Any old steam engine aficianados?

[phylodog]

We've lived in our house for a little over two years now. In that time we've had three different people stop in who had lived in our home at some point, our house was built in 1910. One gentleman stopped by yesterday and dropped off some information and photos he'd found about the house as well as a hand written diagram of the farm when he was young. He said the farm was almost completely self sufficient and one of the small buildings on his diagram was labeled steam power plant and was next to a building with a mill and grinder in it.

I was looking at the diagram again today and it occurred to me that a mysterious hunk of steel sticking out of the ground of my property looks like it could have been part of a mini steam locomotive or something so I walked out and took a look and I think I may be on to something. To my completely uneducated eye, it looks like they may have repurposed the steam chamber and used it as a fence post/gate post. There are metal straps around it which would hold a gate.

Just wondering if anyone more knowledgeable might know anything about it?

 

[Libertarian01]

I have no idea other than to say, "That's cool!"

That looks like something a nearby college anthropology/archeology department might be willing to get practice on, dig up, and see what they could tell you about it.

Regards,

Doug

PS - I have old farm equipment on my property out at the pond, but I can ask the Amish neighbors what it was!

 

[Steel and wood]

I don’t know but sure does look like part of the broiler. This does not help you but next August come north a few miles to Tipton thrashing show you will find out more about steam engines than you want to know, it’s very cool.

 

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

It's a ways off, so maybe this covid craziness will be over. Portland's small engine show is in mid late August and always has some beautiful steamers. Bring photos and prepare to have your ear bent.

 

[Jaybird1980]

Definitely looks like it's an old riveted type boiler tank, they may have had a steam powered piston setup to run some belt powered equipment. Looks to small for a Locomotive of any size, and to big for the really small scale ones. The small ones that I've seen are only about 12-24" long and 8-12" diameter. Pretty neat find

 

[indyartisan]

There was a group of steam engine builders at the Tractor Supply in Noblesville about a month ago.
I stopped and talked with them for a while but I don’t have any contact info.
They had some steam powered vehicles and machines.
One moved a line of ball bearings up a conveyor and around a track continuously.
I asked what it was for.
He said “It doesn’t do anything, we call it a Political Machine”.

 

[Crusader17]

*disclaimer: I do not know what I’m talking about*
haha but if there was a steam shop and a couple other steam powered implements that could be a pipe for steam from one place to another! Is it filled with anything?

I looked at a house once that was built about a half mile from a rail line and nearly directly over an old interurban line. I was browsing around the garage when a few things stood out to me in the truss work of the garage. The entire garage was built out of an old boxcar!!! I don’t know if this was ever common practice at one point in time. I wonder if the old owners knew it, and wonder if the new owners know it. Sorry that wasn’t steam related, but it was home/railroad related haha.

 

[maxwelhse]

There was a group of steam engine builders at the Tractor Supply in Noblesville about a month ago.
I stopped and talked with them for a while but I don’t have any contact info.
They had some steam powered vehicles and machines.
One moved a line of ball bearings up a conveyor and around a track continuously.
I asked what it was for.
He said “It doesn’t do anything, we call it a Political Machine”.

[video=youtube;UkgoSOSGrx4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkgoSOSGrx4[/video]

 

[yepthatsme]

Nice find! As Jaybird said, it looks like an old riveted boiler tank. Those rivets are so old and rusted they look like small bumps now. It always amazed me how they were able to rivet iron together so tightly that it would hold pressure without leaking. In my early years, I have taken down old, riveted iron bridges and I was amazed at how tight the rivets still were even after 80+ years.

 

[Jaybird1980]

Nice find! As Jaybird said, it looks like an old riveted boiler tank. Those rivets are so old and rusted they look like small bumps now. It always amazed me how they were able to rivet iron together so tightly that it would hold pressure without leaking. In my early years, I have taken down old, riveted iron bridges and I was amazed at how tight the rivets still were even after 80+ years.

I work at a powerplant built in the 20s and all the old infrastructure is riveted, it really is impressive. Them old timers really took pride in there work.

 

[4651feeder]

To my uneducated eye the cylinder appears to be too narrow and too long for it to be a stationary steam boiler to power an engine, could be another part of the steam system. Speaking of steam engine, most of the ones I've seen spin a fairly good sized heavy flywheel requiring a big chunk of something to anchor them securely, any evidence of that? Most farms would have been more likely to use steam tractor as power due to availability and versatility, there are always ingenious exceptions.

As to Crusader17's comment, as kids we watched our great grandfather amass dismantled wooden boxcar components from Robert Young Yards and eventually built a very sturdy 2 stall lofted garage with minimal store bought material. Still stands strong to this day.

 

[Jaybird1980]

To my uneducated eye the cylinder appears to be too narrow and too long for it to be a stationary steam boiler to power an engine, could be another part of the steam system. Speaking of steam engine, most of the ones I've seen spin a fairly good sized heavy flywheel requiring a big chunk of something to anchor them securely, any evidence of that? Most farms would have been more likely to use steam tractor as power due to availability and versatility, there are always ingenious exceptions.

As to Crusader17's comment, as kids we watched our great grandfather amass dismantled wooden boxcar components from Robert Young Yards and eventually built a very sturdy 2 stall lofted garage with minimal store bought material. Still stands strong to this day.

I think it has been extended to serve a second purpose, hence the lack of rivets on the lower section. The original endcaps would have been at the rows of horizontal rivets. Imho