The Springfield Gas Machine

In this study of the Springfield gas machine Donald W. Linebaugh provides the first history of a little-known but significant segment of the market for gas lighting in the period between the Civil War and World War I. Linebaugh's focus is on the Gilbert and Barker Manufacturing Company, the leader in the portable gas lighting industry and the creator and marketer of the Springfield gas machine. He lays out the company's history in chapter 2, after providing in chapter 1 the first ever account of the history of the portable gas industry. Linebaugh's ability to tell this history comes from his work as an archaeologist studying and preserving historic buildings. Among his most important sources are the artifacts of the portable gas light systems found in a variety of buildings. Linebaugh is able to narrate the story of these installations by combining study of artifacts, analysis of historic documents related to the buildings and their owners, and examination of company catalogs. In chapter 3 he uses these sources to trace the technical history of the systems. He follows this with two chapters that provide case studies of installations of the machine. In chapter 4 he examines installations in several rural and suburban residences and shows how this was a highly targeted market that included businessmen and industrialists, many of whom had already installed machines in commercial buildings or factories. In chapter 5 Linebaugh details the use of portable gas in commercial and industrial buildings (along with a few churches and public institutions), including the development of machinery that could provide gas heating, burners, and lighting for industrial production

Archaeology · Architectural engineering · History of technology · Spanish Civil War · TRACE (psycholinguistics) · Variety (cybernetics · Work (physics · American Environmental and Regional History · American History and Culture · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Engineering · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · History · Mechanical Engineering