Celebrity story: The man who invented the reins for the iron horse
At the beginning of the 19th century, steam-powered trains appeared. In a "train race" held in 1829, Stephenson drove a fully loaded "Rocket" locomotive and set the first vehicle running speed on land at a speed of 56 kilometers per hour. Shortly thereafter, roaring trains began to roll across the United States and continental Europe. Forming a new era of vigorous development of the railway transportation industry.
However, the train at this time was not perfect yet. The fatal shortcoming is that the brakes are not effective, which often leads to operational accidents. In the eyes of the general public, trains are also an unsafe means of transportation. Some people jokingly call them "the devil on wheels."
The train braking device at that time was very primitive. Initially it was only installed on the front of the car, and the driver had to pull the brake handle to brake. It was difficult to stop the heavy train quickly. Later, it was improved to install a separate mechanical brake on each carriage, equipped with a special brakeman. In case of emergency, the driver would send a signal, and each brakeman would take the brake handle. Although this is slightly better, it still cannot stop the train quickly. Therefore, inventing a sensitive and effective train braking device has become a major problem in the railway system that needs to be solved urgently.
Many people have devoted themselves to research on improving train braking devices, but no one expected that it was a poor young American who finally succeeded - Westinghouse, who invented A sensitive and reliable air brake has tied the "reins" to the huge and unruly "iron horse" of the train, setting a memorable milestone in the history of railway safety transportation.
Westinghouse’s idea to invent a new type of train air brake was inspired by an accidental event. During one of his trips, he happened to catch up with a serious crash caused by a malfunctioning train brake. After witnessing a tragic car crash with fatalities, he made up his mind at that time to invent an effective brake to avoid traffic accidents and ensure the safety of railway transportation.
He first thought of steam. Since the train is driven by steam, why can't it be braked by steam? He designed a device that connected the boiler to each carriage with pipes, trying to use steam to push the cylinder piston, thereby compressing the brake shoes to achieve brake purpose. However, due to the rapid condensation of high-pressure steam in the long pipeline and loss of pressure, the experiment failed to achieve the expected results.
When Westinghouse was at a loss, one day he accidentally bought a copy of the "Living Times" newspaper. An article reported that France was digging a tunnel in the Mont de Seny and introduced compressed air to drive a large rock drill, which made him It reminds me of the brake brakes that I have been thinking about: since compressed air can drive rock drills to excavate hard rock, it may also be able to drive train brakes.
Based on this idea, Westinghouse finally made a new type of air brake. The principle is not complicated. Just add an air compressor driven by the locomotive and send the compressed air to the cylinders of each carriage through pipelines. When braking, as soon as the valve is opened, the compressed air will push the cylinder piston in each carriage and compress the brake shoes, causing the train to stop quickly.
In 1868, at the age of 23, Westinghouse obtained the patent for air brakes and formed the Westinghouse Brake Company. To this day, air brakes continue to ensure the safety of trains and automobiles. ;