Piston valves are also used in most steam locomotives.

Not quite sure how to handle this. The valves used in a steam locomotive are very similar in principle to those used in brass instruments, so there's something to be said for dealing with both in a single article. Andrewa 00:39, 6 October 2005 (UTC)Reply

Merge proposal (2 January 2006 NetherlandishYankee) edit

oppose: I agree with Andrewa. The piston valve in a brass instrument is but an example of a piston valve. Although the author of this article clearly had this specific application in mind, I propose that a more reasonable resolution is that the article be broadened to discuss piston valves in general. Notice that this article is appropriately marked as a stub. The external links have good information about the nature and function of a piston valve. Someone should endeavor to bring that information into this article.--Jcoman 21:22, 5 January 2006 (UTC)Reply

neutral: If it was deemed a merge then it'd be for a section move only. As correctly noted above, a piston valve is not exclusive to brass instruments, but I don't see a problem with merging the appropriate section into brass instruments and leaving this page for someone to add the necessary steam (and other) related use to. I'd point out that rotary valve also has material that would need to be merged, for the sake of consistency if nothing else. — Graibeard 05:10, 26 January 2006 (UTC)Reply

oppose. Merge some of the content if that is seen to be helpful, but leave the more general article applying to all piston valves. There were once linear-acting valves used at the chimney bases of some open hearth furnaces, but I don't know whether they were called piston valves. I think they were called after their inventor, as were the rotary valves which replaced them. Watch this space! Andrewa 01:04, 27 January 2006 (UTC)Reply

I have removed the merge notice. There seems no support for the proposal, and its basis has been removed by the latest edits. Andrewa 17:21, 4 February 2006 (UTC)Reply

Update to the brass instrument data edit

As well as providing some information on steam engines, I've also made some additions and corrections to the information on brass instruments. Andrewa 01:04, 27 January 2006 (UTC)Reply

yeah, shouldn't there be a bit about Brass valves needing some sort of lubrication, like valve oil?

Steam engines edit

This section was seriously inaccurate, so I have re-written it. I have left the bit about James Watt but I think that is inaccurate too. I think James Watt used plug-cock valves in his engines but I don't know a lot about such early engines so I will leave that to someone else. 82.21.65.109 16:33, 16 March 2007 (UTC)Reply


I have removed the sentence about Curtis Lo since there is no reference provided (which is not acceptable in a scholarly work) and an internet search did not turn up anything except copies of what was here. Please replace it if you can provide a reference. User:MaltaGC 19:27, 28 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

Spud guns edit

Perhaps I'm prejudiced, but do we really want spud guns as the first item? I'd put it last. 82.21.65.109 16:55, 16 March 2007 (UTC)Reply

No objections received, so I have made the change. Biscuittin 14:40, 11 September 2007 (UTC)Reply

Machine configurations template edit

I don't think this template is appropriate for this article. Most of the machines listed don't use piston valves. Biscuittin 14:44, 11 September 2007 (UTC)Reply

Two articles edit

We have two articles, piston valve and piston valves. Should they be merged? Biscuittin (talk) 12:10, 30 March 2008 (UTC)Reply

It's a mess. Something needs doing. Globbet (talk) 00:52, 9 June 2009 (UTC)Reply
I've renamed piston valves to piston valve, so at least the disambiguatioon is clearer. Article's still a mess - no introduction, drops straight into lap & lead. Andy Dingley (talk) 10:50, 30 March 2011 (UTC)Reply

Just an image edit

I don't want to mess with the article, so I add my image suggestion here, use it if you think it's valuable. --Eusebius (talk) 21:14, 19 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

File:Trompette - premier piston - montage perspective.jpg to appear as POTD soon edit

Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Trompette - premier piston - montage perspective.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on October 18, 2010. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2010-10-18. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page so Wikipedia doesn't look bad. :) Thanks! howcheng {chat} 19:16, 15 October 2010 (UTC)Reply

The anatomy of a Périnet piston valve, this one taken from a B♭ trumpet. When depressed, the valve diverts the air stream through additional tubing, thus lengthening the instrument and lowering the harmonic series on which the instrument is vibrating (i.e., it lowers the pitch). Trumpets generally use three valves, with some variations, such as a piccolo trumpet, having four. When used singly or in combination, the valves make the instrument fully chromatic, or capable of playing all twelve pitches of classical music. Trumpets may also use rotary valves instead.Photo: Guillaume Piolle

Visual explanations of some types of piston valve link not working — Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.168.7.243 (talk) 10:04, 24 June 2011 (UTC)Reply