Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-11
EXCHANGING MAIL POUCHES.
Devices Recently Approved by the
Post Office DEPARTMENT.

Post Office Department.
The perplexing question of safely ex-
changing mails at stations where fast mail
trains do not stop has been solved salts
factorily by the approval recently by the
Post Office Department of two devices,
either of which will accomplish this much
needed improvement. For long time
there has been in use on all railway post
office cars an iron prong attached to the
side of the car door. which, when raised
in 4 horizontal position by the clerk within
the car, would catch a mail pouch from
crane alongside the track, the pouch being
hung on the crane so as to catch in the
crotch of the catcher on the car and there
hold fast, permitting the railway postal
clerk to drag it inside open the pouch, and
make a proper distribution Of the mail
found within the pouch. But system of
catching pouch of mail and at the same
time delivering another pouch has been a
much sought for device. A great many
devices of this character have been submit
ted during the past few years to the Post
Office Department and tested, but very few
have proved at all satisfactory. The old
practice, that of throwing pouch of mail
from moving train as it ran past a. sta
ton, was often attended with very serious
results, and the objct of a combined mail
catcher and deliverer is to prevent such
difficulties. For instance, 1t frequently
happened that the pouch would be drawn
under the wheels of the cars, and both
pouch and mail be ground to pieces. Mail
thus mutiated, in great many cases,
could hardly be gathered together SO as to
be forwarded to it's destination, and there
is no estimate to be placed on a piece of
mail. from a personal standpoint, as the
message it bears may be of the greatest
personal Importance, aside from it's posi-
BILE financial Importance. Another feature
under the old system was the very great
amount of wear on pouches thrown from a
train. Far more serious than these trou-
bles. was the ever present likelihood of
some one being struck by pouch thrown
from a postal car, thereby sustaining In
jury perhaps being killed.
By the adoption of the improved devices,
which catch and deliver at the same time,
these troubles will disappear.
master general. Is urging the railroads to
adopt either one of the two devices that
have been approved by the Post Office De-
partment, and speedily equip their lines
for the good not only of the postal SER
vice. but of the roads themselves.
There are 10,520 railroad stations in the
United States at which mails are taken
onto the trains by means of mail catchers
and cranes while the train is In motion,
and the bag of mail to be delivered Is
thrown from the car to the ground or plat
form. By this method the mail is often
damaged or destroyed, and the safety of
need Of some better system OF exchanging
mails at such points is apparent. In 1895
the Pest ONCE Department advertised for
devices for this purpose.
OF thirty-five models submitted, four
were selected as the most meritorious, and
in 1896 the various railroad companies were
requested to adopt some one of the four.
Subsequently questions arose as to the va
lidity of certain patents involved. and de-
lays occurred. Recently, after additional
tests. the department selected two of the
four devices as being satisfactory, and pre-
scented to the railroad !, companies the
choice Of adopting either Of them.