SECRETARY'S REPORT 29 



represents the beginning of American mass production by macliine 

 tools. A rare 19th.-century Holtzapffel ornamental turning lathe was 

 acquired with a very comprehensive collection of accessories. Edvard 

 Johansson, Eoyal Swedish Consul at Detroit, donated a set of Johans- 

 son gauge blocks for the hall. The adoption of the Johansson system 

 of gauges invented by his father, C. E. Johansson in the late 19th 

 century, revolutionized mass production by making it possible to 

 achieve universal interchangeability of machine parts. This particu- 

 lar set was the first to be produced in stainless steel and was made 

 especially to be given to the inventor on his 7lst birthday in 1933. The 

 presentation was made in a formal ceremony in the hall of tools on 

 March 13 by the Royal Swedish Ambassador, His Excellency Hubert 

 de Besch. 



Among the outstanding models received by the division of trans- 

 portation were a Pacific coast lumber steamer, a 4-masted barkentine, 

 and the schooner Fly of 1812. A model of the new class of fast freight 

 steamers, the American Challenger, 1962 record holder for the North 

 Atlantic crossing by a freighter, was received from the United States 

 Lines as a gift. 



The oldest scale model of an American-built ship. His Majesty's 

 44-gun ship America, built at Portsmouth, N.H., in 1746-1747, was 

 received as a 3-year loan by special agreement from the trustees of 

 the Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, N.H. The model will be 

 repaired and exhibited by the marine section and, after a year, trans- 

 ferred to the division of naval history for a 2-year exhibition period. 



Three early railway signals (1880-1905) were donated by Thomas 

 T. Taber to the section of land transportation. The vehicle collection 

 was enriched by several important additions. The Mack Bulldog 

 truck (1930) is the first commercial motor vehicle to be added to the 

 collection and was donated by Victor Ottilio & Sons. A fine Eocka- 

 way (1860) was the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Carl F. Flemer, Jr. A 

 Hack Passenger Wagon (1880), more commonly called a mud wagon, 

 was also added to the carriage collection. 



The largest object accessioned in the division of electricity was an 

 85-ton alternating-current generator from the Adams station at Niag- 

 ara Falls, donated jointly by Niagara-Mohawk Power Corp. and 

 Westinghouse Electric Corp. It is this alternator that inaugurated 

 in 1895 the modem era of central stations distributing electrical power 

 over large areas. A somewhat smaller, but very important, magneto 

 generator was received from the University of Virginia. It was 

 made by Hippolyte Pixii in 1832 or 1833 and represents the first use 

 of a commutator for the production of direct current. Only two 

 other machines like this are known to exist in the world. A third 

 generator, by Charles Wheatstone, was obtained on indefinite loan 



