This photograph shows a class of engineering cadets from the USS Nantucket, a school ship run by the Massachusetts Nautical Training School, examining marine type thrust bearings.
The cadets visited the South Philadelphia Works of the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company on this date, August 31, in 1921. Their visit was documented by staff photographer Charles Yessel (1877-1953) for publication in the company newsletter, Machine News.
The South Philadelphia Works, located in Essington and Lester, Pennsylvania, manufactured gas and steam engines, turbines and mechanical stokers for use in railway systems, fire service pumping stations, the shipping industry, and other large scale industrial purposes.
This image is part of Hagley Library’s collection of Westinghouse Electric Corporation Steam Division photographs (Accession 1969.170). A curated selection of items from this collection has been digitized; our Digital Archive offers over 1,000 photographs from this resource dating from 1898 to 1964. These photographs cover a variety of subjects including building construction, turbine manufacturing, research facilities, machinery, executives and employees, and visitors to the facility. To view more material from this collection online now, click here.