Electrically Welded Specimen, Bicycle Top Tubing
date: label: date made
content: 1886
name: label: maker
content: Thomson, Elihu
notes: label: Description
content: This bicycle’s welded steel top tube was created using Elihu Thomson’s electric welding apparatus (see object number MC*181724). Welding samples demonstrated potential industrial applications of electric welding, and illustrations of these samples were published in journals, brochures, and advertisements. Elihu Thomson’s invention of electric welding in 1885 resulted in numerous applications including the manufacture of automobile parts, tools, screws, ball bearings, and wire lines. Thomson’s welding apparatus passed an electric current through two pieces of metal pressed together. Resistance to the current at the contact point between the metal pieces created heat and welded the metals together.
label: Description
content: Scientist and inventor Elihu Thomson (1853-1937) played a prominent role in the industrialization and electrification of America with over 700 patents in his name. His inventions and patents helped change the nature of industry in the United States and included the “uniflow” steam engine, automobile muffler, producing fused quartz, stereoscopic x-ray pictures, electric arc lamps, lightning arrestors, and perhaps most notably—the process of electrical welding. Thomson and partner Edwin Houston established the Thomson-Houston Electric Company in 1883. In 1892 Thomson-Houston merged with the Edison Electric Company to form General Electric.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
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content: Energy & Power
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
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content: Thomson Welding
label: Exhibition
content: Object Project
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Thomson Electrical Welding Co., thru Elihu Thomson
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.181672
label: catalog number
content: 181672
label: accession number
content: 33015
objectType: label: Object Name
content: welding sample
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 15 in x 1 1/4 in; 38.1 cm x 3.175 cm