Industry & Manufacturing

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  Farmer Wind-Electric Generator Model

  Description

  Three solid wind wheels drive the armatures of three dynamos, which are in circuit with a small storage battery, an incandescent electric lamp, and switches. This model, constructed by Moses G. Farmer, electrical pioneer, about 1880, is one of the earliest suggestions of the use of wind power through the medium of the electric generator and storage battery.

  Much of the objection to the use of the windmill as a source of power was due to the intermittent nature of its operation. It was thought that it was suited only for pumping water or similar operations where the energy or work produced by the windmill could be stored during periods of useful wind velocities to be used as needed.

  Reference:

  This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1882

  maker

  Farmer, Moses G.

  ID Number

  MC.181985

  catalog number

  181985

  accession number

  2015.0173

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Carpenter's Combination Tool, Patent Model

  Description

  This combination bevel and try-square tool served as a model for patent application number 70,547 submitted by John Graham of Ludlow, Vermont November 5th, 1867. The tool combines several carpentry tools including a bevel, marker, gauge, try-square, and level (what Graham describes as an “indicator”). When the square was placed upon a surface, the indicator would point vertically to 12 o’clock if the surface was level, varying to the left or right if not. The indicator was Graham’s main claim to invention in his patent, but he additionally claimed “the combination of one or more supplemental movable or adjustable squares, with a try-square.” This claim in the patent essentially made Graham’s invention an early multi-tool, a carpenter’s Swiss-army knife of bevels, levels, and squares.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1867

  maker

  Graham, John

  ID Number

  MC.210834.01

  accession number

  210834

  patent number

  70,547

  catalog number

  210834.01

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Errani and Anders Petroleum Engine, Patent Model

  Description

  This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with application for Patent no. 140021, issued to Louis Charles Errani and Richard Anders, of Liege, Belgium, June 17, 1873.

  This is the first oil engine patented in the United States in which the fuel was vaporized within the cylinder. It is also the first to inject the oil into the cylinder in the form of a spray. It was provided with electric ignition.

  In construction the engine resembles a steam engine, including a horizontal single-acting cylinder in which is a reciprocating piston, a crank deriving its motion from the piston, a flywheel on the main shaft, and a valve gear for operating a main valve connected with the engine cylinder. It was actuated by the combustion of a mixture of sprayed petroleum and air during a portion of the stroke. The petroleum was sprayed by means of a jet of air from a rubber bulb, acted upon by a sliding plunger, in combination with a tube and nozzle rising from the oil reserve in the base of the engine, somewhat in the manner of a common household atomizer. The quantity of petroleum supplied to the cylinder was regulated by a bypass cock in the air line from the rubber bulb.

  Reference:

  This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1873

  patent date

  1873-06-17

  inventor

  Anders, Richard

  Errani, Louis Charles

  ID Number

  MC.251283

  catalog number

  251283

  accession number

  48865

  patent number

  140,021

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Ericsson Hot-Air Engine, Patent Model

  Description

  This model was filed with the application to the U.S. Patent Office for Patent Number 226,052 issued to John Ericsson of New York, New York on March 30, 1880. The patent was for an improvement in air engines.

  In this type of engine a charge of air is repeatedly heated and cooled as it is transferred from one end to the other of a single cylinder. One end of the cylinder is surrounded by a furnace, the other end of is water jacketed. The air expands and contracts beneath a work piston that travels through a short stroke near the upper end of the cylinder. The air is displaced from end to end of the cylinder at the proper time by a large loosely fitting transfer piston independently connected to the crankshaft.

  Mr. Ericsson claimed his design improved the method of connecting the short stroke of the work piston so as to magnify the length of its stroke at the crankshaft. This also produced a longer stroke for the exchange piston in order to properly time its movement. He also made provisions for a water pump that was operated by the engine. It circulated water into the jacket surrounding the engine’s cylinder in order to more rapidly cool the hot air in the upper part of the cylinder.

  Mr. Ericsson was a prolific inventor; his inventions included many types of steam engines and associated apparatus as well as hot air engines. He was the designer of the USS Monitor for the North during the Civil War, and that vessel included one of his then new marine steam engine designs.

  The patent model is shown in the image. It is made of brass, steel and wood. All of the key elements of the patent are illustrated by the model including the crank mechanism and the water pump. The upper cylinder is cut away to illustrate the motion of the two pistons. Diagrams showing the complete design can be found in the patent document online (www.USPTO.gov).

  Location

  Currently not on view

  patent date

  1880-03-30

  inventor

  Ericsson, John

  ID Number

  MC.251286

  catalog number

  251286

  accession number

  48865

  patent number

  226,052

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Gorrie Ice Machine, Patent Model

  Description

  This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to John Gorrie, of New Orleans, Louisiana, May 6, 1851, no. 8080.

  The model represents the first patent for a mechanical refrigerating or ice-making machine issued by the United States Patent Office. It is of additional interest in that the inventor successfully employed ice and cooled air in the treatment of tropical diseases, and for his work in this connection and the invention of the ice machine he is honored by a statue placed in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol by the State of Florida.

  The machine was designed “to convert water into ice artificially by absorbing its heat of liquefaction with expanding air.” The model, made largely of wood, is diagrammatic only. It consists of a double-acting compressor cylinder and a double acting work or expanding cylinder, the pistons of which are connected to a crankshaft designed to be turned by a steam engine or other prime mover not shown. The air compressed in the compressor cylinder was cooled by the immersion of the cylinder in cold water, the injection of cold water into the cylinder and by passing the air through a worm immersed in a tub of water. The compressed air was led to a receiver and thence to the expanding cylinder, which was surrounded by a cistern of “uncongealable” liquid. The expansion or air absorbed heat from the liquid, which was circulated to a worm in a freezing tub where the liquid absorbed heat from water in the tub causing it to freeze.

  Reference:

  This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1851

  patent date

  1851-05-06

  inventor

  Gorrie, John

  ID Number

  MC.285397

  catalog number

  285397

  accession number

  57610

  patent number

  8,080

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Windlass Model

  Description

  The windlass drum is made of two sections of different diameters, which turn together as one piece. The rope is so attached that it winds upon one section of the drum as it unwinds from the other, the net lifting or lowering effect being the difference between the length of rope wound upon the drum and that unwound. By making the sections nearly alike in diameter a large mechanical advantage is secured without making the drum too slender for strength or the crank too long for convenience. This model was made for the US National Museum to demonstrate the elementary form of the differential hoist.

  Reference:

  This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1922

  ID Number

  MC.307599

  catalog number

  307599

  accession number

  68535

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Ericsson Hot-Air Engine Model

  Description

  This is a small demonstrating engine of the type patented by John Ericsson on March 30, 1880 (accession number 251286).

  This engine is equipped with a gas-heated furnace and has metal radiating fins at the upper end of the cylinder in place of the usual water jacket.

  A brass plate on the engine is inscribed: “To Mrs. E. W. Stoughton from her friend John Ericsson.”

  Reference:

  This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  ID Number

  MC.308142

  catalog number

  308142

  accession number

  70417

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Branca Turbine Model

  Description

  Giovanni Branca, a chemist of Loretto, Italy, suggested a steam engine in which a jet of steam issuing from a nozzle was directed against the blades of a paddle wheel. This is the earliest suggestion of an impulse turbine.

  The model, made for the U.S. National Museum, shows such a wheel connected to the pestles of a chemist’s stamp mill. The nozzle is attached directly to a spherical copper boiler.

  Reference: Le Machine, Rome, 1668.

  Reference:

  This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1629

  maker

  Smithsonian Institution

  ID Number

  MC.308464

  catalog number

  308464

  accession number

  91736

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  "Lighthall's Improved Horizontal and Beam Engine," Patent Model

  Description

  This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent granted to William A. Lighthall, of Albany, New York, April 14, 1838, no. 696.

  The engine is designed primarily for boat propulsion and permits the use of a horizontal steam cylinder installed low within the boat in combination with a beam working vertically as in a beam engine.

  The model is diagrammatic in form, is made of wood, and is not complete. The engine represented is essentially a beam engine laid upon its side so that the cylinder is horizontal and the beam is supported vertically. The patent drawing shows the cylinder placed directly upon the keelson of a boat with the beam held so that the lower end is at the approximate level of the center of the cylinder. A long connecting rod attached to the upper end of the beam reaches back over the cylinder to a crank on the engine shaft, which is located above the cylinder and back of it.

  Reference:

  This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1838

  patent date

  1838-04-14

  inventor

  Lighthall, William A.

  ID Number

  MC.308639

  catalog number

  308639

  patent number

  696

  accession number

  89797

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Allen Cut-Off Valve, Patent Model

  Description

  This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to Horatio Allen, of New York, New York, April 30, 1842, no. 2597.

  This model represents a valve gear in which separate steam chests are employed for the head-end and crank-end main steam valves. The supply of steam to each of these steam chests is controlled by additional cut-off valves, the movement of which is adjustable. The inventor refers to this invention as an improvement in the valve gear patented by him August 21, 1841 (patent number 2227).

  The model shows a portion of the cylinder of a horizontal engine with only the piston rod and cross head represented. A steam chest in which are located the ports leading to the inner or main steam chests is shown in section, revealing the cut-off valves on their seats. These cut-off valves are plain flat plates connected to opposite ends of a beam, which receives a vibratory motion from the cross head of the engine. The beam and its rock shaft are picoted in a lever by which the pivot can be moved and the time of cut-of varied. This the inventor calls “cut-off with movable rock shaft.” He suggests that a similar result can be obtained by constructing the cut-off ports in a movable plate which he calls “cut-off with single adjustable seat.”

  Reference:

  This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1842

  patent date

  1842-04-30

  inventor

  Allen, Horatio

  ID Number

  MC.308640

  catalog number

  308640

  accession number

  89797

  patent number

  2,597

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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