Transportation

• 

  STP Ballpoint Pen

  Location

  Currently not on view

  ID Number

  2017.0091.64

  catalog number

  2017.0091.64

  accession number

  2017.0091

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Baldwin's Patent Model of a Flexible Beam Locomotive - ca 1842

  Description

  This model was filed with the application to the U.S. Patent Office for Patent Number 2,759 issued to Matthias W. Baldwin on August 25, 1842. Baldwin’s invention was a design for a flexible beam truck for the driving wheels of a locomotive. The goal of the design was to increase the proportion of the engine’s total weight resting on driven wheels thus improving traction and thereby the ability of the engine to pull heavier loads. While then existing locomotives had multiple driven axles, their designs made them unsuitable for use on the tight curves that were common on American railroads at the time. Baldwin’s design allowed for multiple driving wheel axles to be coupled together in a manner that would allow each axle to move independently so as to conform to both to sharp curves and to vertical irregularities in the tracks. The “flexible beam” referred to heavy iron beams that were connected to each side of the engine’s frame with a vertical, spherical pin so that they could pivot horizontally and vertically in relation to the frame. The beams on each side of the frame moved independently of each other. At each end of the beams were journal boxes for the axles, and these boxes were constructed to an earlier Baldwin patent with cylindrical pedestals that allowed them to rotate vertically inside the beam. The result was that when rounding a curve one driving axle could move laterally in one direction while the other axle could move independently in the other direction thus adapting the wheels to the curve while at the same time keeping the axles parallel to each other. The coupling rods were made with ball-and-socket joints to allow them to adapt to the varying geometry due to lateral axle motion. While this geometry would also result in the coupling rod lengths varying as the axles moved laterally, in actual use the variation was very small – on the order of 1/32 of an inch – and was allowed for via a designed-in slackness in the bearings. The patent was applied by Baldwin to a large number of engines manufactured up until 1859 when the design was superseded by heavier and more advanced engines.

  The patent model is constructed of wood and metal and is mounted on rails attached to a wooden base. A brass plate attached to the boiler is inscribed with “M.W. Baldwin Philadelphia.” The boiler is painted wood as are the cylinders and coupling rods. The engine frame is steel, and the wheel rims are made of brass. The key element of the patent, the flexible beams are present on the front two axles. The beams and leaf springs are made of wood. The vertical pins appear to be made of steel. While the axle journal boxes are shown it appears the details of the cylindrical pedestals and other moving parts are not modelled.

  date made

  ca 1842

  ca. 1842

  patent date

  1842-08-25

  inventor

  Baldwin, Matthias W.

  ID Number

  TR.251274

  catalog number

  251274

  patent number

  2,759

  accession number

  48865

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Erskine Radiator Emblem

  Description

  This radiator emblem belonged to an Erskine brand automobile that was manufactured by the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana from 1927 until 1930. Four different models, the 50, 51, 52, and 53 were produced in seven different body types, with a total production of about 95,000 cars. The circular emblem has a blue enamel background, with the text “ERSKINE” in white in the center, with a white four-leaf clover above and below.

  Radiator emblems are small, colorful metal plates bearing an automobile manufacturer's name or logo that attached to the radiators grilles of early automobiles. Varying in shape and size, the emblems served as a small branding device, sometimes indicating the type of engine, place of manufacturing, or using an iconic image or catchy slogan to advertise their cars make and model. This emblem is part of the collection that was donated by Hubert G. Larson in 1964.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  ID Number

  TR.325528.099

  accession number

  260303

  catalog number

  325528.099

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Scrimshaw Sperm Whale’s Tooth, Mid-19th Century

  Description

  The engraving on this sperm whale tooth depicts a well-dressed young boy seated on a rock, with a red horn in his hands. He wears a brimmed hat, long jacket and knee-length breeches. By contrast, his feet are bare. The scene is framed by a simple quasi-vegetal repetitive motif. The frequent pinpricking around the edges and at key points throughout the image indicates that the artist used a contemporary illustration to create an outline before filling it in with pigment. In addition to the horn, the lapels and lower hem of the lad’s jacket are highlighted in red, now faded with age. The other side of the tooth is polished but undecorated.

  Scrimshaw began in the late 18th or early 19th century as the art of carving whale bone and ivory aboard whale ships. The crew on whalers had plenty of leisure time between sighting and chasing whales, and the hard parts of whales were readily available on voyages that could last up to four years.

  In its simplest form, a tooth was removed from the lower jaw of a sperm whale and the surface was prepared by scraping and sanding until it was smooth. The easiest way to begin an etching was to smooth a print over the tooth, prick the outline of the image with a needle and then “connect-the-dots” once the paper was removed. This allowed even unskilled craftsmen to create fine carvings. Some sailors were skilled enough to etch their drawings freehand. After the lines were finished, they were filled in with lamp black or sometimes colored pigments.

  Scrimshaw could be decorative, like simple sperm whale teeth, or they could be useful, as in ivory napkin rings, corset busks (stiffeners), swifts for winding yarn or pie crimpers. The sailor’s hand-carved scrimshaw was then given to loved ones back on shore as souvenirs of the hard and lonely life aboard long and dangerous voyages.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  ID Number

  DL.374504

  catalog number

  374504

  accession number

  136263

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Tail Light, 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz

  Description

  This is the tail light assembly for the 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz. The Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz was a top-of-the-line convertible that epitomized the tailfin era of automobile design. Cadillac introduced its fin styling in the 1940s, and its popularity grew over the next few decades. The distinctive twin-bullet tail light assembly braced into the rear of the fins of the Eldorado.

  date made

  1959

  ID Number

  2015.3088.01

  catalog number

  2015.3088.01

  nonaccession number

  2015.3088

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Land of the Pueblos

  Location

  Currently not on view

  user

  Santa Fe Railway

  publisher

  Indian Detour Transportation Company

  Indian Detour Transportation Company

  ID Number

  1991.3127.09

  catalog number

  1991.3127.09

  nonaccession number

  1991.3127

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  “On The Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe"

  Description

  The Oscar-winning song, “On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe” was written by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Johnny Mercer for the 1946 motion picture, The Harvey Girls. In the film, the song is an important element in a nine-minute sequence which charts the growing excitement in the Arizona community of Deadrock as the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe train arrives. Among the passengers aboard the train are young women who have come to the Southwest to be waitresses, or “Harvey Girls,” in a Harvey House restaurant. The song became a staple in the repertoire of Judy Garland, the film’s star. Garland’s photograph is central to the design on the sheet music cover. The illustrations of dance hall girls and Harvey House waitresses that flank the photo convey graphically the central plot conflict in the movie.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  publishing date

  1945

  publisher

  Leo Feist, Inc.

  ID Number

  1985.0392.13

  accession number

  1985.0392

  catalog number

  1985.0392.13

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Schilling Canal Boat Propulsion System, Patent Model

  Description

  In 1870, Cornelius Schilling patented the use of an oscillating single-bladed paddle to propel vessels "with ease and facility." The next year he thought better of his inefficient idea. In a new patent application, he disclaimed everything in his first attempt and proposed instead the arrangement of multiple paddles seen in this model. This model accompanied his application for an “improvement in propulsion of canal boats” that received patent number 119,792 on October 10, 1871. The patent claimed that the paddles "are so arranged that they alternate with each other, one set being in action while the other is carried back through the air, and thereby a continuous action of the propeller is produced."

  Location

  Currently not on view

  Date made

  1871

  patent date

  1871-10-10

  patentee

  Schilling, Cornelius

  inventor

  Schilling, Cornelius

  ID Number

  1979.1029.02

  catalog number

  1979.1029.02

  accession number

  1979.1029

  patent number

  119,792

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Letter of Marque Topsail Schooner Lynx

  Description

  Peter Kemp, Baltimore’s best known 19th-century shipbuilder, worked in the Fells Point area. He built the square topsail schooner Lynx in 1812 for just under $10,000. It measured 97 feet long and 25 tons, a bit larger than the swift pilot boats after which it was modeled. Pilot boats had to be fast, for the first one that reached a vessel offshore won the job to lead it through local waters into the port facilities.

  The Lynx was a letter of marque—a merchant vessel authorized to take prizes—rather than a privateer designed and built only to raid enemy shipping. Letters of marque were armed merchant vessels which were granted the authority to chase enemy merchantmen during the normal course of business, if an opportunity arose. Unlike privateers, letter of marque vessels paid their crews a regular wage, and their income did not depend on income from enemy ships. As a result, the Lynx carried only six guns and a 40-man crew instead of the many guns and big crews of privateers.

  Lynx served less than a year before it was captured by a British fleet of 17 vessels while trying to run a blockade off the Rappahannock River, Virginia. Renamed the Mosquidobit, it served in the British naval squadron blockading Chesapeake Bay. At the end of the War of 1812, it served against France. In recognition of its superior sailing characteristics, its hull shape was recorded by the Royal Navy. In 1820, it resumed service as a private merchant vessel.

  Date made

  1964

  Associated Date

  19th century

  shipbuilder

  Kemp, Peter

  ID Number

  TR.323263

  catalog number

  323263

  accession number

  249753

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  emblem, radiator

  Description

  Radiator emblems are small, colorful metal plates bearing an automobile manufacturer's name or logo that attached to the radiators grilles of early automobiles. Varying in shape and size, the emblems served as a small branding device, sometimes indicating the type of engine, place of manufacturing, or using an iconic image or catchy slogan to advertise their cars make and model. This emblem is part of the collection that was donated by Hubert G. Larson in 1964.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  ID Number

  TR.325528.279

  accession number

  260303

  catalog number

  325528.279

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  1906 Chinese Immigrant’s Lacquer Trunk

  Description (Brief)

  In 1906 Ng Shee Lee packed her clothes and belongings in this trunk and left China for America. It was a difficult trip. She slept next to the noisy engine room; arriving tired and sick in San Francisco she was met by the devastating 1906 earthquake. Ng Shee then made her way alone by train across Canada to New York where she rejoined her husband, Lee B. Lok.

  Description

  In 1906 Nge Shee Lee packed her clothes and belongings in this trunk and left China for America. It was a difficult trip. She slept next to the noisy engine room; arriving tired and sick in San Francisco she was met by the devastating 1906 earthquake. Ng Shee then made her way alone by train across Canada to New York where she rejoined her husband.

  date made

  ca 1906

  maker

  unknown

  ID Number

  1992.0620.01

  catalog number

  1992.0620.01

  accession number

  1992.0620

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Loading the tipi poles on American Airline's Jet, on our way to woodstock.

  Description

  With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture. She recorded this unconventional time of Anti-War demonstrations in California, communes, Love-Ins, peace marches and concerts, as well as her family life as she became a wife and mother. The photographs were collected by William Yeingst and Shannon Perich in a cross-unit collecting collaboration. Together they selected over two hundred photographs relevant to photographic history, cultural history, domestic life and social history.

  Law’s portraiture and concert photographs include Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Lovin Spoonful and Peter, Paul and Mary. She also took several of Janis Joplin and her band Big Brother and the Holding Company, including the photograph used to create the poster included in the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum’s exhibition 1001 Days and Nights in American Art. Law and other members of the Hog Farm were involved in the logistics of setting up the well-known musical extravaganza, Woodstock. Her photographs include the teepee poles going into the hold of the plane, a few concert scenes and amenities like the kitchen and medical tent. Other photographs include peace rallies and concerts in Haight-Ashbury, Coretta Scott King speaking at an Anti-War protest and portraits of Allen Ginsburg and Timothy Leary. From her life in New Mexico the photographs include yoga sessions with Yogi Bhajan, bus races, parades and other public events. From life on the New Buffalo Commune, there are many pictures of her family and friends taken during meal preparation and eating, farming, building, playing, giving birth and caring for children.

  Ms. Law did not realize how important her photographs were while she was taking them. It was not until after she divorced her husband, left the farm for Santa Fe and began a career as a photographer that she realized the depth of history she recorded. Today, she spends her time writing books, showing her photographs in museums all over the United States and making documentaries. In 1990, her video documentary, “Flashing on the Sixties,” won several awards.

  A selection of photographs was featured in the exhibition A Visual Journey: Photographs by Lisa Law, 1964–1971, at the National Museum of American History October 1998-April 1999.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1969

  date printed

  1998

  maker

  Law, Lisa

  ID Number

  1998.0139.149

  catalog number

  1998.0139.149

  accession number

  1998.0139

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  1959 Cadillac Dealer Promotional Model

  Description

  In America’s expanding consumer culture of the 1950s, buying a new car symbolized increased purchasing power and a desire for beauty, comfort, horsepower, and mobility. Big luxury cars sold well, and General Motors, like other manufacturers, kept supplies of model cars in showrooms as teasers and as a color selection guide. Sales representatives gave dealer promotional models to prospective customers, and the same models or similar models could be purchased in stores. This model, which the donor purchased in a toy store, highlighted the latest Cadillac styles and fashions, including soaring, blade-like tail fins with bullet-shaped tail lights. Small but popular marketing tools, model cars accentuated the annual model change as auto makers discarded last year’s features in favor of this year’s novelties and advances.

  ID Number

  2014.0032.04

  catalog number

  2014.0032.04

  accession number

  2014.0032

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Plate 33. Evacuation of Aquia Creek

  Description

  Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, text and positive by Alexander Gardner.

  This sketch was taken a few hours previous to the abandonment of Aquia Creek in June, 1863. The Army of the Potomac was along the Rappahannock before Fredericksburg, fifteen miles distant, and had used this point and Belle Plain, a similar landing, seven miles below, as a base of supplies. The movement commenced on Saturday morning. The President was expected to visited the army on that day, but the advance of the Confederates into Pennsylvania admitting of no delay, Gen. Hooker, in the afternoon, telegraphed Mr. Lincoln not to come, and immediately made preparations to leave. At daylight, Sunday morning, the whole army was in motion, and an immense throng of sutlers and other camp followers collected at Aquia Creek for transportation to Washington. By 10 A. M. the camps between this point and Fredericksburg were all deserted, and the civilians, in constant apprehension of an attack from the Confederate cavalry that might follow up the army as it passed the landing on its march to Washington, crowded on to the boats in the greatest confusion. The steamers were already heavily laden with stores, wagons, &c,, and the evacuation was attended with scenes that would have been regarded as ridiculous but for the general alarm.

  The barges anchored in the stream were locked together for the transportation of the cars on the wharf, and were towed to Washington by the steamers loaded with passengers. All of the supplies had been removed from the buildings, and the latter, erected at great expense by the Quartermaster's Department, were committed to the flames. A gunboat lay out in the river for the protection of the place until all could get away; but no enemy appeared, and in a short time nothing remained of the busy village but smoking embers and half-burned wharves. Aquia Creek has been used three times as a base of supplies; once for McDowell, in 1862; next for Burnside, after the Antietam Campaign; and finally during Grant's operations at Spottsylvania. Nearly a hundred steamers have been collected here at one time, while sailing vessels anchored in the river nearly obstructed its navigation. The wounded were brought here from Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spottsylvania, to be sent to Washington; and in nearly all of the operations of the army in Eastern Virginia the place has borne a conspicuous part. The Confederates had formidable batteries on the bluffs which commanded the river previous to our occupation of Fredericksburg in the spring of 1862, and at the same time sheltered in the stream that runs down between the hills, the once notorious iron-clad Page.

  The landing is now used by the Washington, Fredericksburg and Richmond Railroad Company, but will probably never be more than an ordinary station. Fever and ague prevail during the summer, forbidding the growth of a village, and with the completion of the railroad to Alexandria, the place will doubtless sink into oblivion, except as connected with the military operations of the great rebellion.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1863-06

  maker

  Gardner, Alexander

  ID Number

  1986.0711.0334.33

  accession number

  1986.0711

  catalog number

  1986.0711.0334.33

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Chromolithograph of "Colorado Desert and Signal Mountain"

  Description

  This chromolithograph of “Colorado Desert and Signal Mountain” was originally drawn by Charles Koppel and printed as Plate XI in the first report of volume V of Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, “Explorations In California for Railroad Routes, to Connect with the Routes near the 35th and 32nd Parallels of North Latitude.” The volume was printed in 1856 by Beverley Tucker in Washington, D.C.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1856

  original artist

  Koppel, Charles

  publisher

  U.S. War Department

  author

  Williamson, Robert Stockton

  printer

  Tucker, Beverley

  graphic artist

  unknown

  publisher

  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Topographic Command

  ID Number

  GA.10729.26

  accession number

  62261

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Boat Model, Inland Lake Racing Scow, Minnezitka

  Description

  This model represents a scow, or a type of sailboat used for racing on the lakes of Minnesota and Wisconsin. A scow was a flat-bottomed boat with a blunt bow and a flat transom. This model represents a scow named Minnezitka built by John O. Johnson in 1900 for the Inland Lake Yachting Association. The Minnezitka was entered into the international Seawanhka Cup; although it was the fastest American boat, it was not chosen. The Minnezitka was a precursor to the Class A racing scow, at 38 feet long and 7½ feet wide. The model was given to the Smithsonian in 1959 by the boat builder, John O. Johnson of White Bear, Minnesota.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  ID Number

  TR.316086

  catalog number

  316086

  accession number

  224566

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Peerless Motor Car Co. Radiator Emblem

  Description

  This radiator emblem belonged to a Peerless automobile that was manufactured by the Peerless Motor Car Company of Cleveland, Ohio from 1900 until 1931. Peerless produced a variety of models in almost every body style until it closed in 1931. This emblem likely belonged to a model produced in the 1920s. The emblem looks like a radiator grille, with the text “PEERLESS” in blue script.

  Radiator emblems are small, colorful metal plates bearing an automobile manufacturer's name or logo that attached to the radiators grilles of early automobiles. Varying in shape and size, the emblems served as a small branding device, sometimes indicating the type of engine, place of manufacturing, or using an iconic image or catchy slogan to advertise their cars make and model. This emblem is part of the collection that was donated by Hubert G. Larson in 1964.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  ID Number

  TR.325528.189

  accession number

  260303

  catalog number

  325528.189

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Model of clipper ship Great Republic

  Description

  Great Republic was built by Donald McKay in Boston in 1853. It measured 335 feet in length, 53 feet in beam, 38 feet in depth of hold and 4,555 tons. The huge wooden ship was the largest extreme clipper ship ever constructed.

  McKay was unable to secure financial backing for the building of Great Republic, so he built the ship on his own account. It was launched on October 4, 1853. The ship was being fitted out for its first voyage under the management of Grinnell, Minturn, and Company. The night before its maiden voyage began on the East River, Manhattan, Great Republic was destroyed by a fire that broke out on shore and spread to the ship. To save the hull, it was scuttled, or deliberately sunk in place at the pier. Despite best efforts to save it, Great Republic burned to the water surface. The wreck was sold, raised and towed to Green Point, Long Island, where it was rebuilt by Sneeden & Whitlock. During its rebuilding, it lost a deck and was reduced to 3,357 tons; its spars and area also were greatly reduced. The great clipper transported general and bulk cargoes all over the world for the next several years. It was confiscated by the North during the Civil War, since a majority of its owners were Southerners. Under Northern owners, it engaged in the California trade for the remainder of the conflict. After the war, it was sold to British owners; in 1869, it was resold to the Merchant’s Trading Company of Liverpool, England and renamed Denmark. It was lost off Bermuda during a winter 1872 hurricane.

  The Insurance Company of North America (INA) insured Great Republic for $175,000.00 in 1853. However, INA never paid for the damage to the ship. The day after the fire, the premium was returned and the policy was cancelled. INA archives do not have a copy of the policy, so there is no record of the exclusions that might have prompted this action.

  Built by an unknown 19th century craftsman, this model was purchased at a New York antique shop by the Insurance Company of North America (INA) in 1962. It and a painting of the Great Republic were donated to the Smithsonian by the CIGNA Corporation, the successor company to INA.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  19th century

  maker

  unknown

  ID Number

  2005.0279.092

  accession number

  2005.0279

  catalog number

  2005.0279.092

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Kansas City Car Radiator Emblem

  Description

  This radiator emblem belonged to a Kansas City Car that was manufactured by the Kansas city Car Company of Kansas City, Missouri between 1906 and 1908. In 1909 the company tried to reorganize as the Kansas City Wonder, before shuttering in the same year. The company produced two and four cylinder engine in runabout and touring car models. The emblem reads “THE KANSAS CITY CAR/KC/MOTOR/CAR CO./KANSAS CITY, MO./U.S.A.”

  Radiator emblems are small, colorful metal plates bearing an automobile manufacturer's name or logo that attached to the radiators grilles of early automobiles. Varying in shape and size, the emblems served as a small branding device, sometimes indicating the type of engine, place of manufacturing, or using an iconic image or catchy slogan to advertise their cars make and model. This emblem is part of the collection that was donated by Hubert G. Larson in 1964.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  ID Number

  TR.325528.134

  accession number

  260303

  catalog number

  325528.134

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Man standing on train car behind engine

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1953

  maker

  Leipzig, Arthur

  ID Number

  2019.0272.0001

  accession number

  2019.0272

  catalog number

  2019.0272.0001

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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