Boxpok
A Boxpok is a steam locomotive wheel that gains its strength through being made of a number of box sections rather than having traditional solid spokes (the name is a variation on "box-spoke"). Being hollow, they allow better counterbalancing than conventional drivers, which is important for fast locomotives. The Boxpok wheel was patented by General Steel Castings Corporation of Granite City, Illinois.
Other wheels
The Boxpok is the most common of the three disk wheels in use by US locomotive designers, the others being the Baldwin and the Scullin types. All vary slightly in appearance but are essentially the same in structure.[1]
The term "Boxpok" is also sometimes used to describe the Bulleid Firth Brown (BFB) wheel in use on British railways at that time, but this is incorrect; the BFB is made in a single casting, like a spoked wheel, while the Boxpok is made up of sections which are then fastened together.[citation needed]
References
- ^ Parker Lamb p 180
- J Parker Lamb Perfecting the American Steam Locomotive (2003) ISBN 0253342198
See also
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