RevolutionCrossroads/si_us_revolutionary_era_collections huggingface dataset:
Velocipede Patent Model
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: patent model, velocipede
Patent Model
patent model, velocipede; tricycle; Road
date made: 1800
patent date: 1880-03-02
inventor: Hammelmann, Charles
associated place: United States: New York, Buffalo
Associated Place: United States: New York
Physical Description: metal (overall material)
wood (saddle material)
Measurements: overall: 8 1/2 in x 4 1/2 in x 8 3/4 in; 21.59 cm x 11.43 cm x 22.225 cm
rear wheels: 2 1/4 in; x 5.715 cm
front wheel: 6 in; x 15.24 cm
Topics: Bicycling
Transportation
Description: Charles Hammelmann, of Buffalo, New York, was issued Patent 225,010 for a velocipede on March 2, 1880. Hammelmann submitted this model to the Patent office with his patent application. The model depicts a tricycle propelled by two foot-operated, spring-returned levers that rock sector-racks meshed with ratchet gears on the front-wheel axle. The model was transferred to the Smithsonian in 1926. It is not known whether a full-scale version of this tricycle was ever manufactured.
[None]
Seizure Order
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Document
date made: 1784
Physical Description: paper (envelope material)
Measurements: overall: 8 1/4 in x 6 1/2 in; 20.955 cm x 16.51 cm
Credit line: Gift of the Trimble-Kenvin-Smith Families
Coachee, 1810
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Carriage, 1810
shaft, Coachee
Carriage, 1810; Road; Coachee
date made: 1810
Measurements: overall: 7 9/16 ft x 6 5/16 ft x 9 3/4 ft; 2.3113 m x 1.93039 m x 2.9718 m
Credit line: Gift of Robert L. Brownfield
Whaleman's Harpoon
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Harpoon
Harpoon; Maritime
date made: early 1800s
place made: United States: Massachusetts, New Bedford
Measurements: overall: 102 1/2 in; x 260.35 cm
Credit line: Gift of John McCullough
Topics: Whaling
Boat Spade
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: spade
spade, blubber
spade; Maritime; Boat
date made: 1800s
Physical Description: metal (overall material)
wood (overall material)
rope (overall material)
Measurements: overall: 85 3/4 in; x 217.805 cm
Credit line: J. H. Bartlett & Son
Publisher: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website, http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
Topics: Manufacturing industries
Industrialization
Civil War and Reconstruction
Transportation
Whaling
Fishing
Development of the Industrial United States
Description: Boat spades served two purposes on a whaleboat. In the earlier days, they were used to cut the tendons of a whale’s fin or tail to help immobilize it. This was an extremely dangerous operation, for it required the crew of the whaleboat to steer right up against a wounded, unpredictable whale.
This practice was abandoned in the later days of whaling, at which point the boat spade was used to cut holes through the lips or heavy skin of a dead whale. This permitted ropes to be passed through, for towing the carcass to the mother ship for processing.
Steamboat Torch Basket
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: basket
basket; Maritime
Date made: 19th century
date made: 1800s
date found: 1950s
place found: United States: Iowa, Clinton
United States: Mississippi River
Physical Description: iron (overall material)
Measurements: overall: 60 in x 8 in; 152.4 cm x 20.32 cm
Credit line: Gift of Ida C. and Ray Allen Engleking
Publisher: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website, http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
Topics: Civil War and Reconstruction
Transportation
Development of the Industrial United States
On the Water exhibit
Description: This long-handled, iron basket, called a torch or fire basket, was used to help 19th century river pilots navigate in shallow waters at night. Filled with burning fuel and suspended off the side of a steamboat, the torch basket illuminated the shoreline, as well as snags or debris in the water that could damage the vessel. Steamboat crew also used torch baskets for lighting up the ship’s deck, the landing, or a levee during deliveries of cargo after dark.
Although the torch basket was invaluable for steamboats operating at night, the device sometimes proved disastrous. Typically the fuel consisted of oil-soaked scraps and "lightwood" or Southern pine covered in resinous sap, which could easily send off sparks. So as not to obstruct the light, these buckets of flames rarely had any sort of protective covering. But because steamboats were often loaded with highly flammable cargoes, such as cotton and lumber, it is not surprising that one stray spark could destroy an entire vessel. That may have been the fate for this torch basket, which was found by a net fisherman near Clinton, Iowa. It was pulled up from 30 feet of water in the Mississippi River.
By the early 20th century, torch baskets were becoming obsolete, replaced by electric lamps and incandescent light bulbs used to illuminate steamboats as well as the landings they served. Although the phasing-out of the torch basket lowered the risk of steamboat fires, some steamboat enthusiasts lamented the lost romance of waterways flickering with flame.
Cod Hand-line
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: weight and hooks, codfish
weight and hooks, codfish; Maritime
date made: 1880
1800s
Physical Description: wood (overall material)
textile (overall material)
copper alloy (overall material)
lead (overall material)
Measurements: overall: 16 1/2 in x 10 in; 41.91 cm x 25.4 cm
Publisher: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website, http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
Topics: Ecology
Fishing
Development of the Industrial United States
Description: Manufactured in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1882, this hand-line is of the type used in the 19th-century cod fisheries on Banquereau Bank, Grand Bank, and Western Bank in the North Atlantic. The wooden reel contains about 25 fathoms (150 feet) of 12-pound cotton line. A 4-pound lead sinker with brass fittings attaches to a bridle and two short lines (called “snoods”), with slot swivels at the ends. The swivels hold two hemp “gangings” and hooks. This rig saved time in removing fish and re-baiting because the fisherman could slip the gangings from the swivels and replace them with new line and freshly-baited hooks. The preferred bait for the cod fishery was frozen herring in winter and fresh herring, mackerel, alewives, and menhaden the rest of the year.
Fishermen used hand-lines when fishing from the decks of schooners anchored across the tide. They stood at the rail, all on the side of the vessel opposite from the side hit by the tide. This allowed the lines to drift out from the schooner for more effective fishing.
In “The George’s Bank Cod Fishery,” G. Brown Goode and J. W. Collins (1882) reported that when the fish were plentiful, fishermen often caught a pair of cod, one on each hook, and that a man could catch between 100 and 200 fish per day. At other times, a whole day’s effort might yield only three or four fish. From <I>The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States</I>, Sec. IV. (Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1882) p. 194.
Scrimshaw Ivory Whale Stamp
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Scrimshaw
scrimshaw whale stamp
scrimshaws
Scrimshaw; Maritime
date made: 1800s
Physical Description: sperm whale tooth (overall material)
Measurements: overall: 1 1/8 in x 1 3/4 in x 3/4 in; 2.8575 cm x 4.445 cm x 1.905 cm
Credit line: From the collection of Dr. and Mrs. Wilbur J. Gould
Publisher: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website, http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
Topics: Manufacturing industries
Industrialization
Art
Civil War and Reconstruction
Transportation
Ecology
Development of the Industrial United States
On the Water exhibit
Description: Carved from the teeth of captured sperm whales, whale stamps were used to record the type of whale and number of barrels of oil they yielded.
The stamps were inked onto the page of whaleship logbooks or sailors’ journals, with an empty space in the whale’s body for writing in the number of barrels. This example in the form of a sperm whale is decorated with steel pin heads and a turned handle.
Scrimshaw Cow Horn, 1808
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: scrimshaw
scrimshaw powder horn
scrimshaw tooth, whale
scrimshaws
scrimshaw; Maritime
date made: 1808-05-12
Physical Description: bone (?) (overall material)
Measurements: overall: 3 3/4 in x 1 3/4 in x 1 3/4 in; 9.525 cm x 4.445 cm x 4.445 cm
Credit line: From the collection of Dr. and Mrs. Wilbur J. Gould
Topics: Art
Transportation
Scrimshaw
Description: Some purists say that powder horns cannot be scrimshaw in the strictest definition of the term as whaling ivory, but this little piece blurs the distinction on account of its nautical imagery.
On the outer surface a brig is engraved, with a small gaff-rigged cutter running before it. The cutter has an unusual, old-fashioned heeltapper hull, with a raised quarterdeck and a low waist. Each vessel has a human-headed sea serpent in the water next to it. Above the brig on the right is a winged horse with feathers or scales on its lower body; its tail and tongue end in arrow points. Above and behind the brig on the left is a crowned two-headed winged creature with a body shaped like a plump manatee; its tail ends in a ragged line. Across from its crown the piece is dated “MAY•12•1808”. A floral vine completes the remarkable freehand carving. A painted wooden base is tacked to the wide end as a bottom; any cap that may have topped the 3-3/4-in. high piece is missing.
River St. Lawrence
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Map
Map; Maritime
date made: 1791
Measurements: overall: 21 in x 17 in; 53.34 cm x 43.18 cm
Credit line: Gift of St. Lawrence Seaway Fund
conestoga wagon jack
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Wagon Jack
Wagon Jack; Road
date made: 1793-1795
Measurements: overall: 21 in x 7 in x 3 in; 53.34 cm x 17.78 cm x 7.62 cm
Ramsden screw cutting lathe
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: precision screw cutting lathe
date made: ca 1774
place made: United Kingdom
Measurements: overall - lathe: 7 1/2 in x 21 7/8 in x 6 1/4 in; 19.05 cm x 55.5625 cm x 15.875 cm
overall: 13 5/8 in x 1 1/8 in; x 34.6075 cm x 2.8575 cm
machine tool, metalworking, lathe, pole
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Machine Tool, Metalworking, Lathe, Pole
Pole Lathe
date made: 1800
place made: United States: New Jersey
Measurements: overall - from catalog card: 9 in x 9 1/2 in x 5 3/4 in; 22.86 cm x 24.13 cm x 14.605 cm
overall: 9 in x 9 5/8 in x 6 3/4 in; 22.86 cm x 24.4475 cm x 17.145 cm
overall - figure: 12 1/4 in x 5 1/8 in x 4 in; 31.115 cm x 13.0175 cm x 10.16 cm
micrometer, bench
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Micrometer, Bench
Lathe, Prototype Model
date made: 1805
place made: United Kingdom: England
Measurements: overall - from catalog card: 2 1/2 in x 2 1/2 in x 11 3/4 in; 6.35 cm x 6.35 cm x 29.845 cm
overall: 4 3/8 in x 2 1/2 in x 11 5/8 in; 11.1125 cm x 6.35 cm x 29.5275 cm
swage block
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Swage Block
Swage Block; Hand Tools
Measurements: overall: 14 in x 9 in x 4 in; 35.56 cm x 22.86 cm x 10.16 cm
Steam Engine, Watt's "Lap Engine", 1788
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Engine, Steam
engine, steam, model
date made: 1788
place made: United Kingdom: England
Model; High Pressure Steam Engine, Trevithick, 1805
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Engine, Steam
engine, steam, model
date made: 1805
place made: United Kingdom: England
Measurements: bare model: 32 in x 24 in x 15 in; 81.28 cm x 60.96 cm x 38.1 cm
including mahogonany base: 36 in x 28 in x 20 in; 91.44 cm x 71.12 cm x 50.8 cm
Mr James Watt
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Print
Print; Mezzotint
date made: 1809
Physical Description: plastic (frame material)
Measurements: overall: 11 in x 14 in; 27.94 cm x 35.56 cm
Credit line: Gift of James K. Finch
Model of Rumsey's Boat Steam Engine
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Engine, Steam, Boat
engine, steam, boat, model
date made: 1787
1955
maker: Smithsonian Institution
place made: United Kingdom: England
Measurements: overall: 9 in; 22.86 cm
cylinder: 3 3/4 in x 3 1/2 in; 9.525 cm x 8.89 cm
Model, Steam Engine, Fitch, 1781
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Engine, Steam, Boat
date made: 1787
1955
maker: Smithsonian Institution
Measurements: overall: 24 in x 6 in x 10 in; 60.96 cm x 15.24 cm x 25.4 cm
Model of a Wooden Steam Boiler
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Boiler, Steam
boiler, steam, model
date made: 1801 - 1815
place made: United States: Pennsylvania
Measurements: overall: 18 3/4 in x 13 1/4 in x 22 1/2 in; 47.625 cm x 33.655 cm x 57.15 cm
Publisher: Frank A. Taylor. Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States National Museum, Bulletin 173
Topics: Steam Engines
Engineering
Architecture
Models (representations)
Description: This is a model of a wooden steam boiler built in the early 19th century. At that time wrought-iron plates were scarce and expensive in the United States. Most iron plate was imported from England, and domestic ones were crude. This led to the construction of numerous wooden boilers.
Distillers’ wooden vessels, in common use, were modified into steam generators for the early low pressure pumping engines such as those in the Philadelphia and New York City waterworks. This model represents a boiler used until 1815 in the Center Square Waterworks at Philadelphia. The fire was carried in a winding cast-iron flue through the outer chest of five inch white pine. Operating pressure was about 2 ½ pounds per square inch.
The model was built by the Smithsonian in 1934.
Street Oil Engine, Model
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Engine, Internal Combustion
engine, internal combustion, model
date made: 1794
place made: United Kingdom: England
Measurements: board: 16 in x 12 in; 40.64 cm x 30.48 cm
Watt Steam Engine, Philadelphia Waterworks, Model
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Water Works
engine, steam, model
center square waterworks model
date made: 1801
place made: United States: Pennsylvania
Measurements: overall: 26 1/2 in x 19 1/2 in; 67.31 cm x 49.53 cm
overall: 47 in x 41 in x 51 in; 119.38 cm x 104.14 cm x 129.54 cm
calipers, linear, set of
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Calipers, Linear, Set of
Calipers, Venier combined with Depth Gage
date made: ca 1810
Measurements: overall - from catalog card: 2 1/2 in x 7 1/4 in; x 6.35 cm x 18.415 cm
overall: 9 1/4 in x 2 1/2 in x 1/4 in; 23.495 cm x 6.35 cm x .635 cm
Credit line: Loren Hall Penfield
publisher's notice
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Publisher's Notice
date made: 1806
Measurements: overall: 10 in x 7 1/2 in; 25.4 cm x 19.05 cm
overall - from catalog card: 10 in x 7 1/4 in; 25.4 cm x 18.415 cm
Credit line: Greville Bathe
patent
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Patent
date made: 1787
associated person: Mitchell, Thomas
Measurements: overall - from catalog card: 15 3/4 in x 10 1/2 in; 40.005 cm x 26.67 cm
overall: 16 in x 10 3/4 in; 40.64 cm x 27.305 cm
Credit line: Greville Bathe
letter
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Letter
date made: 1787-10-17
associated person: Mitchell, Thomas
Measurements: overall: 8 7/8 in x 14 5/8 in; 22.5425 cm x 37.1475 cm
overall - from catalog card: 9 in x 7 1/4 in; 22.86 cm x 18.415 cm
Credit line: Greville Bathe
letter
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Letter
date made: ca 1799
Measurements: overall: 12 5/8 in x 8 in; 32.0675 cm x 20.32 cm
overall - from catalog card: 12 3/4 in x 8 in; 32.385 cm x 20.32 cm
Credit line: Greville Bathe
letter
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Letter
date made: 1783-08-04
Measurements: overall: 9 1/2 in x 7 3/4 in; 24.13 cm x 19.685 cm
overall - from catalog card: 9 1/2 in x 7 3/4 in; 24.13 cm x 19.685 cm
Credit line: Greville Bathe
publisher's notice
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Publisher's Notice
date made: 1806
Measurements: overall: 10 1/8 in x 8 1/8 in; 25.7175 cm x 20.6375 cm
overall - from catalog card: 10 in x 8 1/8 in; 25.4 cm x 20.6375 cm
Credit line: Greville Bathe
letter
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Letter
date made: 1770
Measurements: overall-folder: 11 1/8 in x 8 5/8 in; 28.2575 cm x 21.9075 cm
Credit line: American Society of Civil Engineers
letter
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Letter
date made: 1801
Measurements: overall: 9 in x 7 1/4 in; 22.86 cm x 18.415 cm
Credit line: American Society of Civil Engineers
letter
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Letter
date made: 1807
associated person: Clinton, De Witt
Measurements: overall: 9 7/8 in x 7 7/8 in; 25.0825 cm x 20.0025 cm
Credit line: American Society of Civil Engineers
letter
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Letter
date made: 1777
Measurements: overall: 8 5/8 in x 6 5/8 in; 21.9075 cm x 16.8275 cm
Credit line: American Society of Civil Engineers
letter
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Letter
date made: 1776
Measurements: overall: 7 3/8 in x 6 in; 18.7325 cm x 15.24 cm
Credit line: American Society of Civil Engineers
Mortising Machine Patent Model
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Mortising Machine
Mortising Machine
date made: 1807
1907
place made: United States: District of Columbia, Washington
Measurements: overall - from catalog card: 4 in x 5 in; 10.16 cm x 12.7 cm
overall: 8 1/8 in x 8 in x 5 1/8 in; 20.6375 cm x 20.32 cm x 13.0175 cm
Description: This is a patent model (USX772I1) of a mortising machine. The model was patented by Simeon Glover and David Parmalee, both of Newtown, Connecticut, on June 8, 1907.
A mortising machine is a woodworking machine designed to cut square or rectangular holes (called mortises) into a piece of wood. These holes are usually made so that another piece of wood with a tenon (a projecting tab) can fit into them, together forming a mortise-and-tenon joint, one of the strongest and oldest woodworking joints.
It was made for the Columbian Exposition in 1893. The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492.
lathe, jeweler's
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Lathe
Lathe, Jeweler's
date made: ca 1800
Measurements: overall: 3 in x 7 in x 2 1/2 in; 7.62 cm x 17.78 cm x 6.35 cm
overall: 3 in x 7 in x 2 5/8 in; 7.62 cm x 17.78 cm x 6.6675 cm
Credit line: Edwin A. Battison
Bailey Fireplace Steam Jack
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Steam Jack
date made: 1793
Physical Description: cast iron (part material)
brass (part material)
Measurements: overall: 14 1/2 in x 15 3/4 in x 10 1/2 in; 36.83 cm x 40.005 cm x 26.67 cm
Credit line: Gift of Dr. John P. Remensnyder, Doris R. Ballantyne, Boston, MA
Topics: Engineering
Description: The "Bailey's Patent" meat-cooking steam jack, from about 1795, is an ingenious spit-turning device for a wood-fired hearth. It uses a simple impulse-type steam turbine, using heat from a domestic firepit. This may well be the earliest known non-industrial surviving example of steam-power technology.
The cast-iron jack was placed near a hot cooking fire, causing water in the spherical boiler to boil into steam, which issued through a jet or nozzle. This stream of steam turned the notched turbine wheel or "runner," which is geared to the spit shaft, thus turning the meat.
This novel device, with its limited supply of water, probably saw little actual service, since it would have been more troublesome to maintain than assigning a boy or girl to watch the meat in the fireplace and turn it occasionally. Perhaps Mr. Bailey, the British inventor, was a bachelor.
tower clock
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Clock
tower clock
Clock; Mechanical, Weight-Driven; Tower Clock
Date made: ca 1801
maker: Parker, Gardner
Physical Description: metal, "brass" (movement material)
metal, iron (movement material)
wood (frame material)
Measurements: overall: 98 in x 65 in x 24 in; 248.92 cm x 165.1 cm x 60.96 cm
Credit line: Newton L. Lockwood
Tower Clock Movement, Heisely
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: tower clock movement
date made: ca 1790-1799
maker: Heisley, F. A.
Measurements: overall: 115.2652 cm x 116.84 cm x 101.6 cm; 45 3/8 in x 46 in x 40 in
Credit line: City of Frederick Maryland
Description: The German immigrants who founded Frederick, Maryland, believed that time was a divine gift to be spent in productive work. According to their Calvinist values, temporal order was an important component of godly and disciplined behavior. They relied on this tower clock to help them organize and coordinate their daily lives in time. The congregation of Frederick’s German Reform Church (now Trinity Chapel) installed this clock in the church tower in the 1790s. The entire town contributed to buy the clock for about $800 from local clockmaker Frederick Heisely and paid for its maintenance. The clock coordinated activities for the town’s intertwined sacred and secular communities for nearly 140 years.
When the Smithsonian’s National Museum of History and Technology (now National Museum of American History) was under construction, builders prepared a pit between the first floor and basement to accommodate the clock’s fourteen-foot pendulum. The clock kept time on the first floor of the museum from its opening in 1964 until the 1990s.
watch
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Watch
Watch; Mechanical, Spring-Driven; Pocket Watch
date made: 1797
place made: United Kingdom: England
Physical Description: metal (watch case material)
metal, "brass" (watch movement material)
metal, silver (watch case material)
tortoise shell (watch case material)
gilded (watch case production method/technique)
gilded (watch movement production method/technique)
Measurements: overall: 2 3/4 in x 2 in x 1 1/4 in; 6.985 cm x 5.08 cm x 3.175 cm
watch
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Watch
Watch; Mechanical, Spring-Driven; Pocket Watch
date made: ca 1800
place made: Ireland
Physical Description: metal, "brass" (watch movement material)
metal, silver (watch case material)
metal, silver (watch case material)
gilded (watch movement production method/technique)
Measurements: overall: 2 1/2 in x 2 1/4 in x 1 in; 6.35 cm x 5.715 cm x 2.54 cm
watch
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Watch
Watch; Mechanical, Spring-Driven; Pocket Watch
date made: 1801
place made: United Kingdom: England
Physical Description: metal, "brass" (dust cap material)
metal, "brass" (watch movement material)
metal, silver (watch case material)
metal, silver (watch case material)
gilded (watch movement production method/technique)
Measurements: overall: 3 1/8 in x 2 1/2 in x 1 in; 7.9375 cm x 6.35 cm x 2.54 cm
watch
Collection: National Museum of American History
Object type: Watch
Watch; Mechanical, Spring-Driven; Pocket Watch
date made: 1770 - 1780
place made: Switzerland
Physical Description: metal, "brass" (dust cap material)
metal, "brass" (watch movement material)
metal, silver (watch case material)
metal, silver (watch movement material)
gilded (watch case production method/technique)
Measurements: overall: 3 3/8 in x 2 1/2 in x 1 in; 8.5725 cm x 6.35 cm x 2.54 cm