Development of the locomotive engine a history of the growth of the locomotive from its most elementary form, showing the gradual steps made toward the developed engine, with biographical sketches of the eminent engineers and inventors who nursed it on its way to the perfected form today
Records of the Pittsburgh Locomotive Works and correspondence and personal papers of General Manager Daniel A. Wightman.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of business correspondence 1895-1901 of the company, including correspondence of the General Manager, D.A. Wightman; personal papers of Mr. Daniel A. Wightman including a sketch book, 1874-76; Specifications for locomotives and tenders; price lists; locomotive cost estimates; tests; hauling capacities of locomotives; and conditions of apprenticeship. There are also as 311 blueprints of the company's designs or drawings for various sizes of locomotives.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into ten series.
Series 1: Business Correspondence
Series 2: D.A. Wightman Personal Papers
Series 3: Specifications
Series 4: Price Lists
Series 5: Estimates for Locomotive Construction
Series 6: Locomotive Tests
Series 7: Hauling Capacities of Locomotives
Series 8: Apprenticeship
Series 9: Miscellaneous Notes
Series 10 : Locomotive Designs of the Company
Biographical / Historical:
Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works was founded by Andrew Carnegie and T.N. Miller in 1865. Like most other railway companies, Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works was involved in designing and building light locomotive engines. Its first locomotive was finished in April, 1867, two years after the Civil War.
An energetic new superintendent, Daniel A. Wightman of Allegheny, Allegheny County, joined the company soon after its founding. The date of his employment with the company is unknown, but Wightman1s sketches of locomotives appear about 1874. In 1893, Wightman applied to the Commissioner of Patents for patent rights over his invention of an improvement in compound engines.
Wightman was the company's Superintendent and General Manager between 1895 and 1900. By the following year, 1901, the company had built a total of 2,400 locomotives. That same year, Pittsburgh Locomotive merged with a new corporation, the American Locomotive Company. The American Locomotive eventually closed the Pittsburgh plant after March, 1919.
Pittsburgh Locomotive Works was one of the first to produce really huge locomotives under Daniel A. Wightman. Many of these engines were sold to other Railway Companies throughout the United States.
Provenance:
Immediate source of acquisition unknown.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Locomotives -- Design and construction -- 1874-1910 Search this
3 Boxes (2 letter sized boxes, 1 legal sized box.)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Clippings
Press releases
Speeches
Photographs
Date:
[mid-1940s-early 1960s]
Summary:
This collection spans the period from the mid-1940s to the early-1960s and consists ofnewspaper and magazine articles by and about Loewy, including the 1949 TIME magazine on which he appeared on the cover. Extensive clippings exist pertaining to his designs for automobiles. Also includes many articles and speeches written by and about William Snaith, a partner in the firm which was renamed Raymond Loewy/William Snaith, Inc. in 1961. A catalog from the exhibition, "Ten Automobiles," which took place at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1953, is included. Other materials include brochures printed and designed by the firm, press releases, a listing of projects, honors, and membership. Some photographs of Loewy and his design team are included. The collection does not contain any original design materials or project files.
Arrangement note:
Unprocessed.
Biographical/Historical note:
Industrial Designer. Born Paris, France, November 8, 1893, Loewy initially studied electrical engineering, and by 1909, he has designed and sold a successful airplane model. He immigrated to the United States in 1919 and became a naturalized citizen in 1938. Loewy began working as a freelance window display designer for Macy's and Saks Fifth Avenue, and as an illustrator for Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and others, from 1919.
He designed the trademark for Neiman-Marcus in 1923. Loewy is identified as one of the founding fathers of industrial design. In 1929, he started Raymond Loewy Associates in New York, and by 1947, he appeared on the cover of TIME magazine. Loewy's designs always stressed the importance of the clean, functional, dynamic design of products. His schooling in electrical engineering translated into his designs for automobiles, trains, airplanes, ships, and spacecraft for NASA. He also designed interiors for many hotels, offices, and supermarkets. He is best known for his designs for the 1947 Studebaker Starlight Coupe; the 1953 Starliner Coupe; the 1961 Avanti; the 1947 line of Hallicrafter radio recievers; the 1929 Gestetner duplicating machine; the 1934 Sears Coldspot refrigerator; and the S-I steam locomotive for the Pennsylvania Railroad.
He also designed logos for Exxon and Shell oil companies, and bottles and refrigerated vending machines for Coca Cola. He became President of the American Society of Industrial Designers in 1946. Loewy established Compagnie de l'Esthetique Industrielle in Paris in 1952. His work has been featured in many exhibitions, including: "An Exhibition for Modern Living", Detroit Institute of Arts, 1949; "The Designs of Raymond Loewy", Renwick Gallery of the National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1975; and "The Machine Age in America", Brooklyn Museum, 1986, among others. He authored, "The Locomotive: Its Esthetics", 1937; "Never Leave Well Enough Alone", 1951; and "Industrial Design", 1979. In 1961, Loewy went into semi-retirement, became partners with William Snaith, and renamed the company Raymond Loewy/William Snaith, Inc. Loewy died in Monte Carlo, July 14, 1986.
Location of Other Archival Materials Note:
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. The Raymond Loewy Collection. Drawings, blueprints, sketches, phtographs, slides, and audio and video recordings, covering the period from 1929-1988.
Canadian Center for Architecture, Special Collections. Vertical file docmenting Loewy's work.
Provenance:
The materials in this collection were donated to Cooper-Hewitt by Betty Reese, Loewy's publicist.
Restrictions:
Unprocessed; access is limited. Permission of Library Director required for use.
Cooper Industries, Inc. ; Cooper Crouse-Hinds ; Search this
Notes content:
Catalog updates. Condulets: threadless, for electric metallic tubing, explosion-proof, locomotive, for corrosive locations, for industrial lighting, couplings and connectors. Lighting: football field illumination, floodlight projectors and reflectors, airport lighting equipment, industrial lighting, arc and incandescent headlights. Traffic signals and traffic control. Misc.: knife switches, electrical wiring for hazardous locations, safety panels and cabinets, harpoon guy anchors, pipe hangers, unions and connectors. Groundulets, safety circuits. Plugs and receptacles. ; Jesse Hinds and Huntington Crouse are credited with inventing the first traffic light.
design and construction of steam power plants, hydro-electric developments, transmission systems, steel mills, reinforced concrete and steel structures, industrial plants of every type and locomotive terminals, electrification and shops ;
Includes:
Trade catalog
Black and white images
Physical description:
3 pieces; 1 box
Language:
English
Type of material:
Trade catalogs
Trade literature
Place:
New York City, New York, United States
Date:
1900s
Topic (Romaine term):
Industrial equipment or mechanical machinery (including supplies and components) Search this
J. D. Fate Co. ; Plymouth Locomotive Works ; Fate International ; Search this
Notes content:
Locomotives. Locomotives for road construction. Coal dust, coal chips, flue dust, B.O.F. dust reclamation and recycling. Tractors; lawn mower sharpeners; highway mowers; extruding machines; pottery de-airing machines ; also several Plymouth Locomotive Works catalogs can be found in the cataloged portion, shelved under Plymouth Locomotive.
Transmissions, clutches, controls sets. Heavy duty and military truck transmissions ; Transmissions with hydraulic couplings for rail cars, power units, winches, tractors, road rollers, road building machinery, excavating machinery, locomotives, yarders, capstans, drilling rigs, hoists.
Russell Engine Co. (Massillon, OH) ; A. H. Averill Machinery Co. (Portland, OR) ; The Clark Implement Co. (Council Bluffs, IA) ; Geo. O. Richardson Machinery Co. (St. Joseph, MO) ; F. P. Harbaugh Co. (St. Paul, MN) ; Massillon Engine & Thresher Co. (Chattanooga, TN) ; Arbuckle-Ryan Co. (Toledo, OH) ; Lindsay Bros. (Milwaukee, WI) Search this
Notes content:
steam and gas tractors ; threshers ; "The Old Reliable Russell Line" ; steel water tanks ; portable and stationary boilers ; saw mill machinery ; steam road locomotive for hauling, plowing, and road building ; "Russell Roller" ; complete road-building equipment ; "Massillon" steam shovels ; pneumatic stackers ; four valve automatic cut off steam engines ; "The Russell Engine" ; hauling wagons and trailers ; rye, beans, rice, peas and other grains and seeds ; straw stackers and weighers ; unique with striking color illustrations, equipment drawings, and graphics ;
The Marshall Organisation ; Marshall Sons & Co. Ltd. ; Marshall Sons & Co. (India) Ltd. ; Marshalls (Pakistan) Ltd. ; Marshall Son & Co. Inc. (MA) Search this
Notes content:
"Marshall" oil engines ; "Colonial" tractors for use in British-held colonies ; "Track-Marshall" tractors and earth-moving equipment ; "Field-Marshall" tractors ; "Road-Marshall" rollers for road building ; "Marshall" "Economic" boilers ; locomotive multitubular boilers ; "Marshall" universal crop drier ; tea machinery ; tea drier ; wire drawing machinery ; gauge table shears ; paper box machinery .
Includes:
Trade catalog and price lists
Black and white images
Color images
Physical description:
20 pieces; 1 box
Language:
English
Type of material:
Trade catalogs
Trade literature
Place:
Gainsborough, United Kingdom
Date range:
1800s-1900s
Topic (Romaine term):
Business services (advertising; marketing; organizational management; etc.) Search this
Brown Hoisting and Conveying Machine Co.; Brown Hoisting Machinery Co. ; Industrial Brownhoist Corp. Search this
Notes content:
Shovel cranes ; locomotive cranes ; clamshell buckets ; "Brownhoist" belt conveyors ; transfer cars and larries ; lumber handling machinery ; drop - forged chain for conveyors and elevators ; suspended concrete bins and coal handling machinery for power plants ; tramrail systems, trolleys, electric hoists ; excavators ; road building equipment...see also cataloged portion of Industrial Brownhoist Corp.
Includes:
Trade catalog
Black and white images
Color images
Physical description:
50 pieces; 3 boxes
Language:
English
Type of material:
Trade catalogs
Trade literature
Place:
Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Date:
1800s
Topic (Romaine term):
Construction and earth-moving machinery Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Transportation Search this
Extent:
1.5 Cubic feet (5 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Statistics
Correspondence
Blueprints
Place:
Pennsylvania
New Haven (Conn.)
New York
Philadelphia (Pa.)
Hartford (Conn.)
Date:
1912-1949
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of statistics on electric train operation, drawings, blueprints, technical papers, train classifications, research and development reports, business and financial correspondence (1933, 1939-1948, 1940-1941), installation and operation instructions, locomotive system test procedures, locomotive operations data and calculations, records of locomotive mileages and part failures, suggested locomotive improvements, locomotive specifications, plans for fire extinguishing systems, tonnage ratings and includes material from the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, Piedmont and Northern Railroad, Pennsylvania Railroad, Takata and Co. Railroad, Philadelphia and Western Railroad, Sorocabana Railway, and Erie Railroad Co.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into 8 series.
Series 1: New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad
Series 2: Piedmont and Northern Railway Company
Series 3: Takata and Company
Series 4: Philadelphia and Western Railway Company
Series 5: Sorocabana Railway
Series 6; Pennsylvania Railroad
Series 7: Miscellaneous Westinghouse Reports
Series 8: Erie Railroad Company
Provenance:
This collection was donated by David Hamily of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1986.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Reproduction permission from Archives Center: reproduction fees may apply.
Topic:
Locomotives -- Design and construction Search this
