German Steam Toy Traction Engine
German Steam Toy Traction Engine
Usage conditions apply
- Description (Brief)
- This toy steam traction engine was manufactured by an unknown German maker during the early 20th century. The traction engine consists of a black firebox below a boiler painted orange. The steam powers a horizontal slide valve engine attached to a flywheel that is chained to the tractor’s rear wheel.
- Live steam toys enjoyed a period of popularity from the 1880s until the 1930s. The miniature steam engines were marketed as both toys and instructive devices that mimicked full-scale steam-powered machines and allowed every boy and girl to be their own engineer. In toy steam engines, a heating source is introduced into the firebox below the boiler (early toys used lit wicks fueled by denatured alcohol, later toys used electricity) which heated the water to produce the steam pressure that ran the engine. A variety of accessories could be powered by the engine; attachments included windmills, pumps, grinders, and electric lights. This traction engine achieves motion by the same method.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- toy, steam engine and boiler
- date made
- early 20th century
- place made
- Germany
- Measurements
- overall - from catalog card: 11 1/2 in x 8 1/4 in; 29.21 cm x 20.955 cm
- overall: 11 3/4 in x 4 3/8 in x 8 1/8 in; 29.845 cm x 11.1125 cm x 20.6375 cm
- ID Number
- MC.328932
- catalog number
- 328932
- accession number
- 278175
- Credit Line
- Bequest of the Estate of Greville I. Bathe
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
- Engineering Steam Toys and Models
- Engineering, Building, and Architecture
- Family & Social Life
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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