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Screen wagon model
Object Details
- Description
- Model of a U.S. Screen wagon.
- Screen Wagons were introduced at Sherman, Texas in 1886 as a security measure for mail being transported by contractors. By 1895 screen wagons were being used in nearly 100 cities. Wagons of this type carried mailbags between railway stations or steamboat landings and city post offices. These vehicles were typically transformed into freight or trade wagons after serving the Post Office Department.
- These simple, utilitarian vehicles were commissioned by the Post Office Department to replace the beautiful, but expensive and impractical, Regulation Wagons that had previously been in use. In 1904 the Post Office Department published plans for three sizes of screen wagons to carry varying amounts of mail. Model No. 3 was used with either one or two horses and had a 1,200 pound capacity. Model No. 2 carried 2,500 pounds. Model No. 1 carried 5,000 pounds and required two horses. The Department also set strict rules for the color scheme of the vehicles.
- Because the front wheels could turn completely under the vehicle body, these Screen Wagons could more easily pivot into tight areas, such as loading docks.
- Data Source
- National Postal Museum
- Date
- c. 1900
- Object number
- 0.052985.275.1
- Type
- Transportation Equipment & Models
- Medium
- wood; metal
- Dimensions
- Height x Width x Depth: 41 × 28 1/2 × 55 in. (104.14 × 72.39 × 139.7 cm) Height x Width x Depth (crate 1): 51 × 64 1/2 × 35 in. (129.54 × 163.83 × 88.9 cm)
- Place
- United States of America
- See more items in
- National Postal Museum Collection
- Record ID
- npm_0.052985.275.1
- Usage
- CC0
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