History and Heritage

We can't take credit for Archimedes. He lived and died two millenia ago in the other Syracuse, in what was then the Greek colony of Sicily. The spirit of Archimedes inventiveness, however, is reflected in the many mechanical engineering achievements developed in Syracuse NY. The Erie Canal put Syracuse, NY on the map. The mostly self-taught canal builders devised mechanical innovations such as a stump puller for uprooting tree stumps and a cradle-type weighlock for determining tolls on canal boats. Incidentally, that Weighlock Building now houses Syracuse's historic Erie Canal Museum.

Economical transportation on the canal led to industrial growth. Companies such as the L.C. Smith and Brothers Typewriter Company, H. H. Franklin Manufacturing Company, manufacturer of the Franklin Automobile, Easy Washing Machine Corporation, Lamson Corporation, manufacturer of pneumatic tube carriers and blowers, New Process Gear, Kilian Bearings and Carrier Air Conditioning were either founded or grew in Syracuse. Their products were built upon solid mechanical engineering. Additional information about local industries that sprung from mechanical engineering can be found at the Onondaga Historical Association in downtown Syracuse.

The roots of ASME also grew in Syracuse. On January 18, 1880, Cornell Professor John E. Sweet wrote a letter from his home at 11 Elbridge Street (now Merriman Avenue) in Syracuse inviting engineers to a meeting in New York City for the purpose of organizing a national association of mechanical engineers. The letter is displayed in ASME International headquarters in New York. The proposed national association became the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Professor Sweet became its third president (1884-85). His portrait is displayed in ASME International headquarters. The roots that Professor Sweet helped to plant resulted in the establishment of the ASME Syracuse Section in 1920. Professor Sweet was also also a prime mover in the establishment of the Syracuse Technology Club which live on today as the Technical Alliance of Central New York and serves an an umbrella organization for all the CNY technical and scientific organizations

The History and Heritage Committee of ASME International pays tribute to historical mechanical engineering achievements through the ASME History and Heritage Recognition Program. In 1999, the Syracuse Section's History and Heritage Committee gained designation of the Kinne Collection of Water Turbines at the Jefferson County Historical Society in Watertown NY, as an ASME Heritage Collection.
The Syracuse Section is presently attempting to gain similar recognition for the Camillus Steam Engine Museum at the Erie Canal Park in nearby Camillus NY.