dead man's switch

[Joel S. Berson]

There is an intriguing item in an 1898 newspaper:

"One little slip of manilla paper, says the Citizen Ledger, is likely
to be worth $25,000 to the Illinois Central Railroad. Last June a
freight wreck occurred on the road near Dead Man's Switch, about
three miles north of Jackson, in which J. M. Quinn was killed."

The article continues to sketchily describe the accident, a suit for
$25,000 by the "dead man"s widow (I don't think there's a connection
here) against the railroad, and the potential significance of the
paper, which contains the engineer's instructions, on the widow's suit.

The Daily Picayune, (New Orleans, LA) Friday, March 11, 1898; pg. 14;
Issue 46; col C.  [19th C. Amer. Newspapers]

Since "Dead Man's Switch" is here a place name, the meaning is not
evident.  It may merely be a place where if someone doesn't switch
something, someone is likely to be dead soon after.

(This is the only hit in this database for any of Victor's various
combinations.)

Joel

At 8/16/2011 05:51 PM, victor steinbok wrote:
>Unless I missed something in the search (for which I blame the editors, of
>course), the expression is not in the OED in any variation (dead man switch,
>dead men switch, dead men's switch, deadman switch, etc.).
>
>...
>
>The earliest for "dead man's handle/knob" in the OED is 1908 (includes both
>knob and handle). Ironically, the switch makes its appearance in the same
>year.
>
>http://goo.gl/1aOh4
>Bulletin of the International Railway Congress Association (English
>Edition).
>Volume 22 (9). September 1908
>Electric Traction by Simple Alternating Current on European Railways. By H.
>Marchand-Thriar. VIII.--The Thomson-Houston Company's System. p. 1023
>
> > The master-controller is fitted with a safety handle (dead man's switch) so
> > arranged that if the driver fell or fainted, his releasing the handle would
> > ensure the current being cut off automatically from all the vehicles.
>
>Volume 22(11). November 1908
>Notes Taken During a Journey of Enquiry in the United States. By Em.
>Uytborck. p. 1217
>
> > The cars are equipped with the system of control known as the "Sprague
> > General Electric"; the controller is fitted with a dead-man's switch (i.e.
> > it returns to neutral if the driver releases the handle).
>...

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