Daily AncestorGripman
A gripman drove a cable car, working the grip that clamped onto the moving cable under the street to start the car, and let go of it to stop.
Cable cars were pulled by a cable running continuously at a steady speed in a slot under the street. Each car started by gripping the cable and stopped by releasing it, so the gripman controlled the car's movement.
The Clay Street Hill Railroad, later part of the San Francisco cable car system, was first tested in 1873. In America the first cable-hauled line probably ran in New York City from 1868 to 1870. The word is now mostly historical.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1880 to 1920 census
Frank Dunn, 30, Gripman, Cable R.R.
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Gripman." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/gripman. Last checked 2026-10-10.