Hiram Maxim Pumping Engine, Patent Model
date: label: date made
content: 1874
label: patent date
content: 1874-12-22
name: label: inventor
content: Maxim, Hiram S.
notes: label: Description
content: This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to Hiram S. Maxim, of New York, New York, December 22, 1874, no. 158105.
label: Description
content: This model represents a steam engine, pump, and gas-fired boiler, equipped with automatic valves for maintaining the proper level of water in the boiler and for holding a steady pressure in the boiler by starting or stopping the burner. The combination is a steam-pumping unit intended to function automatically without the services of an attendant.
label: Description
content: The engine is supported upon the boiler and consists of a rectangular bed, which serves as the pump suction chamber, upon which is the vertical pump cylinder and the pedestal that supports the flywheel and crankshaft journals and the oscillating steam cylinder. Within the base of the pedestal is a feed-water heater through which the exhaust from the engine passes. A float-operated, weighted, pin valve admits water to the boiler from the discharge pipe of the pump when the level in the boiler falls. The boiler is a cylindrical shell type with combustion chamber formed by water legs in the shape of a truncated cone. A ring burner for gas or kerosene is located in a cylindrical firepot within the combustion chamber. The fuel valve to the burner is held open by a spring and is closed by the pressure within the boiler exerted upon a diaphragm and lever. A hole through the valve permits a small pilot flame to burn at all times.
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
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
label: See more items in
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
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.308683
label: accession number
content: 89797
label: catalog number
content: 308683
label: patent number
content: 158,105
objectType: label: Object Name
content: automatic pumping engine, model
label: Object Name
content: patent model, engine, automatic pumping
label: Object Type
content: Patent Model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 11 7/8 in x 5 1/4 in; 30.1625 cm x 13.335 cm