Natural Resources

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  H. M. Wood Windmill Patent Model

  Description

  During most of the 19th century, the U.S. Patent Office required inventors seeking patent protection to submit both a written application and a three-dimensional model. This wood and metal patent model of a windmill succeeded in gaining its inventor, H. M. Wood, Patent Number 222,340, which was issued on December 2, 1879. As farms spread into the American heartland, windmills proved an extremely important technology, allowing settlers to use the renewable power of wind to pump groundwater for agricultural and household use. Efficiency and reliability were key attributes for rural windmills, and professional and lay inventors experimented with hundreds of design variations throughout the years.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1879

  patent date

  1879-12-02

  inventor

  Wood, Harvey M.

  ID Number

  MC.309136

  catalog number

  309136

  accession number

  89797

  patent number

  222,340

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Smith’s Patent Model of a Windmill - 1878

  Description

  This model was filed with the application to the U.S. Patent Office for Patent Number 208,208 issued to Elijah H. Smith on September 17, 1878. His invention was an improved design for a windmill with folding sails. The concept of the folding sail windmill was not new. In fact Mr. Smith had received an earlier patent for such a windmill. Folding sails allowed the windmill to automatically regulate its speed in varying wind strengths. As the wind increased the individual arms and sails would progressively fold up to present less area to the wind, thus acting as a governor. Once completely folded the windmill had little more cross section to the wind than would a windmill with a single arm and two sails. In Smith’s first folding sail design the maximum angle between its eight sails was limited by leather straps interconnecting each sail arm. Speed was then controlled by an auxiliary sail attached to the sails on the inner most sail arm. This auxiliary sail was loosely held down onto its host sail by a spring. As the wheel speed became greater the spring was overcome and the auxiliary sail would open to an angle of 90 degrees to the plane of the primary sail. This caused the inner arm and sails to slow until it was behind the next outer arm and sails, and this was repeated for the rest of the arms and sails until the wheel was folded. At that point little more than two sails face the wind and the speed of the wheel would be at a minimum. Smith included a braking wheel on the hub of the inner most arm and sail set. A wooden lever was pivoted at the front of the cross-head and could be pulled down by a rope led to the base of the windmill, thus making the lever contact the brake wheel and stop the windmill. There were two new elements in Smith’s 1878 patent. The first was to replace the function of the leather straps that controlled arm and sail spacing with a new design for the hubs at the center of each arm. Each hub had metal projections on its circumference that limited the motion of the next arm to an angle of 30 degrees to it. The outer-most arm was secured in place with a set screw on the shaft. This allowed the six arms to be evenly spaced around the wheel when fully extended. Folding of the wheel in heavy wind was controlled as in the earlier patent. The second new element was a modification of the braking mechanism. The tail-board beam was pivoted at the rear of the cross-head. This allowed the front of the beam to move upward to contact the brake wheel, and the weight of the tail-board was sufficient to apply friction and stop the windmill. A rod attached to the front of the brake lever was led to the base of the windmill and could be drawn down and pinned to disable the brake for normal operation.

  The patent model is constructed of wood and metal and is mounted on a wooden base. The model illustrates the main elements of the patent including the hubs controlling the spacing of the arms when extended and the braking mechanism. The model also includes a thread representing the rope extending to the base of the windmill tower used to engage the braking mechanism. Not represented on the model is the auxiliary sail used to fold the windmill to govern speed in high winds.

  date made

  1878

  patent date

  1878-09-17

  inventor

  Smith, Elijah S.

  ID Number

  MC.309137

  catalog number

  309137

  accession number

  89797

  patent number

  208,208

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  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

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  Niagara Falls Original Turbines

  Description

  Using this extremely fine wood model as part of its technical proposal, the Swiss firm Faesch & Piccard won the contract to design the original turbines for the Niagara Falls power station. The actual turbines were built by the I. P. Morris Company of Philadelphia and were installed in 1895, the year the Adams Station went on line. The hydroelectric power generation facility at Niagara Falls gained international acclaim for its ability to efficiently convert a portion of the Falls' awe-inspiring natural energy into electricity. This was the world's first large-scale central electric power station, demonstrating how falling water (or other power sources) could be used successfully to supply electricity over an extended geographical area.

  For additional information

  lighting

  date made

  1895

  ID Number

  315850

  accession number

  221414

  catalog number

  315850

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Bone Dice

  Description

  Gambling usually was banned aboard whaling ships, on the grounds that it could cause too much strife among the crew. But “bones” or dice were easily concealed from a ship’s officers, and crews found out-of-the-way places to spend their free time wagering their earnings, tobacco, or other assets.

  date made

  1800s

  ID Number

  AG.024849.1

  accession number

  1875.4423

  catalog number

  24849.1

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Scrimshaw Whale Bone Food Chopper

  Description

  Simply carved and without any engraving, this food chopper, or mincer, was made in two pieces from a sperm whale’s jawbone. Its blunted, curved blade was used to chop soft foods such as bread dough, fruits, sausage, and animal fats. This example was donated by former Secretary of the Institution Spencer F. Baird (1823–1887) to the Smithsonian, where it became one of the earliest objects in the maritime collections.

  date made

  1800s

  purchased

  1876-11-30

  ID Number

  AG.024909

  catalog number

  24909

  accession number

  2009.0157

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Bone Fid

  Description

  Made of hard wood, bone, or ivory and tapering to a point, fids were used mostly for ropework, such as splicing. On deck, they were also used for breaking knots that might be frozen from overtightening, wet weather, or other conditions. In a pinch, one could also serve as a temporary belaying pin to tie off a line, or even as a weapon.

  date made

  1800s

  ID Number

  AG.025650

  catalog number

  025650

  accession number

  4798

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Whale Bone Seam Rubber

  Description

  Seam rubbers were part of a sail maker’s tool kit. They were used to smooth and flatten the seams of heavy canvas sailcloth, where two pieces were joined or the edges were hemmed before they were sewn. This unusually large example was probably carved from the panbone, part of a whale’s jaw.

  date made

  1800s

  ID Number

  AG.025793

  accession number

  4957

  catalog number

  025793

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Whalebone Thimble Eye

  Description

  This rope-strapped thimble carved from whalebone would have had a light rope through the eye for rigging, perhaps on a whaleboat.

  These miniature items also served as children’s toys or curiosities back home. Toys in the form of miniature working ship parts were easy and quick for sailors to carve, and they did not require much skill to make. They also served as potent reminders of where and what the men were doing during their long absences from their friends and families.

  date made

  1800s

  ID Number

  AG.025801

  catalog number

  025801

  accession number

  2009.0182

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Whaler's Mincing Knife

  Description

  Whaling crews used mincing knives to cut the blubber strips into thin slices down to, but not through, the thick whale skin. This process increased the surface area of the blubber and helped it melt faster in the try-pots. Cut in this fashion, the sections of whale blubber and skin were known as “bible leaves” because they resembled the pages of a book.

  date made

  1876

  collected

  1876

  ID Number

  AG.025912

  accession number

  005019

  catalog number

  025912

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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