Gear Cutting Machines... in the White House?

When President Obama redecorated the Oval Office, he kept some old things and some new things. He kept the Resolute desk, a gift from Queen Victoria in 1880, which has been used by nearly every president since Rutherford B. Hayes. He has added some things, though. With an eye on the American spirit of invention, he has three mechanical items on his bookshelves, on loan from the National Museum of American History's patent collection. President Obama now has before his eyes models for

• Samuel Morse's 1849 telegraph register
  
• John Peer's 1874 gear-cutting machine
  
• Henry Williams' 1877 feathering paddle wheel for steamboats

We thought it was pretty cool that the President has a (model of a) gear-cutting machine. Let's hope his decorative tastes presage a move to help American manufacturing and technology, industries that could really use some support.