The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1885-12-31

have SIMPLY invented part of Col.
Palne's grip. Instead of one wheel on
each side of the cable. as they proposed
he uses two, while his device for pinching
the cable is peculiar.
One inventor proposed to use the shall
low troughs between which to grip the
cable. flexible belt was arranged to lay
flat in the bottom OF each trough, passing
around each end and along the back
When the troughs were brought together
on each side of the cable the belts would
touch it first, and. as he supposed, would
travel along with it, sliding forward in the
bottom of the trough and around the END
and back, along the back of the trough
until the car attained the speed of the
cable. The troughs were to be brought to-
gether by links and levers.
One day, as Secretary Hendrix was re-
turning to his Office from lunch, a
sailor stopped him on the sidewalk and
said:
'Avast there! Did you never make a
tail block fast to the mantopmast back
stay when reeving off a whip to get the
boat over the ran?" Mr. Hendrix had
never done it.
II thought not, nor you never took q
turn with cable stopper neither. If you
had you would know how to tow them
cars over the bridge without missing a
passage. All you have got to do is to
mako one end of soft strand fast to a
elect on each end of the cars, and let the
duffer take three turns with the blight of
| it arouud the cable when the bell rings,
making the end fast on the passage over.
and letting it go again when he's making
the landing"
Not many inventors have such tender
care for the cable as that. They usually
think that grip must take hold with an
iron hand. This was the idea of two wo-
men, who told Mr.. Martin about a grip
they had invented. It was very simple.
They proposed to suspend a pair of
tongs under the car with chain connect
ing the end of the handles. When a
brakeman wound up his brake he wound
up the chain, draw the handles of the
tongs together, and thus secured the car to
the cable beyond peradventure. The ca
BILE might break, but the car would hang
on to the end every time.
man who had studied it carefully
concluded that the monkey wrench would
solve it. He wanted to place vertical
wrench at each end of the car, with the
jaws clasping the cable. The brakeman
had only to screw down upon the upper
| jaw to secure the car to the cable.
Then another man came along who
thought there was no need OF pinching
the cable. He suggested that two small
but substantial wheels be placed, one
above the cable and the other below and
little further forward. Then if the
under wheel were raised while the upper
one were lowered, both moving in circle
around point midway between the two,
they would gradually throw kink in the
cable that would not in jure or wear it,
but would secure the car to it so that it
could not he dropped.
Last of all came mystery. He had an
idea of which no engineer had thought,
but which would make of the great bridge
a highway worthy of the city it connects.
He would make plain statement of the
idea for $4,000. 1t was suggested that
he should patent his idea, or at least file a
caveat, and thus prevent theft, after
which ne could submit it for consideration,
but he declined to invest enough of
his own money to file the caveat, and
went away sure that the bridge managers
lacked enterprise.