Seems that virtually all of the old European steam engines and a few of the American ones (NYCs S1 Niagaras, for instance) have vertical panels on either side of their smoke boxes. What function did they serve and why the great discrepancy in usage between the US and other counties?
John
The appropriate term is smoke deflectors and their function is as described in the previous post. They were mainly installed in Germany, starting in 1920. France, and to some degree, UK, also refitted their engines with these.
Danke, Ulrich.
Elephant ear smoke deflectors were used on locomotives with low back pressure exhaust systems, to create a high pressure area alongside of and below the stack opening to push the smoke upward. The typical US locomotive could blast smoke well above the boiler, so didn't need them. OTOH, most modern Japanese locomotives had more refined exhaust systems and were fitted with elephant ears.
One sub-class of 'war austerity' D51 class 2-8-2s was originally fitted with wooden elephant ears - a clear indication that they were really needed to keep smoke out of the cab.
Chuck