Fairbanks Morse Track Inspection MotorCar Postcard

From www.railphotoexpress.biz Fairbanks Morse Number 16 Track Inspection Motor Car 1907 Postcard Track Inspections That Count, No failures and no Delay of Trains Fairbanks Morse and Company began in 1823 when inventor Thaddeus Fairbanks opened an ironworks in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, to manufacture two of his patented inventions: a cast iron plow and a heating stove. In 1829 he started a rope dressing business for which he built the machinery. Though unsuccessful in fabricating for fibre factories, another invention by Thaddeus, the platform scale, formed the basis for a great enterprise. That device was patented in June 1832, and a generation later, the E. & T. Fairbanks & Company was selling thousands of scales, first in the United States, later in Europe, South America and even Imperial China. Scales were integral to business as marine and railway shippers charged by weight. Fairbanks scales won 63 medals over the years in international competition. It became the leading manufacturer in the US, and the best-known company the world over until Henry Ford and the Ford Corporation assumed this title in the 1920s Originally a weighing scale manufacturer, it later diversified into pumps, engines, windmills, locomotives and industrial supplies until it was merged in 1958. It used the trade name Fairbanks-Morse. There are three separate corporate entities that could be considered successors to the company, none of which represent a complete and direct descendant of the original company. All claim the heritage of the Fairbanks Morse and Company. Fairbanks Scales is a privately owned company in Kansas City, Missouri, that manufactures the scales. Fairbanks Morse Engine (FME), a subsidiary of EnPro Industries, is a company based in Beloit, Wisconsin, that manufactures and services engines. Fairbanks Morse Pumps is a part of Pentair Water in Kansas City, Kansas, and manufactures pumps.