I should have been more specific...by "line of sewing machines" I meant 50 or so machines being powered by the same small steam engine...Small engines were used a lot in the south by textile mills that were turning cotton into gold.
Period correct engines were typically sized to run many machines simultaneously through a series of jackshafts.
Engines that were used to power machine shops, or metal fab shops were quite large.
It would have been fine for powering several, (metal), punch presses...that's a possibility too.
Being that it isn't numbered or marked with any manufacturers' info ...I'm thinking it found a home in the south, and the textile industry.
As the civil war approached, many northern manufacturers left thier marque off of machinery that was headed south. They wanted the sale but not the paper trail...so to speak.
This period was a period of BIG competition between the northern machinery manufacturers...It was a matter of pride to boldly cast or forge thier name into thier machines.
I would dig into it a little more...you may own a rare piece!
There is a very good and, believe it or not, complete archive of early machinery and thier manufacturers that is based on the actual blueprints.
You can take accurate measurements of your engine, and the origin will be known.
Jim