Odometer
date: label: date made
content: 1850s
name: label: maker
content: Beers, Smith
notes: label: Description
content: Patent model for Smith Beers, "Odometer," U.S. Patent 15,509 (Aug. 12, 1856). An inscription reads “BEERS’ PATENT. Naugatuck, Ct.”
label: Description
content: Smith Beers (1805-1860) was an inventor in Connecticut. “By a recent Bridgeport paper, we notice the death of Smith Beers, of Naugatuck, Conn. Mr. Beers was possessed of a remarkable inventive genius, and had perfected and patented several useful inventions. Among them was an ingenious machine for turning spokes, an odometer, for registering the number of miles run by a carriage, and a machine for pulling cotton stalks, &c. At the time of his last illness, his mind was actively employed in endeavoring to perfect a steam carriage, to be used on highways. Like most true inventors, he was a quiet, unobtrusive, honest man and a useful citizen.
label: Description
content: Ref: Smith Beers, “Odometer, Or Machine for Recording the Distance Traveled by Wheel Carriages,” U.S. Patent #1,325 (Sept. 14, 1839).
label: Description
content: “Death of an Inventor,” <i>Scientific American</i> 3 (1860): 283.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
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content: Surveying and Geodesy
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content: Measuring & Mapping
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.308904
label: catalog number
content: 308904
label: accession number
content: 89797
label: patent number
content: 1,325
objectType: label: Object Name
content: odometer
label: Object Type
content: Patent Model
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 in x 18 1/4 in x 3 in; 12.7 cm x 46.355 cm x 7.62 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 7/8 in x 18 1/4 in x 2 3/4 in; 12.3825 cm x 46.355 cm x 6.985 cm