German Toy Steam Engine: Museum Object and Cultural History
German Toy Steam Engine: date made: early 20th century. Object Name: toy, steam engine and boiler. Object Name: steam engine and boiler, toy.
The object in the museum catalogue
This toy steam engine was made by an unknown German maker around the early 20th century. The toy consists of a vertical boiler, vertical engine, and flywheel. The chimney stack is in the shape of a hexagon.
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.
Materials, dates and provenance
- date made: early 20th century
- Object Name: toy, steam engine and boiler
- Object Name: steam engine and boiler, toy
- Physical Description: brass (overall material)
- Measurements: boiler: 1 5/8 in; x 4.1275 cm
- Measurements: flywheel: 1 3/4 in; x 4.445 cm
- Measurements: overall: 7 5/8 in; 19.3675 cm
- Measurements: overall: 7 7/8 in x 2 3/4 in x 3 1/4 in; 20.0025 cm x 6.985 cm x 8.255 cm
- place made: Germany
- place made: Germany
- ID Number: MC.328983
- catalog number: 328983
- 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.
Sources
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