Spanner
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1950s
label: date made
content: ca. 1950s
label: used date
content: 1900-1960
name: label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description
content: This homemade spanner was used in steam locomotive repair work to tighten/remove very large, critical bolts. The wrench would need to be used with a very long 'extender' on the handle to gain the necessary leverage. The spanner was used on bolt heads and nuts that hold the front-end (or the "smokebox" portion) of a steam locomotive boiler onto the cast-steel "saddle" that is the foundation of a steam locomotive's cylinder-and-mainframe assembly. The strength and tightness of these "saddle bolts" that join boiler and saddle are crucial to keeping the locomotive from literally shaking itself apart when underway down the track. This crude spanner was likely home-made in a roundhouse far from a full repair shop.
place: label: Associated Place
content: United States: Vermont
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Transportation, Railroad
label: See more items in
content: America on the Move
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
label: Exhibition
content: America On The Move
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of National Park Service
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2002.0075.14
label: catalog number
content: 2002.0075.14
label: accession number
content: 2002.0075
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Spanner
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 19 in x 8 1/2 in; 48.26 cm x 21.59 cm