Ross Winans Letterbook
name: label: Author
content: Winans, Ross, 1796-1877 (railroad equipment supplier)
label: Collector
content: National Museum of American History (U.S.).  Division of Transportation
place: label: Place
content: Maryland
topic: label: Topic
content: Railroad equipment industry
label: Topic
content: Railroads
creator: label: Author
content: Winans, Ross, 1796-1877 (railroad equipment supplier)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Ross Winans Letterbook
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Winans was an inventor, mechanic, and builder of locomotives and railroad machinery, including wheels, axels, bearings trucks and carriages. In 1828 he developed a friction wheel with outside bearings which established a "distinctive pattern for railroad wheels for the next one hundred years or so. In the late 1820s also he became associated with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, eventually entering their service as an engineer. He retired from the locomotive business in 1860. When Winans died he left an estate worth over twenty million dollars.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 0.15 Cubic feet (1 volume)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1850-1851.
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: Collection transferred to the Archives Center from the Division of Transportation (now Division of Work and Industry), 1979.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0155
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Letter books
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by NMAH Staff, undated
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Letter books
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Letterbook contains copies of 417 business letters, arranged chronologically, relating to the manufacture and sale of railroad equipment including locomotive engines, tenders, and car wheels. These letters were replicated in a process similar to carbon copies in an almost perfectly uniform handwriting.