Who made this?

[Mitchg07261995]

Picked this up for cheap at the antique store today and it all is in working order and runs like a charm
Questions:
1)what company made the
boiler and engine?
2)how old might this be?

thanks Mitch

 

[va4ngo]

I had something similar and looks like made in Japan possibly 70's era

 

[RonGinger]

I would bet on it being homemade- maybe a high school shop project. At the least it has been heavily hacked- that bent lower edge with the nail through it into the wood base is surely not a manufactured job. Also the bent sheet metal for the engine frame is an easy home shop item, but harder to manufacture than a cast or stamped part.

 

[Mitchg07261995]

Thats what I was thinking that it was home made, the whole engine assembly is just wired to the wood plank, not very sturdy but it works. I dont have any esbit tablets for it at the time so Im just running it off of this alcohol burner that I made out of 3 tea light candles

 

[Neil K]

Mitch:

I don't remember the name of the manufacturer, but I can tell you the engine was marketed in the mid-50s. I bought one of those engines with my paper route money from a TV repair shop/hobby shop in 1959. Had it for thirty-some years and sold it in a garage sale (now wishing I hadn't). The engine was supposed to power miniature shop tools (ha) or could be installed in a steam boat. I never was able to buy the boiler, but fabricated one from plans out of Popular Mechanics some ten years later.

Neil

 

[Mitchg07261995]

Mitch:

I don't remember the name of the manufacturer, but I can tell you the engine was marketed in the mid-50s. I bought one of those engines with my paper route money from a TV repair shop/hobby shop in 1959. Had it for thirty-some years and sold it in a garage sale (now wishing I hadn't). The engine was supposed to power miniature shop tools (ha) or could be installed in a steam boat. I never was able to buy the boiler, but fabricated one from plans out of Popular Mechanics some ten years later.

Neil

Very cool information Neil thanks for that, the antique store that i found this at has some miniature machine tools like power hammers, gear cutters etc for these small steam models.