Talk:Andrew Jackson Beard

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[edit] Actual impact?

I do not know enough about coupler engineering to make the updates, but this article appears to have some information that cannot be correct.

  1. This article calls Beard's design a "Jenny Coupler" but that seems awfully close to Janney Coupler (the first working design).
  2. This article claims that Beard's version of the coupler was revolutionary, but the Coupling (railway) article mentions that their were already many designs by 1893, when the Railroad Safety Appliance Act mandated the use of automatic couplers. (Four years before Beard's design.)

The above raises the key question:

How is Beard's design significant?

  • Was it the only design by a black inventor?
  • Was it the design most used as the 1893 law went into effect in 1900?
  • Is it the basis for the currently used U.S. design?
  • Was this design better than the ones actually most used? (Suggesting that prejudice against a black inventor compromised safety.)

—MJBurrage(T•C) 17:02, 30 April 2008 (UTC)