Ernst Plank Hot-Air Engine Toy
date: label: date made
content: ca 1900
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: 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.
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
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
label: See more items in
content: Family & Social Life
label: See more items in
content: Engineering, Building, and Architecture
label: See more items in
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.329055
label: catalog number
content: 329055
label: accession number
content: 278175
objectType: label: Object Name
content: hot-air engine, toy
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: tin (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (base material)
label: Measurements
content: base - from catalog card: 8 3/4 in x 4 in; x 22.225 cm x 10.16 cm
label: Measurements
content: flywheel - from catalog card: 2 1/4 in; x 5.715 cm
label: Measurements
content: 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