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THE Boys’
The Long Heavy Freight Trains of Today Were Made Possible by Westinghouse’ s Air Brake.
The Development “of. the Air Brake ©
a. By FLOYD L; DARROW
- Author of “ The Boys’ Own Book of Great Inventions.”
OrE bright morning in the spring of 1869,
a passenger train, which was about to
stage a demonstration of tremendous in-
fluence upon the development of railroading
in this and every other country of the globe,
pulled out from the depot of the Panhandle
Railroad in Pittsburg. e was nothing
unusual about the appearance of this train.
It consisted of locomotive, tender, and four
his head out of the
cab window, barely two blocks ahead,: he
blunder upon the tracks.
Se the unfortunate man whipped
s horses, but was thrown sprawling
f the rails. Something had to
be done, and that speedily. . Reaching for
valve, Tate - gave
twist.
of the wheels that sent the passengers “slide
ing from their seats with bruised shins and
ruifled tempers, the train. came to a stop
just four fect on the, ‘safe side of the now
lucky drayman. For the first time in the
history of railroading, compressed air had
been used to stop a regular train. Rushing
from the main reservoir into the line and
cylinders, it had driven out the brake pis-
tons with irresistible force. The vexation
of the disgruntled railroad officials. and
their fellow Passengers | a ickly turned to
admiration as they learned the cause of such
rude treatment. continued its
trial trip without further mishap and the
brakes worked perfectly at int.
When the train returned to Pittsburg, a
“young man, not yet twenty-three, entered the
telegraph office and sent this ynessage to
-his Mie in Schenectady, New
had practical Xr today
on Oy nee mee on Panhandle. Railroad
‘and Proved a great success. rge.””
The you was George Westinghouse.
* One ‘day about two years before, e, as he was
riding between Schenectady and Troy, New
York, his train suddenly came to a stand-
still, Going ahead to learn the trouble,
two battered freight et oeomotives ‘and: a
score or more of “overturned cars told the
a head-on collision The track was
perfectly straight for a long distance and
-to his parents.
WORLD.
at Central Bridge, Schoharie Coufity, New
York; the descendant of early Dutch set--
tlers. His father was also an inyentor, as
well as the proprietor of a carpenter and
achine shop,. which he later moved - to
Schenectady. where George spent most of his
boyhood.
Xs a boy Westinghouse was a sore trial,
He liked to play, and he
disliked to work. His greatest delight was
in working with tools. He loved to make -
toy machines. His father regarded them as
eap.
George invented a small rotary steam ene
Canal. "fy
When thi we me, Westinghouse
wanted «to alte. but “he was only fiftee
and “his father ‘would not consent.
mission, he enlisted. He ‘served first as a
cavalry soldier, but, as the result of an
examination, — he. received appowtment as
acting third assistant engineer in the
returning from war, Westing-
BO the
_house entered Union College, located in his
But study bored him, He was
a number of inventions
that he was trying to eee than he was in
school. Upon ad the president,
his father ‘ithare Christmas
time. But in his later work of invention,
Westinghouse had cause to.regret keenly his
lack of an education. It was his. only
handicap.
He’ now began work in his father’s, shop,
and frequently- went on business trips for
his father. On one of these he chanced to
see a wrecking crew laboriously pry and
lift a derailed car back to the tracks.
he watched the work, there was born in his
mind the idea of a patent car replacer,
First Train on Which
the roadbed smooth. Westinghouse thought
the accident should have been. avoide: He
inquired the reason -for such an accident,
and the boss of the wrecking crew replied,
“No, each
0, the engineers saw other, and
both tried their best to- stop, but they
couldn’t.”
“Why not? Wouldn’t fhe brakes oe
“Oh, yes, but there wasn’t
can’t stop a train in a foment” 7”
Surely, thought Westinghouse, it must be
' possible to invent a quick-action brake. He
determined to do it. From that instant, the
alr brake was the uppermost thought in his
ed.
mW aatinghouse was born in October, 1846,
‘his invention.
a great success and proved the starting
Air Brakes Were Used.
which would enable the engine-to do the
work of the men. Against the advice of his
father, he produced a model ‘and. patented
Securing ten thousand dol-
lars of capital from friends of his native
town, he began to manufacture his car re-
placer and put it upon the market. Jt was
point
point in his career
t him
to thinking about the invention of a train
brake. But how it was to be accomplished
was not at. all clear. Many plans ssug-
gested themselves. Still was forced to
e
reject them all because , they would” not
‘for a thre
George ‘Westinghouse at Work.
work. One of his first ideas was to ‘set,the
brakes by means of steam from the engines ~-~~i_)}
ut he quickly saw that the -condensation
of steam and its freezing in cold weather
would make this scheme useless. Then one
day at the noon hour there came into his fa-
ther’s shop a young woman, who was solicit-
ing subscriptions for a magazine. Westing-
house’s first impulse was to turn her away,
but, seeing the look of disappointment on
her face, he relented and put down his name
e months’ subscription. His eye
caught sight article
the magazine arrived, he turned to
the article and learned that compressed air
was being used fo operate rock drills three
trousand feet from the air compressor. ‘He
lown the magazine with an exclama-
thon of .triumph. He as the very power
he needed to operate his br. ake. Air, that
It uld not condense, it would
it could be transmitted
He a teneed
where he
ep pusipess and
~his new
some, railroad to
on~
stration.
of an. accident. and -Westinghouse almost
gave up in uespair. “Finally ‘the. Panhandle
pallrdad offered 'a train if he would equip
own epene and agree to
imburse the company for any damage that
might be done.
with the highly successful reeuits. My ponds
described. A company was quickly formed
with young Westinghouse, not yet twenty-
ee, as president. _He made demonstra-
tons in the leading cities of the country and
soon had his air ‘brake in operation on its
principal railroads. With this early tri-
umph_ came. financial siete in abundance
and Westinghouse soon found himself a
wealthy man. He visited England and the
Continent and after a hard struggle was
successful in introducing his air brake
abroad.
His first patent was a crude affair, but
he continued to perfect it for many years
and by 1888 it was able to handle the long-
est freight train with the greatest ease.
But Westinghouse was much more than
an inventor of the’ air brake. He devised
the interlocking system of railroad signal-
ntinued on page e- 7.)
ENGINEER'S
BRAKE VALVE
aa ay as
on the,
vwnmetot wah
