The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-06-08
THE INVENTION
SHOWN A SUCCESS
Will Reduce Train Wrecks
to a Minimum
APPLIANCE OPERATED WELL
Representatives of the Interstate Com
mission We're Present to e II
Trial of Wright's System Of Pre-
venting Wrecks.
By ANDREW JOINER.

tc1lIlIlS NIetAS.
By ANDREW JOINER.
Greensboro, N. c.. June 5.-On the
afternoon of June End. at Gulf, N. c.,
the present terminal of the Durham
& Charlotte Railroad. which is COM
pleted A miles to Troy, and the juno
ton point Of. the Southern Railways
observation-disclosures branch road,
there was had by the Interstate Com
merceCOmmiSsiOn On the rails of both
railroad tracks an exhaustive actual
test Of the efficiency of a North Caro-
lima invention designed to prevent a
class Of wrecks, which last year caus-
ed the death of more than one thou
sand people, the injury of forty thou
sand, and the loss of five million dol
lars worth of property in the United
States alone.
There had beer no public
ment made of this important event,
and only the representatives of the
Interstate m :ssion. w.
P. Borland, Secretary of the Com
missions Board of Block Signal and
Train Control; W. f. Holton, the Com
missions Special Train Inspector of
Safety Appliances; the inventor and
patentee, John B. Wright. of Green's
boro, n. c.. his draughtsman, +. O..
Lawson. and c. G.. Wright were pres
ent at the test; except the necessary
train crews operating the expert
mental engine and several railroad
officials. Among the latter were Capt.
John L. Tull. Vice-President; John H.
Kennedy, General Manager, and Frank
DR.. Jones, Traffic Agent of the Durham
& Charlotte Railroad. These officials
had placed their tracks, engines and
cars at the service of the Commission,
and were especially hospitable in other
ways.
Wright claims for his invention that
1t will reduce to a minimum all train
wrecks caused by derailments or any
abnormal change of the position of
the car truck by instantly and auto
matically setting the brakes, locking
every wheel and stopping the train.
The device is attached to the trucks
of each car, so located near the air
brake tub as to automatically put on
the emergency whenever from any
cause the truck gets out of its normal
position. 1t has been tested before in
the presence of many officials of the
leading roads of the country and
worked all right. The Durham &
Charlotte Railroad has been using it
tor some time, and some time ago was
saved a disastrous wreck by the auto
matte stopping of a train when a
truck jumped the track. The South-
ern Railway about a month e equip
ped the cars of one of its passenger
trains between Greensboro and Colds
DOrO with the device, and recently in
stalled it on another passenger train
betWeen Wi~nston-Salem and Char
1otte.
In view of the very great import
ance. of the invention and its bearing
on the better safeguarding the travel
ing public and the property of the
railways, the Interstate Commerce
commission Safety Appliance Board
has given Mr.. Wright several audi
ences in Washington, and personally
inspected his device. Finally, the
board ordered an official test made of
the operation of the device, the un-
derstanding being thai their repre-
sentatives should have entire control
of the direction, extent and manner
Of he tests, and that the same should
be had with as much privacy as was
possible under the circumstances.
served. Messrs. Borland and Holton
arrived in Greensboro Wednesday
morning and at noon quietly went out
to Calf with John B. Wright, Glen
g. Wright and f. Q. Lawson, reach
ing there at three o'clock. The cars
IN a few minutes were shifting up n
down the track, trying out" the
Wright invention.
The representatives of the Com
MISSION. both expert engineers by act
ual service, from firemen tt the top
OF 1t profession, seemed to fear that
the appliance might act and stop the
traln When it was safely moving along
over a very rough track, or in run
nlng over an obstruction on the track
me flrst test was in running the cars
very slowly over blocks placed on the
rails, lifting the wheels six or seven
1nches vertically but not twisting the
uuth nor oera1llng the wheel. In no
test Of this kind did the appliances act
VI stop the train. Repeated expert
ments Of this. kind were made and
I'VE Experts seeming satisfied that this