Toy Steam Engine

This vertical engine and boiler was made by a German manufacturer during the early 20th century. The toy is possibly a Schoenner 101/2 model, made by Jean Schoenner in Nuremberg, Germany around 1905. The vertical engine has an iron base, metal firebox, boiler, and chimney. The steam powers a vertical engine shafted to a flywheel.

The German toy maker Jean Schoenner began production in Nuremberg in 1875. Twenty years later his company had 250 employees making mainly optical toys and magic lanterns but also steam engines.

Live steam toys enjoyed a period of popularity from the 1880s until 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 used lit wicks fueled by denatured alcohol, later toys used electricity) which heated the water to produce the steam pressure that ran the engine. A variety of accessories could be powered by the engine; attachments included windmills, pumps, grinders, and electric lights.

Currently not on view