Tool Talk
What's-It Forum => What's-It Forum => Topic started by: Sudsy on May 08, 2018, 01:14:37 PM
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This thing is a beast as far as ball peen hammers go
Any idea what it was used for, Railroad perhaps ??
No markings
30" long
Almost 5 lbs
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I don't know what its for but when I read the title I knew I wanted one!
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I don't know what its for but when I read the title I knew I wanted one!
+1
I have no use for it, but I would buy one at the right price.
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$5
And damned straight that was the right price. I was on it like white on rice.
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$5
And damned straight that was the right price. I was on it like white on rice.
+1. :grin:
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It might be a journal box hammer with an extra long handle.
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Looks like it's worked pretty hard in its life.
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What is a journal box hammer used for? Thanks, Lou
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Here is a blurb about what a journal box is. I will have to look in The Hammer book. Now I am beginning to think a journal box hammer had a curved cross peen on the one end. I still have not found out what a journal box hammer does, but I have had some.
Journal Hook used in railroad work
Catalog #: 2002.0075.01, Accession #: 2002.0075
Currently on display
From the Smithsonian Collection
To check oil level in the journal boxes of railroad cars and locomotive tenders. Each journal box had a lid; the journal hook was used by a car inspector and/or oiler to pull open the lid, check for adequate oil level, fill with oil if needed, and close the lid. (The "journal box" held the axle bearing, made of bronze, at the outer end of a railroad-car axle. Hence there are two journal boxes per axle and pair of wheels, and thus four journal boxes on a typical four-wheel "truck" or "bogie (UK usage)" that supports each end of a railroad car on the track.
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I finally remembered what that hammer is, and why I was confused that it was a journal box hammer. It is a railcar brake hammer. I am guessing it had something to do with knocking the hose fittings together or apart but I am not sure.
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Very cool, thank you.
Since we're on the subject of railroad hammers any idea what rail line these are from
Assuming they are spike hammers
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Also this one, figure it's obviously British, but is it just a sledge hammer or is it a railroad hammer ?
What would the peen side be used for ?
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And yes, I stumbled into a big score of hammers and a few axes
In the process of cleaning them up and rehanging them
Probably going to sell the railroad stuff
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It looks like PRR which would probably be the Pennsylvania Rail Road. The logo looks like it’s an Atha.
Mike
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Atha ?
Old biddies probably couldn't even pick it up :grin:
http://www.atharugs.com/
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Back to the original post
Came up with this on another site.......
Johnny F over on StripersOnLine where we have a "what the hell is it ?" thread running in the DIY forum
It is a Railroad Wheel Tapper Hammer.
A wheeltapper is a railway worker employed to check the integrity of train wheels and that axle boxes are not overheating.
Typically employed at large railway stations and in goods yards, they tap wheels with a long-handled hammer and listen to the sound made to determine the integrity of the wheel; cracked wheels, like cracked bells, do not sound the same as their intact counterparts (they do not "ring true").
Wheeltappers also check that the axle boxes are not overly hot by using the back of their hand.[1][2]
Although wheeltappers still operate in some eastern European countries, in countries with modern planned maintenance procedures and line-side defect detectors, such as hot box detectors, wheeltappers are redundant. The job is mostly associated with the steam age. Wheeltappers were vital to the smooth running of the railways as a cracked wheel or overheated axle bearing would lead to delays and the loss of revenue. These were particularly common in the 19th century, when axle bearings were lubricated by grease. At this time, metallurgy was a more haphazard science and thus it was impossible to test steel wheels for cracks: the role of the wheeltapper was of crucial importance
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1miFz67zZs