Model Steam Traction Engine
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Live steam toys enjoyed their heyday from around the 1880s to 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 wicks fueled by denatured alcohol, later toys used electricity) which heated the water to produce the steam pressure that ran the engine. Steam engines were sometimes used to power tractors or trains, as seen in this steam traction engine.
label: Description (Brief)
content: This toy steam traction engine was made by an unknown maker during the early 20th century. The toy has been repainted brown and green, and consists of a firebox, boiler, flyball governor, and horizontal slide valve engine with gearing on top of the boiler.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2003.0132.01
label: catalog number
content: 2003.0132.01
label: accession number
content: 2003.0132
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Steam Traction Engine, Model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 12 5/8 in x 4 3/4 in x 12 1/4 in; 32.0675 cm x 12.065 cm x 31.115 cm