Glass working model of Stephenson's Rocket

I posted the other day about the wooden kit for Stephenson's steam engine Rocket. As cool as that kit is, and as amazing as the original invention is, here is something perhaps even more amazing. This working model of Stephenson's Rocket was made by master glassblower Michal Zahradník.

No only does the model work when a fuel tablet is lit bellow a small boiler, but everything is made of glass: crankshaft, piston, counterweight, all of it. No gasket materials or sealants were used.

On the difficulties of making working piston in glass:

The piston is the most arduous part to make due to to extreme level of precision needed. Its parts have to be so accurate that no machinery is of use here. The piston and its cylinder must be hand sanded to perfection, and they are very likely to crack in the process! On average, three out of four crack.

For more info on Stephenson's Rocket, I highly recommend the book The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention.

[ Thanks Catherine! ]

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Video of Stephenson's Rocket wooden kit

I did post last year about this kit depicting Stephenson's locomotive called Rocket. The original engine can be seen at The Science Museum in London.

I was particularly excited about the kit because when I learned of it, just finished a book called The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention. The book centers around the history and development of Rocket, invented by Robert Stephenson in 1829. If you like history and/or technology, I can't recommend this particular book highly enough!

Here is a handsome historical print on canvas your can hang on your wall:

You can order the wood automata kit of Stephenson's Rocket on the Cabaret mechanical Theatre web site. For those of us in the USA, you can also get the kit at http://www.timberkitsus.com. Here's the product page for Stephenson's Rocket kit.

If you are more into paper models, they published a kit back in the 80s that allows you to make your own miniature version of Stephenson's rocket.

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