Shipyard Plate Puller
date: label: date made
content: 1918
label: first riveting competitions
content: 1918
name: label: hosted riveting competitions
content: Baltimore Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company
label: regulated riveting gangs and competitions
content: United States Shipping Board
notes: label: Description
content: The assembly line revolutionized labor and production in early 20th-century America, and its innovations of prefabricated parts and streamlined processes were applied to shipbuilding in World War I. This tool was used by shipyard workers to align pre-punched holes in standardized hull plates before riveting them together with steam-powered hydraulic riveting guns. Riveting was an exhausting task, but essential for ensuring the overall strength of these mass-produced freighters.
label: Description
content: Beginning in 1918, the U.S. federal government initiated many programs designed to boost morale among workers on the home front. A popular event at shipyards was a riveting competition. The first record was set at the Baltimore Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company, where a riveting gang drove 658 rivets in eight hours. As reports of this spread across the country, other shipyards tried for their own records and newspapers began offering cash prizes. The record climbed to 2,919 rivets in nine hours, but the United States Shipping Board soon realized that these publicity stunts were wearing out the riveting gangs. The board halted the contests, but began publishing a ranking system of each shipyard’s daily riveting totals to continue the friendly (and productive) rivalries.
topic: label: related event
content: World War I
label: related event
content: The Emergence of Modern America
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
label: See more items in
content: Engineering, Building, and Architecture
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content: Work
label: See more items in
content: On the Water exhibit
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Walter Davis
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.336914
label: catalog number
content: 336914
label: accession number
content: 1979.0413
objectType: label: Object Name
content: plate puller
label: Other Terms
content: Plate Puller, Davis; plate puller; Maritime
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 20 in x 5 1/4 in; x 50.8 cm x 13.335 cm