Used a similar method when replacing industrial grinding wheels. Before mounting, the new wheel was gently tapped with a hammer handle. If it rang, OK. If it gave a flat tapping sound it was cracked and therefore dangerous.
My great grandfather used to be on a wheel tapping gang. I say gang as there were three of them. One tapped the train wheel with the tuning fork, the second guy listened to the sound the fork made & it was then listened to by the third guy so as to act as a check on the second guy. My grandfather used to be the third guy. This was during WW2 & was considered such an important job & so vital to the war effort, he didn't have to fight in the war.
I was on a train coming back from Penzance. It must’ve been at a station in Devon of which I cannot remember exactly looking out of the window at night time and hearing the wheel tapper going along the train opposite that was at the station. It was sometime in the 70s a memory that’s being kept with me for 50 years never forgotten
So now you know why wheeltappers tapped wheels! Tapping wheels is a skill learnt by wheeltappers over time. When the wheel is tapped, the wheeltapper listens for a change of note...as the wheeltapper taps, a sudden dip in tone tells the wheeltapper, ( who has just tapped the wheel), that there is a possible crack in the tapped wheel...in which case the affected, tapped wheel which the wheeltapper has just tapped, has to be changed...after it too has been tapped of course!
A friend of mine was mentioning this to his grandson at the Glasgow transport museum. A member of staff heard him & came across, handed him a tapping hammer & asked if he wanted to see if he could hear the bad wheel on the exhibit.
Used a similar method when replacing industrial grinding wheels. Before mounting, the new wheel was gently tapped with a hammer handle. If it rang, OK. If it gave a flat tapping sound it was cracked and therefore dangerous.
I heard of a Wheeltapper had in a single week condemned every wheel tested, then realised his hammer had a crack in it.
😂😂😂
'Oh, Mr Porter.' Brilliant film
That’s what they mean when they say it’s “sound”. You can hear it. A clay flower pot rings until it’s cracked.
My great grandfather used to be on a wheel tapping gang. I say gang as there were three of them. One tapped the train wheel with the tuning fork, the second guy listened to the sound the fork made & it was then listened to by the third guy so as to act as a check on the second guy. My grandfather used to be the third guy. This was during WW2 & was considered such an important job & so vital to the war effort, he didn't have to fight in the war.
Long-hail truckers will pound on the rubber tires...if the hammer doesn't rebound, the tire is deflated or defective.
Why is the one dude the spitting image of Sir Topham Hatt? 0:50
This idea eventually evolved into ultrasonic testing of metal. If it doesn't sound right, there is a fissure in the piece.
Will Hay was an inimitable talent
Oh, Mr Porter
I was on a train coming back from Penzance. It must’ve been at a station in Devon of which I cannot remember exactly looking out of the window at night time and hearing the wheel tapper going along the train opposite that was at the station. It was sometime in the 70s a memory that’s being kept with me for 50 years never forgotten
Penzance???
I hear that is the lair of dangerous pirates.
You must have been very frightened.
So now you know why wheeltappers tapped wheels! Tapping wheels is a skill learnt by wheeltappers over time. When the wheel is tapped, the wheeltapper listens for a change of note...as the wheeltapper taps, a sudden dip in tone tells the wheeltapper, ( who has just tapped the wheel), that there is a possible crack in the tapped wheel...in which case the affected, tapped wheel which the wheeltapper has just tapped, has to be changed...after it too has been tapped of course!
Exactly right
You have an untapped talent for describing the event.
There was a spoof Wheel Tappers and Shunters Club on TV in the 70s fronted by Bernard Manning
Strange, I wondered the same last night when seeing it done in Anna Karenina.
For the same reason truckers tap brake drums.
A friend of mine was mentioning this to his grandson at the Glasgow transport museum. A member of staff heard him & came across, handed him a tapping hammer & asked if he wanted to see if he could hear the bad wheel on the exhibit.
… and playing in the background, 🎶"Ooh Doctor Beeching!"🎵
😌
Wagon technicians do exactly the same thing during a brake test. The sound of the wheel differs whether the brakes are engaged or not.
Same thing when buying ceramics or glass, but don't use a hammer. Ping it with your finger, if it rings it's OK, if it clicks, it's cracked.
actually, I think it's for the sound, if the wheel has a creak or something's wrong with it, it makes a different sound
So they can join the Wheeltappers and Shunters Club for a pie and a pint Friday night to be entertained by up coming comedians 😂
@@colintuffs568 yes , but you have to ask the members of the committ ..tee first