“Simple Machines”:

New Exhibit at the John Dickinson Plantation in Dover, Del

(Dover, Delaware—May 14, 2009)—Beginning on June 10, 2009, Dover, Delaware’s John Dickinson Plantation will feature an exhibit demonstrating the six simple machines (incline ramp, screw, wedge, pulley, lever, and wheel) that constitute the elementary building blocks of which all complicated machines are composed. Each of these machines was in common usage at the plantation during the lifetime of John Dickinson (1732–1808), one of the founding fathers of the United States, signer of the Constitution, and "Penman of the Revolution." The exhibit, entitled “Simple Machines,” will be on display in the plantation’s granary building on an ongoing basis.

The John Dickinson Plantation, Dickinson’s boyhood home and country estate, is located at 340 Kitts Hummock Road in Dover, Delaware 19901. Admission is free and open to the public. For additional information, call 302-739-3277.

A simple machine is a mechanical device that changes the direction or magnitude of a force. The idea of a simple machine originated in approximately the 3rd century BC when the Greek philosopher Archimedes studied the "Archimedean" simple machines: lever, pulley, and screw. Heron of Alexandria (ca. 10–75 AD), in his work “Mechanics,” lists five mechanisms with which a load can be set in motion: the winch, lever, pulley, wedge, and screw. During the Renaissance the classic five simple machines (excluding the wedge) began to be studied as a group. The complete dynamic theory of simple machines was worked out by Italian scientist Galileo Galilei in 1600 in “Le Meccaniche” (On Mechanics). He was the first to understand that simple machines do not create energy, only transform it. (Source: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_machine.)

About John Dickinson (1732-1808)…

John Dickinson, born in Talbot County, Maryland on November 8, 1732; moved with his parents in 1740 to Dover, Delaware where he studied under a private teacher; studied law in Philadelphia and at the Middle Temple in London; was admitted to the bar in 1757 and commenced practice in Philadelphia; member of the Assembly of “Lower Counties,” as the State of Delaware was then called, in 1760; member of the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1762 and 1764; delegate to the Stamp Act Congress in 1765; member from Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress 1774-1776 and from Delaware in 1779; brigadier general of Pennsylvania Militia; President of the State of Delaware in 1781; returned to Philadelphia and served as President of Pennsylvania 1782-1785; returned to Delaware; was a member of the Federal convention of 1787 which framed the constitution and was one of the signers from Delaware; died in Wilmington, Delaware, on February 14, 1808; interment in Wilmington Friends Meetinghouse Burial Ground.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

John Dickinson

“Simple Machines”

Event dates:    June 10, 2009–Ongoing

Location:               John Dickinson Plantation, 340 Kitts Hummock Rd., Dover, Delaware 19901

Telephone:              302-739-3277

Web:                    http://history.delaware.gov/museums/jdp/jdp_main.shtml

Hours of operation:     Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m.–3:30 p.m., and Sunday, 1:30–4:30 p.m. Closed Mondays and state holidays. Closed Sundays in January and February

Admission:              Free and open to the public. Group tour reservations are required [Back to Press Releases Main]