Natural Resources

• 

  Meissen lemon basket (from a plat de ménage)

  Description

  TITLE: Meissen lemon basket from a Plat de Ménage

  MAKER: Meissen Manufactory

  PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: ceramic, porcelain (overall material)

  MEASUREMENTS: H. 10¾" 27.3cm

  OBJECT NAME: Lemon basket

  PLACE MADE: Meissen, Saxony, Germany

  DATE MADE: 1735-1740

  SUBJECT: Art

  Domestic Furnishing

  Industry and Manufacturing

  CREDIT LINE: Hans C. Syz Collection

  ID NUMBER: 63.263

  COLLECTOR/ DONOR: 53

  ACCESSION NUMBER:

  (DATA SOURCE: National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center)

  MARKS: None

  PURCHASED FROM: Adolf Beckhardt, The Art Exchange, New York, 1941.

  This lemon basket is from the Smithsonian’s Hans Syz Collection of Meissen Porcelain. Dr. Syz (1894-1991) began his collection in the early years of World War II, when he purchased eighteenth-century Meissen table wares from the Art Exchange run by the New York dealer Adolf Beckhardt (1889-1962). Dr. Syz, a Swiss immigrant to the United States, collected Meissen porcelain while engaged in a professional career in psychiatry and the research of human behavior. He believed that cultural artifacts have an important role to play in enhancing our awareness and understanding of human creativity and its communication among peoples. His collection grew to represent this conviction.

  The invention of Meissen porcelain, declared over three hundred years ago early in 1709, was a collective achievement that represents an early modern precursor to industrial chemistry and materials science. The porcelains we see in our museum collections, made in the small town of Meissen in the German States, were the result of an intense period of empirical research. Generally associated with artistic achievement of a high order, Meissen porcelain was also a technological achievement in the development of inorganic, non-metallic materials.

  This lemon basket was part of a ‘plat de ménage’ that served as a centerpiece on the dining or banqueting table, also known as an ‘Epargne’ from the French épargner’ meaning to serve and often made in silver or silver gilt. The ‘plat de ménage’ held cruet sets containing various condiments like oil and vinegar, mustard, salt, spices, and sugar for guests to season their food during service in the French style of three main savory courses before the often spectacular dessert. Lemon baskets stood higher than the cruets, supported by figures like the two wrestling putti seen here were designed to attract the eye to the fruit piled within the basket or ‘shell.’ Lemons were a luxury in the eighteenth century and were meant to impress the diners. Imported from the Mediterranean countries or grown further north in conservatories and greenhouses, they were an important culinary item and flavoring for fish, meat and salads then as they are today.

  The ‘plat de ménage’ gave Meissen modelers great scope for creating impressive centerpieces for major table services, but this lemon basket belongs to a less imposing model that was, nevertheless, in regular production through several versions in or even before 1735, and which continued into the early twentieth century with many variations. In August of 1735 Johann Joachim Kaendler recorded renewing and making higher a lemon ‘shell’ with two children standing on a rock (Die Arbeitsberichte des Meissener Porzellanmodelleurs Johann Joachim Kaendler 1706-1775, 2002, p.33).

  This lemon basket has a quatrefoil shape with a band of relief-molded scrolls and strapwork on its exterior. The interior has East Asian flora painted in onglaze enamel with a bird perched on a stem. The coat of arms may belong to minor gentry or an entrepreneurial family with the name of Hopfner or Höpfner indicated by the entwined vines suggestive of hops.

  Not many Meissen pieces from a table service with this pattern exist: a sugar box can be seen online at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, # C92&A-1929; see also Weber, J., 2013, Meissener Pozellane mit Dekoren nach ostasiatischen Vorbildern: Stiftung Ernst Schneider in Schloss Lustheim, p. 465.

  On the ‘plat de ménage’ see Katherina Hantschmann, “The ‘Plat de Ménage’: The Centrepiece on the Banqueting Table” in Pietsch, U., Banz, C., 2010, Triumph of the Blue Swords: Meissen Porcelain for Aristocracy and Bourgoisie 1710-1815, pp. 106-119

  Hans Syz, J. Jefferson Miller II, Rainer Rückert, 1979, Catalogue of the Hans Syz Collection: Meissen Porcelain and Hausmalerei, pp. 288-289.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  c.1737-1740

  19th century

  1737-1740

  91737-1740

  maker

  Meissen Manufactory

  ID Number

  CE.63.263

  catalog number

  63.263

  accession number

  250446

  collector/donor number

  53

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Meissen vase

  Description

  TITLE: Meissen vase in double gourd shape

  MAKER: Meissen Manufactory

  PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: ceramic, porcelain (overall material)

  MEASUREMENTS: H. 8⅝" 22cm

  OBJECT NAME: Vase

  PLACE MADE: Meissen, Saxony, Germany

  DATE MADE: 1735

  SUBJECT: Art

  Domestic Furnishing

  Industry and Manufacturing

  CREDIT LINE: Hans C. Syz Collection

  ID NUMBER: 64.427

  COLLECTOR/ DONOR: 407

  ACCESSION NUMBER:

  (DATA SOURCE: National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center)

  MARKS: Crossed swords in underglaze blue; “O” impressed (former’s mark).

  PURCHASED FROM: Adolf Beckhardt, The Art Exchange, New York, 1943.

  This vase is from the Smithsonian’s Hans Syz Collection of Meissen Porcelain. Dr. Syz (1894-1991) began his collection in the early years of World War II, when he purchased eighteenth-century Meissen table wares from the Art Exchange run by the New York dealer Adolf Beckhardt (1889-1962). Dr. Syz, a Swiss immigrant to the United States, collected Meissen porcelain while engaged in a professional career in psychiatry and the research of human behavior. He believed that cultural artifacts have an important role to play in enhancing our awareness and understanding of human creativity and its communication among peoples. His collection grew to represent this conviction.

  The invention of Meissen porcelain, declared over three hundred years ago early in 1709, was a collective achievement that represents an early modern precursor to industrial chemistry and materials science. The porcelains we see in our museum collections, made in the small town of Meissen in the German States, were the result of an intense period of empirical research. Generally associated with artistic achievement of a high order, Meissen porcelain was also a technological achievement in the development of inorganic, non-metallic materials.

  This double gourd or calabash-shaped vase has a purple onglaze ground with reserves containing onglaze enamel paintings of birds, with on one side of the vase the flowering branches of tree peony and on the other side chrysanthemums in full bloom. Ceramic vessels imitating the shapes of gourds have a long history, almost as long as the use of dried gourds themselves for food storage and consumption. In China gourds were cultivated in Neolithic times and over the centuries the uses and meanings associated with them proliferated in Chinese culture, in particular the association with a gourd’s many seeds as a symbol of fertility. The double-gourd is also the Buddhist emblem of Li T’ieh-kuai, one of the eight immortals who when embodied as a beggar carried the gourd to contain medicine that he administered to the sick. The double-gourd shape imitated in porcelain was, and still is, especially popular for use as an ornament for interior living spaces, now often seen to function as a stand for a table lamp.

  The Meissen Manufactory produced vases for a set, or garniture, typically to decorate a mantelpiece or buffet. This gourd-shaped vase probably belonged to a set of three, five, or seven pieces. It was not uncommon to mount a garniture in ormolu, and Meissen sets sold in France were often decorated in this manner. Garnitures remained popular in the nineteenth century, but demand for them declined in the last century. The eighteenth-century baroque and Rococo taste for luxury goods regarded oriental and European porcelain as a feature of interior design; individual items were not appreciated as works of art in the sense that collectors and connoisseurs value them today.

  The Saxon Elector and King of Poland, Augustus II, admired the colored ground technique in overglaze enamels, and the director of painting at Meissen, Johann Gregor Höroldt, developed ground colors to match Augustus’s design for interior décor in the Japanese Palace which held his vast collection of ceramic artifacts. Most ground colors were applied to porcelain vessels by flicking a brush loaded with enamel pigment onto the glazed surface which was prepared with a thin layer of gum to hold the color and prevent it from running down the glazed sides of a vessel; in a later technique a fine textile pad loaded with powdered color pigment was used to apply the ground onto a gummed surface. Areas were masked out to reserve a white space for painting. The French Sèvres porcelain manufactory is better known for its development of rich, deep ground colors in the mid-eighteenth century, especially royal blue, pink, and green on soft-paste porcelain.

  For examples of vases with colored grounds see Pietsch, U., Banz, C., 2010, Triumph of the Blue Swords: Meissen Porcelain for Aristocracy and Bourgoisie 1710-1815, pp.268-274.

  On the Japanese Palace see Cassidy-Geiger, M., 1995, “The Japanese Palace Collections and their Impact at Meissen”, in The International Ceramics Fair and Seminar, London, pp. 15-24; 1996, “Meissen Porcelain Ordered for the Japanese Palace”, in Keramos: Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft der Keramikfreunde, pp. 119-130.

  On the impact of Chinese porcelain in a global context see Robert Finlay, 2010, The Pilgrim Art: Cultures of Porcelain in World History.

  Jefferson Miller II, J., Rückert, R., Syz, H., 1979, Catalogue of the Hans Syz Collection: Meissen Porcelain and Hausmalerei, pp. 186-187.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1735

  19th century

  1735

  maker

  Meissen Manufactory

  ID Number

  CE.64.427

  catalog number

  64.427

  accession number

  257835

  collector/donor number

  407

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Star Steam Engine Indicator

  Description

  The Star Brass Mfg. Co. manufactured this steam engine indicator, serial number 760. It consists of a steel piston with one groove; a vented brass cylinder; an external, double wound spring, which can be changed; a small drum with a spiral spring and a single record. The stylus is 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

  ca 1907

  maker

  Star Brass Manufacturing Company

  ID Number

  MC.319483

  catalog number

  319483

  accession number

  237917

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Maihak Steam Engine Indicator

  Description

  This case contains two steam engine indicators, serial numbers 3027 and 3028, manufactured by H. Maihak of Hamburg, Germany. It consists of a steel piston with three grooves; a steel cylinder; an external spring, which is missing on both indicators; a large drum with a spiral spring and continuous record; and a brass stylus. The record paper is inside the drum and uses a ratchet and pawl to turn and retrieve it.

  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

  1906

  ID Number

  MC.316891

  catalog number

  316891

  accession number

  229655

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Desmond Injector, Patent Model

  Description

  This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to John Desmond, of Cincinnati, Ohio, October 8, 1901, no. 683914; assigned to the Lunkenheimer Co.

  Features of this injector are the construction of the starting lever, which with one motion operates both the steam and overflow valves and also permits the overflow valve to close independently of the lever; a removable ring of resistant metal inserted in the combining tube at its smallest diameter to receive the corroding action of the jet at that point; and an arrangement of steam and water passages designed to prevent the raising of the temperature of the feed water to such a temperature as to deposit scale within the tubes of the 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

  1901

  patent date

  1901-10-08

  inventor

  Desmond, John

  ID Number

  MC.309190

  catalog number

  309190

  accession number

  89797

  patent number

  683,914

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Allen Automatic Injector, Patent Model

  Description

  This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to Charles B. Allen, of Wadsworth, Ohio, April 15, 1902, no. 697770.

  This injector is designed to start itself automatically when supplied with steam and connected to the water supply and to restart automatically if for any reason the jet should be temporarily interrupted. The peculiar feature of the injector is the forcing tube, which is provided with two successive overflows formed in it by a series of laterally opening holes which have a definite areal relation to the smallest cross-sectional area of the combining tube and which are in addition to the usual large overflow between the combining tube and the forcing tube.

  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

  1902

  patent date

  1902-04-15

  inventor

  Allen, Charles B.

  ID Number

  MC.309176

  catalog number

  309176

  accession number

  89797

  patent number

  697,770

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Watch, Hamilton Watch Co.

  Description

  This is an example of the Hamilton Watch Company’s watch model “Grade 936,” made about 1900. Designed for a case with an open face, the nickel movement is stem-wound and set with a lever on the side of the case. The gold-filled case is a product of the Keystone Watch Case Company.

  date made

  ca 1900

  manufacturer

  Hamilton Watch Co.

  ID Number

  ME.317117

  catalog number

  317117

  accession number

  230383

  serial number

  136499

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Corset and Whalebone Scrimshaw Busk

  Description

  For much of the nineteenth century, ladies' fashion required very small waists. The most common way to achieve this was to wear a tight laced corset, which could be adjusted according to the specific garment it accompanied. Like this example, many of them were handmade to fit an individual, although they were also available in shops.

  One of the most intimate pieces of scrimshaw a whaleman could produce was a bone or baleen busk, or corset stiffener. These were carved and given to a crewman's loved one, who then inserted it into a matching sleeve on her corset as a unique memento of her beloved's feelings.

  One side of this whalebone busk contains three cityscapes, two of which have busy ports with lots of shipping. The other side has eight vertical pictures, topped by a full frontal portrait of a beautiful young woman. She may represent the recipient of this busk. Below her is a city scene with multiple church steeples over a flag in a precinct. A multi-colored circular geometric pattern is at the center, above a garden scene over a delicate basket of flowers. Next is a three-masted warship, and at the bottom is a large rural villa overlooking a walled garden. Can these pictures be woven into a story?

  date made

  mid-nineteenth century

  mid-1800s

  fashion

  19th century

  ID Number

  DL.374478

  catalog number

  374478

  accession number

  136263

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Scrimshaw Panbone Port Scene

  Description

  The absence of much pinpricking in this elaborate panbone picture indicates a highly skilled scrimshaw artist who was able to sketch the fantastic port scene freehand. The presence of palm trees indicates a warm climate, dominated by naval warships in a fortified harbor with its own lighthouse. Military camps dominate the land, and a smaller factory or mill town on the bottom of the scene is defended by a partial stockade.

  The artist has left no clues for the specific location of this beautifully detailed landscape, although the palm trees suggest somewhere in the vicinity of the equator.

  date made

  19th century

  1800s

  ID Number

  DL.374479

  catalog number

  374479

  accession number

  136263

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Mousetrap

  Description

  This simple wood and coil-spring trap by an unknown maker has an unusual upright mechanism. Since the U.S. Patent Office was formally established in 1838, it has granted more than forty-four hundred mousetrap peatents, more than for any other device. John Mast heeded Ralph Waldo Emerson’s advice to, “Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door” and in 1899 built the more familiar snap trap, which received its patent in 1903. Simple and effective, Mast’s trap is the best-selling mousetrap of all time. However, inventors are still attempting to improve upon Mast’s design--the Patent Office grants about 40 patents for mousetraps a year, and it receives almost ten times as many patent requests!

  The simple mousetrap is a testament to American ingenuity. Inventors and innovators have sought to deal with the mice in different ways--some traps are “beheaders,” some “imprisoners,” and some are “mashers.” No matter the design, the mousetrap has an undeniable grasp on the American imagination, with board games, gambling apparatus, and even movies being based on this pervasive mammal and the attempts to capture it.

  date made

  mid 19th century

  ID Number

  1982.0064.03

  accession number

  1982.0064

  catalog number

  1982.64.03

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Batchelder-Bushnell Steam Engine Indicator

  Description

  Batchelder and Bushnell manufactured this steam engine indicator. It consists of a brass piston and cylinder. It has a cantilever spring enclosed in a tube, with the stiffness changed by length adjustment and a scale on the side of the tube. It has a large drum with coil spring and single record. It has a large brass stylus.

  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

  ca 1904

  maker

  John S. Bushnell Company

  ID Number

  MC.319484

  catalog number

  319484

  accession number

  237917

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Kimman Compressed-Air Engine

  Description

  This small, 3-cylinder, radial, air engine was designed and made by Henry James Kimman (1862-1921), a pioneer inventor of small portable piton air drills. It is believed that the engine was built for a steering engine on a steam roller. The experience gained in the construction of the engine directed his interest to the design of air drills, in which field he made valuable contributions.

  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

  ID Number

  MC.310189

  catalog number

  310189

  accession number

  112722

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Whaler's Shoulder or Darting Gun

  Description

  By the later 19th century, guns had replaced most hand harpoons and lances, since they were far more efficient and deadly to the prey. They also could be shot from a safer distance from the prey than the hand tools could be wielded. The darting gun was one of the more popular types. Loaded with different darts, this versatile weapon could be used both for harpooning and killing whales.

  This particular gun was displayed at the 1883 International Fisheries Exhibition in London, England. After the display ended, it was donated to the Smithsonian by its inventor, Capt. Eben Pierce of New Bedford, Mass.

  date made

  1880s

  guns replaced hand tools

  late 19th century

  displayed at the International Fisheries Exhibition

  1883

  maker

  Pierce, Eben

  ID Number

  TR.316550

  catalog number

  316550

  accession number

  66767

  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

• 

  Brownie #2, Model D

  Description

  Brownie #2, Model D, rollfilm with instruction booklet and case

  Location

  Currently not on view

  Date made

  c. 1908

  maker

  Eastman Kodak Company

  ID Number

  PG.72.84.03

  catalog number

  72.84.03

  accession number

  1992.0306

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Pelton Water-Wheel Bucket

  Description

  This is a rectangular bucket divided by a central splitter edge into two hollow semicylindrical compartments. The bucket is designed to receive and divide the jet upon the slitter edge and direct the water to either side, discharging at the sides. No provision is made for the flow of water in a radial direction along bucket, and the outer end of the bucket makes sharp angles with the sides and bottom. The extreme lip of the bucket is very slightly depressed, suggesting the notched lip developed later. The back of the bucket is provided with lugs, which slip over the rim of the wheel center to which it is attached by the bolts passing through the lugs and rim parallel to the shaft. The bucket is made of cast iron, measures about 11.5 inches wide, and weighs 30 pounds. This bucket was made about 1901.

  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 1901

  ID Number

  MC.310386

  catalog number

  310386

  accession number

  117363

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Robertson-Thompson Steam Engine Indicator

  Description

  This Robertson-Thompson steam engine indicator, serial number 7735, consists of a brass piston with two grooves; a brass cylinder; an internal, single wound spring, which can be changed; a medium sized drum with a coil spring and a single record; and a short pencil lead for the stylus. Accompanying the indicator is a box with two extra springs, drum springs, seven wooden pulleys for the reducer, two scales, and two extra pistons.

  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

  ca 1900

  ID Number

  MC.318483

  catalog number

  318483

  accession number

  234643

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  "What Hath God Wrought" Telegraph Message

  Description

  Telegraph message, printed in Morse code, transcribed and signed by Samuel F. B. Morse. This message was transmitted from Baltimore, Maryland, to Washington, D.C., over the nation's first long-distance telegraph line.

  In 1843, Congress allocated $30,000 for Morse (1791-1872) to build an electric telegraph line between Washington and Baltimore. Morse and his partner, Alfred Vail (1807-1859), completed the forty-mile line in May 1844. For the first transmissions, they used a quotation from the Bible, Numbers 23:23: "What hath God wrought," suggested by Annie G. Ellsworth (1826-1900), daughter of Patent Commissioner Henry L. Ellsworth (1791-1858) who was present at the event on 24 May. Morse, in the Capitol, sent the message to Vail at Mt. Claire Station in Baltimore. Vail then sent a return message confirming the message he had received.

  The original message transmitted by Morse from Washington to Baltimore, dated 24 May 1844, is in the collections of the Library of Congress. The original confirmation message from Vail to Morse is in the collections of the Connecticut Historical Society.

  This tape, dated 25 May, is a personal souvenir transmitted by Vail in Baltimore to Morse in Washington the day following the inaugural transmissions. The handwriting on the tape is that of Morse himself. Found in Morse’s papers after his death the tape was donated to the Smithsonian in 1900 by his son Edward, where it has been displayed in many exhibitions.

  date made

  1844-05-25

  1844-05-24

  associated date

  1844-05-24

  donated

  1900-04-18

  associated person

  Morse, Samuel Finley Breese

  maker

  Morse, Samuel Finley Breese

  ID Number

  EM.001028

  catalog number

  001028

  accession number

  65555

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Sperm Whale Tooth Watch Stand

  Description

  Scrimshaw known to have been made specifically for men is comparatively rare. This unfinished tooth was hollowed out at the back to carry a gentleman’s pocket watch inside, perhaps set on a wardrobe, a bureau or a dressing table overnight.

  Patriotic imagery was very popular on American scrimshaw. At the top is a large eagle in flight clutching arrows and an olive branch; the hole for the watch is framed by a simple scalloped line. The space at the bottom was probably reserved for the owner’s initials or possibly a date, and the two holes were likely drilled for ivory buttons. The piece was unfinished when it was donated in 1875 by J. H. Clark of Newport, R.I.

  date made

  19th century

  Associated Date

  collected

  ID Number

  DL.024905

  catalog number

  024905

  accession number

  4331

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Billiard Balls

  Description

  Three Bakelite billiard balls, in their original wooden box, made by the Hyatt-Burroughs Billiard Ball Co. of Newark, N.J. The label on the box states that "Bakelite Billiard balls are of the same resilience as the best ivory balls. 2-3/8 inch balls weigh exactly seven ounces, are of exact diameter, are perfectly and permanently round and balanced, unaffected by climactic conditions, and are practically indestructible."

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  after 1907

  after 1910

  invented hyatt billiard ball

  Hyatt, John Wesley

  patentee of bakelite

  Baekeland, L. H.

  maker

  Hyatt-Burroughs Billiard Ball Company

  ID Number

  1981.0976.01

  catalog number

  1981.0976.01

  accession number

  1981.0976

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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