The Iola register., 1902-07-25
ANOTHER lola INDUSTRY
Work TO Commence at Once on Plant
for Manufacture of Edgar
Car Seal

The REGISTER has already noted
and described the car lock and seal,
invented and patented by Mr.. II. A..
Edgar, Santa Fe agent, and his
brothers, in collaboration with Mr..
Tobey, of the ice plant. Since perfect
ing their invention these gentlemen
have associated with them Mr.. j. M.
VanNest, Mr.. Edgars father-in-law,
and he has given much of his time for
some weeks to presenting the lock and
seal to railroad managers. In every
instance those TO whom the invention
has been shown have declared it to be
greatly superior to any of the devices
now in use, and have given Mr.. Van
Nest assurance that they will recon-
mend its adoption by theirroad as soon
as it Is on the market. On account of
the encouragement thus received the
owners of the patent have organized
"a corporation, know as The Edgar
Car Lock and Seal Company, with a
capital stock of thirty thousand dol
lars, and will take steps at once to
provide for the manufacture of the
locks and seals. A large proportion
of the stock company has been taken
by lola business men, and as result
of this the plant for the manufacture
of the seals will be built here and all
the business of the company will be
transacted from lola. An acre of
ground has been bought from the
Northrups, just across the track from
the Santa Fe depot, and contracts for
the necessary building will be let as
soon as plans can be prepared.
AS readers of the REGISTER will
remember, the lock is made of iron,
while the seal is made of clay. For
the present at least there will be no
attempt to make the locks. in lola, as
they can be secured, sooner by placing
an order with the foundry which
already has the pattern.
Until a few days ago, as just stated,
it was intended to have the.seals made
of clay. Within a week, however,
prove that they can be made from
lola Portland cement This discov-
cry will save the company the cost OF
erecting expensive kilns, besides sup
plying them with the seals cheaper
than they could be made of clay, even
after the kiln had been erected.
Nearly all the railroads in the
United States are now equipped with
the common little lead seal. This is
very unsatisfactory for the reason
that it can be broken, the car opened,
and the seal replaced in such a way
that only careful examination will
show the break. On this account the
railroads lose thousands of dollars OF
worth of goods every year, and the
thieves are rarely caught, In the
Edgar lock, the car can only be
opened by breaking the seal and when
it is once broken it cannot be put to-
,gether again. The most casual glance
is enough to show that it has been
broken, and as the cars ara inspected
at every division point the locality OF
any theft would be we'll limited, thu:
making the apprehension of the THE
much easier.
The promoters of this enterprise be
lieve it is only a question of time
until the Edgar car lock and seal vii
be in use on every railroad in thu
United States. The realization o
that belief means a mighty comfort
able fortune to those who are Sin or
the ground floor" and an enterpris,
which incidentally will be grea
thing for lola. And the REGIsTEE
joins with all their friends in the hops
that the enterprise will be big ''go.'