Natural Resources
The natural resources collections offer centuries of evidence about how Americans have used the bounty of the American continent and coastal waters. Artifacts related to flood control, dam construction, and irrigation illustrate the nation's attempts to manage the natural world. Oil-drilling, iron-mining, and steel-making artifacts show the connection between natural resources and industrial strength.
Forestry is represented by saws, axes, a smokejumper's suit, and many other objects. Hooks, nets, and other gear from New England fisheries of the late 1800s are among the fishing artifacts, as well as more recent acquisitions from the Pacific Northwest and Chesapeake Bay. Whaling artifacts include harpoons, lances, scrimshaw etchings in whalebone, and several paintings of a whaler's work at sea. The modern environmental movement has contributed buttons and other protest artifacts on issues from scenic rivers to biodiversity.
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Victor® Original Rat Trap
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 2000
- maker
- Woodstream Corporation
- ID Number
- 2003.0338.10
- accession number
- 2003.0338
- catalog number
- 2003.0338.10
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
chimney, lamp
- Description
- This lamp chimney was purposely left unfinshed as part of a series of lamp chimneys that illustrate the various stages of manufacture of lamp chimneys at Macbeth-Evans Glass Company. This particular one is listed as "Number 2 Pearl Top" and demonstrates how a lamp chimney looks in the factory before it is sent for crimping.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- circa 1899-1915
- 1914-1915
- about 1914
- ID Number
- CE.214
- catalog number
- 214
- accession number
- 57114
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Jar of Blue Glass Rods
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1914
- maker
- Macbeth-Evans Glass Company
- ID Number
- CE.252ab
- catalog number
- 252ab
- accession number
- 57114
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Fanciful Electric Light Shade
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- est. 1899
- 1914-1915
- maker
- Macbeth-Evans Glass Company
- ID Number
- CE.914
- catalog number
- 914
- accession number
- 58571
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Sellers Self-Acting Injector
- Description
- This is a self-adjusting and restarting injector similar to the Schutte Injector, but it does not have the steam jet for lifting water to the injector. It has the floating combining tube of the earlier injectors and the combination of two tubes in the same axial line with apertures between them, as with the Schutte Injector, which develop a vacuum in the feed pipe and make the injector automatically restarting.
- 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
- 1900-1927
- ID Number
- MC.309560
- catalog number
- 309560
- accession number
- 104292
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Baker Steam Engine, Patent Model
- Description
- This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to John G. Baker, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 10, 1878, no. 207936.
- The model represents a small vertical single-acting engine in which the connecting rod is attached to the piston by a ball-and-socket joint, and the space enclosed within the cylinder and the face of the piston is alternately opened to the exhaust and to the steam pipes by rotating the piston laterally in the cylinder. The piston is rotated by a simple bent rod, one end of which turns and slides in an opening in the connecting rod, and the other end slides and turns in a socket in the skirt of the piston. Turning the piston causes two longitudinal grooves in the piston to register periodically with exhaust and steam ports in the cylinder wall.
- 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
- 1878
- patent date
- 1878-09-10
- inventor
- Baker, John G.
- ID Number
- MC.309246
- catalog number
- 309246
- accession number
- 89797
- patent number
- 207,936
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Giffard-Sellers Injector, Patent Model
- Description
- This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to William Sellers, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 21, 1863, no. 39313.
- William Sellers, who introduced the Giffard injector into the United States in 1860, immediately invented useful improvements in its construction. This model incorporates an improvement in the packing between the steam and water chambers and effects a material reduction in the length of the whole injector.
- 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
- 1860
- patent date
- 1863-07-21
- inventor
- Sellers, William
- ID Number
- MC.309367
- catalog number
- 309367
- accession number
- 89797
- patent number
- 39,313
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Victor® Quick Set Rat Trap
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 2000
- maker
- Woodstream Corporation
- ID Number
- 2003.0338.06
- accession number
- 2003.0338
- catalog number
- 2003.0338.06
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
One of the first examples of optical glass manufactured in the USA
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- est. 1899
- 1914
- ID Number
- CE.239
- catalog number
- 239
- accession number
- 57114
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
chimney, lamp
- Description
- This lamp chimney is part of a series of lamp chimneys created to show the different stages of manufacture at the Macbeth-evans Glass Company. This particular one has a flared top opening with 1/4" beaded rim.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- about 1914
- maker
- Macbeth-Evans Glass Company
- ID Number
- CE.211
- catalog number
- 211
- accession number
- 57114
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Lamp chimney left unfinsihed to demonstrate a particular stage of manufacture
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- est. 1899
- 1914
- ID Number
- CE.222
- catalog number
- 222
- accession number
- 57114
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Bacharach Steam Engine Indicator
- Description
- Bacharach Industrial Instrument Co. manufactured this steam engine indicator. It consists of a large steel piston with three grooves; a vented brass cylinder; an external, double wound spring, which can be changed; an aluminum drum with a small spiral spring and single record; and a small brass stylus. Accompanying the indicator is a box with three springs and some small tools. The pulley and bracket are missing.
- An engine indicator is an instrument for graphically recording the pressure versus piston displacement through an engine stroke cycle. Engineers use the resulting diagram to check the design and performance of the engine.
- A mechanical indicator consists of a piston, spring, stylus, and recording system. The gas pressure of the cylinder deflects the piston and pushes against the spring, creating a linear relationship between the gas pressure and the deflection of the piston against the spring. The deflection is recorded by the stylus on a rotating drum that is connected to the piston. Most indicators incorporate a mechanical linkage to amplify the movement of the piston to increase the scale of the record.
- When the ratio of the frequency of the pressure variation to the natural frequency of the system is small, then the dynamic deflection is equal to the static deflection. To design a system with a high natural frequency, the mass of the piston, spring, stylus, and mechanical linkage must be small, but the stiffness of the spring must be high. The indicator is subjected to high temperatures and pressures and rapid oscillations, imposing a limitation on the reduction in mass. Too stiff a spring will result in a small displacement of the indicator piston and a record too small to measure with accuracy. Multiplication of the displacement will introduce mechanical ad dynamic errors.
- The parameters of the problem for designing an accurate and trouble free recorder are such that there is no easy or simple solution. Studying the variety of indicators in the collection shows how different inventors made different compromises in their designs.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- early 20th century
- maker
- Bacharach Industrial Instrument Co.
- ID Number
- MC.325992
- catalog number
- 325992
- accession number
- 308486
- serial number
- 50597
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Patterned, Electric Light Shade
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1915
- maker
- Macbeth-Evans Glass Company
- ID Number
- CE.889
- catalog number
- 889
- accession number
- 58571
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Luders Steam Boiler, Patent Model
- Description
- This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to Herman W. Luders, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 31, 1869, no. 94226.
- The model represents a boiler having inclined water tubes projecting through forward and back brick walls, which form the furnace and boiler setting. The ends of the tubes projecting from the setting front and back are joined in sets of three by short horizontal cross tubes to large, vertical, upright pillar tubes on either side of the top of the setting. A third longitudinal drum is placed between the other two drums, and all three are joined by one cross drum above them. The short horizontal tubes at the back are cast in longitudinal sections and connected by ball-and-socket joints designed to permit the free expansion and contraction of the tubes.
- 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
- 1869
- patent date
- 1869-08-31
- inventor
- Luders, Herman W.
- ID Number
- MC.309211
- catalog number
- 309211
- accession number
- 89797
- patent number
- 94,226
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Jar of Green Glass Rods
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1914
- maker
- Macbeth-Evans Glass Company
- ID Number
- CE.256ab
- catalog number
- 256ab
- accession number
- 57114
- 57114
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Victor® Rat Zapper™ 2000
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 2000
- patent date
- 1993-12-14
- 1999-09-07
- maker
- Woodstream Corporation
- ID Number
- 2003.0338.07
- accession number
- 2003.0338
- catalog number
- 2003.0338.07
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Electric Light Shade
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1915
- maker
- Macbeth-Evans Glass Company
- ID Number
- CE.888
- catalog number
- 888
- accession number
- 58571
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Loper Marine Steam Engine, Patent Model
- Description
- This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to R. F. Loper, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 28, 2849, no. 6673.
- This is a nicely made working model of a 2-cylinder vertical marine engine directly connected to a 2-throw propeller shaft, upon which is mounted a 4-blade propeller. The model is complete with boiler, feed-water pump, condenser, and condenser air pump. The peculiar feature of the invention is the manner of connecting the air pump to the engine and the method of quickly converting the engine from condensing to noncondensing operation.
- The engine represented consists of a heavy bed plate shaped to fit the hull of a vessel, upon which are attached the bearing of the propeller shaft and the frame that supports the cylinders. The cylinders are double-acting are “reversed from the ordinary position of engines, the piston rod running down through the lower head and connecting by the usual connecting rod with the cranks on the shaft below.” “The valves of the engine take their motion from eccentrics on the main shaft coupled with a valve lever by proper eccentric rods. The lever is affixed to its axis by its center and is made double, so that the eccentric rod can be thrown to either end to reverse the motion or may be wholly detached.” The cur-off is worked directly from the cross head. The air pump is driven by a beam and connecting rod, which is driven by a crankpin upon a gear wheel that engages a pinion on the crankshaft. The ratio of the gears is such that the air pump performs only one stroke to two of the engine. The air pump communicates with the condenser into which the exhaust pipe opens. The escape pipe is also connected with the condenser, which, when open, allows the steam to escape without condensing.
- 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
- 1849
- patent date
- 1849-08-28
- inventor
- Loper, R. F.
- ID Number
- ER.309198
- accession number
- 89797
- catalog number
- 309198
- patent number
- 6,673
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Tall Case Clock
- Description
- The earliest domestic clocks in the American colonies were English-made "lantern" clocks, with brass gear trains held between pillars. Along with fully furnished "best" beds, looking glasses, sofas, silver, and case furniture, such clocks were the household objects consistently assigned the highest monetary value in inventories of possessions.
- By the 18th century, the most common style of domestic clock came to look more like a piece of household furniture. A wooden case enclosed the movement, weights, and pendulum. Through a glass window the dial was visible.
- In 1769, Pennsylvania clockmaker and millwright Joseph Ellicott completed this complicated tall case clock. On three separate dials, it tells the time and shows the phases of the moon; depicts on an orrery the motions of the sun, moon, and planets; and plays selected twenty-four musical tunes on the hour.
- The musical dial on the Ellicott clock allows the listener to choose from twelve pairs of tunes. Each pair includes a short tune and a long one. On the hour only the short tune plays, but every third hour, both play. During a tune, automaton figures at the top of the dial appear to tap their feet in time to the music, and a small dog between them jumps up and down.
- Joseph Ellicott moved from the Philadelphia area to Maryland in 1772 and, with his brothers Andrew and John, set up a flour-milling operation in what is now Ellicott City. The clock was a centerpiece in Ellicott family homes for generations.
- Who else owned clocks in early America? Clock owners, like the American colonists themselves, were not a homogeneous group. Where a person lived influenced the probability of owning a timepiece. In 1774, for example, New Englanders and Middle Atlantic colonials were equally likely to own a timepiece. In those regions, roughly 13 or 14 adults out of 100 had a clock in their possessions when they died. Among Southern colonists at that time, only about 6 in 100 had a clock.
- Date made
- 1769
- user
- Ellicott, Joseph
- maker
- Ellicott, Joseph
- ID Number
- 1999.0276.01
- accession number
- 1999.0276
- catalog number
- 1999.0276.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Gas Light Shade
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1915
- maker
- Macbeth-Evans Glass Company
- ID Number
- CE.903
- catalog number
- 903
- accession number
- 58571
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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