Toy Steam Engine
Toy Steam Engine
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- Description (Brief)
- This toy steam engine was manufactured by an unknown maker during the early 20th century. The engine has a reversible slide valve and flywheel, with a horizontal brass boiler.
- 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.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- toy, steam engine and boiler
- steam engine and boiler, toy
- date made
- early 20th century
- Physical Description
- brass (overall material)
- wood (base material)
- Measurements
- flywheel-from catalog card: 5 1/4 in; x 13.335 cm
- boiler-from catalog card: 7 3/8 in x 2 3/4 in; x 18.7325 cm x 6.985 cm
- overall-from catalog card: 14 in x 9 3/4 in x 9 in; 35.56 cm x 24.765 cm x 22.86 cm
- overall: 14 in x 9 3/4 in x 8 5/8 in; 35.56 cm x 24.765 cm x 21.9075 cm
- ID Number
- MC.329014
- catalog number
- 329014
- accession number
- 278175
- Credit Line
- Bequest of the Estate of Greville I. Bathe
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
- Family & Social Life
- Engineering, Building, and Architecture
- Engineering Steam Toys and Models
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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