New-York tribune., 1907-05-05
THE LIGHTING OF CARS.


While the subject Of that most dreaded
result of train wreclIng accidents. fire, with its
CHASTITY immolation of human beings. the horror
and plteousness of which intensified by the
mains. and by the impossibiIity of their identified
ton by those who are left 10 mourn their awful
misnformation-as to what starts it on such occa-
slons for it's always the result and very rarely
keep them in a iutter from the beginning to the
sre Usually stoTeho1ses for all kinds of theores
concerning this, which have little or no sohd
For example they have been in a wreck-or some
friend has, and has related similar experience
where the debris has been set on fire, and they
have smelled the with which the train has been
Whereas the real cause was, sometimes the dining
car cooking range. or. In an overwhelming number
heat In the freboX of the locomotive: suddenly
dumped into the chaotic and combustlble mass of
fammable draperies and furnishings.
The gas used as illuminant on nearly all rail
way passenger trainS-the Ptntsch-is non-explo-
sive. Indeed the very of the gas itself and
the design and application of it's equipment on cars.
from them Is eliminated The former Is carried, in
OF amply strong construction outside of the cars,
these tanks being suspended under the floors, while
all pipes containing gas under a pressure which
materially exceeds that of the atmosphere are at
the middle, and. together with the small pipes
the single exception of one-haf inch pipe passing
from floor to roof 1t is many times @ SAFER @ than n
such very small quantity on a car at any time
The exceedingly volatile gas that the passenger
smells when, In the case OF wreck, the tank rs
pierced and the is released into the surrounding
before his or her olfaCtory nerves have conveyed
the impression to the brain and the latter has had
this is horribly impressive. for small fraction OF
per cent Of Pintsch will, when mixed with ordi,
produce very high power odor-one that really
best; still If all the gas contained in the tanks
underneath liberated IN tightly closed car IL
ditiOus II would Vitiate the atmosphere,
for its method of pipe installation offers the ave
would it to nstantaneousIy avail itself 1t is
remarked that this method of installation Is in
times. whether the lamps are liz or not.
or thing It is reasonably possible to be sure;
ti01~it % Is the standard means OF lighting
use on $1,000 cars In the United states and on
10000 cars in the world at large-would scarcely
ment had they been able to discover in 1t
the remoest particle of an element OF danger,
that such was to be discovered. It is not thing
Of yesterday but thoroushiy tried-o1t system
the most reliable and generally satisfactory light
for railway ears and the mere en- faGs s .s' o = ra
road service in which. too. II has been % operated
indYerentwithout disclosing any objectionable. or
dangerous, feature whatever is ample warrant OF
The light is the result of attempts made at
the request OF the Prussian State Railway SO
provement OF land transportation to lind .i,,s a
flluminant than oil. ana yet one lndI NOuV
estimate the economic result one needs only 70 De
cars with oil; but the comparison with other iumi-
nants in use for the same purpose dlscloses tne
electricity is cent for u candle power for
power and for Pntsch gas fourtenths Of one
FOR 25 candle power~wth the gas mantle the latter
and has six times the brillancy OF city gas. Il
viii be observed that. while the Pintsch gives 70
furnishes Il candle power the reason Is that the
bulky and naturally room Is at premium t%ntre; %
These batteries have to be charged, even at thaI
where electricity is used they are preferred TO the
axle system. which is too unreliable to be popular
The Pintseh gas has been adopted for Amer, AMER
differ greatly from the foreign in that great deal
more light is demanded. and that the interchange
Inform system OF lighting from Maine to Cali
fornia, and from the Gulf TO the Great Lakes, 70
adaptation was the establishment OF Pintseh com
pressing plants all over the country. so that the
OF cars equipped with It. and not have TO ooligate
If each had 10 have its own installation. There are
now eighty,two Of these plants, located at inter
SO admirably planned in the very hesin1ng; It mas mas
pTovement of any description. save in the matter
OF nlumination-such the adoption OF the gas
than originally genersted 1t is said thirty thousand
the forty-fve thousand in use in this cOun-
the Pntsch and the annual consumption OF the
gas Is estimated at over seven huhureu ana twenty
million feet
Something further should perhaps be said of the
performance of the Pintsch gas in the presence OF
disaster TO trains which II IS installed The
number of holes punched into the Pintseh cylinder
seem to demonstrate the fact that explosion
erwise intact These cylinders were taken OF
the wreck of passenger train No. II, the Fitch
burg division of the Boston * Maine Railroad.
near West Deerheld on January %. 1907. A similar
accident occurring to an acetylene cylinder would
have permitted air TO mix with the gas in itself
an explosive, and then-well. everything in its
animate and inanimate, would prob
ably have been scattered the surrounding
country. But far as is knOwn-and the COM
OF the accidents to find out-the Pntsch has never
caused trouble in wreck. Yet It never fails to
every kind of railway collision. brakes. as will
be more fully explained later in this article
set and cause the trucks TO break loose and to
collide with the gas tank, which is suspended. as
has already been described, midway of and under
meath the floor OF the car--as a consequence these
tanks have been hurled in every direction. and
pact may have caused. The gas is not explosive
In itself. and there is not enough contained In a
STILL the quantity carried. and under a moderate
pressure, is enough to keep II we'll filled. and so
preclude any chance Of air getting to it. Indeed
these tanks. filled with compressed gas are no
more dangerous than IL filed with air at the
moderate pressure They have been found in the
debris or wrecks, intact, but WITH OF course their
contents dissipated into. the atmosphere
10 Lhe adVaLhtages or economy and safety the
vehicle where number OF persons more
less 'cooped up together"-no matter how reIa-
tances; besides which the extreme simplicity of all
apparatus on the cars, and its already mentioned
characteristic or furnishing aids TO ventilation,
particularly recommend II to railroad manage
ments.
THE HEATING OF CARS.