| The Village of Altamont Archives and Museum is hosting an exhibition titled “Ingenious Minds: Early Altamont Inventors,” showcasing the patented inventions of some of the early residents of the village.
Earlier this year, the museum’s curator, Marijo Dougherty, reached out to Rensselaer to ask for assistance. “We do have vintage portraits of most of the early inventors and also a researched biography on each person,” she wrote. “Unfortunately, for exhibition and study purposes we do not have the actual invented objects.”
Dougherty contacted Sam Chiappone, manager of the Manufacturing Innovation Learning Lab (MILL) at Rensselaer, and asked if he and his students could help. She wondered if it would be possible for the students to re-create one of the objects on a 3-D printer, using the patent drawings she collected for the exhibit. “The interface between 19th century drawings and 21st century technology would be an incredible service to historic collections such as ours, when we are lacking the objects connected to our research,” Dougherty said.
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