SECTION OF TRANSPORTATION AND ENGINEERING. 129 



days in the Museum, in August, L891, where lie studied the collect ions 

 and had access to a provisional outline of a proposed exhibit, which 

 had been prepared by the curator at the request of the assistant sec- 

 retary of the Smithsonian Institution, to be used if it were decided that 

 the section of transportation and engineering should be represented in 

 the Government exhibit at Chicago. 



With the return of this scheme of classification the following con; 

 muuication was received: 



[Department transportation exhibits— railways, vessels, vehicles— Willard A. Smith, chief.] 



Office of the Director-General, 



World's Columbian Exposition, 

 Chicago, III., U. S. A., August 27, 1891. 

 Dear Sir: I return herewith a scheme of a transportation exhibit, which you 

 kindly loaned to me, and which promises to be of much value. I am greatly obliged 

 to you for the favor, as also for the other literature which you kindly gave me. It 

 will save a great deal of research which would otherwise have been necessary. 

 Yours truly, 



Willard A. Smith. 

 Prof. J. E. Watkins, 



National Museum, Washington, !>.<'. 



Access to the study and exhibition series in the section was also 

 given to Mai. J- Cr. Pangborn, special agent in charge of the Baltimore 

 and Ohio Railroad Company's historical exhibit at the World's Colum- 

 bian Exposition. Numerous photographs of models and drawing's in 

 the collection were made by Maj. Pangborn's representative for this 

 exhibit, which promises to be more elaborate than ever before made at 

 an exposition by a railroad company. 



At the request of the chief clerk of the Post-Office Department a 

 number of models and drawings in the collection were photographed to 

 form the basis of illustrations for a publication which is designed to 

 show the growth of the United States Post-Office Department. 



Among the important accessions during the year are the following: 



Electrical locomotive, which made the most rapid recorded speed (11.") to 120 miles 

 per hour) on land, by generated power, at Laurel, Md., in the year 1889. Publicly 

 reported by O. T. Crosby in his paper entitled High Speed Electrical Works, and 

 by .1. Dashiell, jr., in the Electrical Railway as Applied to Steam Roads. Both papers 

 are to be found in the proceedings of the American Association of Mechanical Engi- 

 neers. 



The following letter accompanied this most interesting piece of machin- 

 ery : 



New York, June 13, 1890. 



My Dear Sir: According to your request 1 make the following statement: My 

 electric motor was originated and designed by me for rapid speed. I had in view 

 the enlargement id' the same to supplant the steam engine on standard railroads for 

 long-distance service. 



It was the first electric motor which was successfully run with the armatures 

 wound directly around the axles, thereby doing away with all wearing parts except 

 the journals, and admitting of any speed desirable. 



H. M is. 114, pt. 2 



