/kloc-at the beginning of the 0/9th century, steam-powered trains appeared. In a "train race" held in 1829, Stephenson drove a fully loaded "rocket" locomotive and created the first running speed on land at a speed of 56 kilometers per hour. Shortly thereafter, roaring trains began to run in the United States and continental Europe. It has formed a new era of vigorous development of railway transportation.

However, the train at this time is not perfect enough. The fatal disadvantage is that the brakes are not working, which often leads to operational accidents. In the eyes of the general public, the train is also an unsafe means of transportation. Some people call it "the devil on wheels".

At that time, the train braking device was very primitive. At first, it was only installed in the front of the train, so it was difficult to pull the brake handle completely to stop the heavy train quickly by the driver's physical strength alone. Later, after improvement, a separate mechanical brake was installed on each car, equipped with a special brake mobilization. In any case, the driver will signal and take over the brake handle every time the brake is mobilized. Although this is better, it still can't stop the train quickly. Therefore, inventing a sensitive and effective train braking device has become a major problem to be solved urgently in the railway system.

Many people have devoted themselves to the research of improving the train braking device, but no one expected that Westinghouse, a poor young American, succeeded in the end. He invented a sensitive and reliable air brake, tied the reins to the huge and unruly "iron horse" of the train, and set up a memorable milestone in the history of railway safety transportation.

Westinghouse's idea of inventing a new type of train air brake was inspired by an accident. On a trip, he happened to catch a serious crash caused by the failure of train brakes. After witnessing a tragic car accident, he made up his mind to invent an effective brake to avoid traffic accidents and ensure the safety of railway transportation.

He first thought of steam. Since the train is driven by steam, why can't it be braked by steam? He designed a set of devices, connecting the boiler with each carriage by pipes, trying to push the cylinder piston with steam, so as to press the brake shoe and achieve the purpose of braking. However, due to the rapid condensation and pressure loss of high-pressure steam in a long pipeline, the experiment failed to achieve the expected effect.

Westinghouse was at a loss. One day, he accidentally bought a newspaper, Life Times, and reported that France had dug a tunnel in the Seine Mountain, and introduced the news that compressed air drove a large rock drill, which reminded him of the brakes that he had been thinking hard about: since compressed air can drive the rock drill and dig hard rocks, it may also drive the train brakes.

Based on this idea, Westinghouse finally manufactured a new type of air brake. Its principle is not complicated, as long as an air compressor driven by a locomotive is added to send compressed air to the cylinder of each carriage through a pipeline. When braking, as soon as the valve is opened, the compressed air will push the cylinder piston of each car and press the brake shoe to make the train stop quickly.

1868, 23-year-old Westinghouse Company obtained the patent right of air brake and established Westinghouse Brake Company. Until today, air braking is still the safety guarantee of trains and cars.