When we think of trains we think of traveling faster and safely to our destination. We think of train tracks and the freedom we feel without being responsible for keeping our eyes on the road. How safe are trains today? Who knows exactly how many safety issues still exist today. We know trains have come a long way from back in the days. Remember when we saw movies or some of us who were around back then remember the old railroads and the workers who helped lay the tracks, the old conductors and the whistle which greeted you and informed you that your adventure was about to begin.
The workers who put time into each piece made the train as efficient as it is today. One man in particular made the railroad yard a lot safer place to work back in the late 1800’s. His name was Andrew J. Beard a freed slave at the age of 15. He was married at the age of 16.
Let’s say he was an ambitious, free thinker. He built his own flour mill and caught the inventor bug. Before long he built his own plow for which he had his own patent. He sold this invention for $4000 in 1881. This was a good amount of money in those days at such a young age. He made another plow in 1887 and sold this one for $5,200. Later in 1892, he patented his rotary steam engine.
All these inventions and the money he received helped him to make a successful real-estate business. Land was plenty back then and as you know land never depreciates. While working at a railroad yard in Eastlake Alabama 1890, he heard about several disturbing stories regarding workers who had been injured from rail cars while working on connecting them to one another. Rail cars were connected by metal pins which had to be manually put in as the cars were joining each other. At this time there were several injuries daily due to workers getting their hand mangeled or amputated from getting caught when the cars connected. Beard decided that something could be done to help reduce the risks to workers while cars were joining.
He started to think how it would be easier if the trains could connect without human intervention. There was already a devise invented in 1873 by Civil War veteran Eli H. Janney for which the device is named. So he went to work on improving this device, naming it the “Jenny Coupler”. This was a component that connected when the cars bumped into each other. He sold his patent in November of 1897 for $50,000. This was a substantial amount of money.
There is little information on what happened to Beard or what he was up to in the early 1900’s. He died in 1921. It is not clear what happened to his wife or if she was still alive after his death or if fathered any children.
