Country of Origin: United States of America
Dimensions:
Length, 24.25 inches; width, 3.5 inches; diameter, 2 inches; length, long tube, 20.75 inches; height, cylindrical tank, 4.5 inches; diameter, tubes (2), 0.25 inches; distance between the two protruding tubes, at bottom, 3.75 inches
Other (can/tank below head): 2 in. diameter (5.08cm)
Materials:
steel, including the two hollow adjoining tubes
This is the fuel tank of one of the early liquid propellant rockets of the American rocket pioneer Robert H. Goddard and dates to the late 1920s. The cone for the top of the rocket is welded onto the cylindrical tank. The pipe projecting from the bottom of the cylinder is the propellant outlet while the pipe projecting from the side at a slight angle is the pressurant pipe to force the fuel (gasoline) into the combustion chamber.
This hand-made fuel tank was made at Goddard's laboratory at Worcester, Massachusetts. His, widown, Mrs. Esther Goddard, donated it to the Smithsonian in 1959. .
Gift of Mrs. Robert H. Goddard
