Menlo Park Glass House

THF151613 / Menlo Park Glass House
01

Artifact Overview

Originally built as a photographic studio and drafting room, the glassblowing shop was fundamental to Edison's enterprise. Edison's incandescent lighting experiments ensured that the laboratory had a voracious appetite for glass -- not only for bulbs but also for associated apparatus such as vacuum pumps. Ludwig Boehm, the laboratory's first master glassblower, worked here -- and lodged in the attic space.

Artifact Details

Artifact

Building (Structure)

Date Made

1878

Subject Date

1878-1886

Creator Notes

The building was originally commisioned by Thomas Edison at his Menlo Park Complex. His father, Samuel Edison oversaw construction.

Location

at Greenfield Village in Edison at Work District

Object ID

29.3049.1

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Material

Wood (Plant material)
Glass (Material)
Metal

02

Related Content

  • Ingersoll Milling Machine Used at Ford Motor Company Highland Park Plant, 1912
    Set

    America's Industrial Revolution

    • 61 Artifacts
    The Model T's distinction as a landmark car design can be traced in large part to machines like this -- a high capacity precision machine tool that performed just two production steps on the car engine's cylinder block. The Model T as a design achievement is inseparable from many hundreds of engineering, materials, and production innovations.
  • Hanks Silk Mill
    Set

    Greenfield Village Buildings

    • 84 Artifacts
    As America was taking its first steps towards industrialization, the Hanks family of Mansfield, Connecticut, made early attempts to mechanize the production of silk thread. Rodney Hanks and his nephew Horatio Hanks built this mill in 1810. It was the first silk mill in America, producing some of the first silk with machines that were powered by a waterwheel.