needed- hand diaphragm pump

[pybyr]

I'm too broke to buy this for a non-essential project, but glad to pay shipping on a hand-operated diaphragm pump sort of like this:

http://www.coleparmer.com/catalog/product_index.asp?cls=4937

purpose is to clang an old formerly steam-operated locomotive bell that I salvaged from a wrecked locomotive that was due to be melted several decades ago- with a good pulse of air, it lets out a huge sound, and I want to mount it on my porch as a doorbell. I just need a pump sort of like this for people to push the handle of the pump to ring it.

 

[Gooserider]

I think the pump linked to is a water pump, not an air pump... At least back when I was a kid and my family was in the boat business, they used to sell those as bilge and / or holding tank pumps...

Why not have a solenoid valve hooked to an air piston that worked off a normal doorbell?

Gooserider

 

[pybyr]

I think the pump linked to is a water pump, not an air pump... At least back when I was a kid and my family was in the boat business, they used to sell those as bilge and / or holding tank pumps...

Why not have a solenoid valve hooked to an air piston that worked off a normal doorbell?

Gooserider

Thank for the input, Goose,

The method to my madness is that the RR bell has a very small low mass piston that drives a very huge and quite massive clapper via a pivot/cam with substantial mechanical disadvantage. That probably worked OK when one had a big tank of steam and a lot of valves to pull to send it where you wanted. It works OK too with a big bicycle tire hand air pump, but no solenoid will drive it. The diaphragm pump will give a short large volume burst that would ring the bell.

 

[Gooserider]

I think the pump linked to is a water pump, not an air pump... At least back when I was a kid and my family was in the boat business, they used to sell those as bilge and / or holding tank pumps...

Why not have a solenoid valve hooked to an air piston that worked off a normal doorbell?

Gooserider

Thank for the input, Goose,

The method to my madness is that the RR bell has a very small low mass piston that drives a very huge and quite massive clapper via a pivot/cam with substantial mechanical disadvantage. That probably worked OK when one had a big tank of steam and a lot of valves to pull to send it where you wanted. It works OK too with a big bicycle tire hand air pump, but no solenoid will drive it. The diaphragm pump will give a short large volume burst that would ring the bell.

While they do make some amazingly powerful short stroke solenoids, what I was thinking of was not to fire the striker directly with a solenoid, but rather to use a solenoid air valve to trigger a burst of air from your shop compressor to drive the bell ringer...

Another option might be to use one of the little "beer can" compressors they use to drive the aftermarket air horns, or possibly if you need more pressure / volume one of those little car-tire inflator type compressors...

What kind of pressure / volume requirements are you needing? That might help a lot when trying to think of low cost alternatives...

Gooserider

 

[Dune]

Have you considered bypassing the pneumatic system altogether and constructing a sinple mechanical linkage, perhaps even using elements of the pneumatic system? In other words, pull the handle, which actuates a link conected to the other link, which rings the bell, etc? Probably much cheaper.