FOREWORD 



In the year 1884 a Section of Transportation was organized in 

 the L'nited States National Museum for the i)uri)ose of preparing 

 and assemhhng educational exhihits of a few ohjects of railroad 

 machinery which had been obtained both from the Centennial Exhi- 

 bition held in Philadelphia in 1876 and still earlier as incidentals to 

 ethnological collections, and to secure other collections relating to the 

 railway industry. 



From this beginning the section was expanded to include the 

 whole field of engineering and is designated at present as the Divisions 

 of Mineral and Mechanical Technology. The growth and enlarge- 

 ment of the collections has been particularly marked in the fields of 

 mining and mineral industries ; mechanical engineering, especially 

 pertaining to the steam engine, internal combustion engine and loco- 

 motive ; naval architecture, and electrical engineering, particularly the 

 development of the telegraph, telephone and the electric light. 



In the acquisition of objects visualizing the history of electric 

 light the Museum has 1)een rather fortunate, particularly as regards 

 the developments in the United States. Thus mention may be made 

 of the original Patent Office models of the more important dvnamos. 

 arc lights and incandescent lights, together with original commercial 

 apparatus after these models ; a unit of the equipment used in the first 

 commercially successful installation on land of an incandescent lighting 

 system, presented by Joseph E. Hinds in whose engraving establish- 

 ment in New York City the installation was made in 1881 ; and a large 

 series of incandescent lights, mainly originals, visualizing chrono- 

 logically the developments of the Edison light from its inception, pre- 

 sented at intervals since the year 1898 by the (General Electric 

 Company. 



The ()I)ject of all collections in the Divisions is to visualize broadly 

 the steps by which advances have l)een made in each field of engineer- 

 ing ; to show the layman the fundamental and general principles which 

 are the l)asis for the developments : and to familiarize the engineer 

 with branches of engineering other than his own. Normally when a 

 subject is completely covered by a collection of objects, a paper is pre- 

 pared and published descril)ing the collection and the story it portrays. 

 In the present instance, however, on account of the uncertainty of 



