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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Miner's Cap Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- This oil-wick cap lamp was made by Jacob Vogle of Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, in the late 19th century. The oil-wick cap lamp was first invented in Scotland in 1850 and in use until the 1920’s. The font contained a mix of fat and oil for fuel, and a wick was inserted into the spout. The resulting light was much brighter and more efficient than the candles it replaced. The hook enabled the lamp to be worn on a cap, or hooked onto any other suitable location.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- patent date
- 1879-09-09
- ID Number
- AG.059213
- catalog number
- 059213
- accession number
- 014982
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Oil-Wick Miner’s Lamp Patent Model
- Description (Brief)
- This oil-wick lamp is a patent model constructed by Josiah J. Weinel of Allegheny, Pennsylvania, that received patent number 188,703 on March 20, 1877. Weinel claimed as his invention “a miner's lamp with an inner spout that has a thread for securing itself in the spout, with perforations for supplying air to the burner and returning oil to the font.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- patent date
- 1877-03-20
- patentee
- Weinel, Josiah J.
- ID Number
- AG.MHI-MN-9749
- accession number
- 088881
- catalog number
- MHI-MN-9749
- patent number
- 188705
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Oil-Wick Miner’s Lamp Patent Model
- Description (Brief)
- This oil-wick lamp is a patent model constructed by James C. Moore of Saltsburg, Pennsylvania, that received patent number 180,258 on July 25, 1876. Moore claimed as his invention “a miner's lamp, with a spring lid-holding device.” The device kept the font’s lid closed during the miner’s workday agitations.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- patent date
- 1876-07-25
- patentee
- Moore, James C.
- ID Number
- AG.MHI-MN-9750
- accession number
- 088881
- catalog number
- MHI-MN-9750
- patent number
- 180258
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Oil-Wick Miner’s Lamp Patent Model
- Description (Brief)
- This oil-wick cap lamp is a patent model constructed by William C. Winfield of Hubbard, Ohio that received patent number 115,143 on May 23, 1871. Winfield’s claim in the patent filing is a miner's lamp with “a new article of manufacture, viz., a miner's lamp, provided with a screw-cap constructed, arranged, and operating with relation to the body of the lamp.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- patent date
- 1871-05-23
- patentee
- Winfield, William C.
- ID Number
- AG.MHI-MN-9737
- accession number
- 088881
- catalog number
- MHI-MN-9737
- patent number
- 115143
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Oil-Wick Miner’s Lamp Patent Model
- Description (Brief)
- This oil-wick lamp is a patent model constructed by William C. Winfield of Hubbard, Ohio that received patent number 126,606 on May 7, 1872. The patent claims as its invention “securing the lid or cap of the ordinary ‘miners' lamp’ to its body through the medium of screw-threads in the cap and on the neck of the lamp, the cap being furnished with an elastic packing-disk, air-chamber, and openings for the ingress of air.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- patent date
- 1872-05-07
- patentee
- Winfield, William C.
- ID Number
- AG.MHI-MN-9753
- catalog number
- MHI-MN-9753
- accession number
- 088881
- patent number
- 126606
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Oil-Wick Miner’s Lamp Patent Model
- Description (Brief)
- This oil-wick lamp is a patent model constructed by John Fleming of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania that received patent number 219,352 on July 24, 1879. Fleming claimed as his invention “a miner's lamp provided with a hard-metal bottom having a flange that supports the lower edge of the body of the lamp, and the flange bearing against the inner wall of the body.” Miner’s would strike the bottom of their lamps against a hard surface to raise and lower the wick, and this extra bottom prevented damage to the lamp’s body.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- patent date
- 1879-09-09
- patentee
- Fleming, John
- ID Number
- AG.MHI-MN-9747
- accession number
- 088881
- catalog number
- MHI-MN-9747
- patent number
- 219352
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Miner’s Safety Lamp Patent Model
- Description (Brief)
- This safety lamp is a patent model constructed by William Roberts of Cincinnati, Ohio that received patent number 209,082 on October 15, 1878. In his patent filing, Roberts claimed “the combination of the transparent shell, surrounding the flame and provided with a cap or shell, and the wire-gauze chimneys, mounted upon said cap or shell, and arranged one within the other, so as to form an annular space or chamber between them.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- patent date
- 1878-10-15
- ID Number
- AG.MHI-MN-9740
- catalog number
- MHI-MN-9740
- accession number
- 088881
- patent number
- 209082
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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