Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 232, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 October 1914 — Inventor of the Airbrake. [ARTICLE]

Inventor of the Airbrake.

Who really invented the airbrake? Certainly the automatic airbrake, the one that has proved practicable and of permanent value in modern railroading, was the product of the late George Westinghouse’s Ingenuity. His patent for the automatic brake was taken out tn 1872, superseding the non-automatic, or “straight*’ Westinghouse airbrake patented in 1869, and later the Westinghouse vacuum brake was invented. But, as in the case of most other inventions, there are several claimants for originality in this field. Thus, Mme. M. Drouane, daugheer of M. Debruges of Paris, claims the distinction of priority for. her father. The New York Times has a letter from State Senator William P. Flero of White Plains containing a patent office declaration by his grandfather, Henry' Miller, of a “new and useful improvement in the application of steam and compressed air to the purpose of operating railroad brakes,” recorded January 2, 1855. Mr. Miller was doubtless a pioneer in the progress of airbrake invention.