. Revised and enlarged ed. of the science of railways . he air forced back through the pipe. It thusfilled the cylinders under the car, and in doing soforced out the pistons, which brought the brakeshoes against the w^heels. To release the brakes,the air from the engrine drum was cut off and the * Further reference to the brake shoe will be found inthe volume Train Service, under the head of << Car Wheels. t The air brake must not be confounded with the old-fash-ioned steam brake. In the latter case steam was forced throughthe pipes and used as the power, while in the case of air brakesa
. Revised and enlarged ed. of the science of railways . he air forced back through the pipe. It thusfilled the cylinders under the car, and in doing soforced out the pistons, which brought the brakeshoes against the w^heels. To release the brakes,the air from the engrine drum was cut off and the * Further reference to the brake shoe will be found inthe volume Train Service, under the head of << Car Wheels. t The air brake must not be confounded with the old-fash-ioned steam brake. In the latter case steam was forced throughthe pipes and used as the power, while in the case of air brakesair is used, steam being employed merely to furnish the powerfor compressing the air. 20 Vol. 1 306 RAILWA Y EQUIPMENT. air ill the pipe and cylinders allowed to escapeinto the atmosphere, through the engineers invention of the air brake occurred about1869. Although an improvement over the con-tinuous chain brake and other inventions of earlydays, it was still too slow in releasing (letting goits hold on the wheel), as all the air in the pipe. The Vacuum Rrake. The diaphragm (the semi-oval device shown above)consij;ts of a kettle-shaped iron easting with a loose disc of heavy rubberedduck fastened over its mouth (where the two half sections come together inthe center) by means of a ring and cap-screws; the center of the disc, or dia-phragm, being provided with washers and an eye-bolt for attachment tothe brake lever. When the air is exhausted from diaphragm, the pressureof the atmosphere from without forces the rubber disc into the iron shell and,pulling on the brake levers and connections, sets the brakes. and cylinders had to escape through the engi-neers valve, the longer the train consequentlythe slower its operation. Another fault was, if ahose or pipe burst the brake was rendered use-less. Moreover, if a train became parted thebrake had no effect whatever upon the rear sec-tion. THE AIR BRAKE. 307 These objections rendered it apparent that awholly satisfactory br
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