Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1882-02-23
THE BRAKEMAN'S PERIL.
Chats With Railroad Men as to Means
of Diminishing the Number of Coup
ling Casualties.

Chats With Railroad Men as to Means
OF Diminishing the Number of Coup
ling Casualties.
Piirsourg elfgraph
"Killed while coupling cars, or "hurt
while coupling cars" are phrases which
in newspaper offices might be kept in
type, so often are the words required
to launch an item that tells of death or
manning. The alarming frequency of
these mishaps was brought to the no.
tice Of a gentleman of much railroad
experience to-day, and the following
from an eastern exchange was also
handed to him for reading: so long
as human life is as cheap as they (the
railroad companies) figure it, there is
no likelihood of any improvements be-
ing adopted to prevent the killing off
or crippling of employees; and so long
as they can call it 'carelessness,' or 'ac-
cident,' they do not want a remedy, un-
less some one would change all their
couplings in one night and without ex-
pense to the roads"
There is much to be said on both
sides of this question" said the gentle
man. ~ can't say that take either
of those sides. 1 can recall an express
sion from one railroader who said that
'Irishmen were cheaper than patent
couplers,' but this is an extreme case,
and intelligent railroad men by no
means take this cold blOoded view of
the matter: On the contrary, the
money annually expended by railroads
right here in Pittsburg. in testing new
coupling devices, and the money value
of time devoted by busy railroad men
to considering the claims to notice of
inventors and inventions would build
Union depot twice over. 1t is only a
few months since the Pacific railroad,
in the midst of the greatest demand
upon their rolling stock ever known,
set apart fifty freight cars at Altoona,
in order that Westinghouse might ap-
ply his brakes and experiment with
new appliances. The greatest, in fact,
almost the only, source of danger is in
the coupling of freight cars"
ais there no cheap and safe coupling
patented for application to freight or
stock carsg'
Doubtless there is. There ought
to be, for the patent Office records show
that down to 1880 there were over
1000 patents issued for car couplings.
| have no hesitation in saying that
there may be time in the near future
when something may be adopted which
shall meet all requirements. But such
brake must be simple and not costly.
Take the Janney coupler. for instance,
now in general use on the Pennsylva-
MIA railroad. 1t can not be made and
pat on for less than 800 per car. Now
foot up what that would mean for the
10000 freight cars on the main line of
the Pennsylvania railroad"
"Why should freight brakemen be
the chief sufferers?"
There are several good reasons. In
the first place, freight train may be
made up of lot of cars from different
roads. No two are of the same build
or height from the rails. Or their
buffers may pass each other, and the
! platforms are so arranged that if the
brakeman is not quick and wide awake
he will not note the difference, and be
caught between the cars, which will
approach too near each other before the
coupling can be made"
as there no possibility of more uni
formity of build in this matter?"
There is. The master mechanics
and the car builders association hav
been discussing this question. Their
are many obstacles in the way, but
time must remove them. 1t took a
long time 10 have the uniform grade
of four feet eight and half inches to
be established, but now this is done,
and think there will be uniformity in
car building, and when the old patterns
and styles will be discarded"
A gentleman, whose position as at.
torney for corporations interested in
this branch of railroad affairs, gave
him opportunities for information, was
next questioned on the subject of car
couplings. He took down volume af-
ter volume of patent once reports, and
from these it was found that up to
1873 1000 car couplers had been pat
ented. Since then the average has
been such that the present number is
l2,125. In roads centering in Pitts.
burg the Miller platform and coupler
and the Janney coupling were in uni
versal use on passenger cars, and nc
brakeman had any excuse for being
injured in connecting cars SC
provided. AS to freight cars
and their coupling. it was t.
the interest of the railroad men to
introduce something which would
tend to lessen the accidents. The
truth of the matter in this connection
was, that the railroaders were willing
enough to adopt good ideas, but were
so crowded with their business as to
render it almost out of the question to
give inventors the necessary time
Further, the gentleman intimated il
was necessary, in order that an in
vention should find favor, that he give
a leading railroad a sufficient interest
in the device to make it worth while
for him (the railroader) to use his in.
fuence and expend his time.
Meanwhile the list of mishaps to
brakemen will keep on multiplying,
though it seems certain that time will
werk change, and that a perfect
freight car coupler will at last be dis
covered and adopted.
The Development of the Alderman,