American Inventions and InventorsMowry, William A. (William Augustus)
History
American Inventions and Inventors
Mowry, William A. (William Augustus)
Inventions
"That was the great feature of Mr. Pullman's invention," was the reply.
"He saw that few railroad companies would care to go to the expense
of running cars which could only be used for sleeping purposes. He
was familiar with the 'old-fashioned, stuffy cars, where men sat in
stiff-backed seats and dozed and yawned and waited for morning. By
putting people to sleep this wide-awake man made a fortune.' You are
sitting on the bed now. But here comes the porter to make up the berths
next to us. The lady wishes to put her little boy to sleep."
With much interest Mr. Greenleaf watched the porter make a sleeping
room out of a sitting room. In a trice the cushions in the seats and
backs were twisted about and laid from seat to seat, making a bed. With
a jump, the porter stood on the arm of the seat, and turned a knob in
the roof. Down came another bed, a few feet above the first. From this
was pulled a triangular board which was placed between the beds and
the next seats. Sheets, blankets, and pillows, which had been shut up
in the roof, were soon properly spread out, and two good beds were
the result. Curtains were found above the upper bed, which, hung upon
poles, shut the beds off from the car aisle. Behind these the mother
undressed her child and put him to bed.
Just at this moment a man went through the car crying "First call for
dinner." Mr. Towne immediately jumped to his feet and said, "Let us go
and get good seats."
"You have forgotten your hat, Henry," said his uncle.
"I don't need it. Come, hurry," said Henry.
Perplexed, the old man followed his nephew through three cars to the
dining car, where they were soon seated at a little table, in front
of a large window, from which everything they passed could be seen.
It is not necessary to describe the dining room, for it was merely
a well-furnished restaurant. The men ordered what they desired, and
settled back to wait until their dinner was brought on.
"How is it, Henry, that we did not feel the wind as we passed from car
to car? You hurried me so fast that I did not have time to notice."
"Don't you see," said the drummer, "how attaching a dining car to a
train required another change also? There used to be a rule of every
railroad company forbidding the passengers to go from car to car while
the train was in motion. When the company put on the 'diner,' it
invited the people to break its own rule. So vestibule cars came next.
Side doors are built on the car platforms and with these closed the
regular car doors can be left open. Thus one can walk the entire length
of the train, through sleeper, parlor car, dining car, smoking saloon,
library, bath room, barber shop, and writing room, without once going
out of doors. This is a modern vestibule train."
One more interesting discussion took place the next morning as they
were nearing New York City.
"Tell me something about modern bridges," said Mr. Greenleaf.
[Illustration: BROOKLYN BRIDGE.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account