The Portland Observatory was built in 1807 by Captain Lemuel Moody to serve as a communication station for Portland Harbor. Portland Observatory was one of the earliest marine signal stations in the United States, and it is the last known to survive. The Observatory's location on Munjoy Hill gave it a clear view of vessels approaching Portland Harbor. The Observatory contributed to the prosperity of Portland Harbor as a vital center of maritime commerce during the "Golden Age of Sail."
USA
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Image Credit:
Courtesy Wikipedia/Econrad (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Image Caption:
Portland Observatory
Era_date_from:
1807
2006
The Port Washington Power Plant of the Wisconsin Electric Company was the most thermally efficient steam power plant in the world for many years following its opening in 1935. Its design reflected the cumulative experience of the utility's engineers in burning pulverized coal at the Oneida Street Plant and the Lakeside Station in Milwaukee.
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Image Credit:
Courtesy ASME
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The dedication of Port Washington Power Plant coincided with the 100th anniversary of the founding of the city in which it is located.
Era_date_from:
1935
1980
Used to lift molten iron to molds where it was cast into pipe, jib cranes were the sole means of conveyance in the pit-casting process. When pit casting was replaced by centrifugal casting in the 1920s, many pits were filled and the cranes were used to produce cast iron fittings or general maintenance work. Only one jib crane remained at the American Cast Iron Pipe Company in recent years, and it was probably the last pit-cast jib crane to operate, which it did until it was given to the Sloss Furnace Museum in early 1986.
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Image Credit:
Courtesy ASME
Image Caption:
The crane as it is used today, in general service
Era_date_from:
1905
1977
In the late 1920s, the automobile cut railroad passenger service by more than half. The debut of the Pioneer Zephyr heralded a comeback in 1934, touring the country and being seen by some two million people in 222 cities.
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Image Credit:
Courtesy Flickr/Steve Wilson (CC BY 2.0)
Image Caption:
Pioneer Zephyr
Era_date_from:
1934
1980
The economic situation in the whale oil business (for lighting), coupled with the increased demand for lubricants, stimulated growth in the U.S. petroleum industry. The drilling of the heavy, sulfurous, and asphaltic California crude began in the 1870s at the Pico Canyon area, using the apparatus and techniques from Titusville, Pennsylvania, developments.
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Image Credit:
Courtesy Flickr/Konrad Summers (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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Pioneer Oil Refinery California Star Oil Works
Era_date_from:
1876
1975
This was the first successful machine for mechanizing the identification and price marking of retail merchandise. At a single stroke of the operating handle, the machine formed a tag from a roll of stock, imprinted it with price and other information, formed a wire staple, and stapled the tag to the merchandise. This means for dispensing with handmade and written tags amounted to a minor revolution in the then rapidly expanding retail industry.
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Image Credit:
Courtesy ASME
Image Caption:
Pin-Ticketing Machine
Era_date_from:
1902
1990
After an initial difficulty in attracting customers (who were used to getting their water from public pumps and private wells and cisterns), Philadelphia's waterworks soon couldn't keep up with demand. John Davis and Frederick Graff designed a complete remodeling of the system in 1811 so that it could supply the city's growing needs.
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Image Credit:
Public Domain (National Park Service)
Image Caption:
Philadelphia Municipal Water Supply
Era_date_from:
1801
1974
Philadelphia City Hall was the largest masonry load-bearing wall building in the world at the time of its completion in 1901, stood as the tallest occupied building in the United States until 1909, and still is the largest city hall in the United States. The building covers 14.26 acres, originally contained 634 rooms with over 1 million square feet of space, and with its tower and statue of William Penn rises a total of 548 feet above the ground. The construction of Philadelphia City Hall began in 1872 and was completed in 1901.
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Image Credit:
Courtesy Flickr/elPadawan (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Image Caption:
Philadelphia City Hall
Era_date_from:
1901
2005
Breezewood Harrisburg State: PA Zip: Country: USA Website: http://www.asce.org/project/pennsylvania-tunpike-(old-section)/ Creator: Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission
The Pennsylvania Turnpike was the first American paved highway of the automobile era in which tolls alone were expected to pay all project costs. The 160-mile roadway, which cut an east-west path from Pittsburgh to the state capital of Harrisburg, was considered a revolutionary example of transportation system design and served as a model for the Interstate Highway System.
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Image Credit:
Courtesy Flickr/Doug Kerr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Image Caption:
Pennsylvania Turnpike (Old Section)
Era_date_from:
1940
1988
Water wheels have been used to power mills and pumps for centuries. However, the traditional water wheel was inefficient: water hitting a bucket would splash back against the next bucket, slowing the wheel. This is especially true when water is delivered to the buckets under very high pressure.
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Public Domain (Author's Choice)
Image Caption:
Pelton Impulse Water Wheel
Era_date_from:
1878
1973
Innovations
Tests Of Grain Aeration To Cool And Dry Combine-Harvested Wheat By F. L. Fenton, C. O. Swanson, And Orval C. French At Kansas State University In 1930-31 Showed Mechanical Ventilation To Be More Effective Than Natural Draft Ventilation. Mechanical Aeration Was Further Developed In The…
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The Sidehill Combine Developed By The Holt Brothers At Stockton, California In 1891, A Significant Milestone In Grain Harvesting And Agricultural Efficiency That Opened New Land For Wheat Farming, Is Designated A Historic Landmark Of Agricultural Engineering By The American Society Of…
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Near This Location In The 1930's James E. Love And Horace D. Hume Of Garfield, Washington, Invented The Flexible Floating Cutterbar And The Tined Pickup Reel To Harvest Low-Growing, Fragile Crops. These Devices Were Developed For The Local Crops Of Dry Peas And Lentils And Were Then…
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In 1892, John H. Froehlich, Froehlich, IA, Mounted A Gasoline Fueled Internal Combustion Engine On A Traction Geared Frame And Used It To Power A Threshing Machine. A Change In Power Source Had Begun On North American Farms. In 1892, The Case Co., Racine, Wi, Built An Experimental Gas…
Read MoreIn 1926, Ives Hall, the original Agricultural Engineering Building at The Ohio State University, Columbus, was designated as ASAE's first engineering landmark in honor of department founder and 18th president of ASAE Fredrick Walter Ives. Frederick W. Ives 1884 - 1924.
Ives Hall was on…
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On this site in 1837 John Deere built the first successful self-scouring steel plow, thereby making a significant contribution to the development of American agriculture. Dedicated by American Society of Agricultural Engineers 1976
The first laser grade control was developed by agricultural engineers James Fouss and Norman Fausey of USDA's Agricultural Research Service at The Ohio State University in the mid-1960's. That system controlled the precise depth and grade of subsurface drains by regulating trenching and…
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Luebben Hay Baler - Historic Landmark of Agricultural Engineering. In 1892, Hugh Luebben from Sutton, Nebraska, with sons Melchior and Ummo built a mobile machine to produce round hay bales between two sets of rotating flat belts. They began manufacturing the baler in 1909 in Beatrice…
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Designated A Historic Landmark Of Agricultural Engineering The Massey-Harris No. 20 was the First Commercially- Successful Self-Propelled Combine Used to Harvest Small Grains Under a Wide Variety of Conditions, World-Wide. Engineered By Thomas Carroll, Chief Engineer, Aided by Robert…
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A Historic Landmark of Agricultural Engineering in 1834 Near the Village of Climax, Michigan, Hiram Moore and John Hascall Built and Put Into Practical Use the First Successful Grain Combined Harvester - Thresher Which was Patented June 28, 1836. This Achievement was a Significant…
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The First Official Nebraska Tractor Test was Started in this Building March 31, 1920. These Pioneer Tests Became Worldwide Standards and are Recognized by The American Society of Agricultural Engineers as an Historic Landmark of Agricultural Engineering. 1980
This machine is the world's first successful automatic pickup, self-tying hay baler. Its invention was a significant contribution to the development of American Agriculture. The baler was invented and hand-built in 1937 at Farmersville, Pa., a few miles from here. After testing and…
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The concept of once-over mechanical, as opposed to multiple-pick hand or experimental multiple-pick machine harvesting, represented a major break-through in the practice of producing vine fruit such as pickling cucumbers. In the 1950s the cost of hand harvesting was as high as 50% of the…
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In the mid 1930's, the USDA Soil Conservation Service (SCS) realized the importance of hydrologic processes on agricultural fields and watersheds and determining their impact on soil erosion, floods, water resources, and the agricultural economy. In response, the SCS Hydrologic Division…
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Since the beginning of irrigated agriculture, it has been important to measure flows of irrigation water. Accuracy of early water measurement methods often suffered because of trash or sediment in the water, or unusual flow conditions. Ralph L. Parshall saw this problem when he began…
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William J. Conroy Of Aylmer, Quebec, Received Patent No. 465,127 On The First Field Hay Chopper On 15 December, 1891. Its Sickle Cut The Crop, Which Was Elevated Directly Into A Cylindrical Curved-Bar Cutterhead. It Was Not Commercially Successful, But It Recognized The Need.
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Designated a Historic Landmark of Agricultural Engineering at Oakland Manor In 1876 Francis Morris Built Brick Silos in His Barn and Introduced the Practice of Making Corn Silage in the United States. His Further Experiments Developed the Use of Earthen Trenches and Thereby Significantly…
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Pole Frame Building Historic Landmark Of Agricultural Engineering - In the mid 1940's, "B G" Perkins of Doane Agricultural Service introduced a new pole-frame construction along the Missouri-Illinois border. This idea revolutionized the way barns were built. With pole-frame construction,…
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The Rain Bird horizontal action impact drive sprinkler head was invented in 1933 by Orton Englehardt, a citrus grower and native of Glendora. The design offered slow rotation and uniform watering, benefits long sought by local irrigators. Clement M. LaFetra, a friend of Englehardt, urged…
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