Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 294, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 December 1914 — SLIDING CAR BUFFER [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SLIDING CAR BUFFER

DEVICE TO STOP TRAINS NOT UNDER PROPER CONTROL Recent Test Has Proved the Usefulness of the Invention as ah' Improvement Over the Old-Style Method of Solid Buffers. , Once in a while, owing either to miscalculation on the part of the engineer or failure of the air brakes, > train enters a terminal station with such velocity that it cannot be stopped before reaching the end of the track. To bring the train to, a halt when it is not under proper control, buffers of various designs have been used, but it is no simple matter to design a bumper that will stop a train without, on the one hand, doing harm'to the train, or, on the other, being seriously damaged itself. Recently a car buffer has j been invented which is not rigidly secured to the end of the rails, but 7 is designed to slide upon the rail when the momentum of the train is greater than a certain predetermined

amount This buffer is formed with two long shoes or tapering friction rails that rest upon the track. The train rides up on these shoes, and if not stopped in time strikes a plunger projecting from a pneumatic cylinder. The air cushion back of the plunger serves to retard the motion of the train; but if it is unable tb stop it, the whole buffer slides along on the rail, until the friction between the buffer and the rail is sufficient to overs come the momentum of the train. In a recent test of this buffer, it was found that a 1,000-ton train traveling at three miles per hour was brought to a stop without sliding the buffer. At four miles per hour, the buffer slid nine inches. At eight miles per hour the displacement of the buffer was three feet; at 16 miles, 12 feet, and at 32 miles, 40 feet. Of course it is seldom that a buffer is called upon to stop a train traveling more than three or four miles per hour. After the rails have been displaced over 12 feet the rate of friction runs up extremely high and overcomes the momentum with greater relative ease. Be-

cause the buffer yields before the impact more or less in proportion to the speed of the train, no damage is done, and the train is halted in the shortest distance compatible with safety.—Scientific American.

The Pneumatic Plunger of the Buffer Head.

Sketch of the Sliding Car Buffer, Showing the Long Tapering Shoe or Friction Rail.