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MAIL BY RAIL
In the 1870s, U.S. mail from Hockessin traveled by the Wilmington & Western Rail Road to Wilmington, Delaware, as Wilmington’s Post Office was the central distribution sorting and distribution location for the city and surrounding Delaware area. How would a letter, addressed to a resident of Kaolin, Pennsylvania, which is two miles from Hockessin, have traveled once it left Wilmington? For extra credit, what railroads would have been involved?
Answer
The following article is from the January 30, 1873 Every Evening and describes the route taken by a letter mailed in Hockessin and addressed to a family in Kaolin, PA. A two-mile “as the crow flies” distance involved a 95-mile journey via the U.S. Post Office. After being placed in a canvas bag with other Hockessin mail, the bag heads eastbound on a Wilmington & Western Rail Road coach to the U.S. Post Office complex inside Wilmington’s Customs House (built 1855) at 6th and King streets in Wilmington. To reach Philadelphia from Wilmington, the letter would have traveled on the Philadelphia, Wilmington, & Baltimore Railroad.
While not mentioned in the article, the West Chester & Philadelphia Rail Road would have moved the letter between Philadelphia and West Chester. At West Chester’s Post Office (established January 1, 1804), a change to the Philadelphia & Baltimore Central Rail Road would have routed the letter through Chadds Ford (Post Office was not established until April 1, 1904), Fairville (Post Office established March 20, 1849), Kennett Square (Post Office established July 1, 1803), Toughkenamon (Post Office established December 8, 1868), on its way to the Avondale Post Office (established December 29, 1828). The Kaolin Post Office (established on December 8, 1868) was serviced from the Avondale Post Office.
While the article cites an easterly route, at the time Landenberg had a Post Office (established November 17, 1848 as Chandlerville Post Office, later changing to Landenberg when the area adopted a new name by 1872.). Mail from the Landenberg Post Office in the 1870s would have traveled either east to Wilmington and on to Philadelphia for the northern states or south to Newark, Delaware, and on to Baltimore for delivery in the southern USA.
Interestingly the letter could have traveled from Hockessin to Landenberg on the Wilmington & Western Railroad. At Landenberg, the Pennsylvania & Delaware Rail Road would have been the mail carrier connecting Landenberg and Avondale. This route would have been approximately 30 miles in length.
Below is a section from a map dated 1871, “Map of the Rail Roads of Pennsylvania and Parts of Adjoining States,” showing the railroads that existed in northern Delaware and southeastern Pennsylvania. It provides a good reference for the railroad routes available at the time of the 1873 newspaper article. A couple interesting observations begin with “the wedge” shown for the intersection of the DE-MD-PA borders. An original proposed route for the Delaware & Chester County Rail Road Company, which was eventually renamed the Wilmington & Western Rail Road Company, was along Mill Creek instead of Red Clay Creek, and this map indicates the Mill Creek route.
WHEELIN’ & DEALIN’ CARS
Since the early beginnings of the Marshall Steam Team and eventually Friends of Auburn Heights, Tom Marshall told us of his father’s interest in automobiles. We know that Clarence was the authorized factory representative and dealer for the State of Delaware and Chester County, PA from 1910 until 1920 for the Stanley Motor Carriage Company. Francis I. du Pont, a chemist and older brother of E. Paul du Pont who built the DuPont automobile, took over the Delaware Stanley dealership from Clarence in 1920. Francis was more interested in acquiring Stanleys for experimentation than in selling cars, according to Tom. Clarence would later be associated with Frank W. Diver in operating the Packard Motor Company of Wilmington from 1922 until 1940.
Tom observed in a November 2015 writing that it appeared to him that his father had lost interest in automotive dealerships towards the end of Clarence’s Stanley dealership period at Auburn Heights. Was T. Clarence Marshall involved in any other automotive dealership interests during or after this time period and before he became involved with Frank Diver?
Answer
It is interesting to note in Tom’s November 2015 writings that he observed the largest activity selling Stanley steam cars and maintaining them at Auburn Heights was pre-1914. Research has uncovered that Clarence was financially, and no doubt operationally, involved in two automotive dealerships before partnering with Frank Diver, whom Clarence probably met in the late 1910s. We don’t recall Tom mentioning the names or history of these two dealerships in his writings, perhaps because they came and went before he was born.
Clarence’s oldest brother J. Warren ran National Fibre & Insulation Company, later to become National Vulcanized Fibre, in the early 1900s. Clarence sold Stanley cars and was responsible for the operation of Marshall Brothers Company. Their sister, Anna H., married Norman Bernard Mancill in 1912. Norman worked for American Roads Machinery Company in Kennett Square. Anna and Norman began living at Auburn Heights around 1917. Tom casually mentions Norman Mancill’s automotive interest in his writings as an ‘involvement’ but research has uncovered that it probably more than an involvement. Norman was heavily involved in the daily operation of two automotive dealerships partnering with his father-in-law, T. Clarence Marshall.
The Marshall-Mancill Auto Company began operation on Wilmington’s Shipley Street in early 1913. It would appear from various Marshall-Mancill Auto Company ads in local papers that Clarence and Norman sold late model used cars. Clarence’s existing Stanley dealership operation was no doubt the new car aspect for Marshall-Mancill. Manufacturers such as Overland, Hupmobile, Mitchell, Regal, Maxwell, Ford, and, of course, new and probably used Stanley steamers were offered. This might explain Tom Marshall’s observation that his father seemed to lose interest in the Auburn Heights Stanley business after 1914. Marshall-Mancill Auto also tried their hand at renting vehicles by the hour, day, or trip as the advertisement below indicates!
According to trade publications including Horseless Age, Motor Age, The Automobile, and others, Marshall-Mancill reorganized and incorporated as the Diamond State Automotive Company with a capital value of $25,000 in 1914. T. Clarence Marshall served as President, Norman B. Mancill Vice-President and J. F. Chapple as Treasurer. Mancill independently formed Delaware Tire & Supply Company at 218 Delaware Avenue to sell tires (Miller and Firestone) and automobile supplies (such as Stewart-Klaxon horns). The incorporators were Norman B. Mancill of Yorklyn, along with J. H. Bishop and P. L. Garret, both of Wilmington.
It appears from newspaper accounts that the name change coincided with the firm becoming a Paige-Detroit Motor Company dealer (Page-Detroit built Paige and Jewett brands; they became Graham-Paige in 1927). In 1916 Diamond State Automotive became a Regal Motor Car Company and a Mercer Automobile Company dealer for one year.
With the relocating of the Mancill family from Auburn Heights in 1917 to Wilmington, we see Diamond State Automotive advertising tapering off after 1918. About the same time, we note an increased presence of Packard Motor Car advertising in Wilmington newspapers. Norman Mancill left active dealership involvement and established a heavy earth-moving equipment contracting business. Norman and Anna Mancill later moved from Wilmington to a property that they named Linger Longer, located on Kennett Pike between Mendenhall and Hamorton, PA.
The late 1910s is more than likely the time frame when Clarence became increasingly interested in Packard automobiles. In July 1915, Packard opened the Packard Motor Car of Wilmington branch office, a satellite office of the main Philadelphia dealership, under the direction of J. H. Rosen. As space was available in the Diamond State Automobile’s building, Packard of Wilmington leased the space from Diamond State Automobile. The arrangement appears to have continued until E. F. Merrick was appointed Wilmington branch manager in June 1917 and relocated the Packard dealership to new quarters. After several more management changes and relocations, Frank W. Diver picked up the Packard dealership.
Diver had entered the automobile business in 1915 as a salesman with Sweeten-Wilmington Company, a Franklin Car Company dealer. Diver eventually became a salesman for Packard Motor Car of Wilmington, working through the Philadelphia office. With backing from T. Clarence Marshall, Diver formed Packard Motor Company of Wilmington in late 1922. Diver would go on to have a dealership on Pennsylvania Avenue between Union Street and Grant Avenue in the 1930s, selling Nash cars along with Packards. Clarence’s business association with Diver lasted until 1940.
COG PLANTHOPPER
The small planthopper pictured below is found throughout Europe, Russia, China, and Northern Africa. First described in 1839, it is a winged insect with more than 1,000 relatives. The nymphs are unique to their parents in a manner not found elsewhere on planet Earth. What is that unique genetic feature or attribute for this quarter-inch-long insect? Hint: The unique genetic mechanical feature is the only known example found in nature but may be found in every mode of transportation used by humans.
Answer
Some will argue that man has often invented things having closely observed nature. For example, it might be argued that observing nearly round rocks rolling down a hill provided the idea for the wheel. The Wright brothers are said to have observed how birds twist their wings and tail feathers to control their flight when developing controls for their aeroplane.
While the human concept mechanical gearing is more than 2,300 years old, Issus Coleoptratus nymphs (pictured in the question) have incorporated biological mechanical gearing in their hind legs for perhaps millions of years. It is the only known example of biological gearing. Gearing is defined as evenly-sized teeth or cogs cut into a matching pair of straight or curved, interlocking, moving, surfaces in such a manner as to synchronize their motion as they operate.
Investigated by biologists Malcolm Burrows and Gregory Sutton from the University of Cambridge in the U.K. in 2013, the gears force the nymph’s legs to each exert equal force when the nymph hops among undergrowth leaves and branches at speeds as high as 8.7 miles per hour. The gearing action ensures the insect jumps straight ahead and not off-course or starts spiraling only to miss the targeted landing spot. The x-ray images below show the 80 micrometer wide teeth that incorporate fillets to reduce wear at the base of each cog or tooth similar to human-designed mechanical gears.
Each gear cog is also asymmetrical and curved in one direction only as the interlocking action between the teeth under power is in one direction only. Most man-made machine gears, such as those in transmissions and steering systems are symmetrical due to the need to rotate in two directions.
Interestingly, should a tooth break, when the nymph molts to a larger size, a replacement tooth is grown as each molting increases the size of the gears in proportion to the insect’s increasing mass and leg length. However, as a nymph becomes an adult in later molting events, the gearing disappears giving way to a simple friction interface between the two leg bones. This evolutionary change no doubt eliminates the need to grow back broken cogs during adulthood. The larger mated surface contact areas of adult leg bones provide the same control of landing location. Burrows and Sutton were able to observe, using high-speed video, the mechanical action of the Issus Coleoptratus’ legs by electrically stimulating one of the nymph’s leg muscles causing the pair of legs to quickly extended with synchronized force and motion.
YORK LYN & YORKLIN & YORKLYN
Answer
We recently uncovered what is probably the best documentation for how the name Yorklyn came about. As early as 1905, the phrase “first draft of history” was cited in text, but it was Phil Graham, Washington Post owner and publisher, who made the phrase “The First Rough-draft of History” famous by using it in various speeches and writings. While newspapers are not always accurate in published information, they do provide a foundation upon which history can be documented and are effectively “the first rough draft of history.” The newspaper clipping shared below, from the August 11, 1873, Wilmington Daily Commercial newspaper explains how Garrett’s daughters came to suggest Yorklyn.
The “Marshall’s paper mills” referred to above, while it was a single mill, references Thomas S. Marshall’s Homestead Mill at the joining of the east and west branches of the Red Clay Creek in Kennett Township, PA. This is the original Marshall paper mill before Israel and Elwood Marshall, Thomas S.’s sons, purchased the burned-out Clark woolen mill to convert it into a modern paper mill in 1890. William T. Moore opened the U.S. Post Office at Yorklyn Station on June 13, 1873. Thus, the article above may be considered a “first rough draft of history’ in its accuracy!
The Wilmington Daily Commercial was published from October 1, 1866, until March 31, 1877. More commonly referred to as the Wilmington Commercial, it became the first daily paper published in Delaware. It was founded by Howard Jenkins and Wilmer Atkinson, who became Wilmington residents specifically to publish a daily newspaper. Selling their paper for 2 cents a copy initially, they used steam-powered presses to quickly print and distribute the latest news and gossip. Jenkins & Atkinson were among the first to sell newspapers on Delaware trains, thus expanding their circulation well beyond Wilmington’s city limits.
On January 3, 1867, Jenkins & Atkinson published a weekly edition titled Delaware Tribune. On September 4, 1871, the first issue of Every Evening was published by the Wilmington Commercial’s former city editor William T. Croasdale, who had struck out on his own to publish a competing newspaper. The two papers eventually merged to become the Every Evening and Commercial on April 2, 1877, with only the April 1, 1877, issue being named Every Evening, Wilmington Daily Commercial. Eventually, through additional mergers of Wilmington newspapers, the Evening Journal merged with Every Evening, Wilmington Daily Commercial. Over the decades the Evening Journal absorbed other Wilmington area newspapers, thus becoming Delaware’s prominent newspaper. The Evening Journal is published by Gannett Company, Inc., which, as of November 2019, is the largest newspaper publisher in the U.S.
WORKING ON THE RAILROAD
In doing some recent research, we came across the image below from 1935. While most railroads did something similar, the photo is for the New York Central Railroad. What service is the worker providing? As a hint, the location is the entry to a passenger station located in the distance.
Answer
The image above is of the work pit of a railroad “hot box” inspector! Passenger trains, as well as freight trains coming into the station complex, had to slow sufficiently for the switching ahead. They had been running at a much higher speed prior to coming to the location pictured, which meant wheel bearings had been operating at higher speeds, creating more friction. A bearing without sufficient lubrication would be smoking if not on fire, and it was the inspector’s job to spot the smoke/fire from a “hot box” and report it so that the train could be stopped and the problem dealt with.
Depicted in the image below is a typical railroad friction bearing such as was used for locomotive, freight, and passenger cars during the 1800s and into the mid-1900s before roller and ball bearings saw widespread use. The olive part is the rotating axle attached to the railroad wheel. The yellow is the mechanical bearing made of brass. Under the axle and contained within an iron casting box-like structure with a door at the end is the waste packing, which amounts to cotton and wool materials in contact with the underside of the olive axle and saturated with oil. The turning axle picks up a thin layer of oil on the axle’s cylindrical surface and carries the oil as the axle turns to the contact area between the yellow bearing material and the olive axle. That thin layer of oil molecules keeps the axle and bearing from direct contact by forming a thin oil sheet between the two. Without metal-to-metal contact between the bearing and axle, there is little heat generated, offering a low-friction interface between the turning axle and stationary bearing.
Should oil in the packing become depleted, the oil film on the axle is reduced, and metal -to-metal contact between the bearing and axle generates heat from increased friction. With sufficient heat, the oil begins to smoke, and in an extreme situation, the oil can catch fire. As the bearing assembly is within an enclosure resembling a rectangular box, the term hot box came into use when a bearing was found smoking.
