Ernst Plank Steam Engine Toy with Marx Lights
date: label: date made
content: Early 20th Century
name: label: maker
content: Plank, Ernst
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Ernst Plank produced this toy steam engine during the early 20th century. The toy has a tan fire box below a horizontal boiler with steam whistle, safety valve, and throttle. The steam line powers a small oscillating engine mounted on a two pole generator that provides electricity to twin Marx-manufactured lamps on metal scaffolding.
label: Description (Brief)
content: 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.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Germany: Bavaria, Nuremberg
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.329059
label: catalog number
content: 329059
label: accession number
content: 278175
objectType: label: Object Name
content: toy, engine boiler & generator
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: tin (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: generator: 4 in x 4 in x 4 in; 10.16 cm x 10.16 cm x 10.16 cm
label: Measurements
content: horizontal boiler: 2 3/4 in x 6 1/4 in; 6.985 cm x 15.875 cm
label: Measurements
content: light tower: 10 in; 25.4 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 14 1/2 in x 10 in x 11 in; 36.83 cm x 25.4 cm x 27.94 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall-: 11 1/2 in x 11 1/4 in x 9 7/8 in; 29.21 cm x 28.575 cm x 25.0825 cm
label: Measurements
content: smokestack: 10 3/4 in x 1 1/8 in; 27.305 cm x 2.8575 cm