The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-01-17
A Remarkable fnsentiOn Designed Tor
the Handling of Heavy Weights.

l. has FREQUENTLY been matter for COM
mcnt that among the mechanical improve.
mrnts produced by the inventive spirit OF
the are the old.tishioncd hand.truck should
have remained almost exactly Ia the condl.
ton it was hundred years ago. And yet
almost every pound of freight that is ship.
ped or iron that is used, either on railroads
or ia buildings, has 10 be handled by hand
trucks at least twice, and ottener many
more times. before it reaches its final dtS.lna.
ton.
This reproach has, however, been at last
removed by an invention pltented by
Charles W. Carter last August, and now one
man. by the use of these trucks, can do work
that it formerly took four or more 10 accom-
plish.
Tie patents, for there are two Of them,
cover several descriptions OF trucks. a IImeS
reporter was astonished to see porter in the
warehouse of Corby & Co., T09 north Sc
cond street. picking up and wheeling If
kcgs of nails weighing from $50 to geo
pounds as lightly and easily as though the
articles ia question were bars Of soap. He
saw also the same porter pick up 450-pound
barrel Of wire and wheel it Oft with the
same apparent ease.
Subsequently the reporter, with the same
| truck picked up and handleda tive-hundred-
pound bar Of square steel without any other
difficulty than the necessary awkWardueSs
| growing out Of the n0n.usage OF any more
| powerful instrument than the accustomed
FaDcr No..
! Another truck was then introduced to no.
tica. This was so apparently lriliug mat
ter that the Times nun thought of asking its
price with the view Of taking it home to his
| ten year-old son as pretty New-Icar's toy,
| but when Mr. Carter made it gTapple bar
of iron at least three hundred pounds in
weight, twisting and turning it about in all
directions without any apparent exertion,
the reporter saw things in different light.
This truck is designed as cantIng- hook on
wheels, Its destined service being the easy
and rapid handling of railroad iron.
| Another remarkably Ingenious truck, per-
haps the most ingenious OF all, is rall-and-
axle truck with revolving table, on which
railroad aXles and rails can be picked up,
trundled Of, and by i simple turn of the
wrist placed in any position that may be de-
sired. To illustrate a heavy long bar was
picked up from its position at the end Of
narrow gangway, aud by Il turn Of the wrist
was swung round to lie parallel with the
hands Of the truck, and so whirled down the
gangway, which was not more than four feet
length. Once arrived in the clear, another
turn of the wrist and the bar was square
across the exit from the gangWay and ready
to be deposited.
But still more important truck for st.
Louis interests, in view of the growing cot
ton trade, is the cotton.truck, by which the
old cotton.hook is entirely dispensed with.
With this wonderfully simple machine man
oan pick mp bale Of cotton and run OF with
1t in half the time that the ordinary wharf
hand with his hook can place an upright bale
on the foot of his old-fashioned truck. The
saving of labor in this respect will be worth
many thousand dollars year to the trade OF
St. Louis and all other cotton centres.
Beyond these observed facts we are assured
the trucks will pick up and handle square,
oblong, or round blocks Of stone with equal
ease, the strongest OF them being equal to
weight of ] 200 pounds.
Messrs. Carter e. Travis are so confident
IN the capacity of their trucks for handling
railroad iron that they assert their willing
ness to lay hundred miles of railroad track
for twenty-five per cent. less than any other
bid offered under public advertisements
81. Louis Times, 9Th.