Bassett-Lowke Toy Steam Engine
date: label: date made
content: ca 1900
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This toy steam engine was manufactured by the Bassett-Lowke Company of Northampton, England during the early 20th century. The vertical slide valve engine consists of a firebox, vertical boiler, and chimney on a cast iron base.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Bassett-Lowke was a toy company, based in Northampton, England founded by Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke (1877 – 1953) in 1898 or 1899 that specialized in model railways, model boats and ships, and construction sets.
label: Description (Brief)
content: 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.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, Northampton
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
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content: Family & Social Life
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content: Engineering, Building, and Architecture
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content: Engineering Steam Toys and Models
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Maass, Eleanor A.. Greville Bathe's "Theatre of Machines": The Evolution of a Scholar and His Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Bequest of the Estate of Greville I. Bathe
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MC.328940
label: catalog number
content: 328940
label: accession number
content: 278175
objectType: label: Object Name
content: toy, steam engine and boiler
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: cast iron (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 19 in x 5 in; 48.26 cm x 12.7 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 18 3/4 in x 10 1/2 in x 7 1/4 in; 47.625 cm x 26.67 cm x 18.415 cm