Fairman Rogers collection of George B. Grant Difference Engine material, 1833-1900.

Format:

Other

Author/Creator:

Rogers, Fairman, 1833-1900, creator.

Contributor:

Grant, George B. (George Barnard), 1849-1917, creator.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Computers.

Genre:

patents.

promotional materials

Physical Description:

1 box (.2 linear foot)

Place of Publication:

1833-1900.

Biography/History:

Fairman Rogers (1833-1900) was a civil engineer, professor, patron of the arts, and equestrian. He was born in Philadelphia to Caroline (Fairman) Rogers and Evans Rogers, a successful industrialist and iron merchant. His maternal grandfather was artist and inventor Gideon Fairman. The Rogers family held a pew at the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, where Rev. William Henry Furness served as pastor. Rogers' sister, Helen Kate, married Furness's son, Horace Howard Furness. In 1856, Rogers married Rebecca H. Gilpin. The couple lived on the west side of Rittenhouse Square and had no children. Rogers studied engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated with an A. B. in 1853 and an A. M. in 1856. In 1857, he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society. He was one of the first 50 members elected to the National Academy of Sciences by the United States Senate in 1863. He served as President of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society from 1863 to 1864. Active in Philadelphia civic life, Rogers was a member of the Saturday Club and a founder of the Union League. During the Civil War, he was promoted to second sergeant of the First Troop of Philadelphia City Cavalry and served at the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg. After the war, Rogers led a national research project to develop a compass for iron vessels at Philadelphia's Navy Yard and published his findings in The magnetism of iron vessels, with a Short treatise on terrestrial magnetism (1877). Other government projects included completing the first survey of the Potomac River. For over a decade, Roger delivered lectures on mechanics at the Franklin Institute and often spoke at the Smithsonian. In 1864, he was named the University Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1871, he became a Trustee of the University and helped to found Penn's Departments of Mines, Arts & Manufactures, and the School of Veterinary Science. At Penn, Rogers supported the research of Eadweard Muybridge and is said to have applied the zootrope that animated Muybridge's photographs from Animal Locomotion (1884). Rogers was an avid sportsman and equestrian. Late in his life, many of his projects revolved around the study of the horse and horsemanship. He collected over 1,000 rare books and manuscripts on horses. The University of Pennsylvania Libraries now steward his collection of books. He frequently drove a four-in-hand carriage, and with his wife Rebecca, Mr. and Mrs. George Gilpin, and Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Dicks, Rogers was the subject of Thomas Eakins' painting, Fairman Rogers Four-in-Hand. Rogers was also Eakins's patron and a great supporter of the controversial artist at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA), where Rogers was on the Board of Directors. Rogers spent his final years in Paris and authored the definitive A manual of coaching (1900). He died in Vienna in August 1900 and is buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia. George Barnard Grant (1849-1917) was an inventor and mechanical engineer best known for his work on gear design. Grant was born in Gardiner, Maine, and attended the Chandler Scientific School at Dartmouth College before earning a B.S. from the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard. He owned several gear-cutting and machinery businesses, including "Grant Gear Works Inc.," in Charlestown, Massachusetts, "Philadelphia Gear Works Inc.," in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and "Cleveland Gear Works Inc.," in Cleveland, Ohio. He published many works on gears and machinery, including "A new calculating machine" in The American journal of science and arts (1874), Chart and tables for bevel gears (1885), A handbook on the teeth of gears (1885), "Odontics, or the theory and practice of the teeth of gears" in the American machinist (1890). Grant applied his gear designs to calculating machines, which he sold for commercial use, and took out patents on his designs in 1872 and 1873. For the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Fairman Rogers worked with George B. Grant to exhibit several calculating machines, including a machine known as "Grant's Difference Engine." The machine weighed nearly 1 ton, stood 5ft x 8ft, and consisted of over 15,000 pieces. Rogers paid $10,000 for the machine and planned for it to be donated to the University of Pennsylvania after the exposition.

Summary:

This collection is comprised of Rogers's research related to difference engines, especially "Grant's Difference Engine," a calculating machine designed by George B. Grant and purchased by Rogers for the 1876 Centennial Exposition and the University of Pennsylvania. Folder 1 consists of early patents on difference engines and includes one handwritten document on difference engine design. Folder 2 contains correspondence. Most of the letters are from Grant to Rogers and describe how to work the machines, but also include one letter from mathematician Hubert Anson Newton (1830-1896) and one from engineer William Dennis Marks (1849-1914). Folder 3 includes promotional pamphlets, advertisements, and images of calculating machines by George B. Grant, Edwin Thatcher (1839-1920), and W.F. Merriman. Folder 4 includes newspaper publicity on inventions in different engines. Folder 5 contains specifications and drawings of the Difference Engine designed by Charles Babbage (1791-1871), the English mathematician, inventor, and mechanical engineer best known for creating the first automatic mechanical computer.

OCLC:

1569240848