Ralph Bagaley (1 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. The Westinghouse Air Brake was patened in 1868 by George Westinghouse He founded the company to manufacture his invention in the following year. Ralph Bagaley, co-author and whose personal copy this book was as shown by his bookplate, had in the early stages funded the first experimental model of the air brake. The book was presumably issued to present the company and its important product. The brake enabled improved performance, speed and safety on US railways and then trains world wide. The airbrake is now in almost universal use. A cheque issued in 1872 surfaced on the internet in 2014, which made a payment by the company to Bagaley of $10,000 (about $200,000 in today's money). Bagaley later became Secretary and Treasurer of the company. Westinghouse was the first company to allow half holidays on Saturday afternoons and a reduced 9 hour day. Also affordable housing and education. George Westinghouse went on to defeat Edison in the battle between alternating and direct electrical current. The book contains numerous engravings of the air brake and its parts with 2 fold-out illustrations of railway carriages in which the brake was incorporated. Gilt decorated cloth covers. Minor marks. Very good indeed. With the bookplate of Ralph Bagaley who (or another) has made a handful of underlinings in red ink to his name and other text. Scarce.