Train break —
Imagine you get a brief to design an object that should weigh 8kg, should be from one cheap material, should have no moving parts, should be used by one hand, must survive any weather conditions, is very unlikely to get damaged within years of use, should stop running train wagons upto 50.000kg, should does so alone without attaching to anything else, the breaking intensity should start fluently and should increase with the increasing weight of the train wagon, it should have a reasonable production cost and be very simple to understand and use. In another words give one man standing next to the tracks a tool that allows them to stop a running train wagon.
So what at first glance looks like a rusty flakey piece of metal is at second glance an example of a brilliant design solution that has a fundamental effect in its context. This object does so much while being so simple. In my list of design icons this one is very much on the top because it represents a benchmark in how essential yet understated an object can be. —
You know an object is essential when you can't think what to add or what to remove and neither you can do without it in a certain situation. This is a way of looking at objects that is extremely relevant because it leads design to make things that are honest, useful, simple and make a big difference.
In reality it looks something like this. A train wagon has been disconnected at the station and is still moving away thanks to its massive inertia. One man in a dirty overall and a fluorescent jacket runs in front of the wagon and holds a yellow thing in the hand. It looks like a little shovel or a weird crowbar. He puts the yellow thing on the rail and slides it with all his force against the wheel of the running wagon. The wheel drives on top of this yellow thing creating enormous friction and after several meters the wagon stops. The man does that all the time, but for an outsider that small yellow thing is a thing of magic. Its the manual train break. — M Ch
1 — The manual train break is welded from ordinary steel. The thickness of the material is quite overwhelming in most parts, but then this is a very hard abused tool that must sustain substantial loads.
2 — Once placed on the rail the sideskirts make sure the train break is in the right position to meet the wheel of the wagon.
3 — It is the handle – one of the strongest general archetypes – that says so clearly this is a hand tool. It gives the object its direction and logic of use. The balance in hand is almost perfect since most of the weight is at the rear end.
4 — The curved surface is shaped to match the radius of the train wheel. This part has been cast from steel and welded in place. The texture on the surface shows the immense friction that has been wearing the metal away while in use.
Object details —
5 — This beautiful rough industrial style label is fittingly embossed in a safe place. Its meaning is mysterious to me but somehow it makes the functional object complete.
6 — On this very tip rest massive loads so the yellow powdercoat paint had no chance of surviving here.