Andrew Hallidie, sitting on the left end of the front bench, was a failed miner, bridge architect, and self-taught engineer. He synthesized his father’s wire rope invention with a simple clamping mechanism to invent the first passenger-bearing cable car. The Clay Street line, which began regular service in 1873, was a financial success, and Hallidie’s patents on the cable car design, enforced worldwide, made him very wealthy. revised 2-2014 sf_cablecar_first_hallidie_sep-p2