Ink bottle
date: label: date made
content: ca. 19th century
notes: label: Description
content: This glass ink bottle dates to the 19th century. It is round with flat faces on one side, and a short neck on the other with a cork in it. There is reddish ink residue in the bottle and on the neck’s lip, likely decayed ink. This bottle provides an example of how writing was conducted in the 19th century, with a quill or a pen and ink from a bottle like this one.
label: Description
content: This object was donated by Preston R. Bassett, former president of the Sperry Gyroscope Company and the chief engineer of the first automatic pilot and other flight instruments. Born in Buffalo, Bassett graduated from Amherst College and did postgraduate engineering studies at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. Bassett joined Sperry in 1914 as a research engineer. During World War I, he helped develop a high intensity anti-aircraft searchlight which became a vital wartime instrument. Throughout the rest of his 42 years at Sperry, he assisted in and directed the development of automatic and blind flying instruments, many of which became standard equipment on transport and military plains. He served as president of the company from 1945 until his retirement in 1956, and was appointed by President Eisenhower to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and served on the civilian panel from 1954 to 1958. Bassett was also a charter member of the Early American Industries Association.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Preston R. Bassett
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MC.326800
label: catalog number
content: 326800
label: accession number
content: 262288
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Ink Bottle
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 3/4 in x 2 1/4 in x 2 1/8 in; 4.445 cm x 5.715 cm x 5.3975 cm