F. H. FURNISS

Inscription

F. H. FURNISS
1833-1890. INVENTOR AND
RESIDENT OF WATERLOO.
WITH F. R. MYERS, PATENTED
EARLY VERSION OF RAILROAD
SLEEPING CAR IN 1858.
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2025

Frederick H. Furniss (1833-1890) was an inventor and longtime resident of the village of Waterloo in Seneca County, New York. He was born in Oriskany, New York and relocated to Waterloo as a child where he grew to adulthood. Furniss briefly lived in Ohio as a young man, working for the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad. While working as a brakeman for the railroad, he lost one of his legs in an accident where he was thrown from a rail car and fell under the wheels. Furniss would eventually move back to Waterloo, where he remained until his passing in 1890.

Furniss owned two brick blocks containing several stores and four dwellings in Waterloo, including his personal residence (Democrat and Chronicle, December 8, 1890, 3). He took an interest in history serving as an early trustee of the Waterloo Historical Society. Over his life, Furniss obtained many patents for various inventions. This included several railroad related improvements, such as a device for improving the mode of ventilating railroad cars and a railroad jack used for placing a car that has jumped off the track back on the rail.

In 1858, Furniss patented an early version of a railroad sleeping car, a passenger car designed for overnight travel. According to his obituary published in the November 11, 1890 edition of the Democrat and Chronicle, which referred to him as “naturally of an ingenious turn of mind,” Furniss sold the sleeping car patent to George Pullman, securing a royalty. Pullman would go on to introduce the Pullman sleeping car in 1865, which had a significant impact on passenger travel and the railroad and transportation industry in America (“George M. Pullman,” Encyclopedia Britannica, britannica.com/money/George-M-Pullman).

After a brief illness, Furniss passed away at age 57 in 1890. He is buried in Maple Grove Cemetery in Waterloo.