OCR Text |
Show FRICTION IS MYSTERY,, SAYS KETTERING 1 FRICTION" is one of the great' mysteries o the universe, according ac-cording to Chas. F. Kettering, the' great automobile inventor. We rub our hands together and knowj that it is friction that makes them warm, but exactly what friction is,1 remains a scientific problem. , Although una-hle to define the element with which they are working, work-ing, designers and railroad engineers engi-neers pit friction (brakes) against anti-friction (bearings) to pro- duce another paradox higher! speed trains with greater stopping stop-ping power. While one group strives to eliminate wheel friction1 to produce greater speed and romfort of travel, another group uses friction to stop trains mora quickly. Early railroad trains had no brakes at all. Demand for brakes began only when a friend of the Duke of Wellington was killed by The famous "Rocket" when it coasted into a depot at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Uailway in England in 1S29. 0i the old Newcastle and Frenchtowaj Uailroad in Delaware, hordes ofi laves who rushed onto the plafcH form and grabbed hold of the car were used to stop the trains aJ stations. ! Later live steam transmitt4i backward through the cars ' aa sed, but proved impracticable kJ ause of condensation. From that 4 Hriment the compressed air brakf f George Westinghouse evolv And since then there has been M teady progress until today th treamlinera are in complete cou-trol cou-trol at speeds above 100 miles &n hour. A few years ago, tapered roller) hearings heavy enough to carry' tho "weight of locomotives and railroad rail-road cars were designed by tb Timken Roller Bearing Company. These bearings, invented by H. H. Timken before the turn of th tentury, had grown up with, and as, a vital part of the automotive . Industry. Applied to trains, then made 120 miles-per-hour streamliners stream-liners possible. And it was Only, this year that the first railroad turned from passenger to freight traffic and installed the first roller bearings on freight cars to step up their speed. Roller bearing freight earn may bring about streamlined freights and a one speed railway passenger and freight traveling at, the same speed. |