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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Badger CI-IOX Water Meter
- Description
- This is a disc water meter made by the Badger Meter Manufacturing Company in Milwaukee, Wisc. It has a frost-proof bottom, fits a ⅝” pipe, and has a capacity of 26 gallons per minute. The serial number (2,335,475) dates from 1942.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1942
- maker
- Badger Meter Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- PH.325801
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325801
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Watch Dog Compound Water Meter
- Description
- This water meter combines a disc meter and a current meter.
- Ref: Gamon Meter Company ad in American City (1927).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- probably 1920s
- ID Number
- PH.329738
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 329738
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Empire Type 7-AAX Water Meter
- Description
- This is an oscillating piston water meter with a split case, the top of brass and the bottom of cast iron, and serial number 1,833,790, that was made by the National Meter Company in Brooklyn, New York. The Type-7 has a deep iron base designed to neutralize the galvanic action that might occur in some chemical-laden waters. AAX designates a linear register.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1910-ca 1941
- maker
- National Meter Company
- ID Number
- PH.325870
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325870
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Water Meter
- Description
- This is a disc meter marked “TRIDENT COMPANY 2 INCH” and “NEPTUNE METER COMPANY NEW YORK.” The Trident was based on designs patented by John Thomson, a prolific inventor and member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1892-1945
- maker
- Neptune Meter Company
- ID Number
- PH.329736
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 329736
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Nash Water Meter
- Description
- This is a disc water meter with frost-proof flanges on the bottom and serial number 2,060,039 that fit a ⅝” pipe, and that was made by the National Meter Company in Brooklyn, New York, probably in the 1930s. The name refers to Lewis H. Nash, the man who served as chief engineer of National Meter for over thirty-five years and who, in the late 1880s, designed the first disc meter made in the United States.
- National Meter began in business in Manhattan in 1870, broke ground for a larger factory in Brooklyn in 1891, and announced in 1893 that it was “the largest establishment for the manufacture of water meters in the world.” It became the National Meter Division of the Pittsburgh Equitable Meter Company in the early 1940s. National Meter and Pittsburgh Equitable Meter became divisions of the Rockwell Manufacturing Company in 1947; and Rockwell became part of SENSUS in 2003.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1930s
- maker
- National Meter Company
- ID Number
- PH.325863
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325863
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Badger Multijet Water Meter
- Description
- This turbine water meter was made by the Badger Meter Manufacturing Company in Milwaukee, Wisc. The serial number (1,329,421) dates from 1936. It fits ⅝” or ¾” pipes, and has a capacity of 17.5 gallons per minute.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1936
- maker
- Badger Meter Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- PH.325810
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325810
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Nash Type 9-AX Water Meter
- Description
- This is a disc water meter with frost-proof flanges on the bottom, that fit a ⅝” pipe, and that was made by the National Meter Company in Brooklyn, New York. The serial number has been obliterated. The name refers to Lewis H. Nash, the man who served as chief engineer of National Meter for over thirty-five years and who, in the late 1880s, designed the first disc meter made in the United States. AX designates a circular register.
- Ref: National Meter Co., Type “9” Nash Water Meter.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1900-ca 1947
- maker
- National Meter Company
- ID Number
- PH.325866
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325866
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Rockwell Water Meter
- Description
- This is a ⅝” sealed register, magnetic drive disc water meter made by the Rockwell Manufacturing Company. It has a bronze case with a frost proof bottom. Rockwell introduced its sealed register model in 1957, describing it as “the first major advance in water measurement in the past 50 years,” and claiming that the use of a magnetic force to turn the registering mechanisms “eliminates the need for a stuffing box, and makes possible an hermetically sealed register that stays clean, dry, and free from fog.” This example is serial number is 21,000.
- Ref: “Rockwell Report,” Wall Street Journal (Sept. 12, 1958), p. 6.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1970
- maker
- Rockwell Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- PH.330606
- accession number
- 295379
- catalog number
- 330606
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Sparling Water Meter
- Description
- This is a 4” water meter with a fan blade impeller and serial number 10,239. The markings--“Sparling K-473” and “Sparling – K 473”—refer to the Sparling Meter Company. This firm was formed in Los Angeles in 1912, and began manufacturing propeller meters in 1919. The cast iron body suggests that it was made during the materials restrictions of World War II.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- early 1940s
- maker
- Sparling Water Meter Company
- ID Number
- PH.325871
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325871
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Phoenix Model 2 Water Meter
- Description
- This is a disc water meter with split case and serial number 155,706 that fit a ⅝” pipe, and that was made by the Phoenix Meter Corporation in Staten Island, New York. Phoenix Meter was organized in 1914, incorporated in 1925, and out of business by the early 1940s. Ernest Gamon, an engineer who had been connected with the meter industry since 1900, was a prime mover of the firm.
- Ref: Phoenix Meter Corporation, Phoenix Disc Water Meters (n.d.).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1925-ca 1940
- maker
- Phoenix Meter Corporation
- ID Number
- PH.325867
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325867
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Badger SC-SOT Water Meter
- Description
- This disc water meter was made by the Badger Meter Manufacturing Company in Milwaukee, Wisc. SC-SOT stands for split case, sealed oil gear train.The split case could be used in warmer climates where there was no danger of freezing. It fits a ⅝” pipe, has a capacity of 26 gallons per minute, and was designed for use with corrosive waters. The serial number (828,438) dates from 1929.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1929
- maker
- Badger Meter Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- PH.325806
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325806
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Trident Water Meter
- Description
- This is a disc water meter with frost proof bottom and serial number 60,777 that fit a ⅝” pipe, and that was made in the late 1890s by the Neptune Meter Company. The bronze case is marked “TRIDENT” and “60777.” The top of the cap is marked “NEPTUNE METER COMPANY NEW YORK 39291.” The inside of the cap is marked “PATENTED MAY 21, NOV. 1, 1892, FEB 6, MAY 22, 1894, MAR 12, 1895, SEP 29 ‘96” and “60777.” The firm was founded in 1892. Its original product, the Trident, was based on designs patented by John Thomson, a prolific inventor and member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Neptune boasted in 1903 that “Nearly 165,000 Tridents” were then in use.
- Ref: Neptune Meter Company, The Trident Water Meter (New York, 1895, 1901, 1903).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- late 1890s
- maker
- Neptune Meter Company
- ID Number
- PH.325873
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325873
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Standard Water Meter
- Description
- This is a current water meter with split case that fit a ⅝” pipe, and that was made by the Standard Water Meter Company in Brooklyn, New York, around 1910. Like most current meters, the measuring device here is a series of cups mounted on a spindle. The meter is marked “Pat’d Jan. 17 ’98, July 27 ’08, Feb. 8 ’10, other pats pending.” The earlier date refers to the “Rotary Fluid-Meter” patent issued to William H. Marsh, manager and later a director of Standard Water Meter. The latter two dates (one the date of application and the other the date of issuance) refer to the “Water-Wheel” patent issued to Fred Bangerter and assigned to Standard Water Meter. A Swiss-born inventor working in Brooklyn, Bangerter also devised a machine gun that could fire 2 million bullets an hour. Standard Water Meter was incorporated in 1881, reorganized several times, and out of business by 1927.
- Ref: Standard Meter Company, Standard ‘Sapphire’ Water Meters (Brooklyn, n.d.).
- Standard Meter Company, Water Meter Price List (Brooklyn, 1912).
- “Fires 2,000,000 Bullets Hourly,” Washington Post (March 8, 1908), p. M4.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1910
- maker
- Standard Water Meter Company
- ID Number
- PH.325872
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325872
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
American Water Meter
- Description
- This disc water meter with split case fit a ⅝” pipe. It was made by the Buffalo Meter Company in Buffalo, N. Y. The firm was established in 1892, brought out the first Niagara meter soon thereafter, and the first American meter around 1900. The interior parts of the two meters were the same, but the American had a bronze case, and so could be used where the water is not particularly hard or corrosive.
- Ref: Buffalo Meter Company, American and New Niagara Water Meters (1925)
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1900-ca 1960
- maker
- Buffalo Meter Company
- ID Number
- PH.325821
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325821
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Lambert Water Meter
- Description
- This is a frost-proof disc water meter with serial number 1,193,509 that fit a ⅝” pipe, and that was made by the Thomson Meter Company in Brooklyn, New York, probably in the 1920s.
- John Thomson, a prolific Scottish-born inventor raised in the United States, was one of the first Americans to realize the advantages of a disc water meter. In the mid-1880s, Thomson met Frank Lambert, a French machinist in Brooklyn who had designed a typewriter with the letters arranged on a nutating disc. Working together, the two men designed a water meter featuring a nutating disk. The Water-Waste Prevention Company was then formed, and reorganized as the Thomson Meter Company in 1891. With Lambert as its president, Thomson Meter introduced the Lambert in 1898, claiming that the new model “embodied all the improvements which the tests of time and long service have proved to be requisite in a perfect meter.” Despite this early claim, Lambert would go on to suggest dozens of improvements, many of them designed to make the meter frost proof, over the course of the next several decades. This particular meter is equipped with the “Yielding Fastening for Joints” for which Lambert received a patent (#1,377,986I in 1921. The Neptune Meter Company acquired Thomson Meter in 1925 and was still offering Lambert meters in the late 1930s.
- Ref: Thomson Meter Co.,
(1923). - Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1920s
- maker
- Thomson Meter Company
- ID Number
- PH.325858
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325858
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Worthington-Gamon Water Meter
- Description
- This is a disc water meter, serial number 3,783,592, made by the Worthington-Gamon Meter Company in Newark, N. J. It has been cut away to show the operating parts. It was made after 1941 when the firm boasted that 3,650,000 of its meters were then serving thousands of communities.
- Ref: Worthington-Gamon ad in Journal of the American Water Works Association 33 (Nov. 1941), ad section, p. 5.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- early 1940s
- maker
- Worthington-Gamon Meter Company
- ID Number
- PH.315359
- accession number
- 219306
- catalog number
- 315359
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Niagara Water Meter
- Description
- This disc water meter has a frost-proof bottom and it a ⅝” pipe. It was made by the Buffalo Meter Company in Buffalo, N. Y. The firm was founded in 1892, brought out the first Niagara meter soon thereafter, and introduced the breakable frost bottom in 1921. In this example, the case is made of cast iron coated with zinc, suitable for use with hard or corrosive water. It has a disc of hard rubber reinforced with a metal plate. And it probably has jewel bearings for greater accuracy and durability. The BFI-ENARC HOOD was probably added by a user or dealer.
- Ref: Buffalo Meter Company, American and New Niagara Water Meters (1925)
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1921-ca 1960
- maker
- Buffalo Meter Company
- ID Number
- PH.325820
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325820
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Trident Water Meter
- Description
- This is a disc water meter with split case and serial number 992,671 that fit a ⅝” pipe, and that was made around 1913 by the Neptune Meter Company in Long Island City, New York. The firm was founded in 1892. Its original product, the Trident water meter, was based on designs patented by John Thomson, a prolific inventor and member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
- Ref: Neptune Meter Company, The Trident Water Meter (New York, 1895, 1901, 1903).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1913
- maker
- Neptune Meter Company
- ID Number
- PH.325876
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325876
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Federal Water Meter
- Description
- This disc water meter was made by the Federal Meter Corporation in East Orange, New Jersey. It has oil enclosed gears, a split case, and serial number 429,544, and fit a⅝” pipe. Federal Meter, a subsidiary of the A.P. Smith Manufacturing Company, was in business from 1925 to 1945.
- Ref: A.P. Smith Mfg. Co., Federal Meters (1937).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1925-ca 1945
- maker
- Federal Meter Corporation
- ID Number
- PH.325840
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325840
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Calmet Model A-B Water Meter
- Description
- This oscillating piston water meter with frost-proof bottom and serial number 958,732 fit a ⅝” pipe. It was made by the Well Machinery & Supply Company, of Fort Worth, Texas. The city of Fort Worth agreed, in 1930, to purchase 8,000 oscillating piston meters from the California Meter Company of Los Angeles. The Well Machinery & Supply Company acquired California Meter soon thereafter, and advertised Calmet water meters as “A Texas Made Product.”
- Ref: “Water Meter Concern Cites Accepted Bid,” Los Angeles Times (Aug. 30, 1930), p. E1.
- Well Machinery & Supply Company, Calmet. The Precision Built Water Meter (Fort Worth, n.d.).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1930-ca 1950
- maker
- Well Machinery & Supply Company
- ID Number
- PH.325824
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325824
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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