Re: CSO - Trivia

Looks like you've pegged it (unless someone else has a better evolution of the term). I would never have imagined that it originated from railroad terminology, but thinking about it, it makes sense. Before steam locomotives, piping was not typically high pressure and would not need such a device for safety reasons.

Paul

• Original Message ----- From: Christopher Wright

> >Does anyone know where the term "car seal" comes from?

> I'll take a pretty good guess. Car seals are thin metal bands
that fit in
> the door latch on a freight car. The door can't be opened
without
> breaking the seal. One end of the metal strip fits into a
capturing slot
> fitted to the other end like a cable tie. I think they have some
sort of
> identification marking on them as well, so you know whether it's
been
> re-sealed. I've seen lock-out boxes that were sealed with
something like
> a freight car seal, so the switch couldn't be returned to the
closed
> position without actually destroying the seal.
Received on Tue May 29 21:23:00 2001