From: Asher & Adams’ New Columbian Rail Road Atlas and Pictorial Album of American Industry
The Daily Graphic in 1874 wrote:
“Among the many steam engines in use, none has so successfully passed the test of experience as the well-known Baxter engine. It fully meets all requirements, and is in every respect an excellent and superior motor. A year ago we purchased one from Mr. William D. Russell, and in justice to the parties interested, we render a record of its work. The engine is located on the third floor of our premises, where the job-work and a large amount of printing is done. The Baxter drives two Hoe mammoth cylinder presses, one Hoe medium cylinder press, one Hoe super-royal cylinder press, one quarter-medium Gordon press, one-32 inch paper cutting machine, and one lift and force pump. The rooms are 25 X 80 X 10 feet, two of which we heat in winter with live steam from the boiler, and one with the exhaust steam alone, so that we heat 60,000 cubic feet of space besides doing the above-named work. To do these things we burn 276 pounds of coal per day of ten hours, being the average of five months’ daily weighing. There has been no cost for repairs excepting in a new grate, and we pay no extra insurance because of the engine. This record is an excellent one, and makes the engine all it claims to be. We know it to be simple, safe, durable, and economical.”
From the Connecticut State Library:
The Colt Company manufactured a number of products under contract from other companies in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. One of these was the Baxter Steam Engine. The Baxter Steam Engine Company was apparently purchased sometime in 1871 from the firm of Russell E Spheer and operated out of New York City. The Colt contract with the Company (Russell & Spheer) dates to September, 1870. Colt then transferred business to the new Baxter Steam Engine Co. at the request of Russell & Spheer. The Colt Company manufactured the engine, which in turn was sold by the Baxter Steam Engine Company and its agents.
The New England Wireless and Steam Museum has an operating Baxter
Steam Engine and Boiler.