ashpan

Noun

ashpan (plural ashpans)

1. A container beneath a boiler's furnace, catching ash and clinker that falls through the firebars
2. A container that fits below the grate of a domestic fireplace.
3. A large pan below the grate and firebox of a steam locomotive.
   • They have been fitted with a complete rocking grate and a hopper ashpan so that the ashes can be released without the necessity for a man to go underneath the engine.1944 September and October, “New Pacific Locomotives for the L.N.E.R.”, in -Railway Magazine, page 286
   • A new ashpan has been fitted, however, with four bottom doors for self-emptying, and a rocking grate with twelve rocking sections.1960 March, “Testing a rebuilt "Merchant Navy" Pacific of the S.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 167