Thomas Seavey Hall | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | December 1, 1880 | (aged 53)
Known for | inventor of railroad signals |
Thomas Seavey Hall (April 1, 1827 – December 1, 1880) was an American textile businessman. He invented accident prevention signal devices for the American railroad and transportation systems. His most popular "Banjo signal" was used on many of the New England railroad systems for decades and increased the efficiency of speed and safety. Hall patented many of his signal devices and other railroads later developed signals based on his systems. Hall was inducted into National Inventors Hall of Fame for his improvements in electrical signals for the American railroad system.
Early life
Hall was born Thomas Shepard in Bartlett, New Hampshire, April 1, 1827.[1] He was the son of Reverend Elias Hall and Hannah (Seavey) Hall. His family called him Shepard.[2] He had eight siblings and they were in order that reached maturity Alvah, Joseph, Dudley, Charles, Timothy, David, John, and Mary. His ancestor from England was John Hall who was born in 1617. He immigrated to America around 1645 and temporarily lived in the neighborhood of Charlestown in Boston and later moved to Dover, New Hampshire.[3]
Hall went to Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, after attending public schools in Bartlett.[4] He left home with his brother Timothy soon after that and went 75 miles away to work briefly for a Heman Meigs of Claremont, New Hampshire. Later he went to East Burke, Vermont which was about 100 miles away from his home town to work for his older brother Dudley. He later went to New York City where he worked for his brother Alvah in the Bird & Hall Store writing down the orders that the salesmen took. His penmanship was poor and much of his writing had to be ciphered by his brothers to figure out what he wrote.[5]
Mid life
Hall became a prominent woolen manufacturer in New England with headquarters at Stamford, Connecticut.[4] He was a successful businessman and retired from the textile industry in 1866.[1] Shortly after retiring he went on a railroad trip and the train he was traveling on got into a wreck because of a misplaced switch. Fortunately he was not hurt. The event inspired him to find a method for warning trains of other trains on the same track and getting a warning in time to do something to prevent a wreck. He analyzed the problem in depth and concluded that a practical solution would be some sort of electrical signal. This caused him to develop out automatic electric signaling devices. He first invented in 1867 an alarm bell to warn those at a distance and received patent No. 62,414 on February 26, 1867.[6]
Hall expanded upon his idea and devised a system to prevent mishaps at open drawbridges and highway crossings and founded Hall Drawbridge & Signal Company of Stamford.[4] The system he had at first involved mechanical moving parts to show the signal. Severe weather of sleet, snow and ice made these devices unreliable. He then developed an improved electromagnetic disc signal device that was enclosed against weather with a wood and metal frame.[7] It became known as the "banjo" signal because of the inverted shape similarity to the music instrument. The mechanism was a cloth-covered disc that showed two aspects - one of a warning of danger ahead and the other as all clear. Hall's disc Banjo signals were used on a variety of applications including interlocking signals, highway grade-crossing protection, and as side rail directors for the train ahead as there was another train approaching. The application as an automatic block signal railroad device was its most significant role and provided efficiency in speed with safety of moving trains. They were usually arranged in pairs using the home and distant plans of Stop/Danger or Proceed/Clear displays.[8] His signal devices saved many lives by preventing accidents.[9][10]
Hall received several patents on his most important invention. The device showed a signal of a train ahead on the same track for the oncoming train through levers tripped and an electrical signal activated the disc device to show a warning. The warning signal for two trains on the same section of track, also known as a block of track, was devised to operate day or night. His railroad signaling device was adopted for drawbridges and controlled a circuit controller operated by the movable draw and provided protection for traffic in both directions. A highway-railroad crossing device was perfected and installed at Stamford starting in 1868. The Eastern Railroad of Massachusetts installed Hall's automatic block-signaling system on sixteen miles of their line by 1871.[11] The New York and Harlem Railroad also had installed his signaling system by 1871.[12] In 1879 Michigan Central Railroad had Hall install several of his block electric signals east and west of it main station at Jackson, Michigan.[12]
Judge Nathaniel Shipman of the United States circuit court in rendering a decision of rival claimants to the credit for the system declared that Hall was "the father of the American plan of automatic electric signaling apparatus for railroads".[13] Hall's customers for his signaling system were many of the New England and Midwestern railroads and were used for four decades.[14][15] Some of the early railroads were Boston & Lowell, Eastern Railroad, Boston & Albany, and the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. Other later railroad customers of his were the Boston & Albany, Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, Lehigh Valley, Illinois Central, Chicago & North Western, and the Oregon Short Line Railroad. Hall had a few competitors to his Banjo-style disc signal and one of those was the Union Banner Signal sold by Westinghouse's Union Switch & Signal company.[15] He had requested that the railroad commissioners set in place laws that those who vandalized his systems that were in place and operating should be punished.[16]
Personal life
Hall was six feet four inches tall as an adult. He was slim with black curly hair and considered attractive. Hall married first Mary Page of Lancaster, who died in childbirth. His second wife, Isabelle McCray also died in childbirth, following the birth of her second child. Hall's third wife was Sarah Katherine Phillips. She was well educated and had the advantages of the best training of the times because her father was a medical doctor. Among Kate's friends were Daniel Webster and Washington Irving. Hall and Katherine had a family of two sons and two daughters – Melville, William, Mary, Frances.[17]
Later life, death, and legacy
Hall suffered from malaria for many years in his later life. He died at the age of fifty-two of tuberculosis on December 1, 1880.[18] His third wife Kate and a son survived him when he died in Meriden, Connecticut.[4] Hall was inducted into National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2007 for his improvements in electrical signals for the American railroad system.[19] His son William Phillips Hall continued the safety technology with additional related inventions and became one of the first railroad signal engineers in the United States. He was the president of the Hall Signal Company headquartered in New York City, a branch of the company Hall started in 1869.[20]
References
- ^ a b Sypolt 2000, p. 1.
- ^ Gibavic 1993, p. 35.
- ^ Gibavic 1993, p. 3.
- ^ a b c d Malone 1932, p. 145.
- ^ Gibavic 1993, p. 33.
- ^ Scientific 1867, p. 174.
- ^ Solomon 2015, p. 53.
- ^ Solomon 2015, p. 54.
- ^ Solomon 2003, p. 36.
- ^ Stine 1936, p. 10.
- ^ Bianculli 2001, pp. 128, 147.
- ^ a b DFP11_4 1879, p. 7.
- ^ McGraw-Hill 1890, p. 237.
- ^ Solomon 2003, p. 39.
- ^ a b Solomon 2015, p. 55.
- ^ BP11_19 1879, p. 3.
- ^ Gibavic 1993, p. 74.
- ^ Gibavic 1993, p. 34.
- ^ NIHOF 2022, p. 1.
- ^ HC8_16 1937, p. 7.
Sources
- BP11_19 (November 19, 1879). "Railroad Signals". Boston Post. Boston, Massachusetts. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com .
- DFP11_4 (November 4, 1879). "The Railroads". Detroit Free Press. Detroit, Michigan. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com .
- HC8_16 (August 16, 1937). "W. P. Hall, Noted Signal Maker, Dies Founder of Firm Making Railroad Mechanisms". Hartford Courant. Hartford, Connecticut. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com .
- Bianculli, Anthony J. (2001). Trains and Technology. University of Delaware Press. ISBN 9780874138030.
- Gibavic, Annette Nelson (1993). The family of Elias and Hannah Seavey Hall. Hillside Heritage Printings. p. 33. OCLC 31613927.
the father of the American system of electrical railroad signaling apparatus.
- Malone, Dumas (1932). Dictionary of American Biography, volume VIII. Charles Scribner's sons. OCLC 490012620.
- McGraw-Hill, staff (1890). "Automatic Block-Signaling". Engineering News-record. McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. 24 (1): 237.
- Scientific, American (1867). "New Patents - Signaling". Scientific American. Nature America, Inc. 16 (11): 174. JSTOR 26026410.
- Solomon, Brian (2003). Railroad Signaling. Voyageur Press. ISBN 9781616738976.
- Solomon, Brian (2015). Classic Railroad Signals. Voyageur Press. ISBN 9780760346921.
- Sypolt, Larry N. (2000). Thomas Seavey Hall (1827-1880), inventor and manufacturer. American National Biography. Oxford University Press. OCLC 4825706834. Retrieved April 25, 2022.
- NIHOF (2022). "Thomas Seavey Hall / Improvements in Electrical Signals". Hall of Fame. National Inventors Hall of Fame. Retrieved April 26, 2022.