﻿544 
  ANNUAL 
  REPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  19 
  29 
  

  

  25 
  years 
  up 
  to 
  his 
  death 
  in 
  1914, 
  built 
  up 
  the 
  great 
  Westinghouse 
  

   enterprise 
  still 
  prominently 
  identified 
  with 
  the 
  electrical 
  industry. 
  

  

  The 
  perfection 
  of 
  the 
  air 
  brake 
  removed 
  one 
  great 
  source 
  of 
  danger 
  

   that 
  menaced 
  railroad 
  travelers 
  as 
  well 
  as 
  train 
  crews, 
  but 
  there 
  still 
  

   remained 
  another, 
  that 
  of 
  coupling 
  cars 
  in 
  a 
  train. 
  The 
  first 
  cars 
  

   used 
  on 
  the 
  railroads 
  were 
  simply 
  stagecoaches 
  equipped 
  with 
  flanged 
  

   wheels 
  and 
  coupled 
  together 
  with 
  a 
  kind 
  of 
  hook-and-eye 
  arrangement. 
  

   These 
  were 
  followed 
  by 
  regularly 
  designed 
  cars 
  with 
  heavy 
  wooden 
  

   crosspieces 
  at 
  each 
  end 
  to 
  serve 
  as 
  bumpers 
  and 
  to 
  hold 
  the 
  coupling 
  

   arrangement. 
  In 
  later 
  developments 
  some 
  form 
  of 
  cross 
  member 
  to 
  

   serve 
  as 
  a 
  bumper 
  was 
  retained, 
  but 
  instead 
  of 
  hooking 
  cars 
  together 
  

   at 
  these 
  crosspieces, 
  a 
  long 
  iron 
  bar 
  called 
  a 
  drawbar 
  was 
  devised 
  and 
  

   secured 
  to 
  the 
  under 
  side 
  of 
  the 
  car 
  some 
  distance 
  back 
  of 
  the 
  ends. 
  

   The 
  free 
  end 
  of 
  this 
  drawbar 
  was 
  split 
  in 
  two 
  horizontally, 
  and 
  a 
  hole 
  

   bored 
  vertically 
  through 
  the 
  two 
  halves. 
  To 
  couple 
  cars 
  there 
  were 
  

   provided 
  heavy 
  iron 
  links 
  about 
  a 
  foot 
  long 
  and 
  ii'on 
  pins, 
  and 
  it 
  was 
  

   the 
  job 
  of 
  the 
  brakeman 
  as 
  cars 
  came 
  together 
  to 
  guide 
  the 
  link 
  into 
  

   the 
  split 
  end 
  of 
  the 
  drawbar, 
  and 
  then 
  drop 
  the 
  pin 
  down 
  the 
  hole 
  in 
  

   the 
  latter 
  to 
  hold 
  the 
  link. 
  The 
  clearance 
  between 
  cars 
  was 
  not 
  great, 
  

   and 
  almost 
  daily 
  came 
  reports 
  of 
  the 
  injurj^ 
  or 
  death 
  of 
  brakemen 
  in 
  

   doing 
  this 
  work. 
  The 
  years 
  saw 
  the 
  development 
  of 
  a 
  great 
  variety 
  

   of 
  automatic 
  coupling 
  mechanisms, 
  all 
  of 
  which 
  gave 
  way 
  when 
  all 
  

   railroads 
  adopted 
  that 
  of 
  Janney 
  in 
  principle. 
  

  

  ELI 
  H. 
  JANNEY 
  

  

  Eli 
  Hamilton 
  Janney 
  was 
  born 
  in 
  Loudoun 
  County, 
  Va., 
  November 
  

   12, 
  1831. 
  From 
  the 
  country 
  schools 
  near 
  his 
  home 
  he 
  entered 
  

   Cazenovia 
  Seminary, 
  at 
  Cazenovia, 
  N. 
  Y., 
  and 
  returned 
  on 
  gradua- 
  

   tion 
  to 
  the 
  Virginia 
  farm. 
  With 
  the 
  outbreak 
  of 
  the 
  Civil 
  War 
  he 
  

   enlisted 
  in 
  the 
  Confederate 
  Army 
  and 
  served 
  throughout 
  that 
  struggle 
  

   as 
  field 
  quartermaster, 
  first 
  on 
  the 
  staff 
  of 
  Gen. 
  Robert 
  E. 
  Lee 
  and 
  then 
  

   with 
  General 
  Longs 
  treet, 
  rising 
  to 
  the 
  rank 
  of 
  major. 
  

  

  The 
  war 
  left 
  Janney 
  practically 
  penniless. 
  He 
  gave 
  up 
  his 
  farm, 
  

   moved 
  with 
  his 
  family 
  to 
  a 
  little 
  home 
  just 
  outside 
  of 
  Alexandria, 
  Va., 
  

   and 
  found 
  employment 
  as 
  a 
  clerk 
  in 
  a 
  dry-goods 
  store 
  there. 
  Without 
  

   Siiij 
  special 
  mechanical 
  training 
  or 
  experience 
  he 
  was 
  yet 
  an 
  ingenious 
  

   fellow, 
  and 
  the 
  problem 
  of 
  coupling 
  freight 
  trains 
  intrigued 
  him. 
  The 
  

   extensive 
  freight 
  yards 
  in 
  Alexandria 
  accounted 
  almost 
  daily 
  for 
  injury 
  

   to 
  a 
  brakeman 
  so 
  that 
  the 
  problem 
  naturally 
  attracted 
  his 
  attention. 
  

   Happening 
  one 
  day 
  to 
  hook 
  the 
  four 
  fingers 
  of 
  each 
  hand 
  together 
  it 
  

   flashed 
  into 
  Janney 
  's 
  mind 
  that 
  this 
  involuntary 
  action 
  might 
  be 
  the 
  

   clue 
  to 
  the 
  solution 
  of 
  the 
  coupling 
  problem. 
  He 
  began 
  immediately 
  

   to 
  whittle 
  out 
  small 
  wooden 
  models, 
  working 
  at 
  night 
  most 
  of 
  the 
  time. 
  

   The 
  deeper 
  he 
  got 
  into 
  the 
  subject 
  the 
  more 
  he 
  learned 
  of 
  the 
  host 
  

   of 
  conditions 
  that 
  had 
  to 
  be 
  considered, 
  such 
  as 
  simplicity, 
  ease 
  of 
  

  

  