Object Details
- Description (Brief)
- This toy steam engine consists of a vertical brass boiler with a steam line connected to two horizontal slide valve engines with two flywheels. The museum’s catalogue records indicate that is was possibly made by the Buckman Manufacturing Company, during the late 19th century.
- 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
- Credit Line
- Bequest of the Estate of Greville I. Bathe
- late 19th century
- ID Number
- MC.328982
- catalog number
- 328982
- accession number
- 278175
- Object Name
- toy, steam engine and boiler
- steam engine and boiler, toy
- Physical Description
- brass (boiler material)
- cast iron (bed material)
- Measurements
- boiler: 3 1/2 in; x 8.89 cm
- flywheels: 1 3/8 in; x 3.4925 cm
- overall: 9 in x 8 1/4 in x 4 1/4 in; 22.86 cm x 20.955 cm x 10.795 cm
- overall: 9 in x 8 1/4 in x 4 1/4 in; 22.86 cm x 20.955 cm x 10.795 cm
- 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_847056
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a6-73fe-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
