The Nation's First Hospital

I've spent the last week in the City of Philadelphia visiting the nation's first hospital, Pennsylvania Hospital.  Founded by Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Bond in 1751, most of the original building remains intact and has been incorporated into a new hospital campus that is part of the University of Pennsylvania health system.

Pennsylvania Hospital, 1811
William Strickland

 In 1800, the accomplished American painter Benjamin West, now living in Britain, was requested to create a painting honoring the new hospital.  He agreed and entitled his painting "Christ Healing the Sick in the Temple"  It was completed in 1811, but because of its popularity, West was forced to sell his painting to Britain's National Gallery for the largest some ever paid for a modern painting.

Christ Healing the Sick in the Temple, 1811 (Version 1)
Source 

Still wanting to forfill his original commitment to Pennsylvania Hospital, West recreated the painting with improvements.  The most prominent change is the addition of a "demoniac" in honor of the new hospital's treatment of the mentally ill.  The new painting was delivered to the hospital in 1817 and is currently prominently displayed in a modern wing connecting the original and new hospital buildings.

Christ Healing the Sick in the Temple, 1817 (Version 2)
Source

 

See if you can find the differences between the two paintings.

 

Timken Silent Automatic

Surveying the dark basement of a Boston-Edison historic home, I stumbled across a rusting indoor oil storage tank.  Stamped boldly on its front are the words "Silent Automatic Detroit".

With some research, I discovered that this was probably an old storage tank that accompanied a Timken Silent Automatic Oil Boiler system.  Equipped with the famous Wall-Flame Oil Burner, the oil fueled system was designed to out perform its hard-coal fired rivals. 

Timken 1946 Mailer (page 1)

A Schenectady Gazette advertisement from March 10, 1931 proclaims eight buying points:

1. A Product of a Great Engineering Organization 

2. Low Purchase Price 

3. Cheaper Grade of Oil (use #1 or #2 oil) 

4. Fuel Economy 

5. Save Cost of a Gas Pilot (with the slight up charge for an electric ignition) 

6. Hot Water Supply (system can supply both heat and domestic hot water) 

7. One Model for any Site Home (models for "modest homes" are the same as those installed in "more wealthy neighbors") 

8. Installation By Only Factory Trained Men 

Complete installation is listed at a depression era $335 (oil storage tank extra).

March 10, 1931 Schenectady Gazette Timken Advertisement

The boiler's only moving part was the Mono-Roto.  It "whirls tiny droplets of oil outward against the chromium-steel flame rim... In a few seconds after the burner starts, the flame rim becomes glowing hot ...[as] a blue-hot flame...  blankets the fire box walls for the quick transfer of heat."

Timken 1946 Mailer (page 2)

A division of the Timken-Detroit Axle Company, the 32 acre main manufacturing plant was located at 100 Clark Street in Detroit, Michigan.  Other plants were located in Jackson, MI, Oshkosh WI, Utica, NY, New Castle, PA,  Ashtabula, OH and Kenton, OH.