Help please! Is this antique or vintage small metal pump for a steam engine?

Dear engineers.

I have a small, about 3" in diameter a heavy piece of machinery. I am not sure what it is. Would somebody be able to identify it and possibly its age? In my opinion, it is some kind of pump used in steam engine modeling. It came with a pipe attached to a tin can. The shaft spins freely. No marks, except number "1". There are two holes with threads. One is for a pipe and I assume that another one also for a pipe that is missing. I've unscrewed and opened a cover to see what is inside. Please, take a look at the photos. Thank you!

Don't think that steam has anything to due with it, just a little pump of some sort...Phil

This pump did not run on steam. The wheel with a belt was attached to its shaft and then connected to the wheel of the small motor or a steam engine model. I am just not sure if it is a pump or not.

Romak,

How about a photo with the cover off?

Maybe a vacuum pump? Vane pumps were used for vacuum years ago, maybe they had a tank to even out the pulses?

Diesel engines sometimes had little vacuum pumps, I think to work the brake booster (diesels don't have a butterfly valve, so have inadequate vacuum at times).

Does the canister have holes in it? My gut feeling is it may be a little vane type air motor and the canister is a muffler.

It looks almost like a vibrator to me, but you said you opened up and looked inside so it should be obvious if it's a pump or not.

Are you saying you know it's a pump, but you would like to know what the application is?

Stuart

Possibly a vacuum pump used for a player piano?

Joe in NH

Looks like an air pump for my Grob bandsaw.Bill

My vertical bandsaw has a small rotary pump that feeds air to a chip blower on the upper guide arm. It has a small pulley and belt that runs off the drive motor IIRC.

Here is the photo with the cover off!

Peter S said:

Romak,

How about a photo with the cover off?

Maybe a vacuum pump? Vane pumps were used for vacuum years ago, maybe they had a tank to even out the pulses?

Diesel engines sometimes had little vacuum pumps, I think to work the brake booster (diesels don't have a butterfly valve, so have inadequate vacuum at times).

Click to expand...

Yes, thank you for reminding me! Totally forgot to include the photo. Here it is!

Romak said:

Yes, thank you for reminding me! Totally forgot to include the photo. Here it is!

View attachment 304227

Click to expand...

Chip blower pump from a DoAll band saw.

This is a pump from a DoALL V-16 bandsaw, c.1946. Much larger than the mystery devise. Maybe they cheapened them in later years...
This one rattles a bit and is waiting in the repair queue.

Romak- this is clearly a rotary vane pump. The operating principle is simple- the spinning drum has vanes which slide in and out of slots. The drum sits inside a round housing, but it is offset to one side. As the drum is spun, centrifugal force causes the vanes to slide out, and follow the ID of the housing. One side of the volume is larger than the other, hence, whatever comes IN on the big side, goes out on the SMALL size, but in a smaller volume, hence, higher pressure.

Could be an oil pump, air pump, or vacuum pump... rotary vane pumps work in all those modes. Yours appears to have brass vanes. It'll need to spin fairly fast in order to extend the vanes and seal well.

Vane type pumps, particularly in hydraulic applications, are nice in the fact that when starting, they impose very little load, because the vanes haven't extended. Once up to speed, the vanes extend, and the faster the pump spins, the more centrifugal force helps seal the vanes... but eventually, outlet pressure will rise to a point where the vanes will retract again... so in hydraulic applications, a pressure relief valve is usually not required.