Andrew J. Beard

Andrew Jackson Beard invented improvements to the automatic railroad car coupler, a device that dramatically reduced serious injuries to railroad workers. Beard's invention was a forerunner of automatic couplers used today.

Born in Jefferson County, Alabama, in 1849, Beard spent his childhood enslaved on a plantation in East Lake, Alabama. Emancipated at 15, he initially remained on the plantation as a farmer and sharecropper. A year later, he married Edia Beard, left the plantation and purchased an 80-acre farm near Center Point, Alabama.

After relocating to St. Claire County, Alabama, with his family, Beard built and operated his own flour mill just outside Birmingham. Despite having received no formal education, Beard was self-taught with a sharp mind and a drive to invent.

Following many years of successfully running his flour mill, Beard’s love for engineering and familiarity with farming led him to invent several types of plows. In 1881, he earned his first patent on a double plow design that allowed users to adjust the distance between plow plates. He sold his patent rights in 1884 for $4,000 – the equivalent of about $130,000 in today’s market.

In 1887, Beard patented a second double plow design that allowed the pitch of the blades to be adjusted. He later sold the patent rights for $5,200 ($170,000 today), and he invested the money he’d collected from each of his patents into a profitable real estate business.

In addition to his plow inventions, by 1892, Beard also had earned two patents for rotary steam engines. At this time, the U.S. was seeking power sources that could provide safer, less costly alternatives to electricity. Beard claimed that his rotary steam engines were both safer and more affordable than others on the market, though it is unknown if his designs were profitable to him.

As Beard became a reputable inventor and mechanic, he received employment offers from many companies. He worked as a carpenter and a blacksmith before accepting a position with the Alabama & Chattanooga Railroad.

In the railroad industry, which was booming at this time, one particularly dangerous job involved manually coupling railroad cars. Workers needed to squeeze in between two cars at just the right moment and securely connect them with a large pin. Many workers lost arms or legs, and some were even crushed in between cars when this precarious procedure was mistimed.

In 1897, Beard made a major impact on the railroad industry when he patented his most important invention – an improvement on the automatic railroad car coupler. His device came to be called the “Jenny Coupler,” and it was one of many inventions that aimed to improve the knuckle coupler invented by Eli Janney in 1873.

Beard received three patents for his lifesaving car-coupling technology, and he sold the patent rights to the railroad industry. Beard used the funds he received to purchase real estate and start a taxi line in Jefferson Country, Alabama. His legacy of safety extended across the country when, in 1897, Congress passed the Federal Safety Appliance Act, which outlawed the operation of any rail cars without automatic couplers.