This article is about a hand lever used in various vehicles, for other uses of the term, see Johnson bar (disambiguation)

Johnson bar (disambiguation)

Johnson bar may refer to:*Johnson bar, a type of corrugated metal bar used to reinforce concrete* Johnson bar , a hand lever on various vehicles* Johnson bar, a lever-dolly for moving heavy apparatus...

.

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

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

s have valve gear

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...

 controls which are set using a Johnson bar as referenced in Fred Eaglesmith's 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 which is controlled with a Johnson bar. These are sometimes called "Johnson bar brakes".

Truck drivers used to call lever controls on 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

General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...

 aircraft (including Piper Cherokees

Piper Cherokee

The Piper PA-28 Cherokee is a family of light aircraft designed for flight training, air taxi, and personal use. It is built by Piper Aircraft....

, Beech Musketeers

Beechcraft Musketeer

The Beechcraft Musketeer is a family of single-engine, low-wing, light aircraft that was produced by Beechcraft. The line includes the Model 19 Musketeer Sport, the Model 23 Musketeer, Custom and Sundowner, the Model 23-24 Musketeer Super III the retractable gear Model 24-R Sierra and the military...

, and some early model Cessna

Cessna

The Cessna Aircraft Company is an airplane manufacturing corporation headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, USA. Their main products are general aviation aircraft. Although they are the most well known for their small, piston-powered aircraft, they also produce business jets. The company is a subsidiary...

s) use Johnson bars to actuate flaps and wheel brakes; a small number of older aircraft (including the Mooney M-18 and some older M20

Mooney M20

The Mooney M20 is a family of piston-powered, propeller-driven general aviation aircraft, all featuring a low-wing and tricycle gear, manufactured by the Mooney Airplane Company.The "M20" was the twentieth design from Al Mooney, and his most successful...

s) also have landing gear actuated by Johnson bars.

On the Boeing 707/720 aircraft the Johnson bar was used to manually extend the nose landing gear. This was only used if the normal gear extension failed.