Ernst Plank Hot-Air Engine Toy: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

The Ernst Plank Company of Nuremberg, Germany manufactured this hot air engine around 1900. The engine is not a steam engine, as no water is heated. Instead the firebox heats air which expands and moves a piston to create useful mechanical work. The toy consists of a fire box to hear the air, with a piston powering a flywheel that is connected to a line shaft with three pulleys. The engine is very similar to the kind that ran the Praxinoscope toy made by Plank during the early 20th century.

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.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: ca 1900
• Object Name: hot-air engine, toy
• Physical Description: tin (overall material)
• Physical Description: wood (base material)
• Measurements: base - from catalog card: 8 3/4 in x 4 in; x 22.225 cm x 10.16 cm
• Measurements: flywheel - from catalog card: 2 1/4 in; x 5.715 cm
• Measurements: overall: 5 7/8 in x 4 1/8 in x 8 3/4 in; 14.9225 cm x 10.4775 cm x 22.225 cm
• ID Number: MC.329055
• catalog number: 329055
• accession number: 278175
• Credit Line: Bequest of the Estate of Greville I. Bathe
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.