antique-engine.com

[cprucha]

Hi All,

Stiles Bradley was at an antique shop the other day and found something we can't figure out what it was used for. It's called an "Engine Torch" mfg by "Dayton Malleable Iron Co. 1885". (See the photos below) The top part with the wick unscrews and there is a dried up leather gasket for a seal. We think kerosene was used in the torch. Does anyone have any ideas what this was used for? One fellow we asked said he thought it might have been used in the cab of a steam engine locomotive to light the gages up at night. Any ideas?












_________________
Experience is a hard Teacher...
It gives the test before the lesson...

[Rob Skinner]

Hi Craig,
Dayton made a variety of shop torches. Check out the attached picture. It's my understanding that these were used for general purpose lighting in shops of old. It's hard to imagine doing ANY kind of work by the light of one of those things, let alone something precise.

Why Stiles' torch doesn't have a base or is especially suited for engines sure is mysterious.

Rob

[4cycle]

Hi all,

I have a torch just like the one Rob posted a photo of. And if you look above the word Dayton on it you will see the letters PRR for the Pennsylvania rail road. I have seen both styles, and agree that they were used for shop use, and other uses for lighting around the RR.

Chris Austin
_________________
"Yet there are those soulless men who's hands destroy what time can never create again."

[Rob Skinner]

Hi Chris,
Thanks for that. I couldn't make out the top letters or figure out what they meant. I've seen identical torches that actually had "shop torch" on them, and others with long necks.

[Rob Skinner]

Here's a torch similar to Stile's.
If he acts fast, this one can be his as well.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6602956419



Rob

[loggerhogger]

Those torches were used a lot in the railroad round houses, and shops to find leaks in the air piping on locomotives.