Natural Resources

Stoneware jar

Description: The Remmey and Crolius families dominated the New York stoneware industry from the early 1700s through the early 1800s. Both families emigrated from Germany, bringing with them the stoneware traditions of their homeland. Sometimes business associates, the two families also inter-married. Remmey family members went on to establish stoneware factories in Philadelphia and Baltimore, as well.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1795-1830

maker: Remmey III, John

ID Number: 1980.0614.363
accession number: 1980.0614
catalog number: 1980.0614.363

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Stoneware jug

Description: Made by William Lundy in Troy, New York, the unusual decoration on this jug features two American flags and an anchor. An Irish immigrant, Lundy worked at a number of Troy potteries in the 1820s.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: about 1826

maker: Lundy, William; Church, Jr., Nathan

ID Number: 1977.0803.139
accession number: 1977.0803
catalog number: 1977.0803.139

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Stoneware jug

Description: The conclusion of the War of 1812 devastated many American potteries as the importation of less expensive, foreign-made wares resumed, mostly from Great Britain and Holland. While a number of potteries went out of business, the Clark and Howe pottery in Athens, New York employed more men than any other pottery in the state, and even expanded into northwestern New York. The firm was in part responsible for sustaining the local economy, paying $1,750 in wages in 1812 (equal to over $22,000 today).
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1805-1813

maker: Clark, Nathan; Howe, Thomas

ID Number: 1977.0803.66
accession number: 1977.0803
catalog number: 1977.0803.066

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Stoneware butter jar

Description: This salt-glazed stoneware butter jar is decorated with hand applied cobalt, and is one of the earliest pieces made at the Athens, New York pottery established in 1805 by Nathan Clark and his brother-in-law, Thomas Howe. Howe died in 1813 leaving Clark to run and expand the company. He established subsidiaries in Kingston, Lyons, Rochester and Mt. Morris, New York between 1813 and 1838. The firm prospered until the end of the 1800s.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1805-1813

maker: Clark, Nathan; Howe, Thomas

ID Number: 1977.0803.53
accession number: 1977.0803
catalog number: 1977.0803.053

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Stoneware cooler

Description: Thompson Harrington took over management of Nathan Clark’s Lyons, New York stoneware manufactory in 1852 when Clark left to establish new potteries elsewhere in western New York. Located along the Erie Canal, the Lyons pottery flourished under Harrington and subsequent ownership until it closed in 1902.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1852-1872

maker: Harrington, Thompson

ID Number: 1977.0803.81
accession number: 1977.0803
catalog number: 1977.0803.81

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Stoneware Crock

Description: This stoneware butter crock was made by John Burger, who operated a pottery in Rochester, New York, between 1839 and 1870. It is one gallon in capacity with a maker’s mark just below the rim. Its floral design is rendered in cobalt blue, and the interior is brown glazed.; John Burger came from Alsace-Lorraine in France, and first worked at a pottery in Lyons on the Erie Canal. In 1839 he moved to Rochester and joined Nathan Clark and Company as manager of the pottery. In 1855 Burger became the owner of the pottery and continued in the business of making stoneware for domestic uses—preserve jars, churns, pitchers and batter pitchers, cream pots, jugs, molasses jugs, water fountains, beer bottles, stove tubes, and the butter pot seen here. He was joined in the business by his sons in the 1860s. Decorative floral motifs of this kind were common by the 1850s.; Early in the 19th century, the potters themselves executed the designs, but later they employed women to paint the pottery’s motifs onto the vessels. Women’s skills in writing and in decorative techniques expressed in the home prepared them to execute designs with fluency and without any formal art education.

date made: 1854-1867

maker: Burger, John

ID Number: CE.319884.161
catalog number: 319884.161
accession number: 319884

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Stoneware jug

Description: Stoneware containers were useful for storing many goods into the 1900s. Before the development of canning and refrigeration, stoneware forms were staples in most homes, used to hold salted or pickled food as well as beverages and dairy products. This jug, probably meant to hold water, ale, whiskey or beer, features an incised design. By the time this piece was made, most potters had turned to glaze painting, which was faster and easier to produce.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1866-1885

maker: Hart, Nahum; Hart, Charles

ID Number: 1977.0803.77
accession number: 1977.0803
catalog number: 1977.0803.077

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Stoneware jug

Description: This jug was probably made by William Lundy and Nathan Church, Jr. at Israel Seymour’s Troy, New York pottery. The potters achieved the distinctive decoration on this piece by using both cobalt and manganese oxides to fill in the incised floral motif.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1819-1824

maker: Lundy, William; Church, Jr., Nathan

ID Number: 1979.0577.08
accession number: 1979.0577
catalog number: 1979.05077.008

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Stoneware jar

Description: While this jar is unmarked, it may be one of several in the Museum's collection made by Thomas Commeraw, a free black potter. Thomas Commeraw established his pottery in the Corlears Hook neighborhood of lower Manhattan in 1797, successfully competing with well known stoneware makers from the Crolious and Remmey families.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1797-1819

maker: Commeraw, Thomas

ID Number: 1977.0803.115
accession number: 1977.0803
catalog number: 1977.0803.115

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Stoneware Water Cooler

Description: This salt-glazed, ovoid stoneware cooler was made by Eleazer Orcutt and Horace Humiston in Troy, New York. It has two large handles and features a classical figure with a lyre in relief surrounded by a series of impressed medallions highlighted in cobalt blue. The cooler was probably made for an individual or firm named A. Drown in Canaan, New York.; The presence of nearby stoneware clays gave rise to the New York state salt-glazed stoneware tradition that, by the early 1800s, developed in villages and towns along the Hudson River. Shipped upriver, the clay returned downstream after being transformed into useful ceramic vessels. With the Erie Canal completion in 1825, stoneware production extended its range to meet the increased flow of perishable goods from the Great Lakes region.; Stoneware clay, when fired to a temperature of about 2100 degrees F, vitrifies into highly durable ceramic material that holds liquids and keeps perishable contents cool. Stoneware potters in America, many of them immigrants from Germany and the Netherlands, maintained their European tradition of throwing coarse salt into the kiln. The salt melts in the heat and forms a pitted glassy surface on the vessels, which would otherwise be a dull grey.; The production of these sturdy salt-glazed containers declined following improvements in tinning and canning perishable foodstuffs. In the late 1850s, the glass Mason canning jar entered the market, after which the potteries lost much of the demand for food storage containers that sustained so much of their production.

date made: about 1832

maker: Orcutt, Eleazer; Humiston, Horace

ID Number: CE.300894.017
catalog number: 300894.17
accession number: 300894

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Stevens Steam-Engine Condenser, Patent Model

Description: This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to Francis B. Stevens, November 3, 1863, no. 40510.; The condenser represented in the model consists of a large vertical cylinder and pump plunger with various connected chambers designed to function as a condenser, a condenser air pump, and feed-water hot well and heater.; The invention “consists in simplifying the apparatus that condenses the steam discharged by the first eduction from the cylinder of a condensing steam engine by closing the hot well of the engine against the atmosphere and by keeping a portion of the space of the hot well free from water, and by delivering the steam discharged from the cylinder by the first eduction into the hot well, so that it may be condensed or partially condensed by the water delivered by the air-pump into the hot well.” The hot well is thus made “to act also as an additional condenser and dispense altogether with an additional air pump to draw the water from the additional condenser.”; 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: 1863
patent date: 1863-11-03

inventor: Stevens, Francis B.

ID Number: MC.309238
catalog number: 309238
accession number: 89797
patent number: 40,510

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Experimental integral compact fluorescent lamp

Description: As energy prices soared in the 1970s, lamp makers focused research efforts on raising the energy efficiency of electric lamps. A great deal of effort by many researchers went into designing small fluorescent lamps that might replace a regular incandescent lamp. These efforts led to modern compact fluorescent lamps that use bent or connected tubes, but many other designs were tried. This experimental "partition lamp" from 1978 shows one such design.; Soon after the 1939 introduction of linear fluorescent lamps, inventors began receiving patents for smaller lamps. But they found that the small designs suffered from low energy efficiency and a short life-span. Further research revealed that energy efficiency in fluorescent lamps depends in part on the distance the electric current travels between the two electrodes, called the arc path. A long arc path is more efficient than a short arc path. That's why fluorescent tubes in stores and factories are usually 8 feet (almost 3 meters) long.; Inventors in the 1970s tried many ways of putting a long arc path into a small lamp. In this case there are thin glass walls inside the lamp, dividing it into four chambers. Each chamber is connected in such a way that the electric current travels the length of the lamp four times when moving from one electrode to the other. So the arc path is actually four times longer than the lamp itself, raising the energy efficiency of the lamp. This unit was made by General Electric for experiments on the concept, though other makers were also working on partition lamps.; While the partition design works, it proved to be expensive to manufacture and most lamp makers decided to use thin tubes that could be easily bent and folded while being made.; Lamp characteristics: No base. Two stem assemblies each have tungsten electrodes in a CCC-6 configuration with emitter. Welded connectors, 3-piece leads with lower leads made of stranded wire. Bottom-tipped, T-shaped envelope with internal glass partition that separates the internal space into four connected chambers. Partition is made of two pieces of interlocked glass and is not sealed into the envelope. All glass is clear. No phosphors were used since the experimenter wanted to study the arc path.

Date made: ca 1978
date made: ca. 1978

maker: General Electric Corporate Research & Development Laboratory

ID Number: 1998.0050.16
accession number: 1998.0050
catalog number: 1998.0050.16

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Experimental electrodeless compact fluorescent lamp

Description: As energy prices soared in the 1970s, General Electric, like other lamp makers, focused research efforts on raising the energy efficiency of electric lamps. One research program conducted by John Anderson at the GE Corporate Research and Development Laboratory in Schenectady, New York, sought to make a small fluorescent lamp that might replace a regular incandescent lamp.; Most fluorescent lamps, large and small, operate by passing an electric current through a gas between two electrodes. The current energizes the gas that in turn radiates ultraviolet (UV) light. The UV is converted to visible light by a coating of phosphors inside the glass envelope of the lamp. Electrodes are responsible for much of the energy lost in a fluorescent lamp and are usually the part of the lamp that fails. Instead of electrodes, Anderson's design used a donut-shaped, ferrite (an iron oxide compound) to generate an electric field. The field energized the gas.; He called his design a Solenoidal Electric Field (SEF) lamp. The one seen here is an experimental unit made around 1978. While the lamp worked in the lab, the electronics to control it were expensive and generated heat that needed to be dissipated. As with other electrodeless lamps, radio-frequency interference was a concern. By the early 1980s GE decided to shelve the SEF lamp and market a miniature metal-halide lamp instead. In the late 1990s, however, GE took advantage of the lower cost and higher capability of electronic components and marketed an electrodeless lamp that built on prior work—including the SEF lamp.; Lamp characteristics: No base. A 1.5" (outside dia.) toroid-shaped ferrite is mounted vertically inside the lamp and held in place by a wire cradle. The conducting wire is insulated with woven nylon and wrapped ten turns around the top of the ferrite. A woven nylon mat is wrapped around the ferrite under the conductor, and another is placed between the conductor and the top-plate of the mount-cradle. A metal lead extends from the bottom of the ferrite into the exhaust-tip where it spirals around a metal cylinder. Tipless, AT-shaped envelope.

Date made: ca 1978
date made: ca. 1978

maker: General Electric Corporate Research & Development Laboratory

ID Number: 1998.0050.07
accession number: 1998.0050
catalog number: 1998.0050.07

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Woodbury’s Patent Model of an Automatic Cut-Off for a Steam Engine – ca 1870

Description: This model was filed with the application to the U.S. Patent Office for Patent Number 107,746 issued to Daniel A. Woodbury of Rochester, New York, on September 27, 1870. The patent was for an improved design for a governor which could control the cut-off valve for a steam engine. His design, instead of being based on fly balls and mounted on the steam valves, included a system of springs and weights placed directly on the engine's shaft. While more complicated and needing to be specifically designed for a particular engine, it had the advantage of accuracy and economy of operation. Mr. Woodbury's design became one of the first industrially successful shaft governors, and such governors became increasingly popular after this invention.; The patent model is constructed of metal and mounted on a wood base. All of the key elements of the patent are illustrated by the model. A full description of the workings of the governor and diagrams showing the complete design of the patent can be found in the patent document online at the United States Patent and Trademark Office website, www.uspto.gov.

date made: 1870; ca 1870
patent date: 1870-09-27

inventor: Woodbury, Daniel A.

ID Number: MC.251290
catalog number: 251290
accession number: 48865
patent number: 107,746

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Mayhew Diaphragm Steam Engine, Patent Model

Description: This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to Theophilus Mayhew, of New York, New York, July 8, 1879, no. 217392.; The engine consists of a hemispherical cuplike chamber over the concave opening of which is stretched a flexible diaphragm. This chamber connects to a valve chest in which a flat plate valve works over the intake and exhaust ports. A lever extends from the frame of the machine over the diaphragm upon which a projection of the lever rests. Inflation and deflation of the diaphragm by admitting and exhausting steam raise the lever and permit it to fall by its own weight. A system of cranks and spring actuated by the lever operates the valve. The engine was designed as a simple device for operating churns and similar machines.; 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: 1879
patent date: 1879-07-08

inventor: Mayhew, Theophilus

ID Number: MC.308705
catalog number: 308705
accession number: 89797
patent number: 217,392

Data Source: National Museum of American History

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

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

Carpenter Compound Hydraulic Engine, Patent Model

Description: The model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to Oramill C. Carpenter, of Brooklyn, New York, December 17, 1878, no. 210915.; The engine is essentially a hydraulic transmission, which takes motion from eccentric cams on a central shaft turned by a steam or other engine and transmits the motion to shafts on either side of and parallel to the central shaft. The inventor designed the engine to be applied to a streetcar, and the model is mounted in a miniature nickel-plated car truck.; It is a 4-cylinder engine with opposed cylinders in groups of two. Single-acting plungers work in and out of the cylinders as the central shaft is turned. The head of each cylinder leads directly to another cylinder of reduced diameter in each of which a driven piston works through a longer stroke in time with the short stork of the driving piston. Valves for the relief of an excess pressure of liquid and spring-cushioned piston heads are described for smoother running.; 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: 1878-12-17

inventor: Carpenter, Oramill C.

ID Number: MC.309252
catalog number: 309252
accession number: 89797
patent number: 210,915

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Allen Cut-Off Valve Gear, Patent Model

Description: This model was filed with the application to the U.S. Patent Office for Patent Number 18,837 issued to Horatio Allen on December 15, 1857. Allen’s design was for an improved cut-off valve gear for steam engines. Cut-off refers to the action of closing the intake valve which admits high pressure steam from the boiler into the cylinder of the engine. A cut-off valve gear is a series of cams, levers, gears and/or shafts that control the point in the stroke of the piston at which cut-off occurs . For steam engines that operate at varying loads and speeds it is important to the efficiency of the engine that cut-off be timed properly and be adjustable. When the engine is operating at low speeds and heavy loads steam is fed to the piston through a large part of its travel, and the cut-off closes relatively close to the time that the exhaust valve opens. High pressure steam is needed throughout that period due to the load. When the engine is operating at higher speeds and lesser loads, it is desirable to have cut-off happen much earlier in the stroke – perhaps at 20-25% of the total stroke. This increases the efficiency of the engine and conserves fuel by having more of the work be performed by the expansion of the steam within the cylinder pushing against the piston. Allen’s design provided a means of adjusting the point of cut-off while the engine was running. This was not new, and Allen based his work on an earlier patent of his and one by Samuel Gilman . The earlier patent designs relied on a combination of cams, levers and shafts to take motion from the push rods of the engine to control the motion of the intake valve. One element of the original Allen patent was a “loose toe” lever that pushed the steam valve stem upward to open it. The loose toe lever would then lock into place until the cut-off point was reached at which time it would be unlocked allowing the valve stem to fall back into place. Timing adjustment was effected by changing the length of a second lever arm so as to close the valve earlier or later. Allen claimed as new for this patent the addition of a piston within a chamber of water or other fluid. The chamber was closed and provided with appropriate valves so that it would provide a damping resistance to the motion of the rod attached to the piston. This rod was connected to the loose toe lever that allowed the intake valve to close after cut-off, thus controlling its fall rather than having the intake valve shut abruptly. Mr. Allen was an engineer of significant accomplishment working on locomotives, steamships, bridges and tunnels. He became President of the New York Novelty Iron Works in 1842 , and his early patent design for valve gear was used in the engine built by that company for the steamship Adriatic. Novelty Iron Works continued to make engines for many steamships through the Civil War years.; The patent model is made of wood and illustrates the key new element of the patent – the “loose toe” is connected to a rod which enters a wooden cylinder representing the damping chamber. Just beneath the loose toe and its shaft is a horizontal frame with a slot and sliding pin. This may have been intended to model the latch for the loose toe. The damping chamber piston rod is no longer attached to the loose toe, and the operation of the latch is unclear.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: ca 1857
patent date: 1857-12-15

inventor: Allen, Horatio

ID Number: MC.308657
catalog number: 308657
accession number: 89797
patent number: 18,837

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Adams Cottage press, No. 4

Description (Brief): This hand cylinder press was made by the Adams Press Company of New York in about 1862. It is marked in its casting “Patented March 19 1861.” Its bed measures 11.5 inches by 13 inches.; The Adams Cottage Press was patented by Albert Adams in 1861, and manufactured by Joseph Watson operating as the Adams Press Company, New York. The press was advertised as a portable do-it-yourself press for amateurs and businessmen, but its portability soon appealed to the armies and navies of the Civil War. This particular press arrived at the Museum with a traveling chest of type with the painted words, “HEAD QUARTERS, ARMY OF POTOMAC, NO. 6, PRINTING DEPARTMENT.”; Purchased in 1982.; Citation: Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.
Description: Every Man His Own Printer! advertised the makers of the Lowe and Adams presses. Easy to use, these presses inspired military and amateur printers during and after the Civil War to make use of the portable presses to print military orders, receipts, billheads, and other documents.; Albert Adams's New York cylinder press was described as useful for the armed forces and merchants. It was patented on March 19, 1861, and manufactured and distributed by entrepreneur Joseph Watson and the Adams Press Company in New York.; The Adams Cottage Press was designed without a frisket. The frisket, a separate inner frame hinged to the cloth-covered tympan, served to hold the paper in place and protect the printed sheet. The press included an automatic tympan which closed with the movement of the cylinder. The Adams Cottage Press and other portable presses did not include a self-inking system. The type was inked by hand, a sheet of paper was placed over the inked type, and the bed of the press was cranked below the cylinder to produce an impression and the printed sheet.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: ca 1861; ca 1862

maker: Adams, Albert
manufacturer: Adams Press Company

ID Number: 1982.0203.2740
accession number: 1982.0203
catalog number: 1982.0203.2740

Data Source: National Museum of American History

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Natural Resources

Stoneware jar

Stoneware jug

Stoneware jug

Stoneware butter jar

Stoneware cooler

Stoneware Crock

Stoneware jug

Stoneware jug

Stoneware jar

Stoneware Water Cooler

Stevens Steam-Engine Condenser, Patent Model

Experimental integral compact fluorescent lamp

Experimental electrodeless compact fluorescent lamp

Woodbury’s Patent Model of an Automatic Cut-Off for a Steam Engine – ca 1870

Mayhew Diaphragm Steam Engine, Patent Model

Ericsson Hot-Air Engine, Patent Model

Ericsson Hot-Air Engine Model

Carpenter Compound Hydraulic Engine, Patent Model

Allen Cut-Off Valve Gear, Patent Model

Adams Cottage press, No. 4

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