The Locomotive Of Today

The Tender, Brakes, etc. : Lamp Ir ons, Water Scoop. 167 ends by means of idiarubber rings encircling it in suitable grooves and fitting into the bell mouths. To prevent the pipe from being drawn entirely from either of the sockets, as might be the case if one end was a tighter fit than the other, a clip with a, double hook is fixed to the centre of the pipe, and has a chain attached to the sockets. Perfect freedom in movement is secured by this arrangement. A long length of iron pipe, bent into a circle of large radius, has also been used for the same purpose, as well as many other devices. Lamp irons or brackets are fitted to the backs of the tenders as well as to the front of the engine for the attachment of the lamps by night or disc boards by day, for guiding the signalmen and staff as to the destination of the train. Fig. 35 gives some details of the water picking-up arrangements now so often fitted to tenders with limited water capacity and to which we have already made reference. A hinged scoop is provided, and fitted so that it can be lowered into, and raised from, a long, narrow trough, placed midway between the rails and filled with water. When passing over this at high speed the tender tank is filled by lowering the scoop into it, and when a sufficient quantity of water has been taken, the scoop may be lifted up clear of the trough and of any other obstructions. At A in the Fig. a longitudinal section of a tender shows the scoop lowered into a trough with a free passage for the water, up through the internal pipe, into the tender tank. Three castings are here employed, viz., the scoop of gun-metal, the lower portion of the water-pipe with hinge, and the internal pipe, both of iron. A hinged lid above the box., covering the receiving pipe, opens freely when the tank is fu.ll and allows any superabundance of water to escape. Unless such a provision was made, there would be liability of damage to the tank, as the water enters at a high velocity and conse- quently considerable pressure. All the water that so escapes, in the example shown, runs over the top of the tender and thence to the ground and is lost. Some tenders are therefore fitted with large branch pipes leading down from each. side of the top of the internal pipe and meeting- just below it, passing out of the tank bottom, immediately above the trough, so that instead of the water raising the lid, it escapes down the pipes back into the trough. The shaps of the internal pipe varies. In the form shown the top ctirves over tovvards the front of the tender, or direction in which it travels; in others, as at D, it simply rises vertically, or it may have a direction at the top, towards the