Machine for Engine Turning
date: label: date made
content: ca 1908
notes: label: Description
content: This small brass, and ferrous metal device has a variety of lever, pinwheel, and lever-and-cam motions. These work on the carriage below and the scribing head. The device apparently was designed to scribe a variety of engine turning figures on a round inset. On the right is an electric motor with an aluminum cover. It has two wires extending from it, a shaft at the front, and pulleys at the back for linking the motor to the mechanism. The wires might once have been attached to a rheostat for controlling the power delivered to the machine.
label: Description
content: A mark on the plate on the bottom of the motor reads: TYPE A.D.C. (/) No. 6167 (/) UNIVERSAL FOR (/) ALL LIGHTING CIRCUITS (/) IN CONNECTION WITH (/) VARIABLE RESISTANCE (/) CURRENT CONSUMPTION (/) .25 AMPERES (/) EDISON BUSINESS (/) PHONOGRAPH CO. (/) ORANGE, N.J.,U.S.A.. Another mark reads: 5260. Another mark reads: EDISON. The serial number on this motor suggests a rough date of 1908 for it. There are no maker’s marks on the object, other than a “0” on the central disc.
label: Description
content: According to the 1946 accession file, this object is a “Rogers ruling engine.” A ruling engine was designed to produce closely spaced lines on gratings, and used in testing the power microscopes and producing diffraction gratings. This instrument does not appear to have served that purpose. William A. Rogers (1832-1898) also made dividing engines for scribing lines, though these were usually very precise. These engines by Rogers lso had means for careful adjustment of the scribing head relative to the object scribed.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Accession file.
label: Description
content: For a similar motor label, see: http://www.greenhillsgf.com/Project_Edison_Business-C.htm . That object is dated 1908, suggesting a date for the end of construction of the object - or at least the motor.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of A. R. McEwen
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.313041
label: catalog number
content: 313041
label: accession number
content: 173843
objectType: label: Object Name
content: machine for engine turning
label: Object Name
content: machine for engine turning
label: Object Name
content: machine for engine turning
label: Object Name
content: machine for engine turning
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 24.8 cm x 41 cm x 21 cm; 9 3/4 in x 16 5/32 in x 8 9/32 in