Telepono

Telegrapo








Water frame





Steam engine powered train






Cotton mill






Aeolipile or wind ball





Steamboat




Steam pump





The Steam Engine
In 1769 the Scotsman, James Watt (1736-1819),
patented an improved version of the steam engine which
ushered in the Industrial Revolution. Americans were
quick to seek ways to apply Watt's invention to the
needs of their country.
James Patrick Muirhead.
The Origin and Progress of
the Mechanical Inventions of
James Watt.
Vol. 3.
Page 2
London: J. Murray, 1854,
fold-out, p. 64.
General Collections (132)

John Fitch.
Sketch of
Steamboat,
ca. 1787.
Ink and pencil.
Manuscript
Division,Library of
Congress (133)


The Steam Boat
The idea of using steam power to propel boats occurred
to American inventors soon after the potential of Watt's
new engine became known. John Fitch (1743-1798) is
generally conceded to have been the United States's
pioneer in steam navigation. He successfully launched
and operated a steam powered vessel on the Delaware
River on August 22, 1787, in the presence of members
of the Constitutional Convention. Here is one of Fitch's
early sketches of a steam boat

The St. Louis Bridge
The famous iron arch bridge, spanning the Mississippi
River at St. Louis, is often called the Eads Bridge in
honor of James B. Eads (1820-1889), who designed it in
1867 and saw it through to completion in 1874. When
challenged about the practicality of his design, Eads
cited Telford's London bridge design of 1800.
Phillip Sandhurst.
The Great Centennial
Exhibition Critically
Described and
Illustrated.
Philadelphia: P. W.
Ziegler & Co., 1876.
Illustration facing p.
409.
General Collections, Library of Congress (135)

Benjamin Henry
Latrobe.
Design for the
Washington Canal,
1810.
Pen-and-ink
drawing.
Prints and
Photographs
Division, Library of Congress (137)


The Washington Canal
Here is one of Benjamin Henry Latrobe's designs for the
Washington Canal. Latrobe (1764-1820) learned the
techniques of canal building in England from engineer,
John Smeaton (1724-1792). After immigrating to the
United States in 1796, Latrobe was involved in
numerous canal building and water supply projects. He
worked on the designs for the canal during the period
that he was Surveyor of Public Buildings in Washington
from 1803 to 1812


The Introduction of Railroads
George Stephenson's (1781-1848) construction, in the
north of England, of his first locomotive was in 1814; his
first successful run was in 1825. Shortly thereafter,
Americans were building railroads in imitation of the
British and made numerous innovations on British
locomotives, such as Jervis' "bogie," a device that
allowed the engine's front wheels to swivel and
negotiate steep, winding tracks.
William Strickland.
Report on Canals,
Railways, Roads and
other Projects, Made
to the Pennsylvania
Society for the
Promotion of Internal
Improvements.
Philadelphia: H.C.
Carey and I. Lea, 1826.
Rare Book and Special Collections Division,
Library of Congress (138)


William Sturgeon.
Scientific
Researches,
Experimental and
Theoretical, in
Electricity,
Magnetism,
Galvanism, Electro-
magnetism, and
Electro-chemistry.
Bury: T. Crompton, 1850, plate 7.
General Collections (142)


Beginning of Electronic
Communications
In 1825, British inventor William Sturgeon (1783-1850)
exhibited a device that laid the foundations for large-
scale electronic communications: the electromagnet.
Sturgeon displayed its power by lifting nine pounds with
a seven-ounce piece of iron wrapped with wires through
which the current of a single cell battery was sent


The Telegraph
In 1830 an American, Joseph Henry (1797-1878),
demonstrated the potential of Sturgeon's device for long
distance communication by sending an electronic
current over one mile of wire to activate an
electromagnet which caused a bell to strike. Thus the
electric telegraph was born. Samuel F.B. Morse (1791-
1872), whose sketches of a "magnetized magnet" in
operation are shown here, successfully exploited
Henry's invention commercially.
Samuel F.B. Morse.
Railway Signal
Telegraph,
ca. 1840.
Color sketches.
Page 2
Manuscript Division,
Library of Congress
(143a,b)


"Gems of the Crystal
Palace, No. 1, The
Exterior."
London: George
Baxter, 1854.
Prints and
Photographs
Division, Library of
Congress (143A)


The Crystal Palace, 1851
On May 1, 1851, Queen Victoria opened the Great
Exhibition of Works of Industry of All Nations in London's
Hyde Park. The first world's fair, the exhibition brought
together the best manufactured products of seventy-
seven nations. The building in which it was held, nicked-
named the "Crystal Palace," was itself a technological
marvel of iron and glass devised by Joseph Paxton.
More than six million people from many nations visited
the exhibition during its five and a half-month run

"The Eighth Wonder
of the World: The
Atlantic Cable."
New York: Kimmel
and Foster, 1866.
Hand-colored
lithograph.
Prints and
Photographs
Division, Library of Congress (149)


The Atlantic Cable
The Atlantic cable, promoted by American entrepreneur,
Cyrus Field (1819-1892), was a major Anglo-American
enterprise that led to closer relations between Britain
and the United States. Between 1857 and 1866 five
expeditions attempted to span the Atlantic with a cable.
A cable was successfully laid in 1858, but operated for
only a month. Efforts were resumed after the American
Civil War and in 1866 success was achieved; Field
rejoiced that it was like "clasping hands across the sea."


The Telephone
Invented by Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), a
Scottish immigrant to America, the telephone
revolutionized communications throughout the United
States, Britain, and the world. Here are Bell's notes of a
conversation with his assistant, Thomas Watson, in
October 1876 in which the two men express satisfaction
with the improvements achieved in voice communication
since Bell's initial success the preceding March. "It is the
best I ever heard," Bell exultantly told Watson.
Alexander Graham
Bell.
Sketch of
Telephone,October,
1876.
Ink.
Manuscript Division,
Library of Congress
(150)




"The Type-
Writer"advertisement.

The
Nation, December
16, 1875, p. xviii.
General
Collections (151)


The Typewriter
The typewriter was another product of American
technological ingenuity that attained widespread use in
Britain after the Civil War. Invented immediately after
that conflict, the typewriter was converted into a
commercial success by the Remington Company and by
1890 "the machine began to occupy an important place
in the British commercial world." The paper in the
typewriter seen in this advertisement contains a
quotation from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

The Water Closet
British technology, high and low, continued to flow into
the United States after the Civil War, the water closet,
i.e., the flush toilet, being but one example. Seen here is
a variation of Thomas Crapper's (1837-1910)"Pull and
Let Go" design for flush toilets, perfected in 1884.
Catalogue C of The
Dalton-Ingersoll
Company of Fine
Sanitary Specialties
and General
Plumbing Supplies.
Boston: The Dalton-
Ingersoll Company,
1893.
General Collections (152)


Charles Graham.
"Making Bessemer Steel at
Pittsburgh, the Converters
at Work."
Harper's Weekly,
April 10, 1886,
volume 30,
pp. 232-233.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs
Division, Library of
Congress (153)


The Bessemer Converter
In the mid 1850s the English inventor Henry Bessemer
(1813-1898) patented a process for cheaply and rapidly
converting pig iron into steel, thus further accelerating
the Industrial Revolution. During the Civil War, an
American, Alexander Lyman Holley (1832-1882),
redesigned the Bessemer process, increasing its
efficiency and laying the foundation for the swift growth
of the American steel industry under the leadership of
entrepreneurs like Andrew Carnegie.


Andrew Carnegie
This cartoon of Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) as the
"Macmillion" in a kilt made of the American flag was
drawn in 1901, after the Scottish immigrant to the United
States had made his fortune in the steel industry, using
the Bessemer process. Pictured here endowing four
universities in his native Scotland, Carnegie was one of
the great philanthropists of all time, creating in the
United States a network of local, public libraries among
his other benefactions.
Bernard Partridge.
"The Macmillion."
Punch,
May 29, 1901,
p. 395.
General Collections(154)




"Edison's Greatest
Marvel The
Vitascope."
New York:
Metropolitan Print
Company, for Raff
and Gorman,
ca. 1896.
Color lithograph.
Prints and Photographs Division, Library of
Congress (155)


Motion Pictures
The motion picture was another technology in which the
United States achieved dominance in the British market
during the course of the twentieth century. There were
two decisive steps in the creation of the modern motion
picture: the transition from the "peep show" to the
projection of images over a distance, accomplished in
the 1890s by Thomas A. Edison's (1847-1931)
Vitascope; and the talking picture, introduced in the
American movie the Jazz Singer in 1927.



Manned Flight
In the twentieth century the United States
achieved technological leadership in certain areas
that rivaled British technological dominance early
in the 19th century. One area in which the United
States took the lead was manned flight. Here is
Orville Wright's diary entry of December 17, 1903,
describing the first successful manned flight at
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Orville Wright (1871-
1948) was at the controls of the flight, lying prone
on the lower wing of the aircraft.
This
image is
not
available
online.
Orville
Wright.
Diary
entry,
December
17, 1903.
Manuscript
Division,
Library of
Congress
(156A)


Mass Production and Henry Ford
Henry Ford (1863-1947) pioneered mass production,
which revolutionized industrial output in the twentieth
century. Ford brought his innovative methods to Britain,
building cars at Manchester and later at Dagenham.
Here are Model T Fords, on an assembly line in Detroit
and an ad for British Fords, ca. 1916.
"Completed Product
of a Great
Automobile Factory
Ready for Delivery,
Detroit, MI."
Meadville,
Pennsylvania:
Keystone View
Company, 1917.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs Division, Library of
Congress (159)


Paul Rudolph.
Beach Road Project,
Singapore,
1981-82.
Architectural drawing.
Prints and Photographs
Division, Library of
Congress (161)


Skyscrapers
Skyscrapers are another distinctive American
contribution to twentieth century technology that have
become features of the British landscape. Seen here is
a prospective study of the Beach Road Project in
Singapore by the distinguished American architect, Paul
Rudolph (1918-1997). Rudolph's pupils, including Sir
Norman Foster (b. 1935) and Richard Rogers (b. 1933),
have built prize-winning skyscrapers in Great Britain

Punch cards
Following in the tradition of Babbage, the American
Herman Hollerith (1860-1929) developed electronic
"tabulating" machines which could process large
amounts of data by a system of punching cards.
Hollerith's machines proved themselves in
expediting the compilation of census data in 1890
and 1900. Shown are instructions for the operation
of Hollerith's machine, a punch card, and a key
plate through which a punch perforated the cards.
Hollerith later worked for IBM.
Herman Hollerith.
Punch card, key
plate, andoperating
instructions, ca. 1895.
Manuscript Division,Library of
Congress (163)



John von Neumann.
ENIAC flow diagram for AEL-ENIAC,
December 18, 1950.
Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (164)


Super Computers
Immediately after World War II the United States began
developing "super computers," machines capable of
processing massive amounts of information at high
speeds. Initially developed for military applications,
these computers allowed the United States to establish
technological dominance in this vital field. Here is a flow
diagram, devised in 1950 by John von Neumann (1903-
1957) for the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator
and Computer), one of the early American super
computers.


DNA
The structure of the DNA molecule was one of the
finest examples of cooperation between British and
American scientists. American, James Watson (b.
1928) and Englishman, Francis Crick (b. 1916) and
published their discovery in 1953, and received the
Nobel Prize in 1962 for their achievement.
The Library does not have permissions to display
this image online.
Robert Wright.
"Molecular Biologist: Watson and Crick."
Time, March 29, 1999,
pp. 172-173.
General Collections (166)