Speed Indicator
notes: label: Description
content: This small circular instrument measured spindle rotation speeds. The inscription on the face reads “McDonnell Odometer Co. / Chicago, Ill.” A label in the lid of the box reads “The Lightning Speed Indicator.” An inscription on the brass case reads “PATENT APPLIED FOR.” The circumference of the circle is graduated into 100 parts. A hand-written paper label suggests that this example was used to test the speed of a centrifuge.
label: Description
content: Patrick Eneas McDonnell (1846-1939) proprietor of the McDonnell Odometer Co., was an independent inventor and an engineer at the Fullerton Street Pumping Station. In 1902, he was planning a hot air balloon expedition to the North Pole.
label: Description
content: Ref: Ad for “Lightning Speed Indicator,” in The Electrician and Electrical Engineer (Aug. 1884): xii.
label: Description
content: "'Lightning' Speed Indicator," in The Electrical Supply Co., Electric Light and Power Supplies (Chicago, 1892), p. 314.
label: Description
content: “Patrick Eneas McDonnell,” Chicago Tribune (March 1, 1939), p. 14.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Illinois, Chicago
topic: label: Subject
content: Science & Scientific Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Biological Sciences
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: University of Wisconsin, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Department of Bacteriology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1995.0191.10
label: accession number
content: 1995.0191
label: catalog number
content: 1995.0191.10
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Odometer
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 cm x 5.1 cm x 1.3 cm; 2 3/4 in x 2 in x 1/2 in