Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

    Following on Nick's recent postcard, here I share one that I have had for a long time (the only steam engine post card I have).

    Not the greatest photo on this card but the text should be readable. The card dates from sometime between 1929 and 1939 according to information I found about the publisher. The Franklin Institute still exists in Philadelphia, but I was unable to find any references to this tiny engine, and I have never seen another copy of the card (which I bought from e-bay).

    Says that it was capable of "3000 RPM" - I am guessing that must be a mistake, 300 sounds more likely (and how would they measure it anyway?). I wonder if it still exists in the museum somewhere.

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That's amazing. Might still be at the Franklin Institute, who knows.

This peaked my interest so I too started to google Cyrus Chambers. He was quite the inventor.
He built machines we never think of because they've been around all our lives. The steam engine
is mentioned several times but no pictures. He built it at the age of 16, P.T. Barnum tried to
buy it for $1000.00.
Google him, interesting reading.

Thanks Gregowen, for showing us some history of steam.

   Thanks to all for the kind comments - it never even occurred to me to look up Cyrus Chambers, I will! 

    As far as I know, the current Guiness book world record for the smallest steam engine is a tiny horizontal engine that is less than one inch long, made by a machinist in India. But, that is for the engine alone, no boiler. This little engine also has a boiler, so maybe it would still hold a record for the smallest engine with a boiler (fired by a single small match, I assume)? 

    I wish that the photo showed more detail, unfortunately it is not any clearer looking at the postcard in hand than it is on the photos I have posted here. Maybe I will give the Franklin Institute a call.