Posted 13 years ago
Curious
(1 item)
I've had these for almost 40 years, not sure how much older these are than that but they belonged to my grandfather. He was into Lionel trains, etc but I don't think they are related. They have moving parts, and are miniature toys of shop equipment - and appear that they could connect to an engine and belt that turns the machine parts. Original paint is dark red , and all have labels that appear to read "H Langes Legetos"
Any ideas on the background of these, or value?
I have an old toy from when I was a kid. Big crome tank on top of a fake brick building. There is a slide piece you pull out from under the tank. You woudl put in some kind of burning log thing and light it. This would heat the water in the tank. On the side was a round pulley like what is on your pieces. A pully would attach. The steam created by the heated water would make energy which made everything work.
Mine was given to me by my grandfather and he told me it was for a train set. I have only ever seen one other. I do not know if yours are related but it looks like they could be.
As darren stated, these are steam toys intended to be attached to a scale model steam engine by bands of string, rubber & etc. I'm not familiar with this maker, but you will find similar if you do a search for toys by Weeden, for one example. You look to have a lathe & trip hammer, maybe a band saw and a couple others I can't quite ID. I'm guessing mid-century vintage ~ not really antiques, but steam toys have a devoted following. And for good reason. They are pretty nifty when they all get hooked up to the engine and are clattering at once. .
The two items at the top are, to the left a shaper and on the right is a milling machine, can't tell from this view what the front center one is. It would be nice to see them all hooked up to an overhead drive (line) shaft, like the full size ones from that era, it would make a wonderful display.