Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 6.djvu/298

 286 FEDERAL REPORTER. �the -wheels receiving the lesser amount of pressure have re- ceived ail that they might receive without sliding. �In the effort to stop railroad trains, and to retard cars when being drawn down steep grades, it constantly happened with hand power that wheels -were slided, which quickly ruins them, and it would therefore seem to follow of necessity that a considerable saving of wheels must result from the use of the Stevens in preference to the Hodge brake. �The defendant, operating a railroad of unusually difficult grades, and requiring the most effective form of brake, has, during the whole life of the patent and its extension, used the Stevens brake on its passenger cars, — its construction having been explained to the defendant's employes by the patentee himself within a year or two af ter the patent was granted to him. Notwithstanding this conceded theoretical superiority of the Stevens brake, and the long-continued use of it by the defendant, it now daims that experience hasproved, and that the testimony shows, that in practical results the Hodge is quite as good a brake as the Stevens, and on many accounts to be preferred. �With regard to the theoretical advantage of the uniform pressure of the brakes on each wheel, undoubtedly the full benefit which otherwise might resuit is diminished by the inequality in the pressure of the wheels upon the rails, said to be attributable to the "tipping of the trucks," alleged to take place where the retarding force is applied. Because of this tipping, or for some reason, when the brakes are applied to stop a train the rear pair of wheels of each truck do bear upon the track with lesa weight than the forward pair, and will, consequently, endure less brake pressure without slid- ing. This is a difficulty, however, which interferes with the operations of the Stevens and Hodge brakes alike, and pre- vents either from yielding its best results ; but it does not, so far as we have been able to see, tend to annihilate any ad- "vantage which either might otherwise have over the other. Neither pretends to deal with this peculiar difficulty, and it still remains true that no more pressure can be applied to any wheels of the car than the wheels which bear least upon the ��� �