Excerpt from The Air-Brake: A Practical Presentation of the Modern Developments of the Air-Brake for Steam and Electric Railroad Trains The development. Of the many accessory appliances with which the rolling stock of our railways is fitted, has been the subject of a great deal of study and investigation. Of the many appliances which have received careful and systematic study, the braking apparatus may be mentioned as one of the most important. The time when the question of braking first received attention dates back further than the time when highways became sufficiently well made and well maintained to permit of vehicles being drawn at a moderate rate of speed. When wheeled vehicles, drawn at speeds of 10 or 15 miles per hour, first made their appearance, it was found necessary to provide means by which they could be easily and quickly stopped in case of an emergency. The first carts and wagons, built for agricultural purposes, were of such construction that the resist ance of the earth and axle were sufficient to bring them to rest in a reasonable length of time on ordinary roads. In cases of steep grades, the motion was retarded by one or both wheels being locked with chains, or by a stone or piece of timber being chained to the axle and dragged along the ground behind the vehicle. It 13 interesting to note that the question of braking has steadily increased in importance as the demand for higher speed has increased. This applies equally well to all classes of vehicles, including railway trains, street and. Interurban cars, automobiles, and wagons. The first forms of braking apparatus adopted have formed the basis of almost all brake appliances which have since been employed for the same class of vehicles. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.