Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1915-12-10
LATEST SAFETY DEVICE
FOR THE PROTECTION OF ENGI-
NEER AND FIREMAN.
Automatic Mechanism Is the Result
of Careful Study-Makes Greater
Possibility of Escape in Case
of Train Wreck.

The engineman and fireman stuck
TO their posts" or the engineman
and fireman jumped"
The account of virtually every rail
road wreck contains either one or the
other of these statements. The men
tai struggles, all the more acute for
their brevity, which lie behind those
statements are overshadOwed by the
magnitude of what follows. Yet to the
engincman and fireman they often are
the beginning or the end of all things.
What man dare say that when con-
frOntcd with the necessity of making
a decision of life and death upon a
seconds notice he will face death for
his responsibilities or that he will
throw duty to the winds and think
only Of saving himself?
The chances are that training and
instinct, as we'll as sense of duty will
keep the engine crew at its post, yet
many a driver of the iron horse has
gone to his death by following his in
stinct when conditions were such that
sticking to his post could not have
prevented the accident and when he
had a chance 10 jump and save his
life
Comparatively few engineers ever
are called upon to make such snap
decisions, but as sure as the sun rises
and sets certain number of them are
FCy1rl tn a,oH
say that he will not be next when he
takes his engine from the roundhouse.
1t is a useless sacrifice of two addi-
jiOnal lives for the crew to stick to
the cab when the accident cannot be
avoided 1t is likewise a derelictiOn
of duty for the two men to jump
when, by sticking to their posts they
may avoid. or lessen. the seriousness
of the accident
The problem is worth solving. And
it has been solved by William a.
Uttz, TT. Worth inventor.
The principle involved is that Of an
automatic bit of mechanism which re-
lieVes the engineman and fireman of
the responsibility of making the de-
cisiOn. In the event of impending dis
aster the simple pulling of a lever
does everything that the men could
do by sticking to their posts, and at
the same time automatically and in
simultaneously without necessitating
any further action, even the moving Of
muscle, on their part, provides them
with q better and safer method Of
escape than that of jumping.
Danger appears ahead. Each or Ell
Their man pulls his lever, and the
mechanism closes the throttle, applies
the brakes and sand, eXtingushes the
fire, then reverses the engine. Stimuli
taneously the engineman's and fire.
mans seats drop below the level of
the cab floor, into heavy steel cylin-
ders, heavy lids drop over them and
lock, and the two men, neatly
canned" in padded receptacles, are
thrown wide of the tracks to either
side of the speeding engine.
1t makes no difference whether the
drums in which the men are tightly
Enclosed fall into the water, or wheth-
er an engine or car falls on top of
them. In the first case the drums
float. In the second they Withstand
the weight or are pushed aside.
The airbrake drum on a locomotive,
experience has shown, is never
crushed in a wreck, and the man
drums" are seven times stronger than
the air tanks
Mr. Uttz is a practical railroad
man. and the value of his invention is
apparent when it is known that it is
not mere theory, an invention on
paper, but that it has been tried out
repeatedly with human occupants un
der as severe conditions as could be
arranged, and each time with perfect
SUCCESS,