Hi again,

I don't want to start a long 'argument' ... but I feel I have
to say what it is that I know (or think I know) that relates to
the color of the brake hoses, the glad hands, and the angle
cocks.

****

If my observations are correct the way that the air hoses
work is that the end of the air hose has a rubber grommet
(doughnut) in a cavity in the glad hand. And the other
glad hand has one also. And the two are compressed to
each other during the coupling up of the hoses in such a
way that the rubber grommets form the seal and the
hole in the grommet allows the air to flow thru the hose
coupling.
My recollection/observation is that the glad hand is a
cast metal piece - possible with some milling to form
the grommet cavity and the faces of the 'lock' that holds
them together. Definitely "no moving parts". You 'simply'
bend/twist the joint to make/break the coupling and the
casting of the metal forms the 'lock'.

I always have thought/assumed that the glad hand was
'just' cast iron/steel. And therefore the rusting of the
exposed surfaces is guaranteed by time. But the part of
the glad hand that the grommet contacts is kept smooth/
clean enough by the pressure/contact/compression of the
rubber grommet that it forms the seal.

I do not know what kind of metal is/was used on the
glad hands. Not sure I really care. They are probably
more than one kind of metal depending upon the
manufacturer and/or era.

Same is true for the angle cocks. The only part of them
that needs to be clean is the internal part that is the
actual valve. I would not be at all surprised to learn
that in the era of this list they were usually either
cast brass or cast galvanized. With some machined
surfaces/parts. And, since they activated with a 90-degree
turn they were most certainly a ball valve of some sort.

****

My observation/experience is that both are "always"
dirty/rusty in color (some shade of brown/tuscan/whatever
you want to call it). Perhaps they started out as galvanized
but they quickly got "too dirty to tell".

The hoses usually started out as black but a few were
red ... and they both got essentially grimy black quickly.

- Jim Betz

Jim wrote:


"If my observations are correct the way that the air hoses
work is that the end of the air hose has a rubber grommet
(doughnut) in a cavity in the glad hand."

Jim,

What you are referring to as a "gland hand" is called the air brake hose
coupling which was fitted into and clamped to one end of the brake hose
(22-1/2'' long x 2-1/8" O.D.) while the other end of the hose was fitted over
and clamped to the air hose nipple, also cast in malleable iron. The
"grommet" was the air brake hose gasket.

The nipple was threaded into the angle cock which was equipped with a
"glad hand" in order to open or shut off the air flow. Though there were
dimensional specifications for the angle cock - no call out was made for the
material used in their manufacture. Angle cocks were positioned at an
angle of 30 degrees ( /) while looking at the end of the car.

Circa 1943 (slightly revised from 1939) preference for the center line of
the air line was 2-1/2" below the center line of the coupler and 12" to
the right of center. The location of the angle cock from the end of the car
was to be 15" from the pulling face of the coupler (back) to the center of
the glad hand.

All location dimensions were in relation to the coupler, not the car body
itself, and it was permissible to jockey them, though minimum and maximum
dimensions were established (and revised) within the formula developed by
the MCBA and modified by the ARA and AAR.

Regards,

Guy Wilber
Reno, Nevada

As is often the case on this forum, Guy Wilbur has posted the correct information. I am currently revising my Freight Car Underbody Detail clinic and attendant handout and the information on placement of angle cock is fresh in my mind. As I said, Guy is correct.

I have an angle cock complete with 22 inch hose (Guy, did mine shrink a half an inch?), 10" pipe nipple and air brake hose coupling which is often referred to as a "glad hand." (Truckers use the term glad hand as well for the dinky little things they have between their tractors and trailers.)

My nipple/angle cock/hose/coupling assembly came off (with permission) a 1937 AAR 10-0 IH box car. The angle cock still has most of the original paint on it, no accumulation of crude but rust were the paint is gone. Ditto for the coupling except that there is more rust and a lot less paint.

The hose is a very dark gray and anyone looking at it would call it black. That which came off on my hand when I picked it up just now would be termed "black" by any mother in the land.

There is more than one permissible way to secure the hose to the fittings on either end. Automobile radiator hose clamp is one way. Mine are held on with ferrules and these are still a silvery, metallic color with a yellow hue suggestive of cadmium plating???. They stand out as "silver" on an otherwise fairly dark assembly.

Gene Green

I beg to disagree on one point. "Glad hand" is a generally understood and commonly used synonym for "air brake hose coupling", which is the defined name per the Cyc.
I've never heard glad hand (or gladhand) used to refer to part of an angle cock. If you have a reference for that usage, I'd be interested to see it. I think you're referring to the handle of the angle cock, which afaik is just the "angle cock handle".

Jack Mullen

Guy Wilber wrote:

Jack wrote:

I beg to disagree on one point. "Glad hand" is a generally understood and commonly used synonym for "air brake hose coupling", which is the defined name per the Cyc.

Jack,

I agree, glad hand is synonymous with the coupling and I apologize for my own misuse of the term in relation to the angle cock handle.

Three railroaders and two truck drivers have light heartedly scolded me tonight, and I accept their corrections as well as yours.

Regards,

Guy Wilber
Reno, Nevada

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