Pre-1900 Air Brake Material ?

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

Anyone out there in ListLand have any pre-1900 air brake literature?  (Not pamphlets, but comprehensive books.)

Specifically, I'm looking for illustrations of the types D, F and G locomotive brake valves (predecessors to the old H-6, usually called simply a "No. 6 Brake," valve that we all kno\ew... and that my railroad still runs!)

Also, I'm trying to determine if there were any engine brake valves between the original "Three Way Cock" of the early 1870s and the type D brake valve which had become obsolete by 1900.  The original "Three Way Cock" may have later been thought of as the "Type A" valve, but what happened to "B" and "C" in the lettering series?

The early triple valves are rather well documented in the 1900-era literature, but locomotive brake equipment that was obsolete by 1900 isn't given more than a mention.

I'm trying to compile a chronology of early air brake development, but without spending many moons at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, or at the Smithsonian, pre-1900 literature is hard to find.

Now, lap your brake, boys !

-- abram burnett
       (enjoying the fantasies of senility...)
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