their shop, however, and it is beheved that no other locomotives 

 were built by the Sellers in Philadelphia except the Atlantic, con- 

 structed for the Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad between 1838 

 and 1839. 



George moved to Cincinnati in the fall of 1841 and opened a 

 lead-pipe works there in association with Charles and the wealthy 

 Cincinnati merchant, Josiah Lawrence."" In about 1844 the lead- 

 pipe business was sold, and the firm of C. Sellers & Company 

 opened the Globe Rolling Mills and Wire Works. The Cincinnati 

 Gazette of February 22, 1845, reported that the building, located on 

 southwest Front Street, was completed and that the machinery was 

 being installed. Strap rail, iron rods, and telegraph wire were 

 produced along with other mill products. In January 1845, 

 shortly before the rolling mill was completed, George Sellers ob- 

 tained U.S. patent 3882 for a drop hammer. The hammer was 

 attached to a lifting bar which was gripped by two smooth friction 

 wheels. The friction wheels could tighten or release their hold on 

 the bar, so that the hammer fell when the wheels were released. 

 Leaf springs and toggles pressed the friction wheels together. In 

 October of that year the hammer was tested at the shop of Miles 

 Greenwood, a manufacturer of hardware and stoves. "^ One 

 hammer was also put to work at the Globe Rolling Mill. Sellers 

 stated many years later that his experience with the drop hammer 

 led him to develop his grade-climbing locomotive. ■- 



It would be easy to assume that Sellers merely adapted the 

 mechanical arrangement of his hammer for the center-rail system, 

 but several factors contributed to the invention. While building" 

 the two locomotives for the Philadelphia and Columbia line, George 

 and his brother patented a scheme for using the weight of the train 



"'^ Anthony Harkncss built the machinery for this shop {American Machinist, 

 December 19, 1889, ^°1- ■-' P- 2)- 

 ''' Cincinnati Gazette, October 9, 1845. 

 '^American Machinist (August 29, 1895), vol. 18, p. 684. 



50 



