Explorer

On the occasion of Remembrance Day, Ingenium’s archivists would like to share some newly released photographs in the Digital Archives.

The notion of a science museum collecting famous art might seem a bit peculiar — until you know the full story.

As students and educators shift from the traditional classroom to online learning in the face of COVID-19, the Ingenium Digital Archives portal is growing its offerings.

Moving artifacts that weigh hundreds of metric tons is no small feat, but Ingenium is on a roll. Later this month, three pieces of Canada’s storied rail history will take to the tracks during a public event that will see them move out of a storage warehouse and into their new home in Ingenium’s Collections Conservation Centre in Ottawa. The Bytown Railway Society — a volunteer-run organization which restores and operates steam rail equipment — will be a key player in the move.

In honour of Archives Awareness Week (April 2-8), Ingenium is highlighting a few gems taken from our digital collection. This text has been adapted from the Picturing the Past website, developed by the Canada Science and Technology Museum in 2006. As early as 1933, with Hitler’s rise to power, the British government began to plan for war with Germany. Many Britons were concerned, not only with the bombing of cities, but with the threat of military invasion and occupation by the German army. The

Dr. Lucius Oille Dr. Lucius Oille was born in 1830 and was one of St. Catharines most prominent citizens. He served as a member of council for several years before becoming mayor in 1878. He was only the second mayor of the city and first chairman of the waterworks. He did not stand for re-election; however he continued to contribute to the city. Oille was a physician and owned the first x-ray machine in St. Catharine. Dr. Oille was involved in dozens of city projects, such as the organization

Waterloop - a student design team building a commuter pod to one day take you from Toronto to Montreal in 30 minutes - tested their prototype at the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod competition in January 2017. They competed against 23 finalists from around the world including the Massechusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. About 150 students from all six of the University of Waterloo’s faculties have contributed to the Waterloop team. Architectural

The real McCoy. It was so much better than all the other kinds that railroad engineers asked for it by name. The “it” is Elijah McCoy’s automatic lubricating cup for oiling the steam engines of locomotives and ships. When the mechanical engineer developed it in 1872, McCoy’s cup was a boon to railroaders throughout the world. The device supplied lubricating oil to the cylinders, bearings, and axle box mountings of locomotives automatically. This method boosting productivity, enabling trains to

The more efficient generator. Innovation is not usually invention. The compound steam engine is a perfect example of how smart thinking can make a good thing even better. In this case, the thinker was Fredericton, New Brunswick, native Benjamin Tibbets. The problem he considered was the wastage of heated steam in engines. Before Benjamin put his mind to the problem, steam engines required vast amounts of carbon fuel to produce vapour, which was then used briefly to produce power and subsequently

2016 ASTech Award Winner for Innovation in Information and Communications Technology TransRail Innovation Group (TRIG) is revolutionizing a century-old industry with the introduction of new technology. Calgary’s TRIG’s new XLOAD™ electronic sensor brings safety in rail transportation to a new level through its radar technology and unique capabilities. This increased level of safety affects not only the rail transportation workers, but also the environment. “What XLOAD™ does is allow workers to