William K. MacCurdy was an American engineer at SRI International that developed the Hydra-Cushion freight car for Southern Pacific in 1954.
[1][2][3] MacCurdy joined SRI International in 1952 with a background in shipbuilding; he was previously a naval architect.
[1] The second iteration, bearing the more widely known name of Hydra-Cushion, was introduced in April 1956, and Southern Pacific built and deployed an additional 350 of these cars in summer 1957.
[1][5][6] MacCurdy left SRI to be the chief research engineer in the Transportation Equipment Division of Evans Products Company, which was licensed some of the proprietary information about the Hydra-Cushion from Southern Pacific in 1957.
[1][7] In 1964, MacCurdy and Southern Pacific's William E. Thomford received the Franklin Institute's 1964 George R. Henderson Medal for achievements "in the field of railway impact control and associated car design, with resulting benefits in reducing lading and rolling stock damage".