Industry & Manufacturing

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  1977 Vega Hatchback Coupe

  Description

  Beginning in the early 1960s, American auto manufacturers responded to a wave of imported compacts and subcompacts that reached 20 percent of domestic new car sales by 1971. The Chevrolet Corvair, Ford Falcon, and Plymouth Valiant were introduced in 1960, followed by the AMC Gremlin in 1970 and Ford Pinto in 1971. General Motors introduced the Vega as a 1971 model. Like other domestic small cars, the Vega was attractive and handled well, but mechanical quality and reliability were disappointing. On early models, the aluminum-alloy engine block overheated and expanded, valves leaked, and body corrosion was a problem. General Motors was able to correct these defects in later model years, and the Vega became a popular model that made money. This turnaround marked a reawakening of the American auto industry to the need to manage design, performance, and quality-control issues and compete more successfully with imported cars.

  By the 1970s, many American motorists discovered the advantages of subcompacts and hatchbacks. Convenient, easy to drive, and economical to own and operate, domestic and imported subcompacts offered expanded opportunities for driving, commuting, and carrying goods. Many were used as second cars. The shift to subcompacts made families more mobile, and greater fuel efficiency offset the effects of gasoline shortages and price increases. This 1977 Vega hatchback was Guenther Sommer's second car; he and his wife, Siewchin Yong Sommer, drove a 1967 Pontiac Grand Prix convertible as their primary transportation. Mr. Sommer used this Vega to haul building materials at his home on Long Island. By removing all seats except the driver's seat, he converted the Vega to a small truck and even used it while building a new house. In 2001, he reinstalled the carefully preserved seats and donated the car to the Smithsonian.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1977

  maker

  General Motors Corporation

  ID Number

  2001.0168.01

  accession number

  2001.0168

  catalog number

  2001.0168.01

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  1935 Simplex Servi-Cycle Motorbike

  Description

  Beginning in 1935, the Simplex Manufacturing Corporation of New Orleans made motorbikes, which were smaller and lighter than motorcycles. Their simple designs made personal transportation accessible to young people and adults. Owners found many uses for Servi-Cycles, including errands, pleasure rides, and package delivery using a three-wheeled model. Top speed was 40 miles per hour, and average cruising speed was 30 miles per hour. Postwar sales were strong, but Servi-Cycle sales declined in the 1950s because of the growing popularity of imported motor scooters. Simplex ended motorbike production in 1960 but made motor scooters until 1972, when the company went out of business.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1935

  maker

  Simplex Manufacturing Company

  ID Number

  TR.317365

  accession number

  230387

  catalog number

  317365

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Triple Chocolate Liquor Mill

  Description

  There are many stages in the process of making a luscious bar of milk chocolate from dried and roasted cocoa beans. This machine, a chocolate liquor mill used in the Hershey chocolate factory from about 1920 to the late 1970s, was critical in the early stages of the process. Between heated stones, the mill ground the "nibs," or cracked cores of the cocoa beans, melting the cocoa butter contained inside. The resulting liquefied cocoa butter and ground nibs produced a mixture called "chocolate liquor," (a liquor with no alcoholic content). Unsweetened chocolate liquor is very bitter, and, while normally it isn't eaten as is, it can be used in the production of certain food products or sold as baking chocolate. To make "eating chocolate," like that in candy bars, the chocolate liquor requires many more additives, as well as the processes of mixing, refining, and conching.

  Milton Snavely Hershey's (1857-1945) road to becoming the most recognized name in the American chocolate industry was neither smooth nor entirely sweet. After failing at the confectionary business in Philadelphia, Denver, and New York, Hershey moved back to his hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and began a business making caramel candies. While the company enjoyed modest success, Hershey was continually experimenting with new products.

  date made

  ca 1918

  maker

  J. M. Lehmann Machine Works

  ID Number

  1980.0021.01

  accession number

  1980.0021

  catalog number

  1980.0021.01

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Processor Wafer

  Description

  Yogeeswaran Ganesan’s fabricated this four inch silicon wafer for use in experiments relating to his 2011 Rice Universtiy PhD thesis on “The Mechanical Characterization of Multi Wall Carbon Nanotubes and Related Interfaces in Nanocomposites.” Standard silicon microfabrication techniques were tailored to make microdevices on the silicon wafer to meet the needs of Ganesan’s experiments. The experiment included the use of a nanoindenter to examine the characterization of nanomaterials under a scanning electron microscope, and a novel procedure to help develop a solid understanding the physical characteristics of carbon nanotubes by examining their deformation and failure under stress and strain in real time. The microdevices on the silicon wafer provided an electrostatically actuated platform for testing the properties of individual nickel nanowires as well as multiwall carbon nanotubes to provide experimental verification of theoretical predictions of nanomaterial applications.

  Location

  Currently not on view (plastic box)

  ID Number

  2014.0039.01

  catalog number

  2014.0039.01

  accession number

  2014.0039

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Intel Tri-Gate Test Wafer

  Description

  This is an uncut silicon wafer containing Intel’s tri-gate transistor technology, the 22 nanometer microprocessor architecture used in Intel’s Ivy Bridge and Haswell CPU’s. The test structures on this wafer were designed by Uday Shah and Ravi Pillarisetty and provided a proof-of-concept to Intel that 3D tri-gate transistor technology was commercially viable. While the architecture was originally announced in 2002, Intel’s Ivy Bridge CPU’s didn’t hit the market until late 2011, a testimony to the highly intricate nature of microprocessor production.

  The highly pure silicon wafer provides the substrate for transistors on the integrated circuits that make up microprocessors. The wiring circuity is imprinted on the silicon via a microscopic photolithography process. Intel’s tri-gate technology refers to the process of stacking a single logic gate on top of two vertical gates, creating conducting channels on three sides of a vertical fin structure, a three dimensional transistor that results in lower energy consumption and increased speed.

  Location

  Currently not on view (plastic case)

  date made

  2006

  maker

  Intel Corporation

  ID Number

  2014.0098.01

  catalog number

  2014.0098.01

  accession number

  2014.0098

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Light switch for Edison installation

  Date made

  1881

  ID Number

  EM.180942

  catalog number

  180942

  accession number

  24315

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  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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  Edison underground electrical junction box

  Date made

  1885

  ID Number

  EM.314917

  catalog number

  314917

  accession number

  212336

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  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

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  Invention for Improvement in Rotary Printing Presses

  Description (Brief)

  This patent model demonstrates an invention for an improvement on Hoe's rotary printing press; the invention was granted patent number 5199. The patent includes improvements to the inking apparatus, the use of a portion of the type cylinder for ink distribution, and locking type to the cylinder with tapering rules.

  date made

  ca 1847

  patent date

  1847-07-24

  inventor

  Hoe, Richard March

  ID Number

  GA.11017

  accession number

  48865

  catalog number

  GA*11017

  patent number

  5,199

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Patent Model for the Improvement in Stem-winding Watches

  Description (Brief)

  Pauline Hortense Gontard, of Cortébert, Switzerland, submitted this brass model with her patent application for an improvement in the winding mechanism in a stem winding watch or keyless watch. By the time, she applied for the patent in the United States in 1879, American watchmakers were mass producing watches and competing with European watch makers.

  Stem winding watches were invented by a French clock maker in 1842 and patented in Europe in 1845. Before this time a key was necessary to wind a watch mechanism.

  date made

  1879

  patent date

  1879-10-07

  licensee

  Gontard, P. H.

  inventor

  Gontard, Pauline H.

  ID Number

  ME.309088

  catalog number

  309088

  accession number

  89797

  patent number

  220,233

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Hyatt Celluloid Billiard Ball

  Description

  This billiard ball, a gift of the Celanese Corporation, is made of cellulose nitrate, a substance eventually known as "celluloid." John Wesley Hyatt, a printer, was encouraged to develop the new substance when he saw an ad offering $10,000 to the person who invented a usable substitute for ivory in billiard balls. Though Hyatt eventually achieved success with his new material, forming the Celluloid Manufacturing Co. in 1871, it seems he never received the $10,000 award.

  The ball is mounted on a walnut stand and has a silver label stating, "Made in 1868 of Cellulose Nitrate, Celluloid. The Year John Wesley Hyatt Discovered This First Plastics Resin."

  Date made

  1868

  inventor

  Hyatt, John Wesley

  originator

  Hyatt, John Wesley

  ID Number

  CH.334572

  accession number

  310799

  catalog number

  334572

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  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

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  Intel Microprocessor Chips

  Description

  This is a set of five Intel 22 nanometer tri-gate quad core microprocessor dies. These chips belonged to Intel’s Ivy Bridge line of microprocessor architecture, mainly sold in the Core i5 and Core i7 lines of processors. After the wafer has been cut into dies, the chips are packaged with electrical connections and heatsinks and are ready to be used. These Intel chips would be put in a land grid array (LGA, seen in the second image) package that has a grid of electrical contacts on the bottom that comes into contact with the socket pins on a printed circuit board (motherboard).

  Location

  Currently not on view (case; microprocessor chip 3)

  ID Number

  2014.0098.03

  catalog number

  2014.0098.03

  accession number

  2014.0098

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  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

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  Model of Edison's Pearl Street power station

  Description

  This scale model of Thomas Edison's Pearl Street power station was made in 1927. It demonstrates the internal arrangement of generating equipment and can be operated by means of a small electric motor in the base.

  The first floor contained the boiler room and coal-handling equipment. Steam created by the boilers operated Porter-Allen horizontal steam engines on the second floor. The engines powered large Edison electrical generators nicknamed "Jumbo" after the famous elephant. Control and switching equipment were housed on the third and fourth floors.

  The site for Edison's generating station had to satisfy both engineering and business needs. Because Edison used 100 volt direct current to power his new light bulbs, customers could be no further than ½ mile from the generator. But he needed a high profile location to promote the system. Edison chose a site in the heart of New York's financial district, 255 and 257 Pearl Street. On 4 September 1882, he threw a switch in the office of one of his main investors, J. Pierpont Morgan, and initiated service to the area.

  A fire damaged the station extensively in 1890 but Edison and his men worked around the clock for 11 days to restore service. The station was taken out of service and dismantled in 1895, the building sold and later demolished. The New York Edison Company placed a commemorative plaque at the site in 1917.

  Date made

  1927

  maker

  Edison Company

  ID Number

  EM.309605

  catalog number

  309605

  accession number

  104795

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Patent Model for a Double Cylinder Flatbed Printing Press

  Description (Brief)

  This patent model demonstrates an invention for various improvements on the English presses of Applegath, Napier, and others, especially methods of stopping and reversing the press bed in its travel and of raising the impression cylinders to allow the bed to pass underneath. The invention was granted patent number 2629.

  This was the patent for Hoe's Pony press, built specifically for the New York Sun to print 5-6,000 impressions per hour. Richard March Hoe (1812-1886) was the son of Robert Hoe, founder of the original company, which he took over in 1833 after his father's death. Among many outstanding inventions, his most famous press was the Lightning of 1846. He was also known for solicitous management of his employees, for whom he set up set up a free but compulsory apprentice school.

  Location

  Currently not on view (printing press fragment)

  date made

  ca 1842

  patent date

  1842-05-20

  patentee

  Hoe, Richard March

  maker

  Hoe, Richard March

  ID Number

  GA.11023

  catalog number

  GA*11023

  accession number

  48865

  patent number

  002629

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Experimental stockings

  Description

  In 1928, the E. I. DuPont de Nemours Co. hired Wallace Carothers Ph. to conduct pure research in any area of chemistry he chose. His interest was in the construction of long chain polymers, similar to those found in nature. There was no product in mind when he and his team began their work, they simply wanted to learn as much about large molecules as possible. The work done by Carothers and his team lead to the discovery of polyesters and polyamides. DuPont went with the polyamides, and nylon was born. It was the first fiber produced entirely in the laboratory, and was introduced to the public in the form of women's stockings at the 1939 World's Fair. Nylon stockings went on sale May 15, 1940, and were a smashing success. Prior to the production of nylon stockings, American women wore stockings made of silk or rayon. By 1942, nylon stockings were taking twenty percent of the stocking market. With U.S. entry into World War Two, nylon was declared a defense material and withdrawn from the civilian market. Nylon's most famous use during the war was as a replacement for silk in parachutes. However, it was also used in ropes, netting, tire cord, and dozens of other items. So many uses were found for nylon that some referred to it as the "fiber that won the war." When the war ended, nylon stockings were brought back and quickly replaced silk and rayon in the stocking market.

  This is the first pair of experimental nylon stockings made by Union Hosiery Company for Du Pont in 1937. The leg of the stocking is nylon, the upper welt, toe, and heel are silk, and cotton is found in the seam. The nylon section of the stocking would not take the silk dye, and dyed to black instead of brown.

  Date made

  ca 1937

  1937

  maker

  Union Hosiery Co.

  ID Number

  TE.T12049

  accession number

  227591

  catalog number

  T12049

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• Wood Stove

  maker

  Vermont Snath Company

  ID Number

  ZZ.RSN79658Z17

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Experimental Sulfur Lamp

  Description

  New lighting inventions occasionally appear from unexpected directions. The development of this microwave-powered lamp provides a case in point. In 1990 Fusion Systems was a small company with a successful, highly specialized product, an innovative ultraviolet (UV) industrial lighting system powered by microwaves.

  Discharge lamps typically use electrodes to support an electric arc. Tungsten electrodes are most common, so materials that might erode tungsten can't be used in the lamp and care must be taken to not melt the electrodes. Fusion's lamp side-stepped this problem by eliminating electrodes entirely. Microwave energy from an external source energized the lamp. This opened the way for experiments with non-traditional materials, including sulfur.

  During the 1980s engineer Michael Ury, physicist Charles Wood, and their colleagues experimented several times with adapting their UV system to produce visible light without success. In 1990, they tried placing sulfur in a spherical bulb instead of a linear tube. Sulfur could give a good quality light, but did not work well in the linear tube. Other elements only gave marginal results in the spherical bulb. But when they tested sulfur in the spherical lamp they found what they hoped for: lots of good visible light with little invisible UV or infrared rays.

  They began setting up "crude" lamps like this one (one of the first ten according to Ury) in order to learn more about the new light source. In the mid-1990s Fusion began trying to sell their sulfur bulbs with limited success. The lamp rotated at 20,000 rpm so that the temperature stayed even over the surface, and a fan was needed for cooling. The fan and spin motor made noise and reduced energy efficiency of the total system. Then they found that the bulbs lasted longer than the magnetrons used to generate the microwaves that powered them. Finding inexpensive magnetrons proved too difficult, and the company stopped selling the product in 2002.

  Lamp characteristics: A quartz stem with notch near the bottom serves as the base. The notch locks the lamp into its fixture. The sphere has an argon gas filling, and the yellow material is sulfur condensed on the inner lamp wall. The pattern of condensation indicates lamp was burned base-down. Tipless, G-shaped quartz envelope.

  Date made

  ca 1990

  date made

  ca. 1990

  maker

  Ury, Michael G.

  ID Number

  1992.0467.01

  catalog number

  1992.0467.01

  accession number

  1992.0467

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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