SECTION OF TRANSPORTATION AND ENGINEERING. 165 



orij;iii;il iiistrumcMit, invented ami coustrncted by Alfred Vail, by which 

 the liistoric message, " What liath God wrought," was received at the 

 Baltimore end of the first telegraph line, May 24, 1844, is also jjreserved 

 in the collection, where it was deposited by the sons of the great inventor 

 some years ago. 



In addition to these letters are several sheets of drawings and litho- 

 graphs of the early machines, all deposited by Mrs. Amanda Vail, widow 

 of Alfred Vail ; also a paper ribbon containing a dot-and-dash record of 

 the first Presidential election reported by telegraph in 1844. This relic 

 was dei^osited by Stephen Vail, son of the inventor. 



Mr. J. E. Hinds, of Brooklyn, N. Y., has added greatly to tlie value 

 of the electrical series by depositing a collection of incandescent lamps, 

 switches, and other apparatus used in 1881 in one of the earliest 

 electric-light plants in America. These relics formed an important part 

 of the Loan Collection at the Electrical Celebration at Providence, in 

 February, 1891, previously alluded to. 



In my last report the fact that the original boiler of the historic loco- 

 motive " Stourbridge Lion " had been acquired, was mentioned. It 

 gives me pleasure now to state that one of the original cylinders of this 

 locomotive has been deposited by Lindsay & Early, of Carbondale, Pa., 

 to whom the Museum is also indebted for. the boiler. As before stated, 

 " it is the intention to mount the boiler on the original driving wheels, 

 collected in 1888." The accession of the cylinder will make possible a 

 more complete restoration of this historic locomotive. 



The series illustrating the development of the car wheel has been added 

 to by a gift from Mr. Theodore K. Ely, general superintendent of motive 

 power Pennsylvania Eailroad, of a car wheel of the type in use when 

 the first locomotives were put on the New Jersey Railroad, in 1831. It 

 is quite similar to the wheels used under the passenger cars when they 

 were drawn by horses, prior to the introduction of locomotives, on the 

 first portion of the Pennsylvania Railroad, opened for traffic in 1834. 



Through the courtesy of the master mechanic of the New York Cen- 

 tral and Hudson River Railroad Company, one of the original driving- 

 wheels of the locomotive " De Witt Clinton " has found a place in the 

 collection. The "DeWitt Clinton" was built at the West Point 

 Foundry, New York, in 1831, and was the first locomotive constructed 

 in America to do work. It was also the first engine placed in service 

 on the Albany and Schenectady load, the oldest raihvay in the 

 State of New York. 



This engine was the subject of the illustration in silhouette, familiar 

 to all students of the early history of the American railway. 



PATENT CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 



Early in December, the i)lans which had been under discussiou for 

 several months for celebrating the beginning of the second century of 

 the American patent system, in a manner commensurate with the vast 

 importance of the interests involved, crystallized by the appointment of 



