When the railroad built its first cars using friction bearings first developed by Ross Winans, Howard made his own design and patented it on November 2, 1828.
In April 1821, Howard published his account in a book called A Narrative of a Journey to the Summit of Mont Blanc, made in July, 1819.
[7] In May 1827, the Board of Engineers for Internal Improvement assign Howard to head a surveying brigade for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
In 1833, he finished a survey of the Monongahela River below Brownsville, Pennsylvania that Congressman Andrew Stewart used to try to procure federal funding.
[8][9] In the summer of 1834, Howard was assigned by Abert along with two other assistants the task of surveying areas of the Chesapeake Bay and the Susquehanna River.
[1] Howard collaborated with Baltimore architect William F. Small and had influence on the construction of Carrollton Hall.