Made in America: Power
Daily Activities at Made in America: Power
While there are no scheduled activities today, be sure to see our complete activities listing for upcoming offerings.
Explore the legacy of American innovators from the 18th to 20th centuries who made America a manufacturing superpower. The exhibit includes hundreds of artifacts such as the Newcomen Engine, Highland Park Engine, and even Edison’s Last Breath.
Highlights
Maudslay Production Lathe, circa 1800
Artifact
Lathe
Date Made
circa 1800
Summary
The work of Henry Maudslay (1771-1831) is fundamental to the development of industrial precision. This is the oldest industrial capacity precision machine tool in the world. Capable of machining to an accuracy of several thousandths of an inch, it enabled Maudslay's company to manufacture tools and engines to unprecedented standards -- and set the stage for even higher levels of precision.
Creators
Place of Creation
Object ID
29.702.1
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth & Company.
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Maudslay Production Lathe, circa 1800
What is The Henry Ford?
The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.
Rotative Steam Engine, 1788
Artifact
Steam engine (Engine)
Date Made
1932
Creators
Place of Creation
Keywords
Object ID
32.806.1
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Rotative Steam Engine, 1788
What is The Henry Ford?
The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.
Highland Park Plant Engine- Generator, 1915-1916
Artifact
Engine (Power producing equipment)
Date Made
1915-1916
Summary
Ford's Model T mass production system would not have been practical without electricity; by 1919 nine of these Ford-designed hybrid internal combustion/steam engines generated the power needed by the Highland Park plant's assembly lines and associated machinery. By 1926 the engines were rendered obsolete when electricity was fed from the power plant at Ford's River Rouge plant ten miles away.
Creators
Object ID
30.1200.1
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Ford Motor Company.
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Highland Park Plant Engine- Generator, 1915-1916
What is The Henry Ford?
The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.
Newcomen Engine, circa 1750
Artifact
Steam engine (Engine)
Date Made
circa 1750
Summary
This is the oldest known surviving steam engine in the world. Named for its inventor Thomas Newcomen, the engine converted chemical energy in the fuel into useful mechanical work. Its early history is not known, but it was used to pump water out of the Cannel mine in the Lancashire coalfields of England in about 1765. The engine was presented to Henry Ford in 1929.
Place of Creation
Keywords
United Kingdom, England, Greater Manchester, Ashton under Lyne
Object ID
29.1506.1
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Earl of Stamford Trustees.
Related Objects
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Newcomen Engine, circa 1750
What is The Henry Ford?
The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.
Edison Dynamo Used on SS Columbia, 1880
Artifact
Electric generator
Date Made
1880
Summary
For Thomas Edison, successful experimental results were but a prelude to continual improvements that would lead to commercial implementation. This dynamo is from the first lighting system he sold -- installed on a ship, four months after the December 1879 experimental demonstration. Its crude finish, at odds with the highly advanced technology it embodied, suggests Edison's impatient eagerness to move from experiment to market.
Creators
Place of Creation
Object ID
30.1123.2
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of General Electric Company.
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Edison Dynamo Used on SS Columbia, 1880
What is The Henry Ford?
The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.
Test Tube, "Edison's Last Breath," 1931
Artifact
Test tube
Date Made
1931
Summary
This test tube was one of several that Charles Edison noticed standing open in a rack in the bedroom in which his father had just died in 1931. The attending physician was asked to seal the tubes, one of which Charles later sent on to Henry Ford who kept it with other Edison mementos at his home, Fair Lane.
Place of Creation
Object ID
51.13.51.3
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of the Clara Ford Estate.
Get more details in Digital Collections at:
Test Tube, "Edison's Last Breath," 1931
What is The Henry Ford?
The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.
Made in America: Power
Check out some of the amazing inventions you'll see first-hand when you take a journey through our Made in America: Power exhibit in Henry Ford Museum.
1916 Gas-Steam Engine
Ford's mass production wouldn't have been possible without the electricity generated by engines like this.
Gothic Revival Beam Engine
In the mid-1880s, steam power had become so common that it began to incorporate decorative design, in this case, incorporating Gothic design elements.
