Object Details
- Description (Brief)
- This toy steam engine was manufactured by the Ernst Plank Company of Nuremburg, Germany during the early 20th century. There is a small metal plate on the toy’s wooden base that reads “Rapid,” possibly the model name of this engine. The toy has a pressed metal firebox below the boiler, which has a steam whistle. The boiler powers a vertical slide valve engine shafted to a flywheel, with an ornamental flyball governor on the shaft.
- Ernst Plank founded his company in Nuremburg, Germany in 1866. The company was well known for manufacturing a variety of metal toys like steam locomotives, stationary steam engines, early photography equipment, and magic lanterns until its dissolution in 1935.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Bequest of the Estate of Greville I. Bathe
- ID Number
- MC.329008
- catalog number
- 329008
- accession number
- 278175
- Object Name
- toy, steam engine and boiler
- steam engine and boiler, toy
- Physical Description
- white metal (overall material)
- tin (stack material)
- wood (base material)
- Measurements
- flywheel: 1 3/4 in; x 4.445 cm
- boiler: 3 1/4 in x 1 3/4 in; x 8.255 cm x 4.445 cm
- base: 6 in x 5 1/2 in; x 15.24 cm x 13.97 cm
- overall: 9 3/4 in; 24.765 cm
- overall: 9 3/4 in x 5 1/2 in x 5 3/4 in; 24.765 cm x 13.97 cm x 14.605 cm
- place made
- Germany
- Related Publication
- Maass, Eleanor A.. Greville Bathe's "Theatre of Machines": The Evolution of a Scholar and His Collection
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
- Family & Social Life
- Engineering, Building, and Architecture
- Engineering Steam Toys and Models
- National Museum of American History
- Record ID
- nmah_847208
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a6-9b0a-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
