petticoat pipe

English

Noun

petticoat pipe (plural petticoat pipes)

1. A short, flaring pipe surrounding the blast nozzle in the smokebox of a locomotive, to equalize the draft.
   • 1962 February, “Letters to the Editor: The Giesel oblong ejector”, in Modern Railways, page 143, letter from W. A. Tuplin:

     The ordinary blast-nozzle and petticoat pipe properly proportioned for any British locomotive can make it produce 30 d.b.h.p./sq ft of grate continuously with a blast-pipe pressure 4 lb/sq in. above atmospheric pressure.

References

• “petticoat pipe”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “petticoat pipe”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)