Franklin Institute
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
As part of our trip to PLS we planned a visit to the Franklin Institute to see one of the two known Galileo telescopes still in existence. Sadly because the material in the exhibit was so old and fragile photography was strictly prohibited so no pictures are available. You will just have to take my word (I am told that I have an honest face) the seeing it was extremely interesting and gave a glimpse into the ingenuity of the man. The scientific instruments that were part of the display were very interesting also. I am always impressed with the craftsmanship of the instrument makes of the past and their ability to make very accurate instruments with the tools available at the time.
We visited some of the other galleries in the museum and found the following in the "Train Shed"
This HUGE locomotive is the from the Baldwin Works and is their model 60000. With an all up weight of 350 tons it is the only one made as, when they took it on a tour to try to sell it to the RRs, it left a trail of broken track behind the engine. That and an annoying tendency to blow steam piping left it in the dustbin of history.
Not seen in this photo is the steam gage which had a working range of 350 PSI
and a red line of about 450 PSI.
Looking down the stair well from the third floor at the Foucault pendulum