To accomplish this task, the company operates a fleet of rail service vehicles that travel along railroads to detect defects.

[5] Dr. Elmer Sperry began developing a method of locating internal rail defects in 1911.

An operator, lying flat on his stomach as he was moved along on a hand car, held a "search unit" against the rail.

[citation needed] Sperry and his staff discovered a new principle for detecting transverse fissures in 1928, called the "induction method.

Even though it was completed almost ten months before, the car was rejected by the American Railway Association's Rail Committee until October 2, 1928.

[citation needed] The original plan of Dr. Sperry was to build and sell the rail detector cars, along with the testing services, to the railways.

More information about the types of defects that can be found by the Sperry rail car is detailed in this document.