The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-06-06
Inventor Of the Cowcatcher.

25a Ii you 6n0ulQ ever 60 70 COlumDus, VI,
said q railroad man, and should happen
to drop into the model Uttered little
Office Of the Novelty Iron works there,
you will see sharp eyed old gentleman
who will more than likely be poring over
some works on. mechanics, or aketching
the design for a pattern for some piece Of
ornamental iron work. The cid gentle
man is Z. B. Davies, a native Of Kenne-
bee county, Me-, who was the first loco.
motive engineer in actual service on the
hlst railway built in Ohio, and the inven-
tor of the attachment to the locomotive
tamiliarly known IS the cowcatcher, which,
is in use on every passenger and
freight, engine in the world to day, but,
for which, invaluable as it is to railroad
companies, he never received one penny.
When Davies was 19 years old he was
the engineer on Commodore Vanderbilt's
famous old steamboat, the Cleopatra.
He ran there one season and then drifted
out vest. The little Miami railroad was
then building between Xenia and Spring
field. BE went to work on the road ss
engineer of a construction train, and
when the road was completed, three
wears afterward, he ran the first passen-
ger train. Some years later he entered
the service Of the Columbus and Xenia
railroad. It was while ne was running
locomotive on that road he conceived the
idea of cowcatcher. The locomotives
.of that day had mo cabs, and row OF
iron spikes, four feet long and driven into
the bumper Of the engine foot apart and
q foot above the track, was the locomotive
builders idea Of the proper thing for q
pilot or cowcatcher. and it was cow
catcher, and no mistake, There was no
headlights on the locomotives in those
days, and as the railroads were not
fenced in, and as cattle and live stock
had free run of the country, scarcely a
might passed but some COW or horse or
hog wasimpaled on these spikes, much
to the peril of the train and it's passen.
gers.
The dangerous character of this rude
and cruel pilot was source of constant
thought to Davies, and he studied daily
how he might improve that attachment,
and not only remove it as menancs to
life and property, but make it safety
feature of the locomotive. One day,
while he was running his engine, and
thinking on the subject Of improving the
pilot, he noticed a farmer plowing in a
field near the railroad, ard the manner in
which the mold board of the plow threw
the earth to a furrow on one side at once
gave him the idea that developed the
plan of the modern locomotive COW.
catcher. The action of the mold board
on the soil was just the action that was
necessary to make apilot a useful attach.
ment instead ola dangerous one, but it
was one sided. It did not take Davies
long, however, to sea that by putting to-
gether device that was virtually plow
with two mold boards he could accomplish
the desired result. BE constructed such
device and attached! it to the locomotive
Patterson" of the Columbus and Xenia
railroad, and the very first trip made
with it its success WAS manifested. On the
trip he ran. into drove of cattle that
were crossing the track. The new pilot
cut its way through them as if it we're q
plow turning the soil, and threw them
right and left, clearing the track without
any perceptible effect on the engine. All
the locomotives on the road we're at once
fitted with the cowcatcher, and it was
not long before the idea spread to other
roads, and from that time no locomotive
has ever been built for passenger or
freight service without Davies cowcatch-
er. Davies did not patent his device, and
although it has saved the railroads of this
and other countries millions of dollars and
hundreds of lives, he never received
penny's benefit from it.-New York Mail
and Eapress