History of Hancock Train Horns
During the steam engine days of the railroad, Hancock is one familiar name. They were the one who manufactured the popular three-chime long-bell railroad horn and many more steam engine equipments. After the railroads started using diesel engines, Hancock, as well as railroad equipment manufacturers adjusted their production line in order to stay competitive in the industry. Hancock modified their products so it will be compatible with the new locomotives running on diesel.
Hancock joined the market for railroad air whistles with a rather simple reason. Aside from the need to change with the progress of time, they already had an intensive familiarity with whistles yet they still lack practice with the horns. Diesels were also new at that time and many of them were equipped with mono-tone honkers. These honkers were never catchy and elegant to public ears. It is the reason why Hancock produced the H4700 and the 4700 air horns. Their goal was to revitalize the sound from the old steam engines and to beautify the new diesel locomotives.
These models were produced starting from late 1950s until late 1960s. One hefty user of these air whistles is New Haven and each FL9 that they bought came in with both 4700 horns and H4700. The 4700 was placed at the roof while the H4700 was placed at the rear to serve as a backup caution mechanism. It was very unfortunate that these whistles were not very audible at high speeds. For safety purposes, Class I railroad sooner replaced Hancock’s whistles with horns. Still, there were few shortlines though that continued using the whistles.
Offerings and Construction of Hancock H4710
There are three various models for the 4700 whistle that were offered by Hancock. The 4700 was generally used. It consists with the whistle and a big rectangular bowl located in the same area with its languid plate. This bowl is also called the reflector is utilized to redirect the whistle’s sound to the front side of the locomotive. The 4700-2 is the second of these models. This model is mostly the same with the 4700. The only difference is that it has an electric heater mounted in the bowl so it will not freeze. The H4700 was the last of the three models. It has no reflector bowl installed with the whistle. It is normally identical with the 4700 whistles, having a difference only with the missing bowl.
All of Hancock’s whistles were designed so they will be horizontally mounted on the standard mount for horns. The whistles are all single-bell chime types and it produces the notes E, A and C# (A major triad). Some bells, however, go off key with the passage of time and produced a few variants. The chords E, A and D were common.
Bells made from cast iron were used in creating the early whistles. The later whistles were created from aluminum bells. Some of the reflector bowls, bell cover and bell caps that were seen were also made of cast iron. They used bronze for the larger parts, like the languid plate and the bowl.
The whistles with the reflectors also have strainers at the bowl’s base. These strainers are built-in. The orifice opens through a cylindrical mesh strainer to the bowl. The mesh strainer was made from phosphor bronze. The only maintenance of these whistles is the cleaning of this strainer which sometimes gets clogged up through constant usage.
