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EQUALIZING GRAD. SPRING

Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen's Magazine Educational Charts

WESTINGHOUSE AIR BRAKE SERIES

PLATE 88-No. 3-E CONTROL VALVE, P-C PASSENGER

Secondary Release Position

(Diagrammatic View)

CAR BRAKE EQUIPMENT

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stopping for coal at these stati

as a

10 1914

CAMBRIDGE, MASS.

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PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE FIREMEN AND ENGINEMEN

COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY JOHN F. McNAMEE

Entered as Second-Class Matter January 21, 1914, at the Post Office at Columbus, Ohio,
under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.

VOL. 57 No. 4

COLUMBUS, OHIO,

OCTOBER 1914

Plate 88-No. 3-E Control Valve, force the release piston and attached P-C Passenger Car Brake Equipment (Diagrammatic View)-Secondary Release Position.

valves to the farthest limit of its traverse, and which is shown in this view to have occurred; but, although chamber, E air is still shown escaping, at the next flash Plate 88 of the Westinghouse Air its exhaust will be shown to have closed, Brake Series of the Locomotive Firemen due to the movement to follow of the and Enginemen's Magazine Educational equalizing piston and its slide-valves to Charts represents the No. 3-E CONTROL the finish of their brake-releasing stroke: VALVE of the P-C Passenger Car Brake for it will be noted that the pressure in Equipment in diagrammatic sectional chamber F that had resisted this stroke view, with the operating parts in the completion has been discharged to the atSECONDARY RELEASE POSITION, which is mosphere at the "emergency-piston-exthe second step in the general brake-re- haust" port (but, as a slight feed of air leasing action of the Control Valve, and from the pressure chamber has not been in which as in the preceding chart there entirely cut off from chamber F, its reis scarcely a pause of the parts in the sistance to the equalizing piston removement these views being only mained effective until time for the re"flashes on the screen" to give a better lease piston to have finished its full understanding of the causes that effect stroke.) the final results.

It will be noted that in the position The equalizing piston and its attached now taken by the release piston and its slide-valves are at this instant in the slide valve and graduating valve, the same positions as they were shown in the pressure from chamber E is also losing previous step, with chamber E slowly to the atmosphere through the port past losing pressure to the atmosphere through the end of the release graduating-valve, the port in the equalizing slide-valve and and the ports through the release slidethe "reduction-limiting-chamber exhaust" valve and "direct-and-graduated-release port, the purpose being to so reduce the cap," and the equalizing slide-valve to pressure in chamber E that the superior the reduction-limiting-chamber exhaust brake-pipe pressure in chamber B would port to the atmosphere-this connection, (401)

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like the more direct outlet from chamber ance, and no man-whatever his position E, being only momentarily in register, closing in the instant to follow.

The more important change of position represented in this view and due to the completed movement of the release piston and its attached slide-valves, is that the pressure from the application chamber and chamber C is now discharged to the atmosphere at the "applicationchamber exhaust" by way of the port through the release graduating-valve; this release of pressure from chamber C on the left of the application piston has permitted the service brake-cylinder pressure in chamber M on its right-assisted by the application-piston spring-to force the application piston completely to the left to release position, carrying with it the "application" and "exhaust" slidevalves; this has resulted in the exhaust valve uncovering the two ports in its seat through which the service brakecylinder pressure from chambers M and O escapes to the passage conveying it to the "service-cylinder exhaust port" to the atmosphere. The actual releasing of the brake is therefore not commenced until the release portion has reached the end of its full releasing movement, and is in the position shown in the present

chart.

In the preceding chart the "reductionlimiting chamber" had been opened to the atmosphere, and in the present view it has emptied itself, its pressure flowing through the passage as shown to the cavity in the face of the equalizing slidevalve, and thence through a port in the slide-valve seat to the "reduction-limiting-chamber exhaust" port to atmosphere.

In the next "flash" view the equalizing piston will have also completed its full downward traverse, and the Control Valve will be entirely in Full Release, or Graduated Release position, to be shown in Plate 89 to follow in the next issue of the Magazine.

Certain other connections formed in the present position are not here shown, as being immaterial to an understanding of the functions of the Control Valve during the release operation.

Firemen and Firing.

That locomotive firemen as a class are alert to their duties and fully alive to the trust and responsibilities imposed upon them goes without saying. Given a train schedule, be the time ever so fast or the train ever so heavy, the fireman will exert himself to the utmost of human endur

is more loyal to his mate than is the locomotive fireman in co-operating with the engineer in getting the train safely over the road in the prescribed time. He may justly feel that his efforts are not duly appreciated by his superior officers as evidenced by their failure to make his burdens lighter. He does not, however, permit that to influence him in his work, but does the very best he can with the facilities at hand. in an editorial characterized by a spirit Under the above caption of fairness the Railway Review in a recent issue gives this subject attention as follows:

tually had experiences in firing present "Probably none but those having acday heavy passenger or freight focomotives under adverse conditions, can appreciate the demands made on the intelligence and physical endurance of the firetific' firing, if productive of results at man. True, the propaganda for 'scienall, should bring about lessened physical exertion for the fireman, and doubtless would, except for the fact that the demand for increased drawbar output is so insistent as to absorb to large extent, whatever advantage the fireman may work. Besides, where do the niceties of gain through applying intelligence to his firing practice come in for consideration when, as often happens, a train is compelled to work against a combination of odds that threatens to all but lay the locomotive out as a failure for the run? Under such conditions, it behooves the not necessarily follow that his salvation fireman to shovel coal, and while it does lies wholly in vigorous application to that pursuit, he generally conceives it to be his chief function and under usual conditions he may be pardoned in a large measure, for forgetting the ethics of his upon as an almost herculean task, as invocation. Firing has come to be looked deed it is when conditions are such that other functions demand a share of the fireman's time and effort.

"One of the worst of the interferences with the fireman's work lies in the matter of his being compelled, as his coal supply becomes low, to climb back on the down to a point where it can be reached tender for the purpose of raking fuel from the firing platform. When this extra work is forced upon him, he frequently and with ample reason, becomes less a fireman and more a coal heaver, with the result that coal is wasted, the fire suffers from lack of constant attention and the possibility of train delay or engine failure looms imminent. To avoid these conditions, it behooves the roads to have coal spaces so designed as to bring as much of the fuel as possible to the fireman, by gravity or otherwise, or to tice of maintaining coaling stations at continue with the widely prevalent prac unnecessarily frequent intervals and of permitting trains to lose valuable time in

Electric Locomotives.*

stopping for coal at these stations, when, Modern American Single-Phase as a matter of fact, there still remains a third or more of the coal on the tender, and with which the terminal could easily The modern split-phase electric locobe reached provided the coal were so motive designed by E. T. W. Alexanderplaced as to enable the fireman to use it son is shown in the accompanying illuswithout a second handling. It is really tration, Fig. 1, while Figs. 2 and 3 show surprising what far reaching effects studies of the different phases of loco- the articulated repulsion series locomomotive operation may be found to have. tive as well as the driving and pony As respects the matter cited for exam- trucks, including the arrangement of the ple, the employment of means for lessen- electric motors, and Fig. 4 shows the ing the strain on the fireman by placing

all of the coal in a locomotive tender magnet frame.

within his easy reach, has demonstrated

In a recent test the split-phase loco

both a saving in the fireman and in fuel, motive was started from standstill and

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has permitted the abandonment of coal- accelerated up to full speed while the ing station facilities for certain trains, trolley was constantly being pulled up the nonuse of which facilities has spared and down, each time interrupting the the trains loss of time, besides making circuit. There was no tendency of the train operation more certain through the ability of the fireman to pay more con- phase converter to break down, although stant attention to his work. Much com- the acceleration was made at maximum, plaint is being heard of the difficulty of near the slipping point of the wheels. securing satisfactory combinations of It is stated that while the locomotive brain and brawn for firing service. The was at standstill and the phase converter fact is to be appreciated that better ma- running, the trolley was lowered and terial for promotion to the right-hand side of the cab is to be attracted by providing for more tolerable conditions on the left. Where the potentialities of the fireman's position are given the consideration they deserve, there should be no lack of suitable material from which to choose the future locomotive engineer."

kept off for one minute, during which time the converter continued to run by its own momentum down to approximately one-half speed. In the meantime the controller was turned to the full speed for

*By Frank C. Perkins.

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