Topics Technology & Engineering

Birch’s Views of Philadelphia, 1800

Thomas Mill Covered Bridge on the Wissahickon

Thomas Mill Covered Bridge over Wissahickon Creek (Picturesque America)

Centre Square Water Works, Frederick Graff, Sr. Plans, 1799

Benjamin Henry Latrobe, portrait by Filippo Costaggini, 1880

Centre Square Water Works, Latrobe Plans, 1799

Diagram showing the Philadelphia Water Department's water treatment process

PWD Drinking Water Treatment diagram

Frederick Graff’s drawing of the 1815 steam engine, adapted from a design by Englishmen Matthew Boulton and James Watt, shows the engine from the north, with Faire Mount and the reservoirs to the left of the drawing and the river to the right. The 1815 engine sat on the south side of the Engine House and was thus called the South Engine. As Graff indicated in his drawing, the Engine House was essentially open from river level to the roof in order to accommodate the massive beam and fly wheel of the two engines. While Graff showed the crank attached to the axle of the fly wheel, he left the crank shaft and the pump out of the drawing. The North Engine, designed and built in 1816 by Philadelphian Oliver Evans, advanced steam engines’ operating pressures from 2 pounds per square inch (psi) to 200 psi, a significant technological achievement.

Steam engine drawing, Frederick Graff Sr., 1815

Black and white photo of a man wearing a hat and standing on a bridge with his arm on a post

Wood truss drawbridge, Orthodox Street over Frankford Creek, 1899 [Detail]

Black and white photo of a low bridge over a creek

Bridge Street Draw, July 26, 1897

Color Diagram of Plan for the Collection, Purification and Disposal of the Sewage of the City of Philadelphia

State Street pipeline construction

State Street pipeline construction, 1904

DeLaval Beauty Shots 6

Electric Pump Installations at Lardner’s Point Pumping Station

View from the Inclined Plane, near Philadelphia, 1838

View from the Inclined Plane near Philadelphia, 1838