What is Andrew Jackson Beard famous for?
Andrew Jackson Beard invented the first automatic railroad car coupler, which dramatically reduced serious injuries to railroad workers. Beard’s invention was a forerunner of automatic couplers used today.
Where was Andrew Jackson Beard born?
Alabama
Andrew Jackson Beard/Place of birth
Who were Andrew Jackson Beard parents?
Andrew Jackson Beard Beard was born in 1849 to Milton Beard and Creasey Tatum on a small plantation located near Mt. Pinson in Jefferson County.
Was Andrew Jackson’s beard black?
Andrew Jackson Beard was an African-American inventor. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio for his work on railroad coupler design.
What did beard invent in 1889?
rotary steam engine
In 1889, Beard invented a rotary steam engine, patented on July 5,1892. He claimed that his steam engine was cheaper to build and operate than steam engines and it would not explode. While Beard worked on his rotary steam engine, he experimented with perhaps his finest invention, an automatic car coupler idea.
What did the Jenny Coupler do?
The Jenny Coupler automatically joined cars by simply allowing them to bump into each other, or as Beard described it, the “horizontal jaws engage each other to connect the cars.” This Black inventor sold the rights to his design for $50,000.00 and revolutionized the railroad industry.
Where did Andrew Beard live?
Born in 1849, Andrew Beard spent the first fifteen years of his life as a slave on a small farm in Eastlake, Alabama. A year after he was emancipated, he married and became a farmer in Pinson, a city just outside Birmingham, Alabama.
Who married Andrew Jackson’s beard?
Sallie Pentecost
Beard was married to Sallie Pentecost, who was born in June, 1818 and died in 1857. Mr. Beard died in 1866. The two in the Big Creek Cemetery twenty mile south of Richmond.
Who was Andrew J beard?
He was a Black farmer and inventor. Andrew Jackson Beard was born a slave in Jefferson County, Alabama. He was emancipated at the age of 15, and married at 16. Beard was a farmer near Birmingham, Alabama for some five years.
Who invented knuckle couplers?
Eli H. Janney
Knuckle Couplers. The Janney Coupler, the earliest commercially successful version of the Knuckle Coupler, was a semi-automatic coupler patented by Eli H. Janney in 1873 (U.S. Patent 138,405). Prior to the formation of the AAR these were known as MCB Couplers (Master Car Builders Association).
What are knuckle couplers?
The purpose of couplers is to join rail cars and locomotives to each other so they all are securely linked together. Major Eli Janney, a Confederate veteran of the American Civil War, invented the semi-automatic knuckle coupler in 1868.
Where did Andrew Jackson Beard live?
Andrew Jackson Beard, son of William and Martha (Harris) Beard, was born in Missouri on May 29, 1814. He moved to Liverpool, Texas, with his parents in 1831, and shortly thereafter to Big Creek, where he later bought land from his uncle, Abner Harris, an Old Three Hundred colonist.
What did Andrew Beard invent?
Andrew Jackson Beard (born 1849 at Woodland, near Mount Pinson in Jefferson County; died May 10, 1921 at the Jefferson County Alms House) was a farmer and mechanic. and the inventor of the automatic rail-car coupler, a type still used today.
What did Andrew Beard do on the plantation?
Andrew Beard. Beard also lent his name to the four children of a tenant family on the plantation headed by Hattie Horton (Arthur, Luther, William and Mamie). He constructed a small building which served as church and school for families in the community.
Where did Andrew Beard live in Alabama?
Born in Alabama in 1849, Andrew Beard spent the first fifteen years of his life as a slave on a small farm in Alabama. A year after he was emancipated, he got married and became a farmer in Pinson, a city just outside Birmingham. While in Birmingham, he was able to develop and champion his first invention (a plow).
What was the price of beard’s patent?
Beard’s patents were U.S. Patent 594,059, granted on 23 November 1897 and U.S. Patent 624,901 granted 16 May 1899. The former was sold for $50,000 in 1897, equivalent to $1,509,200 in 2018. Beard’s railroad car coupler improvement included two horizontal jaws, which automatically locked together upon joining.