sure could escape to the brake cylinder.

In about 99 cases out of 100 the dirty condition of the triple valve is responsible for undesired quick action,

B. K.-Q.-On the road where I work I know that the brake cylinders and triple valves are cleaned at least once a year and yet we seem to have quite a good many brakes that will apply all right but they will creep off. They don't release through the triple, but just sneak off, as the boys say. Shouldn't the packing leathers go a year all right if properly cleaned and oiled?

A. The leathers should go a year all right under ordinary conditions if the work is done properly and if grease is used for lubricating instead of oil. The oil works to the bottom of the cylinder and lubricates the bottom of the leather all right, but the top gets dry causing it to leak. Some roads also have the practice of cleaning brake cylinders and putting them together without testing them. In this case the leathers may or may not be all right and the trouble may be in the joint between the auxiliary reservoir and brake cylinder. The nuts on the bolts holding the two together should be drawn up each time the cylinder is cleaned. This is a point which is greatly neglected and one which is very important in the maintenance of brakes. It is also very essential to tighten the nuts on the bolts which fasten the cylinder to the sills of the car, since when these bolts and nuts become loose, the train pipe connection to the triple valve is strained every time the brake is applied, thus tending to greatly increase the amount of train-pipe leakage.

R. G. K.-Q.-I am hauling passenger trains on the road where I work and have no trouble with the trains I haul one way, but have to use great care in order to not break in two on the trains I haul the other way. The trouble I have is in causing bad jerks when I make a release at slow speeds. I have a large main reservoir on the engine and should think that I ought to get a proper release at all times, but have broken in two once or twice when making a release. In order not to handle the train roughly I have to come to a stop before releasing if I get down

below ten miles an hour. The train I haul one way has eight cars, but the one I have coming back is about the same train except that I have on the rear of it three or four sleepers. Can you tell me any way I could handle the brake so I would not have to stop, for I don't like to lose the time I have to in order to make the stop.

A. From the description of your difficulty it would seem that the trouble you experience is due to the fact that the sleepers you have in your train one way are equipped with retaining valves; this means that the exhaust opening is somewhat restricted and that the rear brakes are retarded in their release by the restriction of the exhaust port. This causes the slack to be pulled out, and when the rear brakes do finally release, the slack runs in hard due to the recoil of the draft springs. There is no way to avoid the resultant jerk unless your engine is equipped with the straight air or unless all cars are equipped with retaining valves. You might be able to do away with the jerk by pulling your reverse lever over part way after your driver brake was about released. This latter is merely offered as a suggestion for trial and as a possible and partial remedy.

Sometimes the jerk of which you speak is caused by the engineer using steam too quickly after making a release, but it would seem that the other cause is the more likely in this case.

S. C. W.-Q.-How could an engineer tell if a discharge valve were stuck in the air cylinder of the pump? I know that a pump is likely to work lame if one of the valves is stuck, but I want to know if there is any other way to tell without taking the valve out?

A. This may be told in the following manner: If the pump is making a slow up stroke open the oil cup; if it then works all right it shows that the air that is being compressed is not getting an opportunity to escape properly except when the oil cup is open. If the pump is making a slow down stroke remove the plug in the middle of the lower head and the operation of the pump will be as ex

plained in connection with the top valve.

S. K. M.-Q.-Can you tell any good reason why it is that we don't seem to slide as many wheels as we used to? There are more slid because there are so many more air cars now; but the flat spots, when there are any, don't seem to be so bad, nor so many in proportion.

A.-One particular reason consists in the fact that in the old days a train would be controlled by but a few cars for making low-ups and making stops where it was not necessary to use the hand brakes. As a result it was necessary for the few brakes that were coupled up to do a much greater amount of work. For instance, if the train were entirely equipped with air, as it is in many cases at present, a light reduction would stop the train in a comparatively short distance, so that even if a pair of wheels should be slid, no damage would result on account of the short distance in which the sliding occurred. With the same length of train, but with only a few cars of air coupled up, it would be necessary to make a much heavier re'duction of train-pipe pressure to bring the train to rest and the brakes had to operate during a much longer time and over a much greater distance. In this latter case, if a wheel should slide there would manifestly be a much greater chance for flat spots, and bad ones, to result.

The more general use of air brakes is one of the strong arguments for an increase of braking power on freight cars since, with a full train of air, stops are made more quickly and with a brake cylinder pressure that averages so much less. that the chance for sliding is less and the chance for doing damage, even if the wheels do slide, is small owing to the fact that the wheels slide but a comparatively short distance. It is a common practice to use a train-pipe pressure of 90 pounds on loaded trains, and in fast freight service, and this is practically the same as using a braking power of 90 per cent based on a train-pipe pressure of 70 pounds. Stuck triple valves due to poor maintenance are responsible for most of the flat wheels nowadays.

W. M.-Q.-I would like to have the

JOURNAL explain why it is that the drivers will sometimes slide more easily on one set of drivers than they will on another when the engines are the same weight and class and have the same braking power. I have not been able to figure this out and yet I run two different engines that are the same, and experience trouble with the one and not with the other.

A.-This condition is occasionally found to exist, and it is a hard problem to always determine just what is responsible for the action; if the piston travel is the same in either case the engines are of the same weight, both, gauges are correct and the engines are run on the same train, that is, the same time of day.

An engine on a night or early morning run may slide its drivers more, due to the different rail conditions. The gauge on one engine might be out of adjustment. The tire might be the harder in the one case. If the valves were set differently on the two engines there might be a greater back pressure in the one case; the back pressure would also act to retard the revolutions of the drivers, and while the braking power might be the usual 75 per cent it could, with any back pressure, have the effect of actually being greater than this. The kind of brake shoe also has a bearing on this matter, and in some cases the flange of the brake shoe is found to be of a wedging nature until such time as the wheel has had an opportunity to grind the shoe to a condition such that the fit will be as it should be.

NEW YORK CENTRAL ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE.

But a short year ago the world was shocked at the terrible accident in the New York Central Tunnel coming out of New York.

Immediate steps were taken to alleviate the danger which threatened the lives of the thousands of people who were carried through the tunnel daily, the outcome being the immediate and serious consideration of the electrification of the road at certain points. The results of their research has already born fruit in the shape of a powerful electric locomotive, which type will be used to handle the traffic between New York and Croton, a distance

of 34 miles, and a distance of 24 miles on the Harlem River Division as far as White Plains. These sections of the road are now being equipped electrically, and from thirty to fifty of the electric locomotives will be ordered to take care of the through train service on this part of the road.

One of these locomotives will make schedule time with a 450-ton train, and when the train exceeds this tonnage two engines will be coupled together and operated by the multiple control system, which permits both engines to be operated from either. It is expected that this method of operating the trains will make a marked saving in the operating expenses, as well as build up the suburban service.

The following are the general dimensions of this locomotive:

Number of driving wheels......

8

2

95 tons

69 tons 37 feet 44 inches

2,200 3,000 20.400 lbs. 32,000 lbs. 50 m. p.h.

Only four miles of track was available for testing the engine, but with an eightcar train a maximum speed of 63 miles an hour was obtained, while 72 miles an hour was attained with a four-car train. These speeds could have been exceeded had there been greater track space.

LOCOMOTIVE TESTS AT THE ST. LOUIS EXPOSITION.

Those who have attended the St. Louis Exposition and have seen the elaborate locomotive testing rack erected by the Pennsylvania Railroad, will recollect with pleasure the grandeur of the scene displayed when the locomotive under test was running at a high rate of speed. Owing to the heating of the journals, etc., they were unable to get any test of engines running at high speeds for any considerable length of time, but this has been accomplished during the month just past, and the particular day chanced to be Thanksgiving. The locomotive was a four-cylinder Cole Balanced Compound,

and this was the first engine that they were able to run upwards of 260 revolutions per minute continuously. The first test was at 57 miles per hour for two hours; the second was at 66 miles per hour for an hour and a half, and the third was at 75 miles per hour for a full hour, this last trial being at a speed of 32) revolutions per minute. The load which corresponded to the work the engine was doing corresponded to a train of five Pull

man cars.

A test at high speed was looked upon as one of the impossibilities, judging by the results of the first efforts, and it was certainly gratifying to those in charge of the test, as well as the onlookers, to have the feat accomplished.

FACTORS AFFECTING THE VISION OF ENGINEERS AND FIREMEN,

The following is an abstract of an article which appeared in the Railroad Gazette of November 25, which article was an abstract of a paper presented to the Western Railway Club by Dr. Wilson M. Black.

The opinions expressed by Dr. Black are based upon tests and observations made while riding 5,000 miles by day and by night and in all kinds of weather on different roads.

He concludes from his investigations that the best known standard of binocular vision and color perception is none too good, and it must be quick vision. Owing to the fact that there are so many things which make it difficult to see, such as escaping steam, steam and soot which strike the cab windows, ice formed by steam and sleet on the windows, dust caused by passing trains, rain, wind, the glare of the fire when the firebox door is open, etc., that the best of vision is none too good.

He notes that very good results are obtained by using a shield over the firebox door to protect the eyes of the engineer from the glare of the fire, and draws attention to the fact that it is impossible for the fireman to see signals properly immediately after having worked at his fire.

Attention is drawn to the fact that it is very severe on a fireman's eyes to pass a

rigid test after having fired for five or six years, during some of which time it is necessary for him to shovel from three to ten tons of coal into a firebox in from two to five hours. He is of the opinion that it must be a good pair of eyes that will stand the usual test without first permitting them a period of rest for recuperation.

With the electric headlight, which contains so many desirable features, the divergent rays throw an immense disk of reflecting and refracting particles directly before the engineer, thus making it extremely hard to see signals. He suggests the advisability of building these lights on the principle of searchlights, so that parallel rays would be thrown, and be deflected to strike the track about one hundred yards ahead of the locomotive. This suggestion was carried out practically on the Burlington with decidedly good results. It was done by using an extension to cut off the divergent rays and a diaphragm to reduce the ray to a nine-inch diameter.

It was noted that with an electric headlight it was very difficult to judge distances as when noting the approach of an engine equipped with an electric headlight.

Experiments were made by using different colored lenses, and it was found, with one exception, that amber-colored lenses gave perfect results. With them all parts of the cab and firebox could be seen distinctly, as could all signals except the green, which could not be seen quite so great a distance. By using the amber lenses signals could be seen distinctly immediately after removing the eyes from the bright fire.

Left-handed firemen have trouble in passing the test with the right eye; righthanded firemen have the same trouble with the left eye. The reason for this is that the eye in question is exposed most to the changing rays and the heat.

Ninety per cent of the men questioned use some form of eye protection from the snow, mist, rain, sleet and wind.

A small objection to the use of lenses is that when looking into the cab after they have been exposed to the cold they are

clouded and the vision is impaired for a few moments. This is offset by the fact that the naked eye when moved from a warm place to the cold first has to accustom itself to the changed conditions and cannot distinguish objects clearly for a few moments. Dr. Black found that a large lens afforded a better protection against the elements, as well as smoke, cinders, flying coal, dust, etc.

While there is a great difference in signal lights, due to the poorer care given the same, experiments showed a difference of 7 per cent in the amount of original illumination transmitted by the poorest and the best roundels.

He believes that "if the vision of men examined for promotion after five years' service and those re-examined in service falls below the required standard, and such vision could be remedied by the use of glasses, they may safely be promoted and allowed to remain in service. Glasses must be worn if they are necessary to obtain adequate vision. Protection to the eyes, more especially if needed to correct any refractive error, is of great benefit.

"Glasses are not a hindrance to enginemen, and their use should be allowed when required to protect the eyes or to bring the eyes up to the required standard, but no person should be accepted into service requiring them or who will accept a plus 11⁄2 or 2 D."

Electricity Primary Batteries and Their Uses.

BY

ELWOOD A. GRISSINGER, E. E. Following the line of thought in the preceding paper, the next method of producing electrical energy is that of the voltaic cell or primary battery. At this point, too, the practical field is reached, for this simple element is used in signaling apparatus, telegraph, telephone, electric bell and other miscellaneous work where small currents at a low voltage are employed. Such batteries can be used for heavier work, but the cost of maintenance is far beyond that of any other method.

Primary batteries are divided into two distinct classes, those for open circuit