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[[Image:Westinghouse Time Capsule.jpg|thumb|'''Westinghouse<br /> Time Capsules''']]
[[Image:Westinghouse Time Capsule.jpg|thumb|'''Westinghouse<br /> Time Capsules''']]
[[Image:Westinghouse 1964 exhibit.gif|thumb|'''Westinghouse 1964 exhibit''']]
[[Image:Westinghouse 1964 exhibit.gif|thumb|'''Westinghouse 1964 exhibit''']]
The '''Westinghouse Time Capsules''' are two [[time capsule]]s prepared by the [[Westinghouse Electric (1886)|Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company]]: "Time Capsule I", created for the [[1939 New York World's Fair]]; and "Time Capsule II", created for the [[1964 New York World's Fair]]. Time Capsule I was made of an [[alloy]] created especially for the purpose. Called Cupaloy, it was made of 99.4% [[copper]], 0.5% [[chromium]], and 0.1% [[silver]].<ref>Westinghouse (1938), p. 10</ref> Westinghouse claims it has the same strength as steel and would resist most [[corrosion]] over thousands of years like copper. Time Capsule II was made of a [[stainless steel]] metal called "Kromarc" that was invented by Frederick Charles Hull<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=muV1h4Ddn4wC&pg=PA58&lpg=PA58&dq=kromarc+frederick+charles+hull&source=web&ots=U2ak6S3fDn&sig=gi1ylAokATKeiYgV-Pk8LHq3ykQ Metallography - Dr. Frederick Charles Hull]</ref> and supplied by [[U.S. Steel]].<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/specials/magazine3/release.html Press release Saturday, October 16, 1965]</ref> Westinghouse Research Laboratories determined with extensive chemical testing that this new super stainless steel alloy would resist corrosion much like the alloy that was used for Time Capsule I.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/specials/magazine3/brochure.html Westinghouse - Commemorative Brochure]</ref> The composition of Kromarc 55 Stainless Steel is 52.60% [[iron]], 21.24% [[nickel]], 15.43% chromium, 8.20% [[manganese]], 2.15% [[molybdenum]], 0.22% [[silicon]], 0.05% [[carbon]], 0.013% [[phosphorus]], and 0.012% [[sulfur]].
The '''Westinghouse Time Capsules''' are two [[time capsule]]s prepared by the [[Westinghouse Electric (1886)|Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company]]: "Time Capsule I", created for the [[1939 New York World's Fair]]; and "Time Capsule II", created for the [[1964 New York World's Fair]]. Time Capsule I was made of a special [[alloy]] created just for it to resist corrison over the next 5000 years. This non-[[ferrous]] alloy called "cupaloy" was made of 99.4% [[copper]], 0.5% [[chromium]], and 0.1% [[silver]].<ref>Westinghouse (1938), p. 10</ref> Westinghouse claims it has the same strength as steel and would resist most [[corrosion]] over thousands of years like copper because in [[electrolytic]] reactions it becomes an [[anode]] receiving deposits instead of wasting away like most iron bearing metals.<ref> Westinghouse (1939), p. 10</ref> Time Capsule II was made of a [[stainless steel]] metal called "Kromarc" that was invented by Frederick Charles Hull<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=muV1h4Ddn4wC&pg=PA58&lpg=PA58&dq=kromarc+frederick+charles+hull&source=web&ots=U2ak6S3fDn&sig=gi1ylAokATKeiYgV-Pk8LHq3ykQ Metallography - Dr. Frederick Charles Hull]</ref> and supplied by [[U.S. Steel]].<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/specials/magazine3/release.html Press release Saturday, October 16, 1965]</ref> Westinghouse Research Laboratories determined with extensive chemical testing that this new super stainless steel alloy would resist corrosion much like the alloy that was used for Time Capsule I.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/specials/magazine3/brochure.html Westinghouse - Commemorative Brochure]</ref> The composition of Kromarc 55 Stainless Steel is 52.60% [[iron]], 21.24% [[nickel]], 15.43% chromium, 8.20% [[manganese]], 2.15% [[molybdenum]], 0.22% [[silicon]], 0.05% [[carbon]], 0.013% [[phosphorus]], and 0.012% [[sulfur]].


==Overview==
==Overview==

Revision as of 21:39, 9 January 2008

Westinghouse
Time Capsules
Westinghouse 1964 exhibit

The Westinghouse Time Capsules are two time capsules prepared by the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company: "Time Capsule I", created for the 1939 New York World's Fair; and "Time Capsule II", created for the 1964 New York World's Fair. Time Capsule I was made of a special alloy created just for it to resist corrison over the next 5000 years. This non-ferrous alloy called "cupaloy" was made of 99.4% copper, 0.5% chromium, and 0.1% silver.[1] Westinghouse claims it has the same strength as steel and would resist most corrosion over thousands of years like copper because in electrolytic reactions it becomes an anode receiving deposits instead of wasting away like most iron bearing metals.[2] Time Capsule II was made of a stainless steel metal called "Kromarc" that was invented by Frederick Charles Hull[3] and supplied by U.S. Steel.[4] Westinghouse Research Laboratories determined with extensive chemical testing that this new super stainless steel alloy would resist corrosion much like the alloy that was used for Time Capsule I.[5] The composition of Kromarc 55 Stainless Steel is 52.60% iron, 21.24% nickel, 15.43% chromium, 8.20% manganese, 2.15% molybdenum, 0.22% silicon, 0.05% carbon, 0.013% phosphorus, and 0.012% sulfur.

Overview

File:Time Capsule Kromarc.jpg
Time Capsule of Cupaloy

The two time capsules are bullet-shaped, measure 90 inches (2.29 m) in length, and have an exterior casing of about eight and three-eighths inches (21.1 cm) in diameter.[6] Time Capsule I weighs about 800 pounds (363 kg), while Time Capsule II weighs about half that.[7] The contents for the time capsules were sealed inside an insulated airtight glass envelope with an interior diameter of six and a half inches (16.5 cm) and a length of about 81 inches (2 m).[8] The interior of the glass envelope of Capsule I was filled with the inert gas nitrogen.[9] The interior of the glass envelope of Capsule II was filled with the inert gas argon. The term "time capsule" was coined by George Edward Pendray for the New York 1939 World's Fair Westinghouse exhibit.[10]

Visitors to the Westinghouse pavilion exhibit of the 1964 New York World's Fair were asked to sign a guest book which was photographed onto acetate microfilm and put into the time capsule. Signers received tin pins, about 30mm (1.2 inches) across (roughly the size of an American fifty-cent piece), that said, My name is in the Westinghouse Time Capsule for the next 5,000 years. Their message in a bottle was then put into the Pyrex glass interior shell of the time capsule for posterity.

This first modern time capsule of 1938 was followed in 1965 by an undated version at the same site. The 1965 Time Capsule II is located 10 feet to the north of the original 1939 time capsule. Both are buried 50 feet below Flushing Meadows Park, the site of both the 1939 World's Fair and 1965 World's Fair. Both are to be opened at the same time in the year 6939 AD, 5,000 years after the first capsule was sealed.[11]

Categories and contents

1965 "Time Capsule II" contents
File:1965 Time Capsule.gif
1965 "Time Capsule II" assembly

Among the 35 small, everyday, physical items placed inside Time Capsule I were a fountain pen and an alphabet block set. Time Capsule I also contained 75 types of fabrics, metals, plastics, and seeds. Modern literature, contemporary art, and news events of the twentieth century were recorded on a microfilm "Micro-File" for placement in Time Capsule I; the "Micro-File" has over ten million words and a thousand pictures and came with a small microscope for viewing. There are also instructions included on how to make both a large microfilm viewer and a motion picture projector for the newsreels.

Also included were copies of Life magazine, a kewpie doll, one dollar in change, a pack of Camel cigarettes, a 15-minute RKO Pathe Pictures newsreel, and millions of words of text put on microfilm rolls which included a Sears Roebuck catalog, a dictionary, and an almanac. Seeds placed in the time capsule included wheat, corn, oats, tobacco, cotton, flax, rice, soy beans, alfalfa, sugar beets, carrots, and barley, all sealed in glass tubes.

The items that were selected to be put inside were based upon how well they chronicled 20th century life in the United States.[12] During packaging of the contents under the direction of representatives of the United States Bureau of Standards, each object was examined to determine whether it could be expected to last 5000 years. [13]

There were five main categories of objects to be put inside each of the capsules.

1939 "Time Capsule I" categories

  • Small articles of common use
  • Textiles and materials
  • Miscellaneous items
  • Essay in microfilm
  • RKO newsreel

1965 "Time Capsule II" categories

  • Articles in common use
  • Atomic energy
  • Scientific developments
  • Space
  • Other

Book of Record

The contents of Time Capsule I were recorded in a Book of Record of the Time Capsule of cupaloy deemed capable of resisting the effects of time for five thousand years, preserving an account of universal achievements, embedded in the grounds of the New York World's Fair 1939.

The purpose of the Book of Record made in 1938 is the hope that in 5000 years a person will stumble across this key to the information of the existence of the time capsule. Someone perhaps might find a copy of the over 3000 copies of the Book of Record distributed to museums, monasteries, and libraries worldwide.[14] In order to avoid confusion about the 1965 time capsule, a supplement announcing Time Capsule II was sent to the original 3000 depositories of the 1938 Book of Record.[15]

Should all present day methods of determining time be lost, then the time for what is now called 1939 Common Era can be recognized by calculation from astronomical data. In the year 1939 CE, there were two eclipses of the moon, falling on the third of May and the twenty-eighth of October. Also there were two eclipses of the sun, an annular eclipse on the nineteenth of April, the path of annular eclipse grazing the North Pole of the earth, and a total eclipse on the twelfth of October, the total path crossing near the South Pole. The heliocentric longitudes of the planets on the first of January at zero-hours Greenwich time were as follows:[16]

The mean position of the North Star Polaris (Alpha Ursse Minoris) on the first of January was Right Ascension, 1 hour, 41 minutes, 59 seconds; North Polar distance, 1 hour, 1 minute, and 33.8 seconds. Astronomers of the early twentieth century determined that such a combination of astronomical events is unlikely to recur for many thousands of years. The people of the future will therefore be able to determine the number of years that have elapsed since the capsule was buried by computing backward from their time.[17]

Location of the two time capsules

1939 Westinghouse exhibit
Twenty-first century marker for the two Westinghouse time capsules

The 1938 time capsule of cupaloy was lowered at high noon on September 23, 1938, the precise moment of the Autumnal Equinox. Its latitude and longitude coordinates of the burying place as determined by the U.S. National Geodetic Survey was recorded in the Book of Record of the Time Capsule of cupaloy as 40°44′34.089″N 73°50′43.842″W / 40.74280250°N 73.84551167°W / 40.74280250; -73.84551167, which is within an inch (2.5 cm).[18] The time capsule will likely move vertically or horizontally for geological reasons, [19] so an alternate electromagnetic field method is provided for locating. It involves constructing a loop of wire 10 feet in diameter and putting an alternating current of between 1,000 and 5,000 hertz through it with a power of at least 200 watts. Then the detection of a "distortion field" with the use of a secondary loop of wire about a foot in diameter will indicate the exact location of the two metal alloy time capsules, assuming no other large metal objects are in the vicinity. [20]

A large stone permanent sentinel granite monument memorial weighing seven tons [21] made by the Rock of Ages Corporation marks the position where the two time capsules are buried. [22]

previous marker

The inscription on it reads,

The Time Capsules Deposited September 23, 1938 And October 16, 1965
By The Westinghouse Electric Corporation As A Record Of
Twentieth Century Civilization, To Endure For 5,000 Years.

Messages

The Book of Record of the Time Capsule, of which a copy was microfilmed and put inside Time Capsule I, contains written messages from three important men of the time: Albert Einstein's message,

Our time is rich in inventive minds, the inventions of which could facilitate our lives considerably. We are crossing the seas by power and utilise power also in order to relieve humanity from all tiring muscular work. We have learned to fly and we are able to send messages and news without any difficulty over the entire world through electric waves. However, the production and distribution of commodities is entirely unorganised so that everybody must live in fear of being eliminated from the economic cycle, in this way suffering for the want of everything. Further more, people living in different countries kill each other at irregular time intervals, so that also for this reason any one who thinks about the future must live in fear and terror. This is due to the fact that the intelligence and character of the masses are incomparably lower than the intelligence and character of the few who produce some thing valuable for the community. I trust that posterity will read these statements with a feeling of proud and justified superiority.

Robert Millikan's message,

At this moment, August 22, 1938, the principles of representative ballot government, such as are represented by the governments of the Anglo-Saxon, French, and Scandinavian countries, are in deadly conflict with the principles of despotism, which up to two centuries ago had controlled the destiny of man throughout practically the whole of recorded history. If the rational, scientific, progressive principles win out in this struggle there is a possibility of a warless, golden age ahead for mankind. If the reactionary principles of despotism triumph now and in the future, the future history of mankind will repeat the sad story of war and oppression as in the past.

Thomas Mann's message,

We know now that the idea of the future as a "better world" was a fallacy of the doctrine of progress. The hopes we center on you, citizens of the future, are in no way exaggerated. In broad outline, you will actually resemble us very much as we resemble those who lived a thousand, or five thousand, years ago. Among you too the spirit will fare badly it should never fare too well on this earth, otherwise men would need it no longer. That optimistic conception of the future is a projection into time of an endeavor which does not belong to the temporal world, the endeavor on the part of man to approximate to his idea of himself, the humanization of man. What we, in this year of Our Lord 1938, understand by the term "culture" a notion held in small esteem today by certain nations of the western world is simply this endeavor. What we call the spirit is identical with it, too. Brothers of the future, united with us in the spirit and in this endeavor, we send our greetings.

Inscription on Time Capsules

The exterior of the 1938 time capsule is die-stamped with this message to anyone that might stumble upon it prior to the scheduled opening year of 6939 to preserve its integrity:[23]

TIME CAPSULE OF CUPALOY, DEPOSITED ON THE SITE OF THE NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR ON SEPTEMBER 23,1938, BY THE WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY. IF ANYONE SHOULD COME UPON THIS CAPSULE BEFORE THE YEAR A. D. 6939 LET HIM NOT WANTONLY DISTURB IT, FOR TO DO SO WOULD BE TO DEPRIVE THE PEOPLE OF THAT ERA OF THE LEGACY HERE LEFT THEM. CHERISH IT THEREFORE IN A SAFE PLACE.

The exterior of the 1965 time capsule is not die-stamped with any message to anyone that might stumble upon it prior to the scheduled opening in 6939.

Future languages

The Book of Record requests that its contents be translated into new languages as they develop.[24] It contains an ingenious key with illustrations devised by Dr. John P. Harrington of the Smithsonian Institution to help future archaeologists with the English language,[25] since it is felt that all known languages of today will be lost.[26] It also includes an illustration showing exactly where each of the 33 sounds of 1938 English are formed in the oral cavity in what Dr. Harrington refers to as a "mouth map."[27]

Mouth Map

Footnotes

  1. ^ Westinghouse (1938), p. 10
  2. ^ Westinghouse (1939), p. 10
  3. ^ Metallography - Dr. Frederick Charles Hull
  4. ^ Press release Saturday, October 16, 1965
  5. ^ Westinghouse - Commemorative Brochure
  6. ^ Westinghouse (1938), p. 8
  7. ^ Press Release October 16, 1965
  8. ^ Westinghouse (1938), p. 8
  9. ^ Westinghouse (1938), p. 8
  10. ^ Capsule sign at the Westinghouse Museum
  11. ^ Westinghouse (1938), p. 6
  12. ^ Complete Contents List of 1939 Time Capsule
  13. ^ Westinghouse (1939), p. 16
  14. ^ Westinghouse (1939), pp 11-13
  15. ^ Westinghouse Time Capsule 1964
  16. ^ Westinghouse (1938), p. 10
  17. ^ Westinghouse (1938), p. 11
  18. ^ Westinghouse (1938), p. 11
  19. ^ Westinghouse (1938), p. 11
  20. ^ Westinghouse (1938), pp. 39-41
  21. ^ Press Release October 16, 1965
  22. ^ Permanent Sentinel
  23. ^ Westinghouse (1938), p. 9
  24. ^ Westinghouse (1939), p. 13
  25. ^ Westinghouse (1938), pp. 20-37
  26. ^ Westinghouse (1938), p. 19
  27. ^ Westinghouse (1938), p. 22

References

  • Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, The Book of Record of the time capsule of cupaloy (1938), public domain PDF
  • Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, The Story of Westinghouse Time Capsule of cupaloy (1939), public domain PDF

Guide books

  • Official Souvenir Book. New York World's Fair 1964/1965. Time Life, Inc. 1964.
  • Official Guide, New York World's Fair 1964/1965. Time-Life Books. Time Life, Inc. 1964.
  • Official Guide, New York World's Fair 1965. All New for 1965. Time-Life Books. Time Life, Inc. 1965.

Additional reading

  • Jarvis, William Time Capsules: A Cultural History (2002) ISBN 0786412615
  • Jacobs, Thornwell Step Down Dr. Jacobs: The Autobiography of an Autocrat. Atlanta, 1945.
  • Hilton, Suzanne Here Today and Gone Tomorrow. The Story of World's Fairs and Expositions. Westminster Press Books. 1978

See also

External links

Pictures of replicas

Videos

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