science · 17 January 1871 · 153 years ago
In 1871, a U.S. patent was issued for an “endless wire rope way” subsequently used for the first cable car to be put into service in the world for public transport (No.110,971). The invention by Andrew S. Hallidie began service in San Francisco on 1 Aug 1873 on Clay Street Hill. It ran from Kearny Street to the crest of the hill, a distance of 2,800 feet, making a rise of 307 feet, and moved by motor-driven cables under the city street. [An earlier cable car patent was issued for an “improvement in tracks for city railways,” being an underground tunnel having a series of pulleys inside housing the cable. That inventor, Eleazer A. Gardner of Philadelphia, Pa. received his patent (No. 19,736) on 23 Mar 1858.]
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