Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 January 1914 — Pioneer of Steel Cars. [ARTICLE]

Pioneer of Steel Cars.

“The demand for the substitution of steel for wood in the construction of railway cars, remind-3 me that some 25 years ago there came to Washington nn enthusiastic old gentleman from California with a model of a steel car,” observed Beach Taylor of Omaha, former secretary to the late John A. Logan, at Washington. “This old gentleman tried year after year to get recognition, and to induce congress to require that all passenger cars be built of steel. The model he had was a fine piece of mechanical work, and plainly showed, as proved by subsequent events, that he was 20 years ahead of his generation. It was his custom, to put up in a boarding house tn G street, between Thirteenth and fcmrteenth streets; and to invite senators and members of the house and other public officials to look over his invention.

“The steel car of today is practically identical with that of the old gentleman from California, whose name has escaped me. There were certain patents on his car that probably prevented the railroads from adopting 1L My information is that he is dead, and *that his patents died before he did? Today we know that the steel cars are used on one of the great railroad systems almost exclusively. The columns of the Post a few days ago, showed that steel cars were responsible for saving the lives of more than a score of persons who were injured, and who would probably not be alive today had it not been for the protection afforded by the steel cars.”