We’ve had a few Stirling engines posted here, but none quite as excessively brass as this one! Mr Ripefly sent me the link for it, at the quite facinating American Stirling Company‘s site. It is the Van Arsdell Stirling Engine, also listed as the Victorian Look engine. It’s quite lovely – and it would be welcome to grace the desk of any (wealthy) Steampunk engineer, I’m sure!

Now, I admit that I didn’t know much about Stirling Engines, much to my shame, but once again Wikipedia has leapt to my rescue. It’s somehow pleasing to know that it was two Scottish brothers – one technical, and one not – that are credited with it’s creation – and stunning that models (available on the above site) can operate on the temperature difference between the ambient air, and the heat of the palm of your hand. Imagine that – applying your hand to a plate and the mere warmth of your body creates mechanical engine motion!