Ericsson Air Engine, Patent Model
date: label: date made
content: 1858
label: patent date
content: 1858-12-14
name: label: inventor
content: Ericsson, John
notes: label: Description
content: This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for Patent no. 22281, issued to John Ericsson, December 14, 1858.
label: Description
content: This is one of the earliest hot-air engines in which cold air is drawn into, compressed, heated, and expanded within the same cylinder. This and the Ericsson engine of 1855 were the basis of design for most of the later commercial hot-air engines introduced in the United States.
label: Description
content: The model is of an engine having a very large horizontal cylinder, one end of which is occupied by the grate and flue of a furnace. In the cylinder beyond the furnace are two pistons, one of which is a transfer or pump piston, the other the working piston. The two pistons complete their outward stroke (away from the furnace) at about the same time, but the transfer piston, which is nearer the furnace, moves inward faster than the work piston and draws in a supply of cold air through a self-acting valve in the working piston. Upon the outward stroke the transfer piston closes up on the work piston and compresses the charge between the two and transfers it through valves to the space around the heater. The pressure produced by the increase of temperature during this transfer propels the working piston through the outward stroke and supplies the motive force. The return stroke is affected by means of a flywheel.
label: Description
content: Reference:
label: Description
content: This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York
label: associated place
content: United States: New York, New York City
topic: label: Subject
content: Patent Models
label: Subject
content: Engine
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
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content: Bulletin 173
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content: Engineering, Building, and Architecture
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content: Work
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
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content: Patent Models
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Frank A. Taylor. Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States National Museum, Bulletin 173
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: ER.308660
label: accession number
content: 89797
label: catalog number
content: 308660
label: patent number
content: 22,281
objectType: label: Object Name
content: engine, air, model
label: Object Name
content: patent model, engine, hot air
label: Object Type
content: Patent Model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: iron (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: brass base - from catalog card: 6 in x 8 in; 15.24 cm x 20.32 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 3/4 in x 8 1/2 in x 6 1/8 in; 14.605 cm x 21.59 cm x 15.5575 cm