St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-11-22
Chioan0 Times
A SAFETY BRAKE
Put on the Gable Lines in San
Francisco.

Put on the Gable Lines in San
Francisco.
To the Editor of the Globe.
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. Is. 1888. THE
following paragraph from one Of the
evening papers may be of interest to
the st. Paul public, as we'll as to the
cable company:
Within three months. in two cases, one On
the California street cable and one on the
Powell and Jackson street cable, the ordi-
nary brakes failed to act on wet and slippery
tracks, and the result was that the cars ran
away The Bulletin then stated that this
was the only real danger attendant upon the
operation of the cable system here, and is
only danger in a city set upon hills like
San Francisco The opinion was then ex-
pressed that the invention of a safety brake,
by which a car could instantaneously be
stopped on the very steepest hill over which
cable roads go, was not a matter re-
curing an extreme expenditure of me
known that every prominent man ON
the Jackson and Powell street cable had
his wits at work devising safety brake suit
able for the above purposes, and that several
outside mechanics also had their wits at work
upon the same project. None of the home
devices we're accepted, however; but an
Australian invention has been adopted by
the jackson and Powell street cable. 1t has
already been put into thirty nine of the COM
pany's forty-two cars, and will also be put
into ten new cars now being built The de.
vice is narrow brake about eighteen inches
long. which runs along about six inches
above the slot or grove down which the grip
operates. If the ordinary brakes for
any reason will not hold the car, or the
hold on the cable by the grip is lost. the grip
man can at once drop this new brake into
the slot and thus Immediately arrest the run
away car. He can stop the car in a distance
e -, I~,1x y L L.
ole at the gripman's right hand and is never
to be applied or touched but in case of a run
away. Putting in these new safety grips cost
the company. $4,000 They will likely be
also used Oh the Union and California street
cables. The steepest hill on any of the
cables is on the Union street, between Larkin
an6 Polk. The fall is SO feet in 4l21a feet
In behalf of the st. Paul Cable com
paTy [ can say that, though the hills
here much resemble in steepness the
Gothic roof, no such precautions are
taken as on the Selby avenue grade.
They not only have no extra brakemen,
but as rule the conductor collects fare
up OF down hill, if occasion requires,
and certainly very rarely stands at the
brake. The entire train is in the hands
of the gripman. While the hills in
San Francisco traversed by cable cars
are legion, they have the advantage of
st. Paul in that there is no sharp curve
at the center of hill. In the runaway
accidents noted by the Bulletin. though
on hills much sleeper than Selby avenue,
the cars kept the track, and only those
who jumped off were hurt. If the cable
cars came down Dayton avenue or
squarely down the bluff anywhere,
without curve, the people of st. Paul
would not need to have any apprehen-
sion of serious accidents. if the expert
ence of straight lines and steep hills in
this city can be taken as an sindex.
While they have little snow here, they
do have rain, and it is the wet rail
which is the dangerous condition, rather
than the icy one. 81. p. HALL.