Hand Car. (open access)

Hand Car.

Patent for a new and improved handcar. This design "is to provide for hand-cars a motive power which will produce a high rate of speed and which will enable a hand-car to be propelled in either direction without necessitating turning the car end for end" (lines 9-14). It consists of "an opening in its platform disposed over one of the axles, a rectangular casing arranged over the opening, a drive-shaft journaled in the sides of the casing, a train of gears consisting of cog-wheels and pinions connecting the drive-shaft and the axle, and the crank-handles arranged at the ends of the drive-shaft" (lines 64-71).
Date: May 17, 1892
Creator: Parker, Joseph R.
System: The Portal to Texas History