What Is a Pop Pop Boat?

Pop-pop boats are stamped toy boats generally made from tin and use a very simple combustion type of engine. Even though they do not have any moving parts, pop-pop engines have basically three phases per cycle-steam, jet, and convection. This cycle is repeated approximately four to ten times per second.

There are basically only 2 different types of pop pop boat engines, the first being a copper tube which has a coil in its midsection and one end of the tube sticking out from the end of the boat. The other type of engine has 2 pipes connected to a boiler which has a diaphragm that makes it propel and makes a popping sound.

The majority of pop pop boats tend to be powered by an engine heated by a candle although there are some that run on alcohol and others that use fuel pellets. As the engine's are very efficient, they can go for a much longer time than most fuel-driven toys of today. The U.S. Navy has reputedly done much secret research on pop-pop engines. Some say that today's nuclear submarines use pop-pop engine technology.

A Brief History of Pop-Pop Boats

The inventor Thomas Piot patented the pop-pop boat in 1891. Between the 1920s and the 1940s it was the most popular toy in the world. When toy companies started using plastic and electric motors to make toys, pop-pop boats and other stamped tin toys slowly faded away so that now they are only produced in a few places.

Today toy lovers and collectors are rediscovering the joys of old-fashioned tin toys and the pop-pop boat is making a big comeback.

The Pop-PopBoats website provides everything you need to get started with this fun and exciting hobby!