“Motive Power at the Museum of Science & Industry” by S.M. O’Connor

One way parents and teachers can make sure children are getting everything they can from a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry (M.S.I.) is to use exhibits to illustrate the history of motive power. Start with the model steam engines in the Green Stairs. Explain a small number of brilliant men such as Hero of Alexandria developed primitive steam engines for thousands of years, but Thomas Newcomen (1664-1729) invented the first practical steam engine to pump water out of mines, which saved the lives of miners and allowed them to delve deeper into the Earth. James Watt (1736-1819) made improvements that allowed steam engines to power equipment, the foundation of the Industrial Revolution.

Figure 1 Credit: Seán M. O’Connor Caption: On the left is a model of the impulse turbine fabricated by Giovanni Branca (1571-1645) in 1629 A.D. and on the right is a model of the reaction turbine fabricated by Hero of Alexandria in 130 B.C.

Figure 2 Credit: Seán M. O’Connor Caption: This is a model of the double acting rotative engine built by James Watt (1736-1819) in 1782.

Next, lead the kids to the Coal Mine headframe in Farrell Family Court (South Court). If budget and time permit, take a tour of the Coal Mine. Either way, explain in the early 19^th Century other inventors developed smaller steam engines that could be adapted to propel vehicles and show them the 999 Empire State Express Steam Locomotive in the Transportation Gallery.

Figure 3 Credit: Seán M. O’Connor Caption: This is how the Grand Tree and standard-sized Christmas trees in the Grand Rotunda and Farrell Family Court (South Court), Toymaker 3000, the Coal Mine headframe, and Texaco No. 13 airplane looked from the Farrell Family Court balcony shortly after the opening ceremony for Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light on Thursday, November 15, 2018.

Figure 4 Credit: Seán M. O’Connor Caption: This is the 999 Empire State Express Steam Locomotive, a 2008 Tesla Roadster, a 1923 Milburn Model 27L Light Electric, the Great Train Story model train set, and assorted airplanes suspended from the ceiling in the Transportation Gallery.

Figure 5 Credit: Museum of Science and Industry Caption: This is the 999 Empire State Express steam locomotive. Hanging overheard, we see the Piccard Balloon Gondola and parts of the Supermarine Mark 1A Spitfire and Junkers JU-87R-2 Tropical Stuka.

Next, take the kids to look at the model steamships in the Ships Gallery on the Lower Level (ground floor). [Take a moment to look at the boats and ships from the age of sail.] Then take the kids to look at the cars on display west of the Ships Gallery. Talk about diesel-electric systems.

Ship Thru the Ages exhibit @ the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago — *Ship Thru the Ages* exhibit @ the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago

Figure 6 Credit: J.B. Spector, Museum of Science and Industry Caption: On top is a model of the banana boat Santa Marta. She was part of the United Fruit Company’s Great White Fleet.[1] This is how the Santa Marta would have looked around 1909. She was a 394-foot-long vessel that steamed between the United States of America, Central American states, and South American states. On the bottom is a model of the packet riverboat Marieville. A stern-wheeler, she carried passengers and cargo along the Mississippi River from St. Louis to New Orleans. This is roughly how she looked in 1886. She was 193 feet, six inches long. The model was a gift of Arthur C. Allyn. Mr. Spector took this photograph on Thursday, October 20, 2016.

Figure 7 Credit: J.B. Spector, Museum of Science and Industry Caption: The “Hauling Out” diorama depicts The City of New York in the Newport News Graving Dock #2. Mr. Spector took this photograph on Thursday, October 20, 2016.

If time permits, go down to look at the Burlington Zephyr (also known as the Pioneer Zephyr) in the subterranean Entry Hall. The Zephyr’s engine was a Winton 201A eight-in-line two-cycle diesel engine built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in LaGrange, Illinois.

Figure 5 Credit: J.B. Spector, Museum of Science and Industry Caption: This is the Pioneer Zephyr in the exhibit All Aboard the Silver Streak. Visitors board the train and take tours at intervals.

If budget and time permit, take an on-board tour of the U-505 so you can get an up-close look at the engines. The U-505 had two 2,500-horsepower, nine-cylinder, super-charged, four-stroke (also known as four-cycle), seawater-cooled diesel-electric engines manufactured by Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg (M.A.N.), AG.[2] Each engine was coupled with clutches to a dynamotor and the shaft and had its own instruments and controls to give a machinist’s mate enough information to keep it going.[3] Two Siemens-Schuckert-Weake (S.S.W.) electric motors propelled the U-505 while she was underwater.[4] The electric motors were fed by 164 (2 x 62) battery cells that generated 740 W at 11,300 Ah (based on discharge over twenty hours), producing up to 562 horse-power.[5] Unlike some other U-boats, the U-505 was neither built with nor retrofitted with a schnorkel,[6] which would have allowed her to run her diesel engines when submerged at periscope depth.[7]

Figure 9 Credit: J.B. Spector, Museum of Science and Industry Caption: Between 1954 and 2004, the U-505 was on display behind the Museum of Science and Industry’s East Pavilion. Since 2004, the U-505 has been on display in a 35,000 square-foot exhibit hall under the north lawn of the Museum of Science and Industry. Mr. Spector took this picture on August 2, 2007.

Figure 10 Credit: J.B. Spector, Museum of Science and Industry Caption: This is the U-505 engine room. Mr. Spector took this picture on September 26, 20012.

If you take the tour, when you get off the U-505, explain to the kids we were lucky the German Navy didn’t have air-independent propulsion (A.I.P.) U-boats until war’s end. Variations on that technology are still in use, but the U.S. Navy adapted nuclear power plants for subs and surface ships under the supervision of Admiral Hyman Rickover (1900-1986).

Finish off with the electric cars in the Transportation Gallery. If budget and time permit, instead finish off in Future Energy Chicago.

Figure 11 Credit: Seán M. O’Connor Caption: This is a 2008 Tesla Roadster in the Museum of Science and Industry’s Transportation Gallery.

Figure 12 Credit: Seán M. O’Connor Caption: This is a 1923 Milburn Model 27L Light Electric in the Museum of Science and Industry’s Transportation Gallery. A replica of George Stephenson’s The Rocket locomotive can be seen in the far corner.

Figure 13 Photo Credit: J.B. Spector, Museum of Science and Industry Caption: Students choose different power sources to fuel Chicago as they take on the role of power engineers in the “Future Power” game, part of the Future Energy Chicago exhibit at the M.S.I.

Future Energy Chicago Learning Lab — *Future Energy Chicago* Learning Lab @ The Museum of Science and Industry Chicago

Figure 14 Photo Credit: J.B. Spector, Museum of Science and Industry Caption: Visitors think like automotive engineers by designing energy-efficient vehicles in the “Future Car” simulation game in the exhibit Future Energy Chicago at the Museum of Science and Industry.

On Tuesday, September 4, 2018, the M.S.I. reverted to regular hours (9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.). On the weekend of Saturday, November 17, 2018 and Sunday, November 18, 2018, the M.S.I. will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The M.S.I. will be closed on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 22, 2018) and the First Day of Christmas (Tuesday, December 25, 2018). Extended hours (9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.) will be in play again from Friday, November 23, 2018 to Sunday, November 25, 2018; Saturday, December 1, 2018 and Sunday, December 2, 2018; Saturday, December 8, 2018 and Sunday, December 9, 2018; Saturday, December 15, 2018 and Sunday, December 2016; Sunday, December 23, 2018; and Wednesday, December 26, 2018 through Sunday, December 30, 2018. There will be longer hours, from 9:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 22, 2018. On Christmas Eve (Monday, December 24, 2018) and New Year’s Eve (Monday, December 31, 2018), the M.S.I. will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. On New Year’s Day (Tuesday, January 1, 2019), the M.S.I. will be open from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. From Wednesday, January 2, 2019 through Friday, January 4, 2019, the M.S.I. will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Regular hours (9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) will resume on Saturday, January 5, 2019. The Museum of Science and Industry regularly makes small adjustments to this schedule, so when planning a trip there, check this Webpage and the M.S.I.’s social media for updates.

EXTENDED HOURS AND EXCEPTIONS

9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.	Saturday, November 17, 2018 Sunday, November 18, 2018
Closed	Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 22, 2018)
9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.	Friday, November 23, 2018 Saturday, November 24, 2018 Sunday, November 25, 2018
9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.	Saturday, December 1, 2018 Sunday, December 2, 2018
9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.	Saturday, December 8, 2018 Sunday, December 9, 2018
9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.	Saturday, December 15, 2018 Sunday, December 16, 2018
9:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.	Saturday, December 22, 2018
9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.	Sunday, December 23, 2018
9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.	Christmas Eve (Monday, December 24, 2018)
Closed	Christmas Day (Tuesday, December 25, 2018)
9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.	Wednesday, December 26, 2018 Thursday, December 27, 2018 Friday, December 28, 2018 Saturday, December 29, 2018 Sunday, December 30, 2018
9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.	New Year’s Eve (Monday, December 31, 2018)
11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.	New Year’s Day (Tuesday, January 1, 2019)
9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.	Wednesday, January 2, 2019 Thursday, January 3, 2019 Friday, January 4, 2019

Often stylized as the “Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago” or the “Museum of Science + Industry” the institution is located at the northern end of the Chicago Park District’s Jackson Park, on the south side of 57^th Street, between Lake Shore Drive to the east and Cornell Drive to the west, in the East Hyde Park neighborhood of the Hyde Park Community Area (Community Area #41) on the South Side of Chicago. The address is 5700 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60637. The M.S.I. is open every day of the year with two exceptions: Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. On most days, it is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., but during peak periods it is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The Website is https://www.msichicago.org/ and the phone number is (773) 684-1414.

ENDNOTES

[1] The United Fruit Company’s Great White Fleet is not to be confused with the U.S Navy’s Great White Fleet, which circumnavigated the world between 1907 and 1909 under the order of President Theodore Roosevelt to establish the U.S.A. was an ascendant world power.

[2] Hans Joachim Decker, “404 Days! The War Patrol Life of the German U-505,” United States Naval Institute Proceedings, March, 1960, Volume 86/3/865, p. 34

See also Hans Göbeler and John Vanzo, Steel Boat, Iron Hearts: A U-Boat Crewman’s Life aboard U-505. New York City, New York: Savas Beatie (2005), p. 12

Göbeler stated they were 2,200 horsepower diesel engines.

Eric C. Rust, “Appendix A: Type IXC U-Boats: Technical Data,” Hunt and Kill: U-505 and the U-boat War in the Atlantic. Edited by Theodore P. Savas. New York City, New York: Savas Beatie, L.L.C. (2004), p. 222

See also James E. Wise, Jr. U-505: The Final Journey. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press (2005), p. 2

Note that Wise stated they were 2,170 horsepower diesel engines.

Literally, Maschinenfabrik means machine-factory. Augsburg and Nürnberg (called Nuremberg in English) are important German cities in Bavaria. Both cities benefitted from their place on the trade route from the Italian provinces of the Holy Roman Empire to the German provinces of the Holy Roman Empire (and kingdoms outside the Empire). They were both Free Imperial Cities, meaning there were no intermediary lords between them and the Holy Roman Emperor and the Imperial Diet. Further, Nuremburg was the de facto capital of the German Realm of the Holy Roman Empire from 1423 to 1796, which gave the city symbolic importance. This is why Hitler held Nazi Party Rallies there several times between 1923 and 1938. The importance of the city to the N.S.D.A.P. is why the victories Allies held the Nuremburg Trials there in 1945 and ’46. The city was famous for handmade toys and clocks in early modern times and became a major industrial center in the 19^th Century.

[3] Wise, p. 2

[4] Rust, “Appendix A: Type IXC U-Boats: Technical Data,” p. 222