The age-herald., 1898-09-29
II HAS MANY ADVANTA
And Mill Probably Be Adopted By the
 A. (. 5.
ANDREW JACKSON BEARD INVENTOR
ry Engines Which Were Well Re- ceived- Car Couplers Willbe Man
 ufaetured by Birmingham Co.

Yesterday afternoon, at the shops of the Alabama Great Southern road at Twenty fourth street, patent car coupler, which Is to be manufactured by a Birmingham com pany, was given it's public test, and It proved in every way to be most satisfac- tory device. It is known the Beard Auto matic Car Coupler.
 The inventor Andrew Jackson Beard, is a negro living at East Lake, and owns half interest in the company which is to manu- faeture the couplers, and the other half is owned by number of gentlemen in this city. Superintendent c. A. Wiekersham of the Alabama Great Southern railroad is president of the company, R. D. Pritchett is secretary and treasurer, and l.. w. Four nier is the general manager The company will in all probability have their couplers manufactured at Ensley at the plant of the Alabama Steel and Shipbuilding company, and will be one of the first of the smaller industries which will be established in this district after the completion of the big steel mill.
 The trial yesterday afternoon was com- plete success. The coupler not only worked to perfection on the straight tracks but on sharp curves it worked equally as well. The great fault of nearly every other coup Ter on the market is that it works very un- satisfactorily on curves. Another splendid point for the Beard coupler is that if it breaks, the front part of it can be re- moved and new jaws put in. This is not the case with all of the other couplers for when one of them gets broken the car has to be sent to the shops and an entirely new one put ina very difficult operation. Beard. the inventor, and other members of the company who will manufacture the coupler were on hand yesterday and explained in full to the visitors who had been invited to be present the advantages the Beard had over the Janney coupler. This latter is the most popular, and is considered the best coupler in the United States.
 A. G. <. May AdoptIt
 The couplers which were used yesterday afternoon were made in St. Louiss They have been exhibited in that city, in Cincin- nati, Pittsburg and other cities, nd every where it has been seen it has been an ac- knowledged success. The men interested in it say that it is very probable that the Ala bama Great Southern road will adopt 1t on all of it's cars as soon as it has been fully tested. The beauty of the invention is that it works as well with a coupler of another make as it does with another Beard coup Ter.
 Andrew Jackson Beard the inventor, is a genius, and is an honor to the colored race. This coupler he has just invented is not his only claim as an inventive genius, for, be- sides this, he has invented and patented two blows and a rotary engine that have netted him a small-sized fortune.
 He was born in Jefferson county, two miles above Mount Pinson in 1S4S and was a slave, belonging to Mrs. Jane Beard. He was reared on a farm received no educa- ton of any kind, and the only mechanical training he received, was obtained in the little blacksmith shop on the farm. He made the first pistol he ever shot out of old iron lying around the shop. The first time he ever saw a steam engine was during the war down near Montevallo.
 First sight of u steam Engine
 "When I saw the engine" to describe his sensations in his own words, "l thought that the escaping steam hit on the ground and pushed the engine along"
 He lived on the old farm near Mount Pin son until five years after the close of the war and then moved to St. Clair county, where he lived until 1883 In 1881 he in- vented a blow known as "Beards Double Flow" which he sold outright to com pany for $4000. In 1886, after he had moved back to Jefferson county, he invented and had patented another blow which he sold outright for $57OO.
 Tn 1888 he began work on his rotary en- zine, which he considers the biggest work he ever did The principal of the rotary engine is that instead of having piston, the steam runs round and round in the steam chest, and thus power is generated without the vibrations which, a piston rod produces This was completed and pat ented about 1891, and he sold third inter- est in his invention for $50,0OO. Legal com- plications of some kind arose. however, and the matter got into the courts. The com pany which had purchased the third inter- est had failed in the meantime and Beard came out only $1000 ahead. He still owns the patent on his engine, though he has never been able to get the capital to take advantage of it. He has made several of these engines on a small plan and they are now in use in some of the foundries around Birmingham.
 By means of all these patents, Beard amassed what, for 8 negro, was a big for tune. He invested in real estate around Birmingham in boom days, and soon &C., quired the splendid fortune of about $50, 900. But by unwise deals he got his money tied up in some real estate, and when the crash came after the boom he found himself with lot of land, but no money. He now owns his farm out near East Lake, which he op- crates very successfully.
 Idea of a Coupler
 While making his crop in the summer of 1897, he happened to think of the automatic coupler. He made some drawings of his idea immediately, and in his leisure hours afterward he whittled out his model for