Mechanical Engineering Heritage Sites are particular locales at which some event or development occurred or which some machine, building, or complex of significance occupied.
[1] Clicking the landmark number in the first column will take you to the ASME page on the site where you will also find the downloadable brochure from the dedication.
First practical oil recovery system using salt-well drilling techniques and modern pipe-driving methods, marks beginning of US petroleum industry.
Sole surviving engine-generator set marking the beginning of large-scale electric power generation in the United States.
The world's first model-test facility to conduct maneuverability and control experiments for surface ships, submersibles, and airships.
Early 20th-century test facility for current meters, aircraft propellers, ships' logs, pitot tubes, and mine-sweeping paravanes.
Early examples of fabrication vessels using gas pressure and temperature to produce advanced alloy and ceramic products.
Early major US water-power system and the first Francis inward-flow water turbine placed in service and oldest in existence.
The first practical mechanism for braking large trucks with engine compression as they descend long, steep grades at controlled speeds.
First and still-operating Kingsbury thrust bearing in hydroelectric service, later used worldwide for all types of large machinery.
The world's first privately owned and operated nuclear power plant to deliver significant quantities of electricity to a public utility grid.
Earliest surviving example of the first successful traction ditching machine for laying agricultural drainage tiles.
The first comprehensive standard for the design, construction, inspection, and testing of boilers and pressure vessels, greatly influencing public safety.
The world's first large-scale testing facility for jet and rocket engines in simulated high-speed flight conditions.
Earliest surviving example of the prototype engine for vertical/short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) jets, namely Harriers and AV-8Bs The largest cryogenic system ever built, providing benchmark for superconducting magnet designs.
ASME brochure The last remaining dredge in the United States with unique propulsion system, designed for a wetlands environment.
ASME brochure The oldest operating vessel with a diagonal, compound steam engine, with disc valve gear.
The earliest (perhaps only) existing example of early high-compression, cold-start, full-diesel engines developed in the United States for isolated or rural power generation machinery before widespread electrification was available.
An experimental submarine that pioneered the teardrop-shaped hull, high-strength steel, and many other test concepts affecting speed, depth changes, and underwater maneuvering.
The first successful mining device to replace human labor in removing the rubble from underground hard-rock blasting.
ASME brochure Leader in transforming mechanical engineering education from a shop-based, vocational program to a professional one built on rigorous academic and analytical methods.
First ram-type blowout preventer, which sealed the wellhead and controlled pressure during drilling and oil production operations.
ASME brochure For decades, the elegantly simple Model A has proven to be the most effective and widely used method of automatic shrimp peeling, despite attempts by others to develop alternative approaches.
No ASME brochure available First ballpoint pens; utilized the concept of a quick-drying ink whose flow is controlled by gravity and a metal ball housed in a socket.
ASME brochure A deep-sea drillship platform initially built for the United States Central Intelligence Agency Special Activities Division secret operation Project Azorian to recover the sunken Soviet submarine, K-129, lost in April 1968.
The Wasp R-1340 was a significant improvement to the radial aircraft engine design, making commercial aviation viable as early as the 1920s.
Invented by Ernest Moench, the machinery featured a durable needle that punched loops of thick fabric through a web of backing material, resulting in the reliable, high-speed tufting of carpet.
The laboratory has been at the forefront of the quest to develop magnetically controlled fusion energy since its founding by Lyman Spitzer, who invented the stellarator, or "star generator".
Gutenberg's movable type system reduced the time and cost of producing the printed word, resulting in the widespread availability of books and the advancement of literacy.
ASME brochure (coming soon) The devices used at Cornell between 1885 and 1905, exemplify Robert Henry Thurston's vision of the central role of the engineering laboratory in training mechanical engineers The earliest known analog computer, an inscribed astronomical and calendrical device, designed to predict astronomical phenomena such as lunar and solar eclipses, as well as other functions.