[3] Connecting both truck axles with an equalizing lever so that they acted in sympathy with each other also did much to prevent derailments on rough trackage.
[4] Bissell states in the patent specification that inclined planes had been previously applied to railroad car trucks. His claim rested on the application of this device to locomotive trucks.
[5] From a sworn statement of G. M. Milligan dated July 2, 1857. This along with letters, petitions, receipts, and other such material quoted in this discussion are from the Patent Office papers housed in the National Archives, Washington, D.C. (hereafter referred to as Patent Office papers).
[6] The Lebanon was a 4-4-0, used in freight service, that had been built by the New Jersey Locomotive and Machine Company in December 1855.
[7] Letter dated July 2, 1857, from S. L. Moore (Patent Office papers).
[8] Statement cited in [footnote 5].
[9] Letter dated July 11, 1857, Charles Mason to Levi Bissell (Patent Office papers).
[10] American Railway Review, February 9, 1860, vol. 2, p. 71.
[11] U.S. patent 34377, February 11, 1862.
[12] Davenport & Bridges, car builders of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1841, obtained a U.S. patent for a swing-beam truck.