Firmenich and Stiker’s Patent Model of a Steam Boiler - 1875
date: label: date made
content: 1875
label: patent date
content: 1875-11-16
name: label: inventor
content: Firmenich, Joseph
label: inventor
content: Stiker, Flavius P.
notes: label: Description
content: This model was filed with the application to the U.S. Patent Office for Patent Number 169,977 issued to Joseph Firmenich and Flavius P. Stiker of Buffalo, New York on November 16, 1875. The patent was for an improved design for steam boilers. The design was for a water tube type boiler in which water enclosed in a large number of pipes was exposed to the heat of the furnace. This was considered to offer safety advantages over the fire-tube type in which a large volume of water was pierced by tubes carrying hot flue gases.
label: Description
content: Their design is shown in the image of the patent model. A brickwork encased the entire boiler. The fire grate would have been just above the two large metal drums seen at the bottom. Combustion air was drawn from the top of the boiler through passages in the brickwork. This preheated the air which increased efficiency. Vertical tubes are shown connecting upper, horizontal steam/water drums with the lower water/mud drums. Large water tubes behind the back wall of the boiler directly connect the upper and lower drums to allow cool water to circulate downward to the lower drums. The larger, horizontal drum at the top of the model collected and distributed the steam for use.
label: Description
content: Firmenich and Stiker constructed a boiler of this design and demonstrated it at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. Scientific American Magazine in June, 1878 referred to the Firmenich and Stiker boiler as a “safety steam boiler” and noted two 150 horsepower units had been installed at the Negara Starch Works in Buffalo. On October 8, 1887 a Firmenich boiler used in a flour mill in St. Louis, Missouri exploded with loss of life and significant property damage and raised questions about elements of the design.
label: Description
content: The patent model is constructed of metal and wood painted to look like brickwork. It illustrates all of the key elements of the design. A full description of the operation of the boiler along with complete diagrams of the patent can be found in the patent document online at the United States Patent and Trademark Office website, www.uspto.gov.
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York
label: associated place
content: United States: New York, Buffalo
topic: label: Subject
content: Patent Models
label: Subject
content: Steam Engines
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
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content: Engineering, Building, and Architecture
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content: Patent Models
label: Exhibition
content: Power Machinery
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
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: MC.309213
label: catalog number
content: 309213
label: accession number
content: 89797
label: patent number
content: 169,977
objectType: label: Object Name
content: patent model, boiler, steam, sectional
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 12 in x 9 in x 12 in; 30.48 cm x 22.86 cm x 30.48 cm