3. Pneumatic air brake
Invented in the second half of the 19th century by George Westinghouse, the compressed-air brake quickly became a worldwide success, being adopted by a large number of operators.
Evolving in line with advances in tire technology, regulations and standards, it remains the world's most widely used braking system.
In this section, we describe how it works and the performance it achieves.
Although various technological solutions were developed in the 1860s to meet the constraints of automaticity and continuity, none proved really effective until a young American entrepreneur, George Westinghouse, invented a braking system that would finally meet these two challenges.
From an early age, Georges Westinghouse,...
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Pneumatic air brake
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Bibliography
Standards and norms
- Railway applications – Braking – Generic vocabulary - EN14478 -
- Railway applications – Braking – Braking requirements for locomotive hauled trains - EN14198 -
- Railway applications – Braking systems for high-speed trains – Part 1: Requirements and definitions - EN15734-1 -
- Railway applications – Brake systems for motorized trains – Part 1: Requirements and definitions - EN16185 -
- Railway...
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