the miners were strong enough to stay on.

  The vessel was sold to new owners in 1945, at the end of World War II. Movie theaters, personal automobiles and other developments had gradually ended the colorful showboat era on America’s rivers.

  Date made

  1976

  ID Number

  TR.335568

  catalog number

  335568

  accession number

  1977.0630

  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

• 

  Propeller Indiana’s Steam Whistle

  Description

  The ship’s steam whistle was powered by a steam line from the boiler. It was used to signal other ships or the shore, to let them know of its presence or its intentions. It was especially useful when approaching or leaving port, or in foggy or dark waters.

  Date made

  1848

  ID Number

  1982.0241.01

  accession number

  1982.0241

  catalog number

  82.0241.01

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Model of Bucyrus-Erie Stripping Shovel

  Description

  In 1960, the Bucyrus-Erie Company of South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, presented this 14-inch-high, scale model of what was to become the world's largest stripping shovel to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Later that year, the President transferred this gift to the Smithsonian Institution. The Bucyrus-Erie Company had custom-designed this monster machine for the Peabody Coal Company. Bucyrus-Erie engineers anticipated that they would need two years to manufacture the behemoth, and an additional six months to assemble it at the site of the open-pit mine. (They planned to ship the machine's parts in over 250 railcars.) When finished, the shovel would weigh 7,000 tons, soar to the roofline of a 20-story building (some 220 feet high), and be able to extend its enormous 115-cubic-yard dipper over 460 feet, or about the length of an average city block. (The dipper's capacity would equal that of about six stand-sized dump trucks.) Fifty electric motors-ranging from 1/4 to 3,000 horsepower-would power the shovel, which was designed to be controlled by a single operator, perched in a cab five stories high. Publicists for Bucyrus-Erie called this the "largest self-powered mobile land vehicle ever built."

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1960

  recipient

  Eisenhower, Dwight D.

  maker

  Bucyrus-Erie Company

  ID Number

  MC.317688

  catalog number

  317688

  accession number

  231557

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Model of Snagboat Charles H. West

  Description

  Introduced in the early 19th century, snag boats were designed to clear trees, stumps, and other obstructions from navigable rivers and channels. Most were in the form of a catamaran, with two parallel hulls between which trees were hauled in, cut up, and disposed of on land.

  Designed by the Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency responsible for maintaining the national waterways, Charles H. West was built at Nashville, Tenn., in 1933-34 by the Nashville Bridge Co. at a cost of $227,260.48. It measured 170’ in length and 38’ in beam but only drew 4’-6” of water. Instead of a catamaran design, the West had a normal, shallow sternwheeler hull. At the flat or scow bow, two A-frames hauled snags up a ramp for disposal. It cleared snags along the lower Mississippi River for many years.

  In 1969, the West was sold to a private party and converted to the restaurant boat Lt. Robert E. Lee in St. Louis, Mo. the following year. The name was fitting. Although best known as a Confederate general, in the late 1830s, Lee had been an officer in the Corps of Engineers. His work installing pilings and wing dams had helped the Mississippi currents to clear silt and keep open the main St. Louis landing.

  Moored on the Mississippi near the St. Louis Arch, the Lee was a successful restaurant until a 1993 flood devastated the waterfront. After several failed attempts to reopen, the vessel was auctioned on December 19, 2008, for $200,000. Its new owners plan to renovate and reopen the famous ship once again as a restaurant and nightclub in St. Louis.

  Date made

  1966

  ID Number

  TR.326538

  catalog number

  326538

  accession number

  265606

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Ship Model, Steam Barge Edward Smith

  Description

  The three-masted wooden propeller Edward Smith was built in 1890 by F.W. Wheeler & Co. at West Bay City, Michigan. The 201-foot bulk freighter is best known for rescuing crew from the old wooden steamer Annie Young on 20 October 1890 in Lake Huron. The Young was transporting a cargo of coal from Buffalo to Gladstone, MI when a fire began somewhere in the vicinity of the boiler.

  Upbound from Marine City, Smith’s Captain Mitchell saw the Young on fire, dropped the two barges he was towing and began circling the burning ship, rescuing 13 crew and the captain. Nine men were lost when their lifeboat swamped and sank. Capt. Mitchell was awarded a lifesaving medal for his efforts; Annie Young had been insured for $55,000.

  In 1900, the Smith was renamed Zillah, when transferred at Port Huron, MI to new owners. On 29 August 1926, Zillah was transporting a cargo of heavy limestone when it sailed into a summer storm in Whitefish Bay, Lake Superior. The old steamer began to take on water, and the crew removed their belongings while Zillah coasted in a circle. The crew was rescued without loss by the steamer William B. Schiller, with assistance from the Coast Guard. Shortly afterwards, the ship rolled over and sank. The Zillah’s wreck was located in 1975.

  Date made

  1966

  ship transferred to Michigan

  1900

  ship sank

  1926-08-29

  ship wreckage located

  1975

  built ship, Edward Smith

  F. W. Wheeler & Co.

  ID Number

  TR.326655

  catalog number

  326655

  accession number

  265603

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Self-unloading Ore Carrier James R. Barker

  Description

  The James R. Barker was built in 1976 by the American Shipbuilding Co. at Lorain, OH for the Interlake Steamship Co. It was named after the head of the Moore-McCormack Steamship Company, which owned Interlake. Costing over $43 million, Barker was the third 1000-footer to sail the Great Lakes, and the first built entirely on the Lakes. These big bulk coal and ore carriers were constructed to fit the largest locks connecting the Great Lakes.

  Barker's two big 8,000-hp engines turn two 17-1/2-foot propellers, pushing the vessel at a speed of 15.75 knots (18 mph). The ship can transport 59,000 tons of iron ore pellets or 52,000 tons of coal. The self-unloading rig has a 250-foot-long boom that can unload 10,000 tons of ore or 6,000 net tons of coal per hour. By contrast, Interlake’s first bulk carrier, the 1874 wooden-hulled steamer V.H. Ketchum, could carry only 1,700 tons of ore and took nearly twelve days to unload using manual wheelbarrows.

  The Barker was still in service in 2009.

  Date made

  1978

  year the James R. Barker was built

  1976

  built James R. Barker

  American Shipbuilding Co.

  bought the James R. Barker

  Interlake Steamship Co.

  maker

  Boucher-Lewis Precision Models, Inc.

  ID Number

  TR.336153

  catalog number

  336153

  accession number

  1978.0374

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Propeller Indiana’s Capstan

  Description

  The capstan, most commonly found on the decks of early steamboats, was used as a vertical winch for raising or lowering anchors, hoisting sails and cargo, hauling heavy lines, or other jobs where individual manpower was not enough.

  It was operated manually, by putting timbers into the holes and using the resulting leverage to wind a line wrapped around the center of the device more easily. Sea chanties, or rhythmic songs, were often employed by ship crews to ensure that everyone hauled at the same time. Later in the 19th century, steam capstans and donkey engines replaced human muscle on the larger vessels.

  date made

  mid-1800s

  ID Number

  1984.0359.02

  accession number

  1984.0359

  catalog number

  1984.0359.02

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Scow Schooner Milton

  Description

  The 102-foot three-masted scow schooner Milton was built by Ellsworth & Davidson at Milwaukee, Wis., in 1867. It spent 20 years hauling lumber on Lake Michigan, along with hundreds of other small boats nicknamed the “mosquito fleet.” Built to carry as much cargo as possible, many of these flat-bottom boats did not sail very well.

  The Milton collided with the ship W.H. Hinsdale at Milwaukee in December 1867, causing about $100 in damage to each vessel. It also ran aground twice during its career.

  On 8 September 1885, while transporting a cargo of cedar posts and cordwood, the Milton sank off Two Rivers, Wis., during an autumn storm. The entire crew of five men was lost—three of them brothers.

  Date made

  1962

  Milton built

  1867

  ID Number

  TR.321529

  catalog number

  321529

  accession number

  246222

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Rigged Model, Sidewheel Cotton Packet J.M. White

  Description

  The Mississippi River sidewheel steamboat J.M. White was built at Jeffersonville, Ind., in 1878 for the Greenville and New Orleans Packet Company. Measuring 321’ long and 91’ in beam across the paddlebox guards, the White only sat 10’-6” deep in the water when fully laden. The steamboat was designed for Mississippi River packet service between New Orleans, La., and Greenville, Miss.

  The White was one of the largest, most expensive, luxurious, and most powerful river steamers ever built, with 2,800 horsepower and a capacity of 250 first-class passengers and 10,000 bales of cotton. Named after famous riverboat captain J. M. White (1823–1880), the “supreme triumph in cotton boat architecture” was a masterpiece of the gaudy, glamorous style known as “steamboat Gothic.” It had multiple bridal chambers; stained glass skylights and windows; rare wood veneers and gilded finishes; seven gilded “Egyptian-style” chandeliers; a sterling silver Tiffany water cooler in the 250’-long main cabin; monogrammed flatware and china; and a full concert grand piano.

  The White spent most of its eight-year career in service on the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Vicksburg, Miss. Despite its economy of size, the White’s high initial $220,000 cost, a spotty economy, and the rapidly expanding railroad network made the steamboat unprofitable. It caught fire, blew up, and burned to the waterline at a Louisiana landing in December 1886, killing several aboard.

  Date made

  1974

  built

  1878

  used date

  late 19th century

  ID Number

  TR.334847

  catalog number

  334847

  accession number

  315419

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Faber Steam Engine, 1827

  Description (Brief)

  The F. & W. M. Faber stationary steam engine was built in Pittsburgh during the 1850’s. Stationary steam engines such as this one could be used to power multiple machines in a shop or factory.

  Description

  The F. & W. M. Faber stationary steam engine is a rare survivor of pre-1860 American steam power. With a horizontal cylinder and separate bases for the flywheel and engine, the Faber displays features from the dawn of steam usage inside American factories.

  Although exceedingly rare today, this engine was offered as an "off-the-shelf" stock engine in 1850s Pittsburgh, where it was built. The engine features exceptional refinement in the degree of ornamentation on the flywheel and the flyball governor, evoking the novelty and wonder of early steam power.

  The physical beauty of the Faber engine masks its relative energy inefficiency compared with engines of the period of more robust construction. In addition, records indicate this pretty engine performed the bulk of its actual service inside tanneries in Ohio and Kentucky, where the smells and wet hides and dank darkness would have belied the visions that inspired this engine's elegant design and fabrication.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  maker

  F. and W. M. Faber

  ID Number

  1980.0227.01

  catalog number

  1980.0227.01

  accession number

  1980.0227

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Edison chemical-type electric meter

  Date made

  ca1882

  ca 1882

  associated person

  Edison, Thomas Alva

  maker

  Edison Electric Co.

  ID Number

  EM.262476

  catalog number

  262476

  accession number

  52260

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Motor for Edison electric fan

  Date made

  c1885

  ca 1885

  date made

  ca. 1885

  associated person

  Edison, Thomas Alva

  maker

  Edison Electric Co.

  ID Number

  EM.337118

  catalog number

  337118

  accession number

  1979.0430

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Rotary electric light switch

  Date made

  1882

  date made

  1887

  associated person

  Edison, Thomas Alva

  maker

  Bergmann & Co.

  ID Number

  EM.181754

  catalog number

  181754

  accession number

  33261

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Switch for Edison dynamo

  Date made

  1881

  maker

  Edison Electric Co.

  ID Number

  EM.180944

  catalog number

  180944

  accession number

  24315

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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