﻿MECHANICAL 
  TRANSPORT 
  — 
  MITMAN 
  541 
  

  

  endless 
  chain 
  horsepower. 
  He 
  prospered 
  in 
  this 
  undertaking 
  and 
  when 
  

   George 
  was 
  10 
  years 
  old 
  he 
  transferred 
  the 
  business 
  to 
  Schenectady, 
  

   where 
  better 
  facilities 
  were 
  to 
  be 
  had. 
  From 
  all 
  accounts 
  George 
  

   much 
  preferred 
  playing 
  with 
  the 
  ga 
  g 
  or 
  tinkering 
  in 
  his 
  father's 
  

   plant 
  to 
  going 
  to 
  school. 
  His 
  father, 
  in 
  an 
  endeavor 
  to 
  direct 
  his 
  

   interests 
  in 
  some 
  definite 
  channel, 
  offered 
  to 
  pay 
  him 
  for 
  any 
  of 
  his 
  

   time 
  spent 
  in 
  the 
  plant, 
  provided 
  it 
  was 
  devoted 
  to 
  some 
  specific 
  

   undertaking 
  having 
  to 
  do 
  with 
  the 
  business, 
  but 
  this 
  had 
  no 
  appeal. 
  

   If 
  he 
  was 
  going 
  in 
  the 
  shop 
  at 
  all, 
  he 
  wanted 
  freedom 
  to 
  work 
  on 
  his 
  

   own 
  conceptions 
  — 
  mostly 
  mechanical 
  toys 
  — 
  and 
  that 
  is 
  usually 
  what 
  

   he 
  did. 
  

  

  At 
  17 
  George 
  enlisted 
  for 
  the 
  balance 
  of 
  the 
  Civil 
  War, 
  first 
  in 
  the 
  

   Army, 
  and 
  then 
  in 
  the 
  Navy 
  • 
  as 
  an 
  acting 
  third 
  assistant 
  engineer. 
  

   He 
  returned 
  home 
  in 
  the 
  summer 
  of 
  1865, 
  and 
  that 
  autumn 
  entered 
  

   the 
  sophomore 
  class 
  of 
  Union 
  College 
  at 
  Schenectady, 
  chiefly 
  because 
  

   it 
  was 
  his 
  father's 
  wish. 
  But 
  he 
  could 
  not 
  get 
  interested 
  in 
  the 
  classics 
  

   or 
  languages, 
  his 
  whole 
  concern 
  being 
  with 
  things 
  mechanical. 
  After 
  

   a 
  3-months' 
  trial, 
  both 
  his 
  father 
  and 
  the 
  college 
  president 
  decided 
  

   there 
  was 
  no 
  use 
  insisting 
  any 
  longer 
  on 
  a 
  college 
  career 
  for 
  George, 
  

   and 
  he 
  went 
  to 
  work 
  for 
  his 
  father. 
  

  

  While 
  making 
  a 
  business 
  trip 
  he 
  observed 
  the 
  laborious 
  way 
  in 
  which 
  

   derailed 
  railroad 
  cars 
  were 
  put 
  back 
  on 
  the 
  track. 
  Obviously 
  there 
  

   existed 
  a 
  market 
  for 
  a 
  device 
  to 
  replace 
  cars 
  more 
  expeditiously. 
  

   Within 
  a 
  short 
  time 
  he 
  had 
  patented 
  his 
  car 
  replacer. 
  When 
  his 
  

   father 
  refused 
  to 
  engage 
  in 
  its 
  manufacture 
  because 
  it 
  was 
  foreign 
  to 
  

   his 
  line 
  of 
  work, 
  George 
  interested 
  two 
  Schenectady 
  men 
  in 
  it. 
  A 
  

   partnership 
  was 
  formed 
  with 
  Westinghouse 
  as 
  salesman. 
  Manufac- 
  

   turers 
  in 
  Troy, 
  Nev/ 
  York 
  City, 
  and 
  Pompton, 
  N. 
  J., 
  were 
  engaged 
  to 
  

   manufacture 
  the 
  replacer 
  as 
  weU 
  as 
  a 
  new 
  railroad 
  frog 
  Westinghouse 
  

   had 
  invented, 
  and 
  for 
  a 
  year 
  or 
  more 
  he 
  traveled 
  about 
  selling 
  these 
  

   devices. 
  On 
  one 
  of 
  his 
  trips 
  in 
  1867, 
  he 
  was 
  an 
  eyewitness 
  of 
  a 
  head- 
  

   on 
  collision 
  of 
  freight 
  trains, 
  and 
  that 
  led 
  him 
  to 
  experiment 
  with 
  

   brake 
  mechanisms. 
  

  

  Many 
  American 
  and 
  European 
  inventors 
  were 
  working 
  on 
  this 
  very- 
  

   problem; 
  all 
  sorts 
  of 
  schemes 
  had 
  been 
  patented 
  and 
  some 
  tried. 
  

   One 
  idea 
  common 
  to 
  all 
  was 
  to 
  obtain 
  continuous 
  braking 
  action, 
  

   controlled, 
  if 
  possible, 
  by 
  the 
  engineer. 
  Westinghouse 
  thought 
  a 
  long 
  

   chain 
  running 
  the 
  full 
  length 
  of 
  the 
  train, 
  to 
  which 
  all 
  the 
  brakes 
  were 
  

   connected, 
  might 
  do. 
  He 
  was 
  surprised, 
  however, 
  to 
  find 
  that 
  such 
  

   a 
  system 
  was 
  just 
  then 
  to 
  be 
  tried 
  on 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  large 
  railroads 
  out 
  of 
  

   Chicago. 
  In 
  this, 
  a 
  windlass 
  on 
  the 
  locomotive 
  turned 
  by 
  a 
  grooved 
  

   wheel 
  engaging 
  the 
  flange 
  of 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  drivers, 
  wound 
  up 
  the 
  chain. 
  

   The 
  inventor 
  of 
  this 
  system 
  explained 
  everything 
  to 
  young 
  Westing- 
  

   house, 
  and 
  when 
  the 
  latter 
  dropped 
  a 
  hint 
  that 
  he 
  was 
  thinking 
  of 
  a 
  

   braking^scheme, 
  he 
  was 
  told, 
  "You 
  are 
  throwing 
  away 
  your 
  time, 
  

  

  