552 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



wheels is caused by the weight of the car, and the continiml con- 

 cussion on the track, the whole weight resting upon a mere point 

 as it were of the circumference of the wheel, and that continually- 

 shifting as the wheel revolves, this causes a constant concussion 

 of the particles of iron on the tread of the wheel, whereas the 

 brake shoe presses over a wide surface of the wheel at the same 

 moment. I think were eight wheels of the same make and uni- 

 form chill put under a car, and the brakes applied to one track 

 only, and geared so as not to slide the wheels, the difference in 

 the wear between those with brakes and those without would be 

 hardly perceptible. Miller's steam brake has been used in one 

 train on the New Haven road. This is a cylinder and piston 

 attached to the brake levers and actuated by steam from the 

 boiler passing through iron pipes and connected between the cars 

 by india-rubber hose. The cost of maintenance for sucli an ap- 

 paratus for 75 cars would not be less than $4,000 per^annum. 

 Stevens & Tanner's brakes, the kind in general use in all the cars 

 in the Union, need no description. Hotchkiss's plan, owned by 

 Mr. Collier, seems to me a desirable plan; the brake is applied 

 to the top of the wheels. There may be objections to it on ac- 

 count of repairs that are unknown to me, but judging from a 

 small model shown to me last summer, I incline to the opinion 

 that it is a good apparatus. Marks and Howarth's was a spring on 

 the top of the car, with a separate brake shaft and chain connect- 

 ing to the brake levers. The spring is wound by a pinion, and 

 was let off by a cord or wire from the engine. Creamer's plan was 

 a spring or weight in combination with the ordinary brake shaft, 

 and worked on each car separately or by the bell cord from the 

 engine or any part of the train. Paige's adjustable blocks of 

 wood for brake shoes is a good device. Wood brake shoes will 

 hold the wheels with far less strain on the axles than iron, and 

 the feature of this invention is that as the shoes wear they can 

 be adjusted to the wheels by screws. The last invention for 

 brakes, and which come with such a high sounding title, was 

 the great American car brake by Loughridge of Weverton Mary- 

 land. This was a chain attached to a counter shaft on the engine, 

 on one end of which was a friction pully playing against the 

 flanges of the driving wheel, the chain passed under the cars of 

 the train over a series of pullies or fixed and movable bearings. 

 The tendency of the chain to straighten when pulled applied the 

 brakes which were attached to the movable pullies. The engine- 

 man pressed the Iriction pully against the driving wheel which 



