National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry Search this
Extent:
0.25 Cubic feet (1 box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Blueprints
Correspondence
Patents
Photographs
Date:
1933-1950s
Summary:
Collection documents Fisher's work with heating, cooling, ventilating, and dust control systems.
Content Description:
Collection consists of articles, correspondence, advertisements, patents, photographs, employment records, pamphlets, blueprints, notes and drawings that relate to Fisher's work on cooling and refrigeration.
Arrangement:
Collectio is unarranged.
Biographical / Historical:
Ernest Faraday Fisher (1886-1974) graduated from Leavenworth High School in Leavenworth, Kansas, at the age of 16. He then worked for a year in his father's foundry. He attended the University of Kansas for one year, then moved to Pittsburgh in 1905 and worked for Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. During this time he attended Carnegie Tech, graduating in 1909. He continued to work for Westinghouse off and on until 1920. He was also employed by Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corp, in the 1910s, Whiting Corp, in the 1940s, Wright Aeronautical Corp, in the 1940s, Faraday Engineering Company in the 1950s, and the York Corp, in the 1950s. Fisher had patents on many heating, cooling, ventilating, and dust control systems. Several of these were sent to large companies, such as General Electric. His ideas made millions, but Fisher was never a businessman in that sense.
Provenance:
Immediate source of acquisition unknown. Presumed to have been donated in 1970.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.
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.
Papers contain performance data, publications, handwritten notes, and instruction manuals related to Westinghouse Corporation and the Westinghouse Engineering School. Also includes biographical materials (course books, notes and lesson plans) for E. Lewis Allen.
Arrangement:
Collection is unarranged.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Ellen Y. Allen, 1989.
Restrictions:
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.
Rights:
Collection is open for research. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.
Topic:
Refrigeration and refrigerating machinery Search this
14.46 Cubic feet (consisting of 30.5 boxes, 1 folder, 11 oversize folders, 1 map case folder, 1 flat box (partial).)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Business ephemera
Ephemera
Recipes
Date:
circa 1795-1970
Summary:
A New York bookseller, Warshaw assembled this collection over nearly fifty years. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana: Food forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Subseries 1.1: Subject Categories. The Subject Categories subseries is divided into 470 subject categories based on those created by Mr. Warshaw. These subject categories include topical subjects, types or forms of material, people, organizations, historical events, and other categories. An overview to the entire Warshaw collection is available here: Warshaw Collection of Business Americana
Scope and Contents:
This material consists primarily of advertising cards, bills/receipts, printed advertisements, catalogues, price lists, business cards, circulars, scattered correspondence on letterhead stationery, import/export documents, fruit crate and other types of labels, publications of various types and pamphlets and books from companies involved in the food industry. These businesses include manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers of food and food products, growers, commission merchants, importers and stores selling food either exclusively, as in grocery stores or food emporiums, or together with other products in general stores. The bulk of the material consists of bills and receipts and trade cards.
The large collection of fruit crate labels consists of three boxes, primarily from growers of apples and pears in the Pacific Northwest. The images on these labels range from caricatures, primarily of Indians, to lush images of the fruits being sold. There are numerous pictures depicting or related to the names of the growers or the brand name being used, such as Mountain Brand, Pyramid Brand, Eskimo Brand, a wren for F.O. Renn or a strongman for E.C. Sampson. Some of the more common images in addition to the Indians and fruit include cowboys, children, flowers, birds and river and mountain views. Several of the images and/or brand names appear on the labels of more than one company.
There are a number of publications included in the materials. There are magazines and journals, both for the trade and for the general public. There are books published about a particular type of food, often by a manufacturer or distributor of that food. There are also histories of some of the companies, usually written by or for the company. Also, in this category, are catalogs of large metropolitan food stores such as S.S. Pierce of Boston, the Joseph R. Peebles' Sons Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Park & Tilford and Francis H. Leggett, both of New York.
Materials in boxes one through eighteen are organized alphabetically by name of company. All materials relating to a particular company, with the exception of import/export documents, publications (if that is the only material) and fruit crate labels, are included with the company related materials.
Boxes eighteen through twenty-one contain the fruit crate labels. These are arranged alphabetically by company. The first folder of each letter contains labels of companies for which there is only one label. The last folder contains labels with no company name. Box twenty-two contains other food labels which are primarily from cans and jars. They are arranged alphabetically, first by type of product such as corn and corn products, ketchup, pasta and peaches, then alphabetically by company for companies with a large number of labels and lastly a folder containing labels with no company name. The labels in the product folders are arranged within the folder first alphabetically by company followed by labels with no company name.
Boxes twenty-three through twenty-seven contain import/export documents. These are also arranged alphabetically by company in the same manner as the fruit crate labels. The import/export documents are primarily from the Port of Philadelphia. The documents cover goods coming into the port on sailing ships and, starting in the 1870's, steam ships and leaving the port on rail and river conveyances. The products were imported from such places as Cuba, Antigua, Trinidad, England, Italy, Germany and Singapore and included cocoanuts, pineapples, dried fruit and nuts, macaroni, cheese, sausages, cooked meats, pickled fish, spices and coffee and tea.
Box twenty-eight contains magazines and periodicals. Some of the publications include What to Eat from 1896 and 1899, The Dietetic Gazette from 1889, Culinary Review from 1943 and Wholesale Grocer. This box also contains correspondence and order forms relating to magazines and periodicals.
Box twenty-nine contains miscellaneous food publications. These are such things as account books, articles from other publications, publications on diet and infants and children and newsletters. Box thirty contains food related publications that are published by or about specific companies for which there is no other material. Box thirty also contains material relating to food equipment and manufacturing. This is arranged initially by company and then contains folders on canning and preserving and patents. The equipment manufactured includes such things as evaporators, sorters and washers.
Box thirty-one consists of publications about specific types of food and general works. The food types include publications about such foods as asparagus, milk and rice. These folders are arranged alphabetically by food type. General works consists of material which is not, or cannot be, related to a specific company or do not fit into one of the major categories set forth above. These are: general images which are not labels, advertising cards, correspondence, food instructions, legislation, miscellaneous price lists, railroad receipts and claims, recipes, shipping and tax stamps.
Arrangement:
Food is arranged in nine subseries:
Manufacturers and Distributors of Food and Food Products
Labels
Import/Export Documents
Magazines and Periodicals
Menus
Publications
Law & Legislation
Food Types
General Works and Miscellaneous
Partial List of Company and Proprietor Names, General Materials:
American Fruit Growers Incorporated Ana-Co
Apple Growers Association
Associated Fruit Company Barnhill Fruit Company Bear Creek
Blue Mountain Fruit Exchange
Boehmer Incorporated Bolinger Orchards
Brewster Distribution Unit
Brewster-Bridgeport Growers Incorporated
Butler Trading Company Incorporated Buck Fruit Company
Casca Growers
Cascadian Fruit Shippers Incorporated
Cashmere Fruit Exchange Cashmere Fruit Growers Union Chelan Falls Orchards
Clark-Baker Company Columbia Basin Orchards Connell Brothers, Company D
Dahn, Floyd Fruits Incorporated
Davidson Fruit Company Del Rio Orchards
Denison, H.S. and Company
Denney and Company Dow Fruit Company
Duddy-Robinson Incorporated/ Thompson-Duddy-Robinson Company
Duthie and Company Earl Fruit Company
East Wenatchee Fruit Growers
Entiat Fruit Growers League
Fairview Ranch Company
Foster's, Myron Hesperian Orchards Fruitland Fruit Association
Fruit Sales Company Incorporated
Gellatly Fruit Company
Greig, W.M.-Bonanza Orchard
Growers Service Company
Hafener Fruit Company
Haskell Packing Company
Hood River Fruit Company
Hood River Produce Exchange
Independent Fruit Shippers
Jennings Fruit Company
Kelly Brothers Company Incorporated
Koon Tai and Company
Koop, The C.M. Company
Lake Chelan Fruit Growers
Lake Chelan Fruit Growers Union
Lake Entiat Growers, Incorporated
Lippmann, J & G
Lockwood, C.M.
Mad River Orchard
Malott Growers Union
Manson, A. Fruit Growers
Marsh, A.E. Company
Methow-Pateros Growers Incorporated
Mojonner & Sons
Monitor Federated Growers
Mutual Sales Agency
Nellis, F.E. & Company
North Pacific Sales Company
Northern Fruit Company
Northwest Wholesale
Northwestern Fruit Exchange
Nuchief Sales, Incorporated
Okanogan Growers Union
Olive Apple Company
Omak Sookum Growers
Oneonta Trading Corporation
Onnail Fruit Growers
Orando Community Packing
Pacific Fruit & Produce company
Paddock, C.R. & Company
Palmer Corporation
Paxton Rivers Company Incorporated
Perhann Fruit Growers
Peshastin Fruit Growers Association
Plummer & Edwins
Renn, F.O. Fruit Company
Richey & Gilbert Company
Rivers, Burnand & Rivers
Robertson, D.O.
Rock Island Unit
Ryan Fruit Company
Sampson, E.G.
Segerstrom, H.N.
Sellers, Ben F. /Spinner Fruit Corporation/Sellers & Spinner
Sgobel & Day
Sisler, J.A.
Smith & Holden
Spokane Fruit Growers Company
Stadelman Fruit Incorporated
Standfield Fruit Growers Union
Steinhardt & Kelly Incorporated
Sterlin-Slater Fruit Growers
Stratford Orchards Company
Stubbs Fruit & Storage Company
Sunnyslope Fruit Exchange
Tedford, R.A. & Company
Tonasket Federated Growers
Trunkey-Wolfe Company, Incorporated
Vernon Orchards
Wade, J.M. Fruit Company
Wagner, E. & Son
Washington Fruit & Produce Company
Weaver, C.H. & Company
Wells & Wade Company
Wenatchee Apple Land Company
Wenatchee District Co-Op Association
Wenatchee Fruit & Storage Company
Wenatchee Fruit & Warehouse Company
Wenatchee North Central Fruit Distributers
Wenatchee Produce Company
Wenatchee Valley Fruit Exchange
Wenatchee-Beebe Orchard Company
Wenatchee-Northern Warehouse and Marketing Company
Wenatchee-Okanogan Warehouse Company
Wenatchee-Skookum Growers
Western Fruit & Produce Company, Incorporated
White Brothers & Crum
Wright Fruit Company
Yakima County Horticultural Union
Yakima Fruit Growers Association
Yakima Fruit Growers Exchange
Partial List of Company and Proprietor Names, Oversize Materials:
An & Company, Shredded Coconut, Location unknown
Armour Packing Company, White Label Soups, Kansas City, MO
Price, Joseph J., Dealer in Family Groceries, Wines, Liquors, and Imported Cigars, Albany, NY
Procter & Gamble Company Crisco, Cincinnati, OH
Rowland, James and Company Fancy Groceries, Teas, and Coffees Location unknown
Royal Cocoanut Company, New York, NY
Schepp, L. and Company Schepp's Cocoanut, New York, NY
Snow, F.H. Canning Company
Stickney & Poor's, Premium Spices and Mustards Location unknown
Stone, Arthur and Company Wholesale Grocers, New Orleans, LA
Thurber, H.K. & F.B. and Company Grocer, New York, NY
United Fruit Company Bananas, Boston, MA
Washington Dehydrated Food Company Washington Brand Dehydrated Apples Yakima, WA
Washington Frosted Foods, Inc.
Wells, Miller & Provost Wholesaler Warehouse New York, NY
Wendell, Jacob L. Pickling and Preserving Philadelphia, PA
Wholesale Grocers and Commission Merchants Petersburg, VA
Worth, William E. and Company Wilmington , NC
Young & Lyon, Providence, RI
Materials in the Archives Center:
Archives Center Collection of Business Americana (AC0404)
Forms Part Of:
Forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana.
Series 1: Business Ephemera
Series 2: Other Collection Divisions
Series 3: Isadore Warshaw Personal Papers
Series 4: Photographic Reference Material
Provenance:
Food is a portion of the Business Ephemera Series of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Accession AC0060 purchased from Isadore Warshaw in 1967. Warshaw continued to accumulate similar material until his death, which was donated in 1971 by his widow, Augusta. For a period after acquisition, related materials from other sources (of mixed provenance) were added to the collection so there may be content produced or published after Warshaw's death in 1969. This practice has since ceased.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
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.
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Food, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
Madison Cooper Company (Watertown, N.Y.) Search this
Extent:
0.25 Cubic feet (1 box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Correspondence
Articles
Clippings
Photographs
Pamphlets
Patents
Date:
1900-1963
Summary:
Madison Cooper was an inventor and manufacturer of refrigerating systems in the early twentieth century. Cooper received several patents for his refrigeration inventions, including several refrigerating apparatuses, an air-circulating system, a process for preventing the formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces and a refrigeration train car. The collection spans 1900-1963 and includes his United States and foreign patents, his publications related to refrigeration, and a few documents and photographs related to Cooper and the Madison Cooper Company.
Scope and Contents:
Series 1, Historical background, 1900-1963, consists of biographical information about Madison Cooper. The series includes obituaries, two diagrams of optimal temperature for food storage that were produced by the Madison Cooper Company, and three photographs that show Cooper and workers in the shop and office in Watertown and the plant in Calcium.
Cooper published articles related to refrigeration and specifically to his refrigeration systems titled "Chloride of Calcium in Refrigeration," 1900, "Natural Ice Cold Storage and the Cooper Systems of Refrigeration," 1901, "Ice Refrigeration," (1902), the Madison Cooper Company publication "Cold"(1914), and "The Cooper Systems of Refrigeration," undated.
Series 2, Patents, 1900-1908, contains United States and foreign patents related to Madison Cooper.
The United States patents contain drawings and specifications of Cooper's refrigerating inventions and are arranged by patent number.
Patents include:
Refrigerating apparatus (US Patent, 11,822)
Process of preventing formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces (US Patent 644,847)
Old-storage apparatus (US Patent 659,468)
Indirect air-circulating systems of cold-storage apparatus (US Patent 677,536)
Cold-storage apparatus air circulating system (US Patent 754,749)
Refrigerator cars (US Patent 881,902)
Foreign patents are arranged alphabetically by country. Patents for the process of preventing formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces include:
Austria
Process of preventing formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces (4,075)
Canada
Process of preventing formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces (66,959)
Canada
Improvements in indirect air circulating systems for cold storage apparatus (75,602)
Canada
Improvements in refrigerating apparatus (75,636)
France
Process of preventing formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces (297,158)
Germany
Process of preventing formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces (117,943)
Great Britain
Process of preventing formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces (2,840)
Also included are an assignment of letters patent related to the refrigerating apparatus (US Patent 11,822) shared with George A. Dole and a contract related to the patents for the process of preventing frost formation on refrigerating surfaces.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into two series.
Series 1, Historical background, 1900-1963
Series 2, Patents, 1900-1908
Biographical / Historical:
Madison Cooper was an inventor and manufacturer of refrigerating systems in the early twentieth century. Born in Leray, New York, on March 19, 1868, Cooper moved as a young man to Minneapolis, Minnesota where he entered the butter and egg shipping business. He invented a cold storage system while working in the produce business. Cooper shifted careers to focus on cold storage engineering where he planned, designed and installed refrigeration systems in over 100 plants in the United States and Canada. Cooper moved the Madison Cooper Company to Watertown, New York around 1903 and in 1909, built a plant for the manufacturing of refrigerating equipment in Calcium, New York. The advent of mechanical and electric refrigeration in the 1920s superseded Cooper's system and his company dissolved in 1936, although at least one of Cooper's systems was still in operation in 1953. Cooper died on July 8, 1946 and was remembered not only for his contributions to refrigeration, but also as a horticulturist and editor and publisher of The Flower Grower.
Cooper received several patents in the United States and abroad for his refrigeration inventions, including several refrigerating apparatuses, an air-circulating system, a process for preventing the formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces and a refrigeration train car. He focused on simple and inexpensive construction that provided economic and efficient operation. Many of his inventions involved the use of a false floor that allowed cool air to flow underneath it and a perforated ceiling that released warm air. Other patents included cold air circulation within walls to cool buildings and apartments and focused on controlling temperature, humidity and air purity.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Daniel Cooper, son of Madison Cooper, in 1963.
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. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
This collection documents, in correspondence, publications, forms, paperwork, drawings, newspaper clippings, diplomas and photographs, the operations and products of the Frick Company of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, manufacturers of steam-powered engines (portable, stationary, and traction), sawmills, threshing machines, grain separators and other mechanized agricultural harvesting implements, refrigeration, mechanical cooling systems, and ice making plants, from its founding in 1852 through 1961.
Scope and Contents:
This collection documents the founding and business operations of the Frick Company* of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, manufacturers of portable, stationary, and traction engines, threshing machines, sawmills, and refrigeration and ice making machinery. The collection covers the period from 1852 to 1961, with the bulk of the material dating from 1860-1873 and from 1880 through the 1920s and illuminates the evolution of mechanized agriculture and refrigeration technology from the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century.
The largest portion of the collection contains photographs of Frick engines and refrigeration machinery, taken both in the foundry and in various installations worldwide, as well as original drawings of Frick machines, parts, and components used to illustrate catalogs and trade publications. Another large portion of the collection is correspondence, containing communication from clients ordering Frick products for their farms or businesses, as well as receipts and correspondence from local and regional suppliers of raw materials and components for the construction of Frick products.
The collection also contains numerous examples of operational paperwork from the 1880s-1890s, such as letterheads, order forms, contracts, test logs, and timesheets, as well as a significant amount of trade literature largely from 1880-1920, such as price lists, catalogs, product pamphlets, and advertising material.
There are several published company histories, technical drawings/blueprints of Frick products, diplomas awarded to Frick machinery presented at expositions and fairs (including the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893), full-color posters advertising Frick & Co., agent supplies (including telegraph cipher code books), accounting paperwork, payroll records, communications with shareholders, and significant documentation of the highly publicized labor dispute/strike at Frick in 1946.
This collection would be of interest to researchers in the areas of: agricultural machination and invention in the nineteeth century, steam and horse-powered engines, the development of refrigerating and ice making equipment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, business operations and financial transactions in the nineteenth century, Pennsylvania history and companies, industrial photography, and nineteenth and twentieth centuries industrial trade literature.
*The name of the company was modified several times over the history of its operation, variations including George Frick, Frick & Bowman, Frick & Co., and Frick Company, depending on the time period in question. Efforts have been made to align the description of the materials throughout the collection with the correct company name at the time of their creation.
Arrangement:
This collection is divided into six series:
Series 1: Publications, 1852, 1874-1875; 1880-1932; 1942-1943; 1953; 1961
Founded in 1852 by engineer and inventor George Frick (1826-1892), Frick Company has been an innovative machinery design leader in many areas of the agricultural and refrigeration industries over the last 160 years. Frick began building steam engines and threshing machines in a small shop in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania.
Frick quickly gained a reputation for quality in the growing field of mechanized agriculture. His designs for early portable engines--transported and driven by horsepower--soon evolved into self-propelling, steam-powered vehicles that could be driven into the fields and then used to run the grain separating, cleaning and bagging machines that were revolutionizing the farming industry, increasing production at exponential rates.
In addition, Frick's stationary engines were put to use in mills of all kinds (grist, flour, paper, and woolen) to augment or replace their dependence on unreliable natural water power, including sawmills, of which Frick was soon building a line of portable, steam-driven versions. Between the mid-1850s and the early 1870s, the company continued to expand, outgrowing three different shops before building the final location of the works in Waynesboro. George Frick himself was continuously active in the company through the end of the nineteenth century as a mechanical engineer and product designer, as well as a frequent consultant, traveling to confer with clients on specifications for their orders.
Beginning in 1872, George Frick's business and personal life took a downturn with the deaths in quick succession of both his oldest son Frank and his new business partner C.F. Bowman, as a result of a typhoid fever epidemic that swept through the area. Additionally, the financial Panic of 1873 nearly closed Frick's company along with thousands of other American businesses that year, but thirteen local businessmen formed a partnership, putting forth the necessary capital to keep the manufacturing plant afloat. George Frick sold his controlling interest to the partnership, but remained as general manager of the company.
After this brief period of struggle, Frick and Company began again to expand its product line as well as its reputation. The new works in Waynesboro were modern and efficient, enough to warrant a feature article in Scientific American in 1881. The following year, the company built its first refrigeration machine, and a whole new direction of production opened up. Automatic and traction engines were still in demand, being constantly improved and updated, but refrigeration was the new frontier. Frick rose to become one of the leaders in development of high quality, durable, and functional refrigeration machinery. George's son A.O. Frick, now an engineer with the company, partnered with Edgar Penney, another design engineer, to develop the Corliss engine line, which would run the large ammonia compressors, creating what was called a refrigeration machine. They were intially used to power ice plants, which were being built all over the world after the mild winter of 1890 tipped the natural ice industry into decline. They also used cold storage/mechanical cooling units, of which breweries and meat packing plants were the earliest adopters, followed by cold food stores, florist shops, and fur storage, as well as the dairy and shipping industries. The Armour Packing Plant in Kansas City, Missouri was the proud owner of "The Largest Ice Machine in the World," built by Frick and shipped by train via specially-reinforced rails in 1896. At the turn of the twentieth century, hotels, restaurants, hospitals and industrial plants soon began to rely on refrigeration units for daily operations, and Frick's business was booming.
As gas-powered engine technology began taking over in the first decades of the twentieth century, Frick moved away from steam engines and focused on more specialized farm equipment such as dehydrators, peanut pickers, combines, balers and silo fillers. Their line of sawmills was also still in high demand. But increasingly, Frick was focused on steadily refining and improving its refrigeration equipment. Ammonia, while highly efficient as a coolant, had its dangerous downsides: it could be fatal if leaked, and could contaminate plant ice easily. Although many of Frick's ammonia compression refrigeration machines were still in use forty or more years after installation and were still preferred for industrial use, the technology needed to improve in order to be viable for the general public. Several publicized accidents led eventually to the preferred use of chloroflorocarbons as a coolant, and Frick developed enclosed-type CO2 compressors and eventually freon units. Other Frick refrigeration products included machinery for making dry ice, air conditioning units, and temperature controls for test plants, as well as marine refrigeration (developed during the First World War) for shipping food between continents. Frick did contract work for the US military during and following World War II, and was a major company involved in the development of quick-freezing systems to support the growing frozen food industry starting in the late 1940s.
Frick Company positioned itself as a permanent leader in the food production and distribution industry by the 1950s. The company is still in operation today, though it has been purchased several times, most recently by Johnson Controls, which maintains a product line bearing the name Frick.
Related Materials:
The Archives Center holds several collections that may be of interest to researchers in relation to the Frick Company Collection.
For related material on Corliss engines, see the following collections:
Chuse Engine and Manufacturing Company Records (AC 1088)
For related material on threshing machines and agricultural machinery, see the following collections:
John K. Parlett Collection (AC 3066)
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana (AC 0060)
For related material on refrigeration machinery, see the following collections:
Madison Cooper Papers (AC 1105)
Nickerson and Collins Photography (AC 1044)
Southwork Foundry and Machine Company Records (AC 1107)
Separated Materials:
The Division of Work and Industry holds artifacts related to this collection. See acquisition numbers AG79A09.1, MC 319243.12 and .13, and 58A9.
Provenance:
Collection donated by the Frick Company, through Terry Mitchell in 1961.
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.
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry Search this
Extent:
1 Cubic foot (2 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Black-and-white photographs
Date:
1888-1928
Scope and Contents note:
Photographs of refrigeration equipment manufactured by Nickerson and Collins. Companies represented include: American Butt Copany, Hygiene Ice Company, Hygenic Ice and Cold Storage Company, Boston Terminal Refrigerating Company, Dixie Ice and Cold Storage Company, National Poultry and Egg Company, Alpine Ice Company, Standard Ice Manufctauring Company, Bryn Mawr Ice Manufacturing Company, Toyo Ice Factory, Aomori Fish Freezer and Storage Plant, Crescent Creamery Company, Keystone Cold Storage Company, Chicago Artificial Ice Company, City Ice Company, American Ice Company, Brunswick Ice Manufacturing Company, Texas Ice Company, The Citizens Ice Company, Independent Ice and Refrigerating Company, Mountain Ice Company, Charleston Ice House Carolina Service Company, Dianond Ice and Coal Company, Moon Lake Ice Company, Evansville Ice and Storage Company, Colonial Cold Storage Company, Gorrie Ice Manufacturing, Ice Publicity Association, and the Williams-Beers Ice.
Arrangement:
the collection is arranged into one series.
Biographical/Historical note:
Manufacturer of refrigeration and ice making machinery, Chicago, Illinois.
Provenance:
Collected for the Division of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (now called the Division of Work and Industry). Date unknown.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.
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:
Refrigeration and refrigerating machinery Search this
Collection of personal notebooks of civil engineers.
Scope and Contents note:
Mainly personal notebooks of engineers, although one is a listing of products of a manufacturer of gears and another is a compilation of shop orders for various products of a manufacturer. They generally contain technical descriptions, drawings, specifications, and financial data.
Provenance:
Immediate source of acquisition unknown.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
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.
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry Search this
Extent:
342 Cubic feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Bulletins
Engineering drawings
Financial records
Lists
Manuals
Patents
Reports
Specifications
Date:
circa 1868-1945.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of engineering drawings of steam engines, blowing engines, turbines, generators, testing machinery, steam hammers, boilers, machine tools, and other machinery manufactured by the Southwark Foundry and Machine Company, circa 1880-1916; transfers of patent rights, reports, lists, financial documents, and other material concerning Southwark and its predecessors, circa 1868-1885; and engineering drawings, specifications, production records, parts and drawing lists, repair manuals, bulletins, and publications concerning refrigeration machinery manufactured by the De La Vergne Engine Company and its predecessors and successors, circa 1890-1945.
Biographical / Historical:
The Southwark Foundry and Machine Company of Philadelphia was founded in 1836. The company, which manufactured engines, boilers, turbines, and other machinery, was acquired by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1930 and became the Baldwin Southwark Corporation, a subsidiary of the Works. The De La Vergne Engine Company of New York, some of whose records are included here, manufacturers of refrigeration machinery, engines, and other machinery, was acquired by Baldwin Southwark in 1931.
Provenance:
The largest portion of this collection was collected for the Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering (now part of the Division of Work and Industry), and information about its provenance is lost. A small portion was donated in 1971 by Paul C. Fenerty, mostly relating to the Porter-Allen steam engine. The Baldwin-Hamilton Company donated approximately 14,000 drawings of machinery built by Southwark Foundry and Machine Company in 1975.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but the majority of it 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.
Cooper-Bessemer Corporation (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) Search this
Former owner:
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering Search this
Extent:
27 Cubic feet (68 boxes, 1 map-folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Advertising
Airbrushing
Cashbooks
Correspondence
Catalogs
Drawings
Financial records
Letterpress copybooks
Photographs
Price lists
Newsletters
Trade literature
Date:
1870-1961
Summary:
These records document the activities of the Cooper-Bessemer Corporation of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and Grove City, Pennsylvania, manufacturers of steam, gas, and oil engines, compressors, and furnaces.
Scope and Contents note:
These records document the activities of the Cooper-Bessemer Corporation of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, manufacturers of steam, gas, and oil engines; compressors; and furnaces through correspondence, financial materials, trade literature and photographs.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into eleven series.
Series 1: Background Materials, 1895-1944
Series 2: Correspondence, 1866-1961
Series 3: Financial Materials, 1888-1929
Series 4: Newsletters, 1917-1942
Series 5: Product and Sales Materials, 1870-1961
Series 6: Advertising Materials, 1921-1945
Series 7: Printed Materials, 1902-1953
Series 8: Photographs, 1881-1930s
Series 9: Air Brushed Photographs/Renderings, 1909-1930s, undated
Series 10: Glass Plate Negatives, 1906-1913, undated
Series 11: Drawings, 1906-1944
Biographical / Historical:
C. & G. Cooper Company was founded by Charles (1811-1891) and Elias Cooper (1814-1848) in 1833 in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. Situated in Central Ohio, abundant supplies of coal, iron and natural gas were available to the Cooper brothers as well as proximity to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad lines. Previously, the brothers opened a coal mine in 1832 and then a foundry for casting metals. Their principal products were plows, carding machines, and special power machinery. In 1848, Elias Cooper died and Charles Cooper sold an interest in the Company to T.L. Clark and the firm changed its name from to C. & E. Cooper to Cooper & Clark. In 1852, John Cooper (1824-1916), the younger brother of Charles and Elias, joined the company and became known as Coopers & Clark. T.L. Clark retired in 1853 and the company became C. & J. Cooper.
In 1852, the company built its first blowing engine and with the growth of the railroad system and a demand for railroad equipment, the company responded with manufacturing steam locomotives. In 1865, F.L. Fairchild (d. 1912) joined the company as a partner and the firm became known as C.& J. Cooper & Company. J.C. Debes, a mechanical engineer formerly of the George H. Corliss Works, began working for the company in 1865 designing Corliss engines that came to market in 1869. Corliss engines would become a principal product of the company by 1886. Colonel George Rogers (son-in-law of Elias Cooper) joined the company when John Cooper retired and the name once gain changed to C. & G. Cooper & Company. By 1881, Desault B. Kirk (son-in-law of Charles Cooper) and son, C.F. Cooper (d. 1894) along with E.H. Fairchild and B.F. Williams became active partners in the company. In 1929, Cooper merged with Bessemer Gas Engine Co. of Grove City, Pennsylvania, to form Cooper-Bessemer Corporation. Cooper Machinery Services is the current equipment manufacturer for Cooper-Bessemer engines.
During World War One and World War Two, the company made munitions—steel shells, special purpose lathes, surface grinders and multiple-head cutting off machines—to aid the Allies. Its work contributed to faster and more efficient production for the war effort and earned it the Maritime "M" and Army/Navy "E" Awards. Over the years, the company's products included: simple and compound Corliss engines, gas and diesel engines, rolling mill engines, marine engines, compressors, and power units for ice and refrigeration, cotton-ginning and oil-milling.
Sources
Cooper Machinery Services (last accessed on April 12, 2022 https://www.cooperservices.com/our-company/heritage/cooper-origins/the-history-of-cooper-bessemer/)
C. & G. Cooper Company, Seventy-Five Years of Engine Building, Mount Vernon, Ohio, 1900.
100 Years of Power, Cooper-Bessemer, 1833-1933, 1933.
Related Materials:
Materials at the National Museum of American History
Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Trade Literature Collection
Includes Cooper-Bessemer Corporation, Chapman Engineering Company, and Hope Engineering and Supply Company.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by the Cooper-Bessemer Corporation, through Robert S. Warren, Manager of Advertising and Public Relations, in 1965 and 1969.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
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.
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry Search this
Extent:
3.3 Cubic feet (10 boxes, 1 oversize folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Blueprints
Articles
Correspondence
Diagrams
Pamphlets
Reprints
Date:
1955-1970
Scope and Contents:
This collection documents the correspondence and technical documents related to David Aronson's work as an engineer with the Worthington Pump and Machinery Corporation.
The correspondence files relate to acceptance or rejection of products and procedures used in the development and production of the company's products, responses to submissions to the company of inventions and products inventors hoped to license or sell to the company, responses to requests for donations and other funding by Worthington, and general company memos and reports.
The technical files represent the research, design and development processes that Aronson was involved in as a mechanical engineer. Topics include heat pumps, steam generation, geothermal power, gas turbine engines, and nuclear power. Types of material include articles, pamphlets, journal reprints, conference papers, schematics, blueprints and diagrams.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into three series.
Series 1: Correspondence of David Aronson, 1955-1970
Series 2: Technical Materials of David Aronson (numerical), circa 1960s-1970s
Series 3: Technical Files of David Aronson (alphabetical), circa 1960s-1970s
Biographical / Historical:
David Aronson earned a degree in chemical engineering from Cooper Union and the Polytechnic Institute in New York. He joined the Engineering Department of the Worthington Corporation in 1951 as an engineer. While with Worthington, Aronson worked as a manager in development engineering for the Worthington Air Conditioning Company, a division of Worthington Corporation and was instrumental in the advancement of low temperature energy utilization equipment and the development of various energy recovery systems. Aronson served as the chief contact within the Worthington Corporation for individuals and companies interested in engaging in contract work or presenting their invention ideas for development.
Aronson was awarded thirty United States patents which included an oil burner for gas turbine application, large tonnage water chillers for air conditioning, a nuclear powered system using liquid metal coolant, and a heat pump using a fuel-fired engine or turbine. In 1964, Worthington recognized Aronson's achievements with the company's Worldwide Engineering Award.
Provenance:
Donated to the Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering by David Aronson over the period 1986-1989.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
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.
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering Search this
Extent:
3 Cubic feet (9 boxes; 1 oversize folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Notebooks
Correspondence
Blueprints
Lecture notes
Design drawings
Patents
Letterpress copybooks
Manuals
Minutes
Technical drawings
Date:
1890-1937
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents Nicholai H. Hiller's career as a mechanical engineer for Carbondale Machine Company and Hendricks Manufctauring Company.
The materials include patents, lecture notes, design drawings, instruction manuals, trade literature, notebooks and card files on various refrigeration subjects. Additionally, there are eleven bound volumes of records, two of which are the minute books of the Carbondale Machine Company of Carbondale, Pennsylvania. They contain the minutes from the meetings of the Directors and Board of Trustees.
The other volumes are letterpress books of Hiller's personal and business correspondence. Most are from his time with the Carbondale Machine Company, though some are from his employment with Hendricks Manufacturing Company.
Also included are materials related to Hiller's son, Paul W. Hiller and his work on fish boat refrigeration.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into seven series.
Series 1: Nicholai H. Hiller, 1891-1937
Series 2: Paul W. Hiller, 1921-1932
Series 3: Carbondale Machine Company, 1904-1937
Series 4: Hendrick Manufacturing Company, 1890-1902
Series 5: VitterManufacturing Company, 1927-1928
Series 6: Worthington-Carbonadale (subsidiary of Worthing Pump and Machinery Corpoartion), undated
Series 7: York Manufacturing Company, 1908
Biographical / Historical:
Nicholai Henry Hiller (1868-1963) was born in Siberia on July 15, 1868. Hiller graduated from the Stevens Institute of Technology in 1889 as a mechanical engineer who specialized in refrigeration. Hiller founded the Carbondale Machine Company, based in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, which was one of the first companies to manufacture refrigeration machinery. Carbondale was sold to the Worthington Corporation in 1934.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Paul W. Hiller
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.
Frigidaire; General Motors; Coca-Cola. Search this
Notes content:
An early soda machine called a "dry cooler" produced by Cavalier Corp. with Frigidaire cooling systems. Shown with the Coca-Cola logo and Coke bottles.
Includes:
Trade catalog
Black and white images
Physical description:
2 pieces; 1 box
Language:
English
Type of material:
Trade catalogs
Trade literature
Place:
Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States
Date:
1900s
Topic (Romaine term):
Refrigeration and ice-making equipment Search this
Servel Electrolux ; Servel Sales Inc. ; Hercules Body Div. ; Servel, Inc ; Servel Electrolux Sales Div. (Evansville, IN) Search this
Notes content:
one piece is catalog for dealers ; gas and electric refrigerators ; gas air conditioners ; steel or aluminum dump bodies ; automatic storage gas water heater
Commercial Refrigerator Manufacturers Assn. Search this
Notes content:
"Code of fair competition for the commercial refrigerator industry." National Recovery Administration. Informational paper on design, construction and use of commercial refrigerators and cooling rooms.
Includes:
Trade catalog
Physical description:
2 pieces; 1 box
Language:
English
Type of material:
Trade catalogs
Trade literature
Place:
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Date:
1900s
Topic (Romaine term):
Refrigeration and ice-making equipment Search this
Foods and beverage products and processing equipment (including brewing; distilleries; beer; wine; etc.) Search this
