RAHWAY MISHAPS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 271, 6 February 1928, Page 8

RAHWAY MISHAPS

SAFETY-FIRST DEVICE

LOCAL ENGINEER’S INVENTION

<§EVERAL recent derailments mishaps on the railways been causing the authorities ** concern and it is probable new invention to be applied to J! trains wiU be considered shortly This appliance would stop am-7-where the wheels had left track and no doubt would L 4 ' any serious accidents. * >r eveot There has been some critlci*™. . the XV estinghouse brake, but im?- of never failed. "So far the VVestinghouse h-., have never failed anywhere li t Zealand ’ said a prominent raiiV** officer to-aay. "In some cases ™ I! 13 ? ,? laVe , falled to apply the bra k 7 but there has been no failure of .7' apparatus itself. "It is well-known among railwengineers that the maintenance the VVestinghouse brakes in New z»7 land is kept at a higher stand,!* than in any other country in (V world.” * ln *>« In view of the recent derailments an invention by Mr. J. F. Mack].; Locomotive Engineer at Aucklara is of importance. The patent ruth” were taken out a year ago ,7 granted to Mr. Mackley. * ai The engineers of the New Zealand Railway Department have not be. backward regarding matters o(7: kind. They nave been just as al»to the value of "Safety first" .7" paratus as the engineers in othL countries. cr Mr. Mackley has invented a sm device which is worked in con junction with the AYestinghouse brake The inventior :s very simple. Directhany one wheel of any one vehicle on the train leaves the track th* apparatus, which is applied to the "VVestinghouse brake, applies itself despite what action the driver mav take. It works from th’ engine right through the train to the guard’s van, and when it is applied the train must stop. When the train has been stopped the invention is so designed that some of the engine crew must pcit back to normal position by hand before the train can be started agate Th© apparatus has not been submitted to the railway authorities so far, but it is quite possible that they may be approached shortly to give the invention a trial. The cost of equipping wagons and carriages would run into £. 3 or £ 4 each at the outside. The value of the equipment wJI be readily seen as particularly applicable to trains operating over the heavy grades of country in New Zealand and South Africa and other countries where trains run at night down steep grades. There are times when even only one pair of wheels might leave the track without the knowledge of the driver or the guard and it is at times like th|s that the apparatus would apply itself. Recently, in Australia, Mr. H. X Smallwood, Locomotive Inspector oc the Queensland Government Railways, completed an invention which is beta*: taken up by the Commonwealth author: ties, with a view to safer .running of trains. This invention is of such t. character that it will make provision for the immediate application of the Westinghouse brake in an emergency, such as a derailment or the displacement of unders—r. One wf the merits of the appliance is that it is simple both in construction and application, and it makes one wonder that something of the kind hac not been brought forward before.