Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-06
TEST DEVICE FOR
HANDLING MAILS
COMMISSION EXPERIMENTING
IN CALIFORNIA
MAY INVESTIGATE INVENTION OF
LOS ANGELES MEN
Postal Service Faces Difficult Prob
lem In Delivering Sacks
from the Fast
Trains

"A COLlIllSSlOn Oh experts lIOlAl tll0
railway mail service began in Califor-
MIA yesterday series of experiments
with devices for handling mail on and
from moving trains which will be
watched closely by government and
railroad men all over the country. The
experiments are conducted under the
direct supervision of the second as
sistant postmaster general and under
take the settlement of a problem prob
ably the most important before the
postal service today. They are in
itiated in California, but will be con-
tinued in other part Of the United
States.
The commission consists of Samuel
M. Gaines of Fort Worth, Tex, SUI
perintendent of the eleventh division of
the railway mail service; Charles Ra-
ger of Cincinnati, o., superintendent of
the fifth division; H. McC. Wade, as
sistant superintendent of the service at
New York city, and H. M. Robinson
and B. l.. Andrews of Washington. The
test they are now watching is the
practical operation of a California in
vention with which the mail route be-
tween San Francisco and Sacramento
has been equipped.
1t is likely that some members Of
the commission will come to Los An
geles before returning east to in
vestigate the merits of a mail deliv-
ering device recently patented by Ray
G.. Thornhill and Charles G. Thomp-
son of this city. Thornhill, who is an
employe of the Standard Oil company,
lives at 221 South Avenue Seventeen.
Thompson is now engaged in railroad
work in Mexico, but claims Los An
geles as his home. They have had
correspondence with the railway mail
.s-1rs y c1,fr r1rrtn Ia1f
lacked the means to equip for a road
test at this time.
Their device at present relates
simply to ejecting mail from moving
car, which is the most serious side of
the problem. Thornhill is perfecting
model for patent to cover the pick
ing up of mail sacks. to be used in
connection with the patent already Sc
cured.
UtIizes Air from Engine
The latter utilizes the air from the
engine without interfering with the
operation of the air brakes in any way.
The device is entirely beneath the
floor of the car and works automatic
ally and just at the best place to eject
mail at any station. 1t consists of
two ccmpartments into which sacks
of mail may be dropped through trap
doors in the car floor. The mail clerk
may drop the sacks in at any time
between stations and when the proper
place is reached a trip is operated by
a device attached to the track. This
| releases the air in such way that
the compartment doors are opened and
| the sacks are instantly pushed out.
They are thrown far enough away from
the track to avoid entirely any dam
ger of falling under the car wheels,
| and as the compartment is much lower
| than the car door, there is much less
IL @f do "a ar
ent system of throwing the sacks out
haphaZard.
Either side of the car or both may
be used as desired, and it is unneces-
sary to turn the car around at the emu
of the trip. An ingenious device pre-
vents tripping the ejector between sra- STA
tions by would-be train robbers. The
delivery boxes have a capacity when
permits a load of 1000 pounds of mail
for a station to be elected While the
mail clerk is arranging the sacks for
some station further ahead.
Government officials have CLASSIFIED
the Los Angeles invention among the
practical devices which they would like
to see tried, and If Thornhil1 and
Thompson had been financially able the
commission would have spent some
time watching the demonstration of
their patent by specially equipped
car They hope to have a thorough test
some IlI1S DSlOlC tuO IA S.eA5NsNAS
closes but it is unlikely that the COM
mission will again visit the Pacific
coast.
important Problem
'The public has no concel ton of the
Importance of these Investigations
relative to the delivery OF mail to and
from moving trains" said Foster l. L.
Moore, chief clerk Of the railway mail
service at Los Angeles, to Herald
reporter yesterday. 1.-THE service has
grown so that quick delivery of the
malls makes this featuro an extremely
important one. The fast, limited trains
are the ones which carry mail with
quickest dispatch, but there are many
towns of considerable size that they do
not stop at. How to give these towns
the benefit of the best service Is one
of the things which the railway mail
service must work out practically.
"Take for instance the limited train
between this city and San Francisco
which is put on for winter service. 1t
stops possibly five times between termi-
nal points, but there are probably
thirty towns which should have the
benefits of it's mall advantages. Equip
ment which will allow this in the best
way is now lacking, and this is true In
all parts of the country.
eff the governme''+ 0'n secure prac-
tical devices for facilitating this phase
of the service it will mean a great
deal. For that reason every encour-
agement the law allows has been ex-
tended to inventors in the hope that
the proper equipment would be de-
vised:"