Murfey patented a direct railway-car axle bearing design, assigned to the Manhattan Packing Manufacturing Company.
On June 27, 1871, Eliza Murfey was granted U.S. Patent No. 116,475 for a railway-car axle bearing, continuing the trajectory of her 1870 patents into direct bearing hardware rather than solely packing materials. As with several of her earlier grants, this patent was assigned to the Manhattan Packing Manufacturing Company, reflecting an ongoing commercial partnership that allowed her inventions to be manufactured and distributed at industrial scale.
This patent demonstrates the maturation of Murfey's inventive focus: having spent 1870 refining lubricated packing materials and hot-box prevention systems, she moved in 1871 to patent the bearing structure itself, integrating her lubrication innovations directly into the mechanical component that housed the axle. This vertical expansion — from packing material to full bearing assembly — reflects a sophisticated, systems-level approach to solving the persistent problem of axle friction and failure on American railroads.
Her continued assignment of patents to a named manufacturing company throughout this period indicates that her inventions were not merely theoretical or defensive patents but were being actively commercialized within the railroad supply industry. This places Murfey among a small number of nineteenth-century women whose mechanical inventions reached practical industrial application, rather than remaining unbuilt patent-office curiosities, underscoring her lasting significance in the history of railroad safety technology.