Who invented the Jenny Coupler hooking railroad cars together?
Andrew Beard
In 1897, Andrew Beard patented an improvement to railroad car couplers. His improvement came to be called the Jenny Coupler. It was one of many that aimed to improve the knuckle coupler patented by Eli Janney in 1873 (patent US138405).
Who invented railroad coupler?
Eli Janney
Within 20 years it is the standard car coupler on every American railroad. Its inventor, Eli Janney of Alexandria, Virginia, was a Confederate army veteran who went in to the dry-goods business after the war. He used his lunch hours to refine his design.
Who invented knuckle coupler?
Eli H. Janney
The knuckle coupler or Janney coupler was invented by Eli H. Janney, who received a patent in 1873 (U.S. Patent 138,405). It is also known as a buckeye coupler, notably in the United Kingdom, where some rolling stock (mostly for passenger trains) is fitted with it.
What was Andrew Jackson Beard known for?
Andrew Jackson Beard (1849–1921) was an African American inventor, who introduced two improvements to the automatic railroad car coupler in 1897 and 1899, and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio in 2006 for this achievement.
What does the Jenny Coupler do?
The Jenny Coupler automatically joined cars by simply allowing them to bump into each other, or as Beard described it, the “horizontal jaws engage each other to connect the cars.” This Black inventor sold the rights to his design for $50,000.00 and revolutionized the railroad industry.
Who married Andrew Beard?
Edie Beard
He married Edie Beard (at age 16, by some accounts), with whom he would have three sons; he is recorded as having purchased an 80-acre farm near Center Point, Jefferson County, at some point during this period.
Who is a coupler?
a person or thing that couples or links together. Machinery. a rod or link transmitting force and motion between a rotating part and a rotating or oscillating part. Also called coupling.
What is a Jenny coupler?
Beard’s “Jenny Coupler” eliminated human involvement between the cars by engaging horizontal jaws that automatically locked together when two cars bumped into each other. The same year that Beard patented his coupler, Congress enacted the Federal Safety Appliance Act.
What did Andrew Jackson Beard invent?
Despite having received no formal education, Beard invented several types of plows, patented two of them, and successfully invested profits from the inventions in real estate. He went on to invent a steam-driven rotary engine before patenting his most important device, the automatic railroad car coupler, in 1897.
How does a train car coupler work?
Today’s standard freight-car coupler is the Type E, a Janney “clasped-hand” device that couples automatically when one or both knuckles are open and cars are pushed together. Lifting the lever unlocks the knuckle and lets it swing open, allowing the cars to be pulled away from each other.
What is a Type E coupler?
All Type E couplers are equipped with head ends of an identical “basic” design. It is this “basic” head design that is designated as Type E. To meet varied service condition arrangement needs, Type E couplers may be equipped with variant compatible shank designs and special features for fitting.
What did beard invent in 1889?
rotary steam engine
In 1889, Beard invented a rotary steam engine, patented on July 5,1892. He claimed that his steam engine was cheaper to build and operate than steam engines and it would not explode. While Beard worked on his rotary steam engine, he experimented with perhaps his finest invention, an automatic car coupler idea.
Who was the inventor of the Jenny coupler?
Andrew Jackson Beard lived an extraordinary life for a black American inventor. His invention of the Jenny automatic car coupler revolutionized railroad safety.
How did the Janney coupler help railroad workers?
It automatically locks the couplers on cars or locomotives together without a rail worker having to get between the cars, and replaced the link and pin coupler, which was a major cause of injuries to railroad workers.
When did Andrew Beard get his patent for the Jenny coupler?
On November 27, 1897 Beard received a patent for a device he called the Jenny Coupler. Andrew Beard’s Jenny Coupler.
Where did link and Pin railway couplings come from?
In Britain link-and-pin couplers were common on narrow gauge industrial and military railways, and eventually evolved into a form that could be reliably coupled when the train was stationary. Some preserved railways still use stock featuring a variety of link-and-pin couplers.