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Date: November 8, 1996
Princeton Gives Invention Factory Project a Boost
Trenton, N.J. -- The renaissance of the John A. Roebling Sons industrial complex in Trenton is under way, with Princeton faculty, students, administrators and alumni taking part in the transformation of the former Roebling machine shop into the Invention Factory Science Center.
The Invention Factory is the educational centerpiece of the $160 million overhaul of the former Roebling site, located in Trenton's Chambersburg section. This 21st-century "factory" will be a learning center that will give the public a chance to experience cutting-edge science with exhibits on energy, communications, biotechnology, materials science, transportation and the environment.
The factory's reach will go far beyond the brick walls. It also supports a regional outreach center, putting material from the world's best scientists on the desktops of New Jersey school-children. The Invention Factory has already produced science kits for 8,000 students through its Science to Go program and will make extensive use of computer networks and interactive television.
Princeton's involvement extends to every phase of the project -- from the look of the building to the content of the programs and the funds needed to make it happen. "In order to create a science center of national significance, it was essential to have Princeton University involved," said Clifford Zink, executive director.
Marriage of interests
The Princeton Materials Institute (PMI) and the Princeton Center for Complex Materials (PCCM) will have major roles in the center's develop-ment and ongoing governance. PCCM received a $14 million grant from the National Science Foundation, and "part of that grant was for outreach programs," Zink said. "Obviously, this is a marriage of interests."
Visitors to the Invention Factory Science Center will learn about the 125-year history of Roebling Co., which was sold in 1952 as demand eased for its chief product, wire rope. While John A. Roebling did not invent wire rope, he perfected the manufacturing process. From the start Roebling saw his product as the essential material for the suspension bridges he sought to build.
First used to replace the hemp ropes that hauled barges, wire rope was also used for canal aqueducts, elevators, streetcars and scores of other 19th-century innovations. But the Roebling bridges, particularly the 1883 Brooklyn Bridge, are perhaps the company's most memorable contribution to industrial America.
Zink seeks to emphasize the harmony of 21st-century science in a 19th-century space that was, in its day, a center of innovation. "The building itself is really our first exhibit," he said.
The architectural firm of Ralph Lerner, dean of the School of Architecture, has been selected for a three-part project that involves renovating the historic mill building, designing the interior of the new facility and designing the exhibit space. The machine shop will be overhauled in stages, with a visitor's center scheduled to open in 1997. A 15,000 square-foot section is to open in 1999 and the final 30,000 square feet in 2001.
Pathways to Science, Technology
The list of Princeton connections to the Invention Factory Science Center is lengthy, starting with Ferdinand W. Roebling III '33, great-grandson of the company founder. PMI's former director, Peter Eisenberger, serves as chair of the Invention Factory board of trustees, and Princeton University President Harold Shapiro is also a board member.
PCCM and the Invention Factory are partners in Pathways to Science and Technology, an interactive software system that will deliver educational content. "Pathways will create a distribution network of science resources for the entire region," Zink says.
Angelo Otterbein '96 and Davin Peterson '96 are designing the Pathways program, with help from interns Vincent Lordi '99 and Jon Garfunkel '98. The Pathways executive committee includes Marks Professor of Chemical Engineering William Russel, the new director of PMI and PCCM; PMI manager Alexis Faust; and professors David Dobkin of Computer Science, Ilhan Aksay and Richard Register of Chemical Engineering, Thomas Spiro of Chemistry, and Barrie Royce of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
The School of Architecture has had an ongoing relationship with the Invention Factory. Three years ago graduate students in architecture guided a class of Trenton teens through a computer design seminar to develop concepts of what the Invention Factory might look like. Felecia Davis *93 was one of the seminar leaders, with help from Richard Ellison *95 and Bart Overly *95.
The teens also had some help from Norman Sollenberger, professor of civil engineering, emeritus, who worked for the Roeblings for six years before joining the Princeton faculty in 1952.
Hartford Gongaware '94 wears a number of hats in his post as the factory's project coordinator. And Zink notes that the project got off the ground in 1988 with an initial grant of $25,000 from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, led by executive director Scott McVay '55. Since then, the Dodge Foundation has contributed another $190,000 to the project.
When the Invention Factory visitor's center opens next year, it will likely feature models of the three most famous Roebling bridges--the Brooklyn Bridge, the Golden Gate and the George Washington Bridge. Wendy Gottshall '97 is planning to create the models as her senior thesis project under the direction of Gordon Y.S. Wu Professor of Engineering David Billington.
Taking stock
At this point, architect Lerner is still taking stock of the building he is to transform. "It's one of the best examples of mill building from the turn of the century," he said.
The machine shop, built in stages in 1890 and 1901, housed some of the essential workers of the Roebling operation: The men who worked here made the machines that made wire rope.
Because of their special skills, machinists worked in a better environment than others at the mill, Zink said. The building reflects this importance, and yet Lerner finds its finest quality is the subtlety of its style. "There's not a lot of dramatic ornamentation," he said.
Lerner is impressed with the way the Roebling buildings blend into the neighborhoods, where mill workers lived. "Where the building meets the street, there is a demonstrated sense of civic purpose that is often lacking today," he said.
Machinists worked in the natural light that pours through the clerestory windows. There is so much light, Zink said, that it will have to be controlled. The generous central space will not be divided, Zink said, although he envisions smaller versions of the three Roebling bridges, based on Gottshall's designs, crossing the expanse.
Today there are no amenities inside the machine shop, save one: A coil of black fiberoptic cable that spills from a brick wall.
Zink holds the coil tight, for in it he sees both a link to the future and a symbol of the past. "This," he says, "is the wire rope of today!"