The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-05-01
BRAKEMEN'S PERILa
DANGERS ARE CONSTANT IN COT
PLlNc FREIGHT CARS.

both Autcmatic Oar Couplings and Auto
natio Brakes May BE Universally Adopt
cd some Day For Freight rrains-some
Mortuary Statistics.
To the tourist travelling in a luxuriously
appointed ''sleeper" or parlor car tho
glimpse Of brakeman on passing freight
train does not often suggest the danger
with which his occupation Is fraught nor
the immediate peril to which he is in close
proximity.
To one who has given the matter any
thought, however, the constant risks to
which brakeman is exposed in the pursuit
Of his occupation are indeed very apparent.
Often one has noticed that the top of a
long line Of box cars was covered with ice
such as would afford precarious footing
even on the sidewalk Of city, and here,
when the train Is running 80 miles an hour
against the wind, walk the length Of the
train is about as dangerous passage as can
well be imagined, yet the brakeman accom-
plishes this and more
In summer the ice and snow and cold are
changed for heat and dust. There is, again,
the always imminent danger of injury
from derailment or collisions and from
coupling cars, the latter being the bugbear
of the brakeman's life.
The last report Of the interstate COM
hiVtSo CoAAhiibcfVh-loE thc year tnulnk
June 80, is02-shows conclusively that acci-
dents to railroad hands are ON the increase.
one In every 50 employed being injured in
that year. The number killed amounted
to 1850 and those injured to26, 40, the total
number of employees being 1874, 2s5 OF
these sos were killed and s,i9l injured by
jumping or falling from trains; IS were
killed and <12 were injured by overhead OBJ
| structions; s08 were killed and 1850 were
ts., ID l..
were injured in derailments, and AIS en-
ployees lost their lives and 8, 49l suffered in
juries In coupling and uncoupling cars.
These last figures are sufficient proof that
coupling is one Of the most dangerous OPP
erations In the trainmen's routine, the
number killed being exceeded only by those
| who met death in falling or jumping from
trains, while the number injured was great
er than that for any other form of accident,
amounting to more than one-third Of the
total injured
| It is close calculation of time and dis
! lance which permits brakeman to hold
the link Of the advancing car in one hand,
the pin OF the other car in the other, and
| to make the almost simultaneous motions
of releasing the link, dropping the pin and
stepping aside uninjured before the draw
heads have crashed together. 1t is too fine
calculation for many, and there are nu-
merous otherwise fine specimens of man
hood minus hand or arm, due to an ina
bility to judge this time and distance cor
| rectly.
An accident, and one usually attended
with fatal result, may occur from the brake
man stumbling over inequalities in the
| track or the ties-should the road be badly
ballnsted-while advancing with the NOV
| ing car with his eyes fixed on the draw
head, or the foot may be caught in frog
or an angle OF a side track, and before the
man can release himself the car passes over
him.
While many Of the railroads have adopt
ed automatic coupling gear on portion, at
least, of their new freight cars (the increas,
of equipment fitted with these devices dur
| ing the year ending June 80, 1892 being es-
| timated at SO, ZIG cars), the ordinary type is
still in excess. These ordinary cars are now
built, according to the tendency of modern
railroad construction, of larger dimensions
than those formerly used, SO that n train
made made up on any of our great roads is
apt to show lack of uniformity in its cars
This is another fruitful source of danger.
The deadheads-pieces of timber which
project from the ends Of the cars-are not
at the same level, nor are the drawheads
| When two cars come together, the dead
heads therefore cannot exercise their office
as buffers, but pass one under the other, SO
that the brakeman who has the difficult
task Of coupling Two drawheads ut different
levels is caught between the colliding cars
and is crushed to death unless he is phe-
nomenally lucky or remarkably active.
1t is in recognition of this danger that
| the brakemen on certain roads protested
against the partial adoption of automatic
couplers, as the cars thus fitted, always of
larger dimensions than the cars supplied
with link and pin coupling only, are liable
to cause accidents when coupled with the
ordinary car by hand. For this reason only
did the men for whose relief the measure
! WAS intended protest against its adoption
| 1t Is proposed now, however, that all cars
shall be of standard and uniform dimen-
| sions.
1t has been recognized by inventors that
an automatic coupler which would fulfill
the requirements proposed would reap a
fortune for its designer, and as a conse-
quence the patent Office has been flooded
with applications for patents on these de
vices. Hardly week elapses without one
or more of them being granted 1t has been
stated, know not how correctly, that the
total number issued thus far exceeds 5000.
OF these the greater number have never
been given trial. A few have been adopt
ed only to be discarded and two or three
are now in use.
The first automatic coupler to be extern
sively used in this country was the mill
err" Its application, however, has been con
INDEPENDENTLY on account of its expense
and weight-to passenger coaches. The Jan
ney is extensively used on both passenger
and freight cars. The Gould and Smillie
couplers are now rapidly coming into use.
What the brakemen will consider an i'm
proyement of secondary Importance, IL They
consider it important at all, is the forced
adoption of automatic train brakes oper
ated by compressed air from the engine, as
while reducing the chances for accident il
will certainly throw number of them out
OF employment by lessening the number Of
train hands required. As is familiar to all
Americans, this is the device which, as per
fected by George Westinghouse of Pitts
burg made both reputation and fortune fol
him.
Although one of the earliest in the field
his invention, improved from time to time
is still considered the best The brake.
=. which have been in continuous operatior
on passenger trains for the past 10 yenr.
are now used on freight trains on western
roads whcro steep grades are frequent
! Such roads are notably the Southern Pa
cific and the Denver and Rio Grande III,
l adoption of these brakes will certainly les
sen the possibility of accident owing to tn,
men falling from car roofs when they ar,
slippery with ice or from swaying, rapid,
moving trains The whole train being un
) der the control of the engineer, the yankinI
} or pulling Of the forward part when 1t. ha
passed summit, frequently resulting il
the fracture of the coupling and the rush t.
destruction OF the rear end, will no. longe
be possible.-New York Herald
a A HeaithfuI Town.
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