Omaha daily bee., 1908-06-21
PREVENTION OF RAIL WRECK
Test Of View ArpIiHnce nepiEBed 10
sat Brakes Ausomas-
fcaIiF.

No murt railroad collisions Bn6 NJ rrure
wrecks because cf q broken rsl. n uprn
~d-BUhrldrt. or az open switch. are the
claims mace FOR m i-veution winch wal
teEiee DsEr Washington recently.
A Etrstct a tracks on The Chesapeake
Beach railroad has bean equipped with The
device. and on TINS The test WAS conducted.
il wsE raining when enhsrs q the
party boarded the train and the CAR a. the
engine &c participate n Ire test The trtla
was run 81 hiEh speed
In the distance another engine was Sp-
preaching under fun speed As Il drew
near. 81 . rate THAI seemed zoo high fur the
engineer 10 sop In time 70 prevent a col
hsiou. the passenger felJ their hearts tn
their thrus-s.
Suddenly q RED light appeared IN the en-
rins cab and n the same moment the Az
whE systematically applied ana the train
came 10 9 stop within BboU1 sO feel OF the
other engine. which hBo stopped AZ the
same moment
The engineers had maze no move 10 stop.
The engines had 10 STOP becsuse q the
brakes and not uurn the wheels were max
inE vain efforts 10 move dio they shut OF
steam. il vBf a little bit q electricity that
dio the whole thing
Then various. tests were MADE. One en-
Ens stood srin while the other came ID
behind 81 a. fun speed only 10 meet The
same force thai MADE IL come 10 q stang
SID when 3 collision seemed certain
The train ran 81 fun speed toward an
open switch, bun was forced 10 come 70 q
stsndEtin within q few feet ReBr-end col
HEionF were tried. and il was shown how
The train htd 10 come TO 3 stop on account
q q broken raj. The signals urnrked per
fertly, Notwithstanding The damp weather.
AS the tests were made the young man
who had ADDED 70 and perfected the syb-
TEN, yurks Burgess 81 tins CITY. explained
10 those on board the principle by which
n is governed. a third rail runs along the
side Of the track. near The ground, and
covered with a WOODEN roof With the
system in operation on a hig trunk line.
the ran wound be placed in The center %
thu ruadhed.
A shoe fastened 10 the sids q the tender.
which would project downward from the
center Of the tender. fits over the third
rail, producing 3 complete circuit Each
engine carries q small turbine generator.
80 thai 81 al times there he al electric
circuit between the engine and the track
and between the enEine and every other
engine on The track
The track is divided into sections. these
sections being 20 arranged that when rwO
engines enter the same section. or Adjrin-
ing sections. the force Of the united cur
rent causes the air brakes 10 be applied
automatically Al the same time 3 red
light appears In the engineers cab.
In the cHse % q train running on the
same section. behind another train. the
automatic stopping Of the trains would
occur.
The lights can bs arranged SC thai q red
light would mean danger ahead. ant IN
other color danger IL the rear. At al
other times Q whine HEh1 Is burning in the
cab. In the case OF 3 broken rail OF wash
uut. the circuit would he broken. the con-
seuuent upsn circuit causing the SAME STOP
ping Of the engine. This would also pre-
vent trains running into I'll open draw.
AZ The signals would be within The en-.
CINE cab, there IL no possibility 81 ths
hEhtE being broken 10y q storm or ~
wTeckers.
On Booohnt Of the electric communicable
along the rDsd thus equipped. il would b'
possible 10 provide each train with q iAle-
phone In the cab and telephones and tsle
graph Instruments IN me coaches in rhiI
way the train would a. 81 times be II
communication with The chief dispatcher
and IN case q accident or emergency rh'
dispatcher could NArn the engineer Direct
il would also be possible. Il desired II
have the same signals appeal on tbi
coaches. giving The conductor . kn0wledEl
uf what WIS going On-WEHhington Post