Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Inventory of the Thomas Dowrick collection
- Dates:
- 1938-1950
- Abstract:
- The Thomas Dowrick collection contains materials pertaining to the whistle valve invented by Dowrick and Chase.
- Extent:
- .333 Linear Feet 1 manuscript box
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Thomas Dowrick Collection, MS 7, California State Railroad Museum Library, Sacramento, California.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Thomas Dowrick collection contains biographical materials, documents, including a diagram, pertaining to the whistle valve invented by Dowrick and Chase, their patent on the valve, and the marketing of the invention by Viloco. The papers also contain letters to and from Viloco concerning the whistle valve, and records of royalty payments to Dowrick and Chase.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Thomas Dowrick was born in England in 1890, and after serving an apprenticeship in a shipbuilding firm emigrated to the United States. In 1917 Dowrick went to work for the Southern Pacific at Sacramento as a machinist. He later worked for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, but returned to the Southern Pacific, eventually becoming a foreman at the Sacramento Shops.
In 1938 Dowrick and James Forrest Chase invented and patented a locomotive whistle valve. Eventually the valve became used on Southern Pacific steam locomotives and was marketed by the Viloco Railway Equipment Company.
Thomas Dowrick retired from the railroad in 1952 and died in 1958.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Mrs. Betty Kees and Mrs. Ruth Green, 1985
- Arrangement:
-
Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
- Physical location:
- Statewide Museum Collections Center
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
- Subjects:
- Patents--Technological Innovations
About this collection guide
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-11-27 15:39:29 +0000 .
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research by appointment. Contact Library Staff
- Terms of access:
-
Copyright has not been assigned to the California State Railroad Museum. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the CSRM Library & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the CSRM as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Thomas Dowrick Collection, MS 7, California State Railroad Museum Library, Sacramento, California.
- Location of this collection:
-
111 I StreetSacramento, CA 95814, US
- Contact:
- (916) 323-8073