Stationary steam engines, once the prime movers of industry, powered trains, ships, and mills in an age when there was no electric power. By the 19th century, American industry, especially in England, was rapidly outgrowing the capacity of the ater power that had been its principal prime mover. The need for a new power source inspired an intense development of the steam engine, the work of inventors directed mainly at imporving fuel efficiency by reducing steam consumption. The leader in this effort was George H.
Mechanical
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Courtesy Wikicommons/The-daffodil (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Image Caption:
Corliss steam engine
Era_date_from:
1964
1992
The Wilkinson Mill, situated on the west bank of the Blackstone River in Pawtucket, was built between 1810 and 1811 by machinist Oziel Wilkinson. Constructed in stone rubble, three and one-half stories high, the mill played a critical role in the history of textile technology, in steam power generation, and in the development of the machine tools industry.
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Courtesy Flickr/H.C. Williams (CC BY 2.0)
Image Caption:
Wilkinson Mill
Era_date_from:
1810
1977
The history of this foundry, which was the oldest malleable iron company in continuous operation in the United States for many years, was inseparable from that of the small town of Westmoreland, where neighbors and workers kept time by the foundry bell. The firm was founded as Oakhill Malleable Iron Company in 1833 and was established under its present name in Westmoreland in 1850. Erastus W. Clark, who along with his brother-in-law Abel Buell brought the foundry to Westmoreland, ran the ironworks until 1871 and was the first of six generations who still own and manage it.
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Courtesy ASME
Image Caption:
Westmoreland Iron Works
Era_date_from:
1850
1987
The Watkins Woolen Mill is among the best preserved examples of a Midwest woolen mill in nineteenth-century United States. Its machinery for preparing, spinning, and weaving wool reflects the existence of well-established textile industry in the country. It was designed and built by Waltus L. Watkins (1806-1884), a machinist and master weaver from Frankfort, Kentucky, who began operating his mill in 1861 in Clay County.
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Public Domain (National Park Service)
Image Caption:
Watkins Woolen Mill
Era_date_from:
1868
1980
The Voyager explorers, which provided scientists and the world with the first detailed pictures of faraway planets, were designed and tested during 1972 to 1977. The two most intelligent machines ever built in the NASA space program, the explorers were launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., in 1977. Voyager 2 was launched first on August 20, followed by Voyager 1 on September 5.
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Courtesy ASME
Image Caption:
Voyager Spacecraft Interplanetary Explorers
Era_date_from:
1972
1993
The Cairo is the sole survivor of the fleet of river gunboats built by the Union during the Civil War with the object of controlling the lower Mississippi River. Designed by Samuel Pook and built by James B. Eads, it saw limited battle and was sunk on the Yazoo River in 1862 by newly developed electronically detonated mines, becoming the first craft ever sunk by this predecessor to torpedo technology. The 175-foot ironclad vessel had 13 guns.
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Courtesy Flickr/James Case (CC BY 2.0)
Image Caption:
USS Cairo Engine and Boilers
Era_date_from:
1862
The USS Albacore (AGSS-569) represented a radical change in submarine design. The hull was designed with underwater speed as the prime requirement, and it was built with newly developed high-strength steel (HY-80). In addition to these two major innovations, the Albacore served as a test vessel for many new designs in submarine technology so that they could be refined before implementing them into the fleet. Among them was the testing of various control designs and correlation of actual sea-trial performance with that predicted in tow-tank tests.
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Image Caption:
USS Albacore
Era_date_from:
1953
2000
The Turbinia was the world's first turbine-driven ship. It attracted worldwide attention at the 1897 Spithead Naval Review by traveling more than 34 knots. This remarkable performance accelerated the acceptance of the steam turbine as an alternative to the steam reciprocating engine on ships as well as for central electric light and power stations. Sir Charles A. Parsons (1854-1931) invented (1884), developed, and promoted the steam turbine, as well as the design of the Turbinia. For this, he is considered among the outstanding technological innovators of all time.
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Public Domain (Copyright Expired)
Image Caption:
Turbinia
Era_date_from:
1897
1982
State: Tokyo-to Zip: 100-0005 Country: Japan Website: https://www.asme.org/about-asme/who-we-are/engineering-history/landmarks/211-tokaido-shinkansen Creator: Shima, Hideo
In 1964, Shinkansen (which means "new trunk line" and is also known as the bullet train) between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka became the world's first high-speed railway system, running at a maximum business speed of over 200 km/h (130-160 mph).
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Courtesy Flickr/Roger Wollstadt (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Image Caption:
Tokaido Shinkansen
Era_date_from:
1964
2000
he Automatic Temperature Control System was named as a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 2008. Warren S. Johnson came up with the idea for automatic temperature control while teaching at Normal School in Whitewater, Wisconsin in the 1880's. Originally, janitors would have to enter each classroom to determine if it was too hot or cold and then adjust the dampers in the basement accordingly. Johnson sought a way to end, or at least minimize the classroom interruptions of the janitors and increase the comfort level of the students.
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Image Caption:
Multi-Zone Automatic Temperature Control System
Era_date_from:
1885
2008
Innovations
With a water table several feet below ground level, New Orleans faced a crisis after every heavy rainfall, not just through flooding but also through disease (yellow fever and malaria) caused by impure water. New Orleans was dependent on mechanical means for lifting water from its canals and sewage… Read More
The Atlas E-2 Space Booster, or launch vehicle, is a modified intercontinental ballistic missile developed by the Convair Division of General Dynamics and the U.S. Air Force. The basic concept of the Atlas system was proven in its first flight on June 11, 1957, followed over the years by the… Read More
This is one of the three original 60-ton vessels by which the basic oxygen process (BOP) of steel making was introduced into this country from Austria, where it was invented. It heralded the first new technology in fifty years to become the basis of a major process for steel production throughout… Read More
Built by the Bay City Dredge Works of Bay City, Michigan, this dredge was used to construct a portion of US 41 called the Tamiami Trail, which connected Tampa with Miami through the Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp. The last remaining display of walking dredges (of some 145 walking machines), it…
Read More
This unit, retired from the Belle Isle Station of the Oklahoma Gas & Electric Company, was the first gas turbine to be used for electric utility power generation in the United States. It represents the transformation of the early aircraft gas turbine, in which the engines seldom ran more than… Read More
When built in 1962, this shovel was the second largest in the world. It was used for the removal of overburden in the surface mining of thin coal seams. In its lifetime, it recovered nine million tons of bituminous coal from depths of 20 to 50 feet for local electric power generation. Standing 160-… Read More
The ballpoint pen invented by Ladislao Jose Biro was originally patented in Hungary in 1938. The principle of the ballpoint pen was originally patented by John Loud in 1888 for a product to mark leather and in 1916 by Van Vechten Riesberg, but neither of these products were exploited commercially… Read More
This is the first commercial, human-blood heat exchanger. Developed in 1957, it permitted a patient's body temperature to be safely and rapidly lowered during open heart surgery to any desired and precisely controlled hypothermic level, then during the conclusion of the operation rapidly rewarmed… Read More
These two water turbines were probably the largest and nearly the most powerful ever built in the United States, supplying direct mechanical power to a manufacturing plant. Their installation between 1871 and 1873 makes them among the oldest surviving water turbines.
A dam at Cohoes diverted water… Read More
Founded by Eleuthère Irénéé du Pont (1771-1834), the Brandywine River Mills became the largest maker of explosive black powder in the United States. That success resulted directly from the firm's pioneering use of gunpowder processing machinery driven by water wheels and water turbines. Divided… Read More
This collection recognizes the inventive talents of John Moses Browning (1855-1926), a prolific and significant designer of sporting and military firearms, whose designs were known for simplicity, accuracy, and reliability. He held more than 128 patents covering 80 distinct firearms produced by… Read More
During the post-Civil War era, efforts to cultivate the land for higher crop yields resulted in the digging of thousands of miles of ditches to improve land drainage. Accurately graded ditches were needed for open drainage, pipeline trenches and placement of underground agricultural drainage…
Read More
This is the earliest known survivor of an integrated cotton ginning system widely used to process cotton from wagon to bale in a continuous operation. The gin machinery was designed and built in 1914 by the Lummus Cotton Gin Company. It can process seven bales per hour. Five gin stands, stick… Read More
As one of the large strikes in the Lake Superior geological district, the Chapin Mine was located under a cedar swamp and unminable until it was drained by one of the largest pumping engines of the 1880s. Miners at the Chapin Mine, which began producing ore in 1880, soon tried to sink a deep shaft… Read More
At the site of the first water pumping station providing water and sewage systems to the City of Erie in 1868, the Chestnut Street Pumping Station houses one of the largest steam engines, which pumped 20 million gallons a day. The triple-expansion steam reciprocating engine, which pumped water…
Read More
The Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy Railroad was the first railroad to link Chicago and the Mississippi River, in the 1850s. This forty-stall roundhouse, large even for its time, became a major center for railroad activity for the CB&Q. It served as a repair and construction facility from…
Read More
Fossil Creek meanders ten miles to the Verde River, dropping some 1,600 feet during its course and, at the turn of the century, enticed miners in the copper-rich Irving area to use a new technology -- hydroelectric power. A seven-mile series of flumes brings the water from a dam below Fossil Spring… Read More
Clyde's mill is a rare survivor of a once-commonplace seasonal rural industry. Until recently a cider mill could be found in every community where apples were grown. In the fall, mills converted the fruit of the orchard into drink just as the grist mill converted the grain into flour.
Although… Read More
Formerly known as the Oneida Street Power Plant, this plant served from 1918 to 1920 as the pilot plant in the United States for the development and use of finely pulverized coal firing in the boilers of steam-electric power plants. The results of the Oneida experiences were major changes in boiler… Read More
Colvin Run Mill is an early 19th century operating gristmill, closely modeled on the principles developed by Oliver Evans (1755-1819). Powered by a waterwheel, the restored mill was probably built on or after 1811 on the site of an older mill. Originally, the site was the property of George… Read More
