Great Documentaries's video: Westinghouse - Chapter 7 - Burlington Brake Trials

(NARRATOR) Before any laws could be put in place, standards had to be set so that a car from California would couple with a car from Maine. The Burlington brake trials were organized to set those standards and would prove to be one of the most critical events in the history of the air brake and in the life of George Westinghouse. (SKRABEC) As Congress in this country got more interested in the problem of railroad safety and the pressure came on to do something about it, these famous trials out in Iowa came into being, and they would test a number of different types of brakes. Westinghouse air brake wasn't the only brake out there. (REIS) The first Westinghouse air brakes were called straight brakes. As the air went back the line, it applied the brakes to the wheels of the train to stop the train. However, if the piping or the coupling let go or broke, you would lose your brakes. (NARRATOR) To improve upon his original design, he invented the automatic air brake in 1873. (REIS) So now the air was holding the brakes off the wheels. So when you wanted to apply the brakes, you would simply reduce the pressure to stop the train. The other advantage to that was if the pipes separated or couplings separated or the pipe broke, the train would automatically come to a stop. So it was referred to as "the brakes that worked even when they failed." (NARRATOR) The automatic air brake was powerful but not fast enough. (SKRABEC) Initially, as the trials started, Westinghouse had some problems with the air brake. Eventually came up with the triple valve. It allowed a buildup of pressure at the local car. He could release that pressure very quickly, versus waiting for the pressure to come down the line from the engine. Fast response was what the triple valve was all about. (NARRATOR) The master car builders accepted the new Westinghouse air brake. The train, fitted with new quick-action brakes, was sent on tour, and a series of trials were made in a dozen cities. Sales exploded. But Westinghouse didn't stop there. (REIS) George Westinghouse also had an invention called the friction draft gear, which allowed the trains, when they were starting out and stopping, to cushion the impact between the cars. And this was considered to be a major improvement in the railroad industry. In fact, the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad was quoted that the friction draft gear by Westinghouse was every bit as important as the Westinghouse air brake to the railroad industry. It basically is still used to this very day, the friction draft gear. ( SKRABEC) In the 1880s, they finally enacted -- late 1880s -- they finally enacted several laws that required the use of the air brake. And that certainly was a big boom for George Westinghouse and a success story for him. (NARRATOR) The booming industrial companies in the United States purchased these inventions as fast as he could produce them. Yet George Westinghouse, Jr. remained a humble man. It was said that progress was always a great deal more interesting to him than profit. In fact, he would have said that progress is profit. (REIS) Some railroads were very slow in adopting the air brake. The New York Central, under Commodore Vanderbilt, one of the wealthiest men in the world at the time, was very slow in adopting Westinghouse air brakes. In fact, the story goes that George Westinghouse was talking to a superintendent at New York Central one time about the air brakes, and he said, "George, as long as I'm living, there'll never be Westinghouse air brakes on the New York Central." Evidently, the story goes, George Westinghouse said to him, "Well, I'm a lot younger than you. I guess I'll just have to outlive you." Now, on the other hand, the New York Central had a great wreck, and there were many people killed in that particular wreck. At that point in time, Commodore Vanderbilt backed down, got ahold of the Westinghouse Air-Brake Company to install Westinghouse air brakes on the New York Central. (NARRATOR) A railroad superintendent once said, "If the men who worked the railroads ever chose a patron saint, it would be St. George, in honor of George Westinghouse."