A Johnson bar is a hand lever with several distinct positions and a positive latch to hold the lever in the selected position. The latch is typically activated with a spring-loaded squeeze handle on the lever so that only one hand is needed to release the latch, move the lever, then re-engage the latch in a different position. This is an American English term; in British English, the lever is named for its function. Many

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s have

valve gear The valve gear of a steam engine is the mechanism that operates the inlet and exhaust valves to admit steam into the cylinder and allow exhaust steam to escape, respectively, at the correct points in the cycle. It can also serve as a reversing ...

controls which are set using a Johnson bar. This is referenced in

Fred Eaglesmith Frederick John Elgersma (born July 9, 1957), known by the stage name Fred Eaglesmith, is a Canadian alternative country singer-songwriter. He is known for writing songs about vehicles, rural life, down-and-out characters, lost love and quirky rur ...

's song ''Back There'': "Hey Porter, tell that engineer, tell him this train's too slow. Tell him to let go that Johnson bar. I got places I got to go." Many trucks and buses use a

hand brake In road vehicles, the parking brake, also known as a handbrake or emergency brake (e-brake), is a mechanism used to keep the vehicle securely motionless when parked. Parking brakes often consist of a cable connected to two wheel brakes, which is ...

which is controlled with a Johnson bar. These are sometimes called "Johnson bar brakes". Truck drivers call the lever control for air-operated trailer brakes "Johnson bars". On Caterpillar tractors, the forward/reverse lever is also called a Johnson bar. Some light

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

aircraft (including Piper Cherokees, Beech Musketeers, and some early model

Cessna Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufacturing c ...

s – such as the Cessna 140) use Johnson bars to actuate flaps and wheel brakes. The

Cessna 162 Skycatcher The Cessna 162 Skycatcher is an American side-by-side two-seat, high-wing, strut-braced, tricycle gear light-sport aircraft (LSA) that was designed and produced by Cessna between December 2009 and December 2013. Its intended market was flight ...

uses a Johnson bar for flap operation. A small number of older aircraft (including the

Mooney Mooney is a family name, which is probably predominantly derived from the Irish Ó Maonaigh, pronounced Om-weeneey. It can also be spelled Moony, Moonie, Mainey, Mauney, Meaney and Meeney depending on the dialectic pronunciation that was angli ...

M-18, some older M20s and some

Progressive Aerodyne SeaRey The Progressive Aerodyne SeaRey is an American two-seat, single-engine, amphibious flying boat designed and manufactured by Progressive Aerodyne originally in Orlando, Florida, and now in Tavares, Florida. It was first flown in November 1992 a ...

s) also have landing gear actuated by Johnson bars. The

Boeing 707/720 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...

aircraft had a Johnson bar for manually extending the nose landing gear, in case the normal gear extension failed.

References

Vehicle design Vehicle parts {{vehicle-stub

See also

References