If the walls of a nondescript, yellow concrete building just off Jeannette's main drag could talk, they would tell the amazing life story of Tom Jensen Sr.

It's within those walls that Jensen — who came to America from Denmark in 1931 with a head full of ideas and an entrepreneur's vision — established the unlikeliest of global legends.

Inside that small Arlington Avenue building, Jensen spent nearly seven decades making fully functioning, handcrafted miniature steam engines that are coveted by collectors worldwide, valued by the nation's top engineering schools to teach about steam-generated power and cited for their crucial role in World War II.

Jensen died in 1993 at 92, but his work continues in the building: 2,000 to 3,000 steam engines are produced each year by Jensen Steam Engine Manufacturing Co.'s four employees, led by his son, Tom Jr.

The plain, garage-like workshop goes unnoticed by many Jeannette residents, but there is no busier time there than Christmas, when gift orders roll in from around the world for the steam engines — most about the size of a toaster — that cost $133.95 to $772.95. On its website, Jensen bills itself as the only American manufacturer of the devices.

Some orders are from collectors, some from schools and others from those who use the engines to power Erector sets or other projects.

“It's a great American story of a small manufacturer still here, still in the same family,” said Gil Garceau, 61, who lives near Fairfield, Conn., and has about 80 Jensens in his collection.

“These are wonderful little mechanical devices,” he said.

One of the most sought-after models — fetching as much as $7,500 from collectors — is the No. 51, the largest of Jensen's steam engines. It features a brass water tower and fully operating master control panel. Because producing the No. 51 was so labor-intensive, the company has stopped making it, said Tom Guy, 60, of Jeannette, who has worked for the company for 43 years.

The story begins with the Great Depression stalling Tom Jensen Sr.'s career as a mechanical engineer.

Jensen, recently married, couldn't find work in Denmark.

At the urging of a friend, he traveled to Jeannette in hopes of landing a job at the Elliott Co. When that didn't work out, he channeled his energy into building miniature steam engines in his basement, hoping to capitalize on the nation's fascination with the use of boiling water to power railroads and other industries.

The company took off once Jensen delivered six samples of his engines to a buyer at Kaufmann's department store in Pittsburgh .

A buyer from the FAO Schwarz toy store in New York happened to pass by and see the samples — and ordered 50 engines. Other retailers took notice, and Macy's and the Spiegel Catalog Co. became dealers, selling thousands of the engines. Later, Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward featured Jensen steam engines in their catalogs.

During World War II, many manufacturing operations were halted, or they converted to producing goods for the war effort.

That was not the case for Jensen. The government declared Jensen a “war-essential industry” when the Army realized the company's steam engines could power an air pump that tested for poisonous gases. The company operated seven days week during the war to keep up with demand.

Preservation effort

Tom Jensen Sr.'s methods have been carefully preserved by company workers, whose attention to detail is evident in the armatures that they wrap by hand — 150 strands of wire on each side — to power tiny light bulbs. (Armatures are rotating coils that produce an electric current when turned in a magnetic field.)

“One wrap less, a little dimmer,” Guy said. “One wrap more, a little brighter, but that can blow the bulb.”

At a drill press on the other side of the shop, Guy's brother, Andy, 49, also of Jeannette, transforms 2,500 tiny pieces of brass into usable parts.

All the steam engine's parts are made at the shop.

“It ain't like we're getting stuff from China here,” Andy Guy said.

A family affair

Tom Guy's wife, Dorita, has worked at Jensen for 29 years, and the company's newest hire, Bill Sherbine, 40, is Dorita Guy's cousin. He's been there about a year and a half.

Jensen has just one outside sales rep to cover the globe, and its “only concession to high-technology” is a website that was set up in the 1990s.

“We don't have a computer here. I have a typewriter,” said Dorita Guy, 61, who works as the company's secretary/receptionist/packer/shipper/painter.

When this tight-knit crew breaks for lunch, they don't go far: Tom and Andy go to Tom and Dorita's house a few blocks away. Bill and Dorita stay behind to answer the phone.

Tom Jensen Jr., a retired PPG engineer, took over the company upon his father's death.

European roots

The miniature steam engine hobby originated in Europe, where each factory had someone on staff to repair its steam power plants. That person would often demonstrate his skill to his peers by building miniatures of the steam engines he repaired.

“We have people 90 years old buying them ... because they always wanted one,” Tom Guy said. “On the other end, these engines help people become future engineers.”

Carnegie Mellon University students have used Jensen engines to power miniature vehicles they designed, according to the company.

The company's largest order was in 1999 — 700 No. 70 model steam engines, the highest rpm engine Jensen makes, and 700 generators, which turn the engines into miniature power plants — from a company that distributed them to schools across Canada.

“I was working 10 to 12 hours a day, 7 days a week,” said Tom Guy.

History all around

A visit to the Jensen factory is a trip back in time, author Bruce H. Wolk said.

“Many children, even some adults, do not understand that before gasoline engines and electrical power, it was steam that moved America,” he wrote in his book, “Made Here, Baby.”

Tom Guy concedes that he sometimes feels like an old shoemaker, hand-producing his wares one by one, but at the end of the day, “I know I made a lot of people happy.”

Craig Smith is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-380-5646 or csmith@tribweb.com.

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