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Page 8 — Thursday, November 4, 2021 — The Hastings Banner

Inventor, industrialist, philanthropist

Emil Tyden made his mark here

Kathy Maurer
Copy Editor
Tyden Park has been part of the Hastings
landscape for decades. More recently, the
former post office/public library was renamed
the Tyden Center, honoring the man who
helped bring prosperity to the city more than
a century ago.
The eldest of eight children of tenant pota-
to farmers in Sweden, Emil Tyden arrived in
the U.S. in 1882 at age 17 with only a bit of
change in his pocket. But what he carried in
his heart and in his head, ultimately, was far
more important and helped make this man
almost legendary – not only in Hastings and
Barry County, but also in Iowa, Idaho,
Illinois, Washington, D.C., Sweden and else-
where.
“When he stepped off the boat in New
York to start life in America, Mr. Tyden was
a very rich young man – rich in the things that
matter most,” the Rev. Leason Sharpe said at
Tyden’s funeral Nov. 26, 1951. “He had
ambition, integrity, courage, a true sense of
values, and a faith in God.”
It would take far too long to list Tyden’s
achievements, or a who’s who of dignitaries,
inventors and other famous individuals he
encountered. Just a few highlights: Tyden is
thought to have more than 200 patents to his
name. He was made a knight by the King of
Sweden. He was tapped by the federal gov-
ernment to head up the munitions at the Rock
Island, Ill., arsenal just after the U.S. entered
World War I.
Former J-Ad Graphics editor and author of
“Tyden – An Ordinary Man Who Made Others
Extraordinary,” Doug VanderLaan wrote in
the 2017 book, “... like most young men
between the ages of 18 and 35, Tyden was
seized by ‘America fever’ and the thrill of
adventure in a new and emerging land.
America opened a new and exciting chapter in
Tyden’s life, one that would include wilder-
ness exploration and encounters with
train-robbing bandits, distinguished military
service in his new country, and as a comic
book celebrity. In between there were experi-
ences with gold miners, automotive legends,
and world leaders. Emil Tyden climbed from
immigrant obscurity ... to fame as an inven-
tor, industrialist and philanthropist in America.
“After he was knighted by King Gustav V
with Sweden’s Royal Order of Vasa in 1940, it

could be said that Tyden walked with kings,

but never lost touch with the common person.”

Tyden would use his mechanical genius to

build machinery, methods and wealth. He

wanted others to succeed, too, and found

ways to use his riches. He helped Swedish

immigrants, farmers in Idaho and Iowa, and

entire communities like Hastings.

Beyond the Hastings park and the county

building that bear the Tyden name, his connec-

tion to the community is still evident today:

An endowment fund in memory of his daugh-

ter, Florence Tyden Groos, covers all adminis-

trative expenses for Barry County United Way

and ensures that 100 percent of donations goes

directly to the local community.

This column in the next few weeks will

revisit articles on Tyden and local industries

he helped build, starting with this article on

the International Seal and Lock Factory from

the July 14, 1938, Banner.

Would belt globe 12 times

Tyden seals made here supply

95 percent of railroads

Most people in Hastings know there is

such an institution here as the Car Seal

Factory, makers of the Tyden Car Seals.

They probably do not know why these seals

have so dominated the car seal market, that

they are used on 95 percent of the railroad mile-

age of this country, and on the Canadian and

Mexican national railroads, on the island of

Cuba, and that considerable quantities of them

are exported to every continent on our globe.

This institution has been in Hastings for 37

years; but it did not all at once attain its

supremacy in its field. It took a considerable

time for that to occur. The Tyden Car Seal

Factory is now the largest institution in the

world manufacturing car seals.

The history of the seal is very interesting.

The inventor of the Tyden self-locking car

seal, as probably most of our readers know,

was Emil Tyden of this city. When he devised

the seal, he was a land agent for the Union

Pacific Railroad. In that capacity, he traveled

extensively over the United States.

While on these travels, his attention was

called to the very crude method then in use

for sealing freight cars: A lead and wire seal,

closed by using a sealing press. The process

could be duplicated at a cost of about 35 cents

each. The impressions made on the lead by

this press was frequently illegible, thus

destroying its value as a seal, so the railroads

were without adequate seal protection.

Troubling tampering

At that time, the question of freight losses

on American railroads was of large impor-

tance. Not only the railroads, manufacturers,

shippers and the consignees, but also the

public was interested in having clear evi-

dence that the products shipped in a given rail

car were received without having been tam-

pered with or adulterated in any manner after

leaving the shipping point.

The railroads were naturally more interest-

ed, because they are financially liable for

losses or damages to freight while in their

possession. Billions of dollars’ worth of

goods are transported annually over the rail-

roads, so protection against opening of car

doors and removing freight by unauthorized

persons must be guarded against, and the

means of protecting the railroads, the ship-

pers and the public lies chiefly in the use of

a car seal, securely fastened to the doors of

the freight car.

When Mr. Tyden’s attention was directed

to this matter, he gave it thorough study and

reached the following conclusions:

• A seal must combine the elements of
  security, legibility and ease of application.


• A car seal should be constructed to lock
  automatically.


• The locking element in the car seal
  should be so constructed that when it is once
  locked, it cannot be opened without being
  destroyed.


• Each and every seal should be numbered
  consecutively, thereby doing away with the
  possibility of duplicate seals and providing
  the basis for a reliable seal record.


• The lettering and numbering on the band
  of the seal should be perfectly legible, so that
  the seal record could be taken day or night in
  all kinds of weather an under poor lighting
  conditions.


• The lead and wire seals then in common
  use could not meet the requirements of a sat-
  isfactory reliable car seal. Mr. Tyden there-
  fore developed the Tyden Self-Locking Car
  Seal because, in his opinion, it combined the
  elements of security, legibility and ease of
  application.
  Locked and legible
  Anyone who has investigated a Tyden car
  seal knows that it has the locking element,
  which is so protected, the seal cannot be
  removed from a car door without the lock
  being destroyed. It can be easily and quickly
  applied to any type of car door fastener,
  which saves the time that would be lost by
  using a sealing iron or sealing press with the
  lead seal. Its use enables railroads to have
  cars ready to move as soon as the loading is
  completed and the car door is closed.
  While the car is being loaded, the seal may
  be hung on the hasp and its record taken, so
  the man who closes the car door also can lock
  the seal, which can be done very quickly.
  Every Tyden seal is embossed with the
  name or the initials of the railroad that applies
  it. It also is consecutively numbered. There
  are no duplicates, so it is impossible to
  remove a seal and put on another exactly like
  it, because, if it is removed, one with a differ-
  ent number has to be put on in its place.
  No easy task
  The development of these ideas as to what
  a seal should be and what it should accom-
  plish was only a start.
  Very difficult problems had yet to be faced
  and solved by the company that would make
  the seals. It was necessary not only to pro-
  duce a seal that would have all the qualities

we have mentioned at a low cost, but also one

that could be sold to the railroads and ship-

pers at a low price. To do that required the

development of expensive and intricate auto-

matic machinery.

If any part of the Tyden seal were made by

hand, the labor cost would make the price

prohibitive. The machines for making these

seals were devised by Mr. Tyden himself. In

many instances, it was a case of trial of a

given machine and, after the trial, scrapping

the machine because some little defect had

been discovered in its operation or because a

different machine could be made that would

do the work at a lower cost.

High start-up costs

It seems unbelievable, but it is true that it

cost the Seal Company of this city nearly

$1.5 million to develop the machinery and

complete the plant for the making of those

seals in the quantities required.

Thirteen separate machine operations are

necessary to make a Tyden car seal. These

automatic machines are all of special design

and expensive to build and maintain. One

who has visited the seal factory would hardly

believe that the machines could perform so

many difficult operations automatically.

About the only requirement for human labor

is bringing the materials to the machine, the

machine doing the rest of the work. The

Tyden Car Seal factory here has the capacity

of more than 500,000 car seals daily.

Had Mr. Tyden and his associates in the car

seal factory realized at the time he started the

business here that it would take more than $

million to equip a plant to manufacture the

seal, and several years’ time to design, try out

and perfect the machinery to make it, it is more

than probable Hastings would never have had

the International Seal and Lock Company.

But Mr. Tyden and his associates had confi-

dence in the merits of the seal and in the abili-

ty of Mr. Tyden to solve the difficult problems

of its successful and economical manufacture.

It took a lot of time. Aside from the money in

the original investment, all the earnings of the

plant for several years were used to make the

plant what it is today – the largest and most

complete car seal factory in the world.

Credibility and quality

Another problem was how to convince

prospective customers that the Tyden seal

could be produced at a low-enough price so

the company could stay in business.

Competing steel companies claimed it could

not be done, that he and his associates would

get tired of putting good money into an effort

to produce Tyden seals. They did not know

Mr. Tyden, or they would have realized he is

the type who would never give up because of

difficulties in the way.

To maintain the high standard of quality –

both in workmanship and materials, which

the seal company has done and which its

customers have demanded – and to produce a

car seal perfect in mechanism, lettering and

numbering, and packing them in boxes ready

for shipment at a cost of about 1 cent for 2 2/

seals, does not leave much for the manufac-

turer and could only be accomplished by a

large production and the installation of auto-

matic machinery, which eliminates the larger

part of the labor cost.

Webb, the ringer

To induce railroads to adapt a new sealing

system was no small problem. It required a vast

amount of educational work with railroad offi-

cials and railroad employees. The latter espe-

cially had to be shown. Fortunately, the seal

company at the time had as its salesman a man

who had a wide acquaintance with many rail-

way officials in this country and who became

an authority on the sealing of freight cars. This

was Charles J. Webb who, before entering the

service of the seal company, had a number of

years of railroad experience himself.

Webb knew how much saving in time and

in contents of cars the Tyden seals would

accomplish compared to other sealing devices

in use at that time. Mr. Webb’s place has since

been taken by Clarence Crawford, vice presi-

dent and sales manager of the company. Like

his predecessor, Mr. Crawford had a wide

acquaintance with and the respect of railroad

officials, particularly the purchasing agents,

before he became part of the organization of

the seal company here. He can call most of the

purchasing agents of this country and Canada

by their first names and is always welcome to

their offices. He has continued the splendid

work done by his predecessor, Webb.

When Mr. Tyden organized and incorporat-

ed the International Seal and Lock Company

here to manufacture the Tyden Self-Locking

Car Seals, it was started in a small way, nec-

essarily, but the business has grown to its

present proportions. Since it was organized,

the seal factory has produced well toward 2.

billion car seals. To give some idea of that

output, it should be explained that each seal is

8 1/2 inches long. If all these seals were

placed end to end, they would reach 12 times

around the globe at the equator.

One piece, many uses

In addition to furnishing seals to protect

nearly all the railroads of this country, the

Tyden Seal also is used by the customs

department of the United States and Dominion

of Canada for sealing cars containing freight

in bond. It is used by all express companies

and by more than 10,000 of the large shippers

who furnish their own car seals.

While most of the car seals used are for

sealing freight cars, there are many other uses

for them, the most important ones being:

• For sealing gate valves in pipelines by
  the big oil companies.


• For sealing livestock pens in stockyards.


• In sealing ballot boxes and voting
  machines.


• In sealing express trunks and boxes.


• In sealing laundry baskets and bags.


• In sealing bakery baskets.


• In sealing automatic trucks.


• In sealing electric and water meters.
  They also are used for identification tags in
  connection with big game hunting licenses,
  for identification and tax tags on hides and
  furs, and also for bicycle license plates.
  In addition to the business the seal compa-
  ny does with the railroads, manufacturers and
  other users of its products, about 16 percent
  of the output for the local factory is exported
  to 20 foreign countries. Wherever they are
  used, the name Hastings is associated with
  the seal, for this city has been the place where
  this business was born and where it has
  grown to its present large proportions.

  
  
  The car seals are just one of many inventions
  
  and contributions by Emil Tyden, who also had
  
  a hand in the development of several industries
  
  in Hastings. More specifically, he invented a
  
  mechanism that revolutionized expandable
  
  tables made by Hastings Table Company as
  
  well as a tire lock for Hastings Manufacturing
  
  Company. Viking sprinklers were another
  
  Tyden creation. More about Tyden will be pub-
  
  lished in a subsequent column.
  
  To learn more about perhaps the most
  
  important person in Hastings’ history, pur-
  
  chase a copy of “Tyden – An Ordinary Man
  
  Who Made Others Extraordinary.” at J-Ad
  
  Graphics or The General Store on South
  
  Jefferson Street.

  
  

CHASING THE EVIDENCE

OF A REMARKABLE MAN

Emil Tyden made a mark in this world

at the turn of the 20th Century, but it

was the imprint of a selfless man whose

incredible talents and care for his fellow

man Should be admired by every

succeeding generation.” The book,

Tyden: An Ordinary Man Who Made

Others Extraordinary, was published

by Fred Jacobs and J-Ad Graphics and

is the most extensive biography to date

of a man who arrived from Sweden at the age

of 17 and whose inventive brilliance began with contributions

to the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 and ended just before his death in 1951

with the invention of the dry sprinkler fire suppression system manufactured by The Viking

Corporation.

In between, Tyden offered world-changing developments to the booming automotive industry

in Detroit, to America’s military efforts in World War I, and to the transportation industry where

the invention for which he became best known, the box car seal, established Hastings as a

manufacturing capital. Over 4 million of Tyden’s boxcar seals were manufactured from his plant

in Hastings. “It’s a compelling read,” states author Doug VanderLaan, “and one I feel fortunate to

be part of in its telling.

An Ordinary Man Who Made Others Extraordinary...

Available in Hastings for $24.99 at

• Al Fresco


• The General Store


• Printing Plus


• J-Ad Graphics ofiice
  at 1351 N. M-43 Highway, just north of the Hastings city limits.

Great for Gift Giving

ON SALE

NOW!

This diagram for the Tyden Self-

Locking Car Seal, signed by Emil Tyden,

received a patent Jan. 24, 1899, nearly

eight months after he had submitted it to

the U.S. Patent Office. Tyden was living

in Chicago at the time, but had founded

the company in Hastings. (U.S. Patent

Office/Google.com image)

A small lightweight metal seal changed

life for Emil Tyden and the community.

Emil Tyden invested more than a million dollars in the development of his self-lock-

ing seal. Eventually the investment paid off, to the benefit of the inventor and the

community. The seal factory stood alongside a railroad on East Mill Street in Hastings.

The original International Seal and Lock Company (marked by the raised vented

roof section, right) and main office (left) stood on East Mill Street in Hastings until this

summer, when both were razed.