American loco bells

[spikey]

On the North American steam locomotives, what was the mechanism by which the bell was rung?  I know it swung on pivots, but was the rope pulled manually, or what?

[Mike_Walker]

Originally hand operated but latterly steam operated.

[Steamport Southport]

LNER A4 Dominion Of Canada's one was steam powered and apparently was disconnected as it kept getting stuck in the on position!

 

I don't think that 6000 King George V or 6100 Royal Scot's bells were ever used whilst in the UK so I don't know what system they used whilst in the USA.

 

 

 

Jason

[spikey]

Anybody know how they converted a steady supply of steam into a controlled regular pull/release cycle on the end of a string?  What was the mechanism?

[cctransuk]

27 minutes ago, spikey said:

Anybody know how they converted a steady supply of steam into a controlled regular pull/release cycle on the end of a string?  What was the mechanism?

 

Cylinder?

 

CJI.

[sncf231e]

4 hours ago, Mike_Walker said:

Originally hand operated but latterly steam operated.

On the North American steam locomotives the bell was operated by rope or by air (i.e. not steam). Both the rope as the air valve were hand operated 😉. 

Regards

Fred

[298]

On 02/08/2023 at 12:26, spikey said:

Anybody know how they converted a steady supply of steam into a controlled regular pull/release cycle on the end of a string?  What was the mechanism?

 

This is the rope-operated bell on the roof of a GE Steeplecab, the mounting was first moved from the hood to the cab roof and later converted to air, using a simplified mount and an air operated clapper mounted inside the bell. Obvious differences are when operated with a rope you would seen the whole bell swinging on the frame, but later on it was fixed in place and the air pipe with square corners and a water trap can be seen.

 

 

Edited August 30, 2023 by 298