When did the railroads begin using car seals on box cars, etc.?

These are the embossed metal strips that carried the railroad initials and a serial number. These would be threaded through the door hasp and then back into a bulb on one end which would be compressed to make the seal loop complete. The car could not be opened without breaking the seal.

I have a lead one from the Richmond & Danville that was dug up at a battle site, as well as a general order from 1861 from the R&D that instructs conductors to collect all of the lead from the boxcar seals once they are cut.

So at least 1861 from the broad gauge South is as early as I can help you with.

Matt Bumgarner

I don't know if this is the earliest, but on 14 July 1857, D. W. Long of Baltimore, Md. received U. S. patent no. 17,796 for a car door seal. [Report of the Commissioner of Patents for the Year 1857, Vol. 2, Arts and Manufactures (Washington D. C., 1858), 141, http://books.google.com/books?id=tvcXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA141&dq=car+seals&lr=&as_brr=1#PPA141,M1 (accessed 19 Nov. 2008)].

However, even by the late 1870s car door seals were not in general usage. [Marshall M. Kirkman, Railway Service: Trains and Stations (New York: Railroad Gazette, 1878), 211n, http://books.google.com/books?id=5vFLAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA210&dq=car+seals&lr=&as_brr=1 (accessed 19 Nov. 2008)].

Thank you. So they do go back into the 19th Century.

I had recently obtained one alleged to be from a western railroad that existed from 1892 to 1906. Wanted to find out if that was reasonable.