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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:11:07 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:11:07 -0700 |
| commit | 04b3a772d2e9289461956a0315b873c5b5fa49e1 (patch) | |
| tree | 69b732d879c17215abec569d898c5d370f7eb2be /38782-h | |
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diff --git a/38782-h/38782-h.htm b/38782-h/38782-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1e31dfe --- /dev/null +++ b/38782-h/38782-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9804 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + Inventors, by Philip G. Hubert -- a Project Gutenberg eBook. + </title> + <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.png" /> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} +.p6 {margin-top: 6em;} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +hr.tb {width: 45%;} +hr.chap {width: 65%} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + display: inline; + right: 3%; + font-size: x-small; + text-align: right; + color: #808080; + font-style: normal; + border: 1px solid silver; + padding: 1px 4px 1px 4px; + font-variant: normal; + font-weight: normal; + text-decoration: none; + text-indent: 0em; + } + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.right {text-align: right;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Inventors, by Philip Gengembre Hubert + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Inventors + +Author: Philip Gengembre Hubert + +Release Date: February 6, 2012 [EBook #38782] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INVENTORS *** + + + + +Produced by Albert László, Rory OConor and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h1>INVENTORS</h1> + + + +<p class="center p6">MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT SERIES</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p class="center">TRAVELLERS AND EXPLORERS. By<br /> +General <span class="smcap">A.W. Greely</span>, U.S.A.</p> + +<p class="center">STATESMEN. By <span class="smcap">Noah Brooks</span>.</p> + +<p class="center">MEN OF BUSINESS. By <span class="smcap">W.O. Stoddard</span>.</p> + +<p class="center">INVENTORS. By <span class="smcap">P.G. Hubert</span>, Jr. +</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a name="BENJAMIN_FRANKLIN" id="BENJAMIN_FRANKLIN"></a> +<img src="images/004.jpg" width="500" height="639" alt="BENJAMIN FRANKLIN." /> +<span class="caption">BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a></span></p> + + + + +<p class="center p6 u">MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT</p> + + + + +<h1>INVENTORS</h1> + + +<h3><small>BY</small><br /> +PHILIP G. HUBERT, <span class="smcap">Jr.</span></h3> + +<p class="center p6">NEW YORK<br /> +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS<br /> +1896 +</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a></span></p> + +<p class="center p6"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1893, by</span><br /> +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS</p> + +<p class="center p6">Press of J.J. Little & Co.<br /> +Astor Place, New York +</p> +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>This book, dealing with our great inventors, +their origins, hopes, aims, principles, disappointments, +trials, and triumphs, their daily life and +personal character, presents just enough concerning +their inventions to make the story +intelligible. The history is often a painful one. +When poor Goodyear, the inventor of vulcanized +rubber, was one day asked what he wanted +to make of his boys, he is said to have replied: +"Make them anything but inventors; mankind +has nothing but cuffs and kicks for those who try +to do it a service."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the value of the work done by +great inventors is widely acknowledged. In a +remarkable sketch of the history of civilization, +Professor Huxley remarked, in 1887, that the +wonderful increase of industrial production by +the application of machinery, the improvement +of old technical processes and the invention of +new ones, constitutes the most salient feature of +the world's progress during the last fifty years. +If this was true a few years ago, its truth is still +more apparent to-day. It is safe to say that +within fifty years power, light, and heat will cost +half, perhaps one-tenth, of what they do now; and +this virtually means that in 1943 mankind will be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">4</a></span> +able to buy decent food, shelter, and clothing for +half or one-tenth of the labor now required. +Steam is said to have reduced the working +hours of man in the civilized world from fourteen +to ten a day. Electricity will mark the +next giant step in advance.</p> + +<p>With the many and superb tools now at our +service, of which our fathers knew comparatively +nothing—steam, electricity, the telegraph, telephone, +phonograph, and the camera—we and our +descendants ought to accomplish even greater +wonders than these. As invention thus rises in +the scale of importance to humanity, the history +of the pioneers and, to the shame of mankind be +it said, the martyrs of the art, becomes of intense +interest. In the annals of hero-worship the +inventor of the perfecting press ought to stand +before the great general, and Elias Howe should +rank before Napoleon. Whitney, Howe, Morse, +and Goodyear, to mention but a few of our +Americans, contributed thousands of millions of +dollars to the nation's wealth and received comparatively +nothing in return. Their history suggests +as pertinent the inquiry whether our patent +laws do not need a radical change. The burden +and cost of proving that an invention deserves +no protection ought to fall upon whoever +infringes a patent granted by the Government. +At present it is all the other way.</p> + +<p class="right"> +P.G.H., <span class="smcap">Jr.</span></p> +<p> +<span class="smcap">New York</span>, September, 1893. +</p> +<hr class="chap" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">5</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of contents"> +<tr><th></th><th></th><th align="right">PAGE</th></tr> +<tr><td align="right">I.</td><td align="left"><a href="#I"><span class="smcap">Benjamin Franklin</span>,</a></td><td align="right">9</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">II.</td><td align="left"><a href="#II"><span class="smcap">Robert Fulton</span>,</a></td><td align="right">45</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">III.</td><td align="left"><a href="#III"><span class="smcap">Eli Whitney</span>,</a></td><td align="right">69</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IV.</td><td align="left"><a href="#IV"><span class="smcap">Elias Howe</span>,</a></td><td align="right">99</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">V.</td><td align="left"><a href="#V"><span class="smcap">Samuel F.B. Morse</span>,</a></td><td align="right">111</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VI.</td><td align="left"><a href="#VI"><span class="smcap">Charles Goodyear</span>,</a></td><td align="right">155</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#VII"><span class="smcap">John Ericsson</span>,</a></td><td align="right">178</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VIII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#VIII"><span class="smcap">Cyrus Hall McCormick</span>,</a></td><td align="right">207</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IX.</td><td align="left"><a href="#IX"><span class="smcap">Thomas A. Edison</span>,</a></td><td align="right">223</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">X.</td><td align="left"><a href="#X"><span class="smcap">Alexander Graham Bell</span>,</a></td><td align="right">264</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XI.</td><td align="left"><a href="#XI"><span class="smcap">American Inventors, Past and Present</span>,</a></td><td align="right">270</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td align="left"> +James M. Townsend, E.L. Drake, Alvan Clark, +John Fitch, Oliver Evans, Amos Whittemore, Thomas +Blanchard, Richard M. Hoe, Thomas W. Harvey, C.L. +Sholes, B.B. Hotchkiss, Charles F. Brush, Rudolph +Eickemeyer, George Westinghouse, Jr. +</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">6</a></span></p> + + + +<h2><a name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<h3>FULL-PAGE</h3> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Full page illustrations"> +<tr><td></td><th align="right">FACING<br />PAGE</th></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#BENJAMIN_FRANKLIN"><span class="smcap">Benjamin Franklin</span>,</a></td><td align="right">(<i>Frontispiece.</i>)</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Departure_of_the_Clermont_on_her_First_Voyage"><span class="smcap">Departure of the Clermont on her First Voyage</span>,</a></td><td align="right">60</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Charles_Goodyear"><span class="smcap">Charles Goodyear</span>,</a></td><td align="right">155</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#John_Ericsson"><span class="smcap">John Ericsson</span>,</a></td><td align="right">178</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Cyrus_Hall_McCormick"><span class="smcap">Cyrus Hall McCormick</span>,</a></td><td align="right">207</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Thomas_A_Edison"><span class="smcap">Thomas A. Edison</span>,</a></td><td align="right">223</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Edison_in_his_Laboratory"><span class="smcap">Edison in his Laboratory</span>,</a></td><td align="right">247</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Professor_Bell_Sending_the_First_Message"><span class="smcap">Professor Bell Sending the First Telephone Message from New York to Chicago</span>,</a></td><td align="right">264</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<h3>ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT</h3> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Illustrations in the text"> +<tr><td></td><th align="right">PAGE</th></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#The_Franklin_Stove"><span class="smcap">The Franklin Stove</span>,</a></td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Franklins_Birthplace_Boston"><span class="smcap">Franklin's Birthplace, Boston</span>,</a></td><td align="right">14</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Franklin_Entering_Philadelphia"><span class="smcap">Franklin Entering Philadelphia</span>,</a></td><td align="right">17</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#The_Franklin_Penny"><span class="smcap">The Franklin Penny</span>,</a></td><td align="right">27</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Franklins_Grave"><span class="smcap">Franklin's Grave</span>,</a></td><td align="right">43</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Robert_Fulton"><span class="smcap">Robert Fulton</span>,</a></td><td align="right">46</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Birthplace_of_Robert_Fulton"><span class="smcap">Birthplace of Robert Fulton</span>,</a></td><td align="right">48</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Fulton_Blowing_Up_a_Danish_Brig"><span class="smcap">Fulton Blowing Up a Danish Brig</span>,</a></td><td align="right">53</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#John_Fitchs_Steamboat_at_Philadelphia"><span class="smcap">John Fitch's Steamboat at Philadelphia</span>,</a></td><td align="right">56</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Fultons_First_Experiment_with_Paddle-wheels"><span class="smcap">Fulton's First Experiment with Paddle-wheels</span>,</a></td><td align="right">57</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#The_Demologos_or_Fulton_the_First"><span class="smcap">The "Demologos," or "Fulton the First,"</span></a></td><td align="right">65</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#The_Clermont"><span class="smcap">The Clermont</span>,</a></td><td align="right">68</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Eli_Whitney"><span class="smcap">Eli Whitney</span>,</a></td><td align="right">70</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Whitney_Watching_the_Cotton-Gin"><span class="smcap">Whitney Watching the Cotton-Gin</span>,</a></td><td align="right">75</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#The_Cotton-Gin"><span class="smcap">The Cotton-Gin</span>,</a></td><td align="right">78</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Elias_Howe"><span class="smcap">Elias Howe</span>,</a></td><td align="right">100<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">7</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Birthplace_of_SFB_Morse"><span class="smcap">Birthplace of S.F.B. Morse, Built 1775</span>,</a></td><td align="right">111</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#SFB_Morse"><span class="smcap">S.F.B. Morse</span>,</a></td><td align="right">113</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Under_Side_of_a_Modern_Switchboard"><span class="smcap">Under Side of a Modern Switchboard, showing 2,000 Wires</span>,</a></td><td align="right">121</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#The_First_Telegraphic_Instrument"><span class="smcap">The First Telegraph Instrument, as Exhibited in 1837 by Morse</span>,</a></td><td align="right">125</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#The_Modern_Morse_Telegraph"><span class="smcap">The Modern Morse Telegraph</span>,</a></td><td align="right">127</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Morse_Making_his_own_Instrument"><span class="smcap">Morse Making his own Instrument</span>,</a></td><td align="right">129</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Train_Telegraph"><span class="smcap">Train Telegraph—the Message Transmitted by Induction from the Moving Train to the Single Wire</span>,</a></td><td align="right">131</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Interior_of_a_Car_on_the_Lehigh_Valley_Railroad"><span class="smcap">Interior of a Car on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, showing the Method of Operating the Train Telegraph</span>,</a></td><td align="right">132</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Diagram_showing_the_Method_of_Telegraphing_from_a_Moving_Train_by_Induction"><span class="smcap">Diagram showing the Method of Telegraphing from a Moving Train by Induction</span>,</a></td><td align="right">134</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Morse_in_his_Study"><span class="smcap">Morse in his Study</span>,</a></td><td align="right">139</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#The_Siphon_Recorder_for_Receiving_Cable_Messages"><span class="smcap">The Siphon Recorder for Receiving Cable Messages—Office of the Commercial Cable Company, 1 Broad Street, New York</span>,</a></td><td align="right">146</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#No_5_West_Twenty-second_Street"><span class="smcap">No. 5 West Twenty-second Street, New York, where Morse Lived for Many Years and Died</span>,</a></td><td align="right">151</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Calenders_Heated_Internally_by_Steam"><span class="smcap">Calenders Heated Internally by Steam, for Spreading India Rubber into Sheets or upon Cloth, called the "Chaffee Machine,"</span></a></td><td align="right">164</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Charles_Goodyears_Exhibition_of_Hard_India_Rubber_Goods"><span class="smcap">Charles Goodyear's Exhibition of Hard India-rubber Goods at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, England</span>,</a></td><td align="right">169</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#COUNCIL_MEDAL_OF_THE_EXHIBITION"><span class="smcap">Council Medal of the Exhibition, 1851</span>,</a></td><td align="right">173</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#GRANDE_MEDAILLE_DHONNEUR_EXPOSITION_UNIVERSELLE_DE_1855"><span class="smcap">Grande Medaille d'Honneur, Exposition Universelle de 1855</span>,</a></td><td align="right">176</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#John_Ericssons_Birthplace_and_Monument"><span class="smcap">John Ericsson's Birthplace and Monument</span>,</a></td><td align="right">180</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#The_Novelty_Locomotive_built_by_Ericsson"><span class="smcap">The Novelty Locomotive, built by Ericsson to compete with Stephenson's Rocket, 1829</span>,</a></td><td align="right">184</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Ericsson_on_his_Arrival_in_England"><span class="smcap">Ericsson on his Arrival in England, aged Twenty-three</span>,</a></td><td align="right">186</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Mrs_John_Ericsson_nee_Amelia_Byam"><span class="smcap">Mrs. John Ericsson, née Amelia Byam</span>,</a></td><td align="right">187<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Exterior_View_of_Ericssons_House"><span class="smcap">Exterior View of Ericsson's House, No. 36 Beach Street, New York, 1890</span>,</a></td><td align="right">189</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Solar-engine_Adapted_to_the_Use_of_Hot_Air"><span class="smcap">Solar-engine Adapted to the Use of Hot Air</span>,</a></td><td align="right">191</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Sectional_View_of_Monitor_through_Turret_and_Pilot-house"><span class="smcap">Sectional View of Monitor through Turret and Pilot-house</span>,</a></td><td align="right">198</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#The_Original_Monitor"><span class="smcap">The Original Monitor</span>,</a></td><td align="right">199</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Fac-simile_of_a_Pencil_Sketch_by_Ericsson"><span class="smcap">Fac-simile of a Pencil Sketch by Ericsson giving a Transverse Section of his Original Monitor Plan, with a Longitudinal Section drawn over it</span>,</a></td><td align="right">201</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Interior_of_the_Destroyer_Looking_toward_the_Bow"><span class="smcap">Interior of the Destroyer, Looking toward the Bow</span>,</a></td><td align="right">202</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Development_of_the_Monitor_Idea"><span class="smcap">Development of the Monitor Idea</span>,</a></td><td align="right">204</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#The_Room_in_which_Ericsson_Worked"><span class="smcap">The Room in Which Ericsson Worked for More than Twenty Years</span>,</a></td><td align="right">206</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Farm_where_Cyrus_H_McCormick_was_Born_and_Raised"><span class="smcap">Farm where Cyrus H. McCormick was Born and Raised</span>,</a></td><td align="right">209</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Exterior_of_the_Blacksmith_Shop"><span class="smcap">Exterior of the Blacksmith Shop where the First Reaper was Built</span>,</a></td><td align="right">212</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Interior_of_the_Blacksmith_Shop"><span class="smcap">Interior of the Blacksmith Shop where the First Reaper was Built</span>,</a></td><td align="right">215</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#The_First_Reaper"><span class="smcap">The First Reaper</span>,</a></td><td align="right">217</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Edisons_Paper_Carbon_Lamp"><span class="smcap">Edison's Paper Carbon Lamp</span>,</a></td><td align="right">224</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Edison_Listening_to_his_Phonograph"><span class="smcap">Edison Listening to his Phonograph</span>,</a></td><td align="right">227</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#From_Edisons_Newspaper"><span class="smcap">From Edison's Newspaper, the "Grand Trunk Herald,"</span></a></td><td align="right">230</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Edisons_Tinfoil_Phonograph"><span class="smcap">Edison's Tinfoil Phonograph—the First Practical Machine</span>,</a></td><td align="right">237</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Vote_Recorder"><span class="smcap">Vote Recorder—Edison's First Patented Invention</span>,</a></td><td align="right">243</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Edisons_Menlo_Park_Electric_Locomotive"><span class="smcap">Edison's Menlo Park Electric Locomotive (1880)</span>,</a></td><td align="right">250</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#The_Home_of_Thomas_A_Edison"><span class="smcap">The Home of Thomas A. Edison</span>,</a></td><td align="right">257</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Edisons_Laboratory"><span class="smcap">Edison's Laboratory</span>,</a></td><td align="right">258</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Library_at_Edisons_Laboratory"><span class="smcap">Library at Edison's Laboratory</span>,</a></td><td align="right">262</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Alvan_Clark"><span class="smcap">Alvan Clark</span>,</a></td><td align="right">276</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CL_Sholes"><span class="smcap">C.L. Sholes</span>,</a></td><td align="right">286</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#BB_Hotchkiss"><span class="smcap">B.B. Hotchkiss</span>,</a></td><td align="right">288</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Charles_F_Brush"><span class="smcap">Charles F. Brush</span>,</a></td><td align="right">290</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#Rudolph_Eickemeyer"><span class="smcap">Rudolph Eickemeyer</span>,</a></td><td align="right">294</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#George_Westinghouse_Jr"><span class="smcap">George Westinghouse, Jr.</span>,</a></td><td align="right">296</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</a></span></p> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + +<h1><a name="INVENTORS" id="INVENTORS"></a>INVENTORS</h1> + + + + +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I.</h2> + + +<h3>BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.</h3> + + +<p>Benjamin Franklin's activity and resource +in the field of invention really partook of the intellectual +breadth of the man of whom Turgot +wrote:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Eripuit cœlo fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"He snatched the thunderbolt from heaven,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the sceptre from the hands of tyrants."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And of which bit of verse Franklin once dryly +remarked, that as to the thunder, he left it where +he found it, and that more than a million of his +countrymen co-operated with him in snatching +the sceptre. Those persons who knew Franklin, +the inventor, only as the genius to whom we owe +the lightning-rod, will be amazed at the range of +his activity. For half a century his mind seems +to have been on the alert concerning the why +and wherefore of every phenomenon for which +the explanation was not apparent. Nothing in +nature failed to interest him. Had he lived in +an era of patents he might have rivalled Edison +in the number of his patentable devices, and had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span> +he chosen to make money from such devices, his +gains would certainly have been fabulous. As +a matter of fact, Franklin never applied for a +patent, though frequently +urged to do so, and he made +no money by his inventions. +One of the most popular of +these, the Franklin stove, +which device, after a half-century +of disuse, is now +again popular, he made a +present to his early friend, Robert Grace, an iron +founder, who made a business of it. The Governor +of Pennsylvania offered to give Franklin a +monopoly of the sale of these stoves for a number +of years. "But I declined it," writes the +inventor, "from a principle which has ever +weighed with me on such occasions, viz.: That +as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions +of others, we should be glad of an opportunity +to serve others by any invention of ours; +and this we should do freely and generously. +An ironmonger in London, however, assuming a +good deal of my pamphlet (describing the principle +and working of the stove), and working it +up into his own, and making some small change +in the machine, which rather hurt its operation, +got a patent for it there, and made, as I +was told, a little fortune by it."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<a name="The_Franklin_Stove" id="The_Franklin_Stove"></a> +<img src="images/014.jpg" width="300" height="215" alt="The Franklin Stove." /> +<span class="caption">The Franklin Stove.</span> +</div> + +<p>The complete list of inventions, devices, and +improvements of which Franklin was the originator, +or a leading spirit and contributor, is so +long a one that a dozen pages would not suffice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span> +for it. I give here a brief summary, as compiled +by Parton in his excellent "Life of Franklin." +"It is incredible," Franklin once wrote, "the +quantity of good that may be done in a country +by a single man who will <i>make a business</i> of it and +not suffer himself to be diverted from that purpose +by different avocations, studies, or amusements." +As a commentary upon this sentiment, +here is a catalogue of the achievements of Benjamin +Franklin that may fairly come under the +title of inventions:</p> + +<p>He established and inspired the Junto, the +most useful and pleasant American club of which +we have knowledge.</p> + +<p>He founded the Philadelphia Library, parent +of a thousand libraries, and which marked the +beginning of an intellectual movement of endless +good to the whole country.</p> + +<p>He first turned to great account the engine of +advertising, an indispensable element in modern +business.</p> + +<p>He published "Poor Richard," a record of +homely wisdom in such shape that hundreds +of thousands of readers were made better and +stronger by it.</p> + +<p>He created the post-office system of America, +and was the first champion of a reformed spelling.</p> + +<p>He invented the Franklin stove, which economized +fuel, and suggested valuable improvements +in ventilation and the building of chimneys.</p> + +<p>He robbed thunder of its terrors and lightning +of some of its power to destroy.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span></p> + +<p>He founded the American Philosophical Society, +the first organization in America of the +friends of science.</p> + +<p>He suggested the use of mineral manures, introduced +the basket willow, promoted the early +culture of silk, and pointed out the advisability +of white clothing in hot weather.</p> + +<p>He measured the temperature of the Gulf +Stream, and discovered that northeast storms +may begin in the southwest.</p> + +<p>He pointed out the advantage of building +ships in water-tight compartments, taking the +hint from the Chinese, and first urged the use of +oil as a means of quieting dangerous seas.</p> + +<p>Besides these great achievements, accomplished +largely as recreation from his life work +as economist and statesman, Benjamin Franklin +helped the whole race of inventors by a remark +that has been of incalculable value and comfort +to theorists and dreamers the world over. When +someone spoke rather contemptuously in Franklin's +presence of Montgolfier's balloon experiments, +and asked of what use they were, the +great American replied in words now historic: +"Of what use is a new-born babe?"</p> + +<p>"This self-taught American," said Lord Jeffrey, +in the <i>Edinburgh Review</i> of July, 1806, "is +the most rational, perhaps, of all philosophers. +He never loses sight of common sense in any of +his speculations. No individual, perhaps, ever +possessed a greater understanding, or was so +seldom obstructed in the use of it by indolence, +enthusiasm, or authority. Dr. Franklin received<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span> +no regular education; and he spent the greater +part of his life in a society where there was no +relish and no encouragement for literature. On +an ordinary mind, these circumstances would +have produced their usual effects, of repressing +all sorts of intellectual ambition or activity, and +perpetuating a generation of incurious mechanics; +but to an understanding like Franklin's, we +cannot help considering them as peculiarly propitious, +and imagine that we can trace back to +them distinctly almost all the peculiarities of his +intellectual character."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Franklins_Birthplace_Boston" id="Franklins_Birthplace_Boston"></a> +<img src="images/018.jpg" width="400" height="519" alt="Franklin's Birthplace, Boston." /> +<span class="caption">Franklin's Birthplace, Boston.</span> +</div> + +<p>The main outlines of Franklin's life and career +are so familiar to everyone, that I may as +well pass at once to the story of his work as an +inventor. We all know, or ought to know, that +Benjamin, the fifteenth child of Josiah Franklin, +the Boston soap-boiler, was born in that town +on the 17th of January, 1706, and established himself +as a printer in Philadelphia in 1728. That +he prospered and founded the <i>Gazette</i> a few +years later, and became Postmaster of Philadelphia +in 1737; that after valuable services to +the Colonies as their agent in England, he +was appointed United States Minister at the +Court of France upon the Declaration of Independence; +and that in 1782 he had the supreme +satisfaction of signing at Paris the treaty of +peace with England by which the independence +of the Colonies was assured. That he died full +of honors at Philadelphia in April, 1790, and that +Congress, as a testimony of the gratitude of the +Thirteen States and of their sorrow for his loss,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span> +appointed a general mourning throughout the +States for a period of two months.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Franklin_Entering_Philadelphia" id="Franklin_Entering_Philadelphia"></a> +<img src="images/021.jpg" width="400" height="564" alt="Franklin Entering Philadelphia." /> +<span class="caption">Franklin Entering Philadelphia.</span> +</div> + +<p>The great invention or discovery which entitles +Benjamin Franklin to +rank at the head of +American inventors was, of course, the identification +of lightning with electricity, and his suggestion +of metallic conductors so arranged as +to render the discharge from the clouds a harmless +one. In order to appreciate the originality<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span> +and value of this discovery, it is necessary to review +briefly what the world knew of the subject +at that day.</p> + +<p>For a hundred years before Franklin's time, +electricity had been studied in Europe without +much distinct progress resulting. A thousand +experiments had been performed and described. +Gunpowder had been exploded by the spark +from a lady's finger, and children had been insulated +by hanging them from the ceiling by +silk cords. A tolerable machine had been devised +for exciting electricity, though most experimenters +still used a glass tube. Several +volumes of electrical observations and experiments +had appeared, and yet what had been +done was little more than a repetition on a +larger scale, and with better means, of the original +experiment of rubbing a piece of amber +on the sleeve of the philosopher's coat. Experimenters +in 1745 could produce a more powerful +spark and play a greater variety of tricks with +it than Dr. Gilbert, the English experimenter of +1600, but that was about all the advantage they +had over him.</p> + +<p>So-called experts had attempted, with more or +less satisfaction to themselves, to answer the +question addressed by the mad Lear to poor +Tom: "Let me talk with this philosopher. +What is the cause of thunder?" Pliny thought +he had explained it when he called it an +earthquake in the air. Dr. Lister announced +that lightning was caused by the sudden ignition +of immense quantities of fine floating<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span> +sulphur. Jonathan Edwards, in his diary of +1722, records the popular impression of the +day upon this subject: "Lightning," he says, +"seem to be an almost infinitely fine combustible +matter, that floats in the air, that takes +fire by sudden and mighty fermentation, that is +some way promoted by the cool and moisture, +and perhaps attraction of the clouds. By this +sudden agitation, this fine floating matter is +driven forth with a mighty force one way or +other, whichever way it is directed, by the circumstances +and temperature of the circumjacent +air; for cold and heat, density and rarity, +moisture and dryness, have almost an infinitely +strong influence upon the fine particles of matter. +This fluid matter thus projected, still fermenting +to the same degree, divides the air as +it goes, and every moment receives a new impulse +by the continued fermentation; and as its +motion received its direction, at first, from the +different temperature of the air on different +sides, so its direction is changed, according to the +temperature of the air it meets with, which +renders the path of the lightning so crooked."</p> + +<p>Even this explanation was a daring bit of speculation +in Jonathan Edwards, for thunder and +lightning were then commonly regarded as the +physical expression of God's wrath against the +insects He had created.</p> + +<p>Mr. Peter Collinson, the London agent of the +library that Franklin had founded in Philadelphia +in 1732, was accustomed to send over with +the annual parcel of books any work or curious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span> +object that chanced to be in vogue in London at +the time. In 1746 he sent one of the new electrical +tubes with a paper of directions for using it. +The tubes then commonly used were two feet +and a half long, and as thick as a man could conveniently +grasp. They were rubbed with a piece<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span> +of cloth or buckskin, and held in contact with +the object to be charged. Franklin had already +seen one of these tubes in Boston, and had been +astonished by its properties. No sooner, therefore, +was it unpacked at the Library, than he repeated +the experiments he had seen in Boston, +as well as those described by Collinson. The +subject completely fascinated him. He gave +himself up to it. Procuring other tubes, he distributed +them among his friends and set them +all rubbing. "I never," he writes in 1747, "was +before engaged in any study that so totally +engrossed my attention and my time as this has +done; for what with making experiments when +I can be alone, and repeating to my friends and +acquaintances, who, from the novelty of the +thing, come continually in crowds to see them; I +have during some months past had little leisure +for anything else."</p> + +<p>Franklin claimed no credit for what he +achieved in electricity. During the winter of +1746-7 he and his friends experimented frequently, +and observed electrical attraction and repulsion +with care. That electricity was not created, +but only collected by friction, was one of their +first conjectures, the correctness of which they +soon demonstrated by a number of experiments. +Before having heard of the Leyden jar coated +with tin-foil, these Philadelphia experimenters +substituted granulated lead for the water employed +by Professor Maschenbroeck. They +fired spirits and lighted candles with the electric +spark. They performed rare tricks with a spider<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span> +made of burnt cork. Philip Syng mounted one +of the tubes upon a crank and employed a cannon-ball +as a prime conductor, thus obtaining the same +result without much tedious rubbing of the tube.</p> + +<p>The summer of 1747 was devoted to preparing +the province for defence. But during the following +winter the Philadelphians resumed their +experiments. The wondrous Leyden jar was the +object of Franklin's constant observation. His +method of work is well shown in his own account +of an experiment during this winter. The +jar used was Maschenbroeck's original device of +a bottle of water with a wire running through +the cork.</p> + +<p>"Purposing," writes Franklin, "to analyse the +electrified bottle, in order to find wherein its +strength lay, we placed it on glass, and drew out +the cork and wire, which for that purpose had +been loosely put in. Then, taking the bottle in +one hand, and bringing a finger of the other near +its mouth, a strong spark came from the water, +and the shock was as violent as if the wire had +remained in it, which showed that the force did +not lie in the wire. Then, to find if it resided in +the water, being crowded into and condensed in +it, as confined by the glass, which had been our +former opinion, we electrified the bottle again, +and placing it on glass, drew out the wire and +cork as before; then, taking up the bottle, we +decanted all its water into an empty bottle, +which likewise stood on glass; and taking up +that other bottle, we expected, if the force resided +in the water, to find a shock from it. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span> +there was none. We judged then that it must +either be lost in decanting or remain in the first +bottle. The latter we found to be true; for +that bottle on trial gave the shock, though filled +up as it stood with fresh unelectrified water +from a tea-pot. To find, then, whether glass had +this property merely as glass, or whether the +form contributed anything to it, we took a pane +of sash glass, and laying it on the hand, placed +a plate of lead on its upper surface; then electrified +that plate, and bringing a finger to it, +there was a spark and shock. We then took +two plates of lead of equal dimensions, but less +than the glass by two inches every way, and +electrified the glass between them, by electrifying +the uppermost lead; then separated the +glass from the lead, in doing which, what little +fire might be in the lead was taken out, and the +glass being touched in the electrified parts with +a finger, afforded only very small pricking +sparks, but a great number of them might be +taken from different places. Then dexterously +placing it again between the leaden plates, and +completing a circle between the two surfaces, a +violent shock ensued; which demonstrated the +power to reside in glass as glass, and that the +non-electrics in contact served only, like the armature +of a loadstone, to unite the force of the +several parts, and bring them at once to any point +desired; it being the property of a non-electric, +that the whole body instantly receives or gives +what electrical fire is given to, or taken from, +any one of its parts.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span></p> + +<p>"Upon this we made what we called an electrical +battery, consisting of eleven panes of large +sash glass, armed with thin leaden plates, pasted +on each side, placed vertically, and supported at +two inches' distance on silk cords, with thick +hooks of leaden wire, one from each side, standing +upright, distant from each other, and convenient +communications of wire and chain, from +the giving side of one pane to the receiving side +of the other; that so the whole might be charged +together with the same labor as one single +pane."</p> + +<p>In 1748 Franklin, being then forty-two years +old, and in the enjoyment of an ample income +from his business as printer and publisher, sold +out to his foreman, David Hall, and was free +to devote himself wholly to his beloved experiments. +He had built himself a home in a retired +spot on the outskirts of Philadelphia, and with +an income which in our days would be equivalent +to $15,000 or $20,000 a year, he was considered +a fairly rich man. Having thus settled his +business affairs in a manner which proved that +he knew perfectly well what money was worth, +he took up his electrical studies again and extended +them from the machine to the part +played in nature by electricity. The patience +with which he observed the electrical phenomena +of the heavens, the acuteness displayed by him +in drawing plausible inferences from his observations, +and the rapidity with which he arrived +at all that we now know of thunder and lightning, +still excite the astonishment of all who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span> +read the narratives he has left us of his proceedings. +During the whole winter of 1748-49 and +the summer following, he was feeling his way +to his final conclusions on the subject. Early +in 1749 he drew up a series of fifty-six observations, +entitled "Observations and Suppositions +towards forming a new Hypothesis for explaining +the several Phenomena of Thundergusts." +Nearly all that he afterward demonstrated on +this subject is anticipated in this truly remarkable +paper, which was soon followed by the most +famous of all his electrical writings, that entitled +"Opinions and Conjectures concerning +the Properties and Effects of the Electrical +Matter, and the Means of preserving Buildings, +Ships, etc., from Lightning; arising from Experiments +and Observations made at Philadelphia, +1749."</p> + +<p>Franklin sets forth in this masterly paper the +similarity of electricity and lightning, and the +property of points to draw off electricity. It is +this treatise which contains the two suggestions +that gave to the name of Franklin its first celebrity. +Both suggestions are contained in one +brief passage, which follows the description of a +splendid experiment, in which a miniature lightning-rod +had conducted harmlessly away the +electricity of an artificial thunder-storm.</p> + +<p>"If these things are so," continues the philosopher, +after stating the results of his experiment, +"may not the knowledge of this power of points +be of use to mankind in preserving houses, +churches, ships, etc., from the stroke of lightning,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span> +by directing us to fix on the highest part +of those edifices upright rods of iron, made +sharp as a needle and gilt to prevent rusting, and +from the foot of those rods, a wire down the outside +of the building into the ground, or down +round one of the shrouds of a ship, and down +her side till it reaches the water? Would not +these pointed rods probably draw the electrical +fire silently out of a cloud before it came nigh +enough to strike, and thereby secure us from +that most sudden and terrible mischief?"</p> + +<p>The second of these immortal suggestions was +one that immediately arrested the attention of +European electricians when the paper was published. +It was in these words:</p> + +<p>"To determine the question, whether the +clouds that contain lightning are electrified or +not, I would propose an experiment to be tried +where it may be done conveniently. On the top +of some high tower or steeple, place a kind of +sentry-box, big enough to contain a man and an +electric stand. From the middle of the stand let +an iron rod rise and pass, bending out of the +door, and then upright twenty or thirty feet, +pointed very sharp at the end. If the electrical +stand be kept clean and dry, a man standing on +it, when such clouds are passing low, might be +electrified and afford sparks, the rod drawing +fire to him from a cloud. If any danger to the +man should be apprehended (though I think +there would be none), let him stand on the floor +of his box, and now and then bring near to the +rod the loop of a wire that has one end fastened<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span> +to the leads, he holding it by a wax handle; so +the sparks, if the rod is electrified, will strike +from the rod to the wire and not affect him."</p> + +<p>A friend once asked Franklin how he came to +hit upon such an idea. His reply was to quote +an extract from the minutes he kept of the experiments +he made. This extract, dated November +7, 1749, was as follows: "Electrical fluid +agrees with lightning in these particulars: 1. +Giving light. 2. Color of the light. 3. Crooked +direction. 4. Swift motion. 5. Being conducted +by metals. 6. Crack or noise in exploding. 7. +Subsisting in water or ice. 8. Rending bodies +it passes through. 9. Destroying animals. 10. +Melting metals. 11. Firing inflammable substances. +12. Sulphurous smell. The electric +fluid is attracted by points. We do not know +whether this property is in lightning. But since +they agree in all the particulars wherein we can +already compare them, is it not probable they +agree likewise in this? Let the experiment be +made."</p> + +<p>In this discovery, therefore, there was nothing +of chance; it was a legitimate deduction from +patiently accumulated facts.</p> + +<p>It was not until the spring of 1752 that Franklin +thought of making his suggested experiment +with a kite. The country around Philadelphia +presents no high hills, and he was not aware till +later that the roof of any dwelling-house would +have answered as well as the peak of Teneriffe. +There were no steeples in Philadelphia at that +day. The vestry of Christ Church talked about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span> +erecting a steeple, but it was not begun until +1753. On the 15th of June, 1752, Franklin decided +to fly that immortal kite. Wishing to +avoid the ridicule of a failure, he took no one +with him except his son, who, by the way, was +not the small boy shown in countless pictures +of the incident, but a stalwart young man of +twenty-two. The kite had been made of a large +silk handkerchief, and fitted out with a piece of +sharpened iron wire. Part of the string was of +hemp, and the part to be held in the hand was of +silk. At the end of the hempen string was tied +a key, and in a convenient shed was a Leyden jar +in which to collect some of the electricity from +the clouds. When the first thunder-laden clouds +reached the kite, there were no signs of electricity +from Franklin's key, but just as he had +begun to doubt the success of the experiment, +he saw the fibres of the hempen string begin to +rise. Approaching his hand to the key, he got +an electric spark, and was then able to charge the +Leyden jar and get a stronger shock. Then the +happy philosopher drew in his wet kite and +went home to write his modest account of one of +the most notable experiments made by man.</p> + +<p>Franklin's fame as the first to suggest the +identity of lightning and electricity would have +been safe, however, even without the famous +kite-flying achievement. A month before that +June thunderstorm his suggestions had been put +into practice in Europe with complete success. +Mr. Peter Collinson, to whom Franklin addressed +from time to time long letters about his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span> +experiments and conjectures, had caused them +to be read at the meetings of the Royal Society, +of which he (Collinson) was a member. That +learned body, however, did not deem them +worthy of publication among its transactions, +and a letter of Franklin's containing the substance +of his conjectures respecting lightning +was laughed at. The only news that reached +Philadelphia concerning these letters was that +Watson and other English experimenters did not +agree with Franklin. It was only in May, 1751, +that a pamphlet was finally published in London, +entitled "New Experiments and Observations in +Electricity, made at Philadelphia, in America." +A copy having been presented to the Royal Society, +Watson was requested to make an abstract +of its contents, which he did, giving generous +praise to the author.</p> + +<p>Before the year came to a close Franklin was +famous. There was something in the drawing +down, for mere experiment, of the dread electricity +of heaven that appealed not less powerfully +to the imagination of the ignorant than to the +understanding of the learned. And the marvel +was the greater that the bold idea should have +come from so remote a place as Philadelphia. +By a unanimous vote the Royal Society elected +Franklin a member, and the next year bestowed +upon him the Copley medal. Yale College and +then Harvard bestowed upon him the honorary +degree of Master of Arts.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 250px;"> +<a name="The_Franklin_Penny" id="The_Franklin_Penny"></a> +<img src="images/031.jpg" width="250" height="115" alt="The Franklin Penny." /> +<span class="caption">The Franklin Penny.</span> +</div> + +<p>As might have been expected, there was no +lack of opposition to the new doctrine of lightning-rods.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span> +Every new movement of radical character +is denounced more or less fiercely. The last +years of Newton's life were perplexed by the +charge that his theory of gravitation tended to +"materialize" religion. Insuring houses against +fire was opposed as an interference with the prerogatives +of deity. The establishment of the +Royal Society was opposed upon the ground +that the study of natural philosophy, grounded, +as it was, upon experimental evidence, tended to +weaken the force of evidence not so founded; +and this objection was deemed of sufficient +weight to call for serious answer. Franklin's +daring proposal to neutralize the "artillery of +heaven," of course could not escape, and the impiety +of lightning-rods was widely discussed, +often with acrimony. Mr. Kinnersley, one of +Franklin's friends, who lectured for several years +upon electricity, when advertising the outline of +his subject always announced his intention to +show that the erection of lightning-rods was +"not chargeable with presumption nor inconsistent +with any of the principles either of natural<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span> +or revealed religion." Quincy relates in +his "History of Harvard College," that in +November, 1755, a shock of earthquake having +been felt in New England, a Boston clergyman +preached a sermon on the subject, in +which he contended that the lightning-rods, by +accumulating the electricity in the earth, had +caused the earthquake. Professor Winthrop, +of Harvard, thought it worth while to defend +Franklin. "In 1770," Mr. Quincy adds, "another +Boston clergyman opposed the use of the rods +on the ground that, as the lightning was one of +the means of punishing the sins of mankind, and +of warning them from the commission of sin, it +was impious to prevent its full execution." And +to this attack also Professor Winthrop replied. +Apparently Franklin himself thought it wise to +conciliate the opposition of some so-called religious +people of the day, for an account of the +lightning-rod which appears in <i>Poor Richard's +Almanac</i> for 1753, written probably by Franklin, +begins as follows: "It has pleased God in his +Goodness to Mankind, at length to discover to +them the means of securing their Habitations +and other Buildings from Mischief by Thunder +and Lightning."</p> + +<p>Franklin bore his honors with the most remarkable +modesty. It was in June that he flew +his first kite, but not until October that he sent +to Mr. Collinson an account of the experiment, +and even then he described the manner of making +and flying the kite and omitted all reference to +his own success with it. The identity of lightning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span> +with electricity having been established by M. +Dalibard, he deemed it unnecessary to forward +the account of an experiment which, however +brilliant, he thought superfluous. Accordingly, +we have no narrative by Franklin of the flying +of the kite. We owe our knowledge of what +occurred on that memorable afternoon to persons +who heard Franklin tell the story. Franklin +prefaces his description of his kite with these +words: "As frequent mention is made in public +papers from Europe of the success of the Philadelphia +experiment for drawing the electric fire +from clouds by means of pointed rods of iron +erected on high buildings, it may be agreeable +to the curious to be informed that the same +experiment has succeeded in Philadelphia, +though made in a different and more easy manner, +which is as follows." And then we have +the description of the kite, the letter ending +without reference to what he himself had done +with it.</p> + +<p>Yet he was far from hiding the pleasure his +fame brought him. "The <i>Tatler</i>," he wrote, in +1753, to a friend, "tells us of a girl who was observed +to grow suddenly proud, and none could +guess the reason, till it came to be known that +she had got on a pair of new silk garters. Lest +you should be puzzled to guess the cause, when +you observe anything of the kind in me, I think I +will not hide my new garters under my petticoats, +but take the freedom to show them to you +in a paragraph of our friend Collinson's last +letter, viz.—But I ought to mortify, and not indulge,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span> +this vanity; I will not transcribe the paragraph—yet +I cannot forbear." Then he quotes +the paragraph, which mentions the honors done +him by the King of France and the Royal Society.</p> + +<p>For twenty years Franklin continued to work at +electricity, devoting most of his leisure to his beloved +study. The great practical value of the +lightning-rod, at one time in the early part of this +century somewhat exaggerated, as a perfect protection +against harm by lightning, just as electricity +was at one time heralded as a panacea for all +bodily ailments, has of late years been questioned, +but the consensus of scientific opinion still attributes +much merit to the device, and the extent of +Franklin's services to science in the matter cannot +be called into doubt. Others have claimed +his discoveries. The Abbé Nolet, of France, has +been credited as being the first to note the similarity +between electricity and lightning; and M. +Romas, of Nerac, France, is said to have used a +kite with a copper wire wound around the +string, to attract electricity from clouds, some +time before Franklin made his experiment. But +posterity has ignored these claimants, and Franklin +had the happiness of escaping bitter contentions +with rivals. In fact, there could hardly +have been a quarrel with a man who claimed +nothing, who mentioned with honor everybody's +achievements but his own, and who recorded +his most brilliant observations in the plural, as +though he were but one of a band of investigating +Philadelphians.</p> + +<p>Passing now, to Franklin's connection with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span> +use of oil to still dangerous waves, I had occasion +recently to note that Lieutenant W.H. +Beehler, of the United States Navy, in writing +upon the matter, quotes Franklin's explanation +of why oil works so beneficently as the accepted +theory. Franklin was greatly interested, when +at sea, in studying the matter. Any phenomenon +that puzzled him was fit subject for investigation. +Let us see how he went about the inquiry. +"In 1757," he wrote, "being at sea in a +fleet of ninety-six sail bound against Louisburg, +I observed the wakes of two of the ships to be +remarkably smooth, while all the others were +ruffled by the wind which blew fresh. Being +puzzled with the differing appearance, I at last +pointed it out to our captain and asked him the +meaning of it. 'The cooks,' says he, 'have, I +suppose, been just emptying their greasy water +through the scuppers, which has greased the +sides of those ships a little;' and this answer he +gave me with an air of some little contempt, as +to a person ignorant of what everybody else +knew. In my own mind I at first slighted his +solution, though I was not able to think of another; +but recollecting what I had formerly +read in Pliny, I resolved to make some experiment +of the effect of oil on water, when I should +have opportunity. Afterwards, being again +at sea in 1762, I first observed the wonderful +quietness of oil on agitated water, in the swinging +glass lamp I made to hang up in the cabin, +as described in my printed papers. This I was +continually looking at and considering, as an appearance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span> +to me inexplicable. An old sea captain, +then a passenger with me, thought little of +it, supposing it an effect of the same kind with +that of oil put on water to smooth it, which he +said was a practice of the Bermudians when they +would strike fish, which they could not see if +the surface of the water was ruffled by the wind. +The same gentleman told me he had heard it +was a practice with the fishermen of Lisbon, +when about to return into the river (if they saw +before them too great a surf upon the bar, which +they apprehended might fill their boats in passing) +to empty a bottle or two of oil into the sea, +which would suppress the breakers, and allow +them to pass safely. A confirmation of this I +have not since had an opportunity of obtaining; +but discoursing of it with another person, who +had often been in the Mediterranean, I was informed +that the divers there, who, when under +water in their business, need light, which the +curling of the surface interrupts by the refractions +of so many little waves, let a small quantity +of oil now and then out of their mouths, which +rising to the surface smooths it, and permits the +light to come down to them. All these informations +I at times resolved in my mind, and +wondered to find no mention of them in our +books of experimental philosophy.</p> + +<p>"At length being at Clapham where there is, +on the common, a large pond, which I observed +one day to be very rough with the wind, I +fetched out a cruet of oil and dropped a little of +it on the water. I saw it spread itself with surprising<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span> +swiftness upon the surface; but the effect +of smoothing the waves was not produced; for +I had applied it first on the leeward side of the +pond, where the waves were largest, and the +wind drove my oil back upon the shore. I then +went to the windward side, where they began +to form; and there the oil, though not more +than a teaspoonful, produced an instant calm +over a space several yards square, which spread +amazingly, and extended itself gradually, till it +reached the lee side, making all that quarter of +the pond, perhaps half an acre, as smooth as a +looking glass.</p> + +<p>"A gentleman from Rhode Island told me it +had been remarked that the harbor of Newport +was ever smooth while any whaling vessels were +in it; which, probably arose from hence, that +the blubber, which they sometimes bring loose +in the hold, or the leakage of their barrels, +might, afford some oil to mix with that water, +which, from time to time, they pump out to keep +their vessel free, and that some oil might spread +over the surface of the water in the harbor and +prevent the forming of any waves."</p> + +<p>Thus Franklin collected his facts, taking them +far and near, and from anybody and everybody. +By dint of observation and reflection he finally +solved the problem, arriving at the conclusion +that "the wind blowing over water thus covered +with a film of oil, cannot easily catch upon it, so +as to raise the first wrinkles, but slides over it, +and leaves it smooth as it finds it."</p> + +<p>Another remarkable instance of Franklin's passion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span> +for investigation is afforded in the following +interesting letter to Sir John Pringle: "When +we were travelling together in Holland, you remarked +that the canal boat in one of the stages +went slower than usual, and inquired of the boatman +what might be the reason; who answered +that it had been a dry season, and the water in +the canal was low. On being asked if it was so +low that the boat touched the muddy bottom, +he said no, not so low as that, but so low as to +make it harder for the horse to draw the boat. +We neither of us at first could conceive that, if +there was water enough for the boat to swim +clear of the bottom, its being deeper would make +any difference. But as the man affirmed it seriously +as a thing well known among them, and +as the punctuality required in their stages was +likely to make such difference, if any there were, +more readily observed by them than by other +watermen who did not pass so regularly and constantly +backwards and forwards in the same +track, I began to apprehend there might be +something in it, and attempted to account for it +from this consideration, that the boat in proceeding +along the canal must, in every boat's length +of her course, move out of her way a body of +water equal in bulk to the room her bottom took +up in the water; that the water so moved must +pass on each side of her, and under her bottom, to +get behind her; that if the passage under her +bottom was straitened by the shallows, more of +the water must pass by her sides, and with a +swifter motion, which would retard her, as moving<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span> +the contrary way; or that, the water becoming +lower behind the boat than before, she was +pressed back by the weight of its difference in +height, and her motion retarded by having that +weight constantly to overcome. But, as it is often +lost time to attempt accounting for uncertain +facts, I determined to make an experiment of +this, when I should have convenient time and +opportunity.</p> + +<p>"After our return to England, as often as I +happened to be on the Thames, I enquired of our +watermen whether they were sensible of any +difference in rowing over shallow or deep water. +I found them all agreeing in the fact that there +was a very great difference, but they differed +widely in expressing the quantity of the difference; +some supposing it was equal to a mile in +six, others to a mile in three. As I did not recollect +to have met with any mention of this +matter in our philosophical books, and conceiving +that, if the difference should be really great, +it might be an object of consideration in the +many projects now on foot for digging new +navigable canals in this island, I lately put my +design of making the experiment in execution, +in the following manner.</p> + +<p>"I provided a trough of planed boards fourteen +feet long, six inches wide, and six inches deep in +the clear, filled with water within half an inch of +the edge, to represent a canal, I had a loose +board of nearly the same length and breadth, +that being put into the water, might be sunk to +any depth, and fixed by little wedges where I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span> +would choose to have it stay, in order to make +different depths of water, leaving the surface at +the same height with regard to the sides of the +trough. I had a little boat in form of a lighter +or boat of burden, six inches long, two inches +and a quarter wide, and one inch and a quarter +deep. When swimming it drew one inch of +water. To give motion to the boat, I fixed one +end of a long silk thread to its bow, just even +with the water's edge, the other end passed over +a well-made brass pulley, of about an inch in +diameter, turning freely upon a small axis; and +a shilling was the weight. Then placing the +boat at one end of the trough, the weight would +draw it through the water to the other. Not +having a watch that shows seconds, in order to +measure the time taken up by the boat in passing +from end to end of the trough, I counted as fast +as I could count to ten repeatedly, keeping an +account of the number of tens on my fingers. +And, as much as possible to correct any little inequalities +in my counting, I repeated the experiment +a number of times at each depth of water, +that I might take the medium."</p> + +<p>The experiment proved the truth of the +boatmen's assertions. Franklin found that five +horses would be required to draw a boat in a +canal affording little more than enough water to +float it, which four horses could draw in a canal +of the proper depth.</p> + +<p>No circumstance, remarks Mr. Parton, was +too trifling to engage him upon a series of experiments. +At dinner, one day, a bottle of Madeira<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span> +was opened which had been bottled in Virginia +many months before. Into the first glass poured +from it fell three drowned flies. "Having heard +it remarked that drowned flies were capable of +being revived by the rays of the sun, I proposed +making the experiment upon these; they were +therefore exposed to the sun upon a sieve which +had been employed to strain them out of the +wine. In less than three hours two of them began +by degrees to recover life. They commenced +by some convulsive motions of the +thighs, and at length they raised themselves +upon their legs, wiped their eyes with their forefeet, +beat and brushed their wings with their +hind feet, and soon after began to fly, finding +themselves in Old England without knowing +how they came thither. The third continued +lifeless till sunset, when, losing all hopes of him, +he was thrown away." And upon this he remarks: +"I wish it were possible, from this instance, +to invent a method of embalming drowned +persons in such a manner that they may be recalled +to life at any period, however distant; for +having a very ardent desire to see and observe +the state of America a hundred years hence, I +should prefer to any ordinary death being immersed +in a cask of Madeira wine, with a few +friends, till that time, to be then recalled to life +by the solar warmth of my dear country."</p> + +<p>Among the studies in natural philosophy of +which but little is known to the general public +may be mentioned Franklin's experiments +with heat at a time when a thermometer was a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span> +scientific curiosity. The manner in which he +proved that black cloth was not so good a covering +for the body in hot weather as white, +shows the simplicity of his methods and his +faculty for making small means subserve great +ends: "I took a number of little square pieces +of broadcloth from a tailor's pattern-card, of +various colors. There were black, deep blue, +lighter blue, green, purple, red, yellow, white, +and other colors or shades of colors. I laid +them all out upon the snow in a bright sunshiny +morning. In a few hours the black, being +warmed most by the sun, was so low as to be below +the stroke of the sun's rays; the dark blue +almost as low, the lighter blue not quite so much +as the dark, the other colors less as they were +lighter, and the quite white remained on the +surface of the snow, not having entered it at all. +What signifies philosophy that does not apply to +some use? May we not learn from hence that +black clothes are not so fit to wear in a hot, +sunny climate or season as white ones?" That +all summer hats, particularly for soldiers, should +be white, and that garden walls intended for +fruit should be black, were suggestions put forth +as a result of this experiment.</p> + +<p>Dr. Small assigns to Franklin the credit of +having discovered that repeated respiration imparts +to air a poisonous quality similar to that +which extinguishes candles and destroys life +in mines and wells. "The doctor," he records, +"breathed gently through a tube into a deep +glass mug, so as to impregnate all the air in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span> +the mug with this quality. He then put a +lighted <i>bougie</i> (candle) into the mug, and upon +touching the air therein the flame was instantly +extinguished; by frequently repeating +this operation, the <i>bougie</i> gradually preserved +its light longer in the mug, so as in a +short time to retain it to the bottom of it, the +air having totally lost the bad quality it had +contracted from the breath blown into it." Upon +being consulted with regard to the better ventilation +of the House of Commons, he advised that +openings should be made near the ceiling, communicating +with flues running parallel with the +chimneys and close enough to them to be kept +warm by their heat. These flues, he recommended, +should begin in the cellar, where the +air was cool, and the flues being warmed by the +hot air of the chimneys, would cause an upward +current of air strong enough to expel the +vitiated air in the upper part of the house. +Franklin's letters at this time are full of the +importance of ventilation. Unquestionably, he +was among the first who called attention to +the folly of excluding fresh air from hospitals +and sick-rooms, particularly those of fever patients. +As Mr. Parton expresses it, he cleared +the pure air of heaven from calumnious imputation +and threw open the windows of mankind.</p> + +<p>Some inventions of Franklin's have not met +with the approval of posterity. For instance, he +seems to have had no more success with a reformed +spelling of his own devising than laborers +in the same field who came after him. He used<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span> +to say that they alone spelt well who spelt ill, +since the so-called bad speller used the letters +according to their real value. The illiterate +girl who wrote of her <i>bo</i> was more correct, he +thought, than the young lady who would blush +to omit a superfluous vowel. What was the use +of the final letter in muff, and why take the +trouble to write <i>tough</i> when <i>tuf</i> would do as +well? Had he lived to see Dr. Webster's +Dictionary, the lexicographer would have found +in him an ardent champion. His reformed alphabet +and spelling is an interesting curiosity, +but hardly more. Some letters of our alphabet +he omitted, only to add new ones. He also +changed their order, making <i>o</i> the first letter and +<i>m</i> the last. In this connection it may be well to +say that Franklin was perhaps the first and foremost +American champion of the movement, +now so powerful, looking to the displacement of +Latin and Greek as the foundations of education. +At the very close of his life, in 1789, he issued +his famous protest against the study of dead languages. +He is reported to have said one evening, +when talking about this matter: "When +the custom of wearing broad cuffs with buttons +first began, there was a reason for it; the cuffs +might be brought down over the hands and thus +guard them from wet and cold. But gloves came +into use, and the broad cuffs were unnecessary; +yet the custom was still retained. So likewise +with cocked hats. The wide brim, when let +down, afforded a protection from the rain and +the sun. Umbrellas were introduced, yet fashion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span> +prevailed to keep cocked hats in vogue, +although they were rather cumbersome than +useful. Thus with the Latin language. When +nearly all the books of Europe were written +in that language, the study of it was essential in +every system of education; but it is now scarcely +needed, except as an accomplishment, since it +has everywhere given place, as a vehicle of +thought and knowledge, to some one of the +modern tongues."</p> + +<p>With all his love of the practical, Franklin was +not deficient in a rather delicate wit. I have already +had occasion to quote at the beginning of +this paper his disclaimer of the honors conferred +upon him by Turgot's famous Latin line. Instances +of this dry humor may be found all +through Sparks's exhaustive biography. I remember +one in particular. The merchants of +Philadelphia, being at one time desirous to establish +an assembly for dancing, they drew up +some rules, among which was one "that no mechanic +or mechanic's wife or daughter should be +admitted on any terms." This rule being submitted +to Franklin, he remarked that "it excluded +God Almighty, for he was the greatest mechanic +in the universe."</p> + +<p>Benjamin Franklin's services to the cause of +invention by no means ended with his own inventions. +One of his greatest services was the +part he took in the foundation of the American +Philosophical Society, whose object was to bring +into correspondence with a central association +in Philadelphia all scientists, philosophers, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span> +inventors on this continent and in Europe. +Franklin's share in the foundation of this society, +which has proved of such vast use, seems +to have been largely overlooked by his biographers. +Mr. Parton, having mentioned that Franklin +founded the society in accordance with his +proposal of 1743, adds: "The society was formed +and continued in existence for some years. +Nevertheless, its success was neither great nor +permanent, for at that day the circle of men capable +of taking much interest in science was too +limited for the proper support of such an organization." +The recent historian of the society, +Dr. Robert M. Patterson, agrees, however, with +Sparks in tracing the origin of the Philosophical +Society, which grew into prominence about +1767, back to Franklin's proposal of 1743. After +describing the Junto, or Leather Apron Society, +formed among Franklin's acquaintance, a sort of +debating club of eleven young men, Sparks says: +"Forty years after its establishment it became +the basis of the American Philosophical Society, +of which Franklin was the first president, and +the published transactions of which have contributed +to the advancement of science and the +diffusion of valuable knowledge in the United +States." In his first proposal Franklin gave a +list of the subjects that were to engage the attention +of these New World philosophers. It included +investigations in botany; in medicine; in +mineralogy and mining; in chemistry; in mechanics; +in arts, trades, and manufactures; in +geography and topography; in agriculture; and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span> +lest something should have been forgotten, he +adds that the association should "give its attention +to all philosophical experiments that let +light into the nature of things, tend to increase +the power of man over matter and multiply the +conveniences or pleasures of life." The duties +of the secretary of the society were laid down +and were arduous, including much foreign correspondence, +in addition to the correcting, abstracting, +and methodizing of such papers as required +it. This office Franklin took upon himself.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Franklins_Grave" id="Franklins_Grave"></a> +<img src="images/047.jpg" width="400" height="461" alt="Franklin's Grave." /> +<span class="caption">Franklin's Grave.</span> +</div> + +<p>While he lived the proceedings of the society +scarcely ever failed of a useful end. Unlike so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span> +many original and inventive geniuses, his eminent +common sense was as marked as his originality. +In the language of his most recent biographer, +John Bach McMaster, "whatever +he has said on domestic economy or thrift is +sound and striking. No other writer has left so +many just and original observations on success +in life. No other writer has pointed out so +clearly the way to obtain the greatest amount of +comfort out of life. What Solomon did for the +spiritual man, that did Franklin for the earthly +man. The book of Proverbs is a collection of +receipts for laying up treasure in heaven. 'Poor +Richard' is a collection of receipts for laying up +treasure on earth."</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II.</h2> + + +<h3>ROBERT FULTON.</h3> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Robert_Fulton" id="Robert_Fulton"></a> +<img src="images/050.jpg" width="400" height="460" alt="Robert Fulton." /> +<span class="caption">Robert Fulton.</span> +</div> + +<p>Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat, +or at least the first man to apply the power +of the steam-engine to the propulsion of boats in a +practical and effective manner, was born in Little +Britain, Lancaster County, Pa., 1765, of respectable +but poor parents. His father was a native of +Kilkenny, Ireland, and his mother came of a fairly +well-to-do Irish family, settled in Pennsylvania. +He was the third of five children. As a child he +received the rudiments of a common education. +His vocation showed itself in his earliest years. +All his hours of recreation were passed in shops +and in drawing. At the time he was seventeen +he had become so much of an artist as to make +money by portrait and landscape painting in +Philadelphia, where he remained until he was +twenty-one. After this he went to Washington +County and there purchased a little farm on +which he settled his mother, his father having +died when he was three years old. He returned +to Philadelphia, but on his way visited the Warm +Springs of Pennsylvania, where he met with +some gentlemen who were so much pleased with +his painting that they advised him to go to England, +where they told him he would meet with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a><br /><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span> +West who had then attained great celebrity. +Fulton took this advice, and his reception by +West, always kindly toward Americans, was +such as he had been led to expect. The distinguished +painter was so well pleased with him +that he took him into his house, where he continued +to live for several years. For some time +Fulton made painting his chief employment, +spending two years in Devonshire, near Exeter, +where he made many influential acquaintances, +among others the Duke of Bridgewater, famous +for his canals, and Lord Stanhope, a nobleman +noted for his love of science and his attachment +to the mechanic arts. With Lord Stanhope, Fulton +held a correspondence for a long time upon +subjects in which they were interested.</p> + +<p>In 1793, Fulton was engaged in a project to +improve inland navigation. Even at that early +day it appeared that he had conceived the idea +of propelling vessels by steam, and he speaks in +his letters of its practicability. In 1794 he obtained +from the British Government a patent for +improvements in canal locks, and his pursuits at +this time appear to have been in this direction. +In his preface to a description of his Nautilus, or +"plunging" boat, a species of submarine boat, +he says that he had resided eighteen months in +Birmingham where he acquired much of his +knowledge of mechanics. In later years, when +in Paris, Fulton sent a large collection of his +manuscripts to this country. Unfortunately, the +vessel in which they were sent was wrecked, +and, while the case was recovered, only a few<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span> +fragments of the manuscripts could be used. It +is owing to this misfortune that we have so few +records of Fulton's work at this time.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Birthplace_of_Robert_Fulton" id="Birthplace_of_Robert_Fulton"></a> +<img src="images/052.jpg" width="400" height="268" alt="Birthplace of Robert Fulton." /> +<p class="center caption">Birthplace of Robert Fulton. +<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> This illustration and the four following are from Knox's "Life +of Fulton," reproduced by permission of the publishers, G.P. Putnam's +Sons.</p></div> + +<p>We know, however, that in 1794 he submitted +to the British Society for the Promotion of Arts +and Commerce an improvement of his invention +for sawing marble, for which he received the +thanks of the society and an honorary medal. +He invented also, it is thought, about this time, a +machine for spinning flax and another for making +ropes, for both of which he obtained patents +from the British Government. A mechanical +contrivance for scooping out earth to form channels +for canals or aqueducts, which is said to have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span> +been much used in England, was also his invention. +The subject of canals appears to have +chiefly engaged his attention during these years +of the end of the century. He called himself a +civil engineer, and under this title published his +work on canals, and, in 1795, many essays on the +same subject in one of the London journals. He +recommended small canals and boats of little +burden in a treatise on "Improvement of Canal +Navigation," and inclined planes instead of locks, +as a means of transporting canal boats from one +level to another. His plans were strongly recommended +by the British Board of Agriculture. +Throughout his course as civil engineer +his talent for drawing was of great advantage to +him, and the plates annexed to his works are admirable +examples of such work. He seems to +have neglected his painting till a short time before +his death, when he took up the brush again +to paint some portraits of his family. During +his residence in England he sent copies of his +works to distinguished men in this country, +setting forth the advantages to be derived from +communication by canals.</p> + +<p>Having obtained a patent for mill improvements +from the British Government, he went to +France with the intention of introducing his invention +there; but, not meeting with much encouragement, +he devoted his time to other +matters. Political economy had also some attraction +for him, and he wrote a book to show +that internal improvements would have a good +effect on the happiness of a nation. He not only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span> +wished to see a free and speedy communication +between the different parts of a large country, +but universal free trade between all countries. +He thought that it would take ages to establish +the freedom of the seas by the common consent +of nations, and believed in destroying ships of +war, so as to put it out of the power of any nation +to control ocean trade. In 1797 he became +acquainted with Joel Barlow, the well-known +American, then residing in Paris, in whose family +he lived for seven years, during which time he +learned French and something of German, and +studied mathematics and chemistry. In the same +year he made an experiment with Mr. Barlow on +the Seine with a machine he had constructed to +give packages of gunpowder a progressive motion +under water and then to explode at a given +point. These experiments appear to have been +the first in the line of his submarine boats, and +are unquestionably the germ of all subsequent +inventions in the direction of torpedo warfare.</p> + +<p>Want of money to carry out his designs induced +him to apply to the French Directory, +who at first gave him reason to expect their aid, +but finally rejected his plan. Fulton, however, +was not to be discouraged, but went on with his +inventions, and having made a handsome model +of his machine for destroying ships, a commission +was appointed to examine his plans, but +they also rejected them. He offered his idea to +the British Government, still again without success, +although a committee was appointed to examine +his models. The French Government<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span> +being changed, and Bonaparte having come to +the head of it, Fulton presented an address to +him. A commission was appointed, and some assistance +given which enabled him to put some of +his plans into practice. In the spring of 1801 +he went to Brest to make experiments with the +plunging boat that he had constructed in the winter. +This, as he says, had many imperfections, +to be expected in a first machine, and had been +injured by rust, as parts which should have been +of copper or brass were made of iron.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding these disadvantages, he engaged +in a course of experiments which required +no less courage than perseverance. From a report +of his proceedings to the committee appointed +by the French Government we learn that +in July, 1801, he embarked with three companions +on board of this boat, in the harbor of +Brest, and descended to the depth of twenty-five +feet, remaining below the surface an hour, in +utter darkness, as the candles were found to consume +too much of the vital air. He placed two +men at the engine, which was intended to give +her motion, and one at the helm, while he, with +a barometer before him, kept her balanced between +the upper and lower waters. He could +turn her round while under the water, and found +that in seven minutes he had gone about a third +of a mile. During that summer Fulton descended +under water with a store of air compressed +into a copper globe, whereby he was +enabled to remain under water four hours and +twenty minutes. The success of these experiments<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span> +determined him to try the effect of his +invention on the English war-ships, then daily +near the harbor of Brest—France and England +being then at war. He made his own bombs. +For experimental purposes a small vessel was +anchored in the harbor, and with a bomb containing +about twenty pounds of powder, he approached +within about two hundred yards, +struck the vessel, and blew her into atoms. A +column of water and fragments were sent nearly +one hundred feet into the air. This experiment +was made in the presence of the prefect of the +department and a multitude of spectators. During +the summer of 1801 Fulton tried to use his +bombs against some of the English vessels, but +was not successful in getting within range. The +French Government refused to give him further +encouragement.</p> + +<p>The English had some information concerning +the attempts that their enemies were making, +and the anxiety expressed induced the British +Minister to communicate with Fulton and try to +secure to England his services. In this he was +successful, and Fulton went to London, where he +arrived in 1804, and met Pitt and Lord Melville. +When Mr. Pitt first saw a drawing of a torpedo +with a sketch of the mode of applying it, and +understood what would be the effect of the explosion, +he said that if it were introduced into +practice it could not fail to annihilate all navies.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Fulton_Blowing_Up_a_Danish_Brig" id="Fulton_Blowing_Up_a_Danish_Brig"></a> +<img src="images/057.jpg" width="400" height="246" alt="Fulton Blowing Up a Danish Brig." /> +<span class="caption">Fulton Blowing Up a Danish Brig.</span> +</div> + +<p>But from the subsequent conduct of the British +ministry it is supposed that they never really +intended to give Fulton a fair opportunity to try<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span> +the effect of his submarine engines. Their object +may have been to prevent these devices +getting into the hands of an enemy. Several +experiments were made, and some of them were +failures, but on October 15, 1805, he blew up a +strong-built Danish brig of two hundred tons +burden, which had been provided for the experiment +and which was anchored near the residence +of Pitt. The torpedo used on this occasion contained +one hundred and seventy pounds of powder. +In fifteen minutes from the time of starting +the machinery the explosion took place. It lifted +the brig almost entire and broke her completely +in two; in one minute nothing was to be seen of +her but floating fragments. Notwithstanding +the complete success of this experiment, the +British ministry seems to have had nothing to do +with Fulton. The inventor was rather discouraged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span> +at this lack of appreciation and, after some +further experiments, he sailed for New York in +December, 1806.</p> + +<p>In this country Fulton devoted himself at once +to his project of submarine warfare and steam +navigation. So far from being discouraged by +his failure to impress Europe with the importance +of his torpedoes, his confidence was unshaken, +because he saw that his failures were to +be attributed to trivial errors that could easily +be corrected. He induced our Government to +give him the means of making further experiments, +and invited the magistracy of New York +and a number of citizens to Governor's Island +where were the torpedoes and the machinery +with which his experiments were to be made. +In July, 1807, he blew up, in the harbor of New +York, a large brig prepared for that purpose. +He also devised at this time a number of stationary +torpedoes, really casks of powder, with triggers +that might be caught by the keel of any +passing vessel. In March, 1810, $5,000 were +granted by Congress for further experiments +in submarine explosions. The sloop of war, +Argus, was prepared for defence against the +torpedoes after Fulton had explained his mode +of attack. This defence was so complete that +Fulton found it impracticable to do anything +with his torpedoes. Some experiments were +made, however, with a gun-harpoon and cable +cutter, and after several attempts a fourteen-inch +cable was cut off several feet below the surface +of the water.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span></p> + +<p>Fulton was, during all these experiments, +much pressed for money, and apparently was +making no headway toward the use of his submarine +engines in a profitable way. It was in despair +of getting our Government to make an investment +in this direction that he finally turned +to the problem of navigation by steam. He +had the valuable co-operation in his new work +of Chancellor Livingston, of New Jersey, who, +while devoting much of his own time and means +to the advancement of science, was fond of fostering +the discoveries of others. He had very +clear conceptions of what would be the great +advantages of steamboats on the navigable rivers +of the United States. He had already, when in +Paris, applied himself at great expense to constructing +vessels and machinery for that kind of +navigation. As early as 1798 he believed that +he had accomplished his object, and represented +to the Legislature of New York that he was +possessed of a mode of applying the steam-engine +to a boat on new and advantageous principles; +but that he was deterred from carrying +it into effect by the uncertainty of expensive experiments, +unless he could be assured of an exclusive +advantage should it be successful. The +Legislature in March, 1798, passed an act vesting +him with the exclusive right and privilege of +navigating all kinds of boats which might be +propelled by the force of fire or steam on all +the waters within the territory of New York for +the term of twenty years, upon condition that he +should within a twelve-month build such a boat,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span> +whose progress should not be less than four +miles an hour.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="John_Fitchs_Steamboat_at_Philadelphia" id="John_Fitchs_Steamboat_at_Philadelphia"></a> +<img src="images/060.jpg" width="400" height="269" alt="John Fitch's Steamboat at Philadelphia." /> +<span class="caption">John Fitch's Steamboat at Philadelphia.</span> +</div> + +<p>Livingston, as soon as the act had passed, built +a boat of about thirty tons burden, to be propelled +by steam. Soon after he entered into a +contract with Fulton, by which it was agreed +that a patent should be taken out in the United +States in Fulton's name. Thus began the preparations +for the first practical steamboat. All +the experiments were paid for by Chancellor Livingston, +but the work was Fulton's. In 1802, in +Paris, he began a course of calculations upon the +resistance of water, upon the most advantageous +form of the body to be moved, and upon the +different means of propelling vessels which had +been previously attempted. After a variety of +calculations he rejected the proposed plan of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span> +using paddles or oars, such as those already +used by Fitch; likewise that of ducks' feet, +which open as they are pushed out and shut as +they are drawn in; also that of forcing water +out of the stern of the vessel. He retained two +methods as worthy of experiment, namely, endless +chains with paddle-boards upon them, and +the paddle-wheel. The latter was found to be +the most promising, and was finally adopted +after a number of trials with models on a little +river which runs through the village of Plombières, +to which he had retired in the spring of +1802, to pursue his experiments without interruption.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Fultons_First_Experiment_with_Paddle-wheels" id="Fultons_First_Experiment_with_Paddle-wheels"></a> +<img src="images/061.jpg" width="400" height="235" alt="" title="Fulton's First Experiment with Paddle-wheels." /> +<span class="caption">Fulton's First Experiment with Paddle-wheels.</span> +</div> + +<p>It was now determined to build an experimental +boat, which was completed in the spring of +1803; but when Fulton was on the point of making +an experiment with her, an accident happened +to the boat, the woodwork not having<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span> +been framed strongly enough to bear the weight +of the machinery and the agitation of the river. +The accident did the machinery very little injury; +but they were obliged to build the boat almost +entirely anew. She was completed in July; +her length was sixty-six feet and she was eight +feet wide. Early in August, Fulton addressed a +letter to the French National Institute, inviting +the members to witness a trial of his boat, which +was made before the members, and in the presence +of a great multitude of Parisians. The +experiment was entirely satisfactory to Fulton, +though the boat did not move altogether with +as much speed as he expected. But he imputed +her moving so slowly to the extremely defective +machinery, and to imperfections which were to +be expected in the first experiment with so complicated +a machine; the defects were such as +might be easily remedied.</p> + +<p>Such entire confidence did he acquire from +this experiment that immediately afterward +he wrote to Messrs. Boulton & Watt, of Birmingham, +England, ordering certain parts of a +steam-engine to be made for him, and sent to +America. He did not disclose to them for +what purpose the engine was intended, but his +directions were such as would produce the +parts of an engine that might be put together +within a compass suited for a boat. Mr. Livingston had +written to his friends in this country, +and through their assistance an act was +passed by the Legislature of the State of New +York, on April 5, 1803, by which the rights<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span> +and exclusive privileges of navigating all the +waters of that State, by vessels propelled by +fire or steam, granted to Livingston by the Act +of 1798, as already mentioned, were extended to +Livingston and Fulton, for the term of twenty +years from the date of the new act. By this +law the time of producing proof of the practicability +of propelling by steam a boat of +twenty tons capacity, at the rate of four miles +an hour, with and against the ordinary current +of the Hudson, was extended two years, and +by a subsequent law, the time was extended to +1807.</p> + +<p>Very soon after Fulton's arrival in New York +he began building his first American boat. +While she was constructing, he found that her +cost would greatly exceed his calculations. He +endeavored to lessen the pressure on his own +finances by offering one-third of the rights for a +proportionate contribution to the expense. It +was generally known that he made this offer, +but no one was then willing to afford aid to his +enterprise.</p> + +<p>In the spring of 1807, Fulton's first American +boat was launched from the shipyard of Charles +Brown, on the East River. The engine from +England was put on board, and in August she +was completed, and was moved by her machinery +from her birthplace to the Jersey shore. +Livingston and Fulton had invited many of +their friends to witness the first trial, among +them Dr. Mitchell and Dr. M'Neven, to whom +we are indebted for some account of what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span> +passed on this occasion. Nothing could exceed +the surprise and admiration of all who witnessed +the experiment. The minds of the most +incredulous were changed in a few minutes. +Before the boat had gone a quarter of a mile, +the greatest unbeliever must have been converted. +The man who, while he looked on the +expensive machine, thanked his stars that he +had more wisdom than to waste his money on +such idle schemes, changed his mind as the boat +moved from the wharf and gained speed, and +his complacent expression gradually stiffened +into one of wonder.</p> + +<p>This boat, which was called the Clermont, +soon after made a trip to Albany. Fulton gives +the following account of this voyage in a letter +to his friend, Mr. Barlow:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a name="Departure_of_the_Clermont_on_her_First_Voyage" id="Departure_of_the_Clermont_on_her_First_Voyage"></a> +<img src="images/065.jpg" width="500" height="290" alt="" title="Departure of the Clermont on her First Voyage." /> +<span class="caption">Departure of the Clermont on her First Voyage.</span> +</div> + +<p>"My steamboat voyage to Albany and back, +has turned out rather more favorable than I had +calculated. The distance from New York to +Albany is one hundred and fifty miles; I ran +it up in thirty-two hours, and down in thirty. +I had a light breeze against me the whole way, +both going and coming, and the voyage has been +performed wholly by the power of the steam-engine. +I overtook many sloops and schooners +beating to windward, and parted with them as if +they had been at anchor. The power of propelling +boats by steam is now fully proved. The +morning I left New York there were not, perhaps, +thirty persons in the city who believed that the +boat would even move one mile an hour, or be of +the least utility; and while we were putting off +from the wharf, which was crowded with spectators, +I heard a number of sarcastic remarks. +This is the way in which ignorant men compliment +what they call philosophers and projectors. +Having employed much time, money, and zeal, in +accomplishing this work, it gives me, as it will +you, great pleasure to see it fully answer my expectations. +It will give a cheap and quick conveyance +to the merchandise on the Mississippi, +Missouri, and other great rivers, which are now +laying open their treasures to the enterprise +of our countrymen; and although the prospect +of personal emolument has been some inducement +to me, yet I feel infinitely more pleasure in +reflecting on the immense advantage that my +country will derive from the invention."</p> + +<p>Soon after this successful voyage, the Hudson +boat was advertised and established as a regular +passage-boat between New York and Albany. +She, however, in the course of the season, met +with several accidents, from the hostility of +those engaged in the ordinary navigation of the +river, and from defects in her machinery, the +greatest of which was having her water-wheel +shafts of cast-iron, which was insufficient to sustain +the great power applied to them. The +wheels also were hung without any support for +the outward end of the shaft, which is now +supplied by what are called the wheel-guards.</p> + +<p>At the session of 1808 a law was passed to +prolong the time of the exclusive right to thirty +years; it also declared combinations to destroy +the boat, or wilful attempts to injure her, public<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a><br /><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span> +offences, punishable by fine and imprisonment. +Notwithstanding her misfortunes, the boat continued +to run as a packet, always loaded with +passengers, for the remainder of the summer. +In the course of the ensuing winter she was +enlarged, and in the spring of 1808 she again +began running as a packet-boat, and continued it +through the season. Several other boats were +soon built for the Hudson River, and also for +steamboat companies formed in different parts +of the United States. On February 11, 1809, Fulton +took out a patent for his inventions in navigation +by steam, and on February 9, 1811, he obtained +a second patent for some improvements in +his boats and machinery.</p> + +<p>About the year 1812 two steam ferry-boats +were built under the direction of Fulton for +crossing the Hudson River, and one of the same +description for the East River. These boats +were what are called twin-boats, each of them +being two complete hulls united by a deck or +bridge. They were sharp at both ends, and +moved equally well with either end foremost, so +that they crossed and recrossed without losing +any time by turning about. He contrived, with +great ingenuity, floating docks for the reception +of these boats, and a means by which they were +brought to them without a shock. These boats, +were the first of a fleet which has since carried +hundreds of millions of passengers to and from +New York.</p> + +<p>From the time the first boat was put in motion +till the death of Fulton, the art of navigating by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span> +steam advanced rapidly to that perfection of +which he believed it capable; the boats performed +each successive trip with increased +speed, and every year improvements were made. +The last boat built by Fulton was invariably the +best, the most convenient, and the swiftest.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of 1814 a number of the citizens +of New York, alarmed at the exposed situation +of their harbor, had assembled with a view +to consider whether some measures might not be +taken to aid the Government in its protection. +This assembly had some knowledge of Fulton's +plans for submarine attack, and knew that he +contemplated other means of defence. It deputed +a number of gentlemen to act for it, and +these were called the Coast and Harbor Committee. +Fulton exhibited to this committee the +model and plans for a vessel of war, to be propelled +by steam, capable of carrying a strong +battery, with furnaces for red-hot shot, and +which, he represented, would move at the rate +of four miles an hour. The confidence of the +committee in this design was confirmed by the +opinions of many of our most distinguished +naval commanders, which he had obtained in +writing, and exhibited to the committee. They +pointed out many advantages which a steam +vessel of war would possess over those with sails +only.</p> + +<p>The National Legislature passed a law in +March, 1814, authorizing the President of the +United States to cause to be built, equipped, and +employed one or more floating batteries for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span> +defence of the waters of the United States. A +sub-committee of five gentlemen was appointed +to superintend the building of the proposed +vessel, and Fulton, whose spirit animated the +whole enterprise, was appointed the engineer. +In June, 1814, the keel of this novel and mighty +engine was laid, and in October she was launched +from the New York yard of Adam and Noah +Brown. The scene exhibited on this occasion +was magnificent. It happened on one of our +bright autumnal days. Multitudes of spectators +crowded the surrounding shores. The river and +bay were filled with vessels of war, dressed in +all their colors in compliment to the occasion. +By May, 1815, her engine was put on board, and +she was so far completed as to afford an opportunity +of trying her machinery. On the 4th of +July, in the same year, the steam-frigate made +a passage to the ocean and back, a distance of +fifty-three miles, in eight hours and twenty +minutes, by the mere force of steam. In September +she made another passage to the sea, +and having at this time the weight of her whole +armament on board, she went at the rate of five +and a half miles an hour, upon an average, +with and against the tide. The superintending +committee gave in their report a full description +of the Fulton the First, the honored name this +vessel bore.</p> + +<p>The last work in which the active and ingenious +mind of Fulton was engaged was a project +for the modification of his submarine boat. +He presented a model of this vessel to the Government,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span> +by which it was approved; and under +Federal authority he began building one; but +before the hull was entirely finished his country +had to lament his death, and the mechanics he +employed were incapable of proceeding without +him.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="The_Demologos_or_Fulton_the_First" id="The_Demologos_or_Fulton_the_First"></a> +<img src="images/071.jpg" width="400" height="460" alt="The Demologos, or Fulton the First. The first steam vessel-of-war in the world" /> +<span class="caption">The "Demologos," or "Fulton the First."<br />The first steam vessel-of-war in the world.</span> +</div> + +<p>During the whole time that Fulton had thus +been devoting his talents to the service of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span> +country, he had been harassed by lawsuits and +controversies with those who were violating his +patent rights, or intruding upon his exclusive +grants. The State of New Jersey had passed a +law which operated against Fulton, without being +of much advantage to those interested in its +passage, inasmuch as the laws of New York prevented +any but Fulton's boats to approach the +city of New York. Its only operation was to stop +a boat owned in New York, which had been for +several years running to New Brunswick, under +a license from Messrs. Livingston and Fulton. +A bold attempt was therefore made to induce +the Legislature of the State of New York to repeal +the laws which they had passed for the protection +of their exclusive grant to Livingston +and Fulton. The committee reported that such +repeal might be passed consistently with good +faith, honor, and justice! This report being +made to the House, it was prevailed upon to be +less precipitate than the committee had been. It +gave time, which the committee would not do, +for Fulton to be sent for from New York. The +Assembly and Senate in joint session examined +witnesses, and heard him and the petitioner by +counsel. The result was that the Legislature +refused to repeal the prior law, or to pass any +act on the subject. The Legislature of the State +of New Jersey also repealed their law, which +left Fulton in the full enjoyment of his rights. +This enjoyment was of very short duration; for +on returning from Trenton, after this last trial, +he was exposed on the Hudson, which was very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span> +full of ice, for several hours. He had not a constitution +to encounter such exposure, and upon +his return found himself much indisposed. He +had at that time great anxiety about the steam-frigate, +and, after confining himself to the house +for a few days, went to give his superintendence +to the workmen employed about her. Forgetting +his ill-health in the interest he took in what +was doing on the frigate, he remained too long +exposed on a bad day to the weather. He soon +felt the effects of this imprudence. His indisposition +returned upon him with such violence +as to confine him to his bed. His illness increased, +and on February 24, 1815, it ended his +life.</p> + +<p>It was not known that Fulton's illness was +dangerous till a very short time before his death. +Means were immediately taken to testify, publicly, +the universal regret at his loss, and respect +for his memory. The corporation of the city of +New York, the different literary institutions and +other societies, assembled and passed resolutions +expressing their estimation of his worth, and regret +at his loss. They also resolved to attend +his funeral, and that the members should wear +badges of mourning for a certain time. As soon +as the Legislature, which was then in session at +Albany, heard of the death of Fulton, they expressed +their participation in the general sentiment +by resolving that the members of both +Houses should wear mourning for some weeks.</p> + +<p>In 1806 Fulton married Harriet Livingston, a +daughter of Walter Livingston, a relative of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span> +associate, Chancellor Livingston. He left four +children; one son, Robert Barlow Fulton, and +three daughters. Fulton was in person considerably +above medium height; his face showed +great intelligence. Natural refinement and long +intercourse with the most polished society of +Europe and America had given him grace and +elegance of manner.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="The_Clermont" id="The_Clermont"></a> +<img src="images/074.jpg" width="400" height="219" alt="The Clermont." /> +<span class="caption">The Clermont.</span> +</div><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III.</h2> + + +<h3>ELI WHITNEY.</h3> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Eli_Whitney" id="Eli_Whitney"></a> +<img src="images/076.jpg" width="400" height="528" alt="Eli Whitney." /> +<span class="caption">Eli Whitney.</span> +</div> + +<p>In 1784 an American vessel arrived at Liverpool +having on board, as part of her cargo, eight +bags of cotton, which were seized by the Custom-House +under the conviction that they could not +be the growth of America. The whole amount +of cotton arriving at Liverpool from America +during the two following years was less than +one hundred and twenty bags. When Eli Whitney, +the inventor of the cotton-gin, applied for +his first patent in 1793, the total export of cotton +from the United States was less than ten thousand +bales. Fifty years later, the growth of this +industry, owing almost wholly to Whitney's +gin, had increased to millions of bales, and by +1860, the export amounted to four million bales.</p> + +<p>According to the estimate of Judge Johnson, +given in the most famous decision affecting the +cotton-gin, the debts of the South were paid off +by its aid, its capital was increased, and its lands +trebled in value. This famous device, the gift +of a young Northerner to the South, was rewarded +by thirty years of ingratitude, relieved +only by a few gleams of sunshine in the way of +justice, serving to make the injustice all the +more conspicuous. Whitney added hundreds +of millions to the wealth of the United States.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a><br /><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span> +His personal reward was countless lawsuits and +endless vexation of body and spirit. No more +conspicuous example can be cited of steady patience +and sweet-tempered perseverance.</p> + + +<p class="p2">Eli Whitney was born in Westborough, Worcester +County, Mass., December 8, 1765. His +parents belonged to that respectable class of society +who, by honest farming and kindred industries, +managed to provide well for the rising +family—the class from whom have arisen most of +those who in New England have attained to eminence +and usefulness. The indications of his +mechanical genius were noted at an early age. +Of his passion for mechanics, his sister gives +the following account:</p> + +<p>"Our father had a workshop and sometimes +made wheels of different kinds, and chairs. He +had a variety of tools and a lathe for turning +chair-posts. This gave my brother an opportunity +of learning the use of tools when very +young. He lost no time, but as soon as he could +handle tools he was always making something +in the shop, and seemed to prefer that to work +on the farm. After the death of our mother, +when our father had been absent from home two +or three days, on his return he inquired of the +housekeeper what the boys had been doing. She +told him what the elders had done. 'But what +has Eli been doing?' said he. She replied he +has been making a fiddle. 'Ah!' added he, despondently, +'I fear Eli will have to take his portion +in fiddles.'"</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span></p> + +<p>He was at this time about twelve years old. +The sister adds that his fiddle was finished +throughout like a common violin and made +pretty good music. It was examined by many +persons, and all pronounced it to be a model +piece of work for such a boy. From this time +he was always employed to repair violins, and +did many nice jobs that were executed to the +entire satisfaction and even to the astonishment +of his customers. His father's watch being the +greatest piece of mechanism that had yet presented +itself to his observation, he was extremely +desirous of examining its interior construction, +but was not permitted to do so. One Sunday +morning, observing that his father was going to +church and would leave at home the wonderful +little machine, he feigned illness as an apology for +not going. As soon as the family were out of +sight, he flew to the room where the watch hung +and took it down. He was so delighted with its +motion that he took it to pieces before he thought +of the consequences of his rash deed; for his +father was a stern parent, and punishment would +have been the reward of his idle curiosity, had the +mischief been detected. He, however, put the +works so neatly together that his father never +discovered his audacity until he himself told him +many years afterward.</p> + +<p>When Eli was thirteen years old his father +married a second time. His stepmother, among +her articles of furniture, had a handsome set of +table-knives that she valued very highly.</p> + +<p>One day Eli said: "I could make as good ones<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span> +if I had tools, and I could make the tools if I +had common tools to begin with;" his mother +laughed at him. But it so happened soon afterward +that one of the knives was broken, and he +made one exactly like it in every respect, except +the stamp of the blade. When he was fifteen or +sixteen years of age, he suggested to his father +an enterprise which clearly showed his capacity +for important work. The time being the Revolutionary +War, nails were in great demand and at +high prices. They were made chiefly by hand. +Whitney proposed to his father to get him a few +tools and allow him to set up the manufacture +of nails. His father consented, and the work +was begun. By extraordinary diligence he +found time to make tools for his own use and to +put in knife-blades, repair farm machinery, and +perform other little jobs beyond the skill of the +country workman. At this occupation the enterprising +boy worked, alone with great success +and with large profit to his father for two winters, +going on with the ordinary work of the +farm during the summer. He devised a plan for +enlarging the business, and managed to obtain +help from a fellow-laborer whom he picked up +when on a short journey of forty miles, in the +course of which he tells us that he called at every +workshop on the way and gleaned all the information +as to tools and methods that he could.</p> + +<p>At the close of the war the business of making +nails was no longer profitable; but the fashion +prevailing among the ladies of fastening on their +bonnets with long pins having appeared, he contrived<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span> +to make these pins with such skill that he +nearly monopolized the business, though he devoted +to it only such leisure as he could redeem +from the occupations of the farm. He also made +excellent walking-canes. At the age of nineteen +Whitney conceived the idea of getting a liberal +education; and partly by the results of his mechanical +industries, and partly by teaching the +village school, he was enabled so far to surmount +the difficulties in his way as to prepare himself +for the Freshman Class in Yale College, which he +entered in 1789. At college his mechanical propensity +frequently showed itself. He successfully +undertook, on one occasion, the repairing +of some of the philosophical apparatus. Soon +after taking his degree, in the autumn of 1792, +he engaged with a Georgia family as private +teacher, and through his engagement he made +the acquaintance of a certain General Greene, of +Savannah, who took a deep interest in him, and +with whom he began the study of law. While +living with the Greenes he noticed an embroidery-frame +used by Mrs. Greene, and about +which she complained, observing that it tore the +delicate threads of her work. Young Whitney, +eager to oblige his hostess, went to work and +speedily produced a frame on an entirely new +plan. The family were much delighted with it, +and considered it a wonderful piece of ingenuity.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Whitney_Watching_the_Cotton-Gin" id="Whitney_Watching_the_Cotton-Gin"></a> +<img src="images/081.jpg" width="400" height="275" alt="Whitney Watching the Cotton-Gin." /> +<span class="caption">Whitney Watching the Cotton-Gin.</span> +</div> + +<p>Not long afterward the Greenes were visited +by a party of gentlemen, chiefly officers who had +served under the general in the Revolutionary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span> +War. The conversation turned on the state of +agriculture. It was remarked that unfortunately +there was no means of cleaning the staple of +the green cotton-seed, which might otherwise be +profitably raised on land unsuitable for rice. But +until someone devised a machine which would +clean the cotton, it was vain to think of raising +it for market. Separating one pound of the +clean staple from the seed was a day's work for +a woman. The time usually devoted to the picking +of cotton was the evening, after the labor of +the field was over. Then the slaves—men, women, +and children—were collected in circles, with +one in the middle whose duty it was to rouse +the dosing and quicken the indolent. While +the company were engaged in this conversation, +Mrs. Greene said: "Gentlemen, apply to my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span> +young friend here, Mr. Whitney; he can make +anything." And she showed them the frame and +several other articles he had made. He modestly +disclaimed all pretensions to mechanical +genius, and replied that he had never seen cotton-seed.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, he immediately began upon the +task of inventing and constructing the machine +on which his fame depends. A Mr. Phineas +Miller, a neighbor, to whom he communicated +his design, warmly encouraged him, and gave +him a room in his house wherein to carry on his +operations. Here he began work with the disadvantage +of being obliged to manufacture his +own tools and draw his own wire—an article not +to be found in Savannah. Mr. Miller and Mrs. +Greene were the only persons who knew anything +of his occupation. Near the close of the +winter, 1793, the machine was so far completed +as to leave no doubt of its success. The person +who contributed most to the success of the undertaking, +after the inventor, was his friend, +Miller, a native of Connecticut and, a graduate of +Yale. Like Whitney, he had come to Georgia +as a private teacher, and after the death of General +Greene he married the widow. He was a +lawyer by profession, with a turn for mechanics. +He had some money and proposed to Whitney +to become his partner, he to be at the whole +expense of manufacturing the invention until +it should be patented. If the machine should +succeed, they agreed that the profits and advantages +should be divided between them. A<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span> +legal paper covering this agreement and establishing +the firm of Miller & Whitney, bears the +date of May 27, 1793.</p> + +<p>An invention so important to the agricultural +interests of the country could not long remain a +secret. The knowledge of it swept through the +State, and so great was the excitement on the +subject that crowds of persons came from all +parts to see the machine; it was not deemed safe +to gratify curiosity until the patent-right should +be secured. But so determined were some of +these people that neither law nor justice could +restrain them; they broke into the building by +night and carried off the machine. In this way +the public became possessed of the invention, +and before Whitney could complete his model +and secure his patent, a number of machines, +patterned after his, were in successful operation.</p> + +<p>The principle of the Whitney cotton-gin and +all other gins following its features is so well +known as to make it scarcely worth while to describe +it here. The different parts are two cylinders +of different diameters, mounted in a strong +wooden frame, one cylinder bearing a number +of circular saws fitted into grooves cut into the +cylinder. The other hollow cylinder is mounted +with brushes, the tips of whose bristles touch +the saw-teeth. The cotton is put into a hopper, +where it is met by the sharp teeth of the saws, +torn from the seed, and carried to a point where +the brushes sweep it off into a convenient receptacle. +The seeds are too large to pass between +the bars through which the saws protrude. This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span> +is the principle of the first machine, but many +improvements have been made since Whitney's +day. Nevertheless, by means of the cotton-gin, +even in its earliest shape, one man, with the aid +of two-horse power, could clean five thousand +pounds of cotton in a day.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="The_Cotton-Gin" id="The_Cotton-Gin"></a> +<img src="images/084.jpg" width="400" height="386" alt="The Cotton-Gin. (From the original model.)" /> +<span class="caption">The Cotton-Gin.<br />(From the original model.)</span> +</div> + +<p>As soon as the partnership of Miller & Whitney +was formed, the latter went to Connecticut +to perfect the machine, obtain the patent, and +manufacture for Georgia as many machines as +he thought would supply the demand. At once +there began between Whitney in Connecticut +and Miller in Georgia a correspondence relative<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span> +to the cotton-gin, which gives a complete history +of the extraordinary efforts made by the two +partners and the disappointments that fell to +their lot. The very first letter, written three +days after Whitney left, announces that encroachments +upon their rights had already begun. +"It will be necessary," says Miller, "to +have a considerable number of gins in readiness +to send out as soon as the patent is obtained in +order to satisfy the absolute demands and make +people's heads easy on the subject; for I am informed +of two other claimants for the honor of +the invention of the cotton-gin in addition to +those we knew before." At the close of the year +1793 Whitney was to return to Georgia with +his gins, where his partner had made arrangements +for beginning business. The importunity +of Miller's letters, written during this period, +urging him to come on, show how eager the +Georgia planters were to enter the new field of +enterprise that the genius of Whitney had +opened to them. Nor did they at first contemplate +stealing the invention. But the minds of +even the more honorable among the planters +were afterward deluded by various artifices set +on foot by designing rivals of Whitney with a +view to robbing him of his rights. One of the +greatest difficulties experienced by the partners +was the extreme scarcity of money, which embarrassed +them so much as to make it impossible +to construct machines fast enough.</p> + +<p>In April Whitney returned to Georgia. +Large crops of cotton had been planted, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span> +profits of which were to depend almost wholly +on the success of the gin. A formidable competitor, +the roller-gin, had also appeared, which +destroyed the seed by means of rollers, crushing +them between revolving cylinders instead of disengaging +them by means of teeth. The fragments +of seeds which remained in the cotton +made it much inferior to Whitney's gin, and it +was slower in operation. A still more dangerous +rival appeared in 1795, under the name of +the saw-gin. It was really Whitney's invention, +except that the teeth were cut in circular rings +of iron instead of being made of wire, as in the +earlier forms of the Whitney gin. The use of +such teeth had occurred to Whitney, as he established +by legal proof. They would have been +of no use except in connection with other parts +of his machine, and it was a palpable attempt to +invade his patent right. It was chiefly in reference +to this device that the endless lawsuits that +wore the life out of the partners were afterward +held.</p> + +<p>In March, 1795, after two years of struggle, +during which no progress seems to have been +made, although the value of the gin was proved, +Whitney went to New York, where he was detained +three weeks by fever. Upon reaching +New Haven he discovered that his shop, with +all his machines and papers, had been consumed +by fire. Thus he was suddenly reduced to bankruptcy +and was in debt $4,000 without any means +of payment. He was not, however, one to sink +under such trials; Miller showed the same buoyant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span> +spirit, and the following extract of a letter of +his to Whitney may be a useful lesson to young +men in trouble:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I think we ought to meet such events with +equanimity. We have been pursuing a valuable +object by honorable means, and I trust that all +our measures have been such as reason and virtue +must justify. It has pleased Providence to +postpone the attainment of this object. In the +midst of the reflections which your story has suggested, +and with feelings keenly awake to the +heavy, the extensive injury we have sustained, I +feel a secret joy and satisfaction that you possess +a mind in this respect similar to my own—that +you are not disheartened, that you do not +relinquish the pursuit, and that you will persevere, +and endeavor, at all events, to attain the +main object. This is exactly consonant to my +own determinations. I will devote all my time, +all my thoughts, all my exertions, and all the +money I can earn or borrow to encompass and +complete the business we have undertaken; and if +fortune should, by any future disaster, deny us the +boon we ask, we will at least deserve it. It shall +never be said that we have lost an object which +a little perseverance could have attained. I think, +indeed, it will be very extraordinary if two young +men in the prime of life, with some share of ingenuity, +and with a little knowledge of the world, a +great deal of industry, and a considerable command +of property, should not be able to sustain +such a stroke of misfortune as this, heavy as it is."</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span></p> + +<p>Miller winds up by suggesting to Whitney +that perhaps he can get help in New Haven by +offering twelve per cent. a year for money with +which to build a new shop, and the inventor +seems to have had some success in reorganizing +his affairs, even under such desperate conditions. +Word came at the same time from England that +manufacturers had condemned the cotton cleaned +by their machines on the ground that the staple +was greatly injured. This threatened a deathblow +to their hopes. At the time, 1796, they already +had thirty gins at different places in +Georgia, some worked by horses and oxen and +some by water. Some of these were still standing +a few years ago. The following extract of +a letter by Whitney will show the state of his +mind and affairs:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The extreme embarrassments which have +been for a long time accumulating upon me are +now become so great that it will be impossible +for me to struggle against them many days +longer. It has required my utmost exertions +to exist without making the least progress in +our business. I have labored hard against the +strong current of disappointment which has been +threatening to carry us down the cataract, but I +have labored with a shattered oar and struggled +in vain, unless some speedy relief is obtained.... +Life is but short at best, and six or +seven years out of the midst of it is to him who +makes it an immense sacrifice. My most unremitted +attention has been devoted to our business.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span> +I have sacrificed to it other objects from +which, before this time, I might certainly have +gained $20,000 or $30,000. My whole prospects +have been embarked in it, with the expectation +that I should before this time have realized something +from it."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The cotton of Whitney's gin was, however, +sought by merchants in preference to other +kinds, and respectable manufacturers testified in +his favor. Had it not been for the extensive and +shameful violations of their patent-right, the +partners might yet have succeeded; but these +encroachments had become so extensive as almost +to destroy its value. The issue of the first +important trial that they were able to obtain on +the merits of the gin is announced in the following +letter from Miller to Whitney, dated May +11, 1797:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The event of the first patent suit, after all +our exertions made in such a variety of ways, +has gone against us. The preposterous custom +of trying civil causes of this intricacy and magnitude +by a common jury, together with the imperfection +of the patent law, frustrated all our +views, and disappointed expectations which had +become very sanguine. The tide of popular +opinion was running in our favor, the judge was +well disposed toward us, and many decided +friends were with us, who adhered firmly to our +cause and interests. The judge gave a charge +to the jury pointedly in our favor; after which +the defendant himself told an acquaintance of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span> +his that he would give two thousand dollars +to be free from the verdict, and yet the jury +gave it against us, after a consultation of about +an hour. And having made the verdict general, +no appeal would lie.</p> + +<p>"On Monday morning, when the verdict was +rendered, we applied for a new trial, but the +judge refused it to us on the ground that the jury +might have made up their opinion on the defect +of the law, which makes an aggression consist of +making, devising, and using or selling; whereas +we could only charge the defendant with using.</p> + +<p>"Thus, after four years of assiduous labor, +fatigue, and difficulty, are we again set afloat by +a new and most unexpected obstacle. Our hopes +of success are now removed to a period still +more distant than before, while our expenses are +realized beyond all controversy."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Great efforts were made to obtain trial in a +second suit in Savannah the following May, and +a number of witnesses were collected from various +parts of the country, all to no purpose, for +the judge failed to appear, and in the meantime, +owing to the failure of the first suit, encroachments +on the patent-right had multiplied prodigiously.</p> + +<p>In April, 1799, nearly a year later, and two +years after their first legal rebuff, Miller writes +as follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The prospect of making anything by ginning +in this State is at an end. Surreptitious gins +are erected in every part of the country, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span> +jurymen at Augusta have come to an understanding +among themselves that they will never +give a cause in our favor, let the merits of the +case be as they may."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The company would now have gladly relinquished +the plan of making their own machines, +and confined their operations to the sale of patent-rights; +but few would buy the right to a machine +which could be used with impunity without purchase, +and those few usually gave notes instead +of cash, which they afterward, to a great extent, +avoided paying, either by obtaining a verdict +from the juries declaring them void, or by contriving +to postpone the collection till they were +barred by the Statute of Limitations, a period of +only four years. The agent of Miller & Whitney, +who was despatched on a collecting tour +through the State of Georgia, informed his employers +that such obstacles were thrown in his +way by one or the other of these causes that he +was unable to collect money enough to pay his +expenses. It was suggested that an application +to the Legislature of South Carolina to purchase +the patent-right for that State would be successful. +Whitney accordingly repaired to Columbia, +and the business was brought before the +Legislature in December, 1801. An extract from +a letter by Whitney at this time shows the nature +of the contract thus made:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I have been at this place a little more than +two weeks attending the Legislature. A few +hours previous to their adjournment they voted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span> +to purchase for the State of South Carolina my +patent-right to the machine for cleaning cotton +at $50,000, of which sum $20,000 is to be paid +in hand, and the remainder in three annual payments +of $10,000 each." He adds: "We get +but a song for it in comparison with the worth +of the thing, but it is securing something. It +will enable Miller & Whitney to pay their debts +and divide something between them."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In December, 1802, Whitney negotiated the +sale of his patent-right with the State of North +Carolina. The Legislature laid a tax of 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> +upon every saw (some of the gins had forty saws) +employed in ginning cotton, to be continued for +five years; and after deducting the expenses +of collection the returns were faithfully passed +over to the patentee. This compensation was +regarded by Whitney as more liberal than that +received from any other source. About the +same time Mr. Goodrich, the agent of the company, +entered into a similar negotiation with +Tennessee, which State had by this time begun +to realize the importance of the invention. +The Legislature passed a law laying a tax of 37½ +cents per annum on every saw used, for the +period of four years. Thus far the prospects +were growing favorable to the patentees, when +the Legislature of South Carolina unexpectedly +annulled the contract which they had made, suspended +further payment of the balance, and sued +for the refunding of what had been already +paid. When Whitney first heard of the transactions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span> +of the South Carolina Legislature, he +was at Raleigh, where he had just completed +a negotiation with the Legislature of North +Carolina. In a letter written to Miller at this +time, he remarks:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I am, for my own part, more vexed than +alarmed by their extraordinary proceedings. I +think it behooves us to be very cautious and +very circumspect in our measures, and even in +our remarks with regard to it. Be cautious what +you say or publish till we meet our enemies in +a court of justice, where, if they have any sensibility +left, we will make them very much +ashamed of their childish conduct."</p></blockquote> + +<p>But that Whitney felt keenly the severities +afterward practised against him is evident from +the tenor of the remonstrance which he presented +to the Legislature:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The subscriber avers that he has manifested +no other than a disposition to fulfil all the stipulations +entered into with the State of South +Carolina with punctuality and good faith; and +he begs leave to observe further, that to have industriously, +laboriously, and exclusively devoted +many years of the prime of his life to the invention +and the improvement of a machine from +which the citizens of South Carolina have already +realized immense profits, which is worth to them +millions, and from which their prosperity must +continue to derive the most important profits, and +in return to be treated as a felon, a swindler, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span> +a villain, has stung him to the very soul. And +when he considers that this cruel persecution is +inflicted by the very persons who are enjoying +these great benefits, and expressly for the purpose +of preventing his ever deriving the least +advantage from his own labors, the acuteness of +his feelings is altogether inexpressible."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Doubts, it seems, had arisen in the public mind +as to the validity of the patent. Great exertions +had been made in Georgia, where, it will +be remembered, hostilities were first declared +against him, to show that his title to the invention +was unsound, and that "somebody" in +Switzerland had conceived it before him; and +that the improved form of the machine with +saws, instead of wire teeth, did not come within +the patent, having been introduced by one +Hodgin Holmes. The popular voice, stimulated +by the most sordid methods, was now raised +against Whitney throughout all the cotton States. +Tennessee followed the example of South Carolina, +annulling the contract made with him. And +the attempt was made in North Carolina. But a +committee of the Legislature, to whom it was referred, +reported in Whitney's favor, declaring +"that the contract ought to be fulfilled with +punctuality and good faith," which resolution +was adopted by both Houses. There were also +high-minded men in South Carolina who were +indignant at the dishonorable measures adopted +by their Legislature of 1803; their sentiments +impressed the community so favorably with regard<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span> +to Whitney that, at the session of 1804, the +Legislature not only rescinded what the previous +one had done, but signified their respect for +Whitney by marked commendations.</p> + +<p>Miller died on December 7, 1803. In the +earlier stages of the enterprise he had indulged +high hopes of a great fortune; perpetual disappointments +appear to have attended him through +life. Whitney was now left alone to contend +single-handed against the difficulties which had, +for a series of years, almost broken down the +spirits of the partners. The light, moreover, +which seemed to be breaking, proved but the +twilight of prosperity. The favorable issue of +Whitney's affairs in South Carolina, and the generous +receipts he obtained from his contract +with North Carolina, relieved him, however, +from the embarrassments under which he had +so long groaned, and made him, in some degree, +independent. Still, no small portion of the funds +thus collected in North and South Carolina was +expended in carrying on trials and endless lawsuits +in Georgia.</p> + +<p>Finally, in the United States Court, held in +Georgia, December, 1807, Whitney's patent obtained +a most important decision in its favor +against a trespasser named Fort. It was on this +trial that Judge Johnson gave a most celebrated +decision in the following words:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"To support the originality of the invention, +the complainants have produced a variety of +depositions of witnesses, examined under commission,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span> +whose examinations expressly prove the +origin, progress, and completion of the machine +of Whitney, one of the copartners. Persons who +were made privy to his first discovery testify to +the several experiments which he made in their +presence before he ventured to expose his invention +to the scrutiny of the public eye. But it +is not necessary to resort to such testimony to +maintain this point. The jealousy of the artist +to maintain that reputation which his ingenuity +has justly acquired, has urged him to unnecessary +pains on this subject. There are circumstances +in the knowledge of all mankind which +prove the originality of this invention more satisfactorily +to the mind than the direct testimony +of a host of witnesses. The cotton-plant furnished +clothing to mankind before the age of +Herodotus. The green seed is a species much +more productive than the black, and by nature +adapted to a much greater variety of climate, +but by reason of the strong adherence of the +fibre to the seed, without the aid of some more +powerful machine for separating it than any formerly +known among us, the cultivation of it +would never have been made an object. The +machine of which Mr. Whitney claims the invention +so facilitates the preparation of this species +for use that the cultivation of it has suddenly +become an object of infinitely greater national +importance than that of the other species ever +can be. Is it, then, to be imagined that if this +machine had been before discovered, the use of +it would ever have been lost, or could have been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span> +confined to any tract or country left unexplored +by commercial enterprise? But it is unnecessary +to remark further upon this subject. A number +of years have elapsed since Mr. Whitney took +out his patent, and no one has produced or pretended +to prove the existence of a machine of +similar construction or use.</p> + +<p>"With regard to the utility of this discovery +the court would deem it a waste of time to dwell +long upon this topic. Is there a man who hears +us who has not experienced its utility? The +whole interior of the Southern States was languishing +and its inhabitants emigrating for want +of some object to engage their attention and employ +their industry, when the invention of this machine +at once opened views to them which set the +whole country in active motion. From childhood +to age it has presented to us a lucrative +employment. Our debts have been paid off, our +capitals have increased, and our lands trebled +themselves in value. We cannot express the +weight of the obligation which the country owes +to this invention. The extent of it cannot now +be seen. Some faint presentiment may be +formed from the reflection that cotton is rapidly +supplanting wool, flax, silk, and even furs in +manufactures, and may one day profitably supply +the use of specie in our East India trade. +Our sister States also participate in the benefits +of this invention, for besides affording the raw +material for their manufacturers, the bulkiness +and quantity of the article affords a valuable +employment for their shipping."</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span></p> + +<p>The influence of this decision, however, availed +Whitney very little, for the term of his patent +had nearly expired. During Miller's life more +than sixty suits had been instituted in Georgia, +and but a single decision on the merits of the +claim was obtained. In prosecution of his +troublesome business, Whitney had made six +different journeys to Georgia, several of which +were accomplished by land at a time when the +difficulties of such journeys were exceedingly +great. A gentleman who was well acquainted +with Whitney's affairs in the South, and sometimes +acted as his legal adviser, says that in all +his experience in the thorny profession of the +law he never saw a case of such perseverance +under prosecution. He adds: "Nor do I believe +that I ever knew any other man who would +have met them with equal coolness and firmness, +or who would finally have obtained even the +partial success which he did. He always called +on me in New York on his way South when going +to attend his endless trials and to meet the +mischievous contrivances of men, who seemed +inexhaustible in their resources of evil. Even +now, after thirty years, my head aches to recollect +his narratives of new trials, fresh disappointments, +and accumulated wrongs."</p> + +<p>In 1798 Whitney had become deeply impressed +with the uncertainty of all his hopes founded +upon the cotton-gin, and began to think seriously +of devoting himself to some business in which +his superior ingenuity, seconded by uncommon +industry, would conduct him by a slow but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span> +sure road to a competent fortune. It may be +considered indicative of solid judgment and a +well-balanced mind that he did not, as is so frequently +the case with men of inventive genius, +become so poisoned with the hopes of vast +wealth as to be disqualified for making a reasonable +provision for life by the sober earnings +of private industry. The enterprise which he +selected in accordance with these views was +the manufacture of arms for the United States. +Through Oliver Wolcott, then Secretary of the +Treasury, he obtained a contract for the manufacture +of 10,000 stand of arms, 4,000 of which +were to be delivered before the last of September +of the ensuing year, 1799. Whitney purchased +for his works a site called East Rock, +near New Haven, now known as Whitneyville, +and justly admired for the romantic beauty of +its scenery. A water-fall offered the necessary +power for the machinery.</p> + +<p>Here he began operations with great zeal. His +machinery was yet to be built, his material collected, +and even his workmen to be taught, and +that in a business with which he was imperfectly +acquainted.</p> + +<p>A severe winter retarded his operations and +rendered him incompetent to fulfil the contract. +Only 500 instead of 4,000 stands were delivered +the first year, and eight years instead of two +were found necessary for completing the whole. +During the eight years Whitney was occupied +in performing this work, he applied himself to +business with the most exemplary diligence, rising<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span> +every morning as soon as it was day, and at +night setting everything in order in all parts of +the establishment. His genius impressed itself +on every part of the factory, extending even +to the most common tools, most of which received +some peculiar modification which improved +them in accuracy or efficiency. His machines +for making the several parts of the musket +were made to operate with the greatest possible +degree of uniformity and precision. The object +at which he aimed, and which he fully accomplished, +was to make the same parts of different +guns, as the locks, for instance, as much like each +other as the successive impressions of a copper-plate +engraving, and it has generally been considered +that Whitney greatly improved the way +of manufacturing arms and laid his country +under permanent obligations by augmenting +our facilities for national defence. In 1812 he +made a contract to manufacture for the United +States 15,000 stand of arms, and in the meantime +a similar contract with the State of New +York. Several other persons made contracts +with the Government at about the same time and +attempted the manufacture of muskets. The +result of their efforts was a complete failure, +and in some instances they expended a considerable +fortune in addition to the amount received +for their work. In 1822 Calhoun, then Secretary +of War, admitted in a conversation with Whitney +that the Government was saving $25,000 +a year at the public armories alone by his improvements, +and it should be remembered that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span> +the utility of Whitney's labors during this part of +his life was not limited to this particular business.</p> + +<p>In 1812 Whitney made application to Congress +for the renewal of his patent for the cotton-gin. +In his memorial he presented the history of the +struggles he had been forced to make in defence +of his rights, observing that he had been unable +to obtain any decision on the merits of his claim +until thirteen years of his patent had expired. +He states also that his invention had been a +source of opulence to thousands of the citizens +of the United States; that as a labor-saving +machine it would enable one man to perform the +work of a thousand men, and that it furnished to +the whole family of mankind, at a very cheap +rate, the most essential material for their clothing. +Although so great advantages had already +been experienced, and the prospect of future +benefits was so promising, still, many of those +whose interest had been most promoted and the +value of whose property had been most enhanced +by this invention, had obstinately persisted in +refusing to make any compensation to the inventor. +From the State in which he had first +made, and where, he had first introduced his +machine, and which had derived the most signal +benefits—Georgia—he had received nothing; +and from no State had he received the amount +of half a cent per pound on the cotton cleaned +with his machines in one year. Estimating the +value of the labor of one man at twenty cents a +day, the whole amount which had been received +by him for his invention was not equal to the value<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span> +of the labor saved in one hour by his machines +then in use in the United States. He continues:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"It is objected that if the patentee succeeds in +procuring the renewal of his patent he will be +too rich. There is no probability that the patentee, +if the term of his patent were extended +for twenty years, would ever obtain for his invention +one-half as much as many an individual +will gain by the use of it. Up to the present +time the whole amount of what he had acquired +from this source, after deducting his expenses, +does not exceed one-half the sum which a single +individual has gained by the use of the machine +in one year. It is true that considerable sums +have been obtained from some of the States +where the machine is used, but no small portion +of these sums has been expended in prosecuting +his claim in a State where nothing has been obtained, +and where his machine has been used to +the greatest advantage."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Notwithstanding these cogent arguments, the +application was rejected by the courts. Some +liberal-minded and enlightened men from the +cotton districts favored the petition, but a majority +of the members from that part of the Union +were warmly opposed to granting it. In a letter +to Robert Fulton, Whitney says:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The difficulties with which I have to contend +have originated, principally, in the want of a disposition +in mankind to do justice. My invention +was new and distinct from every other; it stood +alone. It was not interwoven with anything<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span> +before known; and it can seldom happen that an +invention or improvement is so strongly marked +and can be so clearly and specifically identified; +and I have always believed that I should have +no difficulty in causing my right to be respected, +if it had been less valuable, and been used only +by a small portion of the community. But the +use of this machine being immensely profitable +to almost every planter in the cotton districts, +all were interested in trespassing upon the patent-right, +and each kept the other in countenance. +Demagogues made themselves popular by misrepresentations +and unfounded clamors, both +against the right and against the law made for +its protection. Hence there arose associations +and combinations to oppose both. At one time, +but few men in Georgia dared to come into court +and testify to the most simple facts within their +knowledge, relative to the use of the machine. In +one instance I had great difficulty in proving that +the machine had been used in Georgia, although +at the same moment there were three separate +sets of this machinery in motion within fifty yards +of the building in which the court sat, and all so +near that the rattling of the wheels was distinctly +heard on the steps of the court-house."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Such perseverance, patience, and uncommon +skill were not, however, to go wholly unrewarded. +Whitney's factory of arms in New +Haven made money for him, and the Southern +States were not all guilty of ingratitude. Moreover, +in his private life he was extremely fortunate.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span> +In January, 1817, he married Henrietta +Edwards, the youngest daughter of Judge Pierpont +Edwards, of Connecticut. A son and three +daughters contributed to the sunshine of the +close of a somewhat stormy and eventful life. +His last years were his happiest. He found +prosperity and honor in New Haven, where he +died on January 8, 1825, after a tedious illness.</p> + +<p>In person Whitney was of more than usual +height, with much dignity of manner and an +open, pleasant face. Among his particular +friends no man was more esteemed. Some of +the earliest of his intimate associates were among +the latest. His sense of honor was high, and his +feeling of resentment and indignation under injustice +correspondingly strong. He could, however, +be cool when his opponents were hot, and +his strong sense of the injuries he had suffered +did not impair the natural serenity of his temper. +The value of his famous invention has so steadily +grown that its money importance to this country +can scarcely be estimated in figures. His tomb +in New Haven is after a model of that of Scipio, +at Rome, and bears the following inscription:</p> + +<p class="center"> +<big>ELI WHITNEY,</big><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">The Inventor of the Cotton-Gin.</span><br /> +<br /> +OF USEFUL SCIENCE AND ARTS, THE EFFICIENT PATRON<br /> +AND IMPROVER.<br /> +<br /> +IN THE SOCIAL RELATIONS OF LIFE, A MODEL OF EXCELLENCE.<br /> +<br /> +WHILE PRIVATE AFFECTION WEEPS AT HIS TOMB, HIS<br /> +COUNTRY HONORS HIS MEMORY.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Born Dec. 8, 1765. Died Jan. 8, 1825.</span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="chap" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + + +<h3>ELIAS HOWE.</h3> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Elias_Howe" id="Elias_Howe"></a> +<img src="images/106.jpg" width="400" height="534" alt="Elias Howe." /> +<span class="caption">Elias Howe.</span> +</div> + +<p>In looking over the history of great inventions +it is remarkable how uniformly those discoveries +that helped mankind most have been derided, +abused, and opposed by the very classes which +in the end they were destined to bless. Nearly +every great invention has had literally to be +forced into popular acceptance. The bowmen +of the Middle Ages resisted the introduction of +the musket; the sedan-chair carriers would not +allow hackney carriages to be used; the stagecoach +lines attempted by all possible devices to +block the advance of the railway. When, in +1707, Dr. Papin showed his first rude conception +of a steamboat, it was seized by the boatmen, who +feared that it would deprive them of a living. +Kay was mobbed in Lancashire when he tried to +introduce his fly-shuttle; Hargreaves had his +spinning-frame destroyed by a Blackburn mob; +Crampton had to hide his spinning-mule in a +lumber-room for fear of a similar fate; Arkwright, +the inventor of the spinning-frame, was denounced +as the enemy of the working-classes +and his mill destroyed; Jacquard narrowly escaped +being thrown into the river Rhone by a +crowd of furious weavers when his new loom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a><br /><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span> +was first put into operation; Cartwright had to +abandon his power-loom for years because of +the bitter animosity of the weavers toward it. +Riots were organized in Nottingham against +the use of the stocking-loom.</p> + +<p>It is not therefore surprising that the greatest +labor-saving machine of domestic life, the sewing-machine, +should have been received with anything +but thanks. Howe was abused, ridiculed, +and denounced as the enemy of man, and especially +of poor sewing-women, the very class whose +toil he has done so much to lighten. Curses instead +of blessings were showered upon him during +the first years that followed the successful +working of his wonderful machine. Fortunately +for the inventor, the age of persecution had almost +passed, and Howe lived to receive the rewards +he so fully deserved.</p> + +<p>Elias Howe, Jr., was born in Spencer, Mass., in +1819. His father was a farmer and miller, and +the eight children of the family, as was common +with all poor people of the time, were early +taught to do light work of one kind or another. +When Elias was six years old he was set with his +brothers and sisters at sticking wire teeth through +the leather straps used for cotton-cards. When +older he helped his father in the mill, and in summer +picked up a little book knowledge at the district +school. As a boy he was frail in constitution, +and he was slightly lame. When eleven +years old he attempted farm labor for a neighbor, +but, was not strong enough for it and returned +to his father's mill, where he remained<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span> +until he was sixteen. It was here that he first +began to like machinery. A friend who had +visited Lowell gave him such an account of that +bustling city and its big mills that young Howe, +becoming dissatisfied, obtained his father's consent +to leave, and found employment in one of +the Lowell cotton-mills. The financial crash of +1837 stopped the looms, and Howe obtained a +place in a Cambridge machine-shop in which his +cousin, Nathaniel P. Banks, afterward Governor +of Massachusetts, also worked. Howe's first job +happened to be upon a new hemp-carding machine +of Treadwell.</p> + +<p>At the age of twenty-one Howe married and +moved to Boston, finding employment in the machine-shop +of Ari Davis. He is described as being a +capital workman, more full of resources +than of plodding industry, however, and rather +apt to spend more time in suggesting a better +way of doing a job than in following instructions. +With such a disposition, and inasmuch as his suggestions +were not considered of value, he had +rather a hard time of it. Three children were +born to the young couple. As Howe's earnings +were slight and his health none of the best, his +wife tried to add to the family income, and at +evening, when Howe lay exhausted upon the bed +after his day's work, the young mother patiently +sewed. Her toil was to some purpose. With +his natural bent for mechanics, Howe could not +be a silent witness of this incessant and poorly +paid labor without becoming interested in affording +aid. Moreover, he was constantly employed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span> +upon new spinning and weaving machines for doing +work that for thousands of years had been +done painfully and slowly by hand. The possibility +of sewing by machinery had often been +spoken of before that day, but the problem +seemed to present insuperable difficulties.</p> + +<p>Elias Howe had, as we know, peculiar fitness for +such work. He had seen much of inventors and +inventions, and knew something of the dangers +and disappointments in store for him. In the intervals +between important jobs at the shop he +nursed the idea of a sewing-machine, keeping +his own counsel. In his first rude attempt it appeared +to him, that machine-sewing could only +be accomplished with very coarse thread or +string; fine thread would not stand the strain. +For his first machine he made a needle pointed +at both ends, with an eye in the middle; it was +arranged to work up and down, carrying the +thread through at each thrust. It was only +after more than a year's work upon this device +that he decided it would not do. This first +attempt was a sort of imitation of sewing by +hand, the machine following more or less the +movements of the hand. Finally, after repeated +failures, it became plain to him that something +radically different was needed, and that there +must be another stitch, and perhaps another +needle or half a dozen needles, in such a machine. +He then conceived the idea of using two threads, +and making the stitch by means of a shuttle and +a curved needle with the eye near the point. +This was the real solution of the problem. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span> +October, 1844, he made a rough model of his +first sewing-machine, all of wood and wire, and +found that it would actually sew.</p> + +<p>In one of the earliest accounts of the invention +it is thus described: "He used a needle +and a shuttle of novel construction, and combined +them with holding surfaces, feed mechanism, +and other devices as they had never before +been brought together in one machine.... +One of the principal features of Mr. Howe's invention +is the combination of a grooved needle +having an eye near its point, and vibrating in the +direction of its length, with a side-pointed shuttle +for effecting a locked stitch, and forming, with +the threads, one on each side of the cloth, a firm +and lasting seam not easily ripped."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Howe had given up work as a +machinist and had moved to his father's house +in Cambridge, where the elder Howe had a +shop for the cutting of palm-leaf used in the +manufacture of hats. Here Elias and his little +family lived, and in the garret the inventor put +up a lathe upon which he made the parts of his +sewing-machine. To provide for his family he +did such odd jobs as he could find; but it was +hard work to get bread, to say nothing of butter, +and to make matters worse his father lost his shop +by fire. Elias knew that his sewing-machine +would work, but he had no money wherewith to +buy the materials for a machine of steel and iron, +and without such a machine he could not hope to +interest capital in it. He needed at least $500 with +which to prove the value of his great invention.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span></p> + +<p>Fortune threw in his way a coal and wood +dealer of Cambridge, named Fisher, who had +some money. Fisher liked the invention and +agreed to board Howe and his family, to give +Howe a workshop in his house, and to advance +the $500 necessary for the construction of a first +machine. In return he was to become a half +owner in the patent should Howe succeed in obtaining +one. In December, 1844, Howe accordingly +moved into Fisher's house, and here the +new marvel was brought into the world. All +that winter Howe worked over his device in +Fisher's garret, making many changes as unforeseen +difficulties arose. He worked all day, and +sometimes nearly all night, succeeding by April, +1845, in sewing a seam four yards long with his +machine. By the middle of May the machine +was completed, and in July Howe sewed with it +the seams of two woollen suits, one for himself +and the other for Fisher; the sewing was so well +done that it promised to outlast the cloth. For +many years this machine was exhibited in a shop +in New York. It showed how completely, at +really the first attempt, Howe had mastered the +enormous difficulties in his way. Its chief features +are those upon which were founded all the +sewing-machines that followed.</p> + +<p>Late in 1845 Howe obtained his first patent +and began to take means to introduce his sewing-machine +to the public. He first offered it to +the tailors of Boston, who admitted its usefulness, +but assured him that it would never be +adopted, as it would ruin their trade. Other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span> +efforts were equally unsuccessful; the more perfectly +the machine did its work, the more obstinate +and determined seemed to be the resistance +to it. Everyone admitted and praised the ingenuity +of the invention, but no one would invest a +dollar in it. Fisher became disheartened and +withdrew from the partnership, and Howe and +his family moved back into his father's house.</p> + +<p>For a time the poor inventor abandoned his +machine and obtained a place as engineer on a +railway, driving a locomotive, until his health +entirely broke down. Forced to turn again to +his beloved sewing-machine for want of anything +better to do, Howe decided to send his brother +Amasa to England with a machine. Amasa +reached London in October, 1846, and met a certain +William Thomas, to whom he explained the +invention. Thomas was much impressed with +its possibilities and offered $1,250 for the machine +and also to engage Elias Howe at $15 a +week if he would enter his business of umbrella +and corset maker. This was at least a livelihood +to the latter, and he sailed for England, where +for the next eight months he worked for Thomas, +whom he found an uncommonly hard master. +He was indeed so harshly treated that, although +his wife and three children had arrived in London, +he threw up his situation. For a time his +condition was a piteous one. He was in a strange +country, without friends or money. For days at +a time the little family were without more than +crusts to live upon.</p> + +<p>Believing that he could struggle along better<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span> +alone, Howe sent his family home with the first +few dollars that he could obtain from the other +side and remained in London. There were certain +things which caused him to hope for better +times ahead. But such hopes were delusive, it +seems, and after some months of hardship he +followed his family to this country, pawning his +model and his patent papers in order to obtain +the necessary money for the passage. As he +landed in New York with less than a dollar in his +pocket, he received news that his wife was dying +of consumption in Cambridge. He had no +money for travelling by rail, and he was too +feeble to attempt the journey on foot. It took +him some days to obtain the money for his fare +to Boston, but he arrived in time to be present +at the death-bed of his wife. Before he could +recover from this blow he had news that the +ship by which he had sent home the few household +goods still remaining to him had gone to +the bottom.</p> + +<p>This was poor Howe's darkest hour. Others +had seen the value of the sewing-machine, and +during his absence in England several imitations +of it had been made and sold to great advantage +by unscrupulous mechanics, who had paid no attention +to the rights of the inventor. Such machines +were already spoken of as wonders by +the newspapers, and were beginning to be used +in several industries. Howe's patent was so +strong that it was not difficult to find money to +defend it, once the practical value of the invention +had been well established, and in August,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span> +1850, he began several suits to make his rights +clear. At the same time he moved to New +York, where he began in a small way to manufacture +machines in partnership with a business +man named Bliss, who undertook to sell +them.</p> + +<p>It was not until Howe's rights to the invention +had been fully established, which was done by +the decision of Judge Sprague, in 1854, that the +real value of the sewing-machine as a money-making +venture began to be apparent and even +then its great importance was so little realized, +even by Bliss, who was in the business and died +in 1855, that Howe was enabled to buy the interest +of his heirs for a small sum. It was during +these efforts to introduce the sewing-machine +that occurred what were known as the sewing-machine +riots—disturbances of no special importance, +however—fomented by labor leaders +in the New York shops in which cheap clothing +was manufactured. Howe's sewing-machine +was denounced as a menace to the thousands of +men and women who worked in these shops, and +in several establishments the first Howe machines +introduced were so injured by mischievous persons +as to retard the success of the experiment +for nearly a year. Failing to stop their introduction +by such means a public demonstration +against them was organized and for a time +threatened such serious trouble that some of the +large shops gave up the use of the machine; but +in small establishments employing but a few +workmen they continued to be used and were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span> +soon found to be so indispensable that all opposition +faded away.</p> + +<p>The patent suits forced upon Howe by a number +of infringers were costly drains upon the inventor, +but in the end all other manufacturers +were compelled to pay tribute to him, and in six +years his royalties grew from $300 to more than +$200,000 a year. In 1863 his royalties were estimated +at $4,000 a day. At the Paris Exposition +of 1867 he was awarded a gold medal and the +ribbon of the Legion of Honor.</p> + +<p>Howe's health, never strong, was so thoroughly +broken by the years of struggle and hardship he +met with while trying to introduce his machine +that he never completely recovered. If honors +and money were any comfort to him, his last +years must have been happy ones, for his invention +made him famous, and he had been enough +of a workingman to recognize the blessing he +had conferred upon millions of women released +from the slavery of the needle; he had answered +Hood's "Song of the Shirt." He died on October +3, 1867, at his home in Brooklyn, N.Y.</p> + +<p>Those who knew Howe personally speak of +him as rather a handsome man, with a head +somewhat like Franklin's and a reserved, quiet +manner. His bitter struggle against poverty +and disease left its impress upon him even to the +last. One trait frequently mentioned was his +readiness to find good points in the thousand and +one variations and sometimes improvements +upon his invention. During the years 1858-67, +when he died, there were recorded nearly three<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span> +hundred patents affecting the sewing-machine, +taken out by other inventors. Howe was always +ready to help along such improvements by advice +and often by money. He fought sturdily +for his rights, but once those conceded he was a +generous rival.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V.</h2> + + +<h3>SAMUEL F.B. MORSE.</h3> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="SFB_Morse" id="SFB_Morse"></a> +<img src="images/119.jpg" width="400" height="404" alt="S.F.B. Morse." /> +<span class="caption">S.F.B. Morse.</span> +</div> + +<p>Samuel Finley Breese Morse was the eldest +son of the Rev. Jedediah Morse, an eminent +New England divine. The Rev. Samuel Finley, +D.D., second president of the College of New +Jersey, Princeton, was his maternal great-grandfather, +after whom he was named. Breese was +the maiden name of his mother. The famous inventor +of the telegraph was born at the foot of +Breed's Hill, Charlestown, Mass., April 27, 1791.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span> +Dr. Belknap, of Boston, writing to Postmaster-General +Hazard, New York, says:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Birthplace_of_SFB_Morse" id="Birthplace_of_SFB_Morse"></a> +<img src="images/117.jpg" width="400" height="291" alt="Birthplace of S.F.B. Morse, Built 1775." /> +<span class="caption">Birthplace of S.F.B. Morse, Built 1775.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Congratulate the Monmouth judge (Mr. +Breese, the grandfather) on the birth of a grandson. +Next Sunday he is to be loaded with +names, not quite so many as the Spanish ambassador +who signed the treaty of peace of 1783, +but only four. As to the child, I saw him asleep, +so can say nothing of his eye, or his genius peeping +through it. He may have the sagacity of a +Jewish rabbi, or the profundity of a Calvin, or +the sublimity of a Homer for aught I know, but +time will bring forth all things."</p> + +<p>Jedediah Morse studied theology under the +Rev. Dr. Jonathan Edwards. Before he began +preaching, and while teaching school in New +Haven, he began his "American Geography," +which was afterward indentified with his name. +He began his ministry at Norwich, whence he +was called back to be tutor in Yale. His health +was inadequate to the work and he went to +Georgia, returning to Charlestown, Mass., as +pastor of the First Congregational Church, on +the day that Washington was inaugurated as +President in New York, April 30, 1789. Dr. +Eliot, speaking of Jedediah Morse, said: "What +an astonishing impetus that man has!" President +Dwight said: "He is as full of resources +as an egg is of meat." Daniel Webster spoke of +him as "always thinking, always writing, always +talking, always acting."</p> + +<p>Morse's mother, Elizabeth Anne Breese, came +of good Scotch-Irish stock. She was married to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span> +Jedediah Morse in 1789, and was noted as a calm, +judicious, and thinking woman, with a will of her +own. When the child, Samuel F.B. Morse, was +four years old he was sent to school to an old +lady within a few hundred yards of the parsonage. +She was an invalid, unable to leave her chair, and +governed her unruly flock with a long rattan +which reached across the small room in which it +was gathered. One of her punishments was pinning +the culprit to her own dress, and Morse remarks +that his first attempts at drawing were discouraged +in this fashion. Perhaps the fact that +he selected the old lady's face as a model had +something to do with it. At the age of seven he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span> +was sent to school at Andover, where he was fitted +for entering Phillips Academy, and prepared +here for Yale, joining the class of 1807. When +he was thirteen years old, at Andover, he wrote +a sketch of Demosthenes and sent it to his father, +by whom it was preserved as a mark of the +learning and taste of the child. Dr. Timothy +Dwight was then president of Yale and a warm +friend of the elder Morse. Finley Morse, as he +was then known, received therefore the deep personal +interest of Dr. Dwight. Jeremiah Day was +professor of natural philosophy in Yale College, +and under his instruction Morse began the study +of electricity, receiving perhaps those impressions +that were destined to produce so great an +influence upon him and, through him, upon this +century. Professor Day was then young and +ardent in the pursuit of science, kindling readily +the enthusiasm of his students. He afterward became +president of the college. There was at the +same time in the faculty Benjamin Silliman, who +was professor of chemistry, and near whom Morse +resided for several years. Years afterward the +testimony of Professors Day and Silliman was +given in court, when it was important, in the +defence of his claim to priority in the invention of +the telegraph. Through them Morse was able to +show that he was early interested in the study of +chemistry and electricity. During this litigation +Morse did not know that there were scores of +letters, written by him as a young student to his +father, among the papers of Dr Jedediah Morse, +that would have shown conclusively his interest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span> +and aptitude in these studies. The papers were +brought to light when the life of Morse by +Prime came to be written.</p> + +<p>The first part of Morse's life was devoted to +art. At a very early age he showed his taste in +this direction, and at the age of fifteen painted a +fairly good picture in water colors of a room in +his father's house, with his parents, himself, and +two brothers around a table. This picture used +to hang in his home in New York by the side of +his last painting. From that time his desire to become +an artist haunted him through his collegiate +life. In February, 1811, he painted a picture, now +in the office of the mayor of Charlestown, Mass., +depicting the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, +which, with a landscape painted at about +the same time, decided his father, by the advice of +Stuart, to permit him to visit Europe with Washington +Allston. He bore letters to West and to +Copley, from both of whom he received the +kindest attention and encouragement.</p> + +<p>As a test for his fitness for a place as student +in the Royal Academy, Morse made a drawing +from a small cast of the Farnese Hercules. He +took this to West, who examined the drawing +carefully and handed it back, saying: "Very +well, sir, very well; go on and finish it." "It +is finished," said the expectant student. "Oh, +no," said the president. "Look here, and here, +and here," pointing out many unfinished places +which had escaped the eye of the young artist. +Morse quickly observed the defects, spent a week +in further perfecting his drawing, and then took<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span> +it to West, confident that it was above criticism. +The venerable president of the Academy bestowed +more praise than before and, with a pleasant +smile, handed it back to Morse, saying: +"Very well, indeed, sir. Go on and finish it." "Is +it not finished?" inquired the almost discouraged +student. "See," said West, "you have not +marked that muscle, nor the articulation of the +finger-joints." Three days more were spent +upon the drawing, when it was taken back to the +implacable critic. "Very clever, indeed," said +West; "very clever. Now go on and finish it." +"I cannot finish it," Morse replied, when the old +man, patting him on the shoulder, said: "Well, +I have tried you long enough. Now, sir, you +have learned more by this drawing than you +would have accomplished in double the time by +a dozen half-finished beginnings. It is not many +drawings, but the character of one which makes +a thorough draughtsman. Finish one picture, +sir, and you are a painter."</p> + +<p>Morse heeded this advice. He went to work +with Allston, and encouraged by the veteran, +Copley, he began upon a large picture for exhibition +in the Royal Academy, choosing as his +subject "The Dying Hercules." He modelled +his figure in clay, as the best of the old painters +did. It was his first attempt in the sculptor's art. +The cast was made in plaster and taken to West, +who was delighted with it. This model contended +for the prize of a gold medal offered by +the Society of Arts for the best original cast of +a single figure, and won it. In the large room of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span> +the London Adelphi, in the presence of the +British nobility, foreign ambassadors, and distinguished +strangers, the Duke of Norfolk publicly +presented the medal to Morse on May 13, 1813. +At the same time the painting from this model, +then on exhibition at the Royal Academy, received +great praise from the critics, who placed +"The Dying Hercules" among the first twelve +pictures in a collection of almost two thousand.</p> + +<p>This was an extraordinary success for so young +a man, and Morse determined to try for the highest +prize offered by the Royal Academy for the +best historical composition, the decision to be +made in 1815. For that purpose he produced +his "Judgment of Jupiter" in July of that year. +West assured him that it would take the prize, +but Morse was unable to comply with the rules +of the Academy, which required the victor to +receive the medal in person. His father had +summoned him home. West urged the Academy +to make an exception in his case, but it +could not be done, and the young painter had to +be contented with his assurances that he would +certainly have won the prize (a gold medal and +$250) had he remained.</p> + +<p>West was always kind to Americans, and +Morse was a favorite with him. One day, when +the venerable painter was at work upon his great +picture, "Christ Rejected," after carefully examining +Morse's hands and noting their beauty, +he said: "Let me tie you with this cord and +take that place while I paint in the hands of the +Saviour." This was done, and when he released<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span> +the young artist, he said to him: "You may now +say, if you please, that you had a hand in this picture." +A number of noted English artists—Turner, +Northcote, Sir James Lawrence, Flaxman—and +literary men—Coleridge, Wordsworth, Rogers, +and Crabbe among them—were attracted +by young Morse's proficiency and pleasant manners, +and when in August, 1815, he packed his +picture, "The Judgment of Jupiter," and sailed +for home, he bore with him the good wishes of +some of England's most distinguished men.</p> + +<p>When Morse reached Boston, although but +twenty-four years old, he found that fame had +preceded him. His prestige was such that he +set up his easel with high hopes and fair prospects +for the future, both destined soon to be +dispelled. The taste of America had not risen +to the appreciation of historical pictures. His +original compositions and his excellent copies of +the masterpieces of the Old World excited the +admiration of cultured people, but no orders +were given for them. He left Boston almost +penniless after having waited for months for patronage, +and determined to try to earn his bread +by painting the portraits of people in the rural +districts of New England, where his father's +name was a household word. During the autumn +of 1816 and the winter of 1816-1817 he visited +several towns in New Hampshire and Vermont, +painting portraits in Walpole, Hanover, Windsor, +Portsmouth, and Concord. He received the +modest sum of $15 for each portrait. From +Concord, N.H., he writes to his parents: "I am<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span> +still here (August 16th) and am passing my time +very agreeably. I have painted five portraits at +$15 each, and have two more engaged and many +talked of. I think I shall get along well. I believe +I could make an independent fortune in a +few years if I devoted myself exclusively to portraits, +so great is the desire for good portraits in +the different country towns." He doubtless was +candid when he wrote that he was "passing his +time in Concord very agreeably," for it was here +that he met Lucretia P. Walker, who was accounted +the most beautiful and accomplished +young lady of the town, whom Morse subsequently +married. She was a young woman of +great personal loveliness and rare good sense. +The young artist was attracted by her beauty, +her sweetness of temper, and high intellectual +qualities. All the letters that she wrote to him +before and after their marriage he carefully preserved, +and these are witnesses to her intelligence, +education, tenderness of feeling, and admirable +fitness to be the wife of such a man. +Gradually Morse's portraits became so much in +demand that he was enabled to increase his price +to $60, and as he painted four a week upon the +average, and received a good deal of money during +a tour in the South, he was enabled to return +to New England in 1818 with $3,000, and to +marry Miss Walker on October 6th of that year.</p> + +<p>The first years of Morse's married life were +passed in Charleston, S.C., after which he returned +to New England, and having laid by +some little capital, he took up again what he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span> +deemed to be his real vocation—the painting of +great historical pictures. His first venture in +this direction was an exhibition picture of the +House of Representatives at Washington. As a +business venture it was disastrous, and resulted +in the loss of eighteen months of precious time. +It was finally sold to an Englishman. Then began +Morse's life in New York. Through the influence +of Isaac Lawrence he obtained a commission +from the city authorities of New York to +paint a full-length portrait of Lafayette, who was +then in this country. He had just completed +his study from life in Washington in February, +1825, when he received the news of the death of +his wife. A little more than a year afterward +both his father and mother died. Thenceforward +his children and art absorbed his affections.</p> + +<p>He was an artist, heart and soul, and his +professional brethren soon had good reason to +be grateful to him. The American Academy of +Fine Arts, then under the presidency of Colonel +John Trumbull, was in a languishing state and of +little use to artists. The most advanced of its +members felt the need of relief, and a few of +them met at Morse's rooms to discuss their +troubles. At that meeting Morse proposed the +formation of a new society of artists, and at a +meeting held at the New York Historical Society's +rooms the "New York Drawing Association" +was organized, with Morse as its president. +Trumbull endeavored to compel the new society +to profess allegiance to the academy, but Morse +protested, and thanks to his advice, on January<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span> +18, 1826, a new art association was organized +under the name of the "National Academy of +Design." Morse was its first president, and for +sixteen years he was annually elected to that +office. The friends of the old academy were +wrathful and assailed the new association. A +war of words, in which Morse acted as the champion +of the new society, was waged until victory +was conceded to the reformers. Thus Morse +inaugurated a new era in the history of the fine +arts in this country. He wrote, talked, lectured +incessantly for the advancement of art and the +Academy of Design.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Under_Side_of_a_Modern_Switchboard" id="Under_Side_of_a_Modern_Switchboard"></a> +<img src="images/127.jpg" width="400" height="391" alt="Under Side of a Modern Switchboard, showing 2,000 Wires." /> +<span class="caption">Under Side of a Modern Switchboard, showing 2,000 Wires.</span> +</div> + +<p>In 1829 Morse made a second visit to Europe, +where he was warmly welcomed and honored by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span> +the Royal Academy. During three years or +more he lived in continental cities, studying the +Louvre in Paris and making of the famous gallery +an exhibition picture which contained about +fifty miniatures of the works in that collection. +In November, 1832, he was back again in New +York, with high hopes as to his future. Allston, +writing to Dunlap in 1834, said: "I rejoice to +hear your report of Morse's advance in his art. +I know what is in him perhaps better than anyone +else. If he will only bring out all that is +there he will show parts that many now do not +dream of."</p> + +<p>For several years the thoughts of the artist +Morse had been busy with a matter wholly outside +of his chosen domain. Some lectures on +electro-magnetism by his intimate friend, Judge +Freeman Dana, given at the Athenĉum while +Morse was also lecturing there on the fine arts, +had greatly interested him in the subject, and he +learned much in conversation with Dana. While +on his second visit to Europe Morse made himself +acquainted with the labors of scientific men +in their endeavors to communicate intelligence +between far-distant places by means of electro-magnetism, +and he saw an electro-magnet signalling +instrument in operation. He knew that so +early as 1649 a Jesuit priest had prophesied an +electric telegraph, and that for half a century or +more students had partially succeeded in attempts +of this kind. But no practical telegraph +had yet been invented. In 1774 Le Sage made +an electro-signalling instrument with twenty-four<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span> +wires, one for each letter of the alphabet. In +1825 Sturgeon invented an electro-magnet. In +1830 Professor Henry increased the magnetic +force that Morse afterward used.</p> + +<p>On board the ship Sully, in which Morse +sailed from Havre to New York, in the autumn +of 1832, the recent discovery in France of the +means of obtaining an electric spark from a magnet +was a favorite topic of conversation among +the passengers, and it was during the voyage +that Morse conceived the idea of an electro-magnetic +and chemical recording telegraph. Before +he reached New York he had made drawings +and specifications of his conception, which he exhibited +to his fellow passengers. Few great inventions +that have made their authors immortal +were so completely grasped at inception as this. +Morse was accustomed to keep small note-books +in which to make records of his work, and scores +of these books are still in existence. As he +sat upon the deck of the Sully, one night +after dinner, he drew from his pocket one of +these books and began to make marks, to represent +letters and figures to be produced by electricity +at a distance. The mechanism by which +the results were to be reached was wrought out +by slow and laborious thought, but the vision as +a whole was clear. The current of electricity +passed instantaneously to any distance along a +wire, but the current being interrupted, a spark +appeared. This spark represented one sign; its +absence another; the time of its absence still +another. Here are three signs to be combined<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</a></span> +into the representation of figures or letters. +They can be made to form an alphabet. Words +may thus be indicated. A telegraph, an instrument +to record at a distance, will result. Continents +shall be crossed. This great and wide sea +shall be no barrier. "If it will go ten miles +without stopping," he said, "I can make it go +around the globe."</p> + +<p>He worked incessantly all that next day and +could not sleep at night in his berth. In a few +days he submitted some rough drafts of his +invention to William C. Rives, of Virginia, who +was returning from Paris, where he had been +minister of the United States. Mr. Rives suggested +various difficulties, over which Morse +spent several sleepless nights, announcing in the +morning at breakfast-table the new devices by +which he proposed to accomplish the task before +him. He exhibited a drawing of the instrument +which he said would do the work, and so completely +had he mastered all the details that five +years afterward, when a model of this instrument +was constructed, it was instantly recognized +as the one he had devised and drawn in his +sketch-book and exhibited to his fellow passengers +on the ship. In view of subsequent claims +made by a fellow passenger to the honor of having +suggested the telegraph, these details are interesting +and important.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="The_First_Telegraphic_Instrument" id="The_First_Telegraphic_Instrument"></a> +<img src="images/131.jpg" width="400" height="567" alt="The First Telegraphic Instrument, as Exhibited in 1837 by Morse." /> +<span class="caption">The First Telegraphic Instrument, as Exhibited in 1837 by Morse.</span> +</div> + +<p>Circumstances delayed the construction of a +recording telegraph by Morse, but the subject +slumbered in his mind. During his absence +abroad he had been elected professor of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</a></span> +literature of the arts of design, in the University +of the City of New York, and this work occupied +his attention for some time. Three years +afterward, in November, 1835, he completed +a rude telegraph instrument—the first recording +apparatus; but it embodied the mechanical principle +now in use the world over. His whole +plan was not completed until July, 1837, when by +means of two instruments he was able to communicate +from as well as to a distant point. In +September hundreds of people saw the new +instrument in operation at the university, most +of whom looked upon it as a scientific toy constructed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">126</a></span> +by an unfortunate dreamer. The following +year the invention was sufficiently perfected +to enable Morse to direct the attention of +Congress to it and ask its aid in the construction +of an experimental line between Washington and +Baltimore.</p> + +<p>Late in the long session of 1838 he appeared +before that body with his instrument. Before +leaving New York with it he had invited a few +friends to see it work. Now began in the life of +Morse a period of years during which his whole +time was devoted to convincing the world, first, +that his electric telegraph would really communicate +messages, and, secondly, that if it worked +at all, it was of great practical value. Strange +to say that this required any argument at all. +But that in those days it did may be inferred +from the fact that Morse could then find no help +far or near. His invention was regarded as interesting, +but of no importance either scientifically +or commercially. In Washington, where he first +went, he found so little encouragement that he +went to Europe with the hope of drawing the +attention of foreign governments to the advantages, +and of securing patents for the invention; +he had filed a caveat at the Patent Office in this +country. His mission was a failure. England +refused him a patent, and France gave him only +a useless paper which assured for him no special +privileges. He returned home disappointed but +not discouraged, and waited four years longer +before he again attempted to interest Congress +in his invention.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="The_Modern_Morse_Telegraph" id="The_Modern_Morse_Telegraph"></a> +<img src="images/133.jpg" width="400" height="140" alt="The Modern Morse Telegraph." /> +<span class="caption">The Modern Morse Telegraph.</span> +</div> + +<p>This extraordinary struggle lasted twelve +years, during which, with his mind absorbed in +one idea and yet almost wholly dependent for +bread upon his profession as an artist, it was impossible +to pursue art with the enthusiasm and +industry essential to success. His situation was +forlorn in the extreme. The father of three little +children, now motherless, his pecuniary means +exhausted by his residence in Europe, and unable +to pursue art without sacrificing his invention, +he was at his wits' ends. He had visions +of usefulness by the invention of a telegraph that +should bring the continents of the earth into +intercourse. He was poor and knew that wealth +as well as fame was within his reach. He had +long received assistance from his father and +brothers when his profession did not supply the +needed means of support for himself and family; +but it seemed like robbery to take the money of +others for experiments, the success of which he +could not expect them to believe in until he +could give practical evidence that the instrument +would do the work proposed. It was the old +story of genius contending with poverty. His +brothers comforted, encouraged, and cheered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">128</a></span> +him. In the house of his brother Richard he +found a home and the tender care that he required. +Sidney, the other brother, also helped +him. On the corner of Nassau and Beekman +Streets, now the site of the handsome Morse +Building, his brothers erected a building where +were the offices of the newspaper of which they +were the editors and proprietors. In the fifth +story of this building a room was assigned to +him which was for several years his studio, +bedroom, parlor, kitchen, and workshop. On +one side of the room stood a little cot on which +he slept in the brief hours which he allowed +himself for repose. On the other side stood his +lathe with which the inventor turned the brass +apparatus necessary in the construction of his +instruments. He had, with his own hands, first +whittled the model; then he made the moulds for +the castings. Here were brought to him, day +by day, crackers and the simplest food, by which, +with tea prepared by himself, he sustained life +while he toiled incessantly to give being to the +idea that possessed him.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Morse_Making_his_own_Instrument" id="Morse_Making_his_own_Instrument"></a> +<img src="images/135.jpg" width="400" height="598" alt="Morse Making his own Instrument. (From Prime's Life of Morse.)" /> +<span class="caption">Morse Making his own Instrument.<br />(From Prime's Life of Morse.)</span> +</div> + +<p>Before leaving for Europe he had suffered a +great disappointment as an artist. The government +had offered to American artists, to be selected +by a committee of Congress, commissions +to paint pictures for the panels in the rotunda of +the Capitol. Morse was anxious to be employed +upon one or more of them. He was the president +of the National Academy of Design, and +there was an eminent fitness in calling him to +this national work. Allston urged the appointment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a><br /><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">130</a></span> +of Morse. John Quincy Adams, then a +member of the House and on the committee to +whom this subject was referred, submitted a +resolution in the House that foreign artists be +allowed to compete for these commissions, and +in support alleged that there were no American +artists competent to execute the paintings. This +gave great and just offence to the artists and the +public. A severe reply to Adams appeared in +the New York <i>Evening Post</i>. It was written by +James Fenimore Cooper, but it was attributed +to Morse, whose pen was well known to be skillful, +and in consequence his name was rejected +by the committee. He never recovered fully +from the effects of that blow. Forty years afterward +he could not speak of it without emotion. +He had consecrated years of his life to the +preparation for just such work.</p> + +<p>It was well for him and for his country and +the world that the artist in Morse was disappointed. +From painter he became inventor, and +from that time until the world acknowledged +the greatness and importance of his invention +he turned not back. His appointment as professor +in the City University entitled him to certain +rooms in the University Building looking +out upon Washington Square, and here the first +working models of the telegraph were brought +into existence.</p> + +<p>"There," he says, "I immediately commenced, +with very limited means, to experiment +upon my invention. My first instrument was +made up of an old picture or canvas frame fastened<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span> +to a table; the wheels of an old wooden +clock, moved by a weight to carry the paper +forward; three wooden drums, upon one of +which the paper was wound and passed over +the other two; a wooden pendulum suspended +to the top piece of the picture or stretching +frame and vibrating across the paper as it +passes over the centre wooden drum; a pencil +at the lower end of the pendulum, in contact +with the paper; an electro-magnet fastened to a +shelf across the picture or stretching frame, opposite +to an armature made fast to the pendulum; +a type rule and type for breaking the +circuit, resting on an endless band, composed of +carpet-binding, which passed over two wooden +rollers moved by a wooden crank.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Train_Telegraph" id="Train_Telegraph"></a> +<img src="images/137.jpg" width="400" height="246" alt="Train Telegraph—the message transmitted by induction from the moving train to +the single wire." /> +<span class="caption">Train Telegraph—the message transmitted by induction from the moving train to +the single wire.</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Interior_of_a_Car_on_the_Lehigh_Valley_Railroad" id="Interior_of_a_Car_on_the_Lehigh_Valley_Railroad"></a> +<img src="images/138.jpg" width="400" height="437" alt="Interior of a Car on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, showing the Method of Operating +the Train Telegraph." /> +<span class="caption">Interior of a Car on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, showing the Method of Operating +the Train Telegraph.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Up to the autumn of 1837 my telegraphic +apparatus existed in so rude a form that I felt a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">132</a></span> +reluctance to have it seen. My means were very +limited—so limited as to preclude the possibility +of constructing an apparatus of such mechanical +finish as to warrant my success in venturing +upon its public exhibition. I had no wish to expose +to ridicule the representative of so many +hours of laborious thought. Prior to the summer +of 1837, at which time Mr. Alfred Vail's attention<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span> +became attracted to my telegraph, I +depended upon my pencil for subsistence. Indeed, +so straitened were my circumstances that, +in order to save time to carry out my invention +and to economize my scanty means, I had for +many months lodged and eaten in my studio, +procuring my food in small quantities from some +grocery and preparing it myself. To conceal +from my friends the stinted manner in which I +lived, I was in the habit of bringing my food to +my room in the evenings, and this was my mode +of life for many years."</p> + +<p>Before the telegraph was actually tried and +practised the cumbersome piano-key board devised +by Morse in his first experiments was done +away with and the simple device of a single key, +with which we are all familiar, was adopted. +Meantime Morse was practically abandoning art. +His friends among the profession had subscribed +$3,000 in order to enable him to paint the picture +he had in mind when he applied for the government +work at Washington, "The Signing of the +First Compact on Board the Mayflower," and he +undertook the commission in 1838, only to give +it up in 1841 and to return to the subscribers the +amount paid with interest.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Diagram_showing_the_Method_of_Telegraphing_from_a_Moving_Train_by_Induction" id="Diagram_showing_the_Method_of_Telegraphing_from_a_Moving_Train_by_Induction"></a> +<img src="images/140.jpg" width="400" height="482" alt="Diagram showing the Method of Telegraphing from a Moving Train by Induction." /> +<span class="caption">Diagram showing the Method of Telegraphing from a Moving Train by Induction.</span> +</div> + +<p>While Morse had been in Paris, in 1839, he had +heard of Daguerre, who had discovered the +method of fixing the image of the camera, which +feat was then creating a great sensation among +scientific men. Professor Morse was anxious to +see the results of this discovery before leaving +Paris, and the American consul, Robert Walsh,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span> +arranged an interview between the two inventors. +Daguerre promised to send to Morse a +copy of the descriptive publication which he intended +to make so soon as a pension he expected +from the French Government for the disclosure +of his discovery should be secured. He kept his +promise, and Morse was probably the first recipient +of the pamphlet in this country. From the +drawings it contained he constructed the first +photographic apparatus made in the United +States, and from a back window in the University +Building he obtained a good representation +of the tower of the Church of the Messiah on +Broadway. This possesses an historical interest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">135</a></span> +as being the first photograph in America. It was +on a plate the size of a playing-card. With Professor +J.W. Draper, in a studio built on the roof +of the University, he succeeded in taking likenesses +of the living human face. His subjects +were compelled to sit fifteen minutes in the +bright sunlight, with their eyes closed, of +course. Professor Draper shortened the process +and was the first to take portraits with the eyes +open.</p> + +<p>At the session of Congress of 1842-1843 Morse +again appeared with his telegraph, and on February +21, 1843, John P. Kennedy, of Maryland, +moved that a bill appropriating $30,000, to be expended, +under the direction of the Secretary of +the Treasury, in a series of experiments for testing +the merits of the telegraph, should be considered. +The proposal met with ridicule. Johnson, +of Tennessee, moved, as an amendment, that +one-half should be given to a lecturer on mesmerism, +then in Washington, to try mesmeric experiments +under the direction of the Secretary +of the Treasury; and Mr. Houston said that +Millerism ought to be included in the benefits of +the appropriation. After the indulgence of +much cheap wit, Mr. Mason, of Ohio, protested +against such frivolity as injurious to the character +of the House and asked the chair to rule the +amendments out of order. The chair (John +White, of Kentucky) ruled the amendments in +order because "it would require a scientific +analysis to determine how far the magnetism of +the mesmerism was analogous to that to be employed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">136</a></span> +in telegraphy." This wit was applauded +by peals of laughter, but the amendment was +voted down and the bill passed the House on +February 23d by the close vote of 89 to 83. In +the Senate the bill met with neither sneers nor +opposition, but its progress was discouragingly +slow. At twilight on the last evening of the +session (March 3, 1842) there were one hundred +and nineteen bills before it. It seemed impossible +for it to be reached in regular course before +the hour of adjournment should arrive, and +Morse, who had anxiously watched the dreary +course of business all day from the gallery of the +Senate chamber, went with a sad heart to his +hotel and prepared to leave for New York at an +early hour the next morning. His cup of disappointment +seemed to be about full. With the +exception of Alfred Vail, a young student in the +University, through whose influence some money +had been subscribed in return for a one-fourth +interest in the invention, and of Professor L.D. +Gale, who had shown much interest in the work +and was also a partner in the enterprise, Morse +knew of no one who seemed to believe enough +in him and his telegraph to advance another +dollar.</p> + +<p>As he came down to breakfast the next morning +a young lady entered and came forward +with a smile, exclaiming, "I have come to congratulate +you." "Upon what?" inquired the +professor. "Upon the passage of your bill," +she replied. "Impossible! Its fate was sealed +last evening. You must be mistaken." "Not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span> +at all," answered the young lady, the daughter +of Morse's friend, the Commissioner of Patents, +H.L. Ellsworth; "father sent me to tell you that +your bill was passed. He remained until the +session closed, and yours was the last bill but +one acted upon, and it was passed just five +minutes before the adjournment. And I am so +glad to be able to be the first one to tell you. +Mother says you must come home with me to +breakfast."</p> + +<p>Morse, overcome by the intelligence, promised +that his young friend, the bearer of these good +tidings, should send the first message over the +first line of telegraph that was opened.</p> + +<p>He writes to Alfred Vail that day: "The +amount of business before the Senate rendered +it more and more doubtful, as the session drew +to a close, whether the House bill on the telegraph +would be reached, and on the last day, +March 3, 1843, I was advised by one of my +Senatorial friends to make up my mind for failure, +as he deemed it next to impossible that it +could be reached before the adjournment. The +bill, however, was reached a few minutes before +midnight and passed. This was the turning +point in the history of the telegraph. My personal +funds were reduced to the fraction of a +dollar, and, had the passage of the bill failed +from any cause, there would have been little +prospect of another attempt on my part to introduce +to the world my new invention."</p> + +<p>The appropriation by Congress having been +made, Morse went to work with energy and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">138</a></span> +delight to construct the first line of his electric +telegraph. It was important that it should be +laid where it would attract the attention of the +government, and this consideration decided the +question in favor of a line between Washington +and Baltimore. He had as assistants Professor +Gale and Professor J.C. Fisher. Mr. Vail was +to devote his attention to making the instruments +and the purchase of materials. Morse +himself was general superintendent under the +appointment of the government and gave attention +to the minutest details. All disbursements +passed through his hands. In point of accuracy, +the preservation of vouchers, and presentation of +accounts, General Washington himself was not +more precise, lucid, and correct. Ezra Cornell, +afterward one of the most successful constructors +of telegraph lines, was employed to take charge +of the work under Morse. Much time and +expense were lost in consequence of following a +plan for laying the wires in a leaden tube, and it +was only when it was decided to string them on +posts that work began to proceed rapidly.</p> + +<p>In expectation of the meeting of the National +Whig Convention, May 1, 1844, to nominate +candidates for President and Vice-President, +energy was redoubled, and by that time the +wires were in working order twenty-two miles +from Washington toward Baltimore. The day +before the convention met, Professor Morse +wrote to Vail that certain signals should mean +the nomination of a particular candidate. The +experiment was approaching its crisis. The convention<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span> +assembled and Henry Clay was nominated +by acclamation to the Presidency. The +news was conveyed on the railroad to the +point reached by the telegraph and thence instantly +transmitted over the wires to Washington. +An hour afterward passengers arriving +at the capital, and supposing that they had +brought the first intelligence, were surprised to +find that the announcement had been made already +and that they were the bearers of old +news. The convention shortly afterward nominated +Frelinghuysen as Vice-President, and +the intelligence was sent to Washington in the +same manner. Public astonishment was great +and many persons doubted that the feat could +have been performed. Before May had elapsed +the line reached Baltimore.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Morse_in_his_Study" id="Morse_in_his_Study"></a> +<img src="images/145.jpg" width="400" height="246" alt="Morse in his Study. (From an old print.)" /> +<span class="caption">Morse in his Study.<br />(From an old print.)</span> +</div> + +<p>On the 24th of May, 1844, Morse was prepared<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">140</a></span> +to put to final test the great experiment on which +his mind had been laboring for twelve anxious +years. Vail, his assistant, was at the Baltimore +terminus. Morse had invited his friends to assemble +in the chamber of the United States +Supreme Court, where he had his instrument, +from which the wires extended to Baltimore. +He had promised his young friend, Miss Ellsworth, +that she should send the first message +over the wires. Her mother suggested the +familiar words of scripture (Numbers, xxiii. 23), +"What hath God wrought!" The words were +chosen without consultation with the inventor, +but were singularly the expression of his own +sentiment and his own experience in bringing his +work to successful accomplishment. Perfectly +religious in his convictions, and trained from +earliest childhood to believe in the special superintendence +of Providence in the minutest affairs +of man, he had acted throughout the whole of +his struggles under the firm persuasion that God +was working in him to do His own pleasure in +this thing.</p> + +<p>The first public messages sent were a notice to +Silas Wright in Washington of his nomination +to the office of Vice-President of the United +States by the Democratic convention, then in +session (May, 1844) in Baltimore, and his response +declining it. Hendrick B. Wright, in a +letter written to Mr. B.J. Lossing, says: "As +the presiding officer of the body I read the despatch, +but so incredulous were the members as +to the authority of the evidence before them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span> +that the convention adjourned over to the following +day to await the report of the committee +sent over to Washington to get <i>reliable</i> information +on the subject." Mr. Vail kept a diary in +those early days of the telegraph, full of interesting +reminiscences. It was often necessary, in +order to convince incredulous visitors to the +office that the questions and replies sent over +the wire were not manufactured or agreed upon +beforehand, to allow them to send their own remarks. +When the committee just mentioned by +Mr. Wright returned from Baltimore and confirmed +the correctness of the report given by +telegraph, the new invention received a splendid +advertisement. The convention having reassembled +in the morning, and the refusal of Wright +to accept the nomination having been communicated, +a conference was held between him and +his friends through the medium of Morse's wires. +In Washington Mr. Wright and Mr. Morse were +closeted with the instrument; at Baltimore the +committee of conference surrounded Vail with +his instrument. Spectators and auditors were +excluded. The committee communicated to Mr. +Wright their reasons for urging his acceptance. +In a moment he received their communication +in writing and as quickly returned his answer. +Again and again these confidential messages +passed, and the result was finally announced to +the convention that Mr. Wright was inflexible. +Mr. Dallas then received the nomination and accepted +it. The ticket thus nominated was successful +at the election of that year. The original<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">142</a></span> +slips of paper on which some of the early messages +were written are still preserved, among +others this request: "As a rumor is prevalent +here this morning that Mr. Eugene Boyle was +shot at Baltimore last evening, Professor Morse +will confer a great favor upon the family by +making inquiry by means of his electro-magnetic +telegraph if such is the fact."</p> + +<p>The telegraph was shown at first without +charge. During the session of 1844-1845 Congress +made an appropriation of $8,000 to keep it +in operation during the year, placing it under +the supervision of the Postmaster-General, who, +at the close of the session, ordered a tariff of +charges of one cent for every four characters +made through the telegraph. Mr. Vail was appointed +operator for the Washington station and +Mr. H.J. Rogers for Baltimore. This new order +of things began April 1, 1845, the object being +to test the profitableness of the enterprise. The +first day's income was one cent; on the fifth +day twelve and a half cents were received; on +the seventh the receipts ran up to sixty cents; +on the eighth to one dollar and thirty-two +cents; on the ninth to one dollar and four +cents. It is worthy of remark, as Mr. Vail +notes, that the business done after the tariff +was fixed was greater than when the service +was gratuitous.</p> + +<p>The telegraph was now a reality. Its completion +was hailed with enthusiasm, and the +newspapers lauded the inventor to the skies. +Resolutions of thanks and applause were adopted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">143</a></span> +by popular assemblies. It was a favorite idea +with Professor Morse, from the inception of his +enterprise, that the telegraph should belong to +the government, and he sent a communication +to Congress making a formal offer. The overture +was not accepted, but the extension of the line +from Baltimore to Philadelphia and then to New +York was only a work of time. The aid of Congress +was sought in vain. The appropriation of +$8,000 was made, but further than that the government +declined to go. The sum named as the +price at which the Morse Company would sell +the telegraph to the government was $100,000. +The subject was discussed in the report of Cave +Johnson, Postmaster-General under President +Polk. He was a member of Congress when the +bill came up before the House appropriating +$30,000 for the experimental line, and was one of +those who ridiculed the whole subject as unworthy +of the notice of sensible men. As Postmaster-General +he said in his report, after the experiment +had succeeded to the satisfaction of +mankind, that "the operation of a telegraph between +Washington and Baltimore had not satisfied +him that under any rate of postage that could +be adopted its revenues could be made equal to +its expenditures." Such an opinion, with the evidence +then in the possession of the department, +appears to be curious official blindness. But it +was fortunate for the inventor that the telegraph +was left to the private enterprise. Twenty-five +years after the government had declined to take +the telegraph at the price of $100,000, a project<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">144</a></span> +was started to establish lines of telegraph to be +used by the government as part of the mail postal +system. And in 1873 the Postmaster-General, +Mr. Cresswell, said in his report that the entire +first cost of all the lines in the country, including +patents, was less than $10,000,000; but the property +of the existing telegraph company was already +well worth $50,000,000.</p> + +<p>Morse's position was far easier than it had +been for many years. His old friends, the artists +of New York, rallied in force and laid before +Congress a petition that the professor be employed +to execute the painting to fill the panel +at the Capitol assigned to Inman, who had been +removed by death. But it came to nothing. +Morse was never again to take the brush in hand. +The first money that he received from his invention +was the sum of $47, being his share of the +amount paid for the right to use his patent on a +short line from the Washington Post-office to +the National Observatory. The use he made of +the money was characteristic of the man. He +sent it to the Rev. Dr. Sprole, then a pastor in +Washington, requesting him to apply it for the +benefit of his church.</p> + +<p>Early in June, 1846, the line from Baltimore +to Philadelphia was in operation, and that from +Philadelphia to New York. Abroad the system +was working its way steadily into favor. In +France an appropriation of nearly half a million +francs was made to introduce the Morse system. +But meantime violations of Morse's rights were +beginning to crop up on every side, both at home<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">145</a></span> +and abroad. In a letter to Daniel Lord, his lawyer, +Morse says:</p> + +<p>"The plot thickens all around me; I think a +dénouement not far off. I remember your consoling +me under these attacks with bidding me +think that I had invented something worth contending +for. Alas! my dear sir, what encouragement +is there to an inventor if, after years of +toil and anxiety, he has only purchased for himself +the pleasure of being a target for every vile +fellow to shoot at, and in proportion as his invention +is of public utility, so much the greater +effort is to be made to defame that the robbery +may excite the less sympathy? I know, however, +that beyond all this there is a clear sky; +but the clouds may not break away till I am no +longer personally interested, whether it be foul +or fair. I wish not to complain, but I have feelings, +and cannot play the Stoic if I would."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="The_Siphon_Recorder_for_Receiving_Cable_Messages" id="The_Siphon_Recorder_for_Receiving_Cable_Messages"></a> +<img src="images/152.jpg" width="400" height="288" alt="The Siphon Recorder for Receiving Cable Messages—Office of the Commercial +Cable Company, 1 Broad Street, New York." /> +<span class="caption">The Siphon Recorder for Receiving Cable Messages—Office of the Commercial + Cable Company, 1 Broad Street, New York.</span> +</div> + +<p>Perhaps the most painful chapter of Morse's +life is the history of the lawsuits in which he +was involved in defence of his rights. His reputation +as well as his property were assailed. +Exceedingly sensitive to these attacks, the suits +that followed the success of the telegraph cost +him inexpressible distress. It is some satisfaction +to be able to record that after years of bitter +controversy the final decision was favorable +to the inventor. Honors began to pour in upon +him from even the uttermost parts of the earth. +The Sultan of Turkey was the first monarch to +acknowledge Morse as a public benefactor. This +was in 1848. The kings of Prussia and Wurtemburg<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span> +and the Emperor of Austria each gave him +a gold medal, that of the first named being set in +a massive gold snuff-box. In 1856 the Emperor +of the French made him a chevalier of the Legion +of Honor. Orders from Denmark, Spain, +Italy, Portugal soon followed. In 1858 a special +congress was called by the Emperor of the +French to devise a suitable testimonial of the +nation to Professor Morse. Representatives +from ten sovereignties convened at Paris and by +a unanimous vote gave, in the aggregate, $80,000 +as an honorary gratuity to Professor Morse. +The states participating in this testimonial were +France, Austria, Russia, Belgium, Holland, Sweden,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span> +Piedmont, the Holy See, Tuscany, and Turkey.</p> + +<p>Professor Morse was one of the first to suggest +and the first to carry out the use of a marine +cable. During the summer of 1842 he had +been making elaborate preparations for an experiment +destined to give wonderful development +to his invention. This was no less than +a submarine wire, to demonstrate the fact that +the current of electricity could be conducted +as well under water as through the air. Of +this he had entertained no doubt. "If I can +make it work ten miles, I can make it go around +the globe," was a favorite expression of his in the +infancy of his enterprise. But he wished to prove +it. He insulated his wire as well as he could +with hempen strands well covered with pitch, +tar, and india-rubber. In the course of the +autumn he was prepared to put the question +to the test of actual experiment. The wire was +only the twelfth of an inch in diameter. About +two miles of this, wound on a reel, was placed in +a small row-boat, and with one man at the oars +and Professor Morse at the stern, the work of +paying out the cable was begun. It was a beautiful +moonlight night, and those who had prolonged +their evening rambles on the Battery must +have wondered, as they watched the proceedings +in the boat, what kind of fishing the two men +could be engaged in that required so long a line. +In somewhat less than two hours, on that eventful +evening of October 18, 1842, the first cable was +laid. Professor Morse returned to his lodgings<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">148</a></span> +and waited with some anxiety the time when he +should be able to test the experiment fully and +fairly. The next morning the New York <i>Herald</i> +contained the following editorial announcement:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Morse's Electro-Magnetic Telegraph.</span></p> + +<p>"This important invention is to be exhibited in +operation at Castle Garden between the hours of +twelve and one o'clock to-day. One telegraph +will be erected on Governor's Island and one at +the Castle, and messages will be interchanged +and orders transmitted during the day. Many +have been incredulous as to the powers of this +wonderful triumph of science and art. All such +may now have an opportunity of fairly testing it. +It is destined to work a complete revolution +in the mode of transmitting intelligence throughout +the civilized world."</p></blockquote> + +<p>At daybreak the professor was on the Battery, +and had just demonstrated his success by the +transmission of three or four characters between +the termini of the line, when the communication +was suddenly interrupted, and it was found impossible +to send any messages through the conductor. +The cause of this was evident when he +observed no less than seven vessels lying along +the line of the submerged cable, one of which, in +getting under way, had raised it on her anchor. +The sailors, unable to divine its meaning, hauled +in about two hundred feet of it on deck, and finding +no end, cut off that portion and carried it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">149</a></span> +away with them. Thus ended the first attempt +at submarine telegraphing. The crowd that had +assembled on the Battery dispersed with jeers, +most of them believing they had been made the +victims of a hoax.</p> + +<p>In a letter to John C. Spencer, then Secretary +of the Treasury, in August, 1843, concerning electro-magnetism +and its powers, he wrote:</p> + +<p>"The practical inference from this law is that +a telegraphic communication on the electro-magnetic +plan may with certainty be established +across the Atlantic Ocean. Startling as this +may now seem, I am confident the time will +come when this project will be realized."</p> + +<p>In 1871 a statue of Professor Morse was erected +in Central Park, New York, at the expense of the +telegraph operators of the country. It was unveiled +on June 10th with imposing ceremonies. +There were delegates from every State in the +Union, and from the British provinces. In the +evening a public reception was given to the venerable +inventor at the Academy of Music, at +which William Orton, president of the Western +Union Telegraph Company, presided, assisted +by scores of the leading public men of the country +as vice-presidents. The last scene was an impressive +one. It was announced that the telegraphic +instrument before the audience was then +in connection with every other one of the ten +thousand instruments in America. Then Miss +Cornell, a young telegraphic operator, sent this +message from the key: "Greeting and thanks to +the telegraph fraternity throughout the world.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">150</a></span> +Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, +good-will to men." The venerable inventor, the +personification of simplicity, dignity, and kindliness, +was then conducted to the instrument, and +touching the key, sent out: "<span class="smcap">S.F.B. Morse</span>." +A storm of enthusiasm swept through the house +as the audience rose, the ladies waving their +handkerchiefs and the men cheering.</p> + +<p>Professor Morse last appeared in public on +February 22, 1872, when he unveiled the statue +of Franklin, erected in Printing-house Square in +New York. He died, after a short illness, on +April 2, 1872, and was buried in Greenwood +Cemetery. On the day of the funeral, April 5th, +every telegraph office in the country was draped +in mourning.</p> + +<p>Professor Morse was twice married. His first +wife died in 1825. In 1848 he married Sarah +Elizabeth Griswold, of Poughkeepsie, who still +lives. By the first marriage there were three +children, one of whom, a son, survives. By the +second marriage there were four children, three +of whom are alive—a daughter and two sons. +Miss Leila Morse, the daughter, was married in +1885 to Herr Franz Rummel, the eminent pianist. +The last years of his life were eminently peaceful +and happy. In the summer he lived at a place +called Locust Grove, on the banks of the Hudson, +near Poughkeepsie, and in the winter in a house +at No. 5 West Twenty-second Street, a few doors +west of Fifth Avenue. In recent years a marble +tablet has been affixed to the front of the house, +suitably inscribed.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="No_5_West_Twenty-second_Street" id="No_5_West_Twenty-second_Street"></a> +<img src="images/157.jpg" width="400" height="607" alt="No. 5 West Twenty-second Street, New York, where Morse Lived for Many Years + and Died." /> +<span class="caption">No. 5 West Twenty-second Street, New York, where Morse Lived for Many Years + and Died.</span> +</div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">152</a></span></p> + +<p>Morse's life in the country was very simple and +quiet. His hour of rising was half-past six +o'clock in the morning, and he was in his library +alone until breakfast, at eight. He loved to hear +the birds in their native songs, and he could distinguish +the notes of each species, and would +speak of the quality of their respective music. +He spent most of the day in reading and writing, +rarely taking exercise, except walking in +his garden to visit his graperies, in which he +took special pride, or to the stable to see if his +horses were well cared for. He did not ride out +regularly with his family, preferring the repose +of his own grounds and the labors of his study. +But when he walked or rode in the country, he +was constantly disposed to speak of the beauty +and glory around him, as revealing to his mind +the beneficence, wisdom, and power of the infinite +Creator, who had made all these things for the +use and enjoyment of men.</p> + +<p>One of his daughters writes of him in these +simple and tender words: "He loved flowers. +He would take one in his hand and talk for hours +about its beauty, its wonderful construction, and +the wisdom and love of God in making so many +varied forms of life and color to please our eyes. +In his later years he became deeply interested in +the microscope and purchased one of great excellence +and power. For whole hours, all the +afternoon or evening, he would sit over it, examining +flowers or the animalculĉ in different fluids. +Then he would gather his children about him and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">153</a></span> +give us a sort of extempore lecture on the wonders +of creation invisible to the naked eye, but +so clearly brought to view by the magnifying +power of the microscope. He was very fond of +animals, cats, and birds in particular. He tamed +a little flying-squirrel, and it became so fond of +him that it would sit on his shoulder while he +was at his studies and would eat out of his hand +and sleep in his pocket. To this little animal he +became so much attached that we took it with +us to Europe, where it came to an untimely end, +in Paris, by running into an open fire."</p> + +<p>His biographer, Prime, says of him:</p> + +<p>"In person Professor Morse was tall, slender, +graceful, and attractive. Six feet in stature, he +stood erect and firm, even in old age. His blue +eyes were expressive of genius and affection. +His nature was a rare combination of solid intellect +and delicate sensibility. Thoughtful, sober, +and quiet, he readily entered into the enjoyments +of domestic and social life, indulging in sallies of +humor, and readily appreciating and greatly enjoying +the wit of others. Dignified in his intercourse +with men, courteous and affable with the +gentler sex, he was a good husband, a judicious +father, a generous and faithful friend. He had +the misfortune to incur the hostility of men who +would deprive him of the merit and the reward +of his labors. But his was the common fate of +great inventors. He lived until his rights were +vindicated by every tribunal to which they could +be referred, and acknowledged by all civilized<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">154</a></span> +nations. And he died leaving to his children a +spotless and illustrious name, and to his country +the honor of having given birth to the only +electro-magnetic recording telegraph whose line +has gone out through all the earth and its words +to the end of the world."</p> + +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">155</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI.</h2> + + +<h3>CHARLES GOODYEAR.</h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a name="Charles_Goodyear" id="Charles_Goodyear"></a> +<img src="images/162.jpg" width="500" height="515" alt="Charles Goodyear." /> +<span class="caption">Charles Goodyear.</span> +</div> + +<p>India-rubber had been known for more than +a hundred years when Charles Goodyear undertook +to make of it thousands of articles useful in +common life. So long ago as 1735 a party of +French astronomers discovered in Peru a curious +tree that yielded the natives a peculiar gum +or sap which they collected in clay vessels. +This sap became hard when exposed to the sun, +and was used by the natives, who made different +articles of every-day use from it by dipping a +clay mould again and again into the liquid. +When the article was completed the clay mould +was broken to pieces and shaken out. In this +manner they made a kind of rough shoe and an +equally rough bottle. In some parts of South +America the natives presented their guests with +these bottles, which served as syringes for +squirting water. Articles thus made were liable +to become stiff and unmanageable in cold weather +and soft and sticky in warm. Upon getting back +to France the travellers directed the attention +of scientists to this remarkable gum, which was +afterward found in various parts of South America, +and the chief supplies of which still come +from Brazil. About the beginning of the present<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">156</a></span> +century this substance, known variously as +cachuchu, caoutchouc, gum-elastic, and india-rubber, +was first commercially introduced into +Europe. It was regarded merely as a curiosity, +chiefly useful for erasing pencil-marks. Ships +from South America took it over as ballast. +About the year 1820 it began to be used in +France in the manufacture of suspenders and +garters, india-rubber threads being mixed with +the material used in weaving those articles. +Some years later Mackintosh, an English manufacturer, +used it in his famous water-proof coats, +which were made by spreading a layer of the +gum between two pieces of cloth.</p> + +<p>About the same time a pair of india-rubber +shoes were exhibited in Boston, where they were +regarded as a curiosity; they were covered with +gilt-foil to hide their natural ugliness. In 1823 a +Boston merchant, engaged in the South American +trade, imported five hundred pairs of these shoes, +made by the natives of Para, and found no difficulty +in selling them. In fact, this became a +large business, although these shoes were terribly +rough and clumsy and were not to be depended +upon; in cold weather they became so +hard that they could be used only after being +thawed by the fire, and in summer they could +be preserved only by keeping them on ice. If +during the thawing process they were placed +too near the fire, they would melt into a shapeless +mass; and yet they cost from three to five +dollars a pair.</p> + +<p>In 1830 E.M. Chaffee, of Boston, the foreman<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">157</a></span> +of a patent leather factory in that city, attempted +to replace patent leather by a compound of +india-rubber. He dissolved a pound of the gum +in spirits of turpentine, added to the mixture +enough lamp-black to produce a bright black +color, and invented a machine for spreading this +compound over cloth. When dried in the sun +it produced a hard, smooth surface, flexible +enough to be twisted into any shape without +cracking. With the aid of a few capitalists, +Chaffee organized, in 1833, a company called the +Roxbury India-rubber Company, and manufactured +an india-rubber cloth from which wagon-covers, +piano-covers, caps, coats, shoes, and other +articles were made. The product of the factory +sold well, and the success of the Roxbury Company +led to the establishment of a number of similar +factories elsewhere. Apparently all who +were engaged in the production of rubber goods +were on the highway to wealth.</p> + +<p>A day of disaster, however, came. Most of +the goods produced in the winter of 1833-1834 +became worthless during the following summer. +The shoes melted to a soft mass and the caps, +wagon-covers, and coats became sticky and useless. +To make matters worse they emitted an +odor so offensive that it was necessary to bury +them in the ground. Twenty thousand dollars' +worth of these goods were thrown back on the +hands of the Roxbury Company alone, and the +directors were appalled by the ruin that threatened +them. It was useless to go on manufacturing +goods that might prove worthless at any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">158</a></span> +moment. India-rubber stock fell rapidly, and by +the end of 1836 there was not a solvent rubber +company in the Union, the stockholders losing +about $2,000,000. People came to detest the very +name of india-rubber.</p> + +<p>One day, in 1834, a Philadelphia hardware +merchant, named Charles Goodyear, was led by +curiosity to buy a rubber life-preserver. And +thus began for this unfortunate genius nearly +twenty-five years of struggle, misery, and disappointment. +Charles Goodyear was born in +New Haven, Conn., December 29, 1800. When +a boy his father moved to Philadelphia, where +he engaged in the hardware business, and +upon becoming of age, Charles Goodyear joined +him as a partner. In the panic of 1836-1837 the +house went down. Goodyear's attention had +been attracted for several years by the wonderful +success of the india-rubber companies. Upon +examining his life-preserver he discovered a defect +in the inflating valve and made an improved +one. Going to New York with this device, he +called on the agent of the Roxbury Company +and, explaining it to him, offered to sell it to +the company. The agent was impressed with +the improvement, but instead of buying it, told +the inventor the real state of the india-rubber +business of the country, then on the verge of a +collapse. He urged Goodyear to exert his inventive +skill in discovering some means of imparting +durability to india-rubber goods, and +assured him that if he could find a process to +effect that end, he could sell it at his own price.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">159</a></span> +He explained the processes then in use and their +imperfections.</p> + +<p>Goodyear forgot all about his disappointment +in failing to sell his valve, and went home intent +upon experiments to make gum-elastic durable. +From that time until the close of his life he devoted +himself solely to this work. He was thirty-five +years old, feeble in health, a bankrupt +in business, and had a young family depending +upon him. The industry in which he now engaged +was one in which thousands of persons +had found ruin. The firm of which he had been +a member owed $30,000, and upon his return to +Philadelphia he was arrested for debt and compelled +to live within prison limits. He began his +experiments at once. The price of the gum had +fallen to five cents per pound, so that he had no +difficulty in getting sufficient of it to begin work. +By melting and working it thoroughly and rolling +it out upon a stone table, he succeeded in producing +sheets of india-rubber that seemed to him +to possess new properties. A friend loaned him +enough money to manufacture a number of shoes +which at first seemed to be all that could be +desired. Fearful, however, of coming trouble, +Goodyear put his shoes away until the following +summer, when the warm weather reduced them +to a mass of so offensive an odor that he was +glad to throw them away. His friend was so +thoroughly disheartened by this failure as to +refuse to have anything more to do with +Goodyear's scheme. The inventor, nevertheless, +kept on.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">160</a></span></p> + +<p>It occurred to him that there must be some +substance which, mixed with the gum, would render +it durable, and he began to experiment with +almost every substance that he could lay his +hands on. All proved total failures with the +exception of magnesia. By mixing half a pound +of magnesia with a pound of the gum he produced +a substance whiter than the pure gum, +which was at first as firm and flexible as leather, +and out of which he made beautiful book-covers +and piano-covers. It looked as if he had solved +the problem; but in a month his pretty product +was ruined. Heat caused it to soften; fermentation +then set in, and finally it became as hard +and brittle as thin glass. His stock of money +was now exhausted. He was forced to pawn all +his own valuables and even the trinkets of his +wife. But he felt sure that he was on the road +to success and would eventually win both fame +and fortune. He removed his family to the country, +and set out for New York, where he hoped +to find someone willing to aid him in carrying +his experiments further. Here he met two +acquaintances, one of whom offered him the use +of a room in Gold Street as a workshop, and the +other, a druggist, agreed to let him have on +credit such chemicals as he needed. He now +boiled the gum, mixed with magnesia, in quicklime +and water, and as a result obtained firm, +smooth sheets that won him a medal at the fair +of the American Institute in 1835. He seemed +on the point of success, and easily sold all the +sheets he could manufacture, when, to his dismay,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">161</a></span> +he discovered that a drop of the weakest acid, +such as the juice of an apple or diluted vinegar, +would reduce his new compound to the old +sticky substance that had baffled him so often.</p> + +<p>His first important discovery on the road to +real success was the result of accident. He +liked pretty things, and it was a constant effort +with him to make his productions as attractive +to the eye as possible. Upon one occasion, while +bronzing a piece of rubber cloth, he applied +aqua fortis to it for the purpose of removing part +of the bronze. It took away the bronze, but it +also destroyed the cloth to such a degree that he +supposed it ruined and threw it away. A day or +two later, happening to pick it up, he was astonished +to find that the rubber had undergone a remarkable +change, and that the effect of the acid +had been to harden it to such an extent that it +would now stand a degree of heat which would +have melted it before. Aqua fortis contained +sulphuric acid. Goodyear was thus on the +threshold of his great discovery of vulcanizing +rubber. He called his new process the "curing" +of india-rubber.</p> + +<p>The "cured" india-rubber was subjected to +many tests and passed through them successfully, +thus demonstrating its adaptability to many important +uses. Goodyear readily obtained a patent +for his process, and a partner with a large +capital was found ready to aid him. He hired +the old india-rubber works on Staten Island and +opened a salesroom in Broadway. He was +thrown back for six weeks at this important<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">162</a></span> +time by an accident which happened to him +while experimenting with his fabrics and which +came near causing his death. Just as he was recovering +and preparing to begin the manufacture +of his goods on a large scale the terrible commercial +crisis of 1837 swept over the country, +and by destroying his partner's fortune at one +blow, reduced Goodyear to absolute beggary. +His family had joined him in New York, and he +was entirely without the means of supporting +them. As the only resource at hand he decided +to pawn an article of value—one of the few +which he possessed—in order to raise money to +procure one day's supply of provisions. At the +very door of the pawnbroker's shop he met one +of his creditors, who kindly asked if he could +be of any further assistance to him. Weak +with hunger and overcome by the generosity +of his friend the poor man burst into tears and +replied that, as his family was on the point of +starvation, a loan of $15 would greatly oblige +him. The money was given him on the spot and +the necessity for visiting the pawnbroker averted +for several days longer. Still he was a frequent +visitor to that person during the year, and one +by one the relics of his better days disappeared. +Another friend loaned him $100, which enabled +him to remove his family to Staten Island, in the +neighborhood of the abandoned rubber works, +which the owners gave him permission to use +so far as he could. He contrived in this way to +manufacture enough of his "cured" cloth, which +sold readily, to enable him to keep his family<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">163</a></span> +from starvation. He made repeated efforts to +induce capitalists to come to the factory and see +his samples and the process by which they were +made, but no one would venture near him. +There had been money enough lost in such experiments, +these acquaintances said, and they +were determined to risk no more.</p> + +<p>Indeed, in all the broad land there was but one +man who had the slightest hope of accomplishing +anything with india-rubber, and that one +was Charles Goodyear. His friends regarded +him as a monomaniac. He not only manufactured +his cloth, but even dressed in clothes made of it, +wearing it for the purpose of testing its durability, +as well as of advertising it. He was certainly +an odd figure, and in his appearance justified +the remark of one of his friends, who, upon +being asked how Mr. Goodyear could be recognized, +replied: "If you see a man with an india-rubber +coat on, india-rubber shoes, and india-rubber +cap, and in his pocket an india-rubber +purse with not a cent in it, that is Goodyear."</p> + +<p>In September, 1837, a new gleam of hope lit +up his pathway. A friend having loaned him a +small sum of money he went to Roxbury, taking +with him some of his best specimens. Although +the Roxbury Company had gone down with a +fearful crash, Mr. Chaffee, the inventor of the +first process of making rubber goods in this +country, was still firm in his faith that india-rubber +would at some future time justify the expectations +of its earliest friends. He welcomed +Goodyear cordially and allowed him to use the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">164</a></span> +abandoned works of the company for his experiments. +The result was that Goodyear succeeded +in making shoes and cloths of india-rubber of a +quality so much better than any that had yet +been seen in America that the hopes of the +friends of india-rubber were raised to a high +point. Offers to purchase rights for certain portions +of the country came in rapidly, and by the +sale of them Goodyear realized between four +and five thousand dollars. He was now able to +bring his family to Roxbury, and for the time +fortune seemed to smile upon him.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Calenders_Heated_Internally_by_Steam" id="Calenders_Heated_Internally_by_Steam"></a> +<img src="images/172.jpg" width="400" height="241" alt="Calenders Heated Internally by Steam, for Spreading India Rubber into Sheets or upon Cloth, called the Chaffee Machine." /> +<span class="caption">Calenders Heated Internally by Steam, for Spreading India Rubber into Sheets or + upon Cloth, called the "Chaffee Machine."</span> +</div> + +<p>His success was but temporary, however. He +obtained an order from the general Government +for one hundred and fifty india-rubber mail-bags, +which he succeeded in producing, and as they +came out smooth, highly polished, hard, well +shaped, and entirely impervious to moisture, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">165</a></span> +was delighted and summoned his friends to inspect +and admire them. All who saw them pronounced +them a perfect success, but alas! in a +single month they began to soften and ferment, +and finally became useless. Poor Goodyear's +hopes were dashed to the ground. It was found +that the aqua fortis merely "cured" the surface +of the material, and that only very thin cloth +made in this way was durable. His other goods +began to prove worthless and his promising +business came to a sudden and disastrous end. +All his possessions were seized and sold for debt, +and once more he was reduced to poverty. His +position was even worse than before, for his +family had increased in size and his aged father +also had become dependent upon him for support.</p> + +<p>Friends, relatives, and even his wife, all demanded +that he should abandon his empty +dreams and turn his attention to something that +would yield a support to his family. Four years +of constant failure, added to the unfortunate experience +of those who had preceded him, ought +to convince him, they said, that he was hoping +against hope. Hitherto his conduct, certainly +had been absurd, though they admitted that he +was to some extent excused for it by his partial +success; but to persist in it would be criminal. +The inventor was driven to despair, and being a +man of tender feelings and ardently devoted to +his family, might have yielded to them had he +not felt that he was nearer than ever to the discovery +of the secret that had eluded him so long.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">166</a></span></p> + +<p>Just before the failure of his mail-bags had +brought ruin upon him, he had taken into his +employ a man named Nathaniel Hayward, who +had been the foreman of the old Roxbury works, +and who was still in charge of them when Goodyear +came to Roxbury, and was making a few +rubber articles on his own account. He hardened +his compound by mixing a little powdered +sulphur with the gum, or by sprinkling sulphur +over the rubber cloth and drying it in the sun. +He declared that the process had been revealed +to him in a dream, but could give no further account +of it. Goodyear was astonished to find +that the sulphur cured the india-rubber as thoroughly +as the aqua fortis, the principal objection +being that the sulphurous odor of the goods was +frightful in hot weather. Hayward's process +was really the same as that employed by Goodyear, +the "curing" of the india-rubber being +due in each case to the agency of the sulphur, +the principal difference between them being that +Hayward's goods were dried by the sun and +Goodyear's with nitric acid. Hayward set so +small a value upon his discovery that he readily +sold it to his new employer.</p> + +<p>Goodyear felt that he had now all but conquered +his difficulties. It was plain that sulphur +was the great controller of india-rubber, for he +had proved that when applied to thin cloth it +would render it available for most purposes. The +problem that now remained was how to mix sulphur +and the gum in a mass, so that every part +of the rubber should be subjected to the agency<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">167</a></span> +of the sulphur. He experimented for weeks and +months with the most intense eagerness, but the +mystery completely baffled him. His friends +urged him to go to work to do something for +his family, but he could not turn back. The +goal was almost in sight, and he felt that he +would be false to his mission were he to abandon +his labors now. To the world he seemed a crack-brained +dreamer, and some there were who, seeing +the distress of his family, did not hesitate to +apply still harsher names to him. Had it been +merely wealth that he was working for, doubtless +he would have turned back and sought some +other means of obtaining it; but he sought more. +He felt that he had a mission to fulfil, and that +no one else could perform it.</p> + +<p>He was right. A still greater success was +about to crown his labors, but in a manner far +different from his expectations. His experiments +had developed nothing; chance was to make the +revelation. It was in the spring of 1839, and in +the following manner: Standing before a stove +in a store at Woburn, Mass., he was explaining +to some acquaintances the properties of a piece +of sulphur-cured india-rubber which he held in +his hand. They listened to him good-naturedly, +but with evident incredulity, when suddenly he +dropped the rubber on the stove, which was red +hot. His old clothes would have melted instantly +from contact with such heat; but, to his surprise, +this piece underwent no such change. In amazement +he examined it, and found that while it had +charred or shrivelled like leather, it had not softened<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">168</a></span> +at all. The bystanders attached no importance +to this phenomenon, but to him it was a +revelation. He renewed his experiments with +enthusiasm, and in a little while established the +facts that india-rubber, when mixed with sulphur +and exposed to a certain degree of heat for a +specified time, would not melt or soften at any +degree of heat; that it would only char at two +hundred and eighty degrees, and that it would +not stiffen from exposure to any extent of cold. +The difficulty now consisted in finding out the +exact degree of heat necessary for the perfecting +of the rubber and the exact length of time required +for the heating.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Charles_Goodyears_Exhibition_of_Hard_India_Rubber_Goods" id="Charles_Goodyears_Exhibition_of_Hard_India_Rubber_Goods"></a> +<img src="images/177.jpg" width="400" height="249" alt="Charles Goodyear's Exhibition of Hard India Rubber Goods at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, England. +(From a print published at the time.)" /> +<span class="caption">Charles Goodyear's Exhibition of Hard India Rubber Goods at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, England. +(From a print published at the time.)</span> +</div> + +<p>He made this discovery in his darkest days, +when, in fact, he was in constant danger of arrest +for debt, having already been a frequent inmate +of the debtors' prison. He was in the depths of +bitter poverty and in such feeble health that he +was constantly haunted by the fear of dying before +he had perfected his discovery—before he +had fulfilled his mission. He needed an apparatus +for producing a high and uniform heat for his +experiments, and he was unable to obtain it. He +used to bake his compound in his wife's bread-oven +and steam it over the spout of her tea-kettle, +and to press the kitchen fire into his service +so far as it would go. When this failed, he +would go down to the shops in the vicinity of +Woburn and beg to be allowed to use the ovens +and boilers after working hours were over. The +workmen regarded him as a lunatic, but were too +good-natured to deny him the request. Finally<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">169</a><br /><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">170</a></span> +he induced a bricklayer to make him an oven, +and paid him in masons' aprons of india-rubber. +The oven was a failure. Sometimes it would +turn out pieces of perfectly vulcanized cloth, +and again the goods would be charred and +ruined. Goodyear was in despair.</p> + +<p>All this time he lived on the charity of his +friends. His neighbors pretended to lend him +money, but in reality gave him the means of +keeping his family from starvation. He has declared +that all the while he felt sure he would, +before long, be able to pay them back, but they +have declared with equal emphasis that, at that +time, they never expected to witness his success. +He was yellow and shrivelled in face, with a +gaunt, lean figure, and his habit of wearing an +india-rubber coat, which was charred and blackened +from his frequent experiments with it, gave +him a wild and singular appearance. People +shook their heads solemnly when they saw him, +and said that the mad-house was the proper place +for him.</p> + +<p>The winter of 1839-40 was long and severe. +At the opening of the season Goodyear received +a letter from a house in Paris, making him a handsome +offer for the use of his process of curing +india-rubber with aqua fortis. Here was a +chance for him to rise out of his misery. A +year before he would have closed with the offer, +but since then he had discovered the effects of +sulphur and heat on his compound, and had +passed far beyond the aqua-fortis stage. Disappointment +and want had not warped his conscience,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">171</a></span> +and he at once declined to enter into any +arrangements with the French house, informing +them that although the process they desired to +purchase was a valuable one, it was about to be +entirely replaced by another which he was then +on the point of perfecting, and which he would +gladly sell them as soon as he had completed it. +His friends declared that he was mad to refuse +such an offer; but he replied that nothing would +induce him to sell a process which he knew was +about to be rendered worthless by still greater +discoveries.</p> + +<p>A few weeks later a terrible snow-storm passed +over the land, one of the worst that New England +had ever known, and in the midst of it +Goodyear made the appalling discovery that he +had not a particle of fuel or a mouthful of food +in the house. He was ill enough to be in bed +himself, and his purse was entirely empty. It +was a terrible position, made worse, too, by the +fact that his friends who had formerly aided him +had turned from him, vexed with his pertinacity, +and abandoned him to his fate. In his despair +he bethought him of a mere acquaintance named +Coleridge, who lived several miles from his cottage, +and who but a few days before had spoken to +him with more of kindness than he had received of +late. This gentleman, he thought, would aid him +in his distress, if he could but reach his house, but +in such a snow the journey seemed hopeless to a +man in his feeble health. Still the effort must be +made. Nerved by despair, he set out and pushed +his way resolutely through the heavy drifts.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">172</a></span> +The way was long, and it seemed to him that +he would never accomplish it. Often he fell +prostrate on the snow, almost fainting with fatigue +and hunger, and again he would sit down +wearily in the road, feeling that he would gladly +die if his discovery were but completed. At +length, however, he reached the end of his journey, +and fortunately found his acquaintance at +home. To this gentleman he told the story +of his discovery, his hopes, his struggles, and +his present sufferings, and implored him to help +him. Mr. Coleridge listened to him kindly, and +after expressing the warmest sympathy for him, +loaned him money enough to support his family +during the severe weather and to enable him to +continue his experiments.</p> + +<p>Seeing no prospect of success in Massachusetts, +he now resolved to make a desperate effort +to get to New York, feeling confident that the +specimens he could take with him would convince +someone of the superiority of his new +method. He was beginning to understand the +cause of his many failures, but he saw clearly +that his compound could not be worked with +certainty without expensive apparatus. It was +a very delicate operation, requiring exactness +and promptitude. The conditions upon which +success depended were many, and the failure of +one spoiled all. It cost him thousands of failures +to learn that a little acid in his sulphur +caused the blistering; that his compound must +be heated almost immediately after being mixed +or it would never vulcanize; that a portion of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">173</a></span> +white lead in the compound greatly facilitated +the operation and improved the result; and when +he had learned these facts, it still required costly +and laborious experiments to devise the best +methods of compounding his ingredients in the +best proportions, the best mode of heating, the +proper duration of the heating, and the various +useful effects that could be produced by varying +the proportions and the degree of heat. He +tells us that many times when, by exhausting +every resource, he had prepared a quantity of +his compound for heating, it was spoiled because +he could not, with his inadequate apparatus, +apply the heat soon enough.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<a name="COUNCIL_MEDAL_OF_THE_EXHIBITION" id="COUNCIL_MEDAL_OF_THE_EXHIBITION"></a> +<img src="images/181.jpg" width="300" height="152" alt="COUNCIL MEDAL OF THE EXHIBITION. C. GOODYEAR. CLASS XXVIII. 1851." /> +<span class="caption">COUNCIL MEDAL OF THE EXHIBITION.<br /> +C. GOODYEAR. CLASS XXVIII. <br /> +1851.</span> +</div> + +<p>To New York, then, he directed his thoughts. +Merely to get there cost him a severer and a +longer effort than men in general are capable of +making. First he walked to Boston, ten miles<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">174</a></span> +distant, where he hoped to borrow from an old +acquaintance $50, with which to provide for +his family and pay his fare to New York. He +not only failed in this, but he was arrested for +debt and thrown into prison. Even in prison, +while his old father was negotiating to procure +his release, he labored to interest men of capital +in his discovery, and made proposals for founding +a factory in Boston. Having obtained his +liberty, he went to a hotel and spent a week in +vain efforts to effect a small loan. Saturday +night came, and with it his hotel bill, which he +had no means of discharging. In an agony of +shame and anxiety, he went to a friend and entreated +the sum of $5 to enable him to return +home. He was met with a point-blank refusal. +In the deepest dejection, he walked the streets +till late in the night, and strayed at length, +almost beside himself, to Cambridge, where he +ventured to call upon a friend and ask shelter +for the night. He was hospitably entertained, +and the next morning walked wearily home, +penniless and despairing. At the door of his +house a member of his family met him with the +news that his youngest child, two years old, +whom he had left in perfect health, was dying. +In a few hours he had in his house a dead +child, but not the means of burying it, and five +living dependents without a morsel of food to +give them. A storekeeper near by had promised +to supply the family, but, discouraged by +the unforeseen length of the father's absence, he +had that day refused to trust them further. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">175</a></span> +these terrible circumstances he applied to a +friend, upon whose generosity he knew he could +rely, one who never failed him. He received in +reply a letter of severe and cutting reproach, +enclosing $7, which his friend explained was +given only out of pity for his innocent and suffering +family. A stranger who chanced to be +present when this letter arrived sent them a barrel +of flour, a timely and blessed relief. The +next day the family followed on foot the remains +of the little child to the grave.</p> + +<p>This was about the darkest hour of poor Goodyear's +life, but it was before the dawn. He managed +to obtain $50, with which he went to +New York, and succeeded in interesting two +brothers, William and Emory Rider, in his discoveries. +They agreed to advance to him a +certain sum to complete his experiments. By +means of this aid he was enabled to keep his +family from want, and his experiments were pursued +with greater ease and certainty. His +brother-in-law, William De Forrest, a rich wool +manufacturer, also came to his aid, now that +success seemed in view. Nevertheless, the experiments +of that and the following year cost +nearly $50,000. Thanks to this timely aid, he +was able in 1844, ten years after beginning his +work, to produce perfect vulcanized india-rubber +with economy and certainty. To the end of +his life he was at work, however, endeavoring +to improve the material and apply it to new uses. +He took out more than sixty patents covering +different processes of making rubber goods.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">176</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<a name="GRANDE_MEDAILLE_DHONNEUR_EXPOSITION_UNIVERSELLE_DE_1855" id="GRANDE_MEDAILLE_DHONNEUR_EXPOSITION_UNIVERSELLE_DE_1855"></a> +<img src="images/184.jpg" width="300" height="152" alt="GRANDE MEDAILLE D'HONNEUR. EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE DE 1855. Donne pour la Decouverte de la Vulcanisation et Durcissement du Caoutchouc. FACSIMILE GOLD." /> +<span class="caption">GRANDE MEDAILLE D'HONNEUR.<br /> +EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE DE 1855.<br /> +Donne pour la Decouverte de la Vulcanisation et Durcissement du Caoutchouc.<br /> +FACSIMILE GOLD.</span> +</div> + +<p>If Goodyear had been a man of business instincts +and habits, the years following the completion +of his great work might have brought him +an immense fortune; but everywhere he seems +to have been unfortunate in protecting his rights. +In France and England he lost his patent rights +by technical defects. In the latter country another +man, who had received a copy of the +American patent, actually applied and obtained +the English rights in his own name. Goodyear, +however, obtained the great council medal at +the London Exhibition of 1851, a grand medal at +Paris, in 1855, and later the ribbon of the Legion +of Honor. In this country he was scarcely less +unfortunate. His patents were infringed right +and left, he was cheated by business associates +and plundered of the profits of his invention. +The United States Commissioner of Patents, in +1858, thus spoke of his losses:</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">177</a></span></p> + +<p>"No inventor, probably, has ever been so +harassed, so trampled upon, so plundered by +that sordid and licentious class of infringers +known in the parlance of the world as 'pirates.' +The spoliation of their incessant guerrilla warfare +upon his defenceless rights has unquestionably +amounted to millions."</p> + +<p>Goodyear died in New York in July, 1860, +worn out with work and disappointment. Neither +Europe nor America seemed disposed to +accord him any reward or credit for having +made one of the greatest discoveries of the time. +Notwithstanding his invention, which has made +millions for those engaged in working it, he died +insolvent, and left his family heavily in debt. A +few years after his death an effort was made to +procure from Congress an extension of his patent +for the benefit of his family and creditors. +The opposition of the men who had grown rich +and powerful by successfully infringing his +rights prevented that august body from doing +justice in the matter and the effort came to +nothing.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">178</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII.</h2> + + +<h3>JOHN ERICSSON.</h3> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a name="John_Ericsson" id="John_Ericsson"></a> +<img src="images/187.jpg" width="500" height="642" alt="John Ericsson." /> +<span class="caption">John Ericsson.</span> +</div> + +<p>Captain John Ericsson, although not by +birth an American, rendered such signal services +to this country and lived here for so many years +that we may fairly consider him in the light of +an American inventor. The inventions to which +he devoted the best years of his life were made +in this country. He loved America, he died +here, and though his ashes have been sent back +to Sweden, the world of Europe, in common +with ourselves, probably thinks of Ericsson as +an American.</p> + +<p>By the roadside near a mountain hamlet of +Central Sweden stands a pyramid of iron cast +from ore dug from the adjacent mines and set +upon a base of granite quarried from the hills +which overlook the valley. This monument bears +the information that two brothers, Nils Ericsson +and John Ericsson, were born in a miner's +hut at that place, respectively, January 31, 1802, +and July 31, 1803. Nils Ericsson was a man of +unusual distinction, who held high position in +Sweden as engineer of the canals and railroads +of the kingdom. The name of his brother is +known the world over. These two notable +Swedes were sons of Olof Ericsson, a Swedish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">179</a></span> +miner. Poverty was one of the bits of good +fortune that fell to the lot of the two boys, and +among John's earliest recollections is that of the +seizure of their household effects by the sheriff. +The mother was a woman of intelligence and +somewhat acquainted with the literature of her +time. In boyhood John Ericsson worked in the +iron mines of Central Sweden. Machinery was +his first love and his last. Before he was eleven +years old, during the winter of 1813, he had produced +a miniature saw-mill of ingenious construction, +and had planned a pumping-engine +designed to keep the mines free from water. +The frame of the saw-mill was of wood; the +saw-blade was made from a watch-spring and +was moved by a crank made from a broken tin +spoon. A file, borrowed from a neighboring +blacksmith, a gimlet, and a jack-knife were the +only tools used in this work. His pumping-engine +was a more ambitious affair, to be operated +by a wind-mill.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="John_Ericssons_Birthplace_and_Monument" id="John_Ericssons_Birthplace_and_Monument"></a> +<img src="images/190.jpg" width="400" height="271" alt="John Ericsson's Birthplace and Monument." /> +<span class="caption">John Ericsson's Birthplace and Monument.</span> +</div> + +<p>The family then lived in the wilderness, surrounded +by a pine forest, where Ericsson's father +was engaged in selecting timber for the lock-gates +of a canal. A quill and a pencil were the +boy's tools in the way of drawing materials. He +made compasses of birch wood. A pair of steel +tweezers were converted into a drawing-pen. +Ericsson had never seen a wind-mill, but following +as well as he could the description of those +who had, he succeeded in constructing on paper +the mechanism connecting the crank of a wind-mill +with the pump-lever. The plan, conceived<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">180</a><br /><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">181</a></span> +and executed under such circumstances by a +mere boy, attracted the attention of Count +Platen, president of the Gotha Ship Canal, on +which Ericsson's father was employed, and when +Ericsson was twelve years old he was made +a member of the surveying party carrying out +the canal work and put in charge of a section. +Six hundred of the royal troops looked for directions +in their daily work to this boy, one of his +attendants being a man who followed him with +a stool, upon which he stood to use the surveying +instruments. The amusements of this boy +engineer, even at the age of fifteen, are indicated +by a portfolio of drawings made in his leisure +moments, giving maps of the most important +parts of the canal, three hundred miles in length, +and showing all the machinery used in its construction. +His precocity was, however, the normal +and healthy development of a mind as fond +of mechanical principles as Raphael was of color.</p> + +<p>It was in 1811 that Ericsson made his first +scale drawing of the famous Sunderland Iron +Bridge, and from that time on his career in +Sweden was a brilliant one. After serving as an +engineer upon the Gotha Canal he became an +officer in the Swedish army, from which circumstance +he got his title of captain. Most government +work was then done by army officers, especially +in field surveying. The appointments of +government surveyors being offered soon afterward +to competitive examination among the officers +of the army, Ericsson went to Stockholm +and entered the lists. Detailed maps of fifty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">182</a></span> +square miles of Swedish territory, still upon file at +Stockholm, show his skill. Though his work as +a surveyor exceeded that of any of his companions, +he was not satisfied. He sought an outlet +for his superfluous activity in preparing the drawings +and engraving sixty-four large plates for a +work illustrating the Gotha Canal. His faculty +for invention was shown here by the construction +of a machine-engraver, with which eighteen +copper-plates were completed by his own hand +within a year.</p> + +<p>From engraving young Ericsson turned his +attention to experiments with flame as a means +of producing mechanical power, and it is interesting +to note that forty years afterward a large +part of his income in this country was derived +from his gas-or flame-engine, thousands of which +are now in use in New York City alone for +pumping water up to the tops of the houses. +His early flame-engine, as it was called, turned +out so well that after building one of ten horse-power, +he obtained leave of absence to go to +England to introduce the invention. He never +returned to Sweden for any length of time, +although he remained a Swede at heart, and +many Swedish orders and decorations have been +conferred upon him. In addition to the monument +near Ericsson's birthplace, already mentioned, +the government has erected a granite +shaft, eighteen feet high, in front of the cottage +in which he was born. This shaft, bearing +the inscription, "John Ericsson was born here +in 1803," was dedicated on September 3, 1867,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">183</a></span> +when work was suspended in the neighboring +mines and iron furnaces, and a holiday was held +in honor of Sweden's famous son. Poems were +read, the chief engineer of the mining district +delivered an oration, and Dr. Pallin, a savant +from Philipstad, reminded his hearers that seven +cities in Greece contended for the honor of being +Homer's birthplace. "Certificates of baptism +did not then exist," said Dr. Pallin, "and +there is no doubt with us as to Ericsson's birthplace; +yet to guard against all accidents we +have here placed a record of baptism weighing +eighty thousand pounds." The monument +stands on an isthmus between two lakes surrounded +by green hills.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="The_Novelty_Locomotive_built_by_Ericsson" id="The_Novelty_Locomotive_built_by_Ericsson"></a> +<img src="images/194.jpg" width="400" height="269" alt="The Novelty Locomotive, built by Ericsson to compete with Stephenson's Rocket, 1829." /> +<span class="caption">The Novelty Locomotive, built by Ericsson to compete with Stephenson's Rocket, 1829.</span> +</div> + +<p>Ericsson's life in England began in 1826. Fortune +did not smile upon his efforts to introduce +his flame-engine, for the coal fire which had +to be used in England was too severe for the +working parts of the apparatus. But Ericsson +possessed a capacity for hard work that recognized +no obstacles. He undertook a new series +of experiments which resulted finally in the completion +of an engine which was patented and +sold to John Braithwaite. Young Ericsson's capacity +for work and for keeping half a dozen experiments +in view at the same time seems to have +been as remarkable in those early days as when +he became famous. Records of the London +Patent Office credit him with invention after +invention. Among these were a pumping-engine +on a new principle; engines with surface condensers +and no smoke-stack, as applied to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">184</a><br /><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">185</a></span> +steamship Victory in 1828; an apparatus for +making salt from brine; for propelling boats +on canals; a hydrostatic weighing machine, to +which the Society of Arts awarded a prize; an +instrument to be used in taking deep-sea soundings; +a file-cutting machine. The list covers +some fourteen patented inventions and forty machines.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Ericsson_on_his_Arrival_in_England" id="Ericsson_on_his_Arrival_in_England"></a> +<img src="images/196.jpg" width="400" height="522" alt="Ericsson on his Arrival in England, aged twenty-three." /> +<span class="caption">Ericsson on his Arrival in England, aged twenty-three.</span> +</div> + +<p>Perhaps his most important work at this period +was a device for creating artificial draught +in locomotives, to which aid the development of +our railroad owes much. In 1829 the Liverpool +& Manchester Railroad offered a prize of $2,500 +for the best locomotive capable of doing certain +work. The prize was taken by Stephenson +with his famous Rocket; but his sharpest competitor +in this contest was John Ericsson. Four +locomotives entered the contest. The London +<i>Times</i> of October 8, 1829, speaks highly of the +Novelty, the locomotive entered by Messrs. +Braithwaite & Ericsson, saying: "It was the +lightest and most elegant carriage on the road +yesterday, and the velocity with which it moved +surprised and amazed every beholder. It shot +along the line at the amazing rate of thirty miles +an hour. It seemed indeed to fly, presenting +one of the most sublime spectacles of human +ingenuity and human daring the world ever +beheld."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Mrs_John_Ericsson_nee_Amelia_Byam" id="Mrs_John_Ericsson_nee_Amelia_Byam"></a> +<img src="images/197.jpg" width="400" height="499" alt="Mrs. John Ericsson, née Amelia Byam. (From an early daguerreotype.)" /> +<span class="caption">Mrs. John Ericsson, née Amelia Byam.<br /> +(From an early daguerreotype.)</span> +</div> + +<p>The railroad directors, at whose invitation this +test was made, had asked for ten miles an hour; +Ericsson gave them thirty. The excitement of +the witnesses found vent in loud cheers. Within<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">186</a></span> +an hour the shares of the railroad company rose +ten per cent., and the young engineer might well +have considered his fortune made. But although +he had beaten his rival ten miles an hour, the +judges determined to make traction power, +rather than speed, the critical test, and the prize +was awarded to Stephenson's Rocket, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">187</a></span> +drew seventeen tons for seventy miles at the rate +of thirteen miles an hour. Stephenson's engine +weighed twice as much as Ericsson's. Nevertheless +Ericsson's success with the Novelty was +such as to keep him busy in this particular field. +He followed it up with a steam fire-engine that +astonished London at the burning of the Argyle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">188</a></span> +Rooms, in 1829, when for the first time, as one +of the local papers remarked, "fire was extinguished +by the mechanical power of fire." +Another engine, of larger power, built for the +King of Prussia, soon after rendered excellent +service in Berlin, and a third was built for Liverpool +in 1830. Ten years afterward the Mechanics' +Institute of New York awarded a gold +medal to Ericsson as a prize for the best plan of +a steam-engine.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Exterior_View_of_Ericssons_House" id="Exterior_View_of_Ericssons_House"></a> +<img src="images/199.jpg" width="400" height="336" alt="Exterior View of Ericsson's House, No. 36 Beach Street, New York, 1890." /> +<span class="caption">Exterior View of Ericsson's House, No. 36 Beach Street, New York, 1890.</span> +</div> + +<p>Disappointed in his ill success with inventions +pertaining to locomotives, Ericsson now +turned his attention to his early flame-engine, +and the working model of a caloric engine of +five-horse power soon attracted the attention of +London. At first there seemed to be a great +future for engines upon this principle, but after +many years of experiments, at great expense, +Ericsson found that the principle was useful only +for purposes requiring small power. In 1851 he +built a heat-engine for the ship Ericsson, a vessel +two hundred and sixty feet in length, and tells +the result as follows: "The ship after completion +made a successful trip from New York to +Washington and back during the winter season; +but the average speed at sea proving insufficient +for commercial purposes, the owners, with regret, +acceded to my proposition to remove the +costly machinery, although it had proved perfect +as a mechanical combination. The resources of +modern engineering having been exhausted in +producing the motors of the caloric ship, the important +question, Can heated air, as a mechanical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">189</a><br /><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">190</a></span> +motor, compete on a large scale with steam? +has forever been set at rest. The commercial +world is indebted to American enterprise for +having settled a question of such vital importance. +The marine engineer has thus been encouraged +to renew his efforts to perfect the +steam-engine without fear of rivalry from a motor +depending on the dilation of atmospheric air +by heat."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Solar-engine_Adapted_to_the_Use_of_Hot_Air" id="Solar-engine_Adapted_to_the_Use_of_Hot_Air"></a> +<img src="images/201.jpg" width="400" height="489" alt="Solar-engine Adapted to the Use of Hot Air. (Patented as a pumping-engine, 1880.)" /> +<span class="caption">Solar-engine Adapted to the Use of Hot Air.<br /> +(Patented as a pumping-engine, 1880.)</span> +</div> + +<p>Before leaving this question of heat-engines +and passing to the more important inventions by +which Ericsson will be remembered, it may be +as well to say a few words concerning the solar-engines +to which he devoted many years' time, +and one of which I saw in operation in the back +yard of the pleasant old house in Beach Street, +opposite the freight depot of the Hudson River +Railroad. This house, by the way, which Ericsson +occupied for nearly forty years, faced on St. +John's Park, the pleasant square which was afterward +filled up by the railroad company. Toward +the last years of Ericsson's life the neighborhood +became anything but a pleasant one to +live in; it was dirty and noisy. Nevertheless +Ericsson refused to move. Perhaps the unpleasantness +of the surroundings made him the recluse +he was. It is not surprising that he should have +been attracted by the possibility of obtaining +power from the heat of the sun. In an early +pamphlet on the subject he says: "There is a +rainless region extending from the northwestern +coast of Africa to Mongolia, nine thousand miles +in length and nearly one thousand miles wide.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">191</a></span> +In the Western Hemisphere, Lower California, +the table-lands of Guatemala, and the west coast +of South America, for a distance of more than two +thousand miles, suffer from a continuous radiant +heat." Ericsson estimated that the mechanical +power that would result from utilizing the solar +heat on a strip of land a single mile wide and +eight thousand miles long would suffice to keep +twenty-two million solar-engines, of one hundred<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">192</a></span> +horse-power each, going nine hours a day. He +believed that with the exhaustion of European +coal-fields the day for the solar-engine would +come, and that those countries which possessed +unfailing sunshine, such as Egypt, would displace +England, France, and Germany as the manufacturing +powers of the world, for the European +would have to move his machinery to the borders +of the Nile. By concentrating the rays of +the sun upon a small copper boiler filled with +air Ericsson was enabled to work a little motor, +and for some years he also attempted to produce +steam by means of heat from the sun. He was +not successful, however, in making anything of +commercial value in this direction, and so far as +I have been able to learn none of the tropical +countries invited by him to take up the problem +for its own benefit responded to the invitation.</p> + +<p>Ericsson's studies and improvements of the +screw as a means of propelling boats began in +England. A model boat, two feet long, fitted +up with two screws, was launched in a London +bath-house, and, supplied by steam from a boiler +placed at the side of the tank, was sent around +at a speed estimated at six miles an hour. Ericsson +was so delighted with it that he built a boat +eight feet by forty, armed with two propellers, +in the hope that the British Admiralty might +adopt the invention. This boat went through +the water at the rate of ten miles an hour, or +seven miles an hour towing a schooner of one +hundred and forty tons burden. He invited the +Admiralty to see the work of his screw. Steaming<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">193</a></span> +up to Somerset House with his little vessel, +Ericsson took the Admiralty barge in tow, to +the wonder of the watermen, who could make +nothing of the novel craft with no apparent +means of propulsion. The British Admiralty, +however, was not easily convinced. These wiseacres +said nothing, but Ericsson professed to +have heard that their verdict was against him +because one of the authorities of the board decided +that "even if the propeller had the power +of propelling a vessel it would be found altogether +useless in practice, because the power, +being applied to the stern, it would be absolutely +impossible to make the vessel steer."</p> + +<p>This official blindness cost England the services +of the inventor. The United States happened +to have as consul in Liverpool at that day +(1837) Mr. Francis B. Ogden, a pioneer in steam +navigation on the Ohio River. Ogden saw +Ericsson's invention and introduced him to Captain +Robert F. Stockton, of the United States +Navy. With Stockton, seeing was believing, and +when he returned from a trip on Ericsson's boat, +he exclaimed: "I do not want the opinion of +your scientific men. What I have seen to-day +satisfies me." Before the vessel had completed +her trip, Ericsson received from Stockton an +order for two boats. Upon Stockton's assurance +that the United States would try his propeller +upon a large scale, Ericsson closed up his +affairs in England and embarked for the United +States. Through the good offices of Stockton, +but after considerable delay, a vessel called the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">194</a></span> +Princeton was ordered and completed. She +carried a number of radical improvements destined +to make a revolution in naval warfare. +The boilers and engines were below the waterline, +out of the way of shot and shell. The +smoke-stack was a telescopic affair, replacing +the tall pipe that formed so conspicuous a target +upon the old boats. Centrifugal blowers in the +hold, worked by separate engines, secured increased +draught for the furnaces. The Princeton +was a wonder, and everyone was ready to +praise the inventive genius of Ericsson and the +daring of Captain Stockton in adopting so many +radical novelties. An entry in the diary of John +Quincy Adams, dated February 28, 1844, tells +the sad story of the public exhibition of the +Princeton at Washington:</p> + +<p>"I went into the chamber of the Committee of +Manufactures and wrote there till six. Dined +with Mr. Grinnell and Mr. Winthrop. While +we were at dinner John Barney burst into the +chamber, rushed up to General Scott and told +him, with groans, that the President wished to +see him; that the great gun on board the Princeton +had burst and killed the Secretary of State, +Upshur; the Secretary of the Navy, T.W. Gilmer; +Captain Beverly Kennon, Virgil Maxey, a +Colonel Gardiner, of New York, a colored servant +of the President, and desperately wounded +several of the crew."</p> + +<p>So tragic an introduction was not needed to +direct public attention to the Princeton. Ericsson +had placed the United States at the head of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">195</a></span> +naval powers in the application of steam-power +to warfare. He had made the experiment of the +Princeton at a great cost to himself, and two +years of concentrated effort had been devoted +to the service of the Government. For his +time, labor, and necessary expenditures he rendered +a bill of $15,000, leaving the question of +what, if anything, should be charged for his +patent rights entirely to the discretion and generosity +of the Government. The bill was refused +payment by the Navy Department because of +its limited discretion. Ericsson went to Congress +with it, but a dozen years passed without +the slightest progress toward a settlement. A +court of claims rendered a unanimous decree in +his favor, but Congress, to which the bill was +again sent, failed to make an appropriation, and +there the matter has remained, notwithstanding +the brilliant services since rendered to this country +by the inventor.</p> + +<p>Various nations claim the invention of the +screw as applied to boats. At Trieste and at +Vienna stand statues erected to Joseph Ressel, +for whom the Austrians lay claim. Commodore +Stevens, of New Jersey, is also said by Professor +Thurston to have built and worked a screw-propeller +on the Hudson in 1812. Whatever may +be the final decision as to Ericsson's claim in +this matter, there can be no doubt as to the +value of the services he rendered in building the +Monitor. The suggestion of the Monitor was +first made in a communication from Ericsson to +Napoleon III., dated New York, September,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">196</a></span> +1854. This paper contained a description of an +iron-clad vessel surmounted by a cupola substantially +as in the Monitor as finally built. The +emperor, through General Favre, acknowledged +the communication. Favre wrote: "The emperor +has himself examined with the greatest +care the new system of naval attack which you +have communicated to him. His Majesty charges +me with the honor of informing you that he has +found your ideas very ingenious and worthy of +the celebrated name of their author." For eight +years Ericsson continued working upon his idea +of a revolving cupola or turret upon an iron-clad +raft, but found no opportunity to test the practical +value of the device. His time finally came +when, in 1861, the Navy Department appointed +a board to examine plans for iron-clads. The +board consisted of Commodores Joseph Smith, +Hiram Paulding, and Charles H. Davis. Ericsson, +having learned to distrust his own powers +as a business agent, engaged the assistance of C. +S. Bushnell, a Connecticut man of some wealth, +who went to Washington and presented the designs +of the Monitor to the board.</p> + +<p>Colonel W.C. Church, Ericsson's biographer, +who has just been honored by Sweden for his +publications upon the life of the inventor, tells +an interesting story of the negotiations concerning +the vessel which was to render such signal +services to the country. Bushnell could make +no headway with the board and decided that +Ericsson's presence in Washington was necessary. +But the inventor was then, as during his whole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">197</a></span> +life, averse to any self-advertisement, and preferred +his workshop to any place on earth. But +as he possessed a sort of rude eloquence due to +enthusiasm, Bushnell got him to Washington by +subterfuge. He was told that the board approved +his plans for an iron-clad and that it +would be necessary for him to go to the capital +and complete the contract. Presenting himself +before the board, what was his astonishment to +find that he was not only an unexpected but apparently +an unwelcome visitor. He was not +long in doubt as to the meaning of this reception. +To his indignation and astonishment he +was informed that the plan of a vessel submitted +by him had already been rejected. His first impulse +was to withdraw at once. Mastering his +anger, however, he inquired the reason for this +decision. Commodore Smith explained that the +vessel had not sufficient stability; in other words, +it would be liable to upset. Captain Ericsson +was too experienced a naval designer to have +overlooked this point, and in a lucid explanation +put his views before the board, winding up with +the declaration: "Gentlemen, after what I have +said, I consider it to be your duty to the country +to give me an order to build the vessel before I +leave this room."</p> + +<p>Withdrawing to a corner the board held a consultation +and invited the inventor to call again +at one o'clock. When Ericsson returned he +brought with him a diagram illustrating more +fully his reasons for considering his proposed +vessel to be perfectly stable. Commodore, afterward<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">198</a></span> +Admiral, Paulding was convinced, and admitted +that Ericsson had taught him much about +the stability of vessels. Secretary Welles was +informed that the board reported favorably upon +Ericsson's plan, and told the inventor that he +might return to New York and begin work, as +the contract would follow him. When the contract +came it was found to be a singularly one-sided +affair. If the Monitor proved vulnerable—in +other words; if it was not a success—the +money paid for it by the Navy Department was +to be refunded.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="The_Original_Monitor" id="The_Original_Monitor"></a> +<img src="images/209.jpg" width="400" height="102" alt="The Original Monitor." /> +<span class="caption">The Original Monitor.</span> +</div> + +<p>It took one hundred days to build the Monitor. +During those three months Ericsson scarcely +slept, and even in his dreams he went over the +details of the new-fangled war-engine he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">199</a></span> +building. He named her Monitor because, he +said, she would warn the +nations of the world that +a new era in naval warfare +had begun. The story of +his untiring activity has +been told almost as often +as that of the battle between +the Monitor and +the Merrimac. He was at +the ship-yard before any +of the workmen, and was +the last to leave. In the +construction of so novel a +craft difficulties of a puzzling +nature came up every +day. If Ericsson could not +solve them on the spot, he +studied the matter in the +quiet of the night, and was +ready with his drawings +in the morning. The result +of the naval battle in +Hampton Roads, on the +9th of March, 1862, between +the little Monitor +and the big Merrimac +made Ericsson the hero of +the hour. Had no David +appeared to stop the ravages +of the Confederate +Goliath, it is hard to say what might not have +been the injury inflicted upon the cause of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">200</a></span> +Union by the terrible Merrimac. The United +States Navy was virtually panic-stricken when +the Monitor, this "Yankee cheese-box on a +plank," as the Southerners called her, came to +the rescue.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Sectional_View_of_Monitor_through_Turret_and_Pilot-house" id="Sectional_View_of_Monitor_through_Turret_and_Pilot-house"></a> +<img src="images/208.jpg" width="400" height="246" alt="Sectional View of Monitor through Turret and Pilot-house." /> +<span class="caption">Sectional View of Monitor through Turret and Pilot-house.</span> +</div> + +<p>Notwithstanding the tremendous service rendered +the country, Ericsson declined to receive +more compensation for the Monitor than his contract +called for. In reply to a resolution of the +New York Chamber of Commerce calling for +"a suitable return for his services as will evince +the gratitude of the nation," Ericsson said: "All +the remuneration I desire for the Monitor I +get out of the construction of it. It is all-sufficient." +Our grateful nation took him at his +word. But honors of another and less costly +kind were showered upon him. Chief Engineer +Stimers, who was on the Monitor during her +battle with the Merrimac, wrote to Ericsson: +"I congratulate you on your great success. +Thousands have this day blessed you. I have +heard whole crews cheer you. Every man feels +that you have saved this place to the nation by +furnishing us with the means to whip an iron-clad +frigate that was, until our arrival, having +it all her own way with our most powerful +vessels."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Fac-simile_of_a_Pencil_Sketch_by_Ericsson" id="Fac-simile_of_a_Pencil_Sketch_by_Ericsson"></a> +<img src="images/211.jpg" width="400" height="281" alt="Fac-simile of a Pencil Sketch by Ericsson, giving a Transverse Section of his Original Monitor Plan, with a Longitudinal Section drawn over it." /> +<span class="caption">Fac-simile of a Pencil Sketch by Ericsson, giving a Transverse Section of his Original Monitor Plan, with a Longitudinal +Section drawn over it.</span> +</div> + +<p>War vessels upon the plan of the Monitor +speedily appeared among the navies of several +nations. England refused at first to admit the +value of the invention and was not converted until +the double-turreted Miantonomoh visited her +waters in 1866, when one of the London papers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">201</a><br /><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">202</a></span> +described her appearance among the British fleet +as that of a wolf among a flock of sheep. The +day of the big wooden war-vessels was over. It +was, nevertheless, an Englishman and a naval officer, +Captain Cowper Coles, who sought to deprive +Ericsson of the honor of his invention. +Coles declared that he had devised a ship during +the Crimean War, in which a turret or cupola +was to protect the guns. Ericsson's letter to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">203</a></span> +Napoleon III., written in 1854, is sufficient answer +to this, besides which Ericsson's scheme includes +more than a stationary shield for the guns, which +is all that Coles claimed. Coles succeeded, however, +in inducing the British Admiralty to build +a vessel according to his plans. This ill-fated +craft upset off Cape Finisterre on the night of +September 6, 1870, and went to the bottom with +Coles and a crew of nearly five hundred men.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Interior_of_the_Destroyer_Looking_toward_the_Bow" id="Interior_of_the_Destroyer_Looking_toward_the_Bow"></a> +<img src="images/212.jpg" width="400" height="335" alt="Interior of the Destroyer, Looking toward the Bow." /> +<span class="caption">Interior of the Destroyer, Looking toward the Bow.</span> +</div> + +<p>Having devised an apparatus that made +wooden war-vessels useless, Ericsson turned his +attention to the destruction of iron-clads, and devoted +ten years of his life to the construction of +his famous torpedo-boat, the Destroyer, upon +which he spent about all the money he amassed +by other work. According to his belief, no vessel +afloat could escape annihilation in a battle +with his Destroyer. This vessel is designed to +run at sufficient speed to overtake any of the +iron-clads. It offers small surface to the shot of +an enemy, and besides being heavily armored, it +can be partly submerged beneath the waves. +When within fighting distance it fires under +water, by compressed air, a projectile containing +dynamite sufficient to raise a big war-ship out of +the water. The explosion takes place when the +projectile meets with resistance, such as the sides +of a ship. To Ericsson's great disappointment, +the United States Government persistently refused +to purchase the Destroyer or to commission +Ericsson to build more vessels of her type.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Development_of_the_Monitor_Idea" id="Development_of_the_Monitor_Idea"></a> +<img src="images/214.jpg" width="400" height="669" alt="Development of the Monitor Idea." /> +<span class="caption">Development of the Monitor Idea.</span> +</div> + +<p>Of Ericsson's home life there is not much to +be told. He was utterly wrapped up in his work.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">204</a></span> +With his devoted secretary, Mr. Arthur Taylor, +his days knew scarcely any variation. Of social +recreation he had none. In conversation he was +abrupt and somewhat peculiar, apparently regarding +all other talk than that relating to mechanics +and germane subjects as a waste of +words. His shrewd face, with its blue eyes and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">205</a></span> +fringe of white hair, was not an unkindly one, +however, and the few workmen he employed in +the Beach Street house were devoted to him. +No great man was ever more intensely averse to +personal notoriety. Although often advised to +make his Destroyer better known by means of +newspaper articles, he persistently refused to see +newspaper men; and the professional interviewer +and lion-hunter were his pet aversions. It was +perhaps to avoid them that he left his house only +after nightfall, and then but for a walk in the +neighborhood.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="The_Room_in_which_Ericsson_Worked" id="The_Room_in_which_Ericsson_Worked"></a> +<img src="images/216.jpg" width="400" height="269" alt="The Room in which Ericsson Worked for More than Twenty Years." /> +<span class="caption">The Room in which Ericsson Worked for More than Twenty Years.</span> +</div> + +<p>His time was divided according to rule. For +thirty years he was called by his servant at seven +o'clock in the morning, and took a bath of very +cold water, ice being added to it in summer. +After some gymnastic exercises came breakfast +at nine o'clock, always of eggs, tea, and brown +bread. His second and last meal of the day, +dinner, never varied from chops or steak, some +vegetables, and tea and brown bread again. Ice-water +was the only luxury that he indulged in. +He used tobacco in no form. During the daytime +he was accustomed to work at his desk or +drawing-table for about ten hours. After dinner +he resumed work until ten, when he started out +for the stroll of an hour or more, which always +ended his day. The last desk work accomplished +every day was to make a record in his diary, always +exactly one page long. This diary is in +Swedish and comprises more than fourteen thousand +pages, thus covering a period of forty years, +during which he omitted but twenty days, in 1856,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">206</a></span> +when he had a finger crushed by machinery. He +scarcely knew what sickness was, and just before +his death said that he had not missed a meal +for fifteen years. He was a widower and left no +children. He died in the Beach Street house, +after a short illness, on March 8, 1889, and his +remains were transferred to Sweden with naval +honors.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">207</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII.</h2> + + +<h3>CYRUS HALL McCORMICK.</h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a name="Cyrus_Hall_McCormick" id="Cyrus_Hall_McCormick"></a> +<img src="images/218.jpg" width="500" height="677" alt="Cyrus Hall McCormick." /> +<span class="caption">Cyrus Hall McCormick.</span> +</div> + +<p>In the course of an argument before the Commissioner +of Patents, in 1859, the late Reverdy +Johnson declared that the McCormick reaper +was worth $55,000,000 a year to this country, +an estimate that was not disputed. At about +the same time the late William H. Seward +said that "owing to Mr. McCormick's invention +the line of civilization moves westward thirty +miles each year." Already the London <i>Times</i>, +after ridiculing the McCormick reaper exhibited +at the London World's Fair of 1851, as "a cross +between an Astley (circus) chariot, a wheel-barrow, +and a flying-machine," confessed, when +the reaper had been tested in the fields, that it +was "worth to the farmers of England the whole +cost of this exhibition." Writing of this glorious +success, Mr. Seward said: "So the reaper of +1831, as improved in 1845, achieved for its inventor +a triumph which all then felt and acknowledged +was not more a personal one than +it was a national one. It was justly so regarded. +No general or consul, drawn in a chariot through +the streets of Rome by order of the Senate, ever +conferred upon mankind benefits so great as he +who thus vindicated the genius of our country<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">208</a></span> +at the World's Exhibition of Art in the metropolis +of the British empire in 1851." In 1861, +though declining to extend the patent for the +reaper, the Commissioner of Patents, D.P. Holloway, +paid the inventor this remarkable tribute: +"Cyrus H. McCormick is an inventor whose +fame, while he is yet living, has spread through +the world. His genius has done honor to his +own country, and has been the admiration of +foreign nations, and he will live in the grateful +recollection of mankind as long as the reaping-machine +is employed in gathering the harvest." +Nevertheless the extension of the patent of 1834, +which act of justice would have given the inventor +an opportunity to obtain an adequate reward +for his work, was refused upon the extraordinary +ground that "the reaper was of too great value +to the public to be controlled by any individual." +In other words, the benefit conferred by McCormick +upon the country was too great to be paid +for; therefore no effort should be made to pay +for it. Finally, the French Academy of Sciences, +when McCormick was elected to the Institute +of France—an honor paid but to few Americans—mentioned +the election as due to "his having +done more for the cause of agriculture than any +other living man."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Farm_where_Cyrus_H_McCormick_was_Born_and_Raised" id="Farm_where_Cyrus_H_McCormick_was_Born_and_Raised"></a> +<img src="images/221.jpg" width="400" height="326" alt="Farm where Cyrus H. McCormick was Born and Raised." /> +<span class="caption">Farm where Cyrus H. McCormick was Born and Raised.</span> +</div> + +<p>It is thus evident that the tremendous service +done to the civilized world by the invention of the +McCormick reaper was appreciated years ago. +Yet it is improbable that the whole value of the +invention was fully realized. To-day the McCormick +works at Chicago turn out yearly, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">209</a></span> +have turned out for several years, more than one +hundred thousand reapers and mowers. At a +moderate estimate every McCormick reaper, and +every reaper founded upon it and containing +its essential features, saves the labor of six men +during the ten harvest days of the year. The +present number of reapers in operation to-day, +all of them based upon the McCormick patents, +is estimated at about two million, so that, +counting a man's labor at $1 a day, here is a +yearly saving of more than $100,000,000. The +reaper thus stands beside the steam-engine and +the sewing-machine as one of the most important +labor-saving inventions of our time, relieving<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">210</a></span> +millions of men from the most arduous drudgery +and increasing the world's wealth by hundreds +of millions of dollars every year. It is +some satisfaction to know that the inventor of +the reaper lived to enjoy the fruits of his work. +A remarkable man in every respect, his ingenuity, +perseverance, courage under injustice, +and generosity finally won him not only the +material rewards that were his by right, but the +esteem and honor of the civilized world.</p> + +<p>Like Fulton and Morse, Cyrus Hall McCormick +came of Scotch-Irish blood, a race marked +by fixed purpose, untiring industry in carrying +out that purpose, a strong sense of moral obligation, +and an unswerving determination to do +right by the light of conscience though the heavens +fall. He was born on the 15th of February, +1809, at Walnut Grove, in Rockbridge County, +Va., and was the eldest of eight children, six of +whom lived to grow up. His father, Robert +McCormick, in addition to farming, had workshops +of considerable importance on his farm, +as well as a saw-mill and grist-mill and smelting +furnaces. In these workshops young Cyrus +McCormick probably got his first love for mechanical +devices. Robert McCormick was an +inventor of no mean attainment. He devised +and built a thresher, a hemp-breaker, some mill +improvements, and in 1816 he made and tried +a mechanical reaper. In those days so much of +the farmer's hard labor was expended in swinging +the scythe that it seems strange we have +no record of more attempts to make a machine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">211</a></span> +do the work. A schoolmaster named Ogle is +said to have built a reaper in 1822, but, according +to his own admission, it would not work. +Bell, a Scotch minister, also contrived a reaping-machine +that was tried in 1828. In the course +of the subsequent patent litigation over the +reaper the claims of these early inventors were +made the most of by McCormick's opponents, +but the courts of last resort invariably settled +the question in McCormick's favor.</p> + +<p>As a farmer boy, young Cyrus McCormick +began his day's work in the fields at five o'clock. +In winter he went to the Old Field School. +During his boyhood he would watch his father's +experiments and disappointments. His +first attempt in the same direction was the construction, +at the age of fifteen, of a harvesting-cradle +by which he was enabled to keep up with +an able-bodied workman. His first patented invention +(1831) was a plough which threw alternate +furrows on either side, being thus either a right-hand +or left-hand plough. This was superseded +in 1833 by an improved plough, also by McCormick, +called the self-sharpening plough, which +did excellent work. His father having worked +long and unsuccessfully at a mechanical reaper, +it was natural that young McCormick's mind +should turn over the same problem from time to +time, and his father's failures did not deter him, +although Robert McCormick had suffered so +much in mind and pocket through the impracticability +of his reaper that he warned his son against +wasting more time and money upon the dream.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">212</a></span> +One martyr to mechanical progress was enough +for the McCormick family. But the possibility +of making a machine do the hard, hot work of +the harvest-field had a fascination for the young +man, and the more he studied the discarded +reaping-machine made by his father in 1816, the +more firmly he became convinced that while the +principle of that device was wrong, the work +could be done. In those days the development +of the country really depended upon some better, +cheaper way of harvesting. The land was +fertile, and there was practically no end of it. +But labor was scarce.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Exterior_of_the_Blacksmith_Shop" id="Exterior_of_the_Blacksmith_Shop"></a> +<img src="images/224.jpg" width="400" height="301" alt="Exterior of the Blacksmith Shop where the First Reaper was Built." /> +<span class="caption">Exterior of the Blacksmith Shop where the First Reaper was Built.</span> +</div> + +<p>Cyrus McCormick's plough was a success that +encouraged him to take hold of the more difficult +problem of the reaper. He found that some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">213</a></span> +device, such as his father's, would cut grain after +a fashion, provided it was in perfect condition +and stood up straight; the moment it became +matted and tangled and beaten down by wind +and rain the machine was useless. Other devices +had been arranged whereby a fly-wheel +armed with sickles slashed off the heads of the +wheat, leaving the stalks; but here again such a +machine would work only when the field was in +prime condition. He determined that no device +was of any value which would not cut grain as +it might happen to stand, stalk and all. After +months of labor in his father's shop, making +every part of the machine himself, in both wood +and iron, as he said, he turned out, in 1831, the +first reaper that really cut an average field of +wheat satisfactorily. Its three great essential +features were those of the reaper of to-day—a +vibrating cutting-blade, a reel to bring the grain +within reach of the blade, a platform to receive +the falling grain, and a divider to separate the +grain to be cut from that to be left standing. +This machine, drawn by horses, was tested in a +field of six acres of oats, belonging to John Steele, +within a mile of Walnut Grove. Its work astonished +the neighboring farmers who gathered to +witness the test. The problem of cutting standing +grain by machinery had been solved.</p> + +<p>There were, however, certain defects in the +reaper which caused Cyrus McCormick not to +put the machine on the market. All the cog-wheels +were of wood. There was no place upon +it for either the driver or the raker. The former<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">214</a></span> +rode on the near horse and the latter followed +on foot, raking the grain from it as best +he could. But it cut grain fast, and both father +and son were so impressed by its possibilities as +foreshadowed in even this crude affair, that for +the next few years they devoted their time, +money, and thoughts to it. Robert McCormick +was as enthusiastic as his son, and he is rightly +entitled to a share of the honor, for his invention +of 1816 turned the attention of his son to the +problem and pointed out the radical errors to be +avoided. A year after its first trial, with certain +improvements, the reaper cut fifty acres of wheat +in so perfect and rapid a manner as to insure its +practical value beyond all doubt. The self-restraint +shown by McCormick in refusing to sell +machines until he was satisfied with them shows +the man. The patent was granted in 1834, but +for six years he kept at work experimenting, +changing, improving, during the short periods +of each harvest. In a letter to the Commissioner +of Patents, on file in the Patent Office, +Mr. McCormick said: "From the experiment of +1831 until the harvest of 1840 I did not sell a +reaper, although during that time I had many +exhibitions of it, for experience proved to me +that it was best for the public as well as for myself +that no sales were made, as defects presented +themselves that would render the reaper unprofitable +in other hands. Many improvements were +found necessary, requiring a great deal of thought +and study. I was sometimes flattered, at other +times discouraged, and at all times deemed it best<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">215</a></span> +not to attempt the sale of machines until satisfied +that the reaper would succeed."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Interior_of_the_Blacksmith_Shop" id="Interior_of_the_Blacksmith_Shop"></a> +<img src="images/227.jpg" width="400" height="309" alt="Interior of the Blacksmith Shop where the First Reaper was Built." /> +<span class="caption">Interior of the Blacksmith Shop where the First Reaper was Built.</span> +</div> + +<p>About 1835 the McCormicks engaged in a partnership +for the smelting of iron ore. The reaper, +as a business pursuit, was yet in the distance, and +the new iron industry offered large profits. The +panic of 1837 swept away these hopes. Cyrus +sacrificed all he had, even the farm given him by +his father, to settle his debts, and his scrupulous +integrity in this matter turned disaster into blessing, +for it compelled him to take up the reaper with +renewed energy. With the aid of his father and +of his brothers, William and Leander, he began +the manufacture of the machine in the primitive +workshop at Walnut Grove, turning out less than +fifty machines a year, all of them made under<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">216</a></span> +great disadvantages. The sickles were made +forty miles away, and as there were no railroads +in those days, the blades, six feet long, had to be +carried on horseback. Neither was it easy, when +once the machines were made, to get them to +market. The first consignment sent to the Western +prairies, in 1844, was taken in wagons from +Walnut Grove to Scottsville, then down the +canal to Richmond, Va.; thence by water to +New Orleans, and then up the Mississippi and +Ohio Rivers to Cincinnati.</p> + +<p>The great West, with its vast prairies, was the +natural market for the reaper. Upon the small +farms of the East hand labor might still suffice +for the harvest; in the West, where the farms +were enormous and labor scarce, it was out of +the question. Realizing that while his reaper +was a luxury in Virginia, it was a necessity in +Ohio and Illinois, Cyrus McCormick went to +Cincinnati in the autumn of 1844 and began +manufacturing. At the same time he made +some valuable improvements and obtained a +second patent. The reaper had become known +and the inventor rode on horseback through +Illinois and Wisconsin, obtaining farmers' orders +for reapers, which he offered to A.C. Brown, +of Cincinnati, as security for payment, if he +would use his workshops for manufacturing +them. McCormick was enabled also to arrange +with a firm in Brockport, N.Y., to make his +reapers on a royalty, and this business provided +the great wheat district of Central New +York with machines. In 1847 and 1848 he obtained<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">217</a></span> +still other patents for new features of the +reaper.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="The_First_Reaper" id="The_First_Reaper"></a> +<img src="images/229.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="The First Reaper." /> +<span class="caption">The First Reaper.</span> +</div> + +<p>In 1846 he had already fixed upon Chicago as +the best centre of operations for the reaper business, +and at the close of the year he moved there. +The next year the sale of the reapers rose to +seven hundred, and more than doubled in 1849. +Having associated his two brothers, William S. +and Leander J., with him, Cyrus McCormick +found time to devote himself to introducing the +reaper in the Old World. The American exhibit +at the London World's Fair of 1851 was rather a +small one, redeemed largely by the McCormick +reaper, which the London <i>Times</i>, as I have already +said, praised as worth to the farmers of Great +Britain more than the whole cost of the exhibition.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">218</a></span> +To it was awarded the grand prize, known +as the council medal.</p> + +<p>The reaper's advance in public favor was as +steady on the other side of the water as here, and +medals and honors were awarded McCormick at +many important exhibitions. During the Paris +Exposition of 1867 McCormick superintended +the work of his reapers at a field trial held by the +exposition authorities, and so conclusively defeated +all competitors that Napoleon III., who +walked after the reapers, expressed his determination +to confer upon the inventor, then and +there, the Cross of the Legion of Honor. At +the French Exposition of 1878 the McCormick +wire-binder won the grand prize. From 1850 +the success of the reaper was assured. Mr. McCormick +might have rested content with what +had been achieved, but it was not his nature. +He not only continued to bear upon his shoulders +the larger share of responsibility of the rapidly +growing business, but he labored persistently +to add to the effectiveness of his invention.</p> + +<p>The great fire that swept Chicago in 1871 left +nothing of the already important works established +by Mr. McCormick. But, as might be +expected from such a man, he was a tower of +strength to the city in her time of distress, and +one of those to rally first from the blow and to +inspire hope. Within a year, assisted by his +brother Leander, he had raised from the ashes an +immense establishment, which with the growth +of the last few years now covers forty acres of +ground. More than 2,000 men are here employed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">219</a></span> +The statistics for last year show that +more than 20,000 tons of special bar-iron and steel, +2,800 tons of sheet steel, and 26,000 tons of castings +were used in making the 142,000 machines +sold. Ten million feet of lumber were used, +chiefly in boxing and crating, as very little wood +is now used in the reaper.</p> + +<p>This is a marvellous development from the +little Virginia shop of 1840, with its output of +one machine a week, and the growth means far +more for the country at large than might be +inferred from these figures; the farmers of the +world owe more to the McCormick reaper than +they can repay. The whir of the American +reaper is heard around the world. In Egypt, +Russia, India, Australia the machine is helping +man with more than a giant's strength. Recent +American travellers through Persia have +described the singular effect produced upon +them by seeing the McCormick reaper doing +its steady work in the fields over which Haroun +Al Raschid may have roamed. And this +wonderful machine is followed with awe by the +more ignorant of the natives, who look upon its +achievements as little short of magical. They +are not far wrong, however, for it is more amazing +than any wonder described in their "Arabian +Nights."</p> + +<p>The last years of Cyrus H. McCormick's life +were such as have fallen to few of the world's +benefactors, for as a rule the pioneer who shows +the road has a hard time of it, even unto the +end. Mr. McCormick had the satisfaction of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">220</a></span> +knowing not only that by his invention he had +conferred a blessing upon the workmen of the +world, but that the world had acknowledged the +debt. Material prosperity, however, was not +considered any reason for luxurious idleness. +To the close of his life Mr. McCormick continued +to supervise the business of his firm and +to make the reaper more perfect. No great exhibition +abroad or in this country passed without +some of its honors falling to the share of the +McCormick reaper.</p> + +<p>The private life of Cyrus H. McCormick was +a happy one, and to this may be attributed no +small share of the elasticity and courage that +recognized no defeat as final. Congress failed +to do him justice; his business was attacked by +hordes of rivals; it was interrupted by the fire of +1871 and afterward threatened by labor strikes +incited by self-seeking demagogues. Hard work +was the rule of his life and not the exception. +But that his nature remained sweet and just is +shown by his untiring work upon behalf of others. +His home life, as I have just remarked, +was unusually blessed. In 1858 he married Miss +Nettie Fowler, a daughter of Melzar Fowler, of +Jefferson County, New York. Of the seven children +born of this marriage, five lived to grow up, +his son, Cyrus H. McCormick, now occupying +his father's place at the head of the great works +in Chicago. One of the daughters, Anita, is the +widow of Emmons Blaine. The inventor of the +reaping-machine died on the 13th of May, 1884. +Robert H. Parkinson, of Cincinnati, speaks as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">221</a></span> +follows of one of the last interviews he had with +Mr. McCormick: "Though struggling with the +infirmities of age, he took on a kind of majesty +which belongs alone to that combination of great +mental and moral strength, and he surprised me +by the power with which he grappled the matters +under discussion, and the strong personality before +which obstacles went down as swiftly and inevitably +as grain before the knife of his machine. +I think myself fortunate in having had this +glimpse of him and in being able to remember +with so much personal association a life so complete +in its achievements, so far-reaching in its +impress, alike upon the material, moral, and religious +progress of the country, and so thoroughly +successful and beneficial in every department +of activity and influence which it entered." +One of his friends, speaking of Mr. McCormick, +said: "That which gave intensity to his purpose, +strength to his will, and nerved him with perseverance +that never failed was his supreme regard +for justice, his worshipful reverence for the true +and right. The thoroughness of his conviction +that justice must be done, that right must be +maintained, made him insensible to reproach +and impatient of delay. I do not wonder that +his character was strong, nor that his purpose +was invincible, nor that his plans were crowned +with an ultimate and signal success, for where +conviction of right is the motive-power and the +attainment of justice the end in view, with faith +in God there is no such word as fail."</p> + +<p>Cyrus H. McCormick was not only the inventor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">222</a></span> +of a great labor-saving device, but he +helped his fellow-man in other ways. Philanthropy, +religion, education, journalism, and politics +received a share of his attention. More +than thirty years ago he was already an active +power for good in the councils of his church. In +1859 he proposed to the General Assembly of +the Presbyterian Church to endow with $100,000 +the professorships of a theological seminary, to +be established in Chicago. This was done, and +during his lifetime he gave about half a million +dollars to this institution—the Theological +Seminary of the Northwest. The McCormick +professorship of natural philosophy in the +Washington and Lee University of Virginia, and +gifts to the Union Theological Seminary at +Hampden-Sidney, and to the college at Hastings, +Neb., also attest his solicitude for the +church in which he had been reared and of +which he had been a member since 1834. In +1872 he came to the aid of the struggling organ +of the Presbyterian Church in the Northwest, the +<i>Interior</i>, and used it to foster union between the +Old and the New Schools in the church, to aid +in harmonizing the Presbyterian Church in the +North and South, to advance the interests of the +Theological Seminary, and to promote the welfare +of the Presbyterian Church in the Northwest. +Under his care and advice the <i>Interior</i> +grew to be a mighty voice, expressing the convictions, +the aspirations, and hopes of a great +church.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">223</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX.</h2> + + +<h3>THOMAS A. EDISON.</h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a name="Thomas_A_Edison" id="Thomas_A_Edison"></a> +<img src="images/236.jpg" width="500" height="637" alt="Thomas A. Edison." /> +<span class="caption">Thomas A. Edison.</span> +</div> + +<p>Thomas A. Edison is sometimes spoken of +rather as a master mechanic than as a master inventor +or discoverer, and with regard to some of +his work—I might even say most of it—this +characterization holds true. Edison's fame is +chiefly associated in the popular mind with the +electric light. Yet it is perfectly well known to +every student of the matter, that in all that he +has done toward making the electric light a useful +every-day—or perhaps I should say every-night—affair, +he has simply made practicable +what other men had invented or discovered before +him. The fundamental discovery upon +which the incandescent electric lamp is founded—that +a wire of metal or other substance if +heated to incandescence in a glass bulb from +which the air has been exhausted will give light +for a longer or shorter time, according to the +character of the apparatus and the degree to +which a perfect vacuum has been effected in +the bulb—this dates from the first half of the +century. As early as 1849 Despretz, the French +scientist, described a series of experiments with +sticks of carbon sealed in a glass globe from +which air had been exhausted. When a powerful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">224</a></span> +current was passed through the carbon +filament it became luminous and remained so for +a short time. This was, perhaps, the first of a +long line of similar experiments +in which a number of American +physicists—Farmer, Draper, +Henry, Morse, and Maxim +among them—took part. But +notwithstanding the labors of a +score of experts in Europe and +this country, the incandescent +electric light—the wire in a glass +bulb exhausted of its air—remained +a laboratory curiosity +up to the time, fifteen years ago, +when Edison took hold of it. It +gave light only for a short time +and was too expensive a toy for practical use. +The carbon burned out or disintegrated, and +the lamp failed. Edison took hold of the mechanical +difficulties of the problem. With a patience, +an ingenuity, a fertility of device in which he +stands alone, he got to the bottom of each radical +defect and remedied it. The lamp would not +burn long because the platinum wire used gave +out, partly because platinum was not fitted for the +work, fusing at too low a temperature. Edison +substituted carbonized strips of paper. These +in turn failed, and he found a species of bamboo +that answered. The lamp would not burn because +air still remained in the little bulbs notwithstanding +the most careful manipulation with +Sprengel pumps to exhaust the air. Edison invented<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">225</a></span> +new pumps and devices by which the +air, down to one millionth part, was excluded. +The lamp cost too much to operate, because large +copper wires were needed to carry the current, +and the generators used up steam power too +fast. Edison devised new forms of conductors +and generators. All such work called more for +mechanical ingenuity than for actual invention. +No new principles were involved—merely the +better adaptation of known methods. Given a +perfect carbon, a globe perfectly free from air, +cheap electric current, and cheap means of carrying +it from the generating machine to the lamps, +and the problem was solved.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<a name="Edisons_Paper_Carbon_Lamp" id="Edisons_Paper_Carbon_Lamp"></a> +<img src="images/238.jpg" width="150" height="285" alt="Edison's Paper Carbon Lamp." /> +<span class="caption">Edison's Paper Carbon Lamp.</span> +</div> + +<p>Edison, as a master mechanic, furnished all +this, or at least so nearly solved the problem as +to entitle him to claim credit for having given +the electric light to the world—a better illuminant +than gas in every way, and destined some +day to be infinitely cheaper.</p> + +<p>With regard to Edison's work upon the telegraph, +telephone, electric railway, dynamo, the +ore-extracting machines, the electric pen, and a +score of other inventions which have made him +the most profitable customer of the United States +Patent Office in this or any other generation, the +labor of this remarkable genius has also been +largely that of one who made practical and useful +the dreams of others. And I am by no +means sure that the man who does this is not entitled +to more credit than he who simply suggests +that such and such a wonder might be accomplished +and stops there. It is certain that before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">226</a></span> +Edison we had no electric lights; now we have +them in every important building in the country, +and ere long shall have them everywhere.</p> + +<p>Edison dislikes intensely the term discoverer +as applied to himself. "Discovery is not invention," +he once remarked in the course of an interesting +talk with Mr. George Parsons Lathrop, +printed in <i>Harper's Magazine</i>. "A discovery is +more or less in the nature of an accident. A man +walks along the road intending to catch the +train. On the way his foot kicks against something, +and looking down to see what he has hit, +he sees a gold bracelet embedded in the dust. +He has discovered that, certainly not invented +it. He did not set out to find a bracelet, yet the +value of it is just as great to him at the moment +as if, after long years of study, he had invented +a machine for making a gold bracelet out of +common road metal. Goodyear discovered the +way to make hard rubber. He was at work experimenting +with india-rubber, and quite by +chance he hit upon a process which hardened it—the +last result in the world that he wished or +expected to attain. In a discovery there must +be an element of the accidental, and an important +one, too; while an invention is purely deductive. +In my own case but few, and those the +least important, of my inventions owed anything +to accident. Most of them have been hammered +out after long and patient labor, and are the result +of countless experiments all directed toward +attaining some well-defined object. All mechanical +improvements may safely be said to be inventions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">227</a></span> +and not discoveries. The sewing-machine +was an invention. So were the steam-engine +and the typewriter. Speaking of this +latter, did I ever tell you that I made the first +twelve typewriters at my old factory in Railroad +Avenue, Newark? This was in 1869 or 1870, and +I myself had worked at a machine of similar +character, but never found time to develop it +fully."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Edison_Listening_to_his_Phonograph" id="Edison_Listening_to_his_Phonograph"></a> +<img src="images/241.jpg" width="400" height="255" alt="Edison Listening to his Phonograph." /> +<span class="caption">Edison Listening to his Phonograph.</span> +</div> + +<p>There is one great invention, however, for +which Edison deserves credit, both as discoverer +and practical inventor—the phonograph. Here +was a genuine discovery. The phonograph +knows no other parent than Edison, and he has +brought it to its present condition by devotion +and tireless skill. I have always believed in the +phonograph as an instrument destined to play<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">228</a></span> +some day an important part among the blessings +that ingenuity has given to man. There are still +obstacles in the way of its practical success, but +that the missing screw or spring—perhaps no +more than that—will be found in the near future, +is not doubted by any competent observer.</p> + +<p>Thomas Alva Edison was born February 11, +1847, at Milan, Erie County, O., an obscure canal +village. When a small boy, his family, a most +humble one (his father being a village jack-of-all-trades, +living upon odd jobs done for neighboring +farmers), moved to Port Huron, Mich., +where Edison's boyhood was passed. There his +father was in turn tailor, well-digger, nursery-man, +dealer in grain, lumber, and farm lands. +His parents were of Dutch-Scotch descent and +gave him the iron constitution that enables him +to-day, at the age of forty-seven, to tire out the +most robust of his assistants. One of his ancestors +lived to the age of one hundred and two, +and another to the age of one hundred and three, +so that we may reasonably expect the famous inventor +to open the door for us to still other wonders +of which we do not yet even dream. His +mother, born in Massachusetts, had a good education +and at one time taught school in Canada. +Of regular schooling, young Edison had but two +months in his life. Whatever else he knew as +a boy he learned from his mother. There are +no records showing extraordinary promise on +his part. He was an omnivorous reader, having +an intense curiosity about the world and its +great men. At ten years of age he was reading<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">229</a></span> +Hume's "England," Gibbon's "Rome," the Penny +Encyclopĉdia, and some books on chemistry.</p> + +<p>At the age of twelve he entered upon his life +work as newsboy on the Grand Trunk Railroad +of Canada and the Michigan Central, selling papers, +books, candies, etc., to the passengers.</p> + +<p>"Were you one of the train-boys," he was once +asked, "who sold figs in boxes with bottoms half +an inch thick?"</p> + +<p>"If I recollect aright," he replied, with a merry +twinkle, "the bottoms of my boxes were a good +inch."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="From_Edisons_Newspaper" id="From_Edisons_Newspaper"></a> +<img src="images/244.jpg" width="400" height="489" alt="From Edison's Newspaper, the Grand Trunk Herald." /> +<span class="caption">From Edison's Newspaper, the "Grand Trunk Herald."</span> +</div> + +<p>Perhaps the twelve-year-old boy learned something +from the books and papers he sold. At +all events he says that the love of chemistry, +even at that age, led him to make the corner of +the baggage-car where he stored his wares a +small laboratory, fitted up with such retorts and +bottles as he could pick up in the railroad workshops. +He had a copy of Fresenius's "Qualitative +Analysis," into which he plunged with the +ardor a small boy usually shows for nothing literary +unless it has a yellow cover decorated with +an Indian's head. He seems also to have had a +habit of "hanging around" all interesting places, +from a machine-shop to a printing-office, keeping +his eyes very wide open. In one such expedition +he received as a gift from W.F. Storey, +of the <i>Detroit Free Press</i>, three hundred pounds +of old type thrown out as useless. With an old +hand-press he began printing a paper of his own, +the <i>Grand Trunk Herald</i>, of which he sold several +hundred copies a week, the employees of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">230</a></span> +road being his best customers. "My news," he +says, talking of this time, "was purely local. But +I was proud of my newspaper and looked upon +myself as a full-fledged newspaper man. My +items used to run about like this: 'John Robinson, +baggage-master at James's Creek Station, +fell off the platform yesterday and hurt his leg.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">231</a></span> +The boys are sorry for John.' Or, 'No. 3 Burlington +engine has gone into the shed for repairs.'"</p> + +<p>This was Edison's only dip into a literary occupation. +He has no predilection in that way. He +realizes the value of newspapers and books, but +chiefly as tools, and his splendid library at the +Orange laboratory, kept with scrupulous system, +is filled with scientific books and periodicals +only. Telegraphy was to be the field in which +he was to win his first laurels. Some years ago +he told the story as follows:</p> + +<p>"At the beginning of the civil war I was slaving +late and early at selling papers; but, to tell +the truth, I was not making a fortune. I worked +on so small a margin that I had to be mighty +careful not to overload myself with papers that +I could not sell. On the other hand, I could not +afford to carry so few that I should find myself +sold out long before the end of the trip. To enable +myself to hit the happy mean, I formed a +plan which turned out admirably. I made a +friend of one of the compositors of the <i>Free +Press</i> office, and persuaded him to show me every +day a 'galley-proof' of the most important news +article. From a study of its head-lines I soon +learned to gauge the value of the day's news and +its selling capacity, so that I could form a tolerably +correct estimate of the number of papers I +should need. As a rule I could dispose of about +two hundred; but if there was any special news +from the seat of war, the sale ran up to three +hundred or over. Well, one day my compositor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">232</a></span> +brought me a proof-slip of which nearly the +whole was taken up with a gigantic display head. +It was the first report of the battle of Pittsburgh +Landing—afterward called Shiloh, you know—and +it gave the number of killed and wounded +as sixty thousand men.</p> + +<p>"I grasped the situation at once. Here was a +chance for enormous sales, if only the people +along the line could know what had happened! +If only they could see the proof-slip I was then +reading! Suddenly an idea occurred to me. I +rushed off to the telegraph-operator and gravely +made a proposition to him which he received just +as gravely. He on his part was to wire to each +of the principal stations on our route, asking the +station-master to chalk up on the bulletin-board—used +for announcing the time of arrival and departure +of trains—the news of the great battle, +with its accompanying slaughter. This he was +to do at once, while I, in return, agreed to supply +him with current literature 'free, gratis, for +nothing' during the next six months from that +date.</p> + +<p>"This bargain struck, I began to bethink me +how I was to get enough papers to make the +grand <i>coup</i> I intended. I had very little cash +and, I feared, still less credit. I went to the superintendent +of the delivery department, and +preferred a modest request for one thousand +copies of the <i>Free Press</i> on trust. I was not +much surprised when my request was curtly and +gruffly refused. In those days, though, I was a +pretty cheeky boy and I felt desperate, for I saw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">233</a></span> +a small fortune in prospect if my telegraph operator +had kept his word—a point on which I was +still a trifle doubtful. Nerving myself for a great +stroke, I marched upstairs into the office of Wilbur +F. Storey himself and asked to see him. A +few minutes later I was shown in to him. I told +who I was, and that I wanted fifteen hundred +copies of the paper on credit. The tall, thin, +dark-eyed, ascetic-looking man stared at me for +a moment and then scratched a few words on a +slip of paper. 'Take that downstairs,' said he, +'and you will get what you want.' And so I +did. Then I felt happier than I have ever felt +since.</p> + +<p>"I took my fifteen hundred papers, got three +boys to help me fold them, and mounted the +train all agog to find out whether the telegraph +operator had kept his word. At the town where +our first stop was made I usually sold two papers. +As the train swung into that station I +looked ahead and thought there must be a riot +going on. A big crowd filled the platform and +as the train drew up I began to realize that they +wanted my papers. Before we left I had sold a +hundred or two at five cents apiece. At the +next station the place was fairly black with +people. I raised the 'ante' and sold three hundred +papers at ten cents each. So it went on +until Port Huron was reached. Then I transferred +my remaining stock to the wagon which +always waited for me there, hired a small boy to +sit on the pile of papers in the back, so as to discount +any pilfering, and sold out every paper I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">234</a></span> +had at a quarter of a dollar or more per copy. +I remember I passed a church full of worshippers, +and stopped to yell out my news. In ten +seconds there was not a soul left in meeting. +All of them, including the parson, were clustered +around me, bidding against each other for +copies of the precious paper.</p> + +<p>"You can understand why it struck me then +that the telegraph must be about the best thing +going, for it was the telegraphic notices on the +bulletin-boards that had done the trick. I determined +at once to become a telegraph-operator. +But if it hadn't been for Wilbur F. Storey I +should never have fully appreciated the wonders +of electrical science."</p> + +<p>Telegraphy became a hobby with the boy. +From every operator along the road he picked +up something. He strung the basement of his +father's house at Port Huron with wires, and +constructed a short line, using for the batteries +stove-pipe wire, old bottles, nails, and zinc which +urchins of the neighborhood were induced to +cut out from under the stoves of their unsuspecting +mothers and bring to young Edison at three +cents a pound. In order to save time for his +experiments, he had the habit of leaping from a +train while it was going at the rate of twenty-five +miles an hour, landing upon a pile of sand +arranged by him for that purpose. An act of +personal courage—the saving of the station-master's +child at Port Clements from an advancing +train—was a turning-point in his career, for +the grateful father taught him telegraphing in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">235</a></span> +the regular way. Telegraphy was then in its infancy, +comparatively speaking; operators were +few, and good wages could be earned by means +of much less proficiency than is now required. +Still, Edison had so little leisure at his disposal +for learning the new trade, that it took him several +years to become an expert operator. Most +of his studies were carried on in the corner of +the baggage-car that served him as printing-office, +laboratory, and business headquarters. +With so many irons in the fire, mishaps were +sure to occur. Once he received a drubbing on +account of an article reflecting unpleasantly +upon some employee of the road. One day +during his absence a bottle of phosphorus upset +and set the old railroad caboose on fire, whereupon +the conductor threw out all the painfully +acquired apparatus and thrashed its owner.</p> + +<p>Edison's first regular employment as telegraph-operator +was at Indianapolis when he was +eighteen years old. He received a small salary +for day-work in the railroad office there, and +at night he used to receive newspaper reports +for practice. The regular operator was a man +given to copious libations, who was glad enough +to sleep off their effects while Edison and a young +friend of his named Parmley did his work. "I +would sit down," says Edison, "for ten minutes, +and 'take' as much as I could from the instrument, +carrying the rest in my head. Then while +I wrote out, Parmley would serve his turn at +'taking,' and so on. This worked well until they +put a new man on at the Cincinnati end. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">236</a></span> +was one of the quickest despatchers in the business, +and we soon found it was hopeless for us to +try to keep up with him. Then it was that I +worked out my first invention, and necessity was +certainly the mother of it.</p> + +<p>"I got two old Morse registers and arranged +them in such a way that by running a strip of +paper through them the dots and dashes were +recorded on it by the first instrument as fast as +they were delivered from the Cincinnati end, +and were transmitted to us through the other instrument +at any desired rate of speed. They +would come in on one instrument at the rate of +forty words a minute, and would be ground out +of our instrument at the rate of twenty-five. +Then weren't we proud! Our copy used to be +so clean and beautiful that we hung it up on exhibition; +and our manager used to come and +gaze at it silently with a puzzled expression. +He could not understand it, neither could any of +the other operators; for we used to hide my impromptu +automatic recorder when our toil was +over. But the crash came when there was a big +night's work—a Presidential vote, I think it was—and +copy kept pouring in at the top rate of +speed until we fell an hour and a half or two +hours behind. The newspapers sent in frantic +complaints, an investigation was made, and our +little scheme was discovered. We couldn't use +it any more.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Edisons_Tinfoil_Phonograph" id="Edisons_Tinfoil_Phonograph"></a> +<img src="images/251.jpg" width="400" height="190" alt="Edison's Tinfoil Phonograph—the First Practical Machine." /> +<span class="caption">Edison's Tinfoil Phonograph—the First Practical Machine.</span> +</div> + +<p>"It was that same rude automatic recorder that +indirectly led me long afterward to invent the +phonograph. I'll tell you how this came about.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">237</a></span> +After thinking over the matter a great deal, I +came to the point where, in 1877, I had worked +out satisfactorily an instrument that would not +only record telegrams by indenting a strip of +paper with dots and dashes of the Morse code, +but would also repeat a message any number of +times at any rate of speed required. I was then +experimenting with the telephone also, and my +mind was filled with theories of sound vibrations +and their transmission by diaphragms. +Naturally enough, the idea occurred to me: if +the indentations on paper could be made to +give forth again the click of the instrument, why +could not the vibrations of a diaphragm be +recorded and similarly reproduced? I rigged +up an instrument hastily and pulled a strip of +paper through it, at the same time shouting, +'Hallo'! Then the paper was pulled through +again, my friend Batchelor and I listening breathlessly. +We heard a distinct sound, which a +strong imagination might have translated into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">238</a></span> +the original 'Hallo.' That was enough to lead +me to a further experiment. But Batchelor was +sceptical, and bet me a barrel of apples that I +couldn't make the thing go. I made a drawing +of a model and took it to Mr. Kruesi, at that +time engaged on piece-work for me, but now assistant +general manager of our machine-shop at +Schenectady. I told him it was a talking-machine. +He grinned, thinking it a joke; but he +set to work and soon had the model ready. I +arranged some tinfoil on it, and spoke into the +machine. Kruesi looked on, still grinning. But +when I arranged the machine for transmission +and we both heard a distinct sound from it, he +nearly fell down in his fright. I was a little +scared myself, I must admit. I won that barrel +of apples from Batchelor, though, and was +mighty glad to get it."</p> + + +<p class="p2">To go back to earlier days, the story of Edison's +first years as a full-fledged operator shows +that from the beginning he was more of an inventor +than an operator. He was full of ideas, +some of which were gratefully received. One +day an ice-jam broke the cable between Port +Huron, in Michigan, and Sarnia, on the Canada +side, and stopped communication. The river is +a mile and a half wide and was impassable. +Young Edison jumped upon a locomotive and +seized the valve controlling the whistle. He had +the idea that the scream of the whistle might be +broken into long and short notes, corresponding +to the dots and dashes of the telegraphic code.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">239</a></span> +"Hallo there, Sarnia! Do you get me? Do +you hear what I say?" tooted the locomotive.</p> + +<p>No answer.</p> + +<p>"Do you hear what I say, Sarnia?"</p> + +<p>A third, fourth, and fifth time the message +went across without response, but finally the +idea was caught on the other side; answering +toots came cheerfully back and the connection +was recovered.</p> + +<p>Anything connected with the difficulties of +telegraphy had a fascination for him. He lost +many a place because of unpardonable blunders +due to his passion for improvement. At Stratford, +Canada, being required to report the word +"Six" every half hour to the manager to show +that he was awake and on duty, he rigged up a +wheel to do it for him. At Indianapolis he kept +press reports waiting while he experimented with +new devices for receiving them. At Louisville, +in procuring some sulphuric acid at night for his +experiments, he tipped over a carboy of it, ruining +the handsome outfit of a banking establishment below. +At Cincinnati he abandoned the office on +every pretext to hasten to the Mechanics' Library +to pass his day in reading.</p> + +<p>An indication of his thirst for knowledge, and +of a <i>naïve</i> ignoring of enormous difficulties, is +found in a project formed by him at this time to +read through the whole public library. There +was no one to tell him that a summary of human +knowledge may be found in a moderate number +of volumes, nor to point out to him what they +are. Each book was to him a part of the great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">240</a></span> +domain of knowledge, none of which he meant +to lose. He began with the solid treatises of a +dusty lower shelf and actually read, in the accomplishment +of his heroic purpose, fifteen feet +along that shelf. He omitted no book and nothing +in the book. The list contained Newton's +"Principia," Ure's Scientific Dictionary, and +Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy."</p> + +<p>At that time a message sent from New Orleans +to New York had to be taken at Memphis, re-telegraphed +to Louisville, taken down again by +the operator there, and telegraphed to another +centre, and so on till it reached New York. +Time was lost and the chance of error was increased. +Edison was the first to connect New +Orleans and New York directly. It was just +after the war. He perfected an automatic repeater +which was put on at Memphis and did +its work perfectly. The manager of the office +there, one Johnson, had a relative who was also +busy on the same problem, but Edison solved it +ahead of him and received complimentary notices +from the local papers. He was discharged +without cause. He got a pass as far as Decatur +on his way home, but had to walk from there to +Nashville, a hundred and fifty miles. From +there he got a pass to Louisville, where he arrived +during a sharp snow-storm, clad in a linen +duster.</p> + +<p>It was soon after this that Edison, already +a swift and competent operator when he devoted +himself to practical work, received promise +of employment in the Boston office. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">241</a></span> +weather was quite cold and his peculiar dress, +topped with a slouchy broad-brimmed hat, made +something of a sensation. But Edison then cared +as little for dress as he does to-day. So one raw +wet day a tall man with a limp, wet duster clinging +to his legs, stalked into the superintendent's +room, and said:</p> + +<p>"Here I am."</p> + +<p>The superintendent eyed him from head to +foot, and said:</p> + +<p>"Who are you?"</p> + +<p>"Tom Edison."</p> + +<p>"And who on earth might Tom Edison be?"</p> + +<p>The young man explained that he had been +ordered to report for duty at the Boston office, +and was finally told to sit down in the operating-room, +where his advent created much merriment. +The operators guyed him loudly enough for him +to hear. He didn't care. A few moments later +a New York sender noted for his swiftness called +up the Boston office. There was no one at liberty.</p> + +<p>"Well," said the office chief, "let that new fellow +try him." Edison sat down, and for four +hours and a half wrote out messages in his peculiarly +clear round hand, stuck a date and number +on them and threw them on the floor for the +office boy to pick up. The time he took in +numbering and dating the sheets were the only +seconds he was not writing out transmitted +words. Faster and faster ticked the instrument, +and faster and faster went Edison's fingers, until +the rapidity with which the messages came tumbling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">242</a></span> +on the floor attracted the attention of the +other operators, who, when their work was done, +gathered around to witness the spectacle. At +the close of the four and a half hours' work +there flashed from New York the salutation:</p> + +<p>"Hello!"</p> + +<p>"Hello yourself," ticked back Edison.</p> + +<p>"Who the devil are you?" rattled into the +Boston office.</p> + +<p>"Tom Edison."</p> + +<p>"You are the first man in the country," ticked +the instrument, "that could ever take me at +my fastest, and the only one who could ever +sit at the other end of my wire for more than +two hours and a half. I'm proud to know +you."</p> + +<p>Edison was once asked with what invention he +really began his career as an inventor.</p> + +<p>"Well," said he, in reply, "my first appearance +at the Patent Office was in 1868, when I was +twenty-one, with an ingenious contrivance which +I called the electrical vote recorder. I had been +impressed with the enormous waste of time in +Congress and in the State Legislatures by the +taking of votes on any motion. More than half +an hour was sometimes required to count the +'Ayes' and 'Noes.' So I devised a machine +somewhat on the plan of the hotel annunciator +that was invented long afterward, only mine +was a great deal more complex. In front of +each member's desk were to have been two buttons, +one for 'Aye,' the other for 'No,' and by +the side of the Speaker's desk a frame with two<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">243</a></span> +dials, one showing the total of 'Ayes' and the +other the total of 'Noes.' When the vote was +called for, each member could press the button +he wished and the result +would appear automatically +before the +Speaker, who could +glance at the dials and +announce the result. +This contrivance would +save several hours of +public time every day +in the session, and I +thought my fortune +was made. I interested +a moneyed man in the +thing and we went together +to Washington, +where we soon found +the right man to get +the machine adopted. +I set forth its merits. Imagine my feelings +when, in a horrified tone, he exclaimed:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<a name="Vote_Recorder" id="Vote_Recorder"></a> +<img src="images/257.jpg" width="300" height="486" alt="Vote Recorder—Edison's First Patented Invention." /> +<span class="caption">Vote Recorder—Edison's First Patented Invention.</span> +</div> + +<p>"'Young man, that won't do at all. That is +just what we do not want. Your invention +would destroy the only hope the minority have +of influencing legislation. It would deliver +them over, bound hand and foot, to the majority. +The present system gives them time, a weapon +which is invaluable, and as the ruling majority +always knows that they may some day become a +minority, they will be as much averse to any +change as their opponents.' I saw the force of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">244</a></span> +these remarks, and the vote recorder got no +further than the Patent Office."</p> + +<p>But he began to believe in himself. His next +work was upon the applications of the vibratory +principle in telegraphing, upon which so many of +his subsequent inventions were founded. His +first ambitious attempt was in the direction of a +multiplex system for sending several messages +over one wire at the same time. It was not +much of a success, however, and Edison drifted +to New York, where, after a vain attempt to interest +the telegraph companies in his inventions, +he established himself as an electrical expert +ready for odd jobs and making a specialty of +telegraphy. One day the Western Union Company +had trouble with its Albany Wire. The wire +wasn't broken, but wouldn't work, and several +days of experimenting on the part of the company's +electricians only served to puzzle them +the more. As a forlorn hope they sent for +young Edison.</p> + +<p>"How long will you give me?" he asked. +"Six hours?"</p> + +<p>The manager laughed and told him he would +need longer than that.</p> + +<p>Edison sat down at the instrument, established +communication with Albany by way of Pittsburgh, +told the Albany office to put their best +man at the instrument, and began a rapid series +of tests with currents of all intensities. He +directed the tests from both ends, and after two +hours and a half told the company's officers that +the trouble existed at a certain point he named<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">245</a></span> +on the line, and he told them what it was. They +telegraphed the office nearest this point the +necessary directions, and an hour later the wire +was working properly. This incident first established +his value in New York as an expert, +and the business became profitable. Moreover, +it led the different telegraph companies to give +respectful attention to what he had to offer in +the way of patented devices.</p> + +<p>Edison's mechanical skill soon became so noted +that he was made superintendent of the repair +shop of one of the smaller telegraph companies +then in existence, all of which were using what +was known as the Page sounder, a device for +signalling, the sole right to which was claimed +by the Western Union Company. Owing to the +latter company's success in a patent suit over +this sounder, there came a time when an injunction +was obtained, silencing all sounders of that +type, and practically putting a serious obstacle in +the way of rapid work. Edison was called into +the president's office and the situation explained. +For a long time, according to one who was present, +he stood chewing vigorously upon a mouthful +of tobacco, looking first at the sounder in his +hand, and then falling into a brown study. At +length he picked up a sheet of tin used as a +"back" for manifolding on thin sheets of paper, +and began to twist and cut it into queer shapes; +a group of persons gathered around and watched. +Not a word was spoken. Finally Edison tore off +the Page sounder on the instrument before him, +and substituting his bit of tin, began working.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">246</a></span> +It was not so good as the patented arrangement +discarded, but it worked. In four hours a hundred +such devices were in use over the line, and +what would have been a ruinous interruption to +business was avoided.</p> + +<p>Edison's first large sums of money came from +the sale of an improvement in the instruments +used to record stock quotations in brokers' offices, +commonly known as "tickers." His success +in this direction led him to take a contract +to manufacture some hundreds of "tickers," and +his only venture in this direction was carried out +with considerable success at a shop he rented in +Newark about 1875. But as he told me a few +years later, in talking about this incident in his +career, manufacturing was not in his line. Like +Thoreau, who having succeeded in making a +perfect lead-pencil, declared he should never +make another, he hates routine. "I was a poor +manufacturer," said he, "because I could not let +well enough alone. My first impulse upon taking +any apparatus into my hand, from an egg-beater +to an electric-motor, is to seek a way of +improving it. Therefore, as soon as I have finished +a machine I am anxious to take it apart +again in order to make an experiment. That is +a costly mania for a manufacturer."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a name="Edison_in_his_Laboratory" id="Edison_in_his_Laboratory"></a> +<img src="images/262.jpg" width="500" height="630" alt="Edison in his Laboratory." /> +<span class="caption">Edison in his Laboratory.</span> +</div> + +<p>It was his success with a device for printing +stock quotations upon paper tape that finally induced +several New York capitalists to accept +Edison's offer to experiment with the incandescent +electric light, they to pay the expense of the +experiments and share in the inventions if any +were made. For the sake of quiet Edison moved +out to Menlo Park, a little station on the Pennsylvania +road about twenty-five miles beyond +Newark, and built a shop twenty-eight feet wide, +one hundred feet long, and two stories high. It +was here that I first made his acquaintance, in +January, 1879, soon after the newspapers had +announced that he had solved the problem +of the electric light. It may be remembered +that gas stock tumbled in price at that time, and +there was a rush to sell before the new light +should displace gas altogether. One cold day I +climbed the hill from the station, and once past +the reception-room, in which every new-comer +was carefully scrutinized, for inventors are apt to +have odds and ends lying about that they do not +want seen by everyone, I found myself in a long +big work-shop. To anyone accustomed to the +orderly appearance of the ideal machine-shop, +it presented a curious appearance, for evidently +half the machines in it—forges, lathes, furnaces, +retorts, etc.—were dismantled for the moment +and useless. Half a dozen workmen were busy +in an apparently aimless manner.</p> + +<p>Upstairs, in a room devoted to chemical experiments, +I found Edison himself. He is to-day +just what he was then. Prosperity has not +changed him in the least, except perhaps in one +particular. In those days of struggle the inventor +was far less affable with visitors than he is to-day. +One felt instinctively that he was a man +struggling to accomplish some serious task to +which he was devoting every waking thought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">247</a><br /><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">248</a></span> +and probably dreaming about it at night. As I +strode across the laboratory in the direction indicated +by one of the workmen present, a compactly +built but not tall man, with rather a boyish, +clean-shaven face, prematurely old, was +holding a vial of some liquid up to the light. +He had on a blouse such as chemists wear, but +it was hardly necessary, as his clothes were well +stained with acids; his hands were covered with +some oil with which his hair was liberally streaked, +as he had a habit of wiping his fingers upon his +head. "Good clothes are wasted upon me," he +once explained to me. "I feel it is wrong to +wear any, and I never put on a new suit when +I can help it." Edison has been slightly deaf +for a number of years, and like all persons of defective +hearing, closely watches anyone with +whom he talks. His patience with visitors is +proverbial, and provided any intelligence is +shown, he will plunge into long explanations. +As he goes on from point to point, warming up +to his subject, he is sometimes quite oblivious to +the fact that it is all lost upon his visitor until +brought back by some question or comment +which shows that he might as well talk Sanskrit. +Then he laughs and goes back to simpler matters.</p> + +<p>I watched him for a few moments before presenting +myself. After a long look at his bottle, +held up against the light, he put it down again +on the table before him, and resting his head between +his hands, both elbows on the table, he +peered down at the bottle as if he expected it to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">249</a></span> +say something. Then, after a moment's brown +study, he would seize it again, give it a shake, as +if to shake its secret out, and hold it up to the +light. As pantomime nothing could have been +more expressive. That liquid contained a secret +it would not give up, but if it could be made to +give it up, Edison was the man to do it, as a terrier +might worry the life out of a rat.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Edisons_Menlo_Park_Electric_Locomotive" id="Edisons_Menlo_Park_Electric_Locomotive"></a> +<img src="images/266.jpg" width="400" height="295" alt="Edison's Menlo Park Electric Locomotive (1880)." /> +<span class="caption">Edison's Menlo Park Electric Locomotive (1880).</span> +</div> + +<p>The secret of his success might well be "Persistency, +more persistency, still more persistency." +One of his foremen relates that once in +Newark when his printing telegraph suddenly +refused to work, he locked himself into his laboratory, +declaring that he would not come out till +the trouble was found. It took him sixty hours, +during which time his only food consisted of +crackers and cheese eaten at the bench; then he +went to bed and slept twenty hours at a stretch. +At another time, during the height of the first +electric-light excitement, all the lamps he had +burning in Menlo Park, about eighty in all, suddenly +went out, one after another, without apparent +cause. Everything had gone well for nearly +a month and the great success of the experiment +had been published to the world. If the lamps, +with their carbon filaments of charred paper +would burn for a month there seemed to be no +reason why they should not burn for a year, and +Edison was stunned by the catastrophe. The +trouble was evidently in the lamps themselves, +for new lamps burned well. Then began the +most exciting and most exhaustive series of experiments +ever undertaken by an American physicist.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">250</a></span> +For five days Edison remained day and +night at the laboratory, sleeping only when his +assistants took his place at whatever was going +on. The difficulties in the way of experimenting +with the incandescent lamp are enormous because +the light only burns when in a vacuum. The +instant the glass is broken, out it goes. Edison's +eyes grew weak studying the brilliant glow of +the carbon filament. At the end of the five days +he took to his bed, worn out with excitement and +sick with disappointment. During the last two +days and nights he ate nothing. He could not +sleep, for the moment he left the laboratory and +closed his eyes some new test suggested itself. +Neither was there much sleep for his faithful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">251</a></span> +force. Ordinarily one of the most considerate +of men, he seemed quite surprised when rest and +refreshments were sometimes suggested as in +order after fifteen hours' incessant work. The +trouble was finally discovered to be one that time +alone could have proved. The air was not sufficiently +exhausted from the lamps. To add to +the discomfiture of the inventor, a professor of +physics in one of the well-known colleges declared +in a newspaper article widely circulated +that the Edison lamp would never last long +enough to pay for itself.</p> + +<p>"I'll make a statue of that man," said Edison +to me one day when he was still groping in the +dark for the secret of his temporary defeat, "and +I'll illuminate it brilliantly with Edison lamps +and inscribe it: 'This is the man who said the +Edison lamp would not burn.'"</p> + +<p>To go back to Edison, shaking his bottle in +the sunlight, his brown study gave way to a +pleasant smile of welcome when I had made my +business known. "Take a look at these filings," +he said, making room for me at the bench. "See +how curiously they settle when I shake the bottle +up. In alcohol they behave one way, but in oil +in this way. Isn't that the most curious thing +you ever saw—better than a play at one of your +city theatres, eh?" and he chuckled to himself +as he shook them up again.</p> + +<p>"What I want to know," he went on, more to +himself than to me, "is what they mean by it, +and I'm going to find out." To me the interesting +spectacle was Edison tossing up his bottle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">252</a></span> +and watching the filings settle, and not the curious +behavior of the filings.</p> + +<p>When he put the bottle by, with a deep sigh, +he took me over the whole place, pointing out +with particular pride the apparatus for making +the paper carbons for the lamps, and the new +forms of Sprengel mercury pumps that did better +work in extracting air from the lamps than +any yet devised.</p> + +<p>Looking back to that first visit to Edison, the +first of perhaps a score that I have had occasion +to make him in the last fifteen years, what impressed +me most was the immensity of the field +in which he takes an interest. Ask Edison what +he thinks will be the next step in the development +of the sewing-machine, or the telescope, the +microscope, the steam-engine, the electric-motor, +the reaping-machine, or any device by which +man accomplishes much work in little time, and +invariably it will be found that he has some novel +ideas upon the subject, perhaps fanciful in the +extreme, but practical enough to show that he +has pondered the matter. He shares the opinion +of the gentleman who insists that whatever is is +wrong, but only to this extent: that whatever is +might be better. Authority means nothing to +him; he must test for himself. For instance, it +is well known that he rejects the Newtonian +theory in part and holds that motion is an inherent +property of matter; that it pushes, finding +its way in the direction of least resistance, and is +not pulled or attracted. "It seems to me," he +said once, "that every atom is possessed by a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">253</a></span> +certain amount of primitive intelligence. Look +at the thousand ways in which atoms of hydrogen +combine with those of other elements, forming +the most diverse substances. Do you mean +to say that they do this without intelligence? +Atoms in harmonious and useful relation assume +beautiful or interesting shapes and colors, or +give forth a pleasant perfume, as if expressing +their satisfaction. In sickness, death, decomposition, +or filth the disagreement of the component +atoms immediately makes itself felt by bad +odors." It is partly due to this belief in the sensibility +of atoms that Edison attributes his faith +in an intelligent Creator.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<a name="Handwritten_letter" id="Handwritten_letter"></a> +<img src="images/270.jpg" width="300" height="394" alt="Handwritten letter." /> +<span class="caption">Handwritten letter.</span> +</div> + +<p>It is hard to say into what field of inquiry Edison +has not dipped. He told me once that whenever +he travelled he carried a note-book with +him, in which he jotted down suggestions for +experiments to be made. Railway journeys, at a +time when Edison was a constant traveller, were +productive of much material of this kind, for the +inventor never sleeps when travelling, and his +brain works, going over, even in a doze, the thousand +and one aspects of his work, and evolving +theories to be dismissed almost as soon as +evolved. His mind, when at rest, reviews his +day's work almost automatically, just as a chess player's +brain will, after an exciting game, go +over every situation in a half dream-like condition +and evolve new solutions. He has great +respect for even what appear to be the most inconsequential +observations, provided they are +made by a competent person, and a large force<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">254</a></span> +in his splendid laboratory at Orange is always +employed in studies that appear to the outsider +to be aimless; for instance, the action of chemicals +upon various substances or upon each other. +Strips of ivory in a certain oil become transparent +in six weeks. A globule of mercury in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">255</a></span> +water takes various shapes for the opposite poles +of the electric-battery upon the addition of a little +potassium. There is no present use for the +knowledge of such facts, but it is recorded in +voluminous note-books, and some day the connecting-link +in the chain of an invaluable discovery +may here be found.</p> + +<p>My next visit to Menlo Park was a few months +later, when I found Edison in bed sick with disappointment. +The lamps had again taken to antics +for which no remedy or explanation could +be discovered. There was an air of desolation +over the place. The laboratory was cold and +comfortless. Upon every side were signs of +strict economy. Most of the assistants were +young men glad to work for little or nothing. +For the last month Edison had been working in +the direction of a general improvement of all +parts of the lamp instead of devoting himself to +one feature. Expert glass-blowers were brought +to Menlo Park, the air-pumps were made more +perfect, new substances were tried for carbons. +All this had taken time, during which outsiders +freely predicted failure. The stock in the enterprise +fell to such a price that it was hard to raise +money for the maintenance of the laboratory. It +was argued, and with some truth, as I have had +occasion to remark, that Edison had really discovered +nothing new; he had attempted to do +what a dozen famous men had tried before him +and he had failed. The quotations of New York +gas stocks rose again.</p> + +<p>The next time I visited the laboratory, a few<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">256</a></span> +days later, Edison was up again and talking +cheerfully. But he had grown five years older +in five months. "I shall succeed," he said to me, +"but it may take me longer than I at first supposed. +Everything is so new that each step is +in the dark; I have to make the dynamos, the +lamps, the conductors, and attend to a thousand +details that the world never hears of. At the +same time I have to think about the expense of +my work. That galls me. My one ambition is +to be able to work without regard to the expense. +What I mean is, that if I want to give up +a whole month of my time and that of my whole +establishment to finding out why one form of a +carbon filament is slightly better than another, I +can do it without having to think of the cost. +My greatest luxury would be a laboratory more +perfect than any we have in this country. I +want a splendid collection of material—every +chemical, every metal, every substance in fact +that may be of use to me, and I hardly know +what may not be of use. I want all this right at +hand, within a few feet of my own house. Give +me these advantages and I shall gladly devote +fifteen hours a day to solid work. I want none +of the rich man's usual toys, no matter how rich +I may become. I want no horses or yachts—have +no time for them. I want a perfect workshop."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="The_Home_of_Thomas_A_Edison" id="The_Home_of_Thomas_A_Edison"></a> +<img src="images/273.jpg" width="400" height="274" alt="The Home of Thomas A. Edison." /> +<span class="caption">The Home of Thomas A. Edison.</span> +</div> + +<p>In the last twelve years Edison has seen his +dream fulfilled. His electric light has not displaced +gas, by any means, but it has been the +foundation of a business large enough to make<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">257</a></span> +the inventor sufficiently rich to build the finest +laboratory in the world, in the most curious +room of which are to be found the three hundred +models of machinery and apparatus of various +kinds devised by Edison in the last twenty +years and made by himself or under his eye. He +is still a gaunt fellow, with a slight stoop, a clean-shaven +face, and a low voice. His hands are still +soiled with acids, his clothes are shabby, and +there is always a cigar in his mouth.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Edisons_Laboratory" id="Edisons_Laboratory"></a> +<img src="images/274.jpg" width="400" height="186" alt="Edison's Laboratory." /> +<span class="caption">Edison's Laboratory.</span> +</div> + +<p>The Edison laboratory deserves a chapter by +itself. In 1886 Edison bought a fine villa in Llewellyn +Park at a cost of $150,000. He took the +house as it stood, with all its luxurious fittings, +rather to please his wife than himself; a corner +of the laboratory would suit him quite as well. +Right outside the gates of the park and within<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">258</a></span> +view of the house, he bought ten acres of land +and began his laboratory. Two handsome structures +of brick, each 60 feet wide, 100 feet long, +and four stories high, accommodate the machine-shop, +library, lecture-room, experimental workshops, +assistants' rooms and store-rooms. The +boiler-house and dynamo-rooms are outside the +main buildings. Also, in a separate room, the +floor of which consists of immense blocks of +stone, are the delicate instruments of precision +used in testing electric currents. The instruments +in this one room, twenty feet square, cost +$18,000 to make and to import from Europe. +Upon first entering the main building, the visitor +finds what is apparently a busy factory of +some sort, with long rows of machinery, from +steam-hammers to diamond-lathes. Everywhere +workmen are busy at their tasks, and Edison has +good reason to be proud of his laboratory force, +for it consists of the picked workmen of the +country. Whenever he finds in one of the Edison<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">259</a></span> +factories in Newark, New York, Schenectady, or +elsewhere a particularly expert and intelligent +man, he has him transferred to the Orange laboratory, +where, at increased pay for shorter hours, +the man not only finds life pleasanter, but has +a chance of learning and becoming somebody. +The whole place hums with the rattle of machinery +and glows with electric light. There +are eighty assistants, who have charge of the various +departments. The most expert iron-workers, +glass-blowers, wood-turners, metal-spinners, +screw-makers, chemists, and machinists in the +country are to be found here. A rough drawing +of the most complicated model is all they require +to work from.</p> + +<p>The store-rooms contain all the material +needed. Four store-keepers are employed to +keep the supplies, valued at $100,000, in order +and ready for use at a moment's notice. Each +article is put down in a catalogue which shows +the shelf or bottle where it may be found. Every +known metal, every chemical known to science, +every kind of glass, stone, earth, wood, fibre, +paper, skin, cloth, is to be found there. In making +up the chemical collection an assistant was +kept at work for weeks going through the three +most exhaustive works on chemistry in English, +French, and German, making a note of every +substance mentioned, and this list constituted +the order for chemicals, an order, by the way, +which it required seven months to fill. In the +glass department, for instance, there is every +known kind of glass, from plates two inches<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">260</a></span> +thick to the finest, film, and if anything else in +the way of glass is needed, the glass-workers +are there to make it. This stupendous collection +of material, filling one floor, is intended to +guard against annoying delays that might occur +at critical times for want of some rare material. +In 1885, when working upon an apparatus for +getting a current of electricity directly from heat—the +thermo-electric generator—Edison's work +was brought to a standstill for want of a few +pounds of nickel, an article not then to be found +in any quantity in this country. The store-room +was organized to avert such delays. The library +is the only part of the main building that shows +any attempt at decoration. It is a superb room, +60 feet by 40, with a height of 25 feet. Galleries +run around the second story. At one +end is a monumental fireplace, and in the centre +of the hall a fine group of palms and ferns. The +room is finished in oiled hard wood and lighted +by electricity. Fine rugs cover the floors. The +shelves contain nothing but scientific works and +the files of the forty-six scientific periodicals in +English, French, and German to which Edison +subscribes. They are indexed by a librarian as +soon as received, so that Edison can see at a +glance what they contain concerning the special +fields in which he is interested.</p> + +<p>Nothing in this big establishment, often employing +more than one hundred persons, is made +for sale. It is wholly devoted to experimental +work and tests. Its expenses, said to be more +than $150,000 a year, are paid by the commercial<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">261</a></span> +companies in which Edison is interested, he, +on his part, giving them the benefit of any improvements +made. Thus in one room hundreds +of incandescent electric lamps burn night and +day the year through. Each lamp is specially +marked and when it burns out more quickly than +the average, or lasts longer, a special study is +made as to the contributing causes. It may +seem impossible that the suggestions of one man +can keep busy a big workshop upon experiments +the year round, but Edison says that the temptation +is always to increase the force. When it is +remembered that the list of Edison's patents +reaches to seven hundred and forty, and that on +the electric light alone he has worked out several +hundred theories, the wonder ceases. Ten +minutes' work with a pencil may sketch an apparatus +that a dozen men cannot finish inside of +a fortnight.</p> + +<p>When the new Orange laboratory was finished +and Edison found himself with time and means +at his disposal, his first thought was to take up his +phonograph. The history of the great hopes +built upon the phonograph and the bitter disappointment +that followed is too familiar to need +repetition here. As may be imagined, Edison +is most keenly bent upon tightening the loose +screw that has prevented it from doing all that +its friends predicted for it. He still works at +other problems, but chiefly as relaxation. He +rests from inventing one thing by inventing +something else.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Library_at_Edisons_Laboratory" id="Library_at_Edisons_Laboratory"></a> +<img src="images/278.jpg" width="400" height="298" alt="Library at Edison's Laboratory." /> +<span class="caption">Library at Edison's Laboratory.</span> +</div> + +<p>One day recently, when I found him less confident<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">262</a><br /><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">263</a></span> +than usual as to the triumph of the phonograph +in the near future, he said: "There are +some difficulties about the problem that seem +insurmountable. I go on smoothly until at a +certain point I run my head against a stone +wall; I cannot get under, over, or around it. +After butting my head against that wall until it +aches, I go back to the beginning again. It is +absurd to say that because I can see no possible +solution of the problem to-day, that I may not +see one to-morrow. The very fact that this century +has accomplished so much in the way of +invention, makes it more than probable that the +next century will do far greater things. We +ought to be ashamed of ourselves if we are content +to fold our hands and say that the telegraph, +telephone, steam-engine, dynamo, and +camera having been invented, the field has been +exhausted. These inventions are so many wonderful +tools with which we ought to accomplish +far greater wonders. Unless the coming generations +are particularly lazy, the world ought to +possess in 1993 a dozen marvels of the usefulness +of the steam-engine and dynamo. The next step +in advance will perhaps be the discovery of a +method for transforming heat directly into electricity. +That will revolutionize modern life by +making heat, power, and light almost as cheap +as air. Inventors are already feeling their way +toward this wonder. I have gone far enough on +that road to know that there are several stone +walls ahead. But the problem is one of the most +fascinating in view."</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">264</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X.</h2> + + +<h3>ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL.</h3> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a name="Professor_Bell_Sending_the_First_Message" id="Professor_Bell_Sending_the_First_Message"></a> +<img src="images/281.jpg" width="500" height="615" alt="Professor Bell Sending the First Message, by Long-distance Telephone, from New York to Chicago." /> +<span class="caption">Professor Bell Sending the First Message, by Long-distance Telephone, from New York to Chicago.</span> +</div> + +<p>Sir Charles Wheatstone, the eminent English +electrician, while engaged in perfecting +his system of telegraphy discovered that wires +charged with electricity often carried noises in +a curious manner. He made and exhibited at +the Royal Society, in 1840, a clock in which the +tick of another clock miles away was conveyed +through a wire. This experiment appears to +have been one of the germs of the telephone. In +1844 Captain John Taylor, also an Englishman, +invented an instrument to which he gave the +name of the telephone, but it had nothing electrical +about it. It was an apparatus for conveying +sounds at sea by means of compressed +air forced through trumpets. He could make +his telephone heard six miles away. The first +real suggestion of the telephone as we know it +comes from Reis, the German professor of physics +at Friedrichsdorf, who in 1860 constructed +with a coil of wire, a knitting-needle, the skin of +a German sausage, the bung of a beer-barrel, and +a strip of platinum an instrument which reproduced +the sound of the voice by the vibration of +the membrane and sent a series of clicks along +an electric wire to an electro-magnetic receiver<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">265</a></span> +at the other end of the wire. The same idea +was taken up in this country by Elisha Gray, +Edison, and by Alexander Graham Bell, who +first exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition an +apparatus that transmitted speech by electricity +in a fairly satisfactory manner. The American +claimants to the honor of having invented the +telephone include Daniel Drawbaugh, a backwoods +genius of Pennsylvania, who claims to +have made and used a practical telephone in +1867-68. A large fortune has been spent in +fighting Drawbaugh's claims against the Bell +monopoly, but the courts have finally decided in +favor of the latter. It should be recorded as a +matter of justice to Mr. Gray, that he appears to +have solved the problem of conveying speech by +electricity at about the same time as Bell. Both +these inventors filed their caveats upon the telephone +upon the same day—February 14, 1876. +It was Bell's good fortune to be the first to make +his device practically effective.</p> + +<p>Alexander Graham Bell is not an American +by birth. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, +on the 1st of March, 1847. His father, Alexander +Melville Bell, was the inventor of the system +by which deaf people are enabled to read +speech more or less correctly by observing +the motion of the lips. His mother was the +daughter of Samuel Symonds, a surgeon in the +British navy.</p> + +<p>In 1872 the Bells moved to Canada, and young +Alexander Bell became widely known in Boston +as an authority in the teaching of the deaf and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">266</a></span> +dumb. He first carried to great perfection in +this country the art of enabling the deaf and +dumb to enunciate intelligible words and sounds +that they themselves have never heard. Most +of his art he acquired from his father, one of the +most expert of teachers in this field. The elder +Bell is still active in his work, constantly devising +new methods and experiments. He lives +in Washington with his son and is frequently +heard in lectures in New York and Boston.</p> + +<p>In 1873 Alexander Bell began to study the +transmission of musical tones by telegraph. It +was in the line of his work with deaf and dumb +people to make sound vibrations visible to the +eye. With the phonautograph he could obtain +tracings of such vibrations upon blackened paper +by means of a pencil or stylus attached to +a vibrating cord or membrane. He also succeeded +in obtaining tracings upon smoked glass +of the vibrations of the air produced by vowel +sounds. He began experimenting with an apparatus +resembling the human ear, and upon the +suggestion of Dr. Clarence J. Blake, the Boston +aurist, he tried his work upon a prepared specimen +of the ear itself. Observation upon the +vibrations of the various bones within the ear +led him to conceive the idea of vibrating a piece +of iron in front of an electro-magnet.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bell was at this time an instructor in +phonetics, or the art of visible speech, in Monroe's +School of Oratory in Boston. One of his +old pupils describes him then as a swarthy, +foreign-looking personage, more Italian than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">267</a></span> +English in appearance, with jet-black hair and +dark skin. His manner was earnest and full of +conviction. He was an enthusiast in his work, +and only emerged from his habitual diffidence +when called upon to talk upon his studies and +views. He was miserably poor and almost without +friends. When he was attacked with muscular +rheumatism, in 1873, his hospital expenses +were paid by his employer, and his only visitors +were some of the pupils at the school.</p> + +<p>Until the close of 1874, Bell's experiments +seemed to promise nothing of practical value. +But in 1875 he began to transmit vibrations between +two armatures, one at each end of a wire. +He was much interested at the time in multiple +telegraphy and fancied that something might +come of some such arrangement of many magnetic +armatures responding to the vibrations set +up in one.</p> + +<p>In November, 1875, he discovered that the +vibrations created in a reed by the voice could +be transmitted so as to reproduce words and +sounds. One day in January, 1876, he called a +dozen of the pupils at Monroe's school into his +room and exhibited an apparatus by which +singing was more or less satisfactorily transmitted +by wire from the cellar of the building to a +room on the fourth floor. The exhibition created +a sensation among the pupils, but, although +no attempts were made by Bell to conceal what +he was doing, or how he did it, the noise of his +discovery does not seem to have reached the +outside world. With an old cigar-box, two<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">268</a></span> +hundred feet of wire, two magnets from a toy +fish-pond, the first Bell telephone was brought +into existence. The apparatus was, however, +not yet the practical telephone as we know it, +but it was sufficient of a curiosity to warrant +its exhibition in an improved form at the Centennial +Exhibition, when Sir William Thomson +spoke of it as "perhaps the greatest marvel +hitherto achieved by the electric telegraph."</p> + +<p>The next year Bell succeeded in bringing the +telephone to the condition in which it became +of immediate practical value. Strange to say, +the public was at first slow to appreciate the +great importance of the invention, and when +Bell took it to England, in 1877, he could find +no purchaser for half the European rights at +$10,000. In this country, thanks to the business +energy of Professor Gardiner Hubbard, of Harvard, +Bell's father-in-law, the telephone was soon +made commercially valuable, and there are now +said to be nearly six hundred thousand telephones +in use in the United States alone.</p> + +<p>Professor Bell, as may be imagined, is not idle. +His vast fortune has enabled him to continue +costly experiments in aiding deaf and dumb +people, and it will probably be in this field that +his next achievement will be made. Personally, +he is a reserved and thoughtful man, wholly +given up to his scientific work. His wife, whom +he married in 1876, was one of his deaf and dumb +pupils. It is often said that it was largely due +to his intense desire to soften her misfortune +that his experiments were so exhaustive and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">269</a></span> +finally became so productive in another direction. +His home life in Washington, where he bought, +in 1885, the superb house on Scott Circle known +as "Broadhead's Folly," after the man who built +it and ruined himself in so doing, is said to be +an ideally peaceful and happy one, given up to +study and efforts to alleviate the troubles of the +deaf and dumb.</p> + +<p>As in the case of most inventions of such immense +value as the telephone, a fortune has had +to be spent in order to protect the patent rights; +but in Bell's case the inventor's money reward +has been ample and is now said to amount to more +than $1,000,000 a year. Just at present Mr. Bell +is engaged upon a modification of the phonograph, +which may enable persons not wholly +deaf to hear a phonographic reproduction of the +human voice, even if they cannot hear the voice +itself. Honors have poured in upon him within +the last fifteen years. In 1880 the French Government +awarded him the Volta prize of $10,000, +which Mr. Bell devoted to founding the Volta +Laboratory in Washington, an institution for the +use of students. In 1882 he also received from +France the ribbon of the Legion of Honor.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">270</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI.</h2> + + +<h3>AMERICAN INVENTORS, PAST AND +PRESENT.</h3> + + +<p>There are now in force in this country nearly +three hundred thousand patents for inventions +and devices of more or less importance and aid +to everyone. To how great a degree the world +is indebted to the inventor, very few of us realize. +The more we think of the matter, however, +the more are we likely to believe that the inventor +is mankind's great benefactor. Watt +should stand before Napoleon in the hero-worship +of the age, and the man who perfected +the friction-match before the author of an epic. +Some day this redistribution of the world's +honors will surely take place, and it should be a +satisfaction to us Americans that our country +stands so high in the ranks of inventive genius. +Within the last half century Americans have +contributed, to mention only great achievements, +the telegraph, the telephone, the electric light, +the sewing-machine, the reaper, and vulcanized +rubber, to the world's wealth—a far larger contribution +than that of any other nation. What +may not the next generation produce? Some +people seem to believe that so much has already +been invented as to have exhausted the field. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">271</a></span> +this connection I have quoted in another place +some remarks Mr. Edison once made to me as +to what the next fifty years might bring forth. +Still more astonishing than our past fecundity +in invention would be future barrenness. This +century has done its work and produced its +marvels with comparatively blunt tools, or no +tools at all. The next century will be able to +work with superb instruments of which our +grandfathers knew nothing. The school-boy to-day +knows more of the forces of nature and their +useful application than the magician of fifty years +ago. It has been said that the fifteen blocks in +the "Gem" puzzle can be arranged in more than +a million different ways. The material in the +game at which man daily plays is so infinitely +more complex that the number of combinations +cannot be written out in figures. The +rôle played by invention in modern life is +infinitely greater than during preceding ages. +One invention, by affording a new tool, makes +others possible. The steam-engine made possible +the dynamo, the dynamo made possible the +electric light. In its turn the electric light may +lead to wonders still more extraordinary.</p> + +<p>The degree to which invention has contributed +to civilization is far from suspected by the careless +observer. Almost everything we have or +use is the fruit of invention. Man might be defined +as the animal that invents. The air we +breathe and the water we drink are provided by +Nature, but we drink water from a vessel of +some kind, an invention of man. Even if we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">272</a></span> +drink from a shell or a gourd, we shape it to +serve a new purpose. If we want our air hotter +or colder, we resort to invention, and a vast +amount of ingenuity has been expended upon putting +air in motion by means of fans, blowers, +ventilators, etc. We take but a small part of our +food as animals do—in the natural state. The +savage who first crushed some kernels of wheat +between two stones invented flour, and we are +yet hard at it inventing improvements upon his +process. The earliest inventions probably had +reference to the procuring and preparing of +food, and the ingenuity of man is still exercised +upon these problems more eagerly than ever before. +During the last fifty years the power of +man to produce food has increased more than +during the preceding fifteen centuries. Sixty +years ago a large part of the wheat and other +grain raised in the world was cut, a handful at a +time, with a scythe, and a man could not reap +much more than a quarter of an acre a day. +With a McCormick reaper a man and two horses +will cut from fifteen to twenty acres of grain a +day. In the threshing of grain, invention has +achieved almost as much. A man with a machine +will thresh ten times as much as he formerly +could with a flail.</p> + +<p>It is less than sixty years since matches have +come into common use. Many old men remember +the time in this country when a fire could be +kindled only with the embers from another fire, +as there were no such things as matches. Most +of us who have reached the age of forty remember<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">273</a></span> +the abominable, clumsy sulphur-matches of +1860, as bulky as they were unpleasant. And yet +the first sulphur-matches, made about 1830, cost +ten cents a hundred. To-day the safety match, +certain and odorless, is sold at one-tenth of this +price. The introduction of kerosene was one +of the blessings of modern life. It added several +hours a day to the useful, intelligent life +of man, and who can estimate the influence of +these evening hours upon the advance of civilization? +The evening, after the day's work is done, +has been the only hour when the workingman +could read. Before cheap and good lights were +given him, reading was out of the question. Gas +marked a step in advance, but only for large +towns, and now electricity bids fair soon to displace +gas; and we hear vague suggestions of a +luminous ether that will flood houses with a soft +glow like that of sunlight.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Townsend and Drake—The Introduction +of Coal Oil</span>.</h3> + + +<p>In 1850 sperm oil, then commonly used in +lamps, had become high-priced, owing to the +failure of the New Bedford whalers, and cost +$2.25 a gallon. Oil obtained by the distillation +of coal was tried, but was also too costly—not +less than $1 a gallon. It burned well, +but its odor was frightful. The problem of a +cheap and pleasant light was solved by James M. +Townsend and E.L. Drake, both of New Haven.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">274</a></span> +In 1854 a man brought to Professor Silliman, of +Yale, some oil from Oil Creek, Pa., to be tested. +His report was so favorable that a company +was formed, which leased all the land along Oil +Creek upon which were traces of the new rock +oil. The hard times of 1857 came before any +headway had been made, and the company tried +to find some way of ridding itself of the lease. +At this time Townsend, who knew something +about the property, undertook to get possession. +Boarding in the same house in New Haven was +E.L. Drake, once a conductor on the New York +& New Haven Railroad, who had been obliged +to give up work on account of ill-health. Townsend +proposed that as Drake could get railroad +passes as an ex-employee, he should go to Pennsylvania +and look into the property. He did so, +and reported that a fortune might be made by +gathering the oil and bottling it for medicinal +purposes. Drake and Townsend organized the +Seneca Oil Company. The oil was gathered +by digging trenches, and was sold at $1 a +gallon. Drake suggested that it might be well +to bore for oil. A man familiar with salt-well +boring was brought from Syracuse, and in 1850 +the first well was begun at Titusville under the +supervision of Drake. He was commonly considered +by the neighbors to be insane. The +work was costly and slow. When many months +and about $50,000 had been spent, the stockholders +in the company refused to go any further—all +except Townsend, who sent his last $500 to +Drake, with instructions to use it in paying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">275</a></span> +debts and his expenses in reaching home. On +the day before the receipt of this money—August +29, 1859—the auger, which was down +sixty-eight feet, struck a cavity, and up came a +flow of oil that filled the well to within five feet +of the surface. Pumping began at the rate of +five hundred gallons a day, and a more powerful +pump doubled this flow. As this oil was +worth a dollar a gallon, fortune was within sight. +But the very quantity of the oil proved to be the +company's ruin. Their works were destroyed +by fire in the winter of 1859-60, and before they +could be rebuilt, scores of other wells, some of +them requiring no pumping apparatus, had been +sunk in the neighborhood. The supply was soon +far in excess of the demand, which was limited +by the small number of refineries, the want of +good lamps in which to burn the oil, and the attacks +by manufacturers of other oils. Such was +the effect of these causes that the new oil fell to +a dollar a barrel, a price so low that it did not +pay for the handling. The Seneca Oil Company +was so much discouraged that they sold out +their leases and disbanded. Both Townsend and +Drake would have died richer men had they +never heard of the Pennsylvania rock oil.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Clarks and the Telescope.</span></h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Alvan_Clark" id="Alvan_Clark"></a> +<img src="images/294.jpg" width="400" height="540" alt="Alvan Clark." /> +<span class="caption">Alvan Clark.</span> +</div> + +<p>The fame of American telescopes is due to the +work and inventions of the Clark family of Cambridgeport, +Mass., the descendants of Thomas<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">276</a></span> +Clark, the mate of the Mayflower. The founder +of the great—in a scientific sense—house of +Alvan Clark & Sons, telescope-makers, was a remarkable +man. Until after his fortieth year he +devoted himself to portrait-painting. In 1843 +his attention was accidentally turned toward +telescope-making. One day the dinner-bell at +Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., happened to +break. The pieces were gathered up by one of +Clark's boys, George, who proceeded to melt +them in a crucible over the kitchen fire, declaring +that he was going to make a telescope. His +mother laughed, but his father was deeply interested +and helped the boy make a five-inch +reflecting telescope which showed the satellites +of Jupiter. This was the beginning of telescope-making<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">277</a></span> +in the Clark family, an industry which +has given to the scientific world its most remarkable +lenses. Alvan Clark dropped his paintbrushes, +never to take them up again until at the +age of eighty-three he made an excellent portrait +of his little grandson. To Alvan G. Clark, the +present head of the house, are chiefly due the +scores of devices by which American ingenuity +has surpassed the slower European methods. +The delicacy required in the manipulation and +grinding of the immense lenses made by the +Clarks is almost incredible. The latest triumph +of the firm—a forty-inch lens for the Spence +Observatory at Los Angeles, Cal.—required two +years of grinding and polishing after a piece of +glass perfect enough had been obtained. So +delicately finished is it that half a dozen sharp +rubs with the soft part of a man's thumb would +be sufficient to ruin it. Alvan G. Clark is now a +man sixty-one years-old. He has lived all his +life at the home in Cambridgeport. His greatest +sorrow is that there is no son of his to carry +on the work after his death. His only son died +a few years ago, just as he was beginning to show +wonderful aptitude in the art which has made +the family famous in all the great observatories +of the world.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">278</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">John Fitch and Oliver Evans—Steam +Transportation.</span></h3> + + +<p>In looking over the work done by American +inventors, the great names are those to be found +at the heads of the preceding chapters. But +the list is by no means exhausted. Among the +early men of achievement in the field of invention +I have had to omit at least a dozen whose +work deserves more than a paragraph. The +history of the steamboat is not complete without +reference to John Fitch.</p> + +<p>Fulton was fortunate in making the first really +successful attempt at propelling boats by steam, +but Fitch came very near reaping the honors +for this invention. The account of Fitch's life +and experiments, written by himself and now in +the possession of the Franklin Library of Philadelphia, +clearly shows that this unhappy genius +really deserves to share in Fulton's glory. Fitch +was born in Connecticut, in January, 1743, more +than twenty years before Fulton. He was a +farmer's boy and picked up knowledge as best +he could. Before he was twenty he had learned +clock-making and then button-making. It was +in 1788 that he obtained his first patent for a +steamboat. His experimental boat was an extraordinary +affair, fully described in the <i>Columbian</i> +(Philadelphia) <i>Magazine</i> for December, 1786. +Its motive power consisted of a clumsy engine +that moved horizontal bars, upon which were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">279</a></span> +fastened a number of oars or paddles. So far as +possible the machine imitated the movements of +a man rowing. This boat made eight miles an +hour in calm water. Finding nothing but ridicule +for his project here, as his steamboat cost +too much money to run as a commercial undertaking, +Fitch went to Europe, and was equally +unsuccessful there. There is still in existence +a letter from him in which he predicts that +steam would some day carry vessels across +the Atlantic. He died in 1796, without having +contributed more than a curiosity to the +art of steam navigation.</p> + +<p>Another early inventor was Oliver Evans, who +has been called the Watt of America. In 1804 +Evans offered to build for the Lancaster Turnpike +Company a steam-carriage to carry one +hundred barrels of flour fifty miles in twenty-four +hours. The offer was derided. Here is one +of Evans's predictions written at about this time: +"The time will come when people will travel in +stages, moved by steam-engines, from one city +to another, almost as fast as birds fly, fifteen or +twenty miles an hour. Passing through the air +with such velocity, changing the scene with +such rapid succession, will be the most rapid, +exhilarating exercise. A carriage (steam) will +set out from Washington in the morning, +the passengers will breakfast at Baltimore, dine +at Philadelphia, and sup in New York the same +day. To accomplish this, two sets of railways +will be laid so nearly level as not in any way to +deviate more than two degrees from a horizontal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">280</a></span> +line, made of wood, or iron, or smooth paths +of broken stone or gravel, with a rail to guide the +carriages so that they may pass each other in +different directions and travel by night as well +as by day. Engines will drive boats ten or +twelve miles per hour, and there will be many +hundred steamboats running on the Mississippi." +In 1805 Evans built a steam-carriage propelled +by a sort of paddle-wheel at the stern, the paddles +touching the ground. This apparatus he +named the "Oructor Amphibolis," and it is believed +to have been the first application of steam +in America to the propelling of land carriages. +He died in 1819 without having seen his steam-carriage +come to anything practicable. He +made a fortune, however, from some patents upon +flour-mill improvements.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Amos Whittemore and Thomas Blanchard.</span></h3> + + +<p>In the domain of textile fabrics Amos Whittemore, +the Massachusetts inventor of the card-machine, +which did away with the old-fashioned +method of making cards for cotton and woollen +factories, must be mentioned. Before Whittemore's +machine came into use, about 1812, such +cards were made by hand, the laborer sticking +one by one into sheets of leather the wire staples, +which operation gave work to thousands of +families in New England early in the century. +Whittemore made a fortune by his invention, and +devoted the last years of his life to astronomy.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">281</a></span></p> + +<p>Another Massachusetts boy, Thomas Blanchard, +invented the lathe for turning irregular +objects, and well deserves mention. Born in +1788, he was noted as a boy for his efficiency in +the New England accomplishment of whittling, +making wonderful windmills and water-wheels +with his knife. When thirteen years old he made +an apple-paring machine, with which at the "paring +bees" held in the neighborhood he could +accomplish more than a dozen girls. Soon after +this achievement he began helping his brother in +the manufacture of tacks. The operation consisted +in stamping them out from a thin plate of +iron, after which they were taken up, one at a +time, with the thumb and finger and caught in +a tool worked by the foot, while a blow given +simultaneously with a hammer held in the right +hand made a flat head of the large end of the +tack projecting above the face of the vise. This +was the only method then known, and it was so +slow and irksome that young Blanchard often +grew disgusted. As a daily task he was given a +certain quantity of tacks to make, which number +was ascertained by counting. Finding this much +trouble, he constructed a counting-machine, consisting +of a ratchet-wheel which moved one tooth +every time the jaws of the heading tool or +vise moved in the process of making a tack. +From this achievement he passed to a tack machine, +and after six years of hard work turned +out an apparatus that made five hundred tacks +a minute. He sold his patent for the trifle of +$5,000.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">282</a></span></p> + +<p>With part of this money he began his experiments +in turning musket-barrels, an operation +that was simple enough except at the breech, +where the flat and oval sides had to be ground +down or chipped. Blanchard made a lathe that +turned the whole barrel satisfactorily. While +exhibiting his new lathe at the United States +Armory at Springfield, occurred the incident +that led to Blanchard's great device for turning +irregular forms. One of the men employed in +cutting musket-stocks remarked that Blanchard +could never spoil his job, for he could not turn a +gun-stock. The remark struck Blanchard, who +replied, "I am not so sure of that, but will think +of it a while." The result of six months' study +was the lathe with which such articles as gun-stocks, +shoe-lasts, hat-blocks, tackle-blocks, axe-handles, +wig-blocks, and a thousand other objects +of irregular shape may now be turned. While +at Washington getting his patent, Blanchard +exhibited his machine at the War Office, where +many heads of departments had assembled. +Among the rest was a navy commissioner, who, +after listening to Blanchard, remarked to the inventor: +"Can you turn a seventy-four?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," was the reply, "if you will furnish the +block." Blanchard afterward made many interesting +experiments in steam-carriages, but his +chief claim to fame rests upon his lathe.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">283</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Richard M. Hoe and the Web-Press.</span></h3> + + +<p>From the end of the first half of this century +date movements of extraordinary importance in +the world of American invention. The locomotive, +the steam-engine and steam-boat, the telegraph, +reaping-machine, the printing-press, all +seemed to reach an era of wide usefulness at +about the same time. It was in 1814 that Walters +first printed the London <i>Times</i> by steam, the +sullen pressmen standing around waiting for a +pretext to destroy the machinery, and only prevented +by strategy from doing so. About thirty +years afterward Richard M. Hoe first turned +his attention to the improvement of printing-presses. +The founder of the famous house of +printing-press makers, Robert Hoe, was born in +England. His son, Richard March Hoe, was +born in New York on the 12th of September, +1812. He made his first press in 1840, when he +turned out the machine known as "Hoe's Double-cylinder," +which was capable of making about six +thousand impressions an hour, and was the admiration +of all the printers in the city. So long +as the newspaper circulation knew no great increase +this wonderful press was all-sufficient; but +the greater the supply the greater grew the +demand, and a printing-press capable of striking +off papers with greater rapidity was felt to be +an imperative need. It was often necessary to +hold the forms back until nearly daylight for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">284</a></span> +the purpose of getting the latest news, and the +work of printing the paper had to be done in a +very few hours. In 1842 Hoe began to experiment +for the purpose of getting greater speed. +There were many difficulties in the way, however, +and at the end of four years of experimenting +he was about ready to confess that the obstacles +were insurmountable. One night in 1846, +while still in this mood, he resumed his experiments; +the more he reviewed the problem, the +more difficult it seemed. In despair he was about +to give it up for the night, when there flashed +across his brain a plan for securing the type on +the surface of a cylinder. This was the solution +of the problem, and within a year our leading +newspapers had their "Lightning" presses, in +which from four to ten cylinders were used to +feed sheets of paper against the surface of the +type as it flew around. So recently as 1870 the +ten-cylinder Hoe press, printing twenty-five +thousand sheets an hour, was considered a marvel.</p> + +<p>Then came the perfecting press, a far smaller +machine, but capable of five times as much work, +thanks to the substitution of rolls of paper for +separate sheets fed in one by one. The device +by which the web of paper after being printed +on one side is turned over and printed on the +other side in the same machine was another +triumph of American ingenuity. Stereotyping +made it possible to print from a dozen presses +at the same time without the trouble of setting +up new type, and inventions for pasting, folding,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">285</a></span> +and counting the papers still further increased +the speed at which papers may be issued, while +at the same time decreasing the number of men +employed as pressmen. In 1865 it required the +services of twenty-six men and boys to print +and fold twenty-five thousand copies of an eight-page +paper in an hour. To-day a perfecting +press, with the aid of four men, does four times +as much work. It has been recently estimated +that to print, paste, and fold the Sunday edition +of one of the great newspapers with the machinery +of 1865 would require the services of +five hundred persons.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Thomas W. Harvey and Screw-making.</span></h3> + + +<p>The gimlet-pointed screw patented in 1838 by +Thomas W. Harvey, of Providence, R.I., is a +marked instance of an improvement so useful that +we can scarcely realize that less than fifty years +ago such screws were unknown to the carpenter, +for it was not until 1846 that Harvey succeeded +in getting people to abandon the old blunt-ended +screw that we now occasionally find in buildings +put up before 1850. Harvey was a Vermont +boy, born in 1795. His faculty for the invention +of machinery for screw-making and other purposes +gave him and his associates and successors—Angell, +Sloan, and Whipple—great fortunes +according to the estimate of that day. He died +in 1856.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">286</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">C.L. Sholes and the Typewriter.</span></h3> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="CL_Sholes" id="CL_Sholes"></a> +<img src="images/304.jpg" width="400" height="509" alt="C.L. Sholes." /> +<span class="caption">C.L. Sholes.</span> +</div> + +<p>A great many men contributed to make the +typewriter what it is to-day—as much of an improvement +upon the pen as the sewing-machine +is upon the needle. So long ago as 1843 some +patents were taken out for divers forms of writing-machines, +all more or less impracticable. It +was not until C.L. Sholes, then of Wisconsin,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">287</a></span> +took up the problem, in 1866, that the present +form of a number of type-bars, arranged so that +their ends strike upon a common centre, was devised. +Sholes died in 1890, having also helped +by many minor devices the increase in the use of +writing-machines. From 1865 to 1873 he made +thirty different working models of writing-machines, +devoting himself to the task almost day +and night for eight years.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">B.B. Hotchkiss and his Guns.</span></h3> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="BB_Hotchkiss" id="BB_Hotchkiss"></a> +<img src="images/306.jpg" width="400" height="503" alt="B.B. Hotchkiss." /> +<span class="caption">B.B. Hotchkiss.</span> +</div> + +<p>American inventors have had, as a rule, but +small success in making Europe see the value of +their inventions before this country has proved +it. Morse could get neither England nor France +to take an interest in his telegraph schemes, and, +at a later day, Bell's telephone was received +in England as a curious device, but not worth +investing money in. An exception to this rule +may be found, however, in the case of B.B. +Hotchkiss, a Connecticut inventor, who during +the civil war conceived the idea of a breech-loading +cannon. In 1869 Hotchkiss mounted +one of his small guns in the Brooklyn Navy-yard, +but found no encouragement to experiment +further. The Franco-German war found +him in Europe with a breech-loading gun that +would throw shells. His success was such that +there is not a civilized country where Hotchkiss +guns, throwing light shells with a rapidity not +dreamed of years ago, are not now in use. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">288</a></span> +inventor has made a large fortune and has had +the pleasure of sending to this country a number +of guns for our cruisers, the Atlanta, the Boston, +the Chicago, and the Dolphin. So great is the +rapidity, accuracy, and power of these Hotchkiss +rapid-fire guns that some experts expect to +see two-thirds of an action fought with these or +similar pieces, which they think will silence and +put out of action all the heavy guns in a few +minutes after the enemies come within fifteen +hundred yards of each other. For instance, the +latest piece is a six-pounder, which, with smokeless +powder, has a range of five thousand yards +and an effective fighting range of one thousand +yards, within which distance a target the size of +a six-inch gun can be hit nearly every time and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">289</a></span> +five inches of wrought iron perforated. A speed +in firing of twenty-five shots a minute has been +attained.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Charles F. Brush and the Dynamo.</span></h3> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Charles_F_Brush" id="Charles_F_Brush"></a> +<img src="images/308.jpg" width="400" height="490" alt="Charles F. Brush." /> +<span class="caption">Charles F. Brush.</span> +</div> + +<p>A trifling incident revealed to an Italian savant +the fact that when two metals and the +leg of a frog came into contact the muscles +of the leg contracted. The galvanic battery +resulted. Years later another observer discovered +that if a wire carrying a current of electricity +was wound around a piece of soft iron the +latter became a magnet. Out of these simple +discoveries have arisen the telegraph, the telephone, +and a host of inventions depending upon +electricity. And to-day, with all the wonders +accomplished in this field, we are yet upon the +threshold of the enchanted palace that electricity +is about to open to us. Through its aid we shall +one day enjoy light, heat, and power almost as +freely as we now enjoy air. The crops will be +planted, watered, cultivated, gathered, and transported +to the uttermost ends of the earth by +electricity. The steam-engine is said to do the +work of two hundred million men, and to have +been the chief agent in reducing the average +working hours of men in the civilized world in +this century from fourteen hours a day to ten. +But electricity, according to even conservative +judges, will accomplish infinitely more. It will +make possible the harnessing of vast forces of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">290</a></span> +nature, such as the falls of Niagara, because the +electric current can be transported from place to +place at small cost and it is easily transformed +into light or power or heat. Within a few +months we shall see the first results of the great +work at Niagara. Before many years the power +of the tides is certain to be used along the seaboard +for producing electricity. Here is a force +equal to that of a million Niagaras going to +waste.</p> + +<p>The late Clerk Maxwell, when asked by a distinguished +scientist what was the greatest scientific +discovery of the last half-century, replied: +"That the Gramme machine is reversible." In +other words, that power will not only produce +electricity, but that electricity will produce<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">291</a></span> +power. By turning a big wheel at Niagara we +can produce an electric current that will turn +another wheel for us fifty, or perhaps five +hundred miles away. The dynamo is one of the +great achievements of the day to which Charles +F. Brush, of Cleveland, O., has devoted himself +with much signal success. Brush was born +in March, 1849, in Euclid Township near Cleveland, +and his early years were spent on his +father's farm. When fourteen years old he went +to the public school at Collamer, and later to the +Cleveland High-school, and as early as 1862 distinguished +himself by making magnetic machines +and batteries for the high-school. During his +senior year in the high-school, the chemical and +physical apparatus of the laboratory of the school +was placed under his charge. In this year he +constructed an electric motor having its field +magnets as well as its armature excited by the +electric current. He also constructed a microscope +and a telescope, making all the parts himself, +down to the grinding of the lenses. He devised +an apparatus for turning on the gas in the +street-lamps of Cleveland, lighting it and turning +it off again. When he was eighteen years of age +he entered Michigan University at Ann Arbor, +and, following his particular bent, was graduated +as a mining engineer in 1869, one year ahead +of his class. Returning to Cleveland he began +work as an analytical chemist and soon became +interested in the iron business. In 1875 Brush's +attention was first called to electricity by George +W. Stockly, who suggested that there was an immense<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">292</a></span> +field ready for a cheaper and more easily +managed dynamo than the Gramme or Siemens, +the best types then known. Stockly, who was interested +in the Telegraph Supply Company, of +Cleveland, agreed to undertake the manufacture +of such a machine if one was devised. In two +months Brush made a dynamo so perfect in every +way that it was running until it was taken to the +World's Fair in 1893. Having made a good dynamo, +the next step was a better lamp than those +in use. Six months of experimenting resulted in +the Brush arc light. Stockly was so well satisfied +with the commercial value of these inventions +that the Telegraph Supply Company, a small +concern then employing about twenty-five men, +was reorganized in 1879, as the Brush Electric +Company. In 1880 the Brush Company put its +first lights into New York City, and it has since +extended the system until there is scarcely a +town in the country where the light may not be +found. Besides dynamos and lamps, the immense +establishment at Cleveland employs its +twelve hundred men in making carbons, storage-batteries, +and electro-plating apparatus. Mr. +Brush is a self-taught mechanic, able to do any +work of his shops in a manner equal to that of +an expert. He is intensely practical, never over-sanguine, +and an excellent business man. If a +delicate piece of work is to be done for the first +time, he will probably do it with his own hands. +He is not fond of experiment for the experiment's +sake; he wants to see the practical utility +of the aim in view before devoting time to its attainment.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">293</a></span> +Of the scores of patents he has taken +out, two-thirds are said to pay him a revenue. +In 1881, at the Paris Electrical Exposition, Brush +received the ribbon of the Legion of Honor. +In personal appearance there is nothing of the +round-shouldered, impecunious, studious inventor +about him. He is six feet or more in height, +and so fine a specimen of manhood that Gambetta, +the French statesman, once remarked that +the man impressed him quite as much as the +inventor.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Eickemeyer and His Motor.</span></h3> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Rudolph_Eickemeyer" id="Rudolph_Eickemeyer"></a> +<img src="images/312.jpg" width="400" height="488" alt="Rudolph Eickemeyer." /> +<span class="caption">Rudolph Eickemeyer.</span> +</div> + +<p>In the same field of electricity, as applied to +every-day life, a Bavarian by birth, but an American +by adoption, Rudolf Eickemeyer, of Yonkers, +has done some valuable work in devising +a useful form of dynamo. His machines are +now used almost exclusively for elevators and +hoisting apparatus, one large firm of elevator +builders having put in no less than six hundred +Eickemeyer motors within the last four years. +As electricity becomes more and more useful +for small powers, such as lathes, pumps, and elevators, +an effective and simple motor becomes +of the utmost importance. Rudolf Eickemeyer +was born in October, 1831, at Kaiserslautern, +Bavaria, where his father was employed as a +forester. He was educated at the Darmstadt +Polytechnic Institute and at once showed a predilection +for scientific work. When still a boy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">294</a></span> +he joined the Revolutionists under Siegel, and +after the upheaval of 1848 came here with Siegel, +Carl Schurz, and George Osterheld, the latter +afterward becoming his partner. The young +man's first work here was as an engineer on the +Erie Railroad line, then building. In 1854 he established +himself in Yonkers in the business of +repairing the tools used in the many hat-shops of +that already flourishing city. The next twenty +years of his life were devoted to inventions and +improvements in every branch of hat-making. +His shaving-machines, stretchers, blockers, pressers, +ironers, and sewing-machines substituted +mechanism for laborious and slow methods of +hand work. At the beginning of the war Eickemeyer +was quick to see the opportunity for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">295</a></span> +turning his factory to other uses, and vast quantities +of revolvers were made there. When that +industry declined, he took up the manufacture +of mowing-machines, having invented a driving +mechanism for such machines that met with +wide favor. The introduction of the Bell telephone +in Yonkers first turned Eickemeyer's attention +to electricity, and for the last ten years +he has devoted himself almost exclusively to the +invention and manufacture of electric motors. +His first successful invention in this field was a +dynamo to furnish light for railroad trains. +From this he was led to the invention of a dynamo +capable of doing effective work at much +lower speed than that usually employed, and +this has proved to be his most valuable achievement. +Some improvements in winding the armatures +have also been accepted as valuable and +adopted by other manufacturers. In connection +with storage batteries Mr. Eickemeyer has also +done a good deal of interesting work. But he +is chiefly known to the electrical world as the +inventor of a most useful dynamo for power +purposes. For the last forty years he has been +one of the men who have most aided in the +growth of Yonkers, taking great interest in all +questions pertaining to its government and +school system. He was married in 1856 to +Mary T. Tarbell, of Dover, Me., and his eldest +son, Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr., is associated with +him in business.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">296</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">George Westinghouse, Jr., and the Air-brake.</span></h3> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="George_Westinghouse_Jr" id="George_Westinghouse_Jr"></a> +<img src="images/314.jpg" width="400" height="518" alt="George Westinghouse, Jr." /> +<span class="caption">George Westinghouse, Jr.</span> +</div> + +<p>George Westinghouse, Jr., to whom is due the +railroad air-brake, and who was also largely instrumental +in revolutionizing Pittsburgh by the +introduction of natural gas, was born at Central +Bridge, in Schoharie County, N.Y., in 1846. +His father was a builder and, later, superintendent +of the Schenectady Agricultural Works, +and it was in the shops of these works that the +boy found his vocation. Before he was fifteen +he had modelled and built a steam engine. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">297</a></span> +war took him away from work in 1864, but when +that was over he returned to Schenectady and, +although yet in his teens, he began to attempt +improvements upon every device that presented +itself. Sometimes he was successful. Among +one of his first valuable achievements was a +steel railroad frog that resulted in a good deal +of money and some reputation. This was in +1868. While in Pittsburgh making his frogs, +which sold well, he one day came across a newspaper +account of the successful use of compressed +air in piercing the Mont Cenis tunnel. +His success in the field of railroad appliances +had led him to study the question of better +brakes, and the suggestion of compressed air +came to him as a revelation. To stop a train by +the old methods was a matter of much time and +a tremendous expenditure of muscular energy +by the brakeman, whose exertions were not always +effective enough to prevent disaster. Westinghouse +consulted one or two friends, who were +inclined to ridicule the idea that a rubber tube +strung along under the cars could do better +work than the men at the brakes. Fortunately, +he was able to make the experiment, and the air-brake +was speedily recognized as one of the important +inventions of the century.</p> + +<p>When petroleum was discovered in the fields +near Pittsburgh, some ten years ago, Mr. Westinghouse +was greatly interested, and at once +suggested that perhaps oil might be found near +his own home in Washington County. He decided +to test the matter, and planted a derrick<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">298</a></span> +on his own grounds. The drill was started in +December, 1883, and at a depth of 1,560 feet a +vein was struck, not of oil, as was anticipated, +but—what had not been counted upon as among +the contingencies—of gas. Gas was not what +Westinghouse was after or wanted, but there it +was, and not wishing to let it run to waste, he +began to consider what use could be made of it. +Other people who had been boring for oil also +struck gas, which, taking fire, shot up twenty or +thirty feet. If such gas could be made to serve +foundry purposes, here was a gigantic power +going to waste. Within three years the business +grew to be an immense one. The company organized +by Mr. Westinghouse owned or controlled +fifty-six thousand acres, upon which were +one hundred wells and a distributing plant of four +hundred miles of pipes. Notwithstanding the +failure of some of the wells since then, natural +gas is an extraordinary boon for which Pittsburgh +has to thank Mr. Westinghouse. Of late years +this inventor's energies have been turned toward +electric machinery for lighting and power, especially +as applied to railroad purposes, and a number +of useful devices have resulted. Mr. Westinghouse +is still in the prime of life and is activity +personified. He makes his home in Pittsburgh, +and is naturally looked upon as one of its leading +spirits.</p> + + +<p class="p2">The field of electric invention is so vast and so +actively worked that one cannot take up a newspaper +without finding reference to some new<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">299</a></span> +achievement made possible by this wonderful +agent, whose real powers were unsuspected fifty +years ago. Aside from the direct value of these +inventions in promoting the comfort and increasing +the wealth of the country there is another +factor to be considered having the most vital relation +to the industries of the country and its +powers of production. The large number of inventions +made in these United States implies a +high degree of intelligence and mental activity +in the great body of the people. It indicates +trained habits of observation and trained powers +of applying knowledge which has been acquired. +It shows an ability to turn to account the forces +of Nature and, train them to the service of man, +such as has been possessed by the laborers of +no other country. It suggests as pertinent the +inquiry whether any other country is so well +equipped for competition in production as our +own; whether in any other country the mechanic +is so efficient and his labor, therefore, so cheap +as in our own; whether he does not exhibit the +seeming paradox of receiving more for his labor +than in any other country, and at the same time +doing more for what he receives.</p> + + +<p class="center">THE END.</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Inventors, by Philip Gengembre Hubert + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INVENTORS *** + +***** This file should be named 38782-h.htm or 38782-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/7/8/38782/ + +Produced by Albert László, Rory OConor and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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