The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-01-29

Of his own veiition, avoid being hit. the
m0tOrmar touched a butfon-eitheT
with his foot OF his finger" to quote
the speeiHcations-aRd a blast OF COM
pressed air blew Henry Smith to safe
". Gould anything be more simple ?
Mr. Enright has thought il out BY him
sesf and has had the device patented.
You don't have 10 chase around any
more for suitable car fender" saws
Mr. Enright, N letter which reeentl<
fell into the hands of the public service
commission. This is the only safe
remedy
The letter was not directed to the
commission. but was sent to It BY the
New Yorker who had received it. In
u Mr, EnFight says. in part:
! received e patent for a safety de-
vice few years ago for blowing per-
sons off the track by compressed air
but have not had the time or means to
give the matter proper attention. ] am
z mechanical engineer and have taken
extensive observations IN New York.
Brooklyn. Cleveland. and other cities
Of car tenders generally. and have con-
cluded that TO he struck ny any OF
them. that forms part Of. or is IT
tacheG to. a car running at even ordi-
nary speed means u be killed OF ruined.
And none can be constructed that viii
strike and pick Up a person that viii
afford the required safety or satisfac-
ton to the railway companies and re-
lieve them from continuous lawsuits
resulting from killing or manning peo-
pie who come in contact with their cars
Now. with my device the contact
with the moving car is avoided. The
motorman. seeing the person in dan
ger. strikes push button with his foot
or finger. and a blast of compressed air
blows the person off and to the outside
Of the tracks. The valve is operated
by electric action. Ii is an undoubted
fact that a blast of air with pressure
enough to remove a person viii not
necessarily as much as injure the per
son at all.
There Is not much to this. and ]
think it would be cheap at first cost and
more durable, and not at all as liable
TO get out Of order as the average fen
der in use The airbrakes may be op-
Grated from the same tank. Of course.
it need not be supposed that a blast at
some person viii be necessary as often
as once a day even. Still. the tank
should be large enough for at least one
good blast to carry $50 pounds pres
sure. as this pressure is the most relia-
bic and effective and quick"
While the letter did not tell of ..-O-
viding for this. il is presumed that a
load Of hay will accompany each car,
so that the person blown to safety will
have soft spot to fall on. If he should
happen to be blown in front of a car
coming the other way he viii, Of course.
be blown right back again, 50 that the
danger will be no greater than it was
in the first place. No doubt, too, pla-
cards will advise standing with your
back TO the car. so that when blown
you may see where you are going.
1t CHANGED that when the letter
reached the public service commission,
Chairman Wilcox passed it on. VITA a
letter of reference. to the electrical en-
sineer. Mr.. McLimont. without reading
IT. The chairmans letter was serious,
80 Mr.. McLimOnt made a serious report
He said the matter was so new to him
that he would have TO study it careful
y. This. Of course. was professional
jealousy on Mr.. McLimant's part. He
pointed out at the same time that out
Of 1000 ears in New York only about
800 have aiTbrakes, so that the device
would not, in his opinion. be Of much
use to operating companies here.
II was denied yesterday that the re- I
eeivers for the Metropolitan were TO 4
give a public trial Of the device with /
he public service commissioners stand /
ng on the tracks in front Of the car.