A TINY STEAM ENGINE

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 3, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 48.

A TINY STEAM ENGINE.

It was more than twenty years ago—in 1874—that an ingenious mechanic, D. A. A. Buck, of Worcester, Mass., made his marvelous miniature steam engine. This liliputian wonder in the line of mechanics was so small, says the St. Louis Republic, that its boiler, pumps, governors and all other necessary attachments, occupied a space only seven-sixteenths (7-16) of an inch in diameter, or less than the area of an old-fashioned silver three-cent piece. This little engine was only five-eighths (5/8) of an inch in height, yet it contained 148 distinct parts, nearly all of which were silver and gold. It was held together by 52 screws, the smallest of these being but one one-hundredth of an inch in length. This miniature engine, small as it was, had all the valves, gearing, etc., that are to be found on the ordinary horizontal engine. Three drops of water were sufficient to fill the boiler to overflowing! The entire engine weighed but fifteen grains when rid of its base plate. The diameter of the cylinder was but one-sixteenth of an inch; length of stroke three fifty-seconds of an inch.

Several years ago—in 1868—a mechanic at Hull, England, constructed an engine that weighed three and one-half ounces, and which was at that time thought to be a mechanical marvel. In 1876 Levi Taylor, of Indianola, Iowa, constructed an engine which weighed but twelve grains.—Selected.