Exhibit - Innovation in Vermont

Apple Peeler, 1825 Russell Hoyt Craftsbury, VT Wood, metal Gift of Clara Lucena Buswell, 1972.3.2 Apples have always been a core food product for Vermont, and many uses of apples require them to be peeled and cored. Introducing a mechanical device to the process speeds things up considerably, reducing the tedium of the task and preserving more of the apple’s flesh. There are dozens of potential variations on mechanical parers, including many commercially made variations (see 2014.60.1033 in this same exhibition). This apple parer is homemade and quite simple. It only performs one part of the process: turning the apple. The user would secure the long board part – possibly with clamps or possibly by sitting on it – and stick the apple onto the turning arm. Twirling the lever then rotates the apple, while the user would hold a knife steady to remove the peel. Notably, the tine where the apple would be stuck appears to be a repurposed kitchen implement. Russell Hoyt of Craftsbury made this apple parer sometime in the 19th century, and passed it down through his family.

1972.3

Artist

1825

Wood

Apple Peeler, circa 1856 Horatio Keyes (1830-1904) Leominster, MA Cast iron, steel Barre History Collection, #2014.60.1033 Apples have always been a core food product for Vermont, and many uses of apples require them to be peeled and cored. Introducing a mechanical device to the process speeds things up considerably, reducing the tedium of the task and preserving more of the apple’s flesh. There are dozens of potential variations on mechanical parers, including many homemade variations (see 1972.3.2 in this same exhibition), but this variation, patented by Horatio Keyes in 1856, introduced the idea of moving the paring arm around the apple via a geared turntable, a huge leap forward in speed and convenience.

2014.60

circa 1856

Keyes, Horatio J. (1830-1904)

Overall

Iron

Butter "Swing" Churn, 1877-1900 Vermont Farm Machinery Company (1871-1921) Bellows Falls, VT Wood Gift of Kathryn O. Jorgensen, #2012.42 The Vermont Farm Machinery Company, based in Bellows Falls, patented this "swing" churn in the 1870s and manufactured it for a number of years after that. Butter is the consolidation of the fat solids contained in milk; farmers would skim the cream from jars of milk as a first step, and then pour the cream into a churn, which would agitate the cream and encourage the fat solids to clump together. On a small scale, this can be done by hand, but in order to produce butter in bulk, some kind of mechanization is necessary. The Davis Swing Churn appeared in a number of sizes, holding between 4 and 50 gallons of cream, depending on the model number. This Model No. 5 could hold 13 gallons of cream. (The Model 9, which held 50 gallons of cream, no longer fit on a frame, and had to be suspended from a ceiling.) The company claimed that the gentle swinging action of the churn did not "injure" the butter.

Swung or rocked on a wooden frame to make butter.

2012.42

1877-1900

Vermont Farm Machinery Company (1871-1921)

Wood, Paint, Iron, Glass

Coin, 1880-1900 Dana Bickford (1833 - 1909) Quechee, Vermont Aluminum, brass Gift of Ruth R. Smith, 2010.39.2ab Dana Bickford was born in Quechee when that town was a hotbed of mills and manufacturing, and at various points in his life described himself as both an inventor and an entrepreneur. His biggest success was with an automatic knitting machine that he and several other partners manufactured in Brattleboro in the late 19th century. This universal coin was one of Bickford's side inventions. After a trip to Europe, he became frustrated with the constant need to exchange currency at each international border, and developed this coin as a solution. In theory, the coin would take on a different value in each country, represented by the amount of base metal (gold and silver) present in the coin. Those values are engraved on the coin itself, relative to the US dollar. Bickford's choices, needless to say, prioritize some countries over the other and assume an international currency exchange that was extremely stable. Bickford was not alone in attempting to create universal currency; many others had floated the theory or even gone so far as to create coins. None have been successful. Interestingly, Bickford's coin also attempts to heal another monetary divide: it claims to "heal all differences between gold & silvermen," referencing the raging debate in the latter part of the 19th century about whether US currency should be based on the gold or silver standard.

2010.39

Artist

1880-1900

Brass, Aluminum, Wood

Cyclometer, 1841 Oren Cummins Montpelier, VT Wood, metal Gift of Albert O. Cummins, 1908.1 For as long as people have been traveling, they have wanted to know how fast they were going and how far they’ve traveled. The cyclometer (the word means “circle-measurer”) does just that. Today, cyclometers usually employ GPS to track movement, but before that technology was available, analog versions did the same job. This cyclometer was created by Oren Cummins of Montpelier in 1841, and is entirely handmade. The concept of measuring distance was not new, but Cummins’s solution is noteworthy because it so clearly depended entirely on his own ingenuity to implement. The gears are hand-cut and hand-numbered, and the whole is a remarkable combination of applied mathematics and precision crafting. Cummins used his cyclometer on carriage wheels. One end of the cyclometer would be attached to the hub of the wheel, and as the wheel turned, it would begin the tracking. Gears closer to the wheel measured shorter distances, and when they completed a certain number of revolutions they would trigger the next wheel to advance, and so on down the line. Ultimately, this cyclometer was capable of recording up to 40,000 miles.

Used to measure the distance traveled by a carriage or wagon wheel.

1908.1

Artist

circa 1841

Overall

Wood, Metal

Geiger Counter, 1957 Chatham Electronics Metal, rubber, plastic Given in Memory of Dr. O.S. Peterson, Jr., 2004.35.1ab A Geiger counter, named after scientist Hans Geiger, is a device used to detect and measure radiation. The unit consists of two parts: a probe and the body, which has a measurement window as well as the Geiger-Muller tube, which actually registers the radiation. Geiger counters are inexpensive, easy to use, and widely available pieces of technology. The world entered the atomic age after the US bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and for several decades the threat of a potential nuclear war gripped both the public and the American government. National civil defense programs produced short films, radio ads, pamphlets, posters, and other educational programs designed to educate citizens about how to act after a nuclear attack. Those decades of preparation, worry, and international diplomatic maneuvering are today known as the Cold War. The Geiger counter in the collection of the Vermont Historical Society was used by Dr. Oscar S. Peterson, Jr. in his role as radiological officer for the State Civil Defense Agency. (The “CD” symbol on the side of the unit stands for Civil Defense.) It formed part of his personal kit, intended to detect and investigate any signs of nuclear fallout. The Cold War was a period during which Vermonters had a complicated relationship with innovation and technology. They had to integrate both the threat of nuclear war and the fast-paced advances of modern society in their worldviews simultaneously. Few things illustrate this tension quite like a Geiger counter, which was meant to be used in a disaster scenario – but could guide the way to safety.

2004.35

Peterson, Oscar S., Jr. (1912-1988), University of Vermont

1957

Chatham Electronics

Overall

Aluminum, Rubber, Plastic

Globe, 1810-1819 James Wilson Bradford, VT Wood, paper, brass Anonymous gift, 1921.16 James Wilson of Bradford was raised on a farm and trained briefly as a blacksmith. He moved to Bradford as a young man in 1796 and became interested in cartography. After visiting Dartmouth College's map collection, he grew particularly enamored of globes, and set out to make his own. It took several years of experimentation and learning new skills - he was almost exclusively self-taught - but Wilson began officially manufacturing his globes in 1813. Producing a high-quality globe required mastering a variety of skills - printing, engraving, woodworking, and blacksmithing - all with a high degree of precision. Wilson manufactured a variety of globes, including a line of papier-mache globes that he could produce and sell inexpensively. His globes were the first to be manufactured in America, and found a ready audience in schools in particular. This globe was not among his first run, but was produced later, in 1816. The Wilson Manufacturing Company continued to produce globes in Vermont and New York for nearly fifty years.

1921.16

Artist

circa 1810

Wilson Manufacturing Company

Overall

Paper, Wood, Brass

Hair Dryer, 1950-1960 Standard Products Corp. Whitman, MA Metal Gift of Olive Romerio Franzi, 2008.59.5ab Some innovations are no less important because they are small and highly personal. The hair dryer was invented in France in the 1890s, and became available for personal purchase in the 1920s. By the 1950s and 1960s, two major changes had greatly improved the tool: using plastic for the casing, making it lighter and easier to hold up for the necessary time, and an improved electrical motor, making it heat up faster and more efficiently. Millions of American women entered the workforce during World War II, and many of them never left, continuing to make gains through the second half of the 20th century. With that rising tide of women’s participation in the economy and the business life of America came the need for less expensive, more accessible beauty products, of which the hair dryer was one. This hair dryer, the “Handy Hannah” model, was made out of metal, but had other improvements: it was one of the first to introduce a heat control mechanism. It was especially popular during the 1950s, and belonged to a woman in Montpelier whose career spanned five decades with Green Mountain Power.

2008.59

Montpelier

Washington County

Vermont

United States of America

North America

1950-1960

Standard Products Corporation

Overall

Metal, Wood

Monarch Pathfinder Label Printer, 1915 Monarch Marking System Company (1901-present) Dayton, OH Metal, wood Gift of Edward Corrigan, #2006.61.25 Some pieces of technology in Vermont were widely available commercially and highly specific to their specific jobs. This label printing machine came from The Homer Fitts Company, a clothing and dry goods store that operated on Main Street in Barre for 120 years, from 1886-2006. It was used to create price tags and could be customized in-house using the interchangeable type in the drawer on the bottom. Interestingly, Monarch still makes a label printer called the Pathfinder today.

2006.61

Person or Organization

Barre City

Washington County

Vermont

United States of America

North America

1915

Monarch Marking System Company (1901-present)

Metal, Paper, Wood

Patent Model, ca. 1878 George H. Soule Company St. Albans, VT Metal Gift of Cary H. Keith, 1985.21.1a-c George Henry Soule was born on a farm in Fairfield in 1865, and after attending Goddard Seminary in Barre, returned to take over his family’s maple sugaring operations. By 1905, the Soule family farm was one of the largest maple producers in New England, with as many as 8,000 taps. Soule began experimenting with sugaring technology in the 1890s, and soon sought a series of patents for various inventions including evaporators, sap spouts, and other equipment for gathering sap. Many of his designs were produced by other companies, but in 1915 he formed his own company to manufacture his products. The “King” Evaporator (possibly a nod to Soule’s nickname “Maple Sugar King”) was the Soule company’s signature model and featured a number of innovations. Soule himself passed away in 1937, but the Soule Company continued to produce maple equipment through the 20th century. Maple has long been one of Vermont’s most important export products, and Soule’s life and work aligned perfectly with the shift away from a maple sugar-based market to a liquid maple syrup market. That shift required innovation and creativity, and made a permanent mark on Vermont’s economy and image.

1985.21

circa 1878

George H. Soule Company

Overall

Metal

Patent Model, 1868 Benjamin F. Wheeler Calais, Vermont Wood, metal Gift of Myrtie B. Wheeler, 1966.19.1 The United States Patent and Trademark Office required inventors to submit a patent model for their designs from 1790 – 1880. Models could be no larger than 12” in any direction. The requirement was a way to make the patent process accessible to homegrown inventors who might not have the drafting or engineering expertise necessary to submit a full, formal patent application. Inventors can still submit a patent model today, particularly in situations where a working model would provide better evidence of their design than the patent application itself. Thanks to several fires at the patent offices in Washington, D.C., many patent models have been lost over the years; others were dispersed in subsequent sales. The Vermont Historical Society possesses a number of patent models related to Vermont inventions. This patent model showing a new design for carriage brakes was submitted by Benjamin Wheeler. We don’t know much about him other than he primarily worked as a farmer, and submitted this and one patent for a carriage braking system, also in the VHS collections (1966.19.1).

1966.19

Artist

1868

Overall

Wood, Metal

Patent Model Benjamin F. Wheeler Calais, Vermont Wood, metal Gift of Myrtie B. Wheeler, 1966.19.2ab The United States Patent and Trademark Office required inventors to submit a patent model for their designs from 1790 – 1880. Models could be no larger than 12” in any direction. The requirement was a way to make the patent process accessible to homegrown inventors who might not have the drafting or engineering expertise necessary to submit a full, formal patent application. Inventors can still submit a patent model today, particularly in situations where a working model would provide better evidence of their design than the patent application itself. Thanks to several fires at the patent offices in Washington, D.C., many patent models have been lost over the years; others were dispersed in subsequent sales. The Vermont Historical Society possesses a number of patent models related to Vermont inventions. This patent model showing a new design for carriage brakes was submitted by Benjamin Wheeler. We don’t know much about him other than he primarily worked as a farmer, and submitted this and one patent for a sleigh braking system, also in the VHS collections (1966.19.1).

1966.19

Artist

1868

Overall

Wood, Metal

Sales Sample, 1883 William Cooley Vermont Farm Machinery Company Wood, metal Anonymous gift, 1957.19 Dairy has long been one of Vermont’s primary industries, and when refrigerated railroad cars provided easier, faster access to major markets in Montreal, New York, and Boston, production grew exponentially. Rather than cheese and other preserved products as the primary export, it became feasible for Vermonters to sell cream and milk out of the state. William Cooley of Waterbury invented a number of things, including a variety of gasoline engines, granite industry tools, and other machine parts. This creamer was one of his earlier efforts, patented in the 1870s. The creamer was found to be more efficient at extracting cream from milk than other similar machines, and the Vermont Farm Machine Company purchased the patent from Cooley to manufacture and distribute his machine. Within a few years, 8,000 dairies were using the creamer. Its more efficient process made the development of centralized creameries possible, streamlining production rather than the individual on-farm process that had dominated before. The design proved popular enough that the company spent time in court protecting its patent against infringement on a number of different occasions. This creamer is a salesman’s model, intended to show the mechanics of the machine but not necessarily to actually produce cream. The smallest production model of Cooley’s Creamer was at least twice as large as this one.

1957.19

Waterbury

Washington County

Vermont

United States of America

North America

Artist

1883

Vermont Farm Machinery Company (1871-1921)

Overall

Wood, Metal

Radio, 1929 Atwater Kent Manufacturing Company Philadelphia, PA Wood, metal, glass Gift of David Stone, 1978.14.1a-c Arthur Atwater Kent was born in Burlington, but moved to Worcester, MA with his family as a child. He spent some time studying at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute but did not graduate, having already begun his own business making small electric motors, generators, fans, and an automobile ignition system of his own design. In 1921, he began making radio parts, selling them as do-it-yourself kits for early enthusiasts. By 1925, the Atwater Kent Manufacturing Company was the largest maker of radios in the United States. By 1931, they boasted that they had produced over 3 million radios. Though Kent had started with small kits for enthusiasts, by the late 1920s the company was focusing on high-end, high-quality models. As a result, the Great Depression hit the company particularly hard, and by 1936 its factory in Philadelphia, which had employed as many as 12,000 people at its height, closed. Many Kent radios were built into furniture pieces, and this table is an example of a particularly elaborate one. It was made by the Kiel Company of Milwaukee, and originally cost $175 when it came on the market in 1929. The company offered installment plans, which made even this high-end piece of technology accessible to the average American. At the time, radios would have occupied the central place in a home that televisions hold today – as a focal point of a room, a primary source of entertainment, and a connection to the outside world.

1978.14

Person or Organization

Calais

Washington County

Vermont

United States of America

North America

1929

Overall

Rowing Machine, 1980-1985 Concept2 Morrisville, Vermont Metal, wood, plastic Gift of Concept2, 2012 Many of Vermont's inventions and innovations have come about during the cold and dark of winter. When the Dreissigacker brothers, Dick and Pete, found themselves without access to their beloved sport of rowing while ponds were frozen over, they put their creativity to developing a new and improved indoor rowing machine. In 1981, they began manufacturing and selling their first model, called the Concept2 Model A. Over the next few years, they leveraged their connections to the rowing community as well as their keen interest in iterating and improving to take the exercise market by storm. Though the idea of an indoor rowing machine was over a century old by that point, the Concept2 "ergometer" rowing machine quickly became the industry standard. Today, Concept2 is a multi-national, multi-million dollar company that is still based out of Vermont.

2012.8

1980-1985

Concept2, Inc.

Metal, Wood, Plastic

Mskwajo (Sap Bucket), 19th Century Northern Vermont Birch, metal Gift of Frederick M. Wiseman, 2017.3.7 The Abenaki, our region's original inhabitants, developed the process of maple sugaring. They were the first to recognize that the sap of the sugar maple was sweet and could be refined into sugar or syrup, and they were the first to experiment with various technologies for collecting that sap. This mskwajo, or birch bark sap bucket in English, would have been attached to a wooden spile driven into a maple tree and left hanging to collect sap as it ran in early spring. Birch bark is a remarkably pliable material and in this case was folded to make a water-tight container. The mskwajo’s donor indicates it was used in northern Vermont, likely by a maple producer of Abenaki origin.

2017.3

19th Century

1800-1900

Overall

Birch, Metal

Steam Engine, ca. 1793 Samuel Morey Fairlee, Vermont Tin, brass Gift of Amelia S. Morey Kibbey, 1900.2 Samuel Morey was an inventor from Fairlee, Vermont and Orford, New Hampshire. He first began experimenting with steam power in the 1780s, and his first patent, in 1793, was for a steam-powered spit (for cooking food). In the early 1790s, he began to develop a steam engine that he ultimately used to power a small boat that he drove up and down the Connecticut River. Legend has it that he snuck out to test his craft early on a Sunday morning, while the rest of the town was at church, so that he would be spared embarrassment in case of failure. Morey continued to develop his ideas for steam-powered boats, but he was slow to patent them, and in the early 19th century Robert Fulton and Robert Livingston joined together to create the first steamship line in America. They have typically received credit for creating workable steam engines, though Morey disputed their claims and argued that they stole his ideas. Morey continued to invent throughout his life, and in the 1820s he invented and attempted to sell an early internal combustion engine. He failed to attract buyers, but beginning in the 1890s, many automobile inventors credited his work as an inspiration. This model of Morey’s original steam engine comes from the Morey family, and is one of the longest-tenured objects in our collections.

1900.2

Person or Organization

Bradford

Orange County

Vermont

United States of America

North America

Artist

circa 1793

Overall

Tin, Brass

Still Bank, 1975-1985 Vermont Castings (1975-present) Randolph, Vermont Cast iron In memory of Joseph & Laura Algar and Raymond H. Adams, 2008.38.6 Duncan Syme was one of many innovators and tinkerers drawn to Vermont during the 1970s. A Yale-trained architect, he worked out of his wood shop in Warren, VT with the goal of building a better wood-burning stove. His quest fused back-to-the-land values of self-reliance with a new awareness of renewable and more efficient sources of energy. Heating with wood was a new concept to many who came to Vermont from more temperate climates, and the learning curve was steep. Syme began production on his prototype and called it the “Defiant.” The company that grew around that original model was named Vermont Castings, headquartered in Randolph. Its growth was extraordinary – in five years, it was listed as the fastest growing stove company in America by Inc. The Defiant wasn’t just more efficient and better-constructed: it was elegant, combining art and practicality in a way that typified the spirit of invention at communes across Vermont.

2008.38

Person or Organization

1975-1985

Vermont Castings, Inc.

Overall

Iron

Television, 1948 The Hallicrafters Company Chicago, Illinois Metal, glass, plastic Museum purchase, 2007.51 Television was not invented in Vermont, but when it arrived on the scene many Vermonters were eager to experiment with the new technology. George Dilley, owner of a radio store in St. Johnsbury, was one of them. He carried this Hallicrafter television - reportedly one of the first in Vermont - to the top of Burke Mountain in an attempt to get a signal strong enough watch a Boston Braves game in July 1948. He was partially successful; he and his family could hear the baseball game, but the picture that came through was of a trapeze artist at a circus. The baseball game, broadcast from Boston, was crossing paths with a signal from Schenectady, NY on the same channel.

2007.51

Person or Organization

, ,

20th Century

1948

The Hallicrafters Company

Metal, Glass, Plastic

Theodolite, 1898-1982 Buff & Buff Manufacturing Company Boston, MA Metal, glass, wood Gift of the Vermont Agency of Transportation, 2011.6.1 Theodolites are surveyor’s tools, meant to measure the angle between two points – one on a vertical plane and one on a horizontal plane. They are crucial when taking precise measurements of a varying landscape, allowing for further mathematics that can lead to a more precise picture of a specific area. Theodolites date to at least the 16th century, and the word origin is unknown. The modern theodolite first appeared in 1725. This theodolite, in itself a complicated and essential piece of technology, contributed to another technology story in the history of Vermont: it was used by the Vermont Agency of Transportation while laying out the interstate system, beginning in the 1960s. Interstate construction in Vermont was sparked by the Federal Highway Act of 1956, and continued for another 20 years. (Arguably, it is still unfinished.) In total, 351 miles of highway were built in Vermont, changing the physical, cultural, and economic landscape of the state permanently. Better, faster travel to and from Vermont brought mixed blessings, opening the state up economically but permanently impacting the communities through which the highways traveled – and the communities it bypassed.

Used to measure horizontal and vertical angles.

2011.6

Person or Organization

Vermont

United States of America

North America

1898-1982

Buff & Buff Manufacturing Company

Overall

Brass, Glass, Wood, Metal

Tufting Machine, c.1892 Star Manufacturing Company Washington, PA Brass, steel, wood Transfer from Barre Historical Society, 2014.60.269 “Tufting” is a textile-making technique in which threads are punched through a base fabric, leaving a loop on one side and two loose ends on the other side. The technique is ancient, and frequently used to make thicker or warmer materials or garments, such as mittens. Contrasting colors can create patterns both on the tufted, or looped, side and the loose end side. Over time, the loose ends often felt together to create a dense, thick layer. Tufting is also commonly used in carpet-making. This tufting machine takes a practice that would have been physically tiring and time-consuming and mechanizes it. The kit comes with a variety of different needle sizes for use with thread or yarn, to adjust the density of the final product. Turning the handle would raise and lower the needle, punching in and out of the fabric repeatedly and – with experienced use – quickly.

2014.60

1892

Star Manufacturing Company

Wood, Enamel, Metal, Paperboard

Permutation Typograph, ca. 1857 Benjamin Livermore Harland, VT Brass, steel Transfer from Hartland Historical Society, 1982.6.1 Benjamin Livermore’s “Permutation Typograph” is a kind of early typewriter. He was far from the first to develop a machine for writing; many others had been experimenting with and tweaking mechanical devices for typing for decades before him. Livermore, who lived in Hartland, patented his device and advertised it via pamphlets and public demonstrations. It’s not clear how widely it was produced. His innovation was in slimming down the device into something he could – and did – operate out of his own pocket. The six keys on the device could be used singly or in combination to select a letter or symbol, and could then type out notes in a kind of shorthand. The case held both type keys and a scroll of paper. A family member recalled that he used the device personally: “He would print with it in the dark. He usually carried it in his pocket and could print it there, placing his hand in such a position that his fingers rested on the keys. After taking down the conversation of those he met, he placed it under his pillow at night to catch any stray thoughts, as he termed it.” Livermore’s device, while not necessarily crucial in the larger story of printing, is a fascinating and highly personal story within that history. Livermore was a prolific inventor who also patented a machine for forming cement pipes and a boot crimper.

1982.6

Artist

circa 1857

Overall

Brass, Steel