Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1873-10-28

A VALUABLE RAILROAD 1MPRovEMENT.-A
the recent exhibition of the Augusta County
Fair nothing the ground attracted more at
tention CT was more generally approved and
commended for lis completeness and utility,
than the automatic car-coupling, for which let
tiers patent have been recently granted to Messrs
Waddell & Lutz Of this county. We do not
hesitate to say that the inventors of this improve
ment have secured the long-sought desideratum
"a perfectly reliable sell-acting car coupling
unfailing in its action, of the requisite strength
and durability, and especially adapted to freight
cars, where they are most needed. In this opin-
ion we are sustained by such men as Capt. G. R.
Mason, Maj. Mcmahon and numbers of practi-
cal railroad men, who have examined it with
great care.
Our object in this paragraph is to call the at
tention of capitalists car builders and railroad
managers generally, to this Invention, as one
possessing great merit and of special interest to
them. Who will take hold of it and push it sue
cessfully? All it needs to insure adoption on the
railroads of this and all other countries is money
and energy, and there is enough of both in our
city to manage enterprise of this kind with
out going abroad. We shall look forward with
interest to the practical test of this Coupling on
the G. 81 0. Railroad, which we understand is
soon to be made and shall be much surprised if
it does not prove satisfactory.
Since writing the above we have clipped the
following from an exchange, every word of
which we condially endorse. With the Wad-
dell and Lutz coupling, all the destruction of
human life alluded to by the Manufacturer. would
be avoided:
A MUCH NEEDED INVENTION -''Kiled while
coupling cars" 1t seems strange that the mo-
notonous repetition of this tragic phrase, which
is met with in the news papers almost every day
in the week, as applied to the terrible end of the
life of some unfortunate railroad employee
should not before now have led to the invention
and adoption of some process by which railroad
cars may be linked together without danger of
such shocking casualties. In the age of skilled
mechanical intelligence there ought to be hard
ly MACH inc shop in the country in which some
man might not be found capable of solving so
apparently simple mechanical problem as that
of fastening two cars together without the inter-
position of a human body between them, and it
is becoming an open question whether it is not
the duty OF State legislatures to compel railroad
companies to equip themselves with such an ap-
paratus. Some expense, and perhaps a little
temporary inconvenience, might be entailed by
such an enforcement but surely the hundreds Of
human beings every year crushed and mangled
under the present sy stem should be accounted of
infinitely more value than the cost of safe sub
stitute. And the press might help in the matter.
Am. Manufacturer.
SPEECH NEXT THURsDAY.-Don't neglect to
come to Ssaunton on Thursday next, the 30th. to
hear that eloquent speaker, W. W. Walker.
ESQ.,, Of Westmoreland. He has the reputation
of being one of the most interesting and effec-
tive stump speakers in the State. he has been
making brilliant canvass in the Southwestern
counties. In speaking of his canvass in that por-
ton Of the State, the Richmond Wing says:
1.-THE visit of W. w. Walker, of Westmore-
land, to that section of the State has had mag
ic effect. In bold, manly action in great rea-
soning powers and matches eloquence, he is
just the man to captivate and sway strong, Wig
orous population of will and nerve and physqe,
that so eminently characterize the people of the
Southwest
We are glad that the citizens of this county
will have the opportunity on next Thursday of
hearing this gifted speaker.