Andrew Smith Hallidie was the promoter of the Clay Street Hill Railroad in San Francisco, USA. This was the world’s first practical cable car system, and Hallidie is often therefore regarded as the inventor of the cable car and father of the present day San Francisco cable car system. He also introduced the manufacture of wire rope to California, and at an early age was a prolific builder of bridges in the Californian interior.
Streetcars on rails were fitted with a mechanical device that gripped an underground endless moving cable to travel and released to stop. The cable passed around pulleys and was driven by a large wheel at an engine house. He had learned the business of making wire rope from his father before moving to the U.S. , where he designed and built wire suspension bridges and flumes. He began manufacturing wire rope in 1857. Hallidie also developed a method of moving freight over canyons using an endless wire rope, and inventions for the transmission of power with wire rope, which seeded his idea for cable cars.
Born in London, England, Hallidie was schooled in engineering and received practical training in surveying. At the age of 17, he moved to California and eventually worked as a contractor and surveyor.

Hallidie built a solid reputation designing wire suspension bridges and flumes for use in mines along the Pacific coast and into British Columbia. In 1857, he became involved in manufacturing wire rope and soon began concentrating on the concept of transporting freight by means of endless wire rope. The success of the “Hallidie ropeway” for use in mines caused Hallidie to think of alternatives for transporting people on the steep streets of San Francisco.

Hallidie’s idea was based on the principle of an endless wire rope that was in continuous motion underground. The car could be attached and released from the cable by a hook. When Hallidie first presented the idea of a cable car to the public he was ridiculed. Undaunted, with the help of friends and investors, Hallidie raised the capital to experiment with a single line on one street. The experiment proved to be successful, and cable cars became popular not only in San Francisco, but in other cities as well.