Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 September 1894 — HAD NO TIME TO WASTE. [ARTICLE]

HAD NO TIME TO WASTE.

WOatlnchouse Gave Vanderbilt as Good —y —— as lie Got. :— r-—_ When Westinghouse first obtained his patent on the air brake, like most . inventors, he was poor and friendless. He managed to secure an introduction to Commodore Vanderbilt, who was never noted for his gentle manners. Westinghouse found him engrossed in his correspondence, and he did not deign To stop reading his letters while the inventor extolled the merits of bis invention. When he had spoken bis little piece Vanderbilt for the first time seemed to take any notice of him, and, looking up suddenly, said in his gruffest tones: “What’s that you say?" So Westinghouse commenced all over again and explained how by an air pressure of thirty pounds to the square foot the brake was applied by the engineer, and when he finished he waited patiently for the verdict. Once more the old commodore raised his head high enough to jerk out: “What’s that you say about air? Westinghouse told him. Looking him steadily in the face the old man replied in freezing tones: “That will do; I have no time to waste with a d —d fool!” Discouraged, but not disheartened, Westinghouse left,only later to bring the great invention to the knowledge of the Pennsylvania railroad authorities. With that opening it was easy enough to get other roads to use the brake, and Westinghouse’s fame and fortune were made. When that time had arrived he one day received a letter from Commodore Vanderbilt, asking him to call at the Central’s office. Mr. Westinghouse’s reply was terse and to the point. He simply wrote: “I have no time to waste with a d—d fool.”