Hidden treasures and stories from our collection
Collection of the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney. 86/741. Gift of the State Rail Authority Archives, 1986.
Would you have guessed the mystery rail object on display in the Museum’s marquee at Steamfest this year? Visitors to this event held in Maitland, NSW, over the weekend of 28/29th April were encouraged to have a go.
Powerhouse Museum Collection, Gift of the University of Sydney, 1954.
Professor Henry Barraclough was on a mission. He was visiting Europe in 1914 to find interesting engines for Sydney University, and there was one that he was particularly keen to acquire: an early Otto and Langen gas engine, the first commercially successful internal combustion engine.
Lores Bonney and her aircraft, My Little Ship, at Archerfield Aerodrome in 1932 before her round-Australia flight. Collection: Powerhouse Museum.
In celebration of International Women’s Day for 2012 I’d like to highlight the amazing short but inspiring aviation career of Maude (Lores) Bonney (1897-1994), one of Australia’s pioneers. Lores’ passion for flying began after a flight in 1928 with aviation legend, Bert Hinkler, her husband’s cousin. In 1930 she began flying lessons in secret while her husband, Harry Bonney, played golf. When Lores confessed her aviation pursuits, he helped her buy a DH60 Gipsy Moth aircraft which she called affectionately “My Little Ship”. Being a leather manufacturer he had two full-length suede flying suits made for her.
Continue reading ‘Celebrating the Australian Aviatrix Lores Bonney’
Powerhouse Collection. Gift of Mr C A Saxby, 1970.
When I decided to feature our rare Whittle aircraft engine in a recent blog post, I entered the term ‘Whittle’ in our database. Data on the engine appeared, along with a photo. Another object also popped up, with little data and no image. Intrigued, I had to check out this ‘early experimental Whittle turbine blade with fir tree base’.
I’d seen turbine blades before, but none as small as this, just three inches (75 mm) long and one inch (25 mm) wide. I didn’t have a clue about the fir tree base, but I did know it couldn’t be made of timber! And I wanted to know more about the donor, Mr C A Saxby, and whether the Whittle attribution was true; if it was, the object could connect us directly with an important and contentious research program, Frank Whittle’s development of the jet engine during World War II.
Powerhouse Collection. Gift of Mr C A Saxby, 1970.
Whittle’s autobiography (Jet: the story of a pioneer) explained that the fir tree base was developed by his team to overcome the problem of wobbly blades. A turbine has a large number of blades attached to a fast-spinning rotor, and vibration at the attachment points reduces both efficiency and lifespan. Whittle’s earliest experiments used the established ‘bulb root’ design, a cylindrical base that fits in a matching slot; in cross-section, this resembles a plant bulb in a round hole. The fir tree base, which has a series of steps that lock the blade into the rotor more effectively, is the standard design today.
But who was Mr Saxby, and how did he come to have the blade? Exam results in Trove gave me his Christian names, Colin Ambrose. A 1935 article turned up a grainy photo of him; the caption placed Saxby as one of a select group to graduate from Sydney University that year with honours in electrical and mechanical engineering.
So Saxby was a bright young engineering graduate at the time Whittle began his research. Did he travel to England and work with Whittle? One of our archivists searched for correspondence related to the object – and scotched that theory. The real story was that Saxby was the Acting Advisory and Inspecting Engineer to the NSW Government and was sent to England to tour various engineering works soon after the war ended. When he was at the Vickers works, an employee offered him the turbine blade. As Vickers made jet engines during the war, with advice from Whittle, it is highly likely that the story of the blade is true.
Curators must be sceptical about provenance because apocryphal stories can develop around objects, often linking them to famous people or events. However, provenance is not the only story. One object can tell many stories, and in this case they include: a problem to be solved; engineers striving to find a solution; the technology this contributed to; use of that technology in warfare and later in civilian aviation; technology transfer from Whittle to Vickers; and the story of Colin Saxby, his contribution to engineering in NSW, and his decision to donate this interesting souvenir to the Museum, to inspire future generations.
B2562, aircraft model of Bristol Boxkite flown by W E Hart and J Hammond, made by E Mead and R Coombes, 1978, gift of The Air Force Association, Parramatta Branch in memory of Mr E Mead Collection: Powerhouse Museum
Today celebrates 100 years since an adventurist dentist and self taught aviator landed in Parramatta Park in a Bristol Boxkite.
The aviator William Ewart “Billy” Hart, made one of the earliest and longest flights in New South Wales, when he flew from Penrith and landed in Parramatta Park.
The model aircraft featured above was made by Mr Edgar Meade and Mr Ray Coombes to celebrate the flights of Joseph Hammond and William Ewart ‘Billy’ Hart. Its one tenth the size of a Bristol boxkite plane and was used in a display for Foundation Week in Parramatta in November 1976, prior to being acquired by the Museum in 1978. lt adds to the Museum’s collection of Australian aviation material and models.
Billy Hart landing in Parramatta Park, 1911. Image Courtesy Mr Robert Shayler, donor. Collection: Parramatta Park Trust
Parramatta Park curator Verena Mauldon says research has shown that
Billy Hart The young dentist, from a wealthy Parramatta family, had a keen interest in mechanics and purchased his own Boxkite for ₤1 300. He had some lessons, but crashed the biplane early on and had to rebuild his aircraft from the debris in his father’s Parramatta workshop.
Billy became a local sensation as he tinkered with the machine for months on the ground and then taught himself to fly.
This flight was acclaimed as a remarkable performance, both across the international aviation world and by the startled locals who watched him land on the Parramatta Park cricket fields . In this first cross country flight in New South Wales, Hart astonished the community by travelling a distance of 18 miles (29km) in under 20 minutes, and his aircraft reached an altitude of 3000 feet.
Image from Jubilee History of Parramatta, 1861-1911. p196.
In 1912 Hart crashed a monoplane he had built at Richmond, and was hospitalised for two months. During the First World War he served as a flying instructor in No1 Squadron of the Australian Flying Corps in Egypt and Britain, but was sent home as medically unfit. Hart’s flying career was brief but illustrious, and he was remarkable in that he survived to resume his career as a dentist in 1918. He remained interested in aviation until his death in 1943.”
The model will be on display at the Parramatta Heritage Centre from mid November 2011 until January 2012.
References
Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 4 November 1911, p.6; 12 January 1912, p.6; 10 February 1912, p11 and 3 July 1912, p2
This blog was written by intern Brett Szmajda, who is researching the vital topic of energy storage.
I’m sure that many of you have heard of the Toyota Prius, the Tesla Roadster or the Chevy Volt. Hybrid and fully electric cars are making a big splash at the moment, promising quieter travel with fewer tailpipe emissions. In time, and with improvements in battery technology, it’s conceivable that electric cars might replace gasoline-powered cars.
Would you be surprised if I told you that the battle between electric and gasoline-powered vehicles is over 100 years old?
Powerhouse Museum Collection.
In the early 20th century, gasoline-powered cars and electric cars coexisted. There were even steam cars. Gasoline cars had greater range and could be ‘recharged’ instantly with a jerry-can of petrol, picked up from the general store. But they were loud, smelly, and difficult – even dangerous – to start: the only way to start them was by manually winding a heavy crank shaft, and if the car backfired the crank shaft could break your arm! By comparison, electric cars offered quiet operation and easier start up, with roughly the same limitations that they have today: once you were out of power, you faced a long wait while the car batteries recharged. The pros and cons on each side were roughly balanced, and because of this an interesting innovation race took off.
One big name, fighting for the electric car, was Thomas Edison. Electric cars, back then, ran off rechargeable lead-acid batteries that were essentially the great-great grandfather of the auxiliary lead-acid batteries in today’s cars. Edison thought he could do better, and that brings me to today’s object.
Pictured above is a B-2 nickel-iron (or ‘Edison’) battery. The sectioning of the battery gives us a nice look at its internal workings and lets us see how it compares with later ‘dry cell’ batteries like the Columbia ignitor. B-2 is simply a model number used by Edison to distinguish batteries used for different purposes, much like today’s batteries are AA, AAA, C, D, and so on. This particular model was not used for electric cars (that responsibility fell to its big brother, the A cell); instead, the B-2 was typically reserved ‘for ignition, and other light work’. Other uses for Edison batteries included telegraphy, and running lamps and signals in mines, trains, and ships. Large nickel-iron batteries were even deployed in submarines in World War I.
One of its most desirable features was that the Edison battery was nigh-on indestructable; workers at Edison’s factory performed wear testing by repeatedly throwing the battery out a third-floor window. It was also rugged electrically; the cells could withstand being left uncharged for decades, before working just-like-new after a fresh charge and electrolyte top-up. 
Edison batteries were used to run another item in the Powerhouse collection: the Detroit Electric car (see right). In fact, Edison himself owned one. The Detroit electric boasted a range of about 130 km (if driven conservatively) and a top speed of around 50 km/h. There was a surge of popularity for such cars again during World War I, when the price of petrol rose sharply. A public charging point was even installed at Palmer Street in the Sydney CBD, allowing you to recharge your electric vehicle for a modest fee. (I find this revelation quite funny, as a century later, we’re having debates about ‘range anxiety’ on electric cars and how to recharge your electric car while on vacation).
So whatever happened to the nickel-iron battery? Why do we have a lead-acid battery under the hood of our car nowadays? It was probably a combination of things. The electric starter motor was invented in 1911, eliminating one of the biggest drawbacks of petrol cars. Part of it might be the limitations of the Edison battery: it cost more to manufacture than a lead-acid battery; it was greatly inefficient at low temperatures, rendering it almost useless in winter; and it performed poorly in situations where a high discharge or high recharge rate was required. I’d also speculate that the market also played a role: petrol car manufacturers likely had business agreements with certain battery companies. Because of its wide range of other uses, the Edison battery was produced for over half a century, with production only stopping after Edison Storage Battery Co. was acquired by Exide Batteries.
So if you happen to be digging around in the grandparents’ tool shed and find an old Edison battery, you can tell your friends that you’ve found a part of one of the first electric cars. Hell, if you feel like fun, replace the electrolyte, and try (carefully!) giving it a charge. It’ll probably still work.
Gift of representatives of the NYPD and FDNY to the Premier of NSW the Hon Bob Carr MP, presented to the Powerhouse Museum, 2002.
Sunday 11 September is the tenth anniversary of that horrendous and highly symbolic event, the ramming of two aircraft into skyscrapers in New York City and one into the Pentagon in Washington DC. This portion of a girder cut from one of the World Trade Center buildings, distorted and blackened by fire, serves as a poignant, physical reminder of the event.
The relic was brought to Australia by a group of New York fire fighters and police officers who took part in the rescue and clean-up. They visited Sydney in February 2002 as guests of the NSW government and donated this object to the Premier in honour of the ten Australians who died alongside 3000 others that day. Its value as a museum object is symbolic, commemorating not just those ten but all who died, including those on board a fourth plane that did not reach its target, and all who took part in the rescue and recovery operation.
The hijackers aimed to create carnage, havoc and fear. Symbolism determined their choice of targets: the centre of world capitalism and the nerve centre of US defence. Symbolism also determined their choice of weapon: three airliners carrying large quantities of jet fuel, perhaps sourced from the Middle East’s massive oilfields.
The two skyscrapers were symbols of American technological leadership and economic success, soaring above the land and casting shadows on the water. They were made of steel, concrete and glass, all materials known and used since ancient times. They were clad with aluminium, a material that only became widely available in the twentieth century – thanks to Charles Martin Hall, the American who devised a process to separate it cheaply from its ores.
Powerhouse Museum Collection. Gift of Coles Myer Pty Ltd, 1997
Skyscrapers embody a good deal of engineering know-how. A key technology is the elevator with safety brake, invented in 1853 by another American, Elisha Otis. The Otis style governor above spent its working life in a shed perched on top of a Sydney retail building, ready to activate a brake if the lift it was connected to started falling too fast. Buildings could not be built more than a few storeys tall before the advent of the safety lift.
Powerhouse Museum Collection. Gift of Scott Czarnecki, 2004.
The electric lift motor is another key enabling technology for multi-storey buildings. This lift motor with integrated winch spent its working life in a shed at the top of another Sydney retail building, reliably starting at full load whenever someone pushed a button and unerringly stopping the lift level with the required floor. It was made in England around 1915, but the firm that made it was eventually taken over by Otis Elevator, the world’s largest lift company.
Powerhouse Museum Collection. Gift of Mr and Mrs E.A. and V.I. Crome, 1984
The first successful powered flight was achieved by two Americans, brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright, in 1903. Many other researchers had been trying to develop flying machines, including Australia’s own Lawrence Hargrave, whose box kite (below) probably contributed to the design of the Wright flyer’s wings. Hargrave also investigated animal movement and experimented with model ornithopters, making several different engines and a turbine to power them. Having put so much of his time and energy into pursuing the dream of flight, he expressed the hope that aircraft would not be used as war machines.
Powerhouse Museum Collection. Gift of Lawrence Hargrave, 1915.
Of course, it was not long before planes were used in warfare. They grew bigger, stronger and faster, but there was a limit to how fast reciprocating engines could spin propellers. In the 1930s and 40s in England, Frank Whittle was the first to develop gas turbine engines, which could move planes much faster than piston engines. Engineers in Germany and America also developed turbine engines. The engine below was made by Whittle’s company, Power Jets Ltd, in 1943.
Powerhouse Museum Collection. Gift of the Ministry of Supply, United Kingdom, 1951.
The American-made turbo-engine aeroplanes hijacked on 9/11 were not sinister war machines bristling with gun turrets and bombs, but sleek civilian craft similar to the Boeing 767 depicted by the model below. Their fuselage and wings were clad, like the twin towers of the World Trade Center, with that modern, lightweight, corrosion-resistant product of American ingenuity, aluminium.
Powerhouse Museum Collection.
Just as we rarely think about the technology that enables skyscrapers to exist, we rarely worry about the civilian planes whizzing around our skies. Bringing the two together on that day in 2001 was a shocking act that changed the world, opening new fault lines and accentuating old enmities. Ten years later, the fault lines have stretched around the world and destroyed or disrupted thousands more lives. And while technology has made our lives more interesting, healthy and comfortable, it is certainly a two-edged sword in the hands of those with enmity in their hearts.
Photography © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved
Would you have guessed the mystery rail object on display in the Museum’s marquee at Steamfest this year? Visitors to this event held in Maitland over the weekend of 9/10th April were encouraged to have a go. Congratulations to Ray Hare of Tamworth, NSW, whose answer, a railway carriage ceiling ventilator cover for NSWGR electric Bradfield cars, was the first correct entry drawn.
This pressed metal blank or moulding for an interior railway carriage ventilator was made by Tullochs Limited in Sydney in about 1950. Tullochs built electric railway carriages based on Dr J.C.C. Bradfield’s wide body, all-steel electric carriages in service on Sydney’s electric rail system from 1926 and known affectionately as the “red rattlers”. As well as conceiving Sydney’s electric train network and the city underground Bradfield is also famous for designing our Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Hornby train Image Powerhouse Museum
Powerhouse staff members are again off to Maitland, in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, this weekend to contribute to one of Australia’s most well-known heritage steam events, Steamfest.
Each year a theme is selected and a group of objects chosen by a curator to take up for a special display in the Powerhouse marquee. The conservators take great care in packing the objects, often into especially-made boxes, to ensure safe transportation to the rally site.
This year’s display focuses on a O-gauge scale Hornby toy steam locomotives, rolling stock, and the wonderfully evocative line-side accessories depicting the halcyon days of the British railways in the early 20th century. The toy trains are up to 90 years’ old and too precious to operate but will be displayed in engaging vignettes.
Hornby Pull apart train: Image Powerhouse Museum
Hornby Trains were the brainchild of Frank Hornby who, in 1901, also invented that other great early 20th century toy popular all over the world, Meccano. In fact, the first toy steam locomotives (85/2582-57) and rolling stock made at Meccano Ltd’s Liverpool factory in 1920 could be taken apart like the Meccano construction toy. It was soon realised that boys wanted to operate the trains not take them apart.
Collection Powerhouse Museum
Collection Powerhouse Museum
By the late 1920s both Hornby clockwork and electric locomotives and were being made in the liveries of the “Big Four” private railway companies operating in Britain at the time. True to the multi-tiered British class system these ranged from relatively inexpensive tin plate sets to the top-of-the-line No. 2 Special 4-4-0 LNER (London and North Eastern Railway) locomotive Bramham Moor. (85/2582-5).
Tanker Collection Powerhouse Museum
Snow plough Collection Powerhouse Museum
Crane Collection Powerhouse Museum
Barrell wagon Collection Powerhouse Museum
A bewildering array of Hornby rolling stock was developed from wagons and flat top trucks to tankers. These often had extra “play” value with rotary and side tipping mechanisms, trucks with cranes which could be lowered and swung (85/2585-217), and barrel wagons (85/2585-148) to load and unload. An item of rolling stock not terribly well known to Australian children was the snow plough (85/2585-279), with specially heavy wheels and a spring belt which ran around a v-pulley on the leading axle to drive the Meccano fan or “snow pusher”.
Biscuit van Collection Powerhouse Museum
Banana van Collection Powerhouse Museum
Chocolate van Collection Powerhouse Museum
The so-called “Private Owner Vans” added charm and realism to the Hornby series and were made from 1923 until 1941. The rarest and most sought after item, the equivalent of the 1930 penny to Hornby collectors, is the “Colman’s Mustard” van, produced between 1923 and 1924. The Carr’s, Crawford’s and Jacob’s biscuit vans were popular, so too were the “Fyffes Bananas” van from 1931. A personal favourite of mine is the “Cadbury’s Chocolates” van (85/2585-56) which hit the shelves in 1932.
Water tower, goods shed and station Collection Powerhouse Museum
And to make your railway layout more realistic, a range of line-side accessories appeared from 1921 with a Meccano-based lattice girder bridge, a station called “Windsor”, followed by a tunnel and signal box (85/2586-25).
Signal box and engine shed Collection Powerhouse Museum
Signals, crossings, water towers, turntables and buffer beams were all made. Whereas the rolling stock was enamelled the line-side buildings were beautifully lithographed, the most detailed was the enormous double-track engine house (85/2586-130) introduced in 1928. Some of the stations and goods sheds (85/2586-7) were even lit by electricity from the late 1930s.
Dinky toys Collection Powerhouse Museum
Other trackside accessories for avid Hornby collectors included lithographed tinplate suitcases, platform machines and milk churns. And to populate your set, lead passengers, station and engineering staff came out in 1932 and Hornby’s Dinky Toys, (2008/158/1) comprising cars scaled to fit the 0-gauge layouts from the mid-1930s.
Hornby Railway Club form Collection Powerhouse Museum
Hornby was one of the first manufacturers to actively brand their products with an inspired sales programme. A yearly catalogue, The Hornby Book of Trains, contained details of trains sets and much information about full size trains written in a lively and informative manner. Boys and girls could belong to the Hornby Railway Company, formed in 1929 and received a badge and handbook. Application forms were in every box. Branches were created in the larger British towns and some in conjunction with schools. In the 1930s if an item was not in stock, it could be ordered and arrived from Liverpool within seven days. The whole Hornby system was very reliable and repairs, if needed, easily undertaken at the local agent and returned mended in a special repair box a week later.
For decades the Australian agents for Meccano and Hornby Trains were E.G. Page & Co. Pty Ltd, of The Meccano Depot, 52 Clarence Street, Sydney, moving to the Danks Building at 324 Pitt Street from about 1942 until 1955. Annual sales and promotional visits were made to the State capitals with a special display at Sydney’s Royal Easter Show where their advertising read “Hornby Trains Clockwork & Electric – British and Guaranteed”. Orders were placed directly with E.G. Page & Co. who passed them on to Meccano Ltd with dispatch made directly back to the retailers. Page carried out most of the train repairs on the Sydney premises. With typical Hornby precision, a clockwork locomotive spring change was undertaken in only 15 minutes including a test run of the locomotive hauling a load around an oval track seven times.
Hornby Club certificate Collection Powerhouse Museum
E.G. Page & Co. also processed the application forms for the Hornby Railway Company membership in Australia. A letter and badge (2007/223/1) were sent out from the Sydney office and the applicant’s form was then forwarded to Liverpool (GB) for registration. In 1950 the patient Australian applicant had to wait 10 to 12 weeks for Meccano Ltd to forward out their membership certificate and Hornby Railway Company booklet by seamail. The wording and appearance of the certificate resembled a legal document and no doubt made the new member feel he was part of a worldwide club. In 1950 it read: Hornby Railway Company, At a Directors’ Meeting, held at the Headquarters in the City of Liverpool, County of Lancaster, on the (date, name and State typed in), was elected a Member of the Company and is entitled to the full benefits of Membership. In Witness Whereof, this certificate has been issued. Signed, Roland G. Hornby, Chairman.
Two years after Frank Hornby’s death in 1936 the firm introduced the smaller Hornby Dublo (00-gauge) table top trains which were more affordable and convenient than the 0-gauge. Post-war houses were getting smaller and there was less room for the big railway sets. This gauge became the most popular type for toy trains for the next 50 years. From then on no further effort was devoted to 0-gauge trains and by the 1960s their popularity had diminished. Today, model railway production is aimed at adult collectors and is increasingly distant from the traditional children’s toy railways of yesteryear. Many of the original collectors have kept and added to their interwar childhood 0-gauge toy railway layouts with stations, tunnels, landscapes and rolling stock often forming a historical diorama of twentieth century land transport.
Powerhouse Museum Collection.
The Museum’s steam engines – including this handsome portable made by Ransomes Sims and Jefferies – have recently sprung to life, after 14 months in suspended animation due to the loss of a key staff member and a government freeze on new appointments. Now, thanks to the diligence of our Conservation Manager and the support of our Director, we have two keen young engine drivers running the engines. Visitors are energised and enthused by seeing the engines in motion, and there is more discussion than usual about engines, energy and history taking place between visitors, volunteers and staff. A monthly schedule of steaming days will be posted on our website soon.
We recently posted some great video of engines on our Steam Revolution web page. While watching the engines on screen is not as wonderful an experience as seeing them up close, we have captured some novel views of the engines to make the videos special.
If you want a different steam experience, Maitland Steamfest on 9-10 April will feature steam locomotives (including our own 3265) on the railway tracks, traction engines on the Rally Ground, and a range of activities around town. The Powerhouse marquee will feature a selection of objects from our Hornby model collection, the six winning images from our 2011 Trainspotting photography competition, a show in which Cogs the Robot explains how a steam engine works (with the help of children from the audience), a mystery object competition and a series of talks.
While our digitisation project is well underway, with 80% of collection objects currently listed online, there is much more work to be done. Your donation will assist the Powerhouse to add high quality photographs and full background information for the 50% of online objects with incomplete listings.
