The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-01-08
SUCTION OF TRAINS.
IT'S POWER NOT SO GREAT AS Is
GENERALLY SUPPOSED.


to stand within Four Feet OF the Fast
cot Express With Safety.
In view of the fact that a man is said to
have lost his life by being drawn by sue |
ton under the wheels of a passing train |
OH one of the railroads in New Jersey, the |
question of the force excrted by this pow |
or and whether il really is of sufficient |
strength to pull man under train be- |
comes interesting and worthy of investi-
cation. The subject was discussed by Mr.
Wilgus, the resident engineer of the city
and eastern division of the New York
Central railroad, and Mr.. Curtis, the SUI
pervisor of the yards at Forty ninth street.
Mr.. Wilgus expressed the opinion that
the force of the suction caused by rapid
" moving train would not be sufficient
to draw under the train such heavy OBJ
iect as man. If, however, the man hap
pened to be struck or brushed by the train
hard enough to make him lose his balance,
and he should fall so that tho weight OF
his body would act in unison with the
drawing force of the air, then 1t might be
possible.
Mr.. Curtis says, 1T Is generally the
combination of several forces that causes
men to be drawn under trains" In order
TO explain this it is necessary to give
short description of the track approach to
the Grand Central station. Those who are
familiar with the tracks from about Nine
tieth street know that from there down
they run through tunnel. This tunnel
is divided into three compartments. Two
tracks are in the middle compartment and
the other tracks i'm smaller compartments
on either side. At some distance apart in
the separating walls of this tunnel are
openings some 3 feet wide and tall enough
for a man to walk through. These man
holes as they are called, are for the pur-
pose of allowing trackmeu to pass from
one compartment to another ana for SAFE
ty when trains are passing.
Near Eighty-thrd street and where the
four tracks run in one large compartment
| the manholes arc i'm the side walls. The
force exerted upon body standing in the
| open is exactly the reverse from that ex-
erted upon it in closed manhole. In the
open hole in the separating wall the force
tends to blow the object out, for the rea-
son that the compartment is just large
enough to allow for the passage of a train
through it, When therefore a train comes
along this track, 1t forces out the air In
| the compartment, and any one standing
| in one of these holes would get the benefit
] of it. In these manholes man is within
| about three feet of a passing train
In describing the sensation OF being In
| one of those places during the passing OF
q train Mr. Curtis said that there was alb
( solutely no feeling of danger from suction,
and that the slightest resistance on the
| part of q person standing in the hole would
counteract the outside force. He thought
that possibly the shape Of the object, such
| as "A small shed or house, standing near a
track might cause the air to form some
| kind of "a whirlwind motion and pull one
| under, but that it was doubtful. When
asked whether the walls did not protect
man by breaking the force of tho current,
Mr.. Curtis said that possibly they did, but
not enough to affect the general conclu'
sions. There are instances when such an
accident might be credited to the suction,
as In the ease of u woman. The current
of air would have far more surface to act
upon, and the tendency would be to make
the woman lose her balance, and conse
quently her power of resistance, when the
current of air might readily draw the body
under the cars, or in the case OF a child II
would be possible. But in the case of 6
man Mr.. Curtis said that the force wa:
not strong enough to pull one under 9
train.
At Mount st. Vincent, few miles
! above New York, on the New York Cen
trail railroad, is comparatively straight
track, and, according to the foreman o.
this section, trains run from 80 to 40 miles
an hour at that point. "Is 1t in your
opinion" the foreman was asked, "saf'
, | for q man to stand within three feet OF TIT
North Shore limited passing that pointy
Perfectly" replied the foreman. Ant
then he went on to explain how maj
I might be drawn under the cars IL yer.
strong wind was blowing across the tract
, ! or if he lost his balance or was pushe'
from the rear BY this time the limite'
came in sight, running at least 30 mile
, an hour. Taking q position about fou
: feet from the train and near post, II
case of need, the writer stood until tn
: ! train passed, with the result that the gen
eral opinions no had heard were verified
The force of the current was hardly per
ceptible except about his head, making
| necessary to hold his hat on. lt Is tru
!. that many of our trains run lOor 20 mile
; an hour faster than tho one with whic
the experiment was made but the FAC
; thst practically no force or suction wa
7, felt in this case, coupled with the state
ment made by the engineer OF one OF Tn
!, fastest locomotives on the road, that
K man could stand within four feet of
= train moving go miles an hour with safe
ty. makes it fair to assume that had tn
limited been going at this rate tho resul
would have been the same.
From the above facts it may be concluf
> ed that the suction force exerted by swii
! train upon an object the size and weigh
of tho average man Is not sufficient
9 draw the object under the wheels.-Ne'
York Commercial.