The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-08-28
ROYAL PALM"
Queen and Crescent Route.

The Development of the Buell. System
. A Result of Large Experience.
Ten years Of experience with the les
sons taught in such a hard school ant
thousands Of dollars spent, together will
the employment of trained technical tai
ent, are back of the design and develop
ment Of the apparatus of the Buell. Sys
tenn.
No better proof Of the fact that thi,
system has been developed with gradually
increasing merit and efficiency in ordel
to meet the manifold mechanical require
ments (such as were required to over,
come the ravaging effects Of jar and vi.
bration and to furnish a truck insulation
of long life) than that the management
of the railroads upon which this system
has been demonstrated have afforded ev.
cry facility and encouragement for the
| continuance OF the work, and that finally
the management of the Queen and Ores.
| cent road generously sanctioned the daily
test runs on the banner train-the Royal
| Palm"
The Buell. equipment Is the outcome OF
persistent and progressive development
| embodying in every feature all that Is
best and most modern in signaling The
work in this direction has been character
lied by completeness. There is not a sim
| gle detail of experiment remaining In the
! entire system.
| While Mr.. Buell. was conversant with
railroading and was equipped with an
engineering knowledge of signaling. he,
however. recognized that such an under
| taking requires for its successful com.
| p,etton. technical knowledge, construc-
tive experience and executive ability and
drive and he early surrounded himself
| for the purpose of working out his
new ideas with a small corps Of efficient
men attracting the best electrical talent
| and as experienced an air expert that
could be found in the country, embrace
| ing men both high in theoretical and
scientific attainment as well as men sea-
soned in practice.
! The character Of their work is a tes-
! timonial OF Mr.. Buer's good Judgment
and this system constitutes an honor to
the craft and especially to its engineer
ing realization.
The verdict of approval that Is being
received from every quarter and the
high appreciation thus far bestowed by
| those who are competent to Judge, give
this system In view that II is the cheap
est system to install and maintain the
undoubted leadership in this new art.
| Not only have eminent technical ex-
| perts of this country scrutinized this
system with the utmost rigor and passed
upon and Endorsed the same but a two
years. almost continuous daily service
test on a railroad chat has been subject
to all kinds OF weather. under a service
strain of two hundred and twenty-eight
miles day. has given incontestable
proofs OF its meeting in every particular
the requirements OF a perfect automatic
cab signal and stop.
An Experts Estimate of System.
The latest expert opinion given in re-
gard to the merits Of this system is one
by Mr.. II. G. Scott. a prominent engi-
neer. who has contributed the following
information as to the correct theory and
efficiency Of the Buell. system, in a re-
port made by him for the benefit of
! certain parties whom he represented, 9TH
er than the Buell. interests. and It can
be fairly inferred that he measured this
system by rigid standards and with that
predominating spirit Of an expert who
searchingly looks for defects as we'll as
contemplating the merits on such an oc-
! casion.
! tered train, protected by the Buell. sys-
tenn. which ran a distance Of two hundred
and twenty-eight miles on the Queen
& Crescent Road. under a service test
of this system, Mr.. Scott made the most
! favorable report concerning same and
from which we will quote briefly the fol-
lowing excerpts:
system and its operating principle as
well as the opinion Of railroad men. who
naturally would be most critical Of II,
beg to report a most favorable impress
sion.
II particularly call attention to the fact
that any failure of the system Is a
failure upon the side Of safety. as It
would signal the engineer to stop the
train.
Technical points have been omitted in
this report, the purpose being to state,
in general way, what we saw and how
it worked, together with the statement,
which involves certain amount Of
technical investigation, that both the
theory and operation are correct.
THAT the same worked in actual oper-
alton is prima facie evidence Of the
proof of this statement
Such a report Is an exceedingly strong
Endorsement.
The railroad companies are now es-
topped from claiming that no effective
automatic train stop has yet been de-
vised. by reason Of the existence OF the
we'll tried out Buell. system.
Rejecting upon the success of the
Buell. System the question natufaaly
arises. why has not the prop&nnced
success of such an important zen
ton resulted in immediate ado56h By
the railroads?
This state of affairs so far as It con-
Germs the Buell. System is largely due
to the quiet way in which the import
ant work of development has been con-
Quoted. as there has been no publica-
ton or attempt to direct the attention
Of the railroads to the merits of this
sysem until q record Of performance
had been obtained. when It was very
recently announced that the system
was ready for commercial employment.
The Buell. System il receiving en-
go. - ~Su affaaHaov - and S0lRG1xEa