[PRCo] Re: FW: New Bachmann "Scale HO" DCC Peter De Witt Trolley

[Fred Schneider]

Not that I know of, Bob, but I've never been able to find the  
patents.   Supposedly, Witt patented a front entrance, center exit,  
pay as you pass fare collection system with the conductor just front  
of the center doors.   I understand that there is a copy of the  
royalty agreement in the Baltimore Streetcar Museum library covering  
the 1930 PW cars that Bachman modeled.   However, there is an 8x10  
Brill negative owned jointly by Don Duke and Bill Middleton that  
shows a fare box in the front of the car.    The Brill cars (and 6119  
at BSM is one of them) were built with a conductor's station foreward  
of the enter door, and with a door valve and bell button at that  
position.

What really happened?   United Railways and Electric Company's daily  
passenger counts dropped from 2 million on a normal weekday to 1  
million in the Depression.   The company fell into bankruptcy and was  
reorganized as Baltimore Transit.   Lucius Storrs, its president,  
bailed out and wound up working for Los Angles Railway Company.   The  
cars never did run as two man cars.   They entered service as one man  
car with the conductors sitting at their station explaining to the  
public that, when they wanted off, they needed to step down into the  
stairwell onto the treadle and the doors would open for them.   Then  
roughly 400 conductors were fired.    The first 27 PCCs that came in  
1936 were one-man.

Capital Transit's 20 pre-PCC streamliners built in 1935 were fitted  
in the Peter Witt configuration but I never had anyone tell me that  
royalties were paid.

Frankly, what the hell would you do if you lost half your business?    
Maybe I can tease Dick Kotulak into coming up with an answer.   Maybe  
no one knows for sure.  Of course it would all depend on when the  
original patent was issued and when it expired.   The Philadelphia  
PCCs in the 2500s, 2600s and 2700s were configured as Peter Witt cars.

Several years ago I attempted to find patents under Peter Witts name  
but the current computerized patent library does not go back that far.





On Nov 9, 2007, at 3:32 PM, ROBERT R ROCKWELL wrote:

> Just what defined a "Peter Witt" car. Was it more than just the  
> center door fare collection ? And did Peter Witt actually collect  
> royalties on these ?
> Robert Rockwell
> w3syt1 at msn.com<mailto:w3syt1 at msn.com>
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: Herb Brannon<mailto:hrbran at sbcglobal.net>
>   To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org<mailto:pittsburgh- 
> railways at dementia.org>
>   Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2007 5:23 PM
>   Subject: [PRCo] Re: FW: New Bachmann "Scale HO" DCC Peter De Witt  
> Trolley
>