b in Division I of the exhibit of the Post-Office Department, and they are so inscribed in this catalogue.

At the close of the last fiscal year this fast-mail service was withdrawn by the railroad companies operating the lines upon which it had been established. The reason assigned for this action was that they were not receiving, under the laws regulating their compensation, an equivalent for the service performed.

NOTE. December 18, 1876. Since the preparation of the above article, this "service" has been resumed upon the lines of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, connecting New York with Chicago, Saint Louis, and Cincinnati by way of Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh, the company, by special arrangement with the Post-Office Department, having agreed to continue the service at the former rate of compensation, pending the action of Congress thereon.

VIII.-THE RAILWAY MAIL BAG CATCHER.

This desideratum in the railway mail service of the United States was invented, in the year 1865, by Mr. L. F. Ward, of Elyria, Ohio, was adopted by the Post-Office Department in 1866, and was patented by the inventor in 1867. Previous to the introduction of the "catcher" there had been no contrivance in use in this country by which mails could safely and certainly be received upon railway trains passing flag stations at ordinary rates of speed, and the frequent failure of express trains to stop at these stations was, in nearly all cases, the cause of the failure of mails to leave their point of departure on time, except in occasional instances where they could be thrown into the doors of passing cars, or caught in the unprotected arms of route agents.

In the autumn of 1865 Mr. Ward accompanied Mr. G. B. Hamilton, a route agent upon the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad, upon a trip for the purpose of devising, if possible, some mechanical method by which mail bags could be taken up, with safety and certainty, by trains in motion. The requisite qualities that such a contrivance should possess were these: It must be simple, strong, durable, and compact; it must not be liable to get out of order, must not interfere with the opening or closing of car doors, nor with the egress or ingress; must thereat not occupy space needed for other purposes; must not be in danger of collision with objects outside the car; must be light and easily operated, and must take up mails of any required weight at any rate of speed. A fork, between the arms or prongs of which a mail bag could be firmly driven by the momentum of the train, one prong to lie parallel with the side of the car and the other to form an inclined plane at an acute angle therewith, suggested itself as a solution of the problem. All subsequent experiments have tended to confirm this solution. Mr. Ward returned home and at once caused a catcher to be constructed upon this principle, and to be placed upon one of the cars of the above

named railroad. From the beginning it was a complete success, and, although subsequently improved in some of its minor details, there has been no material deviation, up to the present time, from the primitive model.

During the first year after its invention it was only used upon the cars of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad, and was there inspected by expert agents, sent from the Post-Office Department for the purpose, among whom was Mr. George B. Armstrong, the first Superintendent of Railway Mail Service. These agents reported favorably, and, on the 8th of December, 1866, by an order of the PostmasterGeneral, it was officially adopted by the Post-Office Department.

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company was the first to build cranes for holding mail bags in a position for catching, and by that company the catcher service was practically inaugurated. The New York and Erie Railroad Company, upon whose road railway post-offices had been built, but had not commenced running for want of some means of picking up mail bags by moving trains, was the next to bring this invention into use. From this time forward the putting up of cranes and catchers progressed rapidly, and, at the present date, nearly every important line of railway in the United States and Canada is supplied with them. By means of their use the mail service is thoroughly performed upon the fastest trains, mail bags being taken up by them, while passing flag stations, at the highest rates of speed, with as much certainty as at cities where full stops are made.

To meet the requirements of the service upon the "fast mail" of the New York Central and Michigan Southern, and upon the "limited mail" of the Pennsylvania roads, Mr. Ward devised an improved and stronger catcher, but in it there has been no deviation from the principle and very little from the form first adopted.

Catchers, with the necessary attachments, are, at the present time, manufactured by contract, and are supplied by the Post-Office Department. Cranes, upon which to suspend mail pouches in a position to be taken up by the catcher, are built and kept in repairs by the railroad companies using them, in conformity with plans and specifications furnished by the Department.

The figures here given in Plates A and B illustrate fully the method of constructing and operating the catcher.

PLATE A.-The mail catcher.

FIG. 1 represents the first form of the catcher. This is now in use upon railroads where the mails to be taken up are light and the rate of speed of trains low.

FIG. 2 represents the improved catcher used on roads where the mails are heavy and the rate of speed high.

A A iron socket or stem by which the prongs or arms B B and C C are held firmly in place.

B B exterior arm, fixed in the socket at an angle, V, of 220 with the interior arm C C. This arm is shown at rest, dropped against the side of the car. When in use it is raised to a horizontal position on the same plane with C C, the angle V operating forward at 22° off the line of motion.

C C, interior arm, a shaft turning freely in the boxes E E E E.

D D, wooden handle, by means of which the interior arm C C is turned in the journal boxes, and the exterior arm B B is raised to a horizontal plane with C C.

E E E E, journal boxes, in which turn the shaft or interior arm C C. F F, rubber ring on arm C C, against which slides the socket A A, so fixed to counteract the shock of receiving the pouch in the angle V V. G G G G, door posts of mail car.

O O, doorway.

PLATE B.-The mail crane.

FIG. 1 represents the crane complete and in position for use.
FIG. 2 represents the details of different portions of the crane.

A, the base, a raised platform surmounted by steps upon which the operator stands while fixing the mail pouch in place. The base is usually a cubical box, of about 23 feet dimensions, filled with broken stone for holding it in position.

B, the stem, a perpendicular post which supports the arms of the crane. It is firmly bolted to the platform A.

C, the superior arm. At the extremity of this arm, upon the end of the spring K, the mail pouch is suspended. The arm is supported near its center by, and partially revolves upon, a pin passed through the lug H. The free end of this arm is heavier than that upon which the mail pouch is suspended, so as to insure its dropping readily to a perpendicular position when relieved of the weight of the pouch, as shown by the dotted outline.

D, the inferior arm. At the outer extremity of this arm, by the spring K, the lower end of the mail pouch is held firmly in place. When released from the pouch this arm drops to a perpendicular position, as shown by the dotted outline. The details of this arm is shown in Fig. 2. E, the check block, bolted to the top of the inferior arm to prevent the latter from being lifted above a horizontal position.

F, the loop, a band of strap iron sliding freely on the stem B, and forming the lugs and hinge to which the arm D is attached. By means of this loop the elevation of the inferior arm is regulated. (Also see Fig. 2.)

G, the stop fastened to the side of the stem to prevent the inferior arm, when not in use, from falling to the platform.

H, lugs of cast iron, bolted to the top of the stem B, for holding the superior arm in place.