Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2011 with funding from
Boston Library Consortium IVIember Libraries
http://www.archive.org/details/progressofinventOObyrn
STEAM AND ELECTRICITY.
The 70,000 Horse-Power Station of tlie Metropolitan Street Railway, New Yorl-
THE PROGRESS
OF
INVENTION
IN THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY
BY
EDWARD W. BYRN, A.M.
"z)oj5 Ttov (7tc5, Kai Trjv yijv KivqGca."
(Give me where to stand, and I'll move the earth.)
— Archimedes.
MUNN & CO., Publishers
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN OFFICE
561 BROADWAY, NEW YORK
1900
CHISTKUT Iin.i,, MASg,
139737
T
Copyrighted, igoo, by Munn & Co.
Entered at Stationer's Hall
London, England
all rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America by
Tlic Manufacturers' and Publishers' PrintinR Company,
New York City,
LL LIBRARY
3NC0ilBQi
PREFACE.
For a work of such scope as this, the first word of the author should be
an apology for what is doubtless the too ambitious efTort of a single writer.
A quarter of a century in the high tide of the arts and sciences, an ardent
interest in all things that make for scientific progress, and the aid and
encouragement of many friends in and about the Patent Office, furnish the
explanation. The work cannot claim the authority of a text-book, the full-
ness of a history, nor the exactness of a technical treatise. It is simply a
cursory view of the century in the field of invention, intended to present
the broader bird's-eye view of progress achieved. In substantiation of the
main facts reliance has been placed chiefly upon patents, which for historic
development are l^elieved to be the best of all authorities, because they
caiTy the responsibility of the National Government as to dates, and the
attested signature and oath of the inventor as to subject matter. Many
difficulties and embarrassments have been encountered in the work. The
fear of extending it into a too bulky volume has excluded treatment of
manv subjects which the author recognizes as important, and issues in dis-
pute as to the claims of inventors have also presented themselves in per-
plexing conflict. A discussion of the latter has been avoided as far as
possible, the paramount object being to do justice to all the worthy work-
ers in this field, with favor to none, and only expressing such conclusions
as seem to be justified by authenticated facts and the impartial verdict of
reason in the clearing atmosphere of time. For sins of omission
a lack of space affords a reasonable excuse, and for those of com-
ii • PREFACE.
mission the great scope of the work is pleaded in extenuation. It is
hoped, however, that the volume may find an accepted place in the litera-
ture of the day, as presenting in compact form some comprehensive and
coherent idea of the great things in invention which the Nineteenth Cen-
tury has added to the world's wealth of ideas and material resources.
In acknowledging the many obligations to friends who have aided me
in the work, my thanks are due first to the Editors of the Scientific Ameri-
can for aid rendered in the preparation of the work ; also to courteous offi-
cials in the Government Departments, and to many progressive manufac-
turers throughout the country. E. W. B.
Washington, D. C, October, igoo.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
The PhRSPECTivE View.
CHAPTER H.
Chronology of Leading Inventions of the Nineteenth Century.
CHAPTER HI.
The Electric Telegraph.
The Voltaic Pile. Daniell's Battery. Use of Conducting Wire by Weber.
Steinheil Employs Earth as Return Circuit. Prof. Henry's Electro-Magnet, and
First Telegraphic Experiment. Prof. Morse's Telegraphic Code and Register.
First Line Between Washington and Baltimore. Bain's Chemical Telegraph. Gintl's
Duplex Telegraph. Edison's Quadruplex. House's Printing Telegraph. Fac
Simile Telegraphs. Channing and Farmer Fire Alarm. Telegraphing by Induction.
Wireless Telegraphy by Marconi. Statistics.
CHAPTER IV.
The Atlantic Cable.
Difficulties of Laying. Congratulatory Messages Between Queen Victoria and
President Buchanan. The Siphon Recorder. Statistics,
CHAPTER V.
The DvNAiio and Its Applications.
Observations of Faraday and Henry. Magneto-Electric Machines of Pixii, and
of Saxton. Hjorth's Dynamo of 1855. Wilde's Machine of 1866. Siemens' of
1867. Gramme's of 1870. Tesla's Polyphase Currents.
CHAPTER VI.
The Electric Motor.
Barlow's Spur Wheel. Dal Negro's Electric Pendulum. Prof. Henry's Electric
Motor. Jacobi's Electric Boat. Davenport's Motor. The Neff Motor. Dr. Page's
Electric Locomotive. Dr. Siemens' First Electric Railway at Berlin, 1879. First
Electric Railway in United States, between Baltimore and Hampden, 1885. Third
Rail System. Statistics, Electric Railways, and General Electric Company. Dis-
tribution Electric Current in Principal Cities.
iv CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII.
The Electric Ligh'i.
Voltaic Arc by Sir Humphrey Davy. Tlie Jablochkoff Candle. Patents of
Brush, Weston, and Others. Search Lights. Grove's First Incandescent Lamp.
Starr-King Lamp. Moses Farmer Lights First Dwelling with Electric Lamps.
Sawyer-Man Lamp. Edison's Incandescent Lamp. Edison's Three-Wire System of
Circuits. Statistics.
CHAPTER VIII.
The Telephone.
Preliminary Suggestions and Experiments of Bourseul, Reis, and Drawbaugh.
First Speaking Telephone by Prof. Bell. Differences between Reis' and Bell's Tele-
phones. The Blake Transmitter. Berliner's Variation of Resistance and Electric
Undulations, by Variation of Pressure. Edison's Carbon Microphone. The Tele-
phone Exchange. Statistics.
CHAPTER IX.
Electricity^ Miscellaneous.
Storage Battery. Batteries of Plante, Faure and Brush. Electric Welding.
Direct Generation of Electricity by Combustion. Electric Boats. Electro-Plating.
Edison's Electric Pen. Electricity in Medicine. Electric Cautery. Electric Musical
Instruments. Electric Blasting.
CHAPTER X.
The Steam Engine.
Hero's Engine, and Other Early Steam Engines. Watt's Steam Engine. The
Cut-Off. Giffard Injector. Bourdon's Steam Gauge. Feed Water Heaters, Smoke
Consumers, etc. Rotary Engines. Steam Hammer. Steam Fire Engine. Com-
pound Engines. Schlick and Taylor Systems of Balancing Momentum of Moving
Parts. Statistics.
CHAPTER XL
The Steam Railway.
Trevithick's Steam Carriage. Blenkinsop's Locomotive. Hedley's "Puffing
Billy." Stephenson's Locomotive. The Link Motion. Stockton and Darlington
Railway, 1825. Hackworth's "Royal George." The "Stourbridge Lion" and
"John Bull." Baldwin's Locomotives. Westinghouse Air Brakes. Janney Car
Coupling. The Woodruff Sleeping Car. Railway Statistics.
CHAPTER XII.
Steam Navigation.
Early Experiments. Symington's Boat. Col. John Stevens' Screw Propeller.
Robt. Fulton and the "Clermont." First Trip to Sea by Stevens' "Phcenix."
"Savannah," the First Steam Vessel to Cross the Ocean. Ericsson's Screw Pro-
peller. The "Great Eastern," The Whale Back Steamers. Ocean Greyhounds.
The "Oceanic," largest Steamship in the World. The "Turbinia." Fulton's "Demo-
logos," First War Vessel. The Turret Monitor. Modern Battleships and Tcrpedo
Boats. Holland Submarine Boat.
CONTENTS. r
CHAPTER XIII.
Printing.
Early Printing Press. Nicholson's Rotary Press. The Columbian and Washing-
ton Presses. Konig's Rotary Steam Press. The Hoe Type Revolving Machine.
Color Printing. Stereotyping. Paper iNIaking. Wood Pulp. The Linotype. Plate
Printing. Lithography.
CHAPTER XIV.
The Typewriter.
Old English Typewriter of 1714. The Burt Typewriter of 1829. Progin's
French Machine of 1833. Thurber's Printing Machine of 1843. The Beach Type-
writer. The Sholes Typewriter, the First of the Modern Form, Commercially De-
veloped into the Remington. The Caligraph, Smith-Premier, and Others.
CHAPTER XV.
The Sewing Machine.
Embroidery Machine the Forerunner of the Sewing Machine. Sewing Machine
of Thomas Saint. The Thimonnier Wooden Machine. Greenough's Double-
Pointed Needle. Bean's Stationary Needle. The Howe Sewing Machine. Bach-
elder's Continuous Feed. Improvements of Singer. Wilson's Rotary Hook, and
Four-Motion Feed. The McKay Shoe Sewing Machine. Button Hole Machines.
Carpet Sewing Machine. Statistics.
CHAPTER XVI. ^ _ _ ,-
The Re.^per. I^ i '
Early English Machines. Machine of Patrick Bell. The Hussey Reaper. Mc-
Cormick's Reaper and Its Great Success. Rivalry Between the Two American
Reapers. Self Rakers. Automatic Binders. Combined Steam Reaper and Thresh-
ing Machine. Great Wheat Fields of the West. Statistics.
CHAPTER XVII.
VuLC--\NizED Rubber.
Early Use of Caoutchouc by the Indians. Collection of the Gum. Early Ex-
periments Failures. Goodyear's Persistent Experiments. Nathaniel Hayward's
Application of Sulphur to the Gum. Goodyear's Process of Vulcanization. Intro-
duction of his Process into Europe. Trials and Imprisonment for Debt. Rubber
Shoe Industry. Great E.xtent and Variety of Applications. Statistics.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Chejustry.
Its Evolution as a Science. The Coal Tar Products. Fermenting and Brewing.
Glucose, Gun Cotton, and Nitroglycerine. Electro-Chemistry. Fertilizers and Com-
mercial Products. New Elements of the Nineteenth Century.
vi CONTENTS.
' CHAPTER XIX.
Food and Drink.
The Nature of Food. The Roller Mill. The Middlings Purifier. Culinary
Utensils. Bread Machinery. Dairy Appliances. Centrifugal Milk Skimmer. The
Canning Industry. Sterilization. Butchering and Dressing Meats. Oleomargarine.
Manufacture of Sugar. The Vacuum Pan. Centrifugal Filter. Modern Dietetics
^nd Patented Foods.
CHAPTER XX.
Medicine, Surgery and Sanitation.
Discovery of Circulation of the Blood by Harvey. Vaccination by Jenner. Use
of Anresthetics the Great Step of Medical Progress of the Century. Materia Medica.
Instruments. Schools of Medicine. Dentistry. Artificial Limbs. Digestion. Bac-
teriology, and Disease Germs. Antiseptic Surgery. House Sanitation.
CHAPTER XXI.
The Bicycle and Automobile.
The Draisine, 1816. Michaux's Bicycle, 1855. United States Patent to Lallement
and Carrol, 1866. Transition from "Vertical Fork" and "Star" to Modern "Safety."
Pneumatic Tire. Automobile the Prototype of the Locomotive. Trevithick's
Steam Road Carriage, 1801. The Locomobile of To-day. Gas Engine Automobiles
of Pinkus, 1839; Selden, 1879; Duryea, Winton, and Others. Electric Automobiles
a Development of Electric Locomotives as Early as 1836. .Grounelle's Electric Au-
tomobile of 1852. The Columbia, Woods, and Riker Electric Carriages. Statistics.
CHAPTER XXII.
The Phonograph.
Invention of Phonograph by Edison. Scott's Phonautograph. Improvements of
Bell and Tainter. The Graphophone. Library of 'Wax Cylinders. Berliner's Gram-
ophone.
CPIAPTER XXIII.
Optics.
Early Telescopes. The Lick Telescope. The Grande Lunette. The Stereo-
Binocular Field Glass. The Microscope. The Spectroscope. Polarization of
Light. Kaleidoscope. Stereoscope. Range Finder. Kinetoscope, and Moving Pict-
ures.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Photography.
Experiments of VVedgevvood and Davy. Niepce's Heliography. Daguerre and
the Daguerreotype. Fox Talbot Makes First Proofs from Negatives. Sir John
Herschel Introduces Glass Plates. The Collodion Process. Silver and Carbon
Prints. Ambrotypes. Emulsions. Dry Plates. The Kodak Camera. Photog-
raphy in Colors. Panorama Cameras. Photo-engraving and Photo-lithography.
Half Tone Printing.
CONTENTS. vii
CHAPTER XXV.
The Roentgen or X-Rays.
Geissler Tubes. Vacuum Tubes of Crookes, Hittorf, and Lenard. The Cathode
Ray. Roentgen's Great Discovery in 1895. X-Ray Apparatus. Salvioni's Crypto-
scope. Edison's Fluoroscope. The Fluorometer. Sun-burn from X-Rays. Uses
of X-Rays.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Gas Lighting.
Early Use of Natural Gas. Coal Gas Introduced by Murdoch. Winsor Organizes
First Gas Company in 1804. Melville in United States Lights Beaver-Tail Light-
house with Gas in 1817. Lowe's Process of Making Water Gas. Acetylene Gas.
Carburetted Air. Pintsch Gas. Gas Meter. Otto Gas Engine. The Welsbach
Burner.
CHAPTER XXVII.
Civil Engineering.
Great Bridges, Pneumatic Caissons, Tunnels. The Beach Tunnel Shield. Suez
Canal. Dredges. The Lidgcrwood Cable Ways. Canal Locks. Artesian Wells.
Conipressed-Air Rock Drills. Blasting. Mississippi Jetties. Iron and Steel Build-
ings. Eiffel Tower. Washington's Monument. The United States Capitol.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Woodworking.
Early Machines of Sir Samuel Bentham. Evolution of the Saw. Circular Saw.
Hammering to Tension. Steam Feed for Saw Mill Carriage. Quarter Sawing.
The Band Saw. Planing Machines. The Woodworth Planer. The Woodbury
Yielding Pressure Bar. The Universal Woodworker. The Blanchard Lathe. Mor-
tising Machines. Special Woodworking Machines.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Metal Working.
Early Iron Furnace. Operations of Lord Dudley, Abraham Darby, and Henry
Cort. Neilson's Hot Blast. Great Blast Furnaces of Modern Times. The Puddling
Furnace. Bessemer Steel and the Converter. Open Hearth Steel. Regenerative
Furnace. Siemens-Martin Process. Forging .Armor Plate. Making Horse Shoes.
Screws and Special Machines. Electric Welding, .•\nnealing and Tempering. Coat-
ing with Metal, Metal Founding. Barbed Wire Machines. Making Nails. Pins,
etc. Making Shot. Alloys. Making Aluminum, and Metallurgy of Rarer Metals.
The Cyanide Process. Electric Concentrator.
CtlAPTER XXX.
Fire Arms and Explosives.
The Cannon, the Most Ancient of Fire Arms. Muzzle and Breech Loaders of
the Sixteenth Century. The Armstrong Gun. The Rodman, Dahlgren, and Parrott
Guns. Breech-Loading Ordnance. Rapid Fire Breech-Loading Rifles. Disappear-
ing Gun. Gatling Gun. Dynamite Gun. The Colt, and Smith & Wesson Revolvers.
German .Automatic Pistol. Breech-Loading Small .iVrms. Magazine Guns. The
Lee, Krag-Jorgensen, and Mauser Rifles. Hammerless Guns. Rebounding Locks,
(jun Cotton, Nitro Glycerine, and Smokeless Powder, Mines and Torpedoes.
viii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXI.
Textiles.
Spinning and Weaving an Ancient Art. Hargreaves' Spinning Jenny. Ark-
wright's Roll-Drawing Spinning Machine. Crompton's Mule Spinner. The Cotton
Gin. Ring Spinning. The Rabbeth Spindle. John Kay's Flying Shuttle and Robt.
Kay's Drop Box. Cartwright's Power Loom. The Jacquard Loom. Crompton's
Fancy Loom. Bigelow's Carpet Looms. Lyall Positive Motion Loom. Knitting
Machines. Cloth Pressing Machinery. Artificial Silk. Mercerized Cloth.
CHAPTER XXXn.
Ice Machines.
General Principles. Freezing Mixtures. Perkins' Ice Machine, 1834. Pictet's
Apparatus. Carre's Ammonia Absorption Process. Direct Compression, and Can
System. The Holden Ice Machine. Skating Rinks. Windhausen's Apparatus for
Cooling and Ventilating Ships.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Liquid Air.
Liquefaction of Gases by Northmore — 1805, Faraday — 1823, Bussy — 1824, Thilorier
— 1834. and others. Liquefaction of Oxygen, Nitrogen and Air, by Pictet and Cailletet
in 1877. Self-Intensification of Cold by Siemens in 1857, and Windhausen in 1870.
Operations of Dewar, Wroblewski, and Olszewski. Self-Intensifying Processes of
Solvay, Tripler, Linde, Hampson, and Ostergren and Berger. Liquid Air Experi-
ments and Uses.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Minor Inventions,
.^ND
Patents of Principal Countries of the World.
CHAPTER XXXV. .
Epilogue.
CHAPTER I.
The Perspective View.
STANDING on the threshold of the Twentieth Century, and looking-
back a hundred years, the Nineteenth Century presents in the
field of invention a magnificent museum of thoughts crystallized
and made immortal, not as passive gems of nature, but as potent,
active, useful agencies of man. The philosophical mind is ever accus-
tomed to regard all stages of growth as proceeding by slow and uniform
processes of evolution, but in the field of invention the Nineteenth Cen-
tury has been unique. It has been something more than a merely normal
growth or natural development. It has been a gigantic tidal wave of
human ingenuity and resource, so stupendous in its magnitude, so com-
plex in its diversity, so profound in its thought, so fruitful in its wealth,
so beneficent in its results, that the mind is strained and embarrassed in its
eflfort to expand to a full appreciation of it. Indeed, the period seems a
grand climax of discovery, rather than an increment of growth. It has
been a splendid, brilliant campaign of brains and energy, rising to the
highest achievement amid the most fertile resources, and conducted by
the strongest and best equipment of modern thought and modern strength.
The great works of the ancients are in the main mere monuments of
the patient manual labor of myriads of workers, and can only rank with
the buildings of the diatom and coral insect. Not so with modern achieve-
ment. The last century has been peculiarly an age of ideas and conserva-
tion of energy, materialized in practical embodiment as labor-saving in-
ventions, often the product of a single mind, and partaking of the sacred
quality of creation.
The old word of creation is, that God breathed into the clay the breath
of life. In the new world of invention mind has breathed into matter, and
a new and expanding creation unfolds itself. The speculative philosophy
of the past is but a too empty consolation for short-lived, busy man, and.
seeing with the eye of science the possibilities of matter, he has touched
ii with the divine breath of thought and made a new world.
When the Nineteenth Century registered its advent in history, the
world of invention was a babe still in its swaddling clothes, but, with a
consciousness of coming power, was beginning to stretch its strong young
4 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
arms into the tremendous energy of its life. James Watt had invented
the steam engine. Eli Whitney had given us the cotton gin. John Gut-
enberg had made his printing type. Frankhn had set up his press. The
telescope had suggested tlie possibilities of ethereal space, the compass
was already the mariner's best friend, and gunpowder had given proof of
its deadly agency, but inventive genius was still groping by the light of a
tallow candle. Even up to the beginning of this century so strong a hold
had superstition on the human mind, that inventions were almost synony-
mous with the black arts, and the struggling genius had not only to con-
tend with the natural laws and the thousand and one expected difficulties
that hedge the path of the inventor, but had also to overcome the far
greater obstacles of ignorant fear and bigoted prejudice. A labor-saving
machine was looked upon askance as the enemy of the working man, and
many an earnest inventor, after years of arduous thought and painstaking
labor, saw his cherished model broken up and his hopes forever blasted by
the animosity of his fellow men. But with the Nineteenth Century a new
era has dawned. The legitimate results of inventions have been realized
in larger incomes, shorter hours of labor, and lives so much richer in
health, comfort, happiness, and usefulness, that to-day the inventor is a
benefactor whom the world delights to honor. So crowded is the busy life
of modern civilization with the evidences of his work, that it is impossible
to open one's eyes without seeing it on every hand, woven into the very
fabric of daily existence. It is easy to lose sight of the wonderful when
once familiar with it, and we usually fail to give the full measure of posi-
tive appreciation to the great things of this great age. They burst iipon
our vision at first like flashing meteors ; we marvel at them for a little
while, and then we accept them as facts, which soon become so common-
place and so fused into the common life as to be only noticed by their
omission.
To appreciate them let us briefly contrast the conditions of to-day with
those of a hundred years ago. This is no easy task, for the comparison
not only involves the experiences of two generations, but it is lilce the jux-
taposition of a star with the noonday sun, whose superior brilliancy oblit-
erates the lesser light. But reverse the wheels of progress, and let us
make a quick run of One hundred years into the past, and what are our
experiences? Before we get to our destination we find the wheels them-
selves beginning to thump and jolt, and the passage becomes more diffi-
cult, more uncomfortable, and so much slower. We are no longer gliding
along in a luxurious palace car behind a magnificent locomotive, traveling
on steel rails, at sixty miles an hour, but we find ourselves nearing the be-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 5
ginning of the Nineteenth Century in a rickety, rumbHng, dusty stage-
coach. Pause ! and consider the change for a moment in some of its
broader aspects. First, let us examine the present more closely, for the
average busy man, never looking behind him for comparisons, does not
fully appreciate or estimate at its real value the age in which he lives.
There are to-day (statistics of 1898), 445.064 miles of railway tracks in
the world. This would build seventeen different railway tracks, of two
rails each, around the entire world, or would girdle mother earth with
thirty-four belts of steel. If extended in straight lines, it would build a
track of two rails to the moon, and more than a hundred thousand miles
beyond it. The United States has nearly half of the entire mileage of the
world, and gets along with 36,746 locomotives, nearly as many passenger
coaches, and more than a million and a quarter of freight cars, which lat-
ter, if coupled together, would make nearly three continuous trains reach-
ing across the American continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
The movement of passenger trains is ec^uivalent to dispatching thirty-
seven trains per day around the world, and the freight train movement is
in like manner equal to dispatching fifty-three trains a day around the
world. Add to this the railway business controlled by other countries, and
one gets some idea of how far the stage-coach has been left behind. To-
day we eat supper in one city, and breakfast in another so many hundreds
of miles east or west as to be compelled to set our watches to the new me-
ridian of longitude in order to keep our engagement. But railroads and
steam-cars constitute only one of the stirring elements of modern civiliza-
tion. As we make the backvi^ard run of one hitndred years we have passed
by many milestones of progress. Let us see if we can count some of them
as they disappear behind us. We quickly lose the telephone, phonograph
and graphophone. We no longer see the cable-cars or electric railways.
The electric lights have gone out. The telegraph disappears. The sewing-
machine, reaper, and thresher have passed away, and so also have all in-
dia-rubber goods. We no longer see any photographs, photo-engravings,
photolithographs, or snap-shot cameras. The wonderful octuple web per-
fecting printing press ; printing, pasting, cutting, folding, and counting
newspapers at the rate of 96,000 per hour, or i ,600 per minute, shrinks at
the beginning of the century into an insignificant prototype. We lose all
planing and wood-working machinery, and with it the endless variety of
sashes, doors, blinds, and furniture in unlimited variety. There are no
gas-engines, no passenger elevators, no asphalt pavement, no steam fire
engine, no triple-expansion steam engine, no Giffard injector, no cellu-
loid articles, no barl^ed wire fences, no time-locks for safes, no self-bind-
6 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
ing harvesters, no oil nor gas wells, no ice machines nor cold storage. We
lose air engines, stem-winding watches, cash-registers and cash-carriers,
the great suspension bridges, and tunnels, the Suez Canal, iron frame
buildings, monitors and heavy ironclads, revolvers, torpedo2S, magazine
guns and Gatling guns, linotype machines, all practical typewriters, all
pasteurizing, knowledge of microbes or disease germs, and sanitary
plumbing, water-gas, soda water fountains, air brakes, coal-tar dyes and
medicines, nitro-glycerine, dynamite and guncotton, dynamo electric ma-
chines, aluminum ware, electric locomotives, Bessemer steel with its
wonderful developments, ocean cables, enameled iron ware, Welsbach gas
burners, electric storage batteries, the cigarette machine, hydraulic
dredges, the roller mills, middlings purifiers and patent-process flour, tin
can machines, car couplings, compressed air drills, sleeping cars, the
dynamite gun, the McKay shoe machine, the circular knitting machine,
the Jacquard loom, wood pulp for paper, fire alarms, the use of anaesthetics
in surgery, oleomargarine, street sweepers. Artesian wells, friction
matches, steam hammers, electro-plating, nail machines, false teeth, arti-
ficial limbs and eyes, the spectroscope, the Kinetescope or moving pict-
ures, acetylene gas, X-ray apparatus, horseless carriages, and — but,
enough ! the reader exclaims, and indeed it is not pleasant to contemplate
the loss. The negative conditions of that period extend into such an ap-
palling void that we stop short, shrinking from the thought of what it
would mean to modern civilization to eliminate from its life these potent
factors of its existence.
Returning to the richness and fullness of the present life, we shall
first note chronologically the milestones and finger boards which mark
this great tramway of progress, and afterward consider separately the
more important factors of progress.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
CHAPTER II.
Chronology of Leading Inventions of the Nineteenth Century
1800 — Volta's Chemical Battery for producing Electricity. Louis Rob-
ert's Machine for Mailing iZontiiiuous Webs of Paper.
1801 — Trevithick's Steam Coach (first automobile). Brunei's Mortising
Machine. Jacquard's Pattern Loom. First Fire Proof Safe by
Richard Scott. Columbium discovered by Hatchett.
1802 — Trevithick and Vivian's British patent for Running Coaches by
Steam. Charlotte Dundas (Steamboat) towed canal Boats on the
Clyde. Tantalum discovered by Ekeberg. First Photographic
Experiments by Wedgewood and Davy. Bramah's Planing Ma-
chine.
(^,-1803 — ^C£u;£ue^sExperi_nTei^ts_ on Therapeutic Application of Electricity.
Iridium and Osmium discovered by Tenant, and Cerium by Ber-
zelius. Wm. Horrocks applies Steam to the Loom.
1804 — Rhodium and Palladium discovered by Wollaston. First Stearn
Railway ...and Locomotive by Richard Trevithick. Capt. John
Stevens applies twin Screw Propellers in Steam Navigation.
Winsor_taloes_^ritish _patenL.i,or_IlJ.uminating Gas,_hghts. Lyceaim
Theatre, and organizes First Gas Company. Lucas' process mak-
ing Malleable Iron Castings.
<; 1805 — Life- P.neserxe.r.-.invente.d_bxJ.Qlin_Edwa.rds_af.. London. Electro-
plating invented by Brugnatelli.
iSofi — Jeandeau's Knitting Machine.
1807 — Firs^jpractical Steamboat between. New York and A.lbany (Ful-
ton's Clermont). Discovery of Potassium, Sodium and Boron by
■--^ Davy. Forsyth's Percussion Lock for Guns.
1808 — Barium, Strontium, and Calcium discovered by Davy. Polariza-
tion of Light from Reflection by Mains. Voltaic arc discovered by
Davy.
1809 — Sommering's Multi-wire Telegraphy.
1810 — System of Homoeopathy organized by Hahneman.
181 1 — Discovery of Metal Iodine by M. Courtois. Blenkinsop's Loco-
motive. Colored Polarization of Light by Arago. Thornton and_
"^ Hall's Breech Loading- Musket.
10 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
1839 — Wreck of Royal George blown up by Electro Blasting. Jacobi
builds first Electrically propelled Boat. Fox Talbot makes
Photo Prints from Negatives. Professors Draper and Morse make
■firsf"Pirotographic Portraits. Mungo Ponton applies Bichromate
oT~Potasir m Photography. Goodyear discovers process of Vul-
canizing Rubber. Lanthanum and Didymium discovered by
Mosander. Babbit Metal invented.
1840 — Professor Morse's United States patent for Electric Telegraph.
Professor Grove makes first Incandescent Electric Lamp. Ce- ,
IestiaLPhHtQgrapEy"by- Professor, Draper.
1841 — Artesian well bored at Grenelle, Paris. Sickel's Steam Cut-
off. Talbotype Photos. M. Triger invents Pneumatic Caissons.
1842 — First production of Illuminating Gas from water (water gas) by
M. Selligue. Robt. Davidson builds Electric Locomotive.
Nasmyth patents Steam Hammer.
1843 — Joule's demonstration as to the Nature of Force. Erbium and
Terbium discovered by Mosander. The Thames Tunnel Opened.
1844 — First Telegraphic Message sent by Morse from Washington to Bal-
" timoreT^^Apglication Nitrous Oxide Gas as an Anaesthetic by Dr.
_Wells, '"""'"'"
1845 — Ruthenium discovered by Klaws. The Starr-King Incandescent
Electric Lamp. The Hoe Type Revolving Machine.
1846 — House's Printing Telegrapn. Howe's Sewing Machine. Suez
Canal Started (fourteen years building). Crusell of St. Peters-
/ / burgh invents Electric Cautery. Use-of..,EJlier. a^^.Anaesthetic -by
'Xy' _.D.r._ Morton. ,..-.A-rtiiiciaL_Legs. Discovery of Planet Neptune.
Sloan patents Gimlet Pointed Screw. ^-G-uojCptton discoverejj-by
Schonbein.
1 84 7 — Chloroform introduced by Dr. SiliP-Son. Nitro-Glycerine_j^^scov-
eredjDy Sobrero^ Time-Locks invented by Savage.
1848 — Discovery of Satellites of Saturn by Lassell. Bain's Chemical
Telegraph. Bakewell's Fac-Simile Telegraph.
1849 — Bourdon's Pressure Gauge. Lenticular Stereoscope by Brewster.
Hibbert's Latch Needle for Knitting Machine. Corliss Engine.
1850 — First Submarine Cable — Dover to Calais. Collodion Process in
"Fnotographyl MeFcerizing Cloth. American Machine-made
Watches.
185 1 — Dr. Page's Electric Locomotive. The Rhumkorff Coil. Scott
Archer's Collodion Process in Photography. Seymour's Self-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURi'. 11
Raker for Harvesters. Helmholtz invents Opthalmoscope. May-
nard Breech Loading Rifle.
1852 — Channing and Farmer Fire Alarm Telegraph. Fox Talbot first
uses reticulated screen for Half Tone Printing.
1853— Gintl's Duplex Telegraph invented. Electric Lamps devised bv
Foucalt and Duboscq. Watt and Burgess Soda Process for iVIak-
ing Wood Pulp.
1S54 — Wilson's Four Motion Feed for Sewing Machines. Melhuish in-
vents the Photographic Roll Films. Herman's Diamond Drill.
Smith and Wesson Magazine Firearm (Foundation of the Win-
.che.sterjl^rr™''""'"" ■-'—— -
1855 — Bessemer Process of _Making,St.eel- Hjorth invents Dynamo Elec-
tric Machine. Ericsson's Air Engine. Niagara Suspension
Bridge. Dr. J. M. Taupenot invents Dry Plate Photography. The
Michaux Bicycle.
1S56 — Hughes Printing Telegraph. Alliance Magneto Electric Machine.
W^oodruff Sleeping Car. First commercial Aniline Dyes by
Perkins. Siemens Regenerative Furnace.
1857 — Rogues' Gallery established in New York. Introduction of Iron
Floor Beams m building Cooper Institute. Siemens describes
principle of Self Intensification of Cold (now used in ice and liquid
air machines) .
1858 — Phelps Printing Telegraph invented. First Atlantic Cable Laid.
Paper pulp from Wood by Voelter. First use of Electric Light in
Light House at South Foreland. Giffard Steam Injector. Gard-
ner patents first Underground Cable Car System.
1859 — Discovery Coal Oil in United States. Moses G. Farmer subdivides
Electric Current through a number of Electric Lamps, and lights
first dwelling by Electricity. Great Eastern launched. Osborne
perfects modern process of Photolithography. Professors Kirch-
hoff and Bunsen map Solar Spectrum, and establish Spectrum
Analj'sis.
i860 — Rubidium and Caesium discovered by Bunsen. Gaston Plante's
Storage Battery. l^i£_Crude Telephone. Thallium discovered
by Crookes, and Indium by Reich and Richter. S.pencer and
Henry_ Magazine Rifles. Carre's Ammonia Absorption Ice Ma-
chine.
1861 — McKay Shoe Sewing Machine. Calcium Carbide produced by
Wohler. Col. Green invents Drive Well. Otis Passenger Ele-
vator. First Barbed W'ire F-&nee:—
12 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
1862 — Ericssoii's Iron Clad Turret Monitor. Emulsions and improve-
ments in Dry Plate Photography by Russell and Sayce. The Gat-
ling Gun. Timhyls-J^evolving Turret.
1 863 — SchuJtz__w.hite_giiiTpaw-der.
1864 — Nobel's Explosive Gelatine. Rubber Dental Plates. Cabin John
(Washington Aqueduct) Bridge finished (longest masonry span in
^ the world).
/f...'fS65 — Louis Pasteur's work in Barteriology begun. Martin's Process
of making Steel.
1866 — Wilde's Dynamo Electric Machine. Burleigh's Compressed Air
Rock Drill. Whitehead_Tor£edo.
1867 — Siemens' Dynamo Electric Machine. JD-ynamite-InverLted. Tilgh-
man's Sulphite Process for making Wood Pulp.
1868 — Brickill's Water Heater for Steam Fire Engines. Moncrieff's
Disappearing Gun Carriage. Oleomargarine invented by Mege.
Slioles^Typewriter.
1869 — Suez Canal Opened. Pacific Railway Completed. First Westing-
house Air-Brakes.
1870 — The Gramme Dynamo Electric Machine. Windhausen Refriger-
ating Machines. Beleaguered Paris communicates with outer
world through Micro-Photographs. Hailer's Rebounding Gun
Lock. Dittmar's Gunpowder.
1871 — Hoe's Web Perfecting Press set up in Office New York Tribune.
The Locke Grain Binder. Bridge Work in Dentistry. Mount
Cenis Tunnel opened for traffic. Phosphorus Bronze. Ingersoll
Compressed Air Rock Drill.
1872 — Stearns perfects Duplex Telegraph. Westinghouse Improved
automatic Air Brake. Lyall Positive Motion Loom.
1873 — Janney Automatic Car Coupler. Oleomargarine patented in
United States by Mege.
1874 — Edison's Ouadruplex Telegraph. Gorham's Twine Binder for
Plarvesters. Barbed Wire Machines. St. Louis Bridge finished.
1875 — Lowe's patent for Water Gas (illuminating gas made from
water). Roller Mills and Middlings Purifier for making flour.
Gallium discovered by Boisbaudran. Pictet Ice Machine. Gam-
gee's Skating Rinks. First Cash Carrier for Stores.
1876-^Alexander Graham Bell's Speaking Telephone. Hydraulic
Dredges. Cigarette Machinery. Photographing by Electric Light
by Vander Weyde. £kIisj3XiIs_JEnecjxic_Peii. Steam Feed for Saw
Mill Carriages. Introduction of Cable Cars l^v Hallidie.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 13
1877 — Phonographjnyented by Edison. Otto Gas Engine. Jabloclikoff L-^
Electric Candle. Sawyer-Man Electric Lamp. Berliner's Tele-
phone Transmitter of variable resistance (pat. Nov. 17, "91).
Edison's Carbon Microphone (pat. May 3, '92). Discovery of
SatelTites onv'rafs~b'y"PfoTessor Asaph Hall, and its so-called
Canals by Schiaparelli. Liquefaction of Oxygen, Nitrogen and
Air by Pictet and Cailletet.
1878 — Development of Remington Typewriter. Edis-COL invents Carbon
Filament for Incandescent Electric Lamp. Gelatino-Bromide i''
Emulsions in Photography. Ytterbium discovered by Marignac.
Birkenhead Yielding Spinning Spindle Bearing. Gessner Cloth
Press.
1879 — Dr. Siemens' Electric Railway at Berlin. Mississippi Jetties com-
pleted by Capt. Eads. Samarium discovered by Boisbaudran,
Scandium by Nilson, and Thulium by Cleve. The Lee Magazine
Rifle.
1880 — Faure's Storage Battery. Eberth and Koch discover Bacillus of 1 y
Ty.phoid_-E€V-er, and Sternberg the Bacillus of Pneumonia. Edi-
son's ^Magnetic Ore Concentrator. Greener jHammgrless Gun.
Rabbeth Spinning Spindle patented.
1881 — Telegraphing by Induction by Wm. W. Smith. Blake Telephone
Transmitter. Reece Button Hole Machine. Rack-a-rock (ex-
plosive) patented.
1882 — B ad n us of Tuberculosis identified by Koch, and Bacillus of Hydro- ^^-^
phobia by Pasteur. StTGothafd Tunnel' opened for traffic".
1883 — Brooklyn Suspension Bridge Completed.
1884 — Antipyrene. Mergenthaler's first Linotype Printing Machine in-
vented. BacLllus.,of_Cholera identified by Koch, Bacillus of Diph- c^
theria by Loeffler, and Bacillus of Lockjaw by Nicolaier.
1885 — Gowles' Process of Manufacturing Aluminum. First Electric
Railway in America installed between Baltimore and Hampden.
Neodymium and Praseodymium discovered by Welsbach. Wels-
bach Gas Burner invented. Blowing up of Flood Rock, New York
Harbor. "Bellite" produced by Lamm, and "Melinite" by Turpin.
1886 — Grapliophone invented. Electric Welding by Elihu Thomson.
Gadolinum discovered by Marignac, and Germanium by Winkler.
1887 — McArthur and Forrest's Cyanide Process of Obtaining Gold. Tes-
la's System of Polyphase Currents.
-Electrocution of Criminals adopted in New York State. Harvey's
Process of Annealing Armor Plate. De Laval's Rotary Steam
Turbine. "Kodak" Snap-Shot Camera. Lick Telescope. De
Chardonnet's Process of Making Artificial Silk.
14 THE PROGRESS OE INVENTION
1889 — Nickel Steel. Hall's Process of Making Aluminum. Dudley
Dynamite Gun. "Cordite" (Smokeless Powder) produced by
Abel and Dewar.
1890 — Mergenthaler's Improved Linotype Machine. Photography in
Colors. The Great Forth Bridge finished. Krag-Jorgensen Maga-
zine Rifle.
1891 — Parsons' Rotary Steam Turbine. The Northrup Loom.
1892 — The explosive 'Tndurite'' invented by Professor Munroe.
1893 — -Acheson's process for making Carborundum. The Yerkes Tele-
scope. Edison's Kinetoscope. Production of Calcium Carljide iri
Electric Furnace by Willson.
1C94 — Discovery of element Argon by Lord Rayleigh and Professor Ram
^ sey. Thorite produced by P.awden.
[_y/ 1895 — XTlaysjJiscoy^r^d^and.appliedJjyJKxim Acetylene Gas from
Calcium Carbide by Willson Kruyip Armor Plate. Linde's Liquid
air apparatus.
\_^-- i8g6 — Marconi's System of._Wj,rdess__Xelegraphy. BuffingtonjCrozier
Disappearmg..Gj-in-"
1897 — Schlick's System of Balancing Marine Engines. Discovery of
Krypton by Ramsey and Travers.
1898 — Horry and Bradley's process of making Calcium Carbide. Dis-
covery of Neon and Metargon by Ramsey and Travers; Cororrium
by Nasini ; Xenon by Ramsey ; Monium by Crookes, and Etherion
by Brush. Mercerizing Cloth under tension to render it Silky.
-..'/ 1899 — Marconi Telegraphs without^ .,wir£,.__across the English Channel.
Oc"eariTc launched, the largest steamer ever built. '
[900 — The Grande Lunette Telescope of Paris Exposition.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 15
CHAPTER HE.
The Electric Telegraph.
The Voltaic Pile — Daniell's BATTERv-i-UsE or Conducting Wiue by Weber —
Steinheil Employs Earth as Return Circuit — Prof. Henry's Electro Mag-
net, AND First Telegrathic E-xperiment — Prof. Morse's Telegraphic Code
AND Register — First Line Between Washington and Baltimore — Bain's
Chemical Telegraph — Gintl's Duple.x Telegraph — Edison's Quadruplex—
House's Printing Telegraph — Fac Simile Telegraphs — Channing and
Farmer Fere Alarm — Telegraphing by Induction — Wireless Telegraphy p.y
Marconi — Statistics.
IN the effort to lengthen out the Hmited span of hfe into a greater rec-
ord of re.suhs, time becomes an object of ecomoii}-. To save time is
to Hve long, and this in a pre-eminent degree is accomplished by the
telegraph. Of all the inventions which man has called into exist-
ence to aid him in the fulfillment of liis destiny, none so closely resembles
man himself in his dual quality of body and soul as the telegraph. It too
has a body and soul. We see the wire and the electro-magnet, but not the
vital principle which animates it. Without its subtile, pulsating, intangi-
ble spirit, it is but dead matter. But vitalized with its immortal soul it
assumes the quality ci animated existence, and through its agency thought
is extended beyond the limitations of time and space, and flashes through
air and sea around the world. Its moving principle flows more silently
than a summer's zephyr, and yet it rises at times to an angry and deadly
crash in the lightning stroke. At once powerful and elusive, it remained
for Professor iMorse to capture this wild steed, and, taming it, place it
in the permanent service of man. On May 24, 1844, there went over the
wires between Washington and Baltimore the first message — "What hath
God wrought?" This was both prayer and praise, and no more lofty
recognition of the divine power and beneficence could have been made.
It was indeed the work of God made manifest in the hands of Plis chil-
dren.
Popular estimation has always credited Prof. Morse with the inven-
tion of the telegraph, but to ascribe to him all the praise v/ould do great
injustice to many other worthy workers in this field, some of whom are re-
garded by the best judges to be entitled to equal praise.
The practical telegraph as originallv used is resolvable into four es-
16
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
sential elements, viz., the battery, the conducting wire, the electro-magnet,
and the receiving and transmitting instruments.
The development of the batterj' began with Galvani in 1790, and Volta
in 1800. Galvani discovered that a frog's legs would exhibit violent
muscular contraction when its exposed nerves were touched with one
metal and its muscles were touched with another metal, the two metals be-
ing connected. The effect was due to an electric current generated and
acting with contractile effect on the muscles of the frog's legs.
P"rom this phenomenon, the chemical action of acids upon metals and
the production of an electric current were ob-
served, and the voltaic pile was invented.
This consisted of alternate discs of copper and
zinc, separated by layers of cloth steeped in an
acidulated solution. This was the invention
of Volta. From this grew the Daniell battery,
invented in 1836 by Prof. Daniell of London,
quickly followed by those of Grove, Smee, and
others. These batteries were more constant or
uniform in the production of electricity, were
free from odors, and did not require frequent
cleaning, as did
the plates of the
voltaic pile,
_..--■'■ which were im
'■'Vvv , '■ portant results
FIG. I. for telegraphic
purposes. The
Daniell battery in its original form em-
ployed an acidulated solution of sulphate of
copper in a copper cell containing a porous
cup, and a cylinder of amalgamated zinc in
the porous cup and surrounded by a weak-
acid solution. In the illustration, which
shows a slightly modified form, a cruciform
rod of zinc within a porous cup is sur-
rounded by a copper cell, the whole being
enclosed within a glass jar.
The second element of the telegraph — the
conducting wire — was scarcely an invention
in itself, and the fact that electricity would fig. 2.— d.\niell's b.\ttery.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
17
FIG. 3. — PROF. HENRr's INTENSITY MAGNET.
act at a distance through a metal conductor had been observed many year<i
before the }\Iorse telegraph was invented. In 1823, however, Weber dis-
covered that a copper wire which he had carried over the houses and
church steeples of Gottingen from the observatory to the cabinet of Natu-
ral Philosoph}-, required no special insulation. This was an important ob-
18
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
servation in the practical construction of telegraph lines. One of even
greater importance, however, was that, of Prof. Steinheil, of Munich, who,
in 1837, made the discovery of the practicability of using the earth as one-
half, or the return section, of the electric conductor.
The third element of the telegraph is the electro-magnet. This, and
its arrangement as a relay in a local circuit, was a most important inven-
tion, and contributed quite as much to the success of the telegraph as did
the inventions of Prof. Morse. It may be well to say that an electro-mag-
net is a magnet which attracts an iron armature when an electric current
is sent through its coil of wire, and loses its attractive force when the
circuit is cut off, thereby rendering it possible to produce mechanical ef-
fects at a distance through the agency of electrical impulses only. For
the electro-magnet the world is chiefly indebted to Prof. Joseph Henry,
formerly of Princeton, N. J., but later of the Smithsonian Institution.
In 1828 he invented the energetic modern form of electro-magnet with
silk covered wire wound in a series of crossed layers to form a helix of
multiple layers around a central soft iron core, and in 183 1 succeeded in
making practical the production of mechanical effects at a distance, by
the tapping of a bell by a rod deflected by one of his electro-magnets.
This experiment may be considered the pioneer step of the telegraph.
Great as was the work of Prof. Henry, he must share the honors with
a number of prior inVentors who made the electro-magnet possible.
Electro-magnetism, the underlying principle of the electro-magnet, was
first discovered in 1819 by Prof. Oersted, of Copenhagen. In 1820
FIG. 4.
.Schweigger added the multiplier. Arago in the same year discovered
that a steel rod was magnetized when placed across a wire carrying an
electric current, and that iron filings adhered to a wire carrying a voltaic
ciuTent and dropped oft' when the current was broken. M. Ampere sub-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
19
stituted a helix for the straight wire, and Sturgeon, of England, in 1825
made the real prototype of the electro-magnet by winding a piece of bare
copper wire in a single coil around a varnished and insulated iron core of
a horse shoe form, but the powerful and effective electro-magnet of Prof.
Henry is to-day an essential part of the telegraph, is in universal use, and
is the foundation of the entire electrical art. It is unfortunate that Prof.
Henry did not perpetuate the records of his inventions in patents, to
which he was opposed, for there is good reason to believe that he was also
the original inventor of the important arrangement of the electro-magnet
as a relay in local circuit, and other features, which have been claimed by
other parties upon more enduring evidence, but perhaps with less right
of priority.
The fourth and great final addition to the telegraph which crowned it
with success was the Morse register and alphabetical code, the invention
of Prof. Samuel F. B. Morse, of Massachusetts. Prof. Morse's invention
was made in 1832, while on board ship returning from Europe. He set
up an experimental line in 1835, and got his French patent October 30,
1838, and his first United States patent June 20, 1840, No. 1647. I^i
1844 the United States Congress appropriated $30,000 to build a line from
mrvKMf
i 1 £ 0 4
FIG. 5. — MORSES FIRST MODEL PENDULUM INSTRUMENT.
20
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
Baltimore to Washington, and on May 24, 1844, the notable message,
"What Hath God wrought?" went over the wires.
Morse's first model, his pendulum instrument of 1837, is illustrated in
Fig". 5. A pendulum carrying a pencil was in constant contact with a
strip of paper drawn beneath the pencil. As long as inactive the pencil
made a straight line. The pendulum carried also an armature, and an
electro-magnet was placed near the armature. A current passed through
the magnet would draw the pendulum to one side. On being released the
pendulum would return, and in this way zigzag markings, as shown at 4
and 5, would be produced on the strip of paper, which formed the alpha-
bet. A different alphabet, known as the Morse Code, was subsequently
a
h
c
- —
1
2
3
d
e
f
4
5
G
7
8
9
0
9
h
i
J
_
I
m
1
1
'---~.
71
0
- -
1
P
( )
2
&
r
- - -
s
t
—
u
V
w
X
y
-- --
z
FIG. 6. — THE MORSE CODE.
adopted by Morse, and in 1844 the receiving register shown at Fig. 7 was
adopted, which finally assumed the form shown at Fig. 8.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
21
The alphabet consisted simply of an arrangement of dots and dashes
in varying sequence. The register is an apparatus operated by the com-
bined effects of a clock mechanism and electro-magnet. Under a roll, see
^%^5^^V
FIG. 7. — MORSE RECEIVER.
Fig. 8, a ribbon of paper is drawn by the clockwork. A lever having an
armature on one end arranged over the poles of an electro-magnet, carries
on the other end a point or stylus. When an electric impulse is sent
over the line the electro-magnet attracts the armature, and the stylus on
the other end of the lever is brought into contact with the paper strip, and
makes an indented impression. A short impulse gives a dot, and a long
impulse holds the stylus against the paper long enough to allow the clock
mechanism to pull the paper under the stylus and make a dash. By the
manipulation of a key for closing the electric circuit the short or long
impulse may be sent, at the pleasure of the operator.
This constituted the completed invention of the telegraph, and on com-
paring the work of Profs. Henry and Morse, it is only fair to say that
Prof. Henry's contribution to the telegraph is still in active use, while
the Morse register has been practically abandoned, as no expert tel-
egrapher requires the visible evidence of the code, but all rely now entirely
upon the sound click of the electro-magnet placed in the local circuit and
known as a sounder, the varying timfe lengths of gaps between the clicks
serving every purpose of rapid and intelligent communication. The in-
vention of the telegraph has been claimed for Steinheil, of Munich, and
22
THE PROGRESS OF IN]'ENTION
also for Cooke and Wheatstone, in England, but few will deny that it i
to Prof. Morse's indefatigable energy and inventive skill, with the pre
liminary work of Prof. Henry, that the world to-day owes its great gif
FIG. 8. — PERFECTED MORSE REGISTER.
of the electric telegraph, and with this gift the world's great nervous
forces have been brought into an intimate and sensitive sympathy.
Whenever an invention receives the advertisement of public approval
and commercial exploitation, the development of that invention along
various lines follows rapidly, and so when practical telegraphic com-
munication was solved by Henry, Morse, and others, further advances in
various directions were made. Efforts to increase the rapidity in sending
messages soon grew into practical success, and in 1848 Bain's Chemical
Teicgraph was brought out. ( U. S. Pats. No. 5,957. Dec. 5, 1848, and
No. 6,328, April 17, 1849.) This employed perforated strips of paper tc
effect automatic transmission by contact made through the perforations in
place of the key, while a chemically prepared paper at the opposite end of
the line was discolored by the electric impulses to form the record. This
was the pioneer of the automatic system which by later improvements is
able to send over a thousand words a minute.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 23
In line witli other efforts to increase the capacity of the wires, the
duplex telegraph was invented by Dr. WiUiam Gintl, of Austria, in 1853,
riG. 9. — HOUSE PRINTING TEl.EGUAPH.
and was afterwards improved by Carl I-'rischen, of Hanover, and by
Joseph B. Stearns, of Eoston, Mass, who in 1872 perfected the duplex (U.
S. Pats. No. 126.847, May 14,
1872, and No. 132,933, Nov.
12, 1872). This system doub-
les the capacity of the tele-
graphic wire, and its principle
of action permits messages sent
from the home station to the
distant station to have no effect
on the home station, but full
eft'ect on the distant station, so
that the operators at the oppo-
-,ite ends of the line may both
^L- telegraph over the same wire,
?^? at the same time, in opposite
W -^ directions. This system has
been further enlarged by the
quadruplex system of Edison,
, .. ,- ,^„ which was brought out in 1874
-STOCK BROKER S TICKER, WITH ^
GLASS COVER REMOVED. Caud sulisequeutlv developed in
24
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
U. S. Pat. No. 209,241, Oct. 22, 1878). This enabled four messages
to be sent over the same wire at the same time, and is said to have in-
creased the value of the Western Union wires $15,000,000.
In 1846 Royal C. House invented the printing telegraph, which printed
the message automatically on a strip of paper, something after the man-
ner of the typewriter (U. S.
Pat. No. 4,464, April 18,
1846). The ingenious mech-
anism involved in this was
somewhat complicated, but
its results in printing thu
message plainly were very
satisfactory. This was tb.c
prototype of the familiar
"ticker" of the stock broker's
office, seen in Figs. 10 and
II. In 1856 the Hughes
printing telegraph was
brought out (U. S. Pat. No.
14,917, May 20, 1856), and
in 1858 G. M. Phelps com-
bined the valuable features
of the Hughes and House
systems (U. S. Pat. No. 26,-
003, Nov. I, 1859).
Fac Simile telegraphs
constitute another, although
less important branch of the
art. These accomplished the striking result of reproducing the mes-
sage at the end of the line in the exact handwriting of the sender,
and not only writing, but exact reproductions of all outlines, such as maps,
pictures, and so forth, may be sent. The fac simile telegraph originated
with F. C. Bakewell, of England, in 1848 (Br. Pat. No. 12,352, of 1848).
The Dial Telegraph is still another modification of the telegraph. In
this the letters are arranged in a circular series, and a light needle or
pointer, concentrically pivoted, is carried back and forth over the letters,
and is made to successively point to the desired letters.
Among other useful applications of the telegraph is the fire alarm sys-
tem. In 1852 Channing and Farmer, of Boston, Mass., devised a system
fig. ii. — keceiving message on stock
uroker's "ticker."
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
25
of telegraphic fire alarms, which was adopted in the city of Boston (U. S.
Pat. No. 17,355, May 19, 1857), and which in varying modifications has
spread through all the cities of the world, introducing that most important
element of time economy in the extinguishment of fires. Hundreds of
cities and millions of dollars have been thus saved from destruction.
Similar applications of local alarms in great numbers have been ex-
tended into various departments of life, such as District Messenger Ser-j-
ice, Burglar Alarms, Railroad-Signal Systems, Hotel Annunciators, and
so on.
"czj c=r
FIG. 12. — TELEGRAPHING BY INDUCTION.
For furnishing current for telegraphic purposes the dynamo, and espe-
cially the storage battery, have in late years found useful application. In
fact, in the leading telegraph offices the storage battery has practically
superseded the old voltaic cells.
Telegraphing by induction, i. e., without the mechanical connection of
a conducting wire, is another of the developments of telegraphy in recent
years, and finds application to telegraphing to moving railway trains.
When an electric current flows over a telegraph line, objects along its
26 THE PROGRESS OF IN\-ENT10N
length are charged at the beginning and end of the current impulse with a
secondary charge, which flows to the earth if connection is afforded. It is
the discharge of this secondary current from the metal car roof to the
ground which, on the moving train, is made the means of telegraphing
without any mechanical connection with the telegraph lines along the
track. As, however, this secondary circuit occurs only at the making and
breaking of the telegraphic impulse, the length of the impulse affords no
means of diff'erentiation into an alphabet, and so a rapid series of impulses,
caused by the vibrator of an induction coil, is made to produce buzzing
tones of various duration representing the alphabet, and these tones are
received upon a telephone instead of a Morse register. The diagram, Fig.
i-2* illustrates the operation.
To receive messages on a car, electric impulses on the telegraph wire
W, sent from the vibrator of an induction coil, cause induced currents as
follows : Car roof R, wire a, key K, telephone b c, car wheel and earth. In
sending messages closure of key K works induction coil I C, and vibrator
V, through battery B, and primary circuit d, c, f, g, and the secondary cir-
cuit a, h, i, charges the car roof and influences by induction the telegraph
wire W and the telephone at the receiving station.
In 1881 William W. Smith proposed the plan of communicating be-
tween moving cars and a stationary wire by induction (U. S. Pat. No.
247,127, Sept. 13, 1881 j. Thomas A. Edison, L. J. Phelps, and others
have further improved the means for carrying it out. In 1888 the princi-
ple was successfully employed on 200 miles of the Lehigh Valley Railroad.
IJ'irclcss Telegraphy, or telegraphing without any wires at all, from
one point to another point through space, is the most modern and startling-
development in telegraphy. To the average mind this is highly suggestive
of scientific imposition, so intangible and unknown are the physical forces
by which it is rendered possible, and \'et this is one of the late achieve-
ments of the Nineteenth Century. Many scientists have contributed data
on this subject, but the principles and theories have only begun to crystal-
lize into an art during the first part of the last decade of the Nineteenth
Centurv. Heinrich Hertz, the German scientist, was perhaps the real
pioneer in this line in his studies and observations of the nature of the
electric undulations which have taken his name, and are known as "Hertz-
ian" waves, rays, or oscillations. Tesla in the United States, Branly and
Ducretet in France, Righi in Italy, the Russian savant, Popoff, and Pro-
fessor Lodge, of England, have all made contributions to this art. It will
* From "Electricity in Daily Life." by courtesy of Charles Scribncr's Sons.
/.V THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
21
I
aid the understanding to say, in a preliminary way, that electric undula-
tions are generated and emitted from a plate or conductor a hundred feet
or more high in the air, are thence transmitted
through space to a remote point, which may be many
miles away, and there influencing a similar plate
high in the air give, through a special form of re-
ceiving device known as a "coherer," a telegraphic
record. The "coherer," invented by Branly in 1891,
is a glass tube containing metal filings between two
circuit terminals. The electric waves cause these
filings to cohere, and so vary the resistance to the
passage of the current as to give a basis for trans-
formation into a record.
In March, 1899, Signor Guglielmo Marconi, an
Italian student, then residing in England, success-
fullv communicated between South Foreland, Coun-
ty of Kent, and Boulogne-sur-mer, in France, a dis-
tance of thirty-two miles across the English Channel.
Signor Alarconi used the vertical conductors and
FIG. 13. — WIRELE.SS TELEGRAPHY, INTERN.\TIONAL YACHT RACES, OCTOBER, iSQQ.
28
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
the Hertz-oscillation principle, and his sj'stem is described in his United
States patent, No. 586,193, July 13, 1S97.
His patent comprehends many claims, a leading feature of which is the
means for automaticall}' shaking the "coherer" to break up the cohesion of
the metal filings as embodied in his first claim, as follows :
■'In a receiver for electrical oscillations, the combination of an imperfect electrical
contact, a circuit through the contact, and means actuated by the circuit for shaking
the contact."
The Marconi system of wireless telegraphy was practically employed
with useful effect April 28, 1899, on the "Goodwin Sands" light-ship to
telegraph for assistance when in collision twelve miles from land and in
danger of sinking. It was also used in October, 1899, on board the
"Grande Duchesse" to report the international yacht race between the
"Columbia" and the "Shamrock" at Sandy Hook, as seen in Fig. 13. Lord
Roberts also made good use of it in his South African campaign against
the Boers. According to Signor Marconi its present range is limited to
eighty-six miles, but it is expected that this will be soon extended to 150
miles.
Marconi's receiving apparatus is shown in Fig. 13a, and consists of a
small glass tube called the coherer, about i^ inches in length, into the
ItvK'-^^^.
FIG. I3A. — THE COHERER.
ends of which are inserted two silver pole pieces, which fit the tube, but
whose ends are 1-50 inch apart. The space between the ends is filled with
a mixture composed of fine nickel and silver filings and a mere trace of
mercury, and the other ends of the pole pieces are attached to the wires of
a local circuit. In the normal condition the metallic filings have an enor-
mous resistance, and constitute a practical insulator, preventing the flow
of the local current ; but if they are influenced by electric waves, coherence
takes place and the resistance falls, allowing the local current to pass.
The coherence will continue until the filings are mechanically shaken.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
29
when they will at once fall apart, as it were, insulation will be established,
and the current will be broken. If, then, a coherer be brought within the
influence of the electric waves thrown out from a transmitter, coherence
will occur whenever the key of the transmitter at the distant station is
depressed. Mr. iMarconi has devised an ingenious arrangement, which is
the subject of his patent referred to, in which a small hammer is made to
rap continuously upon the coherer by the action of the local circuit, which
is closed when the Hertzian waves pass through the metal filings. As soon
as the waves cease, the hammer gives its last rap, and the tube is left in the
decohered condition ready for the next transmission of waves. It is evi-
dent that by making the local circuit operate a relay, in the circuit of which
is a standard recording instrument, the messages may be recorded on a
tape in the usual way.
In Fig. 13b is shown tlie diagram of circuits. The letters d d indicate
the spheres of the transmitter, which are connected, one to the vertical
FIG. I3B. — DIAGRAM OF THE TRANSMITTER AND RECEIVER.
wire Tc, the other to earth, anif both by wires c' c' , to the terminals of the
secondary winding of induction coil, c. In the primary circuit is the key
b. The coherer / has two metal pole pieces, /■" j-, separated by silver and
nickel filings. One end of the tube is connected to earth, the other to the
vertical wire zv, and the coherer itself forms part of a circuit containing
the local cell g, and a sensitive telegraph relay actuating another circuit,
which circuit works a trembler p, of which o is the decohering tapper, or
hammer. When the electric waves pass from iv to ;' 7- the resistance
falls, and the current from g actuates the relay n, the choking coils k k,
lying between the coherer and the relay, compelling the electric waves to
traverse the coherer instead of flowing through the relay. The relay n in
its turn causes the more powerful battery r to pass a current through
30 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
{.he tapper, and also through the electro-magnet of the recording instru-
ment h.
The alternate cohering by the waves and decohering by the tapper
continue uninterruptedly as long as the transmitting key at the distant
station is depressed. The armature of the recording instrument, however,
because of its inertia, cannot rise and fall in unison with the rapid coher-
ence and decoherence of the receiver, and hence it remains down and
makes a stroke upon the tape as long as the sending key is depressed.
The principal applications of wireless telegraphy so far have been at
sea, where the absence of intervening obstacles gives a free path to the
electrical oscillations. The system is also applicable on land, however, and
no one can doubt that if the Ministers of the Legations shut up in Pekin
had been supplied with a wireless telegraphy outfit, neither the walls of
Pekin nor the strongest cordon of its Chinese hordes could have prevented
the long sought communication. The full story of mystery and massacre
would have been promptly made known, and the civilized world have been
spared its anxiety, and earlier and effective measures of relief supplied.
As the art of telegraphy grows apace toward the end of the Nineteenth
Century, individuality of invention becomes lost in the great maze of mod-
ifications, ramifications, and combinations. Inventions become merged in-
to systems, and systems become swallowed up by companies. In the
promises of living inventors the wish is too often father to the thought,
and the conservative man sees the child of promise rise in great expecta-
tion, flourish for a few years, and then subside to quiet rest in the dusty
archives of the Patent Office. They all contribute their quota of value, but
it is so difficult to single out as pre-eminent any one of those which as yet
are on probation, that we must leave to the coming generation the task of
making meritorious selection.
To-day the telegraph is the great nerve system of the nation's body,
and it ramifies and vitalizes every part with sensitive force. In 1899 the
Western Union Telegraph Company alone had 22,285 offices, 904,633
miles of wire, sent 61,398,157 messages, received in money $23,954,312,
and enjoyed a profit of $5,868,733. Add to this the business of the Postal
Telegraph Company and other companies, and it becomes well nigh im-
possible to grasp the magnitude of this tremendous factor of Nineteenth
Century progress. Figures fail to become impressive after they reach the
higher denominations, and it may not add much to either the reader's con-
ception or his knowledge to say that the statistics for the zvholc zvorld for
the year 180S show: 103,832 telegraph offices, 2,989,803 miles of wire,
and 365,453,526 messages sent during that year. This wire would extend
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 31
around the earth about 120 times, and the messages amounted to one mil-
Hon a day for every day in that year. This is for land telegraphs only,
and does not include cable messages.
What saving has accrued to the world in the matter of time, and what
development in values in the various departments of life, and what con-
tributions to human comfort and happiness the telegraph has brought
about, is beyond human estimate, and is too impressive a thought for
speculation.
32
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
CHAPTER IV.
The Atlantic Cable.
Difficulties of Laying — Congratulatory Me.ssages Between Queen Victoria
AND President Buchanan — The Siphon Recorder — Statistics.
AMONG the applications of the telegraph which deserve special men-
tion for magnitude and importance is the Atlantic Cable. For
^ boldness of conception, tireless persistence in execution, and value
of results, this engineering feat, though nearly a half century old.
still challenges the admiration of the world, and marks the beginning of
one of the great epochs of the Nineteenth Century. It was not so brilliant
in substantive invention, as it added but little to the telegraph as already
known, beyond the means for insulating the wires within a gutta percha
cable, but it was one of the greatest of all engineering works. It was
chiefly the result of
the energy and public
spirit of Mr. Cyrus
W. F"ield, an eminent
American citizen.
Three times was its
laying attempted be-
fore success crowned
the work. The first
expedition sailed
August 7, 1857, and
consisted of a fleet of
eight vessels, four
American and four
English, starting from
A^alentia on the Irish
coast. On August
II the cable parted,
and 344 miles of the cable were lost in water two miles deep. In 1858 a
renewal of the effort to lay the cable was made. Improvements were
added in the paying out machinery, and a different manner of coiling the
enormous load of cable on the vessels was resorted to, and provisions also
fig. 14. — ORIGIN.-VL .ITLANTIC CABLE, FULL SIZE.
Consists of seven copper wires (4) to form the con-
ductor, a wrapping (3) of thread, soaked in tallow and
pitch, several layers (2) of giitta percha, all surrounded
by a protecting coat of mail (i) of twisted wires.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 33
were made to protect the propeller from contact with the cable. On June
lo the telegraphic fleet steamed out of Plymouth harbor. It consisted of
the U. S. frigate "Niagara," with the paddle-wheel steamer "Valorous" as
a tender, and the British frigate "Agamemnon," with the paddle-wheel
steamer "Gorgon" as a tender. After three days at sea, terrible gales
were encountered and much damage resulted. The vessels were to pro-
ceed to midocean, and the portions of the cable carried by the "Niagara"
and "Agamemnon" were to be spliced, and the two vessels were then to
sail in opposite directions to their respective coasts. The first splice was
made on the 26th of June. After paying out two and a half miles each,
the cable parted. Again meeting and splicing, forty miles each were paid
out, and the cable again parted. On the 28th another splicing was ef-
fected, and 150 miles each were paid out, and again the cable parted, and
the expedition had to be abandoned. After much financial embarrassment
and adverse criticism, the courageous and public-spirited directors who
had control of the enterprise dispatched another expedition, which sailed
July 17, 1858. The two vessels, "Niagara" and "Agamemnon," with their
tenders, proceeded to midocean, and following the same method of con-
necting the ends of their respective cable sections, they sailed in opposite
directions. On August 5, 1858, Mr. Cyrus Field announced by telegram
from Trinity Bay, on the coast of Newfoundland, that Trinity Bay in
America, and Valentia in Ireland, 2,134 miles apart, had been connected,
and the great Atlantic cable was an established fact.
On August 16, 1858, the first message came over from Queen Victoria
to President Buchanan of the United States, as follows :
"To the President of the United States, JVasliington:
"The Queen desires to congratulate the President upon the successful
completion of this great international work, in which the Queen has taken
the deepest interest.
"The Queen is convinced that the President will join with her in fervently
hoping that the Electric Cable which now connects Great Britain with the
United States will prove an additional link between the nations whose
friendship is founded upon their common interest and reciprocal esteem.
"The Queen has much pleasure in thus communicating with the President,
and renewing to him her wishes for the prosperity of the United States."
to which the President replied as follows :
"Washington City, Aug. 16, 1858.
"To Her Majesty Victoria, Queen of Great Britain:
"The President cordially reciprocates the congratulations of Her Ma-
jesty, the Queen, on the success of the great international enterprise accom-
plished by the science, skill, and indomitable energy of the two countries.
34 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
It is a triumph more glorious, because far more useful to mankind, than
was ever won by conqueror on the field of battle.
"May the Atlantic Telegraph, under the blessing of Heaven, prove to be
a bond of perpetual peace and friendship between the kindred nations, and
an instrument destined by Divine Providence to diffuse religion, civilization,
liberty and law throughout the world. In this view will not all nations of
Christendom spontaneously unite in the declaration that it shall be forever
neutral, and that its communications shall be held sacred in passing to their
places of destination, even in the midst of hostilities?
(Signed) "James Buchanan."
Great rejoicing on both sides of the ocean followed, and the public
print was filled Avith accounts of the enterprise. The following selection
from the Atlantic Monthly of October, 1858, is an apostrophe in lofty sen-
timents of verse, which to-day stirs the Twentieth Century heart as a joy-
ous prophecy fulfilled :
Thou lonely Bay of Trinity,
Ye bosky shores untrod.
Lean, breathless, to the white-lipped sea
And hear the voice of God !
From world to world His couriers fly.
Thought-winged and shod with fire ;
The angel of His stormy sky
Rides down the sunken wire.
What saith the herald of the Lord?
"The world's long strife is done!
Close wedded by that mystic cord,
Her continents are one.
"And one in heart, as one in blood,
Shall all her peoples be ;
The hands of human brotherhood
Shall clasp beneath the sea.
"Through Orient seas, o'er Afric's plain,
And Asian mountains borne,
The vigor of the Northern brain
Shall nerve the world outworn.
"From clime to clime, from shore to shore.
Shall thrill the magic thread ;
The new Prometheus steals once more
The fire that wakes the dead.
"Earth, gray with age, shall hear the strain
Which o'er her childhood rolled ;
For her the morning stars again
Shall sing their song of old.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 35
"For, lo ! the fall of Ocean's wall,
Space mocked and Time outrim !
And round the world the thought of all
Is as the thought of one !"
O, reverently and thankfully
The mighty wonder own !
The deaf can hear, the blind may see,
The work is God's alone.
Throb on, strong pulse of thunder ! beat
From answering beach to beach !
Fuse nations in thy kindly heat,
And melt the chains of each !
Wild terror of the sky above.
Glide tamed and dumb below !
Bear gently, Ocean's carrier dove,
Thy errands to and fro !
Weave on, swift shuttle of the Lord,
Beneath the deep so far,
The bridal robe of Earth's accord,
The funeral shroud of war !
The poles unite, the zones agree,
The tongues of striving cease ;
As on the Sea of Gallilee,
The Christ is whispering, "Peace!"
After a few months of working, the cable became inoperative, but its
success was a demonstrated fact, and in 1866 a new cable was laid by the
aid of that monster steamer "The Great Eastern," since which time the
cable has become one of the great factors of modern civilization.
Probably the most important of the inventions relating to submarine
telegraphs is the siphon recorder, invented by Sir William Thompson,
now Lord Kelvin (U. S. Pat. No. 156,897, Nov. 17, 1874). It is called a
siphon recorder because the record is made by a little glass siphon down
which a flow of ink is maintained like a fountain pen. This siphon is
vibrated by the electric impulses to produce on the paper strip a zigzag
line, whose varying contour is made to represent letters. In the illustra-
tion. Fig. 15, m is an ink well, o a strip of paper, and n the ink siphon, one
end of which is bent and dips down into the ink well, and the other end of
which traces the record on the moving paper strip 0. The siphon is sus-
tained on a vertical axis /, and its lateral vibration is efifected as follows :
A light rectangular coil b b, oi exceedingly fine insulated wire, is sus-
pended between the poles N S of a powerful electro-magnet energized by
36
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
a local battery. In the coil b b \5 & stationary soft iron core a, magnetized
by the poles N S. The coil b b is suspended upon a vertical axis consist-
ing of a fine wire f f, and the delicate electrical impulses over the subma-
FIG. 15. — SIPHON RECORDER,
rine cable enter the coil b b through the axial wire /■' / as a conductor, and
cause a greater or less oscillation of the coil b b between the poles N S of
the electro-magnet. The coil b b is connected by a thread k to the siphon,
and pulls the siphon in one direction, while the siphon is pulled in the
opposite direction by a helical spring attached to an arm on the siphon
SI P H ON RBCO KDEE
FIG. 16. — SIPHON RECORDER MESSAGE.
axis /. The jagged lines seen in Fig. 16 spell the words "siphon recorder."
To-day there lie in submerged silence, but pulsating with the life of
the world, no less than 1,500 submarine telegraphs. Their aggregate
length is 170,000 miles; their total estimated cost is $250,000,000, and the
number of messages annually transmitted over them is 6,000,000. Thir-
teen cables work daily across the Atlantic, and an additional one is being
laid from Germany. Messages now go across the Atlantic and are re-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 37
ceived on the siphon recorder at the rate of fifty words a minute, and at a
cost of twenty-five cents a word. Our guns may thunder in the PhiHp-
pines, and the news by cable, travehng faster than the earth on its axis,
may reach the Western Hemisphere under the paradoxical condition of
several hours earlier than it occurred. Cablegrams to Manila cost $2.38 a
word, and the cable tolls for our War Department alone are costing at the
rate of $325,000 a year. The logical outcome is a Pacific cable, a bill for
which, connecting San Francisco and Honolulu, has already passed the
United States Senate.
Messages from the Executive Mansion at Washington to the battle-
field at Santiago were sent and responses received within twelve minutes,
while a message dispatched from the House of Representatives in Wash-
ington to the House of Parliament in London, in the chess match of 1898,
was transmitted and a reply received in thirteen and one-half seconds.
To-day the cable with the still small voice, more divine than human,
speaks with one accent to all the nations of the earth. Differing though
they may in tongue and skin, in thought and religion, in physical develop-
ment and clime, the telegraph speaks to them all alike, and by all is under-
stood. Truly it fulfils the prophecy so gracefully expressed in the verses
quoted, and has become the common bond of union among the nations of
the earth.
38 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
CHAPTER V.
The Dynamo and Its Applications.
Observations of Faraday and Henry — Magneto-Electric Machines of Pixii and
OF Saxton — Hjorth's Dynamo of 1855 — Wilde's Machine of 1866 — Siemens'
of 1867 — Gramme's of 1870 — Tesla's Polyphase Currents.
IN the last thirty-five years of the Nineteenth Century there has grown
up into the full stature of mechanical majority this stalwart son of
electrical lineage. As the means for furnishing electrical power it
stands to-day the great fountain head of electrical generation, and in
its peculiar field ranks as of equal importance with the steam engine. Un-
til about 1865 the voltaic battery, which generated electricity by chemical
decomposition, was practically the only means for producing electricity
for industrial and commercial purposes. It was through its agency that
the telegraph, the electric light, and many other discoveries in electricity
were made and rendered possible. Its cost and limited amount of current,
however, restricted the limits of its practical application, and although its
current could furnish beautiful laboratory experiments, its mechanical
work was more in the nature of illustration than utilization. But with the
advent of the dynamo electricity has taken a new and very much larger
place in the commercial activities of the world. It runs and warms our
cars, it furnishes our light, it plates our metals, it runs our elevators, it
electrocutes our criminals ; and a thousand other things it performs for us
with secrecy and dispatch in its silent and forceful way. But what is a
dynamo? To the average mind the most satisfactory answer would be —
that it is simply a machine which converts mechanical power into elec-
tricity. Attach a dynamo to a steam engine, and the power of the steam
engine will, through the dynamo, become transformed or converted into a
powerful electric current. Any other source of mechanical power, such as
a water wheel, gas engine, wind wheel, or even a horse or man, will serve
to operate the dynamo ; its primary and sole function being to take power
and convert it into electricity.
The stepping stone to the dynamo in its development was theuiagneto-
electrical machine. This is a machine founded upon the general principle
observed by Faraday in 1831 and 1832, and also by Prof. Henry about the
same time, that when a magnet is made to approach a helix of insulated
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
39
wire it causes a current of electricity to flow in the helix as long as the
magnet advances. If the magnet is passed through the helix, the current
is reversed as soon as the magnet passes the middle point. The principle
is the same if the magnet be made to approach and recede from the poles
of an electro-magnet having a helix wound around a soft iron core. Like-
wise the same result occurs if the electro-magnet with its helix is made to
approach and- recede from a permanent magnet, the current in the helix
flowing in one direction when it approaches the permanent magnet, and in
the opposite direction when leaving the said magnet. The movement of
the two elements in relation to each other requires some force to overcome
the repellent and attractive actions, and this force is converted into elec-
trical energy. This is the principle of the magneto-electric machine.
Saxton in the United States and Pixii in France were the first to pro-
duce organized devices of this class for generating electricity from mag-
netism. Pixii's machine (1832) consisted of a permanent horse-shoe
magnet which was caused
to revolve in proximity to
an armature upon which
was wound a coil of insu-
lated wire. On March 30,
1852, Somnenberg a n d
Rechten olitained a United
States patent. No. 8,843,
for an electrical machine
for killing whales, and on
August 19, 1856, Shepard
obtained U. S. Pat. No. 15,-
596 for the machine which
came to be known as the
"Alliance" machine. Both
of these machines had per-
manent field magnets, and
were early types of mag-
neto-electric machines. The
efficiency of these magneto-
electric machines was nec-
essarily limited to the
strength of the inducing field magnets, which, being permanent magnets,
were a positive and fixed factor. It was an easy step to substitute electro-
magnets for permanent magnets, as the field or inducing magnets, and also
FIG. 17. — PIXII MAGNETO-ELECTKIC MACHINE, 1832.
40
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
to excite the (electro) field magnet by voltaic batteries, but the important
step which resulted in the machine which is called the "dynamo" (from the
Greek " ^wajxis " — power) was yet to come.
This step con-
sisted in taking the
current induced in
the revolving helix
or armature (by the
field magnets) and
sending it back
through the coils of
the field magnets
which produced it,
thereby increasing
the energy of the
field magnet coils,
and they in turn
with an increased
_ -_ ._^ ^=^^-,.=^ , ,,^, efficiency and recip-
_^ ^^- ' ^^' rocal action mduce
FIG. iS. — hjorth's dyn.vmo ELECTRIC MACHINE. Still strougcr Cur-
rents in the arma-
ture coils, and so a
building up process,
or principle of mu-
tual and reciprocal
excitation, is carried
on until the maxi-
mum efficiency is
reached. This prin-
ciple was the discov-
ery of Soren Hjorth,
of Copenhagen, and
is fully described in
his British patent,
"No. 806 of 1855, for
"An Improved Mag-
neto-Electric Bat-
tery." As the proto-
FIG. 19. — HJORTH S DYN.^MO ELECTRIC M.\CHINE,
PLAN VIEW.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 4t
type of the dynamo, it is worthy of illustration. In the illustra-
tion, Figs. i8 and 19, a is a revolving wheel bearing the arma-
ture coils, C permanent magnets, d electro-magnets (field magnets), and
g the commutator. Quoting from his specifications, he says : "The perma-
nent magnets acting on the armatures brought in succession between their
poles, induce a current in the coils of the armatures, which current, after
having been caused by the commutator to flow in one direction, passes
round the electro-magnets (field magnets), charging the same and acting
on the armatures. By the mutual action between the electro-magnets and
the armatures an accelerating force is obtained, which in result produces
electricity greater in quantity and intensity than has heretofore been ob-
tained by similar means."
Although the principle of the dynamo was clearly embodied in the
Hjorth patent, its value was not appreciated until some time later. Eleven
years later Wilde (U. S. Pat. No. 59,738, Nov. 13, 1866), employed a
small machine with permanent magnets to excite the coil-wound field mag-
nets of a larger machine. But Siemens (British Pat. No. 261 of 1S67),
taking up the principle employed by Hjorth, dispensed with his superflu-
ous permanent magnets, having found that the residual magnetism, whicU
always remained in iron which has once been magnetized, was sufficient as
a basis to start the building up process. Farmer, Wheatstone and A'arley
also recognized this fact about the same time. Siemens' patent also was
the first embodiment of what is known as the bobbin armature. Gramme
and D'lvernois (British Pat. 1,668 of 1870, and U. S. Pat. No. 120,057, of
Oct. 17, 1871), were the first to bring out the continuously wound ring
armature.
Active development now began in various types and by various invent-
ors, including Weston, Brush, Edison, Thomson and Houston, Westing-
house, and other, who have brought the dynamo to its present high effi-
ciency.
The revolving coils of the dynamo are called the armature, and the
fixed electro-magnets are called the field magnets, and these latter may be
two or more in number. W'hen two are used they are arranged on oppo-
site sides of the armature, and form what is known as the bipolar machine.
A larger number constitutes the multipolar machine. The field magnets in
the multipolar machine usually are arranged in radial position aroimd the
entire circumference of the revolving armature, and are held in a fixed
circular frame. To give a clear idea of the principles of the dynamo, the
bipolar machine is best suited for illustration, and is here given in Figs.
20 and 21, in which Fig. 20 represents the dynamo complete, and Fig. 21
42
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
a detail of the end of
the armature and
commutator. This
armature consists of
coils or bobbins of in-
sulated wire, each sec-
tion having its ter-
minals connected with
separate insulated
plates on the hub,
which plates arc
known as the com-
mutator. When any
section of the arma-
ture ap]:)roaches the
pole of a field mag-
net, the current in-
duced in that section
of the armature coils
by the field magnet,
is taken off from a
corresponding plate
of the commutator by
flat springs, seen in
Fig. 20, and known as
bmslies. The field magnets A and B, Fig. 20, are shown with only a few
turns of wire about them for clearer illustrations of the connections, which
are made as follows : The wire a is extended in coils around the
field magnet B; and thence around field magnet A, and thence
to the upper brush on the commutator, thence through the wire coils or
bobbins of the rotary armature C, and thence by the lower brush to the
wire b. The terminals of the wires a and b extend to the point of utiliza-
tion of the current, whether this be electric lights, motors, or other applica-
tions. Tn this illustration, the circuit, it will be seen, passes through both
the coils of the field magnets and the coils of the armature, involving the
principle of mutual excitation.
There are two principal kinds of dynamos — those producing the alter-
nating currents, and those producing" the continuous current. In the first
the current alternates in direction, or is composed of an infinite number of
impulses of opposite polarity ; one polarity when a section of the armature
FIG. 20. — liU'OLAK DYNAMO.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
43
coil is approaching a north field magnet pole or receding from a south pole,
and the other polarity when receding from a north field magnet pole and
approaching a south pole. In the continuous current machine, the com-
mutator and brushes are so
arranged as to take up all
the impulses of the same
polarity and conduct them
away by one brush, and
gathering all the impulses
of the opposite polarity and
conducting them away bj'
another brush. Thus the
current of each brush, in
tlie continuous current ma-
chine, is always of the
same polarity, and the
polarity of one being al-
ways positive, and that of
the other negative, the cur-
rent flows continuously in
the same direction. A
third species of dynamo is
the pulsatory, in which the current flow is invariable in direction, but pro-
ceeds in waves.
A change in the character of the current generated by the dynamo is
made by what is known as the "transformer," in which the principle of the
induction coil is made available. In this way, for instance, the high poten-
tial currents generated by the powerful water wheels at Niagara Falls are
taken twenty miles to Bufl'alo, and are there transformed into other cur-
rents of lower potential, suited to incandescent lighting and other various
uses.- A similar scheme is in process of fulfillment in the establishment of
a water power electric plant near Conowingo, Maryland, on the Susque-
hanna River, to furnish, electrical power to Baltimore, Wilmington and
Philadelphia.
j\n important development in electrical generation and transmission is
to be found in what is known as the polyphase, multiphase, or rotating cur-
rent, pioneer patents for which were granted to Tesla May i, 1888, Nos.
381,968, 381,969, 382,279, 382,280, 382,281 and 382,282,
Realizing the possibilities of the dynamo, the Legislature of New York
in 1888 passed a law, which went into effect in 1S89, in that State, substi-
FIG. 21. ARM.VTUKE OF EirOI-.-NR DYNAMO.
44
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
tuting death by electricit}' for the hangman's noose. The criminal is strap-
ped in the chair, seen in Fig. 22, one terminal of the wire from the dynamo
is strapped upon his forehead, and the other to anklets on his legs, and like
a flash of lightning the deadly energy of the dynamo performs its work.
Not the least of the applications of the dynamo is its use in electro-met-
allurgy for plating
metals, and also for
promoting chemical
reactions. The elec-
tric furnace, stimula-
ted into higher heat
by the dynamo than
can be otherwise ob-
tained, has brought
about many valuable
discoveries, and made
great advances in va-
rious arts. The metal
aluminum, and the
hard abrasive or pol-
ishing and
material known
"carborundum"
the products of
electric furnace,
so is the product
known as "calcium
carbide," which, when
immersed in water,
gives off acetylene gas
and is a product now
universally used for
that purpose, and rap-
idly increasing in com-
mercial importance.
In Fig. 23 is seen the Acheson electric furnace for producing carborun-
dum. The electric current traverses the furnace through a series of hori-
zontal electrodes at each end, and highly heats a central core of carbon,
which is disposed in a mass of silicious and carbonaceous material, and
which latter is converted by the heat into silicide of carbon, or carborun-
grinding
as
are
the
and
FIG. 22. — ELECTROCUTION CHAIR.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
45
dum. In Fig. 24 is shown a continuous electric furnace constructed as a
revolving wheel, under the Bradley patents. Rim sections 5 are placed on
the wheel on one side and filled with a mixture of carbon and lime, through
which the electric current is passed from the dynamo g. The heat of the
current fuses the mass and converts it into calcium carbide, and as the
wheel slowly revolves the rim sections 5 are removed from the opposite
side, and the mass of calcium carbide, seen at x, is broken off. The elec-
trolytic production of copper through the agency of the dynamo amounts
to 150,000 tons annually, and the commercial reduction of aluminum by
the electric furnace has grown from eighty-three pounds in 1883 to 5,200,-
FIG. 23. — PART SECTIONAL VIEW OF CARBORUNDUM FURNACE.
000 pounds in 1898, and its cost has been reduced to about 33 cents per
pound.
The storage battery, holding in reserve its stored up electric energy,
also owes its practical value entirely to the dynamo which charges it, and
thus makes available a portable source of supply.
To contemplate the dynamo with its clumsy, enormous spools, it sug-
gests to the imagination of the average observer the gigantic toy of some
Brobdingnagian boy — but the dynamo is no toy. It is the most compact,
business-like, and dangerous of all utilitarian devices. To touch its brushes
may be instant death, for the dynamo is the prison house of the lightning,
and resents intrusion. Hidden away from public gaze in some seques-
tered power house, and working night and dav like some tireless, dumb
46
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
FIG. 24. — BRADLEY ELECTRIC FURNACE FOR PRODUCING CALCIUM CARBIDE.
and mighty genii, it sends its magnetic thrills of force silently through the
many miles of wire extending like radii from some great nerve center
through the conduits in our streets, and stretching from pole to pole like
giant cobwebs through the air. Responding to its force, thousands of lit-
tle incandescent threads leap into radiant brightness and shed their mellow
and genial light in our offices, our stores, hotels, and homes. Brilliant
arc lamps, rivaling the sun in power, make night into day, and produce
/.V THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
47
along our streets ccrruscations, siUiouettes, and dancing shadows in spec-
tacular and unceasing pageants. From the towering lighthouses of our
coasts its beams are thrown seaward, and a Ijeacon for fhe mariner shines
beyond all other lights. The great search light of our ships is in itself but
a hollow mockery until the dynamo whispers in its ear the word "light!"
and then its beam, reaching for miles along the horizon, discovers a
stealth)- enemy, or signals the safe return to port. The mighty force of
-MODERN MULTIPOLAR DYNAMO.
the dynamo entering the electric motors on the street cars turns the wheels
and transports its load with scarcely a passenger inside realizing how it is
all done. The same energy turns the electric fan, and with kindly service
soothes the weary sufferer, and at another place remorselessly takes the
life of the condemned criminal. The dvnamo is one of the great factors of
modern civilization, and its potential name, like that of "dynamite," rightly
defines its character.
48
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
CHAPTER VI.
The Electric Motor.
B/\RLOw's Spur Wheel — Dal Negro's Electric Pendulum — Prof. Henry's Elb
TRic Motor — Jacobi's Electric Boat — Davenport's Motor— The Neff Motc
— Dr. Page's Electric Locomotive — Dr. Siemens' First Electric Railway a
Berlin^ 1S79 — First Electric Railway in United States, Between Balt
more and Hampden, 1885 — Third R.\il System — Statistics Electric Rah
w.\YS and General Electric Co. — Distribution Electric Current in Princ
pal Cities.
ALTHOUGH the electric motor of to-day depends for practical valu
entirely upon the dynamo which supplies it with electric powei
__ nevertheless the motor considerably antedated the dynamo. Th
genesis of the electric motor began in 1821 with Faraday's obsei
vation of the phenomenon of the conversion of an electric current int
mechanical motion. In his experiment a copper wire was supported in
vertical position so as to dip into a cup of mercury, while a small bar mag
net was anchored at one end by a thread to the bottom of the cup an-
floated in the mercury in Lipright position. The mass of mercury bein:
connected to one pole of a battery, and the vertical wire to the other, it wa
found that when the circuit was completed by dipping the wire into th
mercury, the floating bar magnet would revolve around the wire as a cen
ter.
In 1826 Barlow, of Woolwich, mad
his electrical spur wheel, Fig. 26, and ii
1830 the Abbe Dal Negro, in Padua, i
said to have constructed a sort of vibra
ting electrical pendulum, both of whicl
devices were crude forms of magneti
engines. Dal Negro's machine, see Fig
27, consisted of a magnet A, movabl
about an axis situated about one-third o
its length, and the upper extremity 0
ml^lWlfflllllMWP^>m?|ll»ll|M|Wl^^^ which was capable of oscillating betweei
FIG. 26.-barlow's wheel. the two branches of an electro-magnet F
A current being sent into the electro
magnet, passed through an eight-cupped mercurial commutator C, whicl
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
49
the oscillating magnet controlled by means of a rod t and a fork F.
When the magnet had been attracted toward one of the poles of the elec-
tro-magnet this very motion of attraction acting upon the commutator
changed the direction of the current, and the magnet was repelled toward
the other branch of the electro-magnet, and so on.
FIG. 27. — DAL NEGRO S ELECTRIC MOTOR.
In 1828 Prof. Joseph Henry produced his energetic electro-magnets
sustaining weights of some thousands of pounds, and gave prophetic sug-
gestion of the possibilities of electricity as a motive power. In 183 1 he
devised the electric motor shown in Fig. 28, which is described in Prof.
Henry's own words as follows :
"A B is the horizontal magnet, about seven inches long, and movable
on an axis at the center ; its two extremities when placed in a horizontal
50
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
line are about one inch from the north poles of the upright magnets C and
D. G and F are two large tumblers containing diluted acid, in each of
which is immersed a plate of zinc surrounded with copper; I m s t are!
four brass thimbles soldered to the zinc and copper of the batteries and
filled with mercury.
"The galvanic magnet A B is wound with three strands of copper bell
wire, each about twenty-five feet long; the similar ends of these are twisted
together so as to form two stiff wires q r, which project beyond the ex-
tremity B, and dip into the thimbles ^ t.
"To the wires q r two other wires are soldered so as to project in an
opposite direction, and dip into the thimbles / ;;;. The wires of the gal-
FIG. 28.— PROF, henry's ELECTRIC MOTOR.
vanic magnet have thus, as it were, four projecting ends ; and by inspect-
ing the figure it will be seen that the extremity p, which dips into the cup
■III, attached to the copper of the battery in G, corresponds to the extremity
r which dips into the cup t, connecting with the zinc in battery F. When
the batteries are in action, if the end B is depressed until q r dips into the
cups .f ^, A B instantly becomes a powerful magnet, having its north pole
at B ; this, of course, is repelled by the north pole D, while at the same time
it is attracted by C ; the position is consequently changed, and 0 p conies in
contact with the mercury in / m; as soon as the communication is formed,
the poles are reversed, and the position again changed. If the tumblers be
filled with strong diluted acid, the motion is at first very rapid and power-
ful, but it soon almost entirely ceases. By partially filling the tumblers
with weak acid, and occasionally adding a small quantity of fresh acid, a
uniform motion, at the rate of seventy-five vibrations in a minute, has been
kept up for more than an hour ; with a large battery and very weak acid
the motion might be continued for an indefinite length of time."
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
5J
Following Prof. Henry came Sturgeon's rotary motor of 1832, Jacobi's
rotary motor of 1834, Fig. 29, which had electro-magnets both in the field
and armature; Davenport's motor of 1834, Zabriskie's motor of 1837, in
which a vibrating magnet converted reciprocating into rotary motion ;
Davenport's motor of 1837 (U. S. Pat. No. 132, Feb. 25, 1837), Fig. 30;
Page's rotary motor of 1838, Walkley's motor of 1838 (U. S. Pat. No.
809, June 27, 1838) ; Stimson's motor of 1838 (U. S. Pat. No. 910, Sept.
12, 1838) ; Page's motor of 1839, Cook's of 1840 (U. S. Pat. No. 1,735,
Aug. 25, 1840) ; Elias' motor of 1842, invented in Holland; Lillie's motor
of 1850 (U S. Pat. No. 7,287, April 16, 1850) ; the Neff motor of 1851
(U. S. Pat No. 7,889, Jan. 7, 1851), of which illustration is given in Fig.
FIG. 29. — JACOBI S ROTARY ELECTRIC MOTOR.
31, and Page's motor of 1854 (U. S. Pat. No. 10,480, Jan. 31, 1854). In
1835 Davenport constructed a small circular railway at Springfield, Mass.
In 1839 Prof. Jacobi, with the aid of Emperor Nicholas, applied his
electric motor to a boat 28 feet long, carrying fourteen passengers, and
propelled the same at a speed of three miles an hour. About the same time
Robert Davidson, a Scotchman, experimented with an electric railway car
sixteen feet long, weighing six tons, and attaining a speed of four miles an
hour. In 1840 Davenport, by means of his electric motor, printed a news
sheet called the Electro Magnet and Mechanics' Intelligencer. In 185 1 an
electric locomotive made by Dr. Page in accordance with his subsequent
patent of 1854, drew a train of cars from Washington to Badensburg at a
rate of nineteen miles an hour.
All these motors were operated by voltaic batteries, and on account of
the cost of the latter but little practical use of the electric motor was made
52
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
FIG. 30. DAVENPORT MOTOR.
FIG. 31. — NEFF MOTOR.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
53
until the dynamo was invented. In 1S73 ^.n accidental discovery led to the
rapid practical development of the electric motor. It is said that at the in-
dustrial exhibition at \"ienna in that vear, a number of Gramme dvnamos
54
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
were being placed in position, and a workman in making tlie electrical con-
nections for one of these machines, inadvertently connected it to another
dynamo in active operation, and was surprised to find thai the dynamo he
was connecting began to revolve in the opposite direction. This was the
clue that led to the important recognition of the structural identity of the
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
dynamo and the modern type of electric motor. The dynamo and the elec-
tric motor then grew into development together, and the same inventors
who brought the dynamo to its present high efficiency, produced electric
motors of corresponding principles and value. In the illustration, Fig. 32,
66
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
is shown a modern electric motor. It is a Westinghouse two-pliase ma-
chine, of 300 horse power, of the self starting induction type, designed to
operate at a speed of 500 revolutions per minute when supplied with two-
phase currents of 3,000 alternations per minute and 2,000 volts pressure.
The most important application of the electric motor is for street car
operation. The first electric railway was that of Dr. Werner Siemens, at
Berlin, in 1879, an illustration of which is given in Fig. 33. The first elec-
tric railway in America was installed at Baltimore in 1885, and ran to
Hampden, a distance of two miles.
FIG. 35. — UNDERGROUND ELECTRIC TROLLEY SYSTEM.
The familiar overhead trolley cars, and the far superior conduit trolle}
system, represent perhaps the largest use made of electric motors. The
motors are arranged under the cars in varying forms adapted to the struc
ture of the car. In the overhead trolley, shown in Fig. 34, the current 1;
taken from the overhead wire by a flexible trolley pole, and in the condui
system a trolley known as a plow extends from the bottom of the ca
through a narrow slot in the toD of the conduit and makes a traveling con
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
57
tact with the conductor rails within the conduit, which carry the electric
current. Fig. 35 is an end view of a street car of the latter type, with the
conduit and conductor rails in cross section. The current goes from one
rail to one bearing surface of the plow, thence to the motor on the car and
back to the other bearing surface of the plow and the other conductor rail
in the conduit.
FIG. 36. — THIRD RAIL SYSTEM ON THE N. Y.. N. H, & H. RAILRO.^D — FRONT END OF MOTOR
CAR.
A third system, which has supplanted to some extent the use of steam
on short line railways, is the so-called third rail system, of which an exam-
ple is seen in Fig. 36. A third conductor rail is placed between the usual
track rails, and from this conductor the current is taken by a sliding shoe
on the car, and carried to the motor and thence through the car wheels to
the track rails. To reduce danger from the live rail, the third rail in some
58
THE PROGRESS OF INfENTION
FIG. 37. — ELECTRIC RAILWAY MOTOR, CLOSED.
riC. 38. — ELECTRIC RAILWAY MOTOR, OPENED.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 59
systems is made in sections, and, by an automatic switching process as the
car moves along, only the sections of the rail beneath the car are brought
into circuit, all other portions being cut out.
I
CIA
The use of electric motors has greatly extended, cheapened, and expe-
dited the street car service. All the principal thoroughfares of cities and
even tov,-ns are now so equipped, and radiating sulnirban lines extend for
60 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
miles from the city, affording for five cents a pleasant and cheap excursion
for the poor to the green fields and fresh air of the countr)'.
Figs. 37 and 38 show an electric motor used on street cars, as made by
the General Electric Company. Externally it presents the appearance of
some curious, uncouth, cast iron box, which, to the uninitiated, piques the
curiosity, and when opened adds no explanation of its real character. In
it, however, the electrician finds a most interesting combination of metal
and magnetism.
In Fig. 39 is shown one of the most powerful electric locomotives ever
constructed. It was built in 1895 by the General Electric Company for the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, to draw trains through the long tunnel from
the Camden Street Station in Baltimore, for the purpose of avoiding
smoke and gas in the tunnel, which is 7.339 feet long. The locomotive
weighs ninety-six tons, or twenty-five tons above the average steam loco-
motive. It was designed to draw 100 trains daily each way, moving pas-
senger trains of a maximum weight of 500 tons at thirty-five miles an
hour, and freight trains of 1,200 tons at fifteen miles an hour. It has two
trucks, and eight drive wheels of sixty-two inches diameter. There are
four motors, two to each truck, each rated at 360 horse power.
Other important applications of the electric motor are, the propelling
of automobile carriages, small boats, and fish torpedoes, operating steering
gear for ships, passenger elevators, rock drills in mines, running printing
presses, fans, sewing machines, graphophones, and in all applications
where space is limited and cleanliness a desideratum.
According to Mulhall there were in 1890 in the United States and Can-
ada about 645 miles of street railway operated by electricity. This about
concluded the first decade of the life of the electric railway. Some idea of
the rapid increase in this field may be had by the statement of the same au-
thority that there were in 1S90, at the end of this first decade,' forty-five
additional electric railroads in course of construction, aggregating 512
miles of way, which nearly doubled the previous existing mileage.
In 1898 it was estimated that there were in the United States 14,000
miles of electric railroads, with a nominal capital of $1,000,000,000, and
employing 170,000 men. In the same year a single electrical contract was
entered into between the Third Avenue Railroad and the Union Railway
Company of New York, acting as one, and the Westinghouse Electrical
and Manufacturing Company, amounting to $5,000,000. This was for the
electrical equipment of their respective railway lines, and is the largest
electrical contract ever made. The change in equipment from other mo-
tive power to the electric is rapidly going on in all directions, and the rapid
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 61
succession of trains will doubtless cause it, for passenger traffic on short
lines, to eventually supersede steam.
The eighth annual report of the General Electric Company shows for
the vear 1899 orders received for railway and other electrical equipment
amounting to $26,323,626; goods shipped, $22,379,463.75; profit on same,
$3,805,860.18. The growth of its business from 1893 to 1S99 shows the
following per cent, of increase : In 1893, 36 per cent, above 1892 ; in 1894.
126 per cent, above 1893 ; in 1895, 10 per cent, above 1894; in 1896, 60 per
cent above 1895; in 1897, 60 per cent, above 1896: in 1898. 21 per cent,
above 1897; in 1899, 51 per cent, above 1898.
The capitalization in electrical appliances in the United States in 1898
is estimated at $1,900,000,000, most of which is devoted to industries in
which the electric motor is used. The export of electrical apparatus from
this country amounts to more than three million dollars annually, and it is
said that there are eight times as many electric railways in the United
States as in all the rest of the world combined.
The use of electrical current in twelve principal cities in the United
States was distributed in 1898 as follows:
Lamps, arcs, and motors in sixteen candle power equivalents.
Boston 616,000 St. Louis 303,000
New York 1,718.000 San Francisco 231,000
Chicago 1,278,000 Buiifalo 125,000
Brooklyn 322,000 Rochester 184,000
Baltimore 224,000 Cincinnati 201,000
Philadelphia 488,000 New Orleans 81,000
Boston makes the largest use of electrical current in proportion to its
population of an}' city in the world. Rochester is next. Both of these
cities employ in electrical units of 16 c. p. equivalents, more than one elec-
tric lamp for every man, woman and child in their respective populations.
The dynamo and the electric motor have together wrought this great
development. The dynamo takes mechanical power and converts it into
electrical energy, and the electric motor takes the electrical energy and
converts it back into mechanical power. Standing behind them both, how-
ever, is the steam engine, and these three afford a beautiful illustration of
the law of correlation of forces. The force starts with the combustion of
coal under the boiler of the steam engine. When carbon unites chemically
with oxygen, it is an exothermic reaction that gives off heat as correlated
energy. The influence of heat on the molecules of water in the boiler
62 THE PROGRESS OF LyrENTION
catises them, liy repellent acticin, to assume the qualities of an elastic gas,
and this expanding as steam drives the piston of the steam engine. The
steam engine overcomes b)' force the resistance existing between the
dynamo's field magnets and armature coil, and sets up in the latter the
correlated force of an electric current, and the electric current, traveling
to its remote destination b\' suitable conductors, enters the coils of the
electric motor in reverse relation to that of the dynamo, and in producing
the reverse effect between the armature and field magnets, electrical en-
ergy is converted back into mechanical power. It is not possible to obtain
in the electric motor the full equivalent of the d}'namo's current, nor in
the dynamo the full equivalent of the steam engine's power, nor in the
steam engine the full equivalent of the chemical energy in the combustion
of coal. Loss by radiation, by conduction, by friction, and by electrical
resistance precludes this, but while there is loss in a utilitarian sense there
is no real loss, for force like matter, is indestructible, and the proof of.
this universal law by Joule, in 1843, constitutes one of the highest tri-
umphs of philosophy and one of the most important discoveries of the
Xineteenth Century.
IN THE NlNETFJlXTll CEXTUKV. 63
CHAPTER \'II.
The KiJie TKif Lkhit.
Voltaic Arc by Str Humphkey Davy — The Jap.i.ochkoff Candle — Patents of
Brush. Weston and Others — Search Lights — Guove's First Incanuescent
Lamp — Starr-King Lamp — AIoses Farmer Lights First Dwelling with
Electric Lamps — Sawyer-Man Lamp — Edison's Incandescent Lamp — Edi-
son's Three-Wire System of Circuits — Statistics.
THE popular idea of the electric light is, that it is a very recent in-
\entioii, since even the younger generation remembers when
there was no such thing in general use. It will surprise man)'
readers, then, to know that the electric light had its birth in the
first decade of the Nineteenth Century. Tn 1809 Sir Humphrey Davy dis-
covered that when two pieces of charcoal, which formed the terminals of a
powerful voltaic battery, were separated after having been brought into
contact with each other, at the moment of separation a brilliant arc of
flame passed from one piece of charcoal to the other, producing a tempera-
ture of 4,800° F., and that the intensity of the light exceeded all other
known forms of light. Various improvements in the organization of de-
vices were made for holding" the two pieces of carbon, which in time
assumed the form of two pencils in alignment, as in Eig. 40, and ilevices
were provided for feeding one carbon toward the other as the\- burned
away. Clock mechanism for thus regulating the feed was first emplo\-e<l,
which served to automatically keep the carbons a definite distance apart,
this l.ieing a necessary condition of the arc. I'or many years, however, the
use of such a light was confined to laboratory illustration, for the reason
tliat it could only bt produced at great expense by a large number of vol-
taic batteries. Nevertheless ver}- efficient electric lamps working bv vol-
taic batteries were devised by Foucault, Duliosccj, Deleuil and others as
early as 1853. With the advent of the dynamo, however, the electric light
grew rapidly and developed into conspicuous use. Even before the true
dynamo was invented the magneto-electric machine was employed for pro-
ducing an electric current to supply electric light. The so-called "Alli-
ance" generator was, in 1858, used in the South Eoreland lighthouse in
England to supply the arc lamps, and the beams of the electric light then,
for the first time, were turned seaward as a beacon for the mariner.
64
THE PROGRESS OF INJ'EXTION
Among the early developments of the electric light was the Jablochkoff
candle, see Fig. 41, brought out in 1877. In this device two parallel sticks
of carbon G G were separated b)' a non-conducting layer of kaolin I, and
were held in an asbestos ferrule A. Metal tubes T T connected the con-
ducting wires F F to the carbons. The arc of flame passed from the top of
one carbon to the other, fusing the separating layer of kaolin, and the
whole burned down together as a candle. This form of electric light was
FIG. 40. — SIMPLE ELECTRIC ARC LAMP.
extensively used in Paris in 1877, and also in London, and attracted con-
siderable attention.
From the Jablochkoff candle the arc light has resumed the form of two
vertically aligned carbons, and .after passing through various forms and
patterns, of which the Weston lamp. Fig. 42, is a modern type, has come
into such universal and conspicuous use for lighting the streets of our
cities, and is so well known to-day, that but little need be said of its devel-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
65
FIG. 41.
.TAELOCHKOFF CANDLE,
opment, since its real character has undergone no change in principle, the
improvements relating chiefly to means for regulating the feed of the car-
bons and maintaining them at a uniform distance apart, so as to avoid
flickering. This result is obtained by automatic
mechanism operated l^y the electric current acting
upon electro-magnets, as shown in Fig. 43. in which
the electro-magnets raise the upper carbon when it
is too close to the lower carbon, and lower the upper
carbon when the space becomes too great from
burning away. Among those who have contributed
to the development of the arc light the names of
Brush, Weston, and Thomson and Houston are
most conspicuous, and the patents of Brush, No.
203,411, May 7, 1878, and No. 212,183, Feb. 11,
1879, and Weston, No. 285,451, Sept. 25, 1883, are
the most representative developments.
The applications of the arc light have been bril-
liant beyond the dreams of the most sanguine in-
senior. In the illustrations number 44, 45 and 46, is shown a gigantic
electric light beacon manufactured by Henry Lepaute, of Paris, and first
cxhil.iited in this country at the Chicago World's Fair, in 1893. It con-
sists of two great lenses, each nine feet in diameter,
between which, in their focus, is placed a 9.000 candle-
power arc light. The great lantern. Fig. 45, is carried
by a vertical shaft, which terminates at its lower end in
a hollow drum, which latter floats in a bath of mer-
cury. Although the weight is estimated at several
tons, so sensitive is its poise on the mercury that the
enormous lantern may be easily rotated by the pressure
of one's finger. I'^ach lens consists of concentric seg-
ments, see Fig. 46, 190 in number, surrounding a cen-
tral disk, which together cause the rays to issue in
parallel lines. The nine-foot beam of light thus pro-
jected is of 90,000.000 candle power, and if placed at a
sufficient altitude to avoid the curvature of the earth's
surface, its light would be visible at the range of 146.9
nautical miles.
Better known to the patrons of our excursion boats
and the visitors to our splendid battleships, are the electric search lights.
The greatest example of all search lights, however, is not to be found on
FIG. 42.
WESTON ARC LAMP.
66
THE PROGRESS OF INJ'ENriON
the sea, but in the picturesque altitudes of the Sierra Aladres in Southern
Cahfornia. At Ihe summit of Mount Lowe, in the neighborhood of Pasa-
dena, is the largest search light in the world, shown in illustration. Fig. 48.
It is of 3,000,000 candle power, stands eleven feet high, and its total
weight is 6,000 pounds. Its light may be seen for 150 miles out on the
ocean, and as its powerful beam is thrown from mountain top to mountain
top hundreds of miles apart, it adds the illumination of art to the sublimity
of nature, and seems a fitting jewel to this lofty
crown of Mother Earth.
Brilliant as is the arc lamp, far more in evi-
dence is the incandescent lamp. The little glass
bulb with its tiny thread of light we find every-
where. Popular opinion and the decision of the
courts accord this invention to Thomas A. Edi-
son. The evolution of the incandescent lamp
is, however, interesting, and may be briefly
sketched as follows :
In 1845 there appeared in the Fliilosophical
Magazine a description of what was probably
the first incandescent electric light. It was de-
vised in 1840 by William Robert Grove, the in-
ventor of the Grove battery, and is illustrated in
Fig. 49. It is stated that he experimented and
read by it for hours. It was described as fol-
lows :
"A coil of platinum wire is attached to two
copper wires, the lower parts of which, or those
most distant from the platinum, are well var-
nished ; these are fixed erect in a glass of distilled
water, and another cylindrical glass, closed at
the upper end, is inverted over them, so that its
open mouth rests on the bottom of the former
glass ; the projecting ends of the copper wires are connected with a voltaic
battery (two or three pairs of the nitric acid combination), and the ignited
wire now gives a steady light. Instead of making the wires pass chrough
the water, they may be fixed to metallic caps well luted to the necks of a
glass globe."
In 1845 August King patented, in England, an incandescent lamp,
having an unsealed platinum burner, and also a carbon in a vacuum. Mr.
King acted as agent for an American inventor, Mr, Starr, and the lamp
FIG. 43.
ARC LAMP FEED MECH.^NISM.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
67
came to be known as the Starr-King lamjp, shown in Fig. 50. The burner
was a thin plate or pencil of carbon B, enclosed in a Torricellian vacuum at
the end of an inverted barometer tube, and held between the terminals of
tlie connecting wires leading to a battery. In 1859 Moses G. Farmer
lighted his house at
Salem, Mass., by a se-
ries of subdivided elec-
tric lights, which was
the first private dwell-
ing lighted by electri-
city, and probably the
first illustration of the
feasibility of subdivid-
ing the electric current
through a number of
electric lamps.
In 1877 William E.
Sawyer applied for a
United States patent
for an electric engineer-
ing and lighting sys-
tem, and in January,
1878, entered into a
partnership with Albon
Man, and the ''Sawyer-
Man" lamp, see Fig. 51,
was produced. In this
an incandescent rod of
carbon was inclosed in
an atmosphere of nitro-
gen. This marked the
beginning of a period
of great activity in this
field, which finally re-
sulted in the well
known form of electric
lamp shown in Fig. 52,
which was patented by Edison, No. 223,898, January 27, 1880. The dis-
tinctive features of this lamp consisted in a bowed filament of carbon of
very thin, thread-like character, which was made of paper or carbonized
FIG. 44. — NINE THOUS.->.ND C.^NDLE POWER ARC LAMP.
68
THE PROGRESS OF INFENl'ION
FIG. 45. — NINETY MILLION CANDLE POWER BIVALVE LENS.
cellulose. This, when sealed in a vacuum, would not burn away, but would
give the proper incandescence, and l^y its small transverse dimension and
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 69
higli resistance to the current, permitted a proper distribution of the elec-
tric current to a number of lamps, without a special regulator for each
lamp ; and which could also be made so cheaply that the lamp could be
thrown awa_y when the burner was finall)' broken. Edison's claim on this
FIG. 4&. FRONT VIEW OF LENS.
feature of the electric lamp was sharply contested in an interference in the
Patent Office bv Savvver and Alan, with the decisions alternatinsf first in
favor of one and then of the ether, but which finally resulted in the grant
of a patent to Sawyer and Alan, en Alay 12, 18S5. A struggle then began
70
THE rROGRESS OF /.Vf "£.Vr/O.Y
FIG. 47. — SEARCH LIGHT WITH MACHINE GUN REPELLING NIGHT ATTACK OF TORrEDO BOAT.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
71
in the courts, which on C)ctober 4, 1892, terminated in a decision b)' the
United States Court of Appeals (Edison Electric Light Company vs.
E^niteil States Lighting Company), awarding the incandescent lamp to
Edison.
In the early demonstration given by Edison great disturbance was
caused in the stock exchanges among the holders of gas shares, as the sen-
sational reportings in the press seemed to indicate that gas was to be su-
FIG. 48. — SEARCH LIGHT ON MOUNT LOWE, CALIFORNIA.
perseded entirely. This uneasiness on the London Stock Exchange
amounted on October u, 1878, to a veritable panic, but while the electric
light has more than fulfilled the prophecy made for it in many directions,
gas shares still continue to be good stocks.
Closely allied to the practical use of the incandescent lamp is the
method of suppl}-ing and regulating the current from the dynamo. Al-
though the alternating current is used for arc light, only the continuous
ciuTent can be used fcr the incandescent lights, and ■ the relation
72
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
FIG. 49. — FIRST INCANDESCENT LAMP, BY PROFESSOR GROVE, 184O.
of the dynamo and the incandescent lamps is shown in
Fig.
53-
a
in which L represents the lamps between the main conducting wires lead-
ing from the dynamo, which latter has the coils of the field magnets ar-
ranged in a shunt or branch circuit, in which is inter-
j — 1^ posed a regulator R in the form of a resistance coil with
movable switch lever, by which more or less of the cur-
rent is allowed to flow through the field magnet coils to
suit the work being done. In late years automatic regula-
tors have been provided for accomplishing this result. In
Fig. 54 is shown what is known as the Edison "three
wire system," patented March 20, 1883, No. 274.250. In
this two dynamos are used as at D' D-, and the three
wires emerge from the dynamos, one from the negative
pole of one dynamo, another from the positive pole of the
other dynamo, and the third or middle one is connected
to both the other poles (positive and negative), of the
two dynamos. I'or purposes of illustration, this may
he compared to a three-storied arrangement of current,
the upper wire representing the third stcry, the middle
wire the second stcry, and the bottom one the first story.
The fall from either story to the next represents the
v.-orking energy, but from the top wire to the bottom
would be equal to a fall from the third story to the first.
The purpose of this arrangement 13 to save expense in
_STAKR- copper wire, for while three main wires are used instead
KING LAMP. of two, the aggregate weight of the wires (when the
/
/.V THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
73
I''IG. 51. — SAWYER
MAN LAMP.
When an elec-
tric lamp is ar-
ranged with the
opposite ends of
the carbon burner
connected, one to
the outgoing, the
other to the incom-
ing wires from a
dynamo, so as to be bridged across, this
arrangement is said to be "in multiple"
or "in parallel," and the lamps bear the
analogy of horses drawing alireast, and
when the opposite ends of the carbon
burner are placed in a gap or break in
either the outgoing or the incoming
wire, the arrangement is said to be "in
series,"' and the lamps bear the analogy
of horses in tandem.
Explanation of electric nomencla-
ture can best be given bv the analogy
in hydrostatics of a stream of water
passing in the hose pipe from a fire-en-
gine. The "watt" indicates the sum
total unit of electrical power for a def-
lamps are arranged as shown), may be made so
much less than two heavy wires as to make a very
great saving in copper.
The uses of the incandescent light are legion. Be-
sides those which are of common observation it is used
for lighting the interior of mines, caves, and the dark
apartments of ships, and does not foul the air. It is-
also used by divers in submarine operations ; in the
formation of advertising signs, and in pyrotechnics,
but perhaps one of the most extraordinary uses tO'
which it has been put is in exploring the interior of the
human stomach and other cavities of the body, a pat-
ent for which was granted to M. C. F. Nitze, No. 218,-
055, July 29, 1879.
/-
FIG. 52. — EDISON S ELECTRIC L.\MP.
.4 — E.xhausted globe, i?— Carbon filament.
CC — Wires sealed in glass. D — Line of fusion
fif two parts of globe. Ef — Insulating" mate-
• ., • 1 r i- 1 ■ ,1 1 rial. G Screw-threads. ///—Meial socket.
imtC periOfl Ot time, and m the hose 7— fixture arm A--C:rcuit controlling key.
74
THE PROGRESS OP INPEXTION
pipe would 1)0 represented by the eilective force of a definite volume of
Avater, passing at a definite pressure, during a definite period of time.
"\'olt" is a pressure unit
of electro-motive force,
and would be represent-
ed by the power of the
engine. "Ampere"
would be the quantity,
or volume unit, or cross
section of the hose pipe,
and the "ohm" would be
the imit of frictional re-
sistance. The "watt"
then would be the "volt"
multiplied by the "am-
pere" ; thus 500 watts
FIG. S3. — ELECTRIC LIGHT CIRCUIT. , , ,
would be 10 amperes at
50 volts, or 50 amperes at 10 volts. Low tension circuits, such as are used
for incandescent lights, range from lOO to 240 volts and are harmless.
Trolley circuits are usually 500 volts, and will kill an animal, but are not
©©©©©©
© ©
e
-fi
FIG. 54. — Edison's three wire sv.ste,m of ei.ecTuic light cikcuits.
necessarily fatal to man. High tension currents from 2,000 to 5,000 volts,
such as are used for arc lights, are fatal.
Of all modern inventions, not one has advertised itself in such a
spectacular way as the electric light. Those who have seen the magnifi-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 75
cent electrical displays at the Chicago Fair, the electrical celebrations in
New York, and the Omaha Exhibition, need no introduction to its marvel-
ous splendors and beauties. In the annual report for 1898 of the Edison
Electric Illuminating Company of New York, its statement shows that for
that city alone the gross earnings were $2,898,021. There were 9,990
users of the electric light, 443,074 incandescent lamps, and 7,353 arc
lights. It is estimated that the electric light stations and plants in the
United States alone amount to $600,000,000. In the year 1899 a single
manufacturing concern (The General Electric Company) received orders
for 10,000,000 incandescent lamps, which is about one-half of the present
annual production. Sixteen years ago the lamps were $1 each; to-day
they can be bought for 18 cents.
What the future has in store for the further development of the elec-
tric light no one may dare predict. Already a different form or manifes-
tation of electric light has been demonstrated, in which neither the electric
arc nor the incandescent filament is used, but a peculiar glow is seen dis-
associated from a direct material habitation, and produced by currents of
enormous frequency and high potential, in accordance with the patent to
Tesla, No. 454,622, June 23, 1891. Other worthy inventors in this field
are at work, and its development will be one of the interesting problems of
the Twentieth Century.
76 THE PROGRESS OF INI-'ENTION
CHAPTER VIII.
The Telephone.
Preliminary Suggestions and Experiments of Bourseul, Reis and Drawbaugh
— First Speaking Telephone by Prof. Bell — Differences Between Reis' anu
Bell's Telephones — The Blake Transmitter — Berliner's Variation of Re-
sistance, AND Electric Undulations by Variation of Pressure — Edison's
Carbon Microphone — The Telephone Exchange — Statistics.
T'7'^f (far), and cpoavt] (sound), are the Greek roots from
which the word telephone is derived. It has the significance of
transmitting sound to distant points, and is a word antedating
the present speaking telephone, although this fact is generally
lost sight of in the dazzling brilliancy of this latter invention. In the
effort to hear better, the American Indian was accustomed to place his
ear to the ground. Children of former generations also made use of a toy
known as the "lovers' telegraph" — a piece of string held under tension
between the flexible bottoms of two tin boxes — which latter when spoken
into transmitted through the string the vibrations from one box to the
other, and made audible words spoken at a distance. These expedients
simply made available the superior conductivity of the solid body over the
air to transmit sound waves. The electro-magnetic telephone operates
on an entirely different principle. It is a marvelous creation of genius,
and stands alone as the uniciue, superb, and unapproachable triumph of
the Nineteenth Century. For subtilty of principle, impressiveness of ac-
tion, and breadth of results, there is nothing comparable with it among
mechanical agencies. In its wonderful function of placing one intelligent
being in direct vocal and sympathetic communication with another a thou-
sand miles away, its intangible and mysterious mode of action suggests to
the imagination that unseen medium of prayer rising from the conscious
human heart to its omniscient and responsive God. The telegraph and
railroad had already brought all the peoples of the earth into intimate
communication and made them close kin, but the telephone transformed
them into the closer relationship of families, and the tiny wire, sentient
and responsive with its unlimited burden of human thoughts and human
feelings, forms one of the great vital cords in the solidarity of the human
family.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 77
It is a curious fact that many, and perhaps most, great inventions have
been in tlie nature of accidental discoveries, the b_v-products of thought
directed in another channel, and seeking other results, but the telephone
does not belong to this class. It is the logical and magnificent outcome of
persistent thought and experiment in the direction of the electrical trans-
mittal of speech. Prof. Bell had his objective point, and keeping this
steadily in view, worked faithfully for the accomplishment of his object in
producing a speaking telephone, until success crowned his work. He
probably did not realize at first the full magnitude of the achievement, but
looking at it from the end of the Nineteenth Century, he might well ex-
claim in the language of Horace: "Excgi inonumcutiiin acre perenniits."
Prof. Bell's conception of the telephone dates back as far as 1874. His
first United States patent, No. 174,465, was granted March 7, 1876, and
his second January 30, 1877, No. 186,787. It is generally the fate of most
inventions, even of a meritorious order, to languish for many years, and
frequently through the whole term of the patent, before receiving full rec-
ognition and adoption by the public, but the meteoric brilliancy of this in-
vention at its first public announcement astonished the masses, and in-
spired the admiration of the savants of the world. When exhibited at the
Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, in 1876. it was spoken of by Sir
William Thomson, and Prof. Henry, as the "greatest by far of all the
marvels of the electric telegraph."
It is always the fate of the author of any great invention to be com-
pelled to defend himself against the claims of others. It is one of the fail-
ings of human nature to lay claim to that which somebody else has ob-
tained, and is an old story which finds its first illustration in the squabbles
of childhood. When a troop of prattling boys hunt butterflies among the
daisies, and some sharp-eyed youngster has captured a prize, there are al-
wa}-s others of his mates to cry, "I saw it first," and men are but grown-up
boys. So in the history of the telephone, Prof. Bell has found competitors
for this honor, and it is astonishing to know how close some of these prior
experimenters came to success without reaching it. In 1854 Bourseul, of
Paris suggested an electric telephone, and in 1861 Philip Reis devised an
electric telephone which would transmit musical tones. Daniel Draw-
baugh, of Pennsylvania, is alleged to have made an electric telephone in
1867-1868, and his claims against the Bell interests were fought vigorously
in the Patent Office, and in the courts, but without success. Elisha Gray's
claims perhaps came nearer to establishing for him a share in the honor of
inventing the speaking telephone than any other, for he filed a caveat in
the United States Patent Office upon the same day (February 14, 1876),
78
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
upon which Prof. Bell's application for a patent was made. But in the
contest in the Patent Office with Gray, Edison, Berliner, Richmond, Hol-
combe, Farmer, Dolbear, Volker, and others, it was decided that Prof.
Bell was the first to make a practically efiiective speaking telephone, and
this conclusion has been sustained by the courts. Reis was a poor German
school teacher at Friedrichsdorf, and in i860 he took a coil of wire, a
knitting needle, the skin of a German sausage, the bung of a beer barrel,
and a strip of platinum, and constructed the first electric telephone. A
typical form of his transmitter, see Fig. 55, was a box covered with a
vibrating membrane E, and provided with a mouth-piece at one side. A
platinum strip F was attached to the membrane or vibrating diaphragm E,
and a platinum pointed hammer G rested lightly on the platinum strip F.
The hammer G and platinum strip F were connected to the opposite ends of
a wire, which had in its circuit a battery and a receiver. Air vibrations in
FIG. 55. PHILIP REIS TELEPHONE.
the nature of sound waves in the box caused the diaphragm E to vibrate,
and a separating make-and-break contact between the platinum strip F
and the platinum point of hammer G caused a series of separate and dis-
tinct broken impulses to traverse the battery circuit and be received upon
the receiver, which latter consisted of an iron rod with a coil of wire
around it. That Reis' transmitter did alternately make and break the
circuit, seems clear from his own memoir. A translation from this mem-
oir, taken from the annual report (Jahresberichte) of the Physical Society
of Frankfurt am Main for 1860-1861, reads as follows:
".Vt the first condensation (of air vibrations) the hammer-shaped little
wire d (G in our illustration), will be pushed back. At the succeeding
rarefaction it cannot follow the return vibration of the membrane, and the
current going through the little strip (of platinum) remains interrupted
so long as until the memljranc driven by a new condensation presses the
m THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 79
little strip against d (the hammer G) once more. In this wav each sound
wave effects an opening and closing of the current."
Reis evidently did not know how to make the vibrations of his dia-
phragm translate themselves into exactly commensurate and correlated
electric impulses of ecjual rapidit}', range, and quality. If he had done this,
he would have had a speaking telephone, but a make-and-break contact
could never do it, and hence he in his later instruments attached to them a
telegraphic key in order that the sending operator might communicate
with the receiving operator. If Reis' telephone had been a speaking tele-
phone, this would have been unnecessary. Furthermore, it is inconceiv-
able how the intelligent, progressive, and scientific Germans could have
failed to have given to a speaking telephone in i860 the immediate honor
and attention that it deserved. In America, the P.ell speaking telephone,
invented in 1876, was known all over the civilized world the same year.
Reis' broken contact circuit would transmit musical tones, because musical
tones vary chiefly in rapidity of viliration, rather than in range, or c[uality,
and the chattering contacts of Reis' telephone would transmit musical
tones because said contracts could be adjusted to the practically uniform
range of vibration. Prof. Bell, iiowever, had made a special study of ar-
ticulate speech, and knew that speech was not essentially musical, but was
composed of an irregular and discordant merlley of vowel and consonant
sounds, wl-.ose vibrations varied not only in pitch or rapidity like musical
tones, but also in the quality or kind of vi1)rations as to range and loud-
ness. In his invention, therefore, he did not make and break the circuit as
did Reis, through the contact points, but he used the more sensitive plan of
a constantly closed circuit, and merely caused the current to undulate in it
by a principle of magnetic induction. This principle was first discovered
by Oersted, and developed into the well known fact that when a piece of
iron is moved back and forth from the poles of an electro-magnet an in-
duced current is made to oscillate in the helix of the electro-magnet. The
difference between Reis' separating make-and-break circuit, and the Bell
continuous but undulating current, might be illustrated by the dift'erence
between the impulses delivered bv the beating of the drum sticks on the
head of a drum, on the one hand, and the alternate pulling and slackening
of a kite cord, on the other. In the successive impacts on the head of a
drum there could not be so sensitive a transfer of motion to the lower head
of the drum as there would be transferred to the kite by the movement of
the hand holding the kite cord. Reis' plan resembled the broken drum
beats, and Bell's the kite cord, which always preserved a certain amount of
tension^ Bell accomplished his object by the means shown in Figs. 56 and
80
THE PROGRESS OF INrENTlOX
57, ill which Fig. 56 represents his first patent of March 7, 1876, and Fig.
57 his second patent of January 30, 1877. In both cases the current was a
continuously closed one, and was not alternately made and broken as bv
the separating contacts of Reis. Prof. Bell caused the vocal air vibrations
to undulate or oscillate the continuously closed circuit by the principle of
magnetic induction as follows (see Fig. 56) : He caused diaphragm a,
when spoken against, to vibrate the armature c in front of the electro-mag-
net b, but without touching it, and as the armature approached and re-
ceded from the electro-magnet it induced an undulating but never broken
current in the helix of this electro-magnet and along the line to and
through the helix of the electro-magnet / at the distant receiver, and this
undulating current, influencing the armature h, which touched the dia-
phragm i but not the electro-magnet, produced in the attractive influence of
the magnet on this armature and diaphragm, vibrations of the same rapid-
ity, range, and quality as those vocal vibrations that acted upon the first
FIG. 56. — PKuF. bell's telephone, m.\rch 7. 1876.
"diaphragm a. In other words, the sequence of transference was air vibra-
tions in A, mechanical vilirations of diaphragm a, electrical undulations
traversing the line, induced vibrations in armature /; and diaphragm /, and
air vibrations again resolved back into sounds of articulate speech, the
same as tho.;e spoken into A. It will be perceived that in the Bell tele-
phone both transmitter and receiver were of identical construction. This
is better shown in Fig. 57 of his later patent, in which the horizontal line
below the electro-magnet on one side represents a metal transmitting dia-
phragm, and the horizontal line under the electro-magnet at the other side
was the receiving diaphragm. Not only were the sounds thus reproduced,
btit as the circuit was continuous and never broken by any separating con-
tacts, the extreme sensitiveness of the electric vibrations set up by mag-
netic induction was such that the discordant and irregular quality of thc
vibrations of articulate speech were transferred and reproduced with exact
fidelit}-, as well as the musical tones, and this rendered the speaking tele-
phone a success. In later telephones the current is actually transmitted
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 81
through the contacting points, but this only became practicable after the
carbon microphone transmitter was invented, in which the essential undu-
lations of the electric current were produced in another way, ;'. e., by the
application of the important discovery that the varying of the pressure on
carbon, by vibration, varied its conductivity, and in this way produced the
same result of undulating a current without breaking it. This in no wise
detracts from the value of the principle of the continuous undulating cur-
rent discovered and employed by Prof, Bell, between which and the breaks
of the hard platinum points of Reis there is a difference as wide as the
difference between success and failure.
The form in which I'rof. Bell's telephone was placed before the public
was not that shown in the patents, but it quickly assumed the well-known
shape of an elongated cylinder forming a handle, with a flaring mouth-
Fic. 57. — [■K(iF. bell's telephone, janu.\kv .50. 11^77.
piece at one end. This development in form is credited to Dr. Channing
in 1877, and it is the familiar form to-day, whose internal construction is
shown in Fig. 58. The handle is made of hard rubber, and the cap or
mouth-piece, which is screwed thereon, is also of hard rubber. The dia-
phragm A, of thin ferrotype plate, is clamped at its edges between the cap,
or mouth-piece, and the handle. The compound magnet B is composed of
four thin flat bar magnets, arranged in pairs on opposite sides of the flat
end of the soft iron pole piece c at one end, and the soft iron spacing piece
(/ at the other end, the magnets being clamped to these pieces with like
poles all in one direction. The end of the pole piece c extends to within
i-ioo to 2-100 of an inch of the diaphragm, or as near as possible so that
the diaphragm does not touch it when it vibrates. On the pole piece c is
placed a wooden spool on which is wound silk-covered wire (No. 34, Am.
W. G.]. This wire fills the spool, and its ends are soldered to two insu-
82
THE PROGRESS OF INDENTION
lated wires which pass through a flexible rubber disc / below the spool and
extend respectively to the two binding posts at the opposite end of the
handle. The current passes from one binding post and its connecting-
wire, through the wire on the spool, and thence to the other connecting
wire and binding post. When used as a transmitter, vocal vibrations act-
ing mechanically on the diaphragm A produce undulatory vibrations by
magnetic induction in the spool of wire, which are transmitted to the other
end of the line ; and when used as a receiver, the undulatory vibrations
from the remote end of the line produce mechan-
ical vibrations in the diaphragm, which set up air
vibrations that are reproductions of articulate
sounds.
Although the Bell telephone is both a trans-
mitter and receiver, in practice a more sensitive
and better form of transmitter has taken its place.
That most generally used and best known is the
"Blake transmitter," which was brought out about
1880. This emp'03's two important elements.
The first is the carbon microphone, which is a
means for producing the undulations in the cur-
rent by the variations in pressure on carbon con-
tacts, and the second is an induction coil operated
by a local battery, whose primary circuit passes
through the contacts of the carbon microphone,
and whose secondary circuit passes over the line^
These fundamental elements of the Blake trans-
mitter were the inventions of Berliner and Edi-
son, and were made in 1877. The broad idea of
producing electric undulations by varying the
pressure between electrodes by vocal vibrations,
was a large bone of contention in the Patent
Office between various inventors. .A.n application
for a patent for the same was filed in the Pat-
ent Office by Emile Berliner, June 4, 1877, which was contested in an in-
terference by Gray, Edison, Richmond, Dolbear, Plolcombe, Prof. Bell,
and others. After fourteen years of litigation the patent was finally
awarded to Berliner. The patent granted to him November 17, 1891, No.
463,569, is a valuable one, and has become the property of the American
Bell Telephone Company. The application of a low resistance conductor
(carbon) in a microphone was invented by Edison as early as 1877, but his
I'IG. 58. LONGITUUINAI.
SECTION OF BELI.
TELEPHONE.
IN THE \-IXETEENTH CENTURY.
83
patent, No. 474,230, did not issue until May 3, 1S92, on account of the in-
terference with Berhner on the broader principle.
The Blake transmitter takes its name from the inventor of its mechan-
ical features, who has assembled in it the fundamental principles of Ber-
liner and Edison in a sensitive and practical mechanical construction, cov-
ered by minor patents, dated November 29, 1881. It is the little box in the
«^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
FIG. 59. BL.»iKE TRANSMITTER.
middle of the familiar telephone outfit into which the talking is done. Its
internal construction is shown in Fig. 59. To the rear of the door is se-
cured the cast iron circulai ring A, inside of which lies the Russia iron
diaphragm B, cushioned at its edges with a rubber band. A circular seat a
little larger than the diaphragm is formed in the iron ring, and on this seat
the diaphragm rests. A short, thin metal plate attached to the ring A on
the right hand side clamps the diaphragm in position by resting squarely
84
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
on the rubber edge of the diaphragm. Its function is like that of a hinge,
which allows the diaphragm to freel}' swing inward. A steel damping-
spring is secured to the ring at the opposite edge of the diaphragm, and
has its free end provided with a rubber glove on which is cemented a thin
piece of fluffy woolen material. The padded end of the damping spring-
rests against the diaphragm and prevents excessive vibration. The iron
ring A has at its bottom a projection holding an adjusting screw, and to a
similar top projection is attached by screws a brass spring, from which
depends another casting C, supporting the microphone apparatus, which is
best shown in the diagram, Fig. 60. In this diagram A is one terminal of
the battery connected b}' wire S to the hinge H of the box. From the
other leaf of the hinge the wire M passes to K, where it is soldered to the
H41
FIG. 60. DI..\GRAM OF CIRCUITS IN BLAKE TR.\NSMITTER.
upper end of a German silver spring I. At K this spring is clamped and
insulated from the iron work by two pieces of hard rubber. On the lowcr
end of the spring I is soldered a short piece of thick platinum wire, who^e
ends are rounded into heads, one of which bears against the diaphragm N,
and the other against the carbon button J. This button is attached to a
small brass weight, and is supported by a spring R, clamped at its upper
end to the metal support T. This spring is surrounded its entire length by
rubber tubing to deaden vibration. The transmitter is adjusted by screw
O, which, acting upon casting T, brings the carbon button, the platinun-i
heads, and also the diaphragm N, against each other with a regulated pres-
sure. The current passes from the part K to the spring i, the platinum
head, carbon button J, and its supporting spring R, to metal casting T,
and ring V, thence h\ wire L to the lower hinge G, by wire P to the pri-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
85
mary of the induction coil, and thence by wire Y to binding post B, the
two binding posts A B being the two battery terminals. The secondary
wire E of the induction coil has its ends connected by wires X and W with
the two binding posts C B, which are the line terminals, or one the line
terminal and the other the ground connection. It will thus be seen that
the primary current passes through the transmitter, and the secondary tra-
verses the line. The most familiar forms
of the telephone are those seen in Figs. 6i
and 62, but the ideal form is rigged in a
cabinet or little room, which excludes all
extraneous interfering sounds.
With the Bell receiver and the Blake
transmitter a good practical telephone sys-
tem may be constructed, but the improve-
ments which have been made in the short
life of the telephone are lieyond adequate
description, or even mention. They relate
to the call bell, the battery, the switch-
board, meters for registering calls, con-
ductors, conduits, connections, lightning
arresters, switches, anti-induction devices,
repeaters, and systems.. Among those
most prominently identified with its de-
velopment are Bell, Edison, Berliner,
Hughes, Gray, Dolbear and Phelps.
The activity in this field is best illustrated
by the fact that the art of telephony,
begun practically in 1876, has at the
end of the Nineteenth Century grown
into some 3,000 United States patents on
the subject.
That which has given the telephone
its greatest commercial value is the
"exchange" system, by which at a central office any member of a tele-
phonic community may be instantly put into communication with any other
member of that community. For this purpose, see Fig. 63, a continuous
switchboard is arranged along the side of a large room and occupies most
of that side of the wall. It comprises a great array of annunciator drops,
spring jacks with plug seats, and connecting cords with metal plugs at
their opposite ends. Each subscriber is connected to his own spring jack
FIG. 61. — W.M.L TELEPHONE.
86
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
and annunciator drop, and his call to central office (from his magneto-
bell) throws down the annunciator drop which bears the number of his
telephone, and announces to the attendant his desire to communicate with
another. To insure the attention of the attendant, a tiny electric lamp is
by the same action lighted directl}- in front of her, which acts as a pilot
signal to call her attention to the drop. The attendant now puts a plug in
that spring jack, which automatically restores the drop, and she then asks
the number which the subscriber wants, and, upon ascertaining this, puts
the plug at the other end of the connecting cord into the spring jack of the
subscriber wanted, and by this action disconnects her own telephone. As
every telephone subscriber has in the central office an apparatus exclu-
sively his own, it will be seen that a telephone community of several thou-
sands of subscribers
involves an impos-
ing array of mul-
tiple connections,
and a great expense
in CO n s t r u c t i o n .
Girls are chosen as
exchange attendants
because their voices
are clearer. Every
telephone jack, how-
ever, does not have
its Jill, for each girl
has charge of a hun-
. dred or more jacks,
and wears constant-
embracing her head
an ear-piece at one
FIG. 62. — DESK TELEPHONE.
ly on her head a telephone of special shape,
like a child's hoop comb, but terminating with
end 'that covers one ear. She is too busy to waste time in adjusting an
ordinary telephone to her ear. and so wears one of special design all the
time.
In the twentieth annual report of the American Bell Telephone Com-
pany, for the year 1899, the number of telephones in use January i, 1900,
by that company alone, in the United States, was ], 580,101 ; the miles of
wire were 1,016,777, and the daily connections for persons using the tele-
phone were 5,173,803. The gross earnings of the company were $5,760,-
106.45, and it paid in dividends $3,882,945. The total number of ex-
change stations of the Bell Company in the principal countries of the
JX THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
87
world are: United States. 632.946; German)-, 212,121; Great Britain,
112,840; Sweden, 63,685; France, 44,865; Switzerland, 35,536; Russia,
26,865; Austria, 26,664; Norway, 25,376. The United States has nearly
85,000 more tlian all the others put together.
Since the expiration of the Bell patents many smaller companies have
.sprung up, and the iiumber of telephones in use has more than doubled in
the last five years. Long distance telephony is now carried on up to nearly
2,000 miles, and one mav to-day lie in bed in New York and listen to a
concert in Chicago, and the \(ical exchange of business and social inter-
ne. 63. — TELEPHONE EXCHANGE.
course between cities has liecoiiie so large a feature of modern life as to
justify the organization of a great company for this service alone.
In the Old Testament, Book of Job, xxxviii. chapter, 35th verse, it is
written : "Canst thou send lightnings that they may go and say unto thee
■ — 'Here we are?' " For thousands of years this challenge to Job has been
looked upon as a feat whose execution was only within the power of the
Almighty ; but to-day the inventor — that patient modern Job — has accom-
plished this seemingly impossible task, for at the end of this Nineteenth
Century of the Chrstian Era, the telephone makes the lightning man's
vocal messenger, tireless, faithful, and true, knowing no prevarication, and
swifter than the winded messentrer of the Sfods.
THE PROGRESS OF /.Vrfi.VT/O.V
CHAPTER IX.
Electricity — ^Iiscellaneous.
Storage Battery — Batteries of Plante, Faure and Brush — Electric Welding —
Direct Generation of Electricity by Combustion — Electric Boats — Electro-
Plating — Edison's Electric Pen — Electricity in Medicine — Electric Cau-
tery— Electrical Musical Instruments — Electric Blasting.
APROINIINENT factor in the electrical art is the Storage Battery,
Secondary Battery, or Accumulator, as it is variously called. A
storage battery acts upon the same general principle as the ordi-
nary galvanic or voltaic battery in giving forth electrical current
as the correlated equivalent of the chemical force, but differs from it in
this respect, that when the elements of a primary battery are used up, the
battery is exhausted beyond repair. \Mth the storage battery, it may be
regenerated at will by simply subjecting it to an electric current from a
dynamo. The d}'namo stores up in this battery its electric force b}- con-
verting it into chemical force, which is imprisoned in chemical compounds
that are formed while the power of the dynamo is being applied. These
chemical compounds are, however, in a condition of unstable chemical
equilibrium, which is undisturbed so long as the poles of the storage bat-
tery are not connected, but when connected through a circuit, the instabil-
ity of the chemical compounds asserts itself, and in passing back to a crin-
dition of normal equilibrium the disruption gives off the correlative equiv-
alent of electric current stored up in it by the dynamo.
Probably the earliest suggestion of a storage battery is by Ritter in
1812, in his "secondary pile." This device consisted of alternate discs of
copper and moistened card, and was capable of receiving a charge from a
voltaic pile and of then prodiicing the physical, chemical, and physiological
effects obtained from the ordinary pile. The first storage battery of im-
portance, however, was made by Gaston Plante in i860, which consisted
of leaden plates immersed in a 10 per cent, solution of sulphuric acid in
water. In Fig. 64 is shown a modification of the Plante type of storage
battery, composed of a series of plates shown on the left. Each of these
plates is built up, as shown in detail in Fig. 65, of lead strips corrugated
and arranged in layers alternately with flat strips, witliin perforated lead-
en cases. The corrugation of the leaden lamina; gives greater superficial
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
89
area, and the alternation of flat and corrugated strips keeps them properly
spaced, so the sulphuric acid solution may penetrate and act upon the
FIG. 64. — PLANTE STOKAGE BATTERY.
same. Eacli plate section has a rod to connect it with its proper terminal.
When the charging current is applied, the positive lead plate becomes
covered with lead peroxide (PbOj and finely
divided metallic lead is deposited on the negative
plate, \\nien the battery is being discharged the
peroxide of lead gives up one of its atoms of
oxj'gen to the spongy metallic lead deposited on
the other plate, and both plates remain coated
with lead monoxide (PbO).
The most important development of the stor-
age batterv was made by Camille A. Faure, in
1880 (U. S. Pat. No. 252,002, Jan 3, 1882). In the
early part of t88i there was sent from Paris to Glasgow a so-called ''box
ot electric energy" for inspection and test by Sir William Thomson, the
FIG. 65. — ENLARGED DETAIL
OF PLANTE PLATE.
90
THE PROGRESS OF INrEXTlON
eminent electrician. It was one of the first storage batteries of M. Faure.
The illustration, Fig. 66, shows a l^atter}- of this type in which the lead
plates covered with red lead (Pb^Oj replace the plain lead plates in the
Plante cell. The action of the battery is that when a current of electricity
is passed into the same, the red lead on one plate (the negative) is reduced
to metallic lead, and that on the other is oxidized to a state of peroxide
(PbOj. These actions are reversed when the charged cell is discharging
itself. The elements of this batter}- consist of alternate layers of sheet
lead, and a paste of red oxide of lead. These are immersed in a lo per
cent, solution of sulphuric acid in water. Many minor improvements have
been made in the storage battery, covered Ijy 716 L'nited States patents,
most of which relate to cellular construction for holding the mass of red
lead in place. The most notable are those of Brush, to whom many pat-
ents were granted in 1882 and 1S83.
^^.'fe:SBS^Ma«iiiiaaiiiiaj^
FIG. 66. — STOK.VGE UATTEUV — F.XUKE TYPE.
The Storage battery finds man}- imiiortant applications. For furnish-
ing current for the propulsion of electric street cars it has proved a disap-
|?ointment, on account of the vibrations to which it is subjected, and the
great weight of the lead, \\-hich in Ijatteries of suitalile capacity
runs up into man}- thousands of [lounds. The storage batter}- finds a use-
ful place, however, for equalizing the load in lighting and power stations,
and is there brought into action to supplement the engine and d}-namo dur-
ing those hours of the day when the tax or load is greatest. It is also used
to keep up electrical pressure at the ends of long transmission lines ; for
telegraphing purposes; for isolated electric lighting: for boat propulsion-,
the propulsion of automobile carriages; and in all cases where a portaljle
source of electric current w-ould find application. The great growth of
automobile carriages in the past year has greatly stimulated the output of
storage batteries. One large company (The Electric Storage Battery
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
91
Company), manufactured and sold storage batteries for the year ending
June I, 1899, to the amount of $2,387,049.91, and there are many other
manufacturers.
Electric Welding was invented by Prof. Ehhu Thomson, of Lynn,
Mass., and patented by him August 10, 1886, No. 347,140-42, and July 18,
1893, No. 501,546. It is useful for the making of chains, tools, carriage
axles, joining shafting, wires, and pipes, mending bands, tires, hoops, and
-.<5*>feg;
FIG. 67. — ELECTRIC WELDING.
lengthening and shortening bolts, bars, etc. For electric welding a cur-
rent of great volume or quantity, and very low electro-motive force, is re-
quired. Thus a current of from one to two volts, and one to several thou-
sand amperes, is best suited. Referring to Fig. 67, the current from the
dynamo is conducted 10 one binding post of the commutator 3, which is
arranged to send the current through one-sixth, one-third or one-half of
the primary wire P of a transformer or induction coil. The other binding
post of the commutator 3 extends to one terminal of an isolated primary
92
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
coil 4, and the other terminal of this coil connects with the dynamo. The
coil 4 is provided with a switch to regulate the amount of current. The
rods to be welded are placed in clamps C C, C being connected with one
terminal of the secondary conductor S, and the movable clamp C with the
other. When the current is turned on C is moved so as to project one of
the surfaces to be welded against the other, and as they come in contact
they heat and fuse together, as shown at W. Larger apparatus has been
devised to weld railroad joints on the roadbed, and for other applications.
The generation of elec-
tricity for commerical pur-
poses is almost entirely de-
pendent upon the dynamo,
as this is cheaper than the
voltaic battery. The dyna-
mo, however, must be en-
ergized by a steam engine.
The direct production of
electric energy by the com-
bustion of coal would be
the ideal method. A pro-
cess invented by Edison
(Pat. No. 490,953. Jan. 31.
1893), is interesting as an
effort in this direction, and
is presented in Fig. 68. A
carbon cylinder D is sus-
pended in an air-tight ves-
sel B, and is surrounded by
oxide of iron F, the whole
being placed above a fur-
nace. The temperature being raised to a point where the carbon will be
attacked by the oxygen, carbonic o.xide and carbonic acid will be formed,
which are exhausted by the suction fan E. A constant current of elec-
tricity is given off from the two electrodes through the wires, the metallic
oxide being reduced and the carbon consumed.
Electrical Navigation began with Jacobi, who made the first attempt
on the Neva in 1839. He used voltaic apparatus consisting of two Grove
batteries, each containing sixty-four pairs of cells, but little progress was
made in this field until the secondary battery was perfected. In 1881 Mr.
G. Trouve made an application of the storage battery and electric motor
FIG. 68. — GENERATION OF ELECTRICITY
BY COMBUSTION.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
93
to a small boat on the Seine. The electric motor, which was located on
top of the rudder, as seen in Fig. 69, was furnished with a Siemens arma-
ture connected by an endless belt with a screw propeller having three
paddles arranged in the middle of an iron rudder. In the middle of the
boat were two storage batteries connected with the motor by two cords
that both served to cover the conducting wires and work the rudder.
Electric launches have in later years rapidly gained in popularity. Vis-
itors to the Chicago fair
will remember the fleet of
electric launches, which af-
forded both pleasure and
transportation on the
water, at that great expo-
sition, and to-day every
safe harbor has its quota of
these silently gliding and
fascinating pleasure crafts.
Fig . 70 is a longitudinal
section and a general view
of one of these launches.
Electro-plating is one
of the great industrial ap-
plications of electrictiy
which had its origin in,
and has grown into exten-
sive use in, the Nineteenth
Century. It originated
with Volta, Cruikshank,
and Wollaston in the very
first year of the century.
In 1805 Brugnatelli, a pu-
pil of Volta, gilded two
large silver medals by
bringing them into communication by means of a steel wire with the nega-
tive pole of a voltaic pile and keeping them one after the other immersed
in a solution of gold. In 1834 Henry Bessemer electro-plated lead cast-
ings with copper in the production of antique relief heads. In 1838 Prof.
Jacobi announced his galvano-plastic process for the production of elec-
trotype plates for printing. In the same year he superintended the gilding,
by electro-plate, of the iron dome of the Cathedral of St. Isaac at St.
FIG. 69.-
-RUDDER AND MOTOR OF TROUVE S
ELECTRIC BOAT, 1881.
94
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
o
iz;
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
95
Petersburg, using 274 pounds of ducat gold. In 1839 Spence described
an electrotype process and carried the date of his operations back to Sep-
tember, 1837. In 1839 Jordan also describes an electro-plating process.
In 1840 Murray used plumbago to make non-conducting surfaces conduc-
tive for electro-plating. In 1840 De Le Rive made known his process of
electro-gilding, employed by him in 1828, and in the same year ( 1840)
FIG, 71. — ELECTRO-PLATING ESTABLISHMENT.
De Ruolz took out a French patent for electro-gilding, and in the follow-
ing year formed electro deposits of brass from cyanides of zinc and copper.
In 1 84 1 Smee employed his battery for electro-plating with various metals.
In 1844 there were published the electro-plating experiments of Dancer,
made in 1838. In 1847 Prof. Silliman imitated mother-of-pearl by electro-
plating process.
In the last half of the century tlie production of electrotype plates for
printing in books, and for the production of rollers for printing fabrics,
and the extensive art of electro-plating with gold, silver, nickel and cop-
96
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
per, has grown to enormous proporlioiis, but the fundamental principles
have not materially changed. The dynamo, however, has generally sup-
planted the voltaic battery in this art. The deposition of silver and gold
on baser metals not only increases the ornamental effect, but prevents oxi-
dation. Silver plated goods for the table and articles of vertu are to be
found everywhere. Nickel is employed for cheaper ornamental effect, and
copper finds a large application for electrotypes for printing and for coat-
ing iron castings as a protection against rust. In Fig. 71, which shows the
interior of an electro-plating establishment, the dynamo is shown on the
right connected
the wall and
by wires with two horizontal rods running along
across
the
various tanks containing the plating
solution. On the tanks are rods
supporting the articles to be plated,
which are suspended in the solu-
tion. Similar rods support the op-
posite electrodes of the tank.
Wires connect these rods to the
rods on the side of the wall, and to
the opposite poles of the dynamo.
The electric pen of Edison,
brought out in 1876 (U. S. Pat.
No. 196,747, Nov. 6, 1877), is one
of the simple applications of elec-
tricity, which for a number of years
was m quite general use for mak-
ing manifold copies of manuscript.
In the illustration. Fig. 72, this is
FIG. 72.-EDISONS Ei.ECTiuc PEN. ghowu. It compriscs a stylus /-
reciprocated in a tube a by the vibratory action of an armature k
over the poles of an electro-magnet, supplied with a suitable current and
vibrating contacts / li. The stylus was rapidly reciprocated, and as the
operator traced the letters on the paper, the stylus produced a continuous
trail of punctures which permitted the paper to be used as a stencil to make
any number of copies. It has, however, been rotated out of existence by
manifolding carbon ]'>aper, and the almost universal use of the typewriter.
Electricity in Medicine. — The superstitious mind is prone to resort to
mysterious agencies for the cure of diseases, and for many years men of
no scientific knowledge whatever have been employing this seductive in-
strumentality for all the ills that flesli is heir to. That it has valuable
therapeutic qualities when rightly applied no intelligent person will doubt,
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
97
and it is unfortunate that for the most part it has been in the hands of
charlatans who sell their wares, and rely upon a faith-cure principle for
the result. Still there have been intelligent experimenters in this field, and
it is one of much promise for further research.
In the first century of the Christian Era (A. D. 50) Scribonius Largus
relates that Athero, a freedman of Tiberius, was cured of
the gout by the shocks of the torpedo or electric eel. In
1S03 M. Carpue puljlished experiments on the therapeu-
tic action of electricity. The discovery of inductio*^ cur-
rents by Faraday in 1831 brought a new era in the med'-
cal application of electricity, in the use of what is known
as the Faradaic current. The first apparatus for medi-
cal use, which operated on this principle, was made
by M. Pixii in France, and the first physician who em-
ployed such currents was Dr. Neef, of Frankfort. The
medical battery is a well-known and useful adjunct to
the physician's outfit. Electric baths are also common
and effective modes of applying the electric current. An
early example of such a device is shown in the U. S. pat-
ent to Young, No. 32,332, May 14, 1861. The electric
cautery and probe are also scientific and useful instru-
nients. The cautery consists of a lo3p of platinum wire
carried by a suitable non-conducting handle, with means
for constricting the white hot loop of wire about the tu-
mor or object to be excised. It was invented in 1846 by
Crusell, of St. Petersburgh. A form of the electric cau-
tery is shown in Fig. 73, in which a is the platinum wire
loop whose branches slide through guide tubes, the ends
being atached to a sliding ring B. The current enters
through the wire at the binding posts at the end of non-
conducting handle A, and heats the platinum loop, (7.
red hot. The loop, a. being around the object to be ex-
cised, is constricted Ijy drawing down the handle
ring B.
Of the various applications of electricity in body wear and appliances
there is scarcelv anv end. There are patents for belts without number, for
electric gloves, rings, bracelets, necklaces, trusses, corsets, .shoes, hats,
combs, brushes, chairs, couches, and blankets. Patents have also been
granted for electric smelling bottles, an adhesive plaster, for electric
spectacles, scissors, a foot warmer, hair singer, syringes, a drinking cup.
73. — ELECTRIC
CAUTERY.
98
THE PROGRESS OF INTENTION
a hail- cutter, a torch, a catheter, a pessary, gas lighters, exercising de-
vices, a door mat, and even for an electric hair pin and a pair of electric
garters.
Electrical Musical Instruments include pianos, banjos, and violins, all
of which are to be pla^-ed automatically by the aid of electrical appliances.
In the illustration, I-~ig. 74, is shown a modern electrical piano. A small
electrical motor 1. run by a storage battery or electric light wires, turns a
FIG. 74. — ELECTRIC PIANO.
belt 3, and rotates pulley 4 and a long horizontal cylinder 5 running be-
neath the keyboard. Above this cylinder is the mechanism that acts upon
the kevs. It consists of a scries of brake shoes which, when brought into
frictional contact with the cylinder 5, are made to act on small vertical rods
which bring down the keys just as the fingers do in playing. The selection
of the pro])er keys is made by a traveling strip of paper perforated with
dots and dashes representing the notes, which strip of [laper passes be-
tween two metal contact faces, wlich are terminals of an electric batterv.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 99
When the contacts are separated by the non-conducthig paper the current
does not flow, but when the contacts come together through the perfor-
ations the current is completed througii an electro-magnet, and this is made
to bring the proper brake shoe into position to be lifted by the cylinder 5,
which rotates constantly.
Electro-blasting. — In 181 2 Schilling proposed to blow up mines h\ the
galvanic current. In 1839 Colonel Pasley blew up the wreck of the
"Royal George" by electro-blasting. On Jan. 26, 1843, J^^""- Cubitt used
electro-blasting to destroy Round Down Cliff, and in our own time the
extensive excavations in deepening the channel and removing the rocks
at Hell Gate, from the mouth of New York harbor, was a notable opera-
tion in electro-blasting, and doubtless owes its success largely to the elec-
tric current employed.
Only the briefest mention can be made of the induction coil and the
electrical transformer, of electric bells and hotel annunciators, of electric
railway signalling, and electric brakes, of electric clocks and instruments
of precision, of heating by electricity, of electrical horticulture, and of the
beautiful electric fountains. These, however, all belong to the Nineteenth
Century, and include interesting developments.
Electro-chemistry and the electrolytic reiining of metals represent also,
in the applications of electricity, a large and important field, more fully
treated under the chapters devoted to chemistry and metal working.
100 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
CHAPTER X.
The Steam Engine.
Hero's Engine, and Other Early Steam Engines — Watt's Steam Engine — The
Cut-Off — Giffard Injector — Bourdon's Steam Gauge— Feed-Water Heaters,
Smoke Consumers, Etc. — Rotary Engines — Steam H.\mmer — Steam Fire
Engine — Compound Engines — Schlick and Taylor Systems of Balancing
Momentum of Moving Parts — St.^tistics.
WHEN the primeval man first turned upon himself the critical
light of introspection, and observed his own deficiencies, there
were born within him both the desire and the determination to
supplement his weakness, and become the ruling factor in the
world's destiny. The strength of his arm unaided could not cope with
that of the wild beast, he could not travel so fast as the animal, nor soar so
high as the bird, nor traverse the waters of the sea like the fish. The mag-
nificent power of the elements first inspired him with awe, then was wor-
shiped as a god, and he trembled in his weakness. Then he began to in-
vent, and seeing in physical laws an escape from his fears, and a solution
for his ambitions, he trained these forces and made them subservient to liis
will, and established his right to rule. Out of the maze of the centuries a
steam engine is born — not all at once, for that would be inconsistent with
the law of evolution — but gradually growing first into practicability, then
into efficiency, and finally into perfection, it stands to-day a beautiful
monument of man's ingenuity, throbbing with life and energy, and moving
the world. What has not the steam engine done for the Nineteenth Cen-
tury? It speeds the locomotive across the continent faster and farther
than the birds can fly ; no fish can equal the mighty steamship on the
sea ; it grinds our grain ; it weaves our cloth ; it prints our books ; it
forges our steel, and in every department of life it is the ubiquitous,
tireless, potent agency of civilization. Does the ambitious young philoso-
pher predict that electricity will supersede steam ? It is not yet a rational
prophecy, for the direct production of electricity from the combustion of
coal is still an unsolved problem, and behind the electric generator can
always be found the steam engine, modestly and quietly giving its full
life's work to the dynamo, which it actuates, and caring nothing for the
credit, unmindful of the beautiful and striking manifestations of elec-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
101
tricity which astonish the world, but humbly doing its duty with a silent
faith that the law of correlation of force will always lead the way back to
the steam engine, and place it where it belongs, at the head of all useful
agencies of man.
The Nineteenth Century did not include in its discoveries the inven-
tion of the steam engine. The great gift of James Watt was one of the
legacies which it received from the past, but the economical, efficient, ^
graceful, and mathemati-
cally perfect engine of to-
day is the product of this
jf the
belongs to
The gene
steam engine
ancient history, for in the
year 150 B. C. Hero made
and exhibited in the Sera-
peum of Alexandria the
first steam engine. It was
of the rotary type and was
known as the "aeolipile."
During the middle ages
the spirit of invention
seems to have slept, for
nearly eighteen centuries
passed from the time of
Hero's engine before any
active revival of interest
was manifested in this
field of invention. Giovanni
Branca in 1629, the Mar-
quis of Worcester in 1633,
Dr. Papin in 1695, Savary
in 1698, and Newcomen in
1705, were the pioneers
of Watt, and gave to him a good working basis. Strange as it may ap-
pear, there was in 1894 and probably still is in existence in England an old
Newcomen steam engine (see Fig. 76), which for at least a hundred vears
has stood exposed to the weather, slowl}' rusting and crumbling away. It
is to be found in Fairbottom Valley, half way between Ashton-under-Lyne
and Oldham, and is the property of the trustees of the late Earl of Stam-
FIG. 75. — HERO S ENGI.XE, I50
102
THE PROGRESS OF INFENTION
ford and Warrington. It is erected on a solid masonry pillar 14 by 7 feet
at the base, which carries on its top, on trunnions, an oak beam 20 feet
long and 12 by 14 inches thick. This beam is braced with iron, and has
segmental ends with a piston at one end, and a balance weight at the other.
The piston and pump rods are attached by chains. The cylinder is of cast
FIG. 76. — OLD NEVVCOMEN ENGINE.
u-Qn, 27 inches in diameter, and al)out six foot stroke, the steam entering
at the bottom only. It was formerly used for pumping a mine.
The distinct and valuable legacy, however, which the Xineteenth Cen-
tury rccei\'ed from the past, was the double acting steam engine of James
Watt, disclosed in his British Pat. No. 1,321, of 1782. Prior to this date
steam engines had been almost exclusively confined to raising v/ater, but
with the invention of Watt it extended into all fields of industrial use.
IN The nineteenth century.
103
Watt's double acting engine is shown in Fig. y/. It comprised a cylinder
A, with double acting piston and valve gear E F G FI ; the parallel
motion R for translating the reciprocating motion of the piston into the
curved oscillatory path of the walking beam ; a condenser chamber K.
with spray I, for condensing the exhaust steam; a pump L J to remove
the water from the condenser, and also the air, which is drawn out of
the water b}' the
vacuum : a water
supply pump N ;
the automatic
ball governor D,
and throttle valve
B. Two pins on
the pump rod L
strike the lever H
and work the
valve gear, and a
collecting rod P
and crank O con-
vert the oscilla-
tions of the walk- '
ing beam into the t
continuous rota-
tion of the lly
wheel.
Watt's auto-
matic Ijall govern-
or is shown in
Fie
/^
and
Its -^
function is as fol-
lows ; When the
working strain on
an engine is re-
1 i e V e d bv the ''^°' ^"' — ^^'•'^tt's double .\ctinc ste.\m engine.
throwing out of action of a part of the work being performed, the engine
would run too fast, or if more than a normal tax were placed on the en-
gine, it would "slow up." To secure a regular anfl uniform motion in
the performance of his engine Watt invented the automatic or self-regu-
lating ball governor and throttle valve. A vertical shaft D is rotated
constantly liy a band on pulley d. Any tendency in the engine to run too
104
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
fast throws the balls up by centrifugal action, and this through toggle
links / h, pulls down on a lever F G H, and partially closes the throttle
valve Z, reducing the flow of steam to the engine. When the engine has
a tendency to run too slow the balls drop down, and, deflecting the lever
in the opposite direction, open the throttle valve, and increase the flow
^ of steam to the ensjine.
This double acting en-
gine of Watt marks the
FIG. 78-
-WAIT S AUTOM.\TIC GOVERNOR .\ND
THROnXE VALVE.
beginning of the great
epoch of steam engi-
neering, and his patent
expired just in time to
give to the Nineteenth
Century the greatest of
all natal gifts.
Steam engines arc
divided into two prin-
cipal classes, the low-
pressure engine, using
steam usually under 40
pounds to the square
inch, antl the high
pressure engine, using steam from 50 to 200 pounds. In the low
pressure engine there is the expansive pressure of the steam on one side
of the piston, aided by the suction of a vacuum on the opposite side of the
piston, which vacuum is created by the condensation of the discharging,
or .exhaust steam, by cold water. As there are two factors at work im-
pelling the piston, only a relatively low
pressure in the boiler is required. In
the high pressure engines there is no
condensation of the exhaust steam, but
it is discharged directly into the air,
and this type was originally called
"pufl'ers." Familiar examples of the
low pressure type are to be found in
our side wheel passenger steamers, and of the high pressure type in the
steam locomotive.
One of the most important steps in the development of the steam
engine was the addition of the cut-off. Prior to its adoption steam was
admitted to the cylinder during the whole time the piston was making
FIG. 7Q. — rRINCII'Lll OF CUT-OFF.
/,V THE NINETEEXTH CE\'TURy
105
its stroke from one end of the cylinder to the other. In the cut-off (see
Fig. 79), when steam is Ijeing admitted through the port p, and the piston
is being driven in the direction of the arrow, it was found that if the
steam were cut off when the piston, arrived at the position i, the ex-
pansive action of the steam behind it in chamber a would continue to
carry the piston with an effective force
to the end of its stroke, or to position
2. This of course effected a great sav-
ing in steam. Various cut-offs have
been devised. Perhaps that most easily
recognized by most persons is the one
seen in the engine room of our side
wheel steamers, of which illustration is
given in Fig. 80. This was invented
in 184T by F. E. Sickels, and was the
first successful drop cut-off. It was
co\'ered by his patents, Mav 20, 1842;
Jtily 20, 1843; October 19, 1844, No.
3,802, and September 19, 1845, No.
4,201. A rock shaft .y is worked Iiy an
eccentric rod e from the paddle wheel
shaft. The rock shaft has lifting arms
a that act upon and alternately raise
the feet c on rods b b. C)ne of these
rods b works the valves that admit
steam, and the other the valves that
discharge steam. The A-alve rod that
admits steam has a quick drop, or fall,
to cut off the live steam before the pis-
ion reaches the end of its stroke. In
Fig. 81 is shown the celebrated Corliss
cut-off and valve gear, in which a cen-
tral wrist plate and four radiating rods '
^vork the valves. This valve gear was
covered in Corliss patents. No. fi,i(^)2, }\Iarch 10, 1849, ''•''"1 -^'o- '*^'-5.v J'-^'y
29, 1851.
Among other important improvements in the steam engine are those
for replenishing the water in the boiler, and the Giffard Injector is the
simplest and most ingenious of all boiler feeds. It was invented in 1858
and covered by French patent No. 21,457, May 8, 1858, and U. S. patent
]. — SICKEL S DKOr CUT-OFF
V.\LVE GE.\K.
106
THE PROGRESS OE INrENTION
Xo. 27,979, April 24, i860. Prior to the Giffarcl Injector, steam boilers
were supplied with water ustially by steam pimips, which forced the
water into the boiler against the pressure of the steam. The Giffard
Injector takes a jet of steam from the boiler, and causes it to lift the
water in an external pipe, and l)low it directly into the boiler against its
own pressure. So paradoxical and inoperative did this seem at first that
it was met with incredulity, and not until repeated demonstrations estab-
fk;. Si. — corliss cut-off .^nd valve gear.
lished the fact was it accepted as an operative device. Its construction
is shown in Fig. 82. A is a steam pipe communicating with the boiler,
B another pipe receiving steam from A through small holes and termi-
nating in a cone. C is a screw rod, cone-shaped at its extremity, turned
bv the crank M, and serving to regulate and even intercept the passage
of steam. D is a water suction pipe. The water that is drawn up intro-
duces itself around the steam pipe and tends to make its exit through the
annular space at the conical extremity of the latter steam pipe. This
annular space is increased at will by means of the lever L, which acts
upon a screw whose office is to cause the pipe B and its attached parts to
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
107
move backward or forward. E is a diverging tube which receives the
water injected by the jet of steam that condenses at I, and imparts to the
water a portion of its speed in proportion to the pressure of the boiler.
F is a box carrying a check valve to keep the water from issuing from
the boiler when the apparatus is not at work. G is a pipe that leads the
injected water to the boiler. H is a purge or overflow pipe, K a sight
hole which permits the operation of the apparatus to be watched, the
stream of water being distinctly seen in the free interval. Fig. 83 shows
FIG. 82. — GIFF.'VRD INJECTOR.
the application of the injector to locomotives, which are now almost uni-
versally supplied with this device.
To keep the pressure in the boiler within the limit of safety, and ad-
justed to the work being performed, is an important part of the engineer's
duty, and this he could not do without the steam gauge. One of the best
known is the Bourdon gauge, shown in Fig. 84, constructed on the prin-
ciple of the barometer invented by Bourdon of Paris in 1849 ^'""^' patented
in France June, 1849, ^"^1 in the United States August 3, 1852, No. 9,163.
A screw threaded thimble B, with stop cock A, is screwed in the shell of
the boiler, and a coiled pipe C communicates at one end with the thimble
and is closed at the other end E and connected by a link F, with an arm
on an axle, carrying an index hand that moves over a graduated scale.
108
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
The coiled pipe C is in the nature of a flattened tube, as shown in the en-
larged cross section, and is enclosed in a case. When the steam pressure
varies in this flat tube its coil expands or contracts, and in moving the
index hand over the scale indicates the degree of pressure.
In line with the
development of the
steam engine must be
considered the efforts
to economize fuel.
These may be di-
vided into the follow-
ins: classes : Increased
face in boiler con-
struction ; surface
condensers for ex-
haust steam ; devices
for promoting the
combustion of fuel
and burning the smoke, and feed water heaters
FIG. 83. — INJECTOR ON LOCOMOTIVE.
Even before the Xine-
tenth Century Smeaton devised the cylindrical boiler traversed b)' a flue,
but the multitubular steam boiler of to-day represents a very important
Nineteenth Century adjunct to the steam engine.
Our locomotives, fire engines, and torpedo boat en-
gines would be of no value without it. Sectional
steam boilers made in detachable portions fast-
ened together by packed or screw joints also rep-
resent an important development. These permit
of the removal and replacement of any one section
that may become defective, and are also capable
of being built up section by section to any size
needed. For promoting the combustion of fuel
the draft is energized by blasts of air or steam, or
both, either through hollow grate bars, jet pipes
in the fire box, or by discharging the exhaust
steam in the smoke pipe. Surface condensers
pass the exhaust steam over the great surface
water flowing through it.
Feed water heaters utilize the waste heat escaping in the smoke flue to
heat the water that is being fed to the boiler, so that it is warm when it is
FIG. 04. — BOURDON S
PRESSURE GAUGE.
area of a multitubular construction having cold
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
109
injected into the boiler, and the furnace is reheved of that much
work.
In the reciprocating type of steam engine the inertia of the piston
a,tt5\vvm
FIG. 85. — BRANCA's steam TURBINE, 1629.
must be overcome at the beginning of each stroke and its momentum
must be arrested at the end of each stroke, and this involves a great loss
of power. If the power of the steam could be applied so as to contin-
FIG. 86. — SECTION OF P.\RSONS TURBINE OF 189I.
uousl}- move the piston in the same direction this loss would be avoided.
The effort to do this has engaged the attention of many inventors, and
the devices are called rotary engines. The most successful engines of
no
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
this kind are those of the impact type, in which jets of steam impinge
upon buckets after the manner of water on a water vvheek and which
are known to-day as steam turbines. The earliest of these is Branca's
steam turbine of 1629 (see Fig. 85) and the most important of this class
in use to-day are those of Mr. Parsons, of England, and De Laval, of
Sweden. The internal construction of the Parsons turbine is seen in
Fig, 86 and is covered by British patent No. 10,940, of 1891, and United
States patent No. 553,658,
January 28th, 1B96. A series
of turbines are set one after
the other on the same axis, so
that each takes steam from
the preceding one, and passes
it on to the next. Each con-
sists of a ring of fixed steam
guides on the casing, and a
ring of moving blades on the
shaft. The steam passes
through the first set of guides,
then through the first set of
moving blades, then through
the second set of guides, and
then through the second set
of moving blades, and so on.
In the application of his
turbine to marine propulsion
Mr. Parsons employs a plu-
rality of propeller shafts and
steam turbines, as seen in
Fig. 87, and covered under
United States patent No. 608,-
969, August 9, 1898.
The De Laval turbine, as shown in Fig. 88, is of very simple con-
struction, consisting only of a steel wheel with a series of buckets at its
periphery enclosed by a circular rim, and a series of steam nozzles on
the side with diverging jet orifices directing steam jets against the
buckets. A speed of 30,000 revolutions a minute may be attained by this
construction. In Fig. 89 is shown a 300 horse-power steam turbine of
the De Laval type applied to a dynamo ; to which this type of engine is
peculiarly adapted. The dynamo is seen on the extreme right, the steam
riG. 87. — PARSONS COMPOUNn STEAM TURBINE,
ON PLURALITY OF PROPELLER SHAFTS.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
Ill
turbine on the extreme left, and the drum-shaped casing between con-
tains cog-gearing by which the liigh revolution of the turbine wheel is
reduced to a proper working speed for the dynamo. Within the last few
years application of the Parsons steam turbine has been made to marine
propulsion with very remarkable results as to speed. The small steam
FIG. 88. — DE LAV.\l's steam TURBINE.
craft, "The Turbinia," built in 1897, and supplied with three of Parsons'
compound steam turbines, developed a speed of 3234 knots, and more re-
cently the torpedo boat "Viper" has with steam turbines attained the re-
markable speed of 37.1 knots, or over 40 statute miles an hour. About
2,000 United States patents have been granted on various forms of rotary
engines.
In the transportation building of the World's Fair at Chicago in
1893 one of the most conspicuous objects of attention was the model of
the great Bethlehem Iron Co.'s steam hammer, standing with its feet
112
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
apart like some great "Colossus of Rhodes" and towering 91 feet high
among the models of the great ocean steamers and battleships which
are so largely dependent upon the work of this Titanic machine. Its
hammer head, in the working-machine, weighs 125 tons, and many of
the seventeen inch thick armor plates for our battleships have been
forged by its tremendous blows.
In 1838, during the construction of the "Great Britain," the largest
steamship up to that time ever built, it was found that there was not a
FIG. eg. — DE L.WAL TURBINE GE.-\RED TO DYNAMO.
forge hammer in England or Scotland powerful enough to forge a paddle
shaft for that vessel. The emergency was met by Mr. Nasmyth, of Eng-
land, who invented the steam hammer and covered it in British patent
No. 9,382, of 1842 (U. S. Pat. No. 3,042, April 10, 1843). ^ modern
example of it is seen in Fig. 90. It consists of a steam cylinder at the
top whose piston is attached to a block of iron, forming the hammer head
and sliding vertically in guides between the two legs of the frame.
A'alve gear is arranged to control the flow of steam to and from the
opposite sides of the piston, and so nicely adjusted is the valve gear of
such a modern steam hammer that it is said that an expert workman can
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
113
manipulate the great mass of metal with such accuracy and delicacy as
to crack an egg in a wineglass without touching the glass. To the steam
b.ammer we owe the first heavy armor plate for ottr battle ships and the
propeller shafts of our earlier steamships. In fact it was ihe steam ham-
mer which first rendered the large steamship possible. Mr. Nasmyth not
only invented the steam hammer, but the steam pile driver as well.
For quick action, nicely adjusted machinery, and showy finish the
steam fire engine is a ■
familiar and conspicu-
ous application of steam
power. A dude among
engines when on dress
parade, and a sprinter
when on the run, it
gets to work with the
vim and efficiency of a
thoroughbred, and is a
most business-like and
\-aluable custodian of
life and property. The
first portable steam fire
engine was built about
1830 by Mr. Brathwaite
and Capt. Ericsson in
London. In 1841 Mr.
Hodges produced a
similar engine in New'
York City. Cincinnati
was the first city to
adopt the steamer as a
part of its fire depart-
ment apparatus. To-
da^^ all the important cities and towns of the civilized world rely upon
the steam fire engines for their longevity and existence. Time economy
in getting into action is the great objective point of most improvements
of the fire engine, and one of the most important is the keeping of the
water in the boiler hot when the engine is out of action at the engine
house, so that when the fire is built and the run is made to the scene of
action, the water will be hot to start with. This attachment was the in-
vention of William A. Brickill, and was patented by him August 18, 1868,
FIG. go. — STEAM HAMMER.
114 THE PROGRESS OF INTENTION
No. 81,132. In the illustration, Fig. 91, the two pipes passing from the
engine through the trap door in the floor connect with a water heater in
the basement below, which heater maintains a constant circulation of hot
water in the steam boiler. Couplings in these pipes serve to quickly dis-
connect the engine when the run to the fire is to be made.
Among other useful applications of the steam engine are the steam
FIG. ijl. — MI£,\i\I FIRE ENGINE WITH W.'MER HEATING ATTACHMENT.
plow, steam drill, steam dredge, steam press, and steam pump, of which
latter the Blake, Knowles, and Worthington are representative types.
The highest type of modern steam engines is to be found in the com-
pound multiple-expansion engine, in which three or more cylinders of dif-
ferent diameters with corresponding pistons are so arranged that steam is
made to act first upon the piston in the smallest cylinder at high pressure,
/.Y THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
115
and then discharging into the next larger c_vHnder, called the intermediate,
acts expansively upon its piston, and thence, passing into the still larger
low pressure cylinder, imparts its further expansive effect upon its piston.
The fundamental principle of the compound engine dates back to the
time of Watt, its first embodiment appearing in the Hornblower com-
pound engine, as described in British patent No. 1,298, of 1 78 1, but
116 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
modern improvements have dififerentiated it into almost a new inven-
tion. A fine example is shown in Fig. 92, which represents the quadruple
expansion engines of the "Deutschland," the new steamer of the Hamburg-
American Line. The two high pressure cylinders, however, do not ap-
pear in the illustration, being too high for the shops. They stand
vertically, however, upon the two bed plates which appear at the top of
the two low pressure cylinders. In each set of six cylinders the two low
pressure cylinders are in the middle, the two high pressure cylinders im-
mediately above them or arranged tandem, while at the forward end is
the first intermediate cylinder, and at the after end is the second inter-
mediate. The low pressure cylinders are 106 inches in diameter, the
intermediate cylinders are 73.6 inches and 103.9 inches respectively, and
the two high pressure cylinders are 30.6 inches, and the steam pressure
is 225 pounds. Its improvements comprehend the systems of Schlick,
patented in the United States November 23, 1897, No. 594,288 and 594,-
289, and Taylor, patented November 22, 1898, No. 614,674, which em-
body fine mathematical principles for balancing the momentum of the
great masses of moving parts, so that the engine may run up to high
speed without vibrations and damaging strains upon the hull.
Mulhall gives the steam horse power of the world in 1895, not in-
cluding war vessels, as follows :
Stationary. Railway. Steamboat. Total.
The World 11,340,000 32,235,000 12,005,000 55,580,000
United States.... 3,940,000 10,800,000 2,200,000 16,940,000
The increase in steam power in the United States has been from
3,500,000 horse power in i860, to 16,940,000 horse power in 1895, or
aljout five fold within thirty-five years.
Prof. Thurston says that in 1890 the combined power of all the steam
engines of the world was not far from 100,000,000 * horse power, of which
the United States had 15,000,000, Great Britain the same, and the other
countries smaller amounts. Taking the horse power as the equivalent of
the work of five men, the work of steam is equivalent to that of a popu-
lation of 500,000,000 working men. It is also said that one man to-day,
with the aid of a steam engine, performs the work of 120 men in the
last century.
* Prof. Thurston's estimate doubtless includes war vessels, which Mulhall's later
estimate does not (see Mulhall's "Industries and Wealth of Nations," 1896, pages 4
i'licl 379).
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 117
The influence of the steam engine upon the history and destiny of the
world is an impressive subject, far beyond any intelHgent computation or
estimate. It has been the greatest moving force of the Nineteenth Cen-
tury. The labor of 100,000 men for twenty years might build a great
pyramid in Egypt, and it remains as a monument of patience only, but the
genius of the modern inventor has organized a machine w^ith muscles of
steel, far more patient and tireless than those of the Egyptian slave. He
gave it but a drink of water and making coal its black slave, and him-
self the master of both, he has in the Nineteenth Century hitched his'
chariot to a star and driven to unparalleled achievement.
118 THE PROGRESS OF INDENTION
CHAPTER XL
The Steam Railway.
Trevithick's Fiust Locomotive — Blenkinsop's Locomotive — Hedley's "Puffijs'g
Billy" — Stephenson's Locomotive — The Link Motion — Stockton and Dar-
lington Railway, 1825 — Hackworth's I'Royal George" — "Stourbridge Lion"—
— "John Bull" — Baldwin's Locomotives — Westinghouse Air Brakes — Jan-
NEY Car Coupling — The Woodruff Sleeping Car — Railway Statistics.
THE fact that more patents have been granted in the class of car-
riages and wagons than in an}' other field, shows that means of
transportation has engaged the largest share of man's inventive
genius, and has been most closely allied to his necessities. The
moving of passengers and freight seems to^be directly related to the prog-
ress of civilization, and the factor whose influence has been most felt in
this field is the steam locomotive. Sir Isaac Newton in 1680 proposed a
steam carriage propelled by the reaction of a jet of steam. Dr. Robinson
in 1759 suggested the steam carriage to Watt. Cugnot in 1769 built a
steam carriage. Symington, in 1770, and Alurdock, in 17S4, built work-
ing models, and in 1790 Nathan Read also made experiments in steam
transportation, but the Nineteenth Century dawned without any other re-
sults than a few abandoned experiments, and the criticism and disappoint-
ment of the inventors in this field.
The father of the locomotive and the first inventor of the Nineteenth
Century who directed his energy to its development was Richard Trevi-
thick, of Camborne, Cornwall. In 1801 he built his first steam carriage,
adapted to carry seven or eight passengers, which was said to have "gone
ofif like a bird," but broke down, and was taken to the home of Capt.
Vivian, who afterward became a partner of Trevithick. An old lady,
upon seeing this novel and, to her, frightful engine, is said to have cried
out: "Good gracious! Mr. A-'ivian, what will be done next? I can't
compare it to anything but a walking, puffing devil." On the 24th of
March, 1802, Trevithick and Vivian obtained British patent No. 2,599
for their steam carriage, and a second one was built in 1803 which was
popularly known as Capt. Trevithick's "Puffing Devil." In 1804, at
Pen y Darran, South Wales, a third engine was built, which was the first
/;V THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
119
steam locomotive ever to run on rails. It is seen in the illustration, No.
93. It had a horizontal cylinder inside the boiler, a cross head slidincr
FIG. 93.— TREVITHICK'.S LOCOMOTIVE, 1804. THE FIRST TO RUN ON RAILS.
on guides in front of the engine, the cross head being connected to a crank
on a rear gear wheel, which in
turn meshes with an intermediate
gear wheel above and between
two other gear wheels on the
running wheels. A fly wheel
was on the crank shaft. The
steam was discharged into the
chimney, and the whole engine
weighed five tons, and it ran,
when loaded, at five miles an
hour. In 1808 Trevithick built
a circular railway at London
within an inclosure, and charged
a shilling for admission to his
steam circus and a ride behind his locomotive. The engine here employed
was the "Catch Me Who Can," ^nd had a vertical cylinder and piston,
without the toothed gear wheels shown in the illustration.
FIG. 94. — BLENKINSOP'S LOCOMOTIVE, 181I.
120
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
In Fig. 94 is shown Blenkinsop's locomotive of 1811. This was em-
ployed at the Middleton Colliery in hauling coal. It had cog wheels en-
gaging teeth on the side of the rail. The fire was built in a large tube
passing through the boiler and bent up to form a chimney. Two vertical
cylinders were placed inside the boiler, and the pistons were connected
by cross heads, and, bv connecting rods, to cranks on the axles of small
FIG. 95. — HEDLEY's "puffing BILLY," 1S13.
cog wheels engaging with the main cog vi'heels. It drew thirty tons
weight at three and three-quarter miles an hour.
In 1813 "Puffing Billy" was built by Wm. Hedley. There were (see
Fig. 95) four smooth drive wheels running on smooth rails, which wheels
were coupled together by intermediate gear wheels on the axle, and all
])ropelled by a gear wheel in the middle, driven by a connecting rod from
the walking beam overhead. Hedley 's locomotive was used on the
Wylam railway, and was said to have been at work more or less until
1862.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
121
]\Jost prominent among those who took an active interest in the de-
velopment of the locomotive were George Stephenson and his son, Roh-
ert. Stephenson's first locomotive was tried on the Killingworth Railway
on' July 27, 1814. In 1815 Dodds and Stephenson patented an arrange-
ment for attaching the connecting rods to the driving wheels, which took
the place of cog wheels heretofore employed, and in the following year
Stephenson, in connection with Mr. Losh, patented the application of
FIG. 96. — HACKWORTH's LOCOMOTIVE, ''ROYAL GEORGE," 1827.
Steam cushion-springs for supporting the weight of the locomotive in an
elastic manner.
In 1825 the Stockton and Darlington Railway, in England, was
opened for traffic, with George Stephenson's engine, "Locomotion," and
was put permanently into service for the transportation of freight and
passengers.
In 1827 Hackworth protluced the "Ro_\al George (see Fig. 96), whose
cjdinders were arranged vertically at the rear end of the hoiler, and
whose pistons emerged from the cylinders at the lower ends of the latter,
and imparted their power through connecting rods to cranks on the op-
posite ends of the axle of the rear driving wheels in a more direct man-
ner than heretofore, and doing away with the overhead mechanism here-
122
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
tofore employed in most engines. Hackvvortla also improved the steam
blast, put on the bell, and greatly simplified and modernized' the appear-
ance of the locomotive.
FIG. 97. — GEORGE STEPHENSON's "rOCKET," l82g,
In 1829 the Liverpool and JVIanchester RaiKvay was completed, and
the directors ofifered a prize of £500 for the best locomotive. George
Stephenson's "Rocket," shown in Fig. 97, attained a speed of 24 1-6 miles
an hour, and took the prize. Its success, however, was marred by the
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
123
first railroad fatality, for it ran over and killed a man on this occasion.
It embodied, as leading features, the steam blast and the multitubular
boiler, which -latter was six feet long and had twenty-five three -inch
tubes. The fire box was surrounded by an exterior casing that formed a
water jacket, which, by means of pipes, was in open communication with
the water space of the boiler.
The first practical locomotive to run on a railroad in the United States
was the "Stourbridge Lion," seen in Fig. 98. This was imported from
England, and arrived in New York in May, 1829, and was tried in that
year on a section of the Dela-
ware & Hudson Canal Com-
pany's railroad. The boiler
was tubular, and the exhaust
steam was carried into the
chimney by a pipe in front of
the smoke stack as shown. It
had vertical cylinders of
thirty-six inch stroke, with
overhead grasshopper beams
and connecting rods.
In Fig. 99 is shown the
"John Bull," now in the Na-
tional Museum at Washing-
ton, D. C. It was built by
Stephenson & Co. for the
Camden & Amboy Railroad,
and was brought over from
England and put into service
in 1 83 1. During the Colum-
bian Exposition at Chicago in
1893, after a long rest in the Washington Museum, it made its way under
its own steam to Chicago, drawing a train of two cars a distance of 912
miles without assistance. It further distinguished itself while there by
carrying 50,000 passengers over the exhibition tracks, and although sixty-
two years of age at the time, showed itself quite capable of performing
substantial work.
Most of the early locomotives used in America were imported from
England, but our inventors soon commenced making them for themselves.
The Baldwin Locomotive Works, of Philadelphia, has had a notable career
in the field of locomotive construction. "Old Ironsides," built in 1832,
FIG. 98. — ''STOURSRIDGE LION," 1829.
124
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
■^
n
was the first Baldwin locomotive, and it did duty for over a score of years.
It is shown in Fig. lOO. It had four wheels and weighed a little over five
tons. The' drive wheels
were 54 inches in di-
ameter, and the cylinder
9>1 inches in diameter,
18 inches stroke. The
wheels had heavy cast
iron hubs with wooden
spokes and rims and
wrought iron tires, and
the frame was of wood
placed outside t h e
wheels. The boiler was
30 inches in diameter
and had 72 copper flues
iJ-4 inches in diameter,
7 feet long. The price
of the locomotive was
$4,000, and it attained a
speed of 30 miles an
hour, with its train.
In Fig. loi is shown
a standard type of pas-
senger locomotive of the
period of 1863, and in
Fig. 102 is illustrated
the period of 1881,
which latter represents
perhaps the greatest
epoch of railroad build-
ing in the history of the
world. According to
Poor's Manual, $i,ooo,-
000 a day was the esti-
mated cash outlay on
this account for the
three years up to the
close of 1882, during
which period 28,019
/.V THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
125
miles of railroad were opened up in the United States, or more than
enough to girdle the entire earth. Seme idea of the wonderful growth of
FIG. TOO. — Baldwin's "old ironsides," 1832.
the railroad industry dtiring this period is given by the following tables,
which represent the yearly production of locomotives by the Baldwin
Company alone for forty years prior to this period ;
126
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTIOyj
1842 14
1843 12
1844 22
1845 27
1846. .... .42
1847 39
1848 20
1849 30
1850 37
1851 50
1852 49
1853 60
1854 62
1855 47
1856 59
1857 66
1858 33
1859 70
i860 83
1861 40
1862 75
1863 96
1864 130
1865 115
1866 118
1867 127
186S 124
1869 235
1870 280
1871 331
1872 442
1873 437
1874 205
1875 130
1876 232
1877 185
1S78 292
1879.- 398
1880 . .517
1881 555
18&2 563
1883 557
FIG. lOI. — EIGHT-WHEEL PASSENGER EXPRESS LOCOJIOTIVE, 1863.
■ The present capacity of the Baldwin works is one thousand locomotives
a year, and they have built up to this date about fifteen thousand locomo-
tives, or nearly one-half of all the locomotives in use in the United States.
The successive steps of the development in detail of the various features
of the locomotive are distributed over a long period, and are somewhat
difficult to trace. The turning of the exhaust steam into the smoke stack
was done by Trevithick as early as 1804, but its effect was greatly increased
by Hackworth about 1827, who augmented its power by directing it into
the chimney through a narrow orifice. This and the tubular locomotive
boiler by Seguin in 1828. the link-motion in 1832, the steam whistle by
Stephenson in 1833, the Gifl^ard injector in 1858, and the Westinghouse
air brake of 1869, are the most prominent features of the locomotive.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
127
The link motion has been claimed both for the younger Stephenson
and W. T. James, of New York, the latter being probably its real inventor.
Its purpose is to reverse the engine and also to cut off steam in either di-
rection,- so that it may act expansivel}'. The form of link motion most
generally used is shown in Fig. 103, and is known as Stephenson's. A B
are two eccentrics projecting in opposite directions from the center of the
common drive shaft, their rods being connected at their outer ends by a
curved and slotted link C D. In the slot of this link plays a pin E, carried
by a pendent swinging lever G F, which lever is jointed at its lower end to
the slide valve rod H. A T-shaped lever I L K M has one arm at I con-
nected by a rod with the slotted link at C. The opposite arm is provided
with a counter weight at K to balance the weight of the link C D and eccen-
FIC. 102. — EXPRESS P.^SSENGER LOCOMOTIVE, 1881.
trie rods, and the upright arm is connected at M to a rod operated by a
hand lever P within easy access of the engineer. When the link C D is
lowered the eccentric B imparts its throw to pendent lever G F and valve
rod H, and the eccentric A will only swing the end C of the link without
imparting any effect to the valve. When link C D is drawn up so that pin
E is in the bottom of the slot, the eccentric A is active and B inactive,
and as A has an opposite throw to B, the action of the valve is reversed.
If link C D be drawn half way up, the pin E becomes the center of the os-
cillation of the link, and the valve rod is not moved at all. By adjust-
ing the link nearer to or further from the central position, the throw of
128
THE PROGRESS OF IIVrENTION
the slide valve may be made shorter or longer, and the steam cut off at
a later or earlier period in the stroke of the piston.
Fig. 104 is a type of the best modern express locomotive. This is the
famous 999 of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad. Its cyl-
inders are 19x24 inches, driving wheels 86^ inches in diameter, weight
62 tons, steam pressure 190 pounds. This engine hauls the Empire State
Express at a speed of 64.22 miles an hour, excluding stops, or more than
a mile a minute.
In securing a higher efficiency and a greater economy in the use of
FIG. 103. — STEPHENSON S MNK MOTION.
Steam, the most recent developments in the locomotive have been
in the application of the principle of the compound expansion engine, in
which two or more cylinders of different diameters are used, the steam at
high pressure acting in the smaller cylinder, and being then exhausted
into and acting expansively upon the piston of the larger cylinder. A
fine example of the compound locomotive is shown in Fig. 105. The
cylinders are arranged in pairs, the small high pressure cylinder above,
and the larger low pressure cylinder below, both piston rods engaging a
common cross head. The application of this principle of the compound
engine is said to involve a saving in coal of over 25 per cent.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
129
Prominent among modern improvements in steam railways is the air-
brake. This invention is chiefly the result of the ingenuity of j\Ir. George
Westinghouse, Jr., who, beginning his experiments in 1869, took out his
first patents on the automatic air brake March 5, 1872, Nos. 124,404 and
124,405, which have since been followed up by many others in perfecting
the s\'stem. The principle of the air brake is to store up compressed air
in a reservoir on the locomotive by means of a steam pump. This air pass-
ing through a train pipe connected by hose couplings l^etween cars
charges an auxiliary reservoir under each car. This reservoir is arranged
beside a cylinder having a piston and a triple valve. Pressure in the
FIG. 104. — LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE NO. pgp.
train pipe is maintained constantly, and the power to work the piston to
apply the brakes comes from the auxiliary reservoir beside it. which is set
into action by a sudden reduction of pressure in the train pipe by the en-
gineer through a special form of valve on the locomotive. The air brake
is capable of stopping a train at average speed within the distance of its
own length, and so great a safeguard to life and property is it, that its ap-
plication to a certain number of cars on every train is made compulsory by
law.
The automatic car coupling is another important life-saving improve-
ment. Many thousands of these have been patented, but the "Janney"
coupling, patented April 29, 1873, ^^o- 138405, is the most representative
130
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
type. The year 1900 is to witness the compulsory acloption of automatic
car coupHngs on all cars. The "block system" of signals, by which no train
is admitted on to a given section of track until the preceding train has left
that section, improved switches, which are not dependent upon the memorv
of men, and steel rails, which constitute nine-tenths of all tracks and serve
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 131
to increase the stability of the track, are further modern safeguards against
danger.
Sleeping cars were invented by Woodruff, and patented Dec. 2, 1856,
Nos. 16,159 ^'^d 16,160. These, with the palace cars of Pullman and Wag-
ner, the special refrigerator cars for perishable goods, cars for cattle, and
cars for coal, multiply the equipment, swell the traffic, and supply every
want of the great railroad systems of modern times.
The first railroad in the United States was built near Ouincy, Mass., in
1826. The Pacific Railway, the first of our half a dozen transcontinental
railways, was completed in 1869. The great Trans-Siberian Railway is
nearing completion, and in the Twentieth Century a Trans-Sahara Railway
will probably relieve the burdens of the camel, as it has already done those
of the horse.
At the end of the year 1898 there were in use in the United States 36,-
746 locomotives, 1,318,700 cars, and the mileage in tracks, including second
track and sidings, was 245,238.87, which, if extended in a straight line,
would build a railway to the moon. The money investment represented in
capital stock and bonds was $11,216,886,452. The gross earnings for the
year 1898 were $1,249,558,724. The net earnings were $389,666,474. Tons
of freight moved were 912,973,853. Receipts from freight were $868,924,-
526. Number of passengers carried was 514,982,288. Receipts from pas-
sengers were $272,589,591, and dividends paid were $94,937,526. Add to
the above the elevated railroads and street railroads, which are not in-
cluded, and the immensity of the railroad business in the United States be-
comes apparent. In 1898 the United States exported 468 locomotives,
worth $3,883,719. Mulhall estimates that the steam horse power of rail-
roads in the world amounted in 1896 to 40,420,000, of which the United
States had more than one-third. Pie also states that the railways in the
United States carry every day. in merchandise, a weight equal to that of
the whole of the seventy millions of persons constituting its population ;
that the total railway traffic of the world in 1894 averaged ten million
passengers and si.x million tons of merchandise daily; and that the total
railway capital of the world reached in that year, 6,745 million sterling,
or about thirty-three billion dollars.
It is said that the highest railway speed ever attained by steam prior
to 1900 was by locomotive No. 564 of the Lake Shore & Michigan South-
ern Railroad, made during part of a run from Chicago to Buffalo. In
this run 86 miles were made at an average rate of 72.92 miles an hour.
The train load was 304,500 pounds, and the 86 mile run included one mile
at 92.3 miles an hour, eight miles at 85.44 miles an hour, and thirty-three
132 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
miles at 80.6 miles an hour. On May 26, 1900, however, an experiment
on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, made by Mr. F. U. Adams between
Baltimore and Washington, demonstrated that by sheathing the train to
prevent retardation by the air, an average speed of 78.6 miles an hour was
obtained, and for five miles on a down grade a speed of 102.8 miles an hour
was reached.
The largest and most powerful locomotives in the world are those be-
ing built for the Pittsburg, Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad for hauling
long trains of iron and ore, one of which has just been completed. Its
cylinders are 24 x t,2 inches ; drive wheels, 54 inches diameter ; weight, 125
tons ; draw bar pull 56,300 pounds, and hauling capacity 7,847 tons.
One of these mammoth engines is capable of drawing a train of
box cars, loaded with wheat, and more than a mile long, at a speed
of ten miles an hour. This load of wheat would represent the
yield of 14 square miles of land. No doubt it would greatly astonish our
forefathers to know that at the end of the century we would have iron
horses capable of carting away, at a single load, the products of 14 square
miles of the country side, and do it at a gait faster than that of their local
mail coach.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 133
CHAPTER XII.
Steam Navigation.
Early Experiments — Symington's Boat — Col. John Stevens' Screw Propeller —
RoBT. Fulton .-^nd the "Clermont" — First Trip to Sea by Stevens' "Phoeni.\"
— "Savannah," the First Steam Vessel to Cross the Ocean — Ericsson's
Screw Propeller — The "Great Eastern" — The Whaleb.^ck Steamers —
Ocean Greyhounds — The "Oceanic," Largest Steamship in the World —
The "Turbinia" — Fulton's "Demologos," First War Vessel — The Turret
Monitor — Modern Battleships and Torpedo Boats — Holland Submarine
Boat.
THE application of steam for the propulsion of boats engaged the
attention of inventors along with the very earliest development
of the steam engine itself. Blasco de Garay in 1543, the Mar-
quis of Worcester in 1655, Savary in 1698, Denys Papin in 1707,
Dr. John Allen in 1730, Jonathan Hulls in 1737, Bernouilli and Genevois
in 1757, William Henry (of Pennsylvaina) in 1763, Count D'Auxiron and
M. Perier in 1774, the Marquis de Jouflroy in 1781, James Rumsey (on
the Potomac) in 1782, Benjamin Franklin and Oliver Evans in 1786 and
1789, John Fitch in 1786, and also again in 1796, and William Symington
in 1788-89 were the early experimenters. Papin's boat was said to have
been used on the Fulda at Cassel, and was reported to have been destroyed
by bargemen, who feared that it v/ould deprive them of a livelihood.
Allen, Rumsey, Franklin, and Evans (1786) proposed to employ a back-
wardlv discharged column of water issuing from a pump. Jonathan Hulls
and Oliver Evans (1789) had stern wheels. Bernouilli, Genevois, and the
Marquis de Jouffroy used paddles on the duck's foot principle, which
closed when dragged forward, and expanded when pushed to the rear.
Fitch's first boat employed a system of paddles suspended by their handles
from cranks, which, in revolving, gave the paddles a motion simulating that
which the Indian imparts to his paddle. Symington's boat of 1788
(Patrick Miller's pleasure boat) had side paddle wheels. Symington's
next boat, built in 1789, and also owned by Patrick Miller, was of the cata-
maran tvpe, ('. e., it had two parallel hulls with paddle wheels between them.
Such was the state of this art when the Nineteenth Century commenced
its wonderful record. No practical steam vessel had been constructed, as
134
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
the efforts in this direction were handicapped by the crudeness of all the
arts, and were to be regarded as experiments only, most of which had to be
abandoned. The seed of this invention, however, had been sown in the
fertile soil of genius, conception of its great possibilities had fired the zeal
of the inventors in this field, and the new century was shortly to number
among its great resources a practical and efficient steamboat.
The first steamboat of the Nineteenth Century was the "Charlotte
Dundas," built by William Symington in 1801, see Fig. 106, and used on
the Forth and Clyde Canal in 1802. She had a double acting "Watt en-
gine," which transmitted power by a connecting rod to a crank on the pad-
dle-wheel shaft. The boat had a single paddle wheel in the middle near the
stern, and was intended only for canal use, in the place of horses. It was
abandoned for fear of washing the banks.
FIG. 106. — Symington's steamboat, 1801.
In 1S04 Col. John Stevens constructed a boat on the Hudson, driven by
a Watt engine, and having a tubular boiler of his own invention and a twin
screw propeller. The engine, boiler, and twin screws are shown in Fig.
107. The same year Oliver Evans used a stern paddle wheel boat on the
Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It was driven by a double acting high
pressure engine, and geared so as to rotate wagon wheels by which it was
transported on land, as well as the paddle wheels when on the water. It
was in primitive form both a locomotive and a steamboat.
In 1807 Robert Fulton built the "Clermont," and permanently estab-
lished steam navigation on the Hudson River between New York and
Albany. Fulton in 1802-1803, while living in Paris with Mr. Joel Barlow,
and with the aid and encouragement of Chancellor Livingston, of New
Jersey, had built an earlier steamboat 86 feet long, and although it broke
down owing to defects in the strength of the hull, he was so encouraged
. IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
135
that he ordered Messrs. Boulton & Watt, of England, to send to America a
new steam engine, and upon his return to America he built the "Clermont.''
This vessel, although not the first steamboat, was nevertheless the first to
make a voyage of any considerable length, and to run regularly and con-
tinuously for practical purposes, and Fulton was the first inventor in this
field whose labors were not to be classed as an abandoned experiment. The
"Clermont" as originally built was quite a different looking boat from that
usually given in the histories. A model of the original construction is to
be found in the National Museum at Washington. In the winter of 1807-8
she was remodeled as shown in Fig. 108. She then appeared as a side
FIG. 107. — STEVENS' TWIN SCREW PROPELLER AND ENGINE, 1804.
wheel steamer, whose wheels were provided with outer guards and en-
closed in side wheel houses, and whose shaft had outer bearings in the
guards, which were not in the original boat. The hull was 133 feet long,
18 feet beam, and 7 feet depth. The "Clermont's"' engines were coupled to
the crank shaft by a bell crank, and the paddle wheel shaft was separated
from the crank shaft, but connected with it by gearing. The cylinders were
24 inches in diameter, and 4 foot stroke. The paddle wheels had buckets 4
feet long with a dip of 2 feet. She made the first trip from New York to
Albany of 150 miles in 32 hours, and returned in 30 hours, which was the
first voyage of any considerable length ever made by steam power.
The honor of inventing the steamboat has been claimed for many in-
ventors, and that many worthy experimenters had been working in this
field, and that Fulton had the benefit of their experience is true. The fact
136
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
is, however, that the evolution of any grea" invention is a slow and cumu-
lative process, the product of many minds, and while the proposers, sug-
gesters, and experimenters are entitled to their share of the credit, it is the
man who achieves success and gives to the public the benefit of his labors
whom the world honors, and in this connection the name of Fulton stands
pre-eminent, for although the "Clermont" was 264 years later than the
steamboat of Blasco de Garay, the "Clermont" marks the beginning of
practical steam navigation, and whatever the claims of other inventors may
be, it is certain that steam navigation, established by Fulton in 1807, on the
Hudson, preceded the practical use of the steamboat in any other country
by at least five years, for it was not until 18 1 2 that Henry Bell, of Scot-
land, built the "Comet," that plied between Glasgow and Greenock, on the
FIG. 108. — THE "CLERMONT," 1S07.
Clyde, and not until 1814 was a steam packet used for hire on the Thames
in England.
At the same time that Fulton was in Paris making his first experiments
with the steamboat, Col. John Stevens, the most celebrated boat builder and
engineer of his day, was actively experimenting in America in the same
line. Having in 1804 made the first application of steam to the screw pro-
peller, he in 1807 built the "Phcenix," which was driven by paddle wheels.
The "Phoenix" was constructed shortly after Fulton's boat, but was barred
from use on the Hudson by the exclusive monopoly obtained by Fulton
and Livingston from the State Legislature, and she was accordingly taken
from New York to Philadelphia by sea, which was the first ocean voyage
by a steam vessel.
The first steamboat on the Mississippi was the "Orleans," of 100 tons,
built at Pittsburg by Fulton and Livingston in 181 1. She had a stern
wheel, and went from Pittsburg to New Orleans in 14 days.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
137
Although the first trip out to sea was made in 1808 by Col. Stevens' son
in taking the "Phcenix" from New York to Philadelphia, no attempt had
been made to cross the ocean until 1819. In this year the "Savannah," an
American steamer of 380 tons, performed this feat, and had the honor of
being the first steam vessel to cross the Atlantic. In 1824 the "Enterprise,"
an English steamer, rounded the Cape of Good Hope and went to India.
The screw propeller employed by Colonel Stevens in 1804 was not a
new invention with him, as popularly supposed, but had its origin early in
the preceding century, being a mere development of the ancient wind
wheel. In 1836 it was further developed by Francis P. Smith and by
Capt. John Ericsson, then living in England. Ericsson took out British
patent No. 7,149, of 1836, and United States patent No. 588, of Feb. i,
1838, and built several screw steamers, and through Capt. Robert F.
Stockton, of the United States Navy, succeeded in having a screw steamer,
the "Robert F. Stockton," built in accordance with the plans of his patent
and sent to the United States. The arrangement of her machinery is seen
in Fig. 109. She had two propellers on the same axis, but revolving in op-
FIG. 109. — SCREW PROPELLER OK THE "ROET. F. STOCKTON," ERICSSON'S PATENT, 1836.
posite directions, one being on the central shaft and the other on a con-
centric tube. The engines were coupled directly to the propeller shafts,
which feature was one of Ericsson's improvements, and has continued to
be the approved form to this day.
In the early history of steam navigation the side wheel steamer was the
favorite, and was employed for ocean travel as well as for inland waters.
138
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
In 1840 the "Brittania," the first Cunarder, commenced the career of that
celebrated line. This vessel had side wheels, as did also the "United
States," shown in Fig. 1 10, which was the first American steamer built ex-
pressly for the Atlantic trade. In 1852 the United States mail steamer
"Arctic," of the Collins line, was regarded as the greyhound of the Atlantic,
her time being 9 da3's, 17 hours and 12 minutes. She also had side wheels.
Side wheel steamers for inland waters, and screw propellers for sea
service, however, in time established their fitness for their respective scenes
of action. In side wheel steamers the most notable improvements have
FIG. no. — STEAMER "UNITED STATES," 1847.
been in stiffening the hull by braces, and the adoption of feathering paddle
wheels, whose function is to cause the paddles to enter and leave the water
in vertical position without dragging dead water. Manley in 1862, and
Morgan in 1875, patented practical forms of tlie feathering paddle wheel.
In screw propellers. Woodcroft in 1832, and Griffiths at a later period, made
valuable improvements. The surface condenser was used by Hall in 1838
on the steamship "Wilberforce," and Sickels in 1841 invented the drop
cut-off.
In 1854 the "Great Eastern" was begun and was finished in 1858. This
was the largest steam vessel ever built up to this time, and has continued to
hold the record for size up to the year 1899, when her dimensions wer-e
exceeded by the "Oceanic," which ships are put in comparison in Fig. iii.
The length of the "Great Eastern" was 692 feet, beam 83 feet, depth 573%
AV THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
139
' ^
7-,
X
:^
H
H
'/I
o
H
)£.
140
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
feet, draft 25>4 feet, displacement 27,000 tons, and speed 12 knots. She
was designed by the EngHsh engineer Brunei, and was intended for the
Austrahan trade. She had both a screw propeller and paddle wheels at the
side, with four engines coupled to each. The paddle wheel engines had
steam cylinders 74 inches in diameter, with 14 foot stroke, and those of the
screw engines were 84 inches in diameter and 4 foot stroke. Collectively
they were of 10,000 horse power. The paddle wheels were 56 feet in
diameter, and the screw propeller 24 feet. On her first voyage to New
York, across the Atlantic, in i860, she carried from 15 to 24 pounds of
steam and consumed 2,877 tons of coal. Her cost was $3,831,520. This
FIG. 112. — STEAMBOAT PKISCILLA.
mammoth vessel was too large and unwieldy for the uses for which she
was designed, and proved a bad investment. She served, however, a most
useful purpose, by virtue of her great bulk, steadiness, and carrying ca-
pacity, for relaying the Atlantic cable in 1866, and others in 1873- 1874.
In 1874 the "Castalia" was built. This was a steamer with two parallel
hulls, decked across, and designed for greater steadiness in crossing the
English Channel. The "Bessemer" steamer, designed for the same pur-
pose, and built about the same time, had four paddle wheels, and the entire
cabin was hung on pivots, so that it could not partake of the sea motion.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
141
;^^;,1^.-"
FIG. 113. — ENGINES AND PADDLE WHEEL OF STEAMER ADIRONDACK ON THE
HUDSON RIVER.
142
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
In later years great improvements have been made in reducing the
weight of the engines, in forced blast, steam steering gear, anchor hoisting
devices, .water-tight bulkheads, surface condensers, electric lights, and sig-
nalling devices. By the year 1880 the standard form of marine engine for
large powers had become the compound double cylinder type, expanding
steam from an initial pressure as high as 90 pounds. In 1890 triple expan-
sion engines had become common, employing three cylinders, and using
steam with an initial pressure as high as 180 pounds. In i8go McDougal's
whale-back steamers were introduced. See United States patents No.
429,467 and 429,468, Tune 3, 1890, and No. 500,411, June 27, 1893.
In no country in the world are such fine examples of side wheel steam-
ers to be found as in the United States, and in no country are there such
FIG. 114. — "kaiser wilhelm der grosse."
splendid reaches of inland waters as theatres for their performances. The
"Priscilla," shown in Fig. 112, of the Fall River Line, plying on Long
Island Sound, and the "Adirondack," on the Hudson, are fine examples of
this type. The "Priscilla," which is said to be the largest river boat in the
world, is 440 feet 6 inches long and 93 feet breadth over the guards. She
is driven by double compound inclined engines, has feathering paddle
wheels 35 feet in diameter and 14 feet face, and her speed is over 20 miles
an hour. The "Adirondack," whose engines and feathering paddle wheel
are shown in Fig. 113, is 412 feet long and 90 feet breadth over guards.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
143
144
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
The engines and paddle wheels of the "Adirondack" are distinctly repre-
sentative of the modern American side wheel steamer.
The largest and in many respects the highest type of marine archi-
tecture is to be found in the modern ocean greyhound for transatlantic
trade. In recent years the rival companies have vied with each other in the
effort to excel, and steamships of larger size, greater speed, and more per-
fect cc|uipment have followed each other, until it would seem that the limit
had been reached. In the accompanying table the largest and most recent
steamers are placed in comparison with the "Great Eastern."
DIMENSIONS OF THE LARGEST OCEAN STEAMERS.
NAME OF
SHIP.
DATE.
LENGTH
OVER
ALL.
BEAM,
DEPTH.
DRAUGHT.
DISPLACE-
MENT.
MA.XI-
MUM
SPEED.
Great East-
FEET.
FEET.
FEET.'
FEET.
TONS.
KNOTS.
ern
i8sS
692
83
siyi
^SV2
27,000
I 2
Paris
1888
560
63
42
26!^
13,000
20
Teutonic. . .
1890
58s
Sl%
42
26
12,000
20
Campania. .
189.^
625
65
A^%
28
1 9,000
22
St. Paul.. . .
1895
554
63
42
27
14,000
21
Kaiser Wil-
helm der
Grosse. . .
1897
649
66
43
29
20,000
22.35
Oceanic . . .
1899
704
68
49
32j^
28,500
20
Deut sch-
land
1900
6861^
^TA
44
29
22,000
23K
The "Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse," owned by the North German Lloyd
Company, and built in 1897, is shown in Fig. 114, and for three years held
the record as the fastest steamship afloat. The "Kaiser Wilhelm" was fol-
lowed by the "Oceanic," in 1899, of the White Star Company, which is the
largest ocean steamer ever built, exceeding the proportions of the "Great
Eastern." Just what the dimensions of the "Oceanic" mean, as given in
the preceding tables, can b^ best illustrated by the accompanying Fig. 115,
in which she is juxtaposed with several blocks of large buildings on Broad-
way, New York, opposite City Hall Park. If the "Oceanic" were placed
on end beside Washington's Monument, at the United States Capital, she
would tower 150 feet above the top of the same. An ordinary brick house
four rooms deep and three stories high could be built with its length cross-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 145
wise in her hull. There is accommodation for 410 first-class passengers,
300 second-class passengers, and 1,000 third class, and as her crew will
number 390, the total number of souls on board, when she carries her full
complement, will be 2,100.
The latest achievement in marine architecture, however, is the
"Deutschland," built for the Hamburg-American Company. The
"Deutschland" is not quite so large as the "Oceanic," but is of higher
speed, her maximum speed- of 23^2 knots an hour exceeding that of any
other ocean steamer. The "Savannah," the first steam vessel to cross the
Atlantic, made the trip in 1819 in 26 days. The "Deutschland" in her east-
v\'ard trip September 4, 1900, crossed the Atlantic in 5 days 7 hours and
38 minutes, which is the fastest time on record. The "Deutschland" is of
35,640 horse power, her two bronze propellers are 23 feet diameter, and
weigh 30 tons, and her propeller shafts are 25 inches in diameter. The
cranks of her propeller shafts, like those of the "Kaiser Wilhelm" and the
"Oceanic," are set according to the Schlick system, to reduce vibration.
The "Deutschland's" engines are seen in Fig. 92, and in general appear-
ance the ship resembles the "Kaiser Wilhelm." Still larger and possibly
swifter steamships are in process of construction, viz.: the "Kaiser Wil-
helm II.," by the Nortlv German Lloyd Company, and a mammoth un-
named ship by the \Miite Star Line, whose length of 750 feet will exceed
all others.
It may be interesting to note in familiar terms what these enormous
traveling palaces comprehend in equipment. For the safety and comfort of
passengers, the great length reduces the pitching, bilge keels prevent roll-
ing, and the Schlick system of cranks neutralizes vibration in the engine.
Strong bulkheads, and double bottoms with air-tight compartments, impart
buoyancy in case of collision. Boilers are placed in separate water-tight
compartments, so that damage to one does not disable the others. Power-
ful pumps are arranged to discharge inflowing water, and the best of life
ooats are provided. Spacious dining rooms, promenade decks, drav.-ing
rooms, pianos, library, smoking room, state rooms, cabins for children,
toilets, baths, medicine stores, a printing office, and electric lights every-
where, furnish every want and satisfy every luxurious taste. The cuisine
includes a refrigerating plant, the finest ranges, and provisions galore. It
may be interesting to the housewife to see the market list of a modern
transatlantic steamer. A specimen is partially represented in the follow-
ing: 25,450 pounds of fresh meat, 3,250 pounds of fish, 6,370 pounds of
game and poultry. 12,715 pounds of bread, 43 barrels of flour, 3,938
pounds of butter, 1,307 pounds of coffee, 2,790 pounds of sugar, 102
H6 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
pounds of tea, 7,220 pounds of fresh fruit; 1,230 gallons of milk, 26,106
eggii, 29,180 oranges and lemons, 7,033 bottles of mineral water, 1,800
bottles of beer, 2,688 gallons of beer in casks, 1,240 bottles of wine, 630
bottles of champagne, 1,600 heads of lettuce, 800 jars of preserved fruits,
and other things in proportion.
In the matter of size the "Oceanic" surpasses all previous efforts in
ship building, but ocean steamers do not reach the highest speed attainable.
The little "Turbinia," a 40 ton craft equipped with a compound rotary
steam turbine of the Parsons type, has attained a speed of 32^ knots an
hour. An even greater speed has recently been attained by the larger boat,
"Hai Lung," constructed in England for the Chinese Government, which
vessel was equipped with reciprocating engines, and is credited with having
made a run of 18J.4 knots at an average speed of 35 knots an hour. The
highest speed ever attained, however, is by the British torpedo boat
"Viper," which is 210- feet long, and, like the "Turbinia," is equipped
with the Parsons steam turbines. In a recent trial the "Viper" covered a
measured mile at the rate of 37.1 knots, or about 43 miles an hour.
In many respects the most important branch of steam navigation in
recent years has been its war vessels. The great navies of the world at the
end of 1898* ranked as follows: England, 1,557,522 tons; France, 731,629
tons ; Russia, 453,899 tons : United States, 303,070 tons ; Germany, 299,637
tons ; Italy, 286,175 tons, and they all owe their efficiency entirely to steam.
The first steam war vessel was built in 1814 by Fulton for, the defence of
New York Harbor, during the then existing war times. She was known
as the "Demologos" (voice of the people), or "Fulton the First." As
shown in the original designs, Fig. 1 16, she is a double ender, whose
sides were to be 5 feet thick. In her middle was a channel way or well con-
taining a protected paddle wheel 16 feet in diameter, 14 feet wide, and hav-
ing a dip of 4 feet. A single cylinder engine turned the paddle wheel on
one side, and was balanced by the boiler on the other side. Although in-
tended to have only twenty guns, she was equipped, when finished, with
thirty long 32-pounder guns and two Columbiad 100 pounders. It was pro-
posed also to have submarine guns suspended from each bow. An engine
was also to be used to discharge hot water on the enemy, and a furnace
was to be provided for heating the cannon balls red hot. She was 156 feet
long, 20 feet deep, and 56 feet broad, and was regarded as a very formid-
able vessel. Fler cost was $278,544. Iron-clad floating batteries were
* The figures represent a selective list which excludes about 15 per cent, of old and
inefficient vessels.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
147
first used in 1855 in the Crimean war, and shortly afterward the French
built the first sea-going iron-clad, "Gloire," followed in 1859 by the Brit-
ish iron-clad, "Warrior."
"demologos"
Figure I*' Tranjvcrte ^cctuen f>iJie.rBotIrr B tAr ttr^tn-Engin^Q tix£ wTxtcr-a^A^ari
^£. h£r wooden ■wall* S fact tiiick dtmintthuig'uy'hrU'tr' ihr-voLcrtinca^ a££'^
drCLughc oft^ai^r-Sfret'D'Dhcrgitn.tteek.
^Afcet*'>riji£.'trLOujiLtnj^20^unr .Klhe- Water i^hect
Suic View
FIG. 116.
The civil war in 1861 brought with it a novel and striking form of war
vessel known as the " Monitor/ '"^ It was built from plans of Capt. Ericsson,
* The revolving turret was invented and patented by Theodore R. Timby, No.
35,846, July 8. 1S62. and No. 36.593, September 30, 1862.
148
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
an engineer of the ripest experience, skill, and attainments, who had then
come to make his home in the United States. He undertook to construct
for the Navy Department of the United States some form of iron clad
steam batteries of light draft, suitable to navigate the rivers and harbors of
the Confederate States. The "Monitor" was the result. The salient fea-
tures, shown in vertical cross section in Fig. 117, are a low deck projecting
FIG. 117. — CROSS SECTION OF "MONITOR."
but a few inches above the water line, so as to present as little target as
possible to the enemy, and a revolving and heavily armored turret contain-
ing the battery of guns. In 1862 the Confederate forces had reconstructed
a steam vessel with a chicken-coop-shaped covering of armor, that proved
a formidable engine of war, which was practically invulnerable to the at-
tacks of ordinary war vessels, and was doing great damage to the Union
vessels. In the spring of 1862 the "Monitor" met the "Merrimac" in en-
gagement in Hampton Roads, and established the great value of the turret
monitor.
Vessels of the "Monitor" type still form useful parts of the United
States Navy, in which the "Monterey" and "Monadnock" are its most rep-
reseiUative types. The "Monadnock," which is a double-turret coast de-
fence monitor, is shown in Fig. 1 18. Although regarded by some as un-
seaworthy on account of the low seaboard and small buoyancy, the mon-
itor has cleared itself of such suspicion, for in the recent war with Spain
both the "Monadnock" and "Monterey " sailed across the Pacific Ocean by
way of lionolulu to Manila, a distance of 7,000 miles, and joined the fleet
of Admiral Dewey without mishap or delay.
No patriotic American citizen would expect to read an account of
modern war vessels without finding special mention of those two splendid
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
149
150
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
types of their class, the battleship "Oregon" and the armored cruiser
"Brooklyn," whose performances during the late war with Spain con-
tributed so much to the honor and glory of the United States Navy, and
demonstrated the skill and efficiency of our. American shipbuilders. Before
the war began the "Oregon" was stationed on the Pacitic Coast, where she
had been built, and it was desired that she should join the fleet of Admiral
Sampson in Cuban waters. Leaving Puget Sound on March 6, 1898, this
floating fortress of steel, weighted with her enormous guns and 18-inch
thick armor, made the long journey of over 14,500 miles around the
southern end of the western continent, and up to Jupiter Inlet on the
Florida coast, arriving there on the 24th day of May, and was not delayed
an hour on account of her machinery, the only stops being made for coal.
Immediately after coaling at Key West she took her place in the blockad-
FIG. Iig. — BATTLESHIP "OREGON."
ing line at Santiago, and in the great battle of July 3 quickly developed a
power greater that that attained on her trial trip'and a speed only slightly
less, easily distancing all other ships immediately engaged except the
"Brooklyn," and in connection with the "Brooklyn" forced the fleetest of
the Spanish cruisers to surrender.
The "Oregon" is shown in Fig. 119. She is an armored battleship of
the first class, built by the Union Iron Works of San Francisco, and
launched Oct. 26, 1893. Her length is 348 feet, beam 69J4 feet, draft 24
feet, displacement 10,288 tons, maximum speed 16.79 knots, and coal
capacity 1,594 tons. Her side armor is of steel plates 18 inches thick, and
/.Y THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
151
her deck is 2^ inches thick. On the turrets the armor is from 6 to 15
inches thick, and on the barbettes it is from 6 to 17 inches thick. Her en-
gines arc of the twin screw, vertical triple expansion direct acting inverted
cylinder type. The stroke is 42 inches, and the diameters of the cylinders
are ZAV^, 48, and 75 inches, respectively. The battery consists of four
13-inch breech loading rifles, eight 8-inch breech loading rifles, four 6-inch,
twenty 6-pounder rapid fire guns, six i -pounder rapid fire, two Colts, one
3-inch rapid fire field gun, and three torpedo tubes. The 13-inch guns
weigh 136,000 pounds each, are 39 feet g]/}, inches long, are set 18 feet
above the water, can be moved through an arc of 270 degrees, and throw a
projectile of 1,100 pounds a distance of 12 miles, and with a power which
at 1,000 yards would perforate a mass of steel 2]^ feet in thickness. The
cost of the "Oregon" was $3,180,000.
The "Brooklyn" is shown in Fig. 120, and enjoys the distinction of hav-
-;\RMORED CRUISER BROOKLYN.
ing borne the brunt of the fight of July 3, 189S, having been hit over forty
times in that engagement without being disabled. She was built by the
William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company, of Phila-
delphia, was launched Oct. 2, 1895, and cost $2,986,000. She is an ar-
mored cruiser, and is one of the latest and most speedy of that type. She
is 400 feet 6 inches long, 64 feet 8 inches breadth, 24 feet draft, 9,215 tons
displacement. Her engines are the twin-screw vertical triple expansion
type, imparting a speed of 21.91 knots an hour. Her maximum indicated
horse power is 18,769, and her coal capacity is 1,461 tons. Her battery
consists of eight 8-inch breech loading rifles, twelve 5-inch rapid fire guns,
twelve 6-pounder rapid fire, four i-pounder rapid fire, four Colts, two
3-inch rapid fire field guns, and four Whitehead torpedo tubes. Her side
152
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
armor is 3 inches thick, her turrets 53/2 inclies, her barbettes from 4 to 8-
inches, and her deck from 3 to 6 inches. She also has a water hne protec-
tion of cocoa fibre to automatically close up an opening made by a shot.
Although not a steam vessel, it would be regarded as an omission not
to mention among war vessels the "Holland" submarine boat, brought intO'
notice in 1898 by the Spanish American war, and designed to dive below
the surface and make attack below the water level. Torpedo boats of this
type have been acquired by, and now form a part of, the United States
Navy.
Among all the types of steam war vessels which have claimed popular
attention the most interesting in proportion to its size is the torpedo boat,
for none represent such concentrated pent-up energy and deadly effect as
this little demon of the sea. A mere shell in construction, with engine and
boiler built for highest speed, and crew suffering untold discomforts and
dangers below, this modern engine of destruction, with the speed of an ex- ^
/860
1834.
50 So
FIG. 121. — SHIPPING OF ALL NATIONS. RATIO OF STE.A.M TO SAILS.
press locomotive, and the helplessness and deadly intent of a scorpion,
darts up to the monster battleship under cover of darkness, and before be-
ing discovered discharges a torpedo and delivers a mortal wound in the
side of the big ship which sends her to the bottom, perishing perhaps itself
in the destruction which it work-s. The United States has 37 of these tor-
pedo boats. The torpedo boat destroyer is a larger and swifter boat, whose
special duty it is to overtake and destroy this dangerous little fighter.
The growth of steam navigation during the present generation has been
v.'onderfully rapid. The accompanying diagram. Fig. 121, from Mulhall's
"Industries and Wealth of Nations," shows in i860 30 per cent, of
/;V THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 153
steam to 70 per cent, of sailing vessels, while in 1894 the ratio is 80 per
cent, of steam to 20 of sailing vessels. The same authority estimated
the total horse power of steam vessels in the merchant marine
of the world in 1895 to be 12,005,000. Add to this the growth of the past
five years, and about 4,000,000 horse power for the steam war vessels of
the world's navies, which were not included, and the total horse power of
the steam vessels of the world would not be for from twenty million.
This cursory review, in a single chapter, cannot adequately treat this
great subject, for a whole lilirary is needed to cover the field. Suffice it to
say, however, that among the great scenes and acts in the theatre of hu-
man action, no figure has occupied so much attention, and none played so
important a part in the drama of life, as the steam vessel. Its stage setting
has been the majestic waters of the earth, and on it the play of the great
warships has vied in power and grandetir with the flash and vehemence of
the lightning, and the whirl and turmoil of the elements. Tense with a
deep meaning which no stage simulation could approximate, and with the
smoke of conflict for a drop curtain, it has laid tragedies upon the pages of
history, and changed the maps of the world ; while behind the scenes the
great passenger steamers, with their uninterrupted traffic of human freight,
are more silently, but none the less surely, stirring the peoples of the earth
into the homogeneous ferment of civilization, and slowly moulding nations
into the solidarity of a common brotherhood.
154 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
CHAPTER XIII.
Printing.
E.\RLY Printing Presses — Nicholson's Rotary Press — The Columbian and
Washington Presses — Konic Rotary Steam Press — The Hoe Type Revolving
Machine — Color Printing — Stereotyping — Paper jNIaking — Wood Pulp — The
Linotype — Plate Printing — Lithography.
T
HE art preservative of all arts it has been rightfuli)' called.
Before its birth generation after generation of the human
family lived and died, and each was but little wiser, and
but little better than its predecessor. Tradition was the
mist}-, vague, and sometimes wholly false dependence of the living,
and the experiences of mankind were, in the words of an eminent
writer, but like the stern lights of a vessel, which only illumined the
pathway over which each had passed. But printing gives to the present the
cumulative wisdom of the past, and marks a great era of growth in civiliza-
tion. It conserves and preserves man's thoughts and makes them immortal,
so that each generation comes into existence with a richer legacy of ideas,
and is guaranteed a higher plane of existence, and a more exalted destiny.
Printing from letters engraved on blocks of wood is an ancient art, hav-
ing had its origin in China many centuries before the Christian era. The
Chinese method, which is still followed, was to write their characters with
a brush on a sheet of paper, and while still wet, the piece of paper was
laid face downward on a smooth piece of board to transfer the ink lines,
and then all except the ink lines on the board was cut away. Thus they
liave one type plate for each book page. Printing with movable t3'pe, /. c,
with a separate type for each letter, which may be repeatedly set up into
forms of varying composition, is practically the beginning of the modern
art of printing. This invention is usiiallv ascribed to Johann Gutenberg,
of Mentz, about 1436.
In the earliest printing presses the form was locked up in a tray, and
placed upon a platform, and the platen was then brought down upon it by
turning a screw in a cross bar above. The first printing press of this type
was made by Blaew, of Amsterdam, in 1620, which had a spring to cause
the screw to fly back after the impression was taken. The press upon which
Benjamin Franklin worked in London in 1725 is of this pattern, and is to
/.V THE yiXETEENTH CESTL'RY.
1 55
• /" /
FIG. 122.— DEXJAMIX FR.VNKLIN's PRESS, I725.
156
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
be seen in the National Museum at Washington. It is almost entirely of
wood, and is shown in Fig. 122. About the beginning of the Nineteenth
Century Lord Stanhope invented a press entirely of cast iron, in which the
oscillating handle operated a toggle to force down the platen in taking the
impression. The bed traveled on guide ways, and the tympan and frisket
were hinged to fold back and lay in elevated position.
The"Columbian"press was the first important American improvement.
It was invented by George Clymer, of Philadelphia, and is shown in his
British Pat. No.
4,174 of 1817. A
compound lever was
employed for apply-
ing the power. The
"Washington" press
was patented in the
United States by
Samuel Rust, April
17, 1829. in this
press (see Fig. 123)
the platen is forced
downwardly by a
compound lever ap-
plied to a toggle
joint and is raised by
springs on each side.
The bed is run in
and out by turning a
crank on a shaft which has a pulley and belt passing around it.
As so far described the presses were worked by hand power. An im-
portant step in the advancement of this art was made by the introduction
of pozver presses worked by steam. These arranged the type on the sur-
face of a cylinder. Probably the earliest form of rotary cylinder press is
that invented by Nicholson, British Pat. No. 1.748 of 1790. Its main fea-
tures are descril^ed as follows : "The types, being rubbed or scraped nar-
rower toward the foot, were to be fixed radially upon a cylinder. This cyl-
inder with its type was to revolve in gear with another cylinder covered
with soft leather (the impression cylinder), and the type received its ink
from another cylinder, to which the inking apparatus, was applied. The
paper was impressed by passing between the type and the impression cyl-
inder."
FIG. 123. — THE WASHINGTON PRESS,
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 157
The first practical success, however, in rotary steam presses was
achieved by Konig, a German, who in 1814 set up for the London Times
two machines, by which that newspaper was printed at the rate of 1,100 im-
pressions per hour. He obtained British Pat. No. 3,321 of 1810, No. 3,496
of 181 1, No. 3,725 of 1813, and No. 3,868 of 1814. Konig's machine
was in 1827 succeeded by that of Applegath and Cowper, which was sim-
pler and more rapid.
Many improvements upon the methods for handling the paper were
subsecjuently devised, and double cylinder presses were made which were
able to print 4,000 sheets an hour. In 1845 the firm of R. Hoe & Co., which
had already been for years engaged in the manufactrtre of printing presses,
brought out the Hoe Type Revolving Machine. The first one of these was
placed in the office of the Philadelphia Ledger in 1846, and had four im-
pression cylinders, printing 8,000 papers per hour. The constantly increas-
ing circulation of newspapers, however, continued to make insatiable de-
mands for more rapid work, and to meet this demand the Hoe company in
1 87 1 brought out their continuous web press, in which the paper was fur-
nished to the machine in the form of a roll, and after being printed was sep-
arated into sheets. This principle of action gave promise of unlimited
speed, and recjuired important reorganization in all parts of the machine.
To meet these conditions of increased speed more rapid drying ink had to
be produced to prevent blurring, paper of uniform quality and strength
had to be made, means had to be devised for printing the opposite side of
the web, and severing devices for cutting the web into sheets were needed,
but perhaps the most important feature was the device called a gathering
and delivering cylinder, whereby the papers could be gathered and dis-
posed of as fast as they could be printed, and much faster than human
hands could work. This was the invention of Stephen D. Tucker, and it is
the mechanism upon which the speed of the modern press depends, for it
would obviously be useless to print papers faster than they could be taken
from the machine in proper condition. Many patents were taken by
Messrs. Hoe & Tucker covering various improvements, prominent among
which were No. 18,640, Nov. 17, 1857; No. 25,199, Aug. 23, 1859 (re-issue
No. 4.429) ; No. 84,627, Dec. i, 1868 (re-issue No. 4,400) ; No. 113,769,
April 18, 1871 ; No. 124,460, March 12, 1S72; No. 131,217, Sept. 10,1872.
The first rapid printing press of the Hoe Company was set up in the office
of the N'e-tU York Tribune in 1871, and its maximum output was 18,000 an
hour. This marked the great era of rapid newspaper printing, and follow-
ing it many further improvements, such as devices for folding and count-
ing the papers automatically, have been added, until to-day the great Hoe
158
THE PROGRESS OF INl-ENTION
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. J 59
Octuple Press, shown in Fig. 124, is the wonder of the Nineteenth Cen-
tury. It prints 96,000 papers of four, six, or eight pages in an hour, or at
the rate of 1,600 a minute, and these papers are not only printed, but in the
same operation and by the same machine are cut, pasted, folded, and
counted automatically. Fifty miles of paper of the width of an ordinary
newspaper pass through it each hour from its several rolls. The machine
weighs over 60 tons, and is composed of about 16,000 parts, and yet its
touch is so deft, and its members so delicately and accurately adjusted that
it does not tear the tender sheet as it flies through the machine — so fast
that one-fifth of a second only is required to print a page.
The latest development in the printing press has been in color printing,
which has recently been introduced in the illustration of some of the
largest daily newspapers. Such a press contains from 50,000 to 60,000
parts, and its cost is from $35,000 to $45,000.
Collateral with the development of the printing press are three impor-
tant branches of the art — sterereotyping, paper making, and type setting.
Stereotyping was the invention of William Ged, of Edinburg, in 1731,
and was introduced into the United States by David Bruce, of New York,
in 18 1 3. The stereotype is simply a moulded duplicate of the type face as
set up, the duplicate being cast in the form of a single block of metal, by
first taking an impression in plastic material from the faces of the type,
after being set up, to form the mould, and then casting, in an easily fusible
metal, an exact duplicate of this type face in this mould. This art prevents
the wear on the movable type involved in printing, and also avoids the lock-
ing up into permanent forms of a large body of valualjle type, since a form
may be set up, stereotyped, and the type then distributed and set up into an-
other form. Stereotyping, although used in book printing, was not thought
practical for newspaper work until about 1861, because of the length of
time required for the formation and drying of the mould and the casting
of the plate ; but about this time great expedition in the formation of the
plate was attained by the employment of a steam bed to dry the mould, and
a novel form of papier mache matrix, or mould, which could be con-
veniently disposed around the cylinders of type. The dampened and plastic
papier mache sheets are beaten into the face of the type form by means of
brushes, are then removed, dried, and used as moulds to cast the stereotype
plate from. A stereotype plate can now be made in about seven minutes.
Paper Making is an important adjunct of the printing art, and its for-
mation cheaply into long rolls of uniform strength is an essential condition
of success in the rapid web-perfecting printing press. A Frenchman named
Louis Robert about 1799 was the first to make a continuous web of paper,
160
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
and in iSoo he received from the French Government a reward of 8.000
francs for his discovery. His invention was subsequently taken up and
carried to a success by the great Enghsh paper makers, the Fourdrinier
Brotliers, whose name has been given to the machine. In the Fourdrinier
process rags are ground to a pulp by a revolving beater (Fig. 125) work-
ing in a tank of water. The pulp, duly beaten, refined, screened, and
diluted with water, is then piped into the "flow-box" of the Fourdrinier
machine. The "flow-box,'' shown on right of Fig. 126, is a deep rectangular
chamber extending across the full width of the machine, from which the
pulp flows out in a thin stream onto an endless belt of 70-mesh wire cloth
which runs over end rollers. To prevent the stream of pulp from flowing
laterally over the edges of the belt, two endless rubber guides or bands, two
inches square in
cross section, travel
with the belt over
the first twenty feet
of its length, and
run over two pulleys
above the wire cloth.
The upper half of
the wire cloth belt is
supported by and
run.s over a series of
closely juxtaposed
rollers. As the pulp
passes from the
'■flow-box" the particles of fibre float in it just as an innumerable multi-
tude of particles of cotton fibre would float in a stream of water. To
unite and interlace the fibres the wire cloth belt is given a lateral oscil-
lating or shaking movement, which serves to interlock the fibres. ^Nlean-
while the water strains through the the wire cloth, leaving a thin layer of
moist interlaced fibre spread in a white sheet over the surface of the
belt. The separation of the water is further assisted by suction boxes
which extend across close beneath the upper rim of the belt and are con-
nected to suction pumps.
The wire cloth with its layer of moist pulp now passes below a roll
M'hich compresses the fibre, and then leaving the machine seen in Fig. 126
■t passes below a second and larger roll covered with felt, which presses out
more of the water. The fibre next passes to the "first press," where it is
caught up on an endless belt and passed between two rollers where more
FIG. 125. — PAPER PULP EE-\TlXC EXGIXE.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
161
water is pressed out of the sheet. Then
it passes through a "second press," and
finalh' the sheet commences a long jour-
ney up and down over a series of steam-
heated dr3-ing rolls, by which the sheet
is dried.
U^ood Pulp. — When a purchaser of
one of the Xew York dailies reads the
morning's voluminous edition, he little
realizes that he holds in his hands the
remains of a billet of wood as large as
a good-sized club, yet such is the case.
Originally made from the fibres of the
papyrus plant, and later from rags beat-
en into a pulp, paper for the printing of
books and newspapers is now made al-
most entireh' of wood. In the forma-
tion of paper pulp from wood two pro-
cesses are employed, one known as the
soda process, and the other the sulphite
process. In both cases the wood is cut
into fine chips, and then digested in great
drums with chemicals to extract the res-
inous matter and leave the pure fibrous
cellulose, which resembles raw cotton in
texture. This industry' was developed
by Watt and Burgess in 1853 (U. S.
Pat. No. 11.343, July 18, 1854), who in-
vented the soda process; by Voelter (U.
S. Pat. No. 21,161, Aug. 10, 1858), who
devised means for comminuting or
shredding the wood ; and by Tilghman
(V. S. Pat. No. 70,485, Nov. 5, 1867),
who in^-ented the sulphite process.
The logs, usually of spruce or pop-
lar, are first split, as seen at the bottom
of Fig. 127, then placed in the chipper,
where a revolving disc with knives cuts
them into small chips, which are fed to
an elevator and raised to a screening:
@
Mr" *-■
©
162
THE PROGRESS OF INTENTION
device, seen at the top, to remove saw-dust, dirt and knots. In the
sulphite process the chips are then dehvered into the dip-esters shown
FIG. 127. — CHIPPING LOGS FOR P.\PER PULP.
IN THE NINETEHNTH CENTURY.
163
FIG. 128. — DIGESTER FOR WOOD PULP.
164
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
in Fig. 128, which are suppHed with sulphurous acid generated in a plant
shown in Fig. 12Q. In the digesters the gummy and resinous matters are
dissolved by the heat and chemicals, and the woolly fibre left behind is
bleached, washed, and dried, and afterwards made into paper upon the
Fourdrinicr machine.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 165
It was stated by the Paper Trade Joiinial in 1897 that the increase in
paper making in the United States during the 15 years preceding amounted
to 352 per cent., due chiefly to the growth of the wood pulp industry. The
Androscoggin Pulp Mill, established in Maine in 1870, was one of the pion-
eers in this field. In that State the industry had grown in 1897 to over
$13,000,000 and gave employment to more than 5,000 men, but the State of
Maine is excelled by both New York and Wisconsin in this industry, for in
the same year New York mills had a daily capacity of 1,800,000 pounds;
Wisconsin, 670,000; Maine, 665,000, and other States a less capacity.
There are over 1,000 paper mills in the United States, and their combined
daily capacity amounts to over 13,000 tons. In 1898 the United States
exported over five million dollars' worth of paper, and over fifty million
pounds of wood pulp. Of the total amount of paper produced in the world
Mulhall estimated it in 1890 to be 2,620,000,000 tons annually. This
amount is greatly increased at the present time, and by far the larger part
of it is manufactured from wood.
In 1891 the Philadelphia Record in an experimental test as to speed,
cut trees from the forest, converted them into paper, and then into printed
newspapers, all within the space of 22 hours. At a later period in Germany,
where the wood pulp art began, even this expeditious work has been ex-
celled. The trees were felled in the morning at 7:35, converted into paper,
and presented at 10 A. M. in the form of printed newspapers, with a record
of the news of the forenoon. The great naval edition of the Scientific
American of April 30, 1898, consumed a hundred tons of wood pulp paper,
and was therefore built upon a material foundation of 125 cords of wood,
which cleared off over six acres of well-set spruce timber land. It is main-
ly vi'ood pulp that has enabled books and newspapers to be made so cheaply,
for they are now furnished at a less price than the cost of the paper made
in the old way from rags.
The Linotype. — ^The most revolutionary and perhaps the most im-
portant development in the printing art of this century has been the lin-
otype machine. The laborious, painstaking, and expensive feature of
printing has always been the setting and redistribution of the types, since
each little piece had to be separately selected and placed in the composing
stick, and the line afterwards "justified," which means an apportionment of
the space iDetween the words so as to make each line of type about the
same length in the column. The same separate handling of each piece was
again involved in restoring the type to the case. Machines for thus set-
ting and distributing the type had been devised, but the operation was so
involved, and required so nearly the discretion of the thinking mind, that
166
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
all automatic machinery proved too complicated and impracticable. In
1886. however, a machine was placed in the office of the Neiv York Tribune
FIG. 130. — LINOTYPE M.\CHINE.
whose performances astonished and alarmed the old-time compositor. It
rendered it unnecessary to handle the type, or even to have any separate
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
167
type at all. It was the Mergenthaler Linotype machine, which automat-
ically formed its own type by casting a whole line of it at a time. The first
machine was invented in 1884, and patented in 1885, but
it was subsequently reorganized and greatly improved in
Pats. No. 425,140, April 8, 1890; Nos. 436,531 and 436,-
532, Sept. 16, 1890, and No. 438.354, Oct. 14, 1890. It is
shown in the accompanying illustration (Fig. 130). By
manipulating the keyboard, which resembles that of a
typewriter, each lettered key is made to bring down from
an inclined elevated magazine a little brass plate of the
shape shown in Fig. 131, and which plate is called a ma-
trix, because it bears on its edge at .r a mould of the type
letter. There is a matrix plate for every letter and char-
acter used. These little matrices are spaced by wedges,
132, and are assembled, as in Fig. 133. along the side of
having a slot in it which forms a channel between the
FTG. 131.
LINOTYPE M.\TRIX
as seen in Fig
a mould whee
aligned type-moulds
or matrices on one
side and tlie dis-
charge mouth of a
melting pot, in which
molten type metal is
maintained in a fluid
state by a subjacent
gas-burner. In the
melting pot there is a
cylinder and plunger.
End when the plunger
descends, it forces the
molten metal up
through the discharge
spout into the slot
of the mould wheel,
and against the letter
mould .r of each one
of the composed or
aligned matrices. The
wheel is then turned
FIG. 132. — SP.^CING OF .ASSEMBLED LINE OF M.^TRICES.
with the matrices, and the metal in its slot is afterwards discharged in the
form of a linotype slug, seen in Fig. 134, which is a metal plate bearing
168
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
on its edge a completely moulded line of t)'pe ready for setting up in the
form for printing. The jagged notches in the tops of the matrices (Fig.
131) are for co-operation with a distributer bar (not easily explained)
for restoring the matrices to their appropriate magazines after being used.
There are altogether about 1,500 of the little brass matrices. The machine
is about five feet square, weighs i ,750 pounds, and costs $3,000 each. Not-
withstanding this expense these Linotype machines have to-day made
their way into nearly all the daily newspaper offices of the civilized world,
MELTING
POT
COMPOSED
MATRICES
MOLD
FIG. 133. — CASTING THE LINE.
even to Australia and the Hawaiian Islands. In the composing rooms of
the daily newspapers and the larger book printing offices we find great
rows of these Linotype machines, each doing the work of from four to five
men. There are now in use in America something over 5,000 Linotype
machines ; and in other countries about 2,000, making 7,000 in all. Each
machine may be adjusted in five minutes to produce any size or style of
type, and it gives new, clean faces for each day's issue, with none of the
ordinary troubles of distributing tvpe. The cheapness of composition, due
to the machine, has led to an enormous increase in the size of papers, in
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 169
the frequency of the editions, and has correspondingly increased the de-
mand for labor in all the attendant lines, such as paper-making, press-mak-
ing, the attendants on presses, stereotyping, etc. In the Boston Library,
which keeps its catalogues printed up to within 24 hours of date, the Lin-
otypes print in 23 languages.
When the Linotype machine was first patented it was not regarded by
printers generally as a practical machine, but only one of the many com-
plicated, theoretical, but impracticable organizations which the Patent
Office has to deal with. Its history, however, has been unique. It is prac-
tically the product of the brain of a single man, Ottmar Mergenthaler, a
most ingenious and indefatigable inventor living in Baltimore. It was ex-
ploited under the powerful patronage of a syndicate of newspaper men, and
hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent in perfecting it before any
practical results were obtained. To-day it stands a triumph of human
ingenuity, ranking in
importance with the
rotary web-perfecting
press, and is probably
the most ingenious
piece of practical me-
chanism in existence. fig. 134-— a linotype.
Of the three forms of printing attention has been given thus far only to
the leading branch of the art, which is type printing, or "letter press," as
it is called, in which the characters are raised in relief and receive ink on
their raised surfaces only. A second branch of the art is plate printing, in
which the lines and characters are engraved in intaglio in a plate, and
which, being covered with ink, and the surface of the plate wiped clean,
leaves the ink in the undercuts, which is taken up by the paper when pres-
sure is applied through a roller. Plate printing is a very old art, the plate
printing press having been ascribed to Tomasso Finiguerra, of Florence, in
1460. The reciprocating table bearing the engraved plate, and the super-
posed pressure roller turned by hand through its long radial arms, is an
ancient and familiar form of press which has been in use for many years.
This method of printing finds application in fine line engraving in works
of art, card invitations, and bank note engraving. A'ery ingenious auto-
matic machines have been invented and were in use a few years ago by the
United States Government for printing its bank notes, but have since been
displaced by the old hand machines. To the credit of the machine, it
should be said, that it was from no fault in the machine that this retro-
grade step v\'as taken, but rather the disfavor of the labor organizations.
170 THE PROGRESS OF INI'ENTIOC^
Lithography is another and quite important branch of the printing an,
in which the hnes and characters are drawn upon stone with a kind of oih
ink to which printers' ink will adhere, while it is repelled from the other
moistened surfaces of the stone. Lithography was invented in 17.98 by
Alois Senefelder, of Munich. It finds its greatest application in artistic and
fanciful work in inks of various colors, and its development into chromo-
lithography in the Nineteenth Century has grown into a fine art. Our
beautifully colored chromos, prints, labels, maps, etc., are made by this
process. A more recent and quite important development of this art is
photo-lithography, which will be more fully considered under photography.
Many collateral branches of the printing art are interesting in their de-
velopment, such as calico printing, the printing of wall papers, of oil cloth,
printing for the blind, book binding, type founding, and folding and ad-
dressing machines, but lack of space forbids more than a casual mention.
Printing is perhaps the greatest of all the arts of civilization, and the
libraries and newspapers of the Nineteenth Century attest its value. If
Benjamin Franklin could wake from his long sleep and enter the compos-
ing rooms of our great dailies, and witness the imposing array of linotype
machines, more resembling a machine shop than a printing office, and then
visit the press room and see the avalanche of finished papers flying at the
rate of 1,600 a minute, neatly folded, and counted for delivery, he would
doubtless be overwhelmed with emotions of wonder and increaulity, for
broad-minded man as he was, he could have no conception of such prog-
ress.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 171
CHAPTER XIV.
The Typewriter.
Old English Typewriter of 1714 — The Burt Typewriter of 1829 — Progin's
French Machine of 1833 — Thurber's Printing Machine of 1843 — The Beach
Typewriter — The Sholes Typewriter, the First of the Modern Form, Com-
mercially Developed Into the Remington — The Caligraph — Smith-Premier
— The Book Typewriter and Others.
OCCUPYING an intermediate place between the old-fashioned
scribe and the printer, the typewriter has in the latter part of
the Nineteenth Century established a distinct and important
avocation, and has become a necessary factor in modern busi-
ness life. Chirography, or hand writing, reflecting, as it did, the idiosyn-
crasies of each writer, was not only slow, but when employed was, in most
cases, in the haste and press of active business reduced to an illegible
scrawl. For the use of reporters and others requiring extra speed, sten-
ography, or short hand, was resorted to, but there was a distinct need for
some easy, quick, legible, and uniform record of the busy man's corre-
spondence and copy work, and this the modern typewriter has supplied.
Like most other important inventions, the typewriter did not spring in-
to existence all at once, for while the practical embodiment in really useful
machines has only taken place since about 1868, there had been many ex-
periments and some success attained at a much earlier date. The British
patent to Plenry Mills, No. 395 of 17 14, is the earliest record of efforts in
this direction. At this early date no drawings were attached to patents,
and the specification dwells more on the function of the machine than the
instrumentalities employed. No record of the construction of this machine
remains in existence, and it may fairly be considered a lost art. In quaint
and old-fashioned English, the patent specification proceeds as follows:
"ANNE, by the grace of God, &c., to all whom these presents shall
come, greeting: WHEREAS, our trusty and well-beloved subject, Henry
Mills, hath by his humble peticon represented vnto vs, that he has by his
greate study, paines, and expence, lately invented, and brought to perfec-
tion "An Artificial Machine or Method for the Imfiressing or Transcrib-
ing Letters Singly or Progressively one after another as in Writing,
172
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
whereby all V/ritiiig ivhatever may be Engrossed in Paper or Parchment
so Neat and Exact as not to be Distinguished from Print, that the said
Machine or Method, may be of greate vse in Settlements and Publick
Recors, the Impression being deeper and more Lasting that any other
Writing, and not to be erased, or Counterfeited without Manifest Discov-
ery, and having therefore humbly prayed vs to grant him our Royall Let-
ters Patents, for the sole vse of his said Invention for the term of fourteen
yeares."
"Knoiv Yee, that wee," etc.
The first American typewriter of which any record remains is that de-
scribed in the patent granted to W. A. Burt, July 23, 1829. It was called a
"Typographer." It had a segment bearing the letters of the alphabet and
FIG. 135. — FRENCH TYPEWRITER, 1833.
corresponding notches acting as an index. A superposed lever, which
could be worked up and down, and also moved laterally, was provided
with a series of type, arranged in a segmental curve, so that anv type
could be brought into place on the subjacent paper by swinging the lever
over to and down into the proper notch in the index segment below. A re-
stored model of this is to be found in the \J. S. Patent Office.
The first organized typewriter in which separate key levers were pro-
vided for each type is a French invention. It is to be found in the French
patent to M. Progin (Xavier), of Marseilles, No. 3,748, Sept. 6, 1833
(Brevets dlnvention, Vol. 37, ist Series, pi. 36). It was called a Typo-
graphic Machine, and is shown in the illustration (Fig. 135). Upright
key levers j are arranged in a circle around a circular plate n. They have
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
173
hook-shaped handles at the upper end, and terminate below in forks that
are pivoted to the shanks of type hammers, to raise and lower them. These
hammers are inked from a pad, and at a central point deliver a printing
blow on the paper below. The paper is held stationary, and the whole nest
of levers was moved over the paper for each letter printed. The circular
index plate n had marked on it opposite the respective levers the letters
and characters represented by said levers. Besides printing letters, the de-
vice was to be used for printing music, and for making stereotype plates.
FIG, 136. — THUEBER TYPEWRITER.
On Aug. 26, 1843, Charles Thurber, of Worcester, Mass., took out Pat.
No. 3,228 for a Printing Machine. Under the patent he constructed the
machine shown in Fig. 136. This dififered somewhat from the form shown
in his patent, in that the machine shows a paper feed roller which does not
appear in the patent. This machine was found among the ei?ects of Mr.
Thurber after having lain neglected and unnoticed for many years, and
its damaged parts were restored by Mr. H. R. Cummings, of Worcester.
The types are carried on the lower ends of a circular series of depressible
bars, which are spring seated in a horizontal rotatable wheel. By turning
the wheel any type can be brought to the front, and a stationary guide
controls its descent as it makes the impression. An inking roller is seen
on the right, which inks the faces of the type. In front of the type wheel
174 THE PROGRESS OF INrENTlON
is a horizontal roller to which the sheet of paper is attached by clips. Fin-
ger pawls, working into ratchets at the ends of the roller, serve to rotate it
after each line is printed. By means of a handle, seen projecting from the
right hand side of the frame, the roller is shifted longitudinally on its axis
rod after each letter has been printed. This appears to be the first embodi-
ment of the feed roller rotating to bring a new line into range, and having
also a longitudinal feed, but as these movements were required to be sepa-
rately executed by the operator, the work of the machine was necessarily
very slow. Just at what time this old Thurber machine was constructed it
is impossible to state in the light of present information, but as the feed
roller did not appear in Thurber's patent of 1843, it is possible that the
claim to authorship of the feed roller having both a rotary and a longitu-
dinal movement may be maintained in behalf of J. Jones, whose Pat. No.
8,980 of June I, 1852, appears to be the first dated record of such a feed
roller. Jones was also the first to provide a spring to automatically retract
the paper carriage to the position for beginning a new line, the spring be-
ing put under tension by the movement of the paper carriage in printing.
Prominent among those whose genius has served to perfect the type-
writer occurs the name of A. E. Beach, for many years of the firm of Munn
& Co., and well known to the readers of the Scientific American. 'Sir.
Beach's first model of a typewriter was made in 1847. It printed upon
a sheet of paper supported on a roller, carried in a sliding frame worked
by a ratchet and pawl. It had a weight for running the frame, letter and
line spacing keys, paper feeding devices, line signal bell, and carbon tissue.
It had a series of finger keys connected with printing levers which were ar-
ranged in a circle, and struck at a common center. This machine was said
to have worked well, but was laid aside for further improvement. In the-
meantime he constructed a typewriter to print in raised letters, without ink.
This machine, which was intended primarily for the use of the blind, is
illustrated in Figs. 137 and 138. It was first publicly exhibited in opera-
tion at the Crystal Palace Exhibition of the American Institute in the fall
of 1856, where it attracted great attention and took the gold medal. The
embossed letters were printed on a ribbon of paper which ran centrally
through the machine. The printing levers were arranged in a circle in
pairs, one riding on the top of the other. When the operator pressed a key,
the two printing levers of each pair answering to the letter key were
brought together, the paper being between them. The printing type were
at the extremities of the levers, one lever having a raised letter, and its
mate a sunken or intaglio letter, which, seizing the paper strip between
' them, like the jaws of a pair of pincers, impressed therein an embossed let-
IN THE XINETEEMTH CESTURY.
175
ter. The patent for this machine was granted June 24, 1856, No. 15,164,
but the machine showed a much higher degree of development than ap-
peared in the patent. This machine was the earliest representative of the
circular basket of radially swinging type levers, combined with finger keys
assembled in a keyboard at one side, which is now an almost universal fea-
P'
FIG. 137. — BE.\CH TYPEWRITER.
ture, and the suggestion which it handed down to subsequent inventors
has doubtless done much to make the typewriter the practical machine that
it is to-day.
Up to the year 1868, however, typewriting machines were mere illustra-
tions of sporadic genius occuring here and there as the pet hobby of some
176
THE PROGRESS OF INTENTION
humanitarian seeking to help the blind, or supplement the deficiencies of
the tremulous fingers of the paralytic. It had not yet come to be regarded
as of any special use, nor had even the demand for such a device been for-
cibly felt, until the last quarter of the Nineteenth Century began to accu-
mulate its wonderful momentum of progress and prosperity. The man
whose genius finally brought forth a practical typewriter, and made a per-
manent place for it in the daily business of the world, was C. Latham
Sholes. As joint inventor with C. Glidden and S. W. Soule, all of Milwau-
kee, he took out patents No. 79,265, of June 23, 1868, and No. 79,868, of
FIG. 138. — CENTRAL SECTION OF BEACH TYPEWRITER.
July 14, 1868. These, together with Sholes' Pat. No. 118,491, of Aug. 29,
1871, formed the working basis of the first typewriters that went into office
use. These typewriters were first introduced to the general public under the
management of the original inventors (Sholes, Soule and Glidden) about
1873, and at first used only capital letters. On Aug. 27, 1878, a further
patent, No. 207,559, was granted to Sholes, and about this time, after five
years of uncertain and precarious business existence, the machine was
taken for manufacture to E. Remington & Sons, at Ilion, N. Y. Since this
time the well-known "Remington" has built up for itself a reputation and
a commercial importance that has given it first place among typewriters.
In the nine years from 1873 to 1882, it is said that less than 8,000 ma-
chines had been manufactured. In the year 1882 WyckofF, Seamans &
Benedict obtained control of the machine, and during the fourteen years
following it is said that nearly 200,000 "Remingtons" were made and sold.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
177
FIG. I3Q. — REMINGTON TYPEWRITER.
It is said that i.ooo men are now employed in making tliis machine, and
that the present output is about 800 machines a week, despite the fact that
it has a half dozen worthy competitors for public favor. The modern Rem-
ington, seen in Fig.
139, is too well known
to require special de-
scription. Besides
the Sholes patents, it
embodies the im-
provements covered
by patents to Clough
& Jenne, No. 199,263,
Jan. 15, 1878 ; Jenne,
Xo. 478,964, July 12,
1892, and No. 548,-
553, Oct. 22, 1895,
and also a patent to
Brooks, No. 202,923,
April 30, 1878, a
characteristic feature
of which latter is the location of both a capital and small letter on the same
striking lever, and the shifting of the paper roller by a key to bring either
the large or small letter into printing range.
The earliest rival of the Reming-
ton was the Caligraph, made by the
American Writing Machine Co. This
well-known machine, introduced in
the decade of the eighties, was made
under the patents of G. Y. N. Yost,
March 18, 1884, No. 295,469; March
17, 1885, No. 313,973; and July 30,
1889, No. 408,061. The most modern
form of the Caligraph is known as the
"New Century," which is shown in
the accompanying illustration, Fig.
FIG. 140. — NEW CENTURY cALiGR.^PH. ^^'^' ''^ "^ Caligraph uses a separate
type lever and key for each letter,
and by a system of compound key levers the touch is rendered easy, even,
and elastic, and perfect alignment and freedom from noise are among the
objects sought in its mechanical construction.
178
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
Next among the earlier typewriters is to be mentioned tlie "Hammond,"
made under the patents to J. B. Hammond, No. 224,088, Feb. 8, 1880, and
290,419, Dec. 18, 1883. A distinguishing feature of the machine is that the
printed work is in full view, so that the operator can see what he is doing.
The impression is made by an oscillating type wheel, to which a variable
throw is imparted by the key letters to bring any desired letter into print-
ing position. When the letter is brought into printing position a hammer.
FIG. 141. — SMITH-PREMIER TVPE BAR RING.
arranged in the rear of the sheet of paper, is made to force the latter
against the type to produce the impression by the same movement of the
key that brought the type wheel into printing position.
Of later machines, none has met with more popular favor than the
Smith-Premier, manufactured under the patent to A. T. Brown, No. 465,-
451, Dec. 22, 1891, and others. A leading feature of this is the type-bar
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 181
typewriter. Since its introduction a few years ago, its growtli in popu-
larit}' has been very rapid.
Another recently appearing machine is the "OUver." This has type
bars which are normally above the work. Each bar is loop shaped, hinged
at its lower ends, and bearing the type letter on the bend at the upper end.
They are arranged in two series, one on each side of the center, and in
printing each loop swings down like the wing of a bird. As the printing is
from the top, and the ribbon is moved away from in front of the line im-
mediately after the printing blow, the writing is always visible to the oper-
ator. This machine is manufactured under various patents to Thomas
Oliver, the first of which was No. 450,107, granted April 7, 1891. Further
improvements are covered by subsequent patents, Nos. 528,484, 542,275,
562,337, and 599,863. The Oliver has made many friends for itself by its
FIG. 143. — ELLIOTT & HATCH BOOK TYPEVVRITFR.
fine alignment and visible writing, and shares with the other standard ma-
chines a considerable patronage.
It is not practicable to give a full illustration of the state of the art in
typewriters, as it has grown to an industry of large proportions. Nearly
1,700 patents have been granted for such machines, and more than 100 use-
ful and meritorious machines have been devised and put upon the market.
Among these may be mentioned the Hall, Underwood, Manhattan, Wil-
liams, Jewett, and many others.
Besides the regular typewriters, various modifications have been made
to suit special kinds of work. The "Comptometer" used in banks is a
species of typewriter, as is also the Dudley adding and subtracting machine,
known as the "Numerograph," and covered by patents Nos. 554,993, 555,-
038. 555.039, 579,047 and 579,048. Typewriters for short hand characters,
and for foreign languages, and for printing on record and blank books, are
also among the modern developments d this art. In the latter the whole
182 THE PROGRESS OF lyi-EXTlOX
carriage and sj^stem of type levers move over the book. The Elliott &
Hatch book typewriter, Fig. 143, is a well-known example. In attachments,
holders for the copy have received considerable attention, and simple and
practical billing and tabulating attachments have been devised which expe-
dite and facilitate the statements of accounts and other work requiring nu-
meration in columns. The Gorin Tabulator is one of those in practical use.
In point of speed the typewriter depends entirely upon the aptness of
the operator. For ordinary copying work, where much time is occupied in
deciphering the illegible scrawl, probably forty words a minute is the aver-
age work. When taken from dictation, seventy-five words a minute may
be written, and in special cases, when copying from memory, a speed of
150 words a minute has been maintained for a limited time. It was esti-
mated that there were in use in the United States in 1896 150,000 type-
writers, and that up to that time 450,000 had been made altogether. In the
last four years this number has been greatly increased, and a fair estimate
of the present output in the United States is between 75,000 and 100,000
vearly. In 1898 there were exported from the United States typewriting
machines to the value of $1,902,153.
The typewriter has not only revolutionized modern business methods,
by furnishing a quick and legible copy that may be rapidly taken from
dictation, and also at the same time a duplicate carbon copy for the use of
the writer, but it has established a distinct avocation especially adapted to
the deftness and skill of women, who as bread winners at the end of the
Nineteenth Century are working out a destiny and place in the business
activities of life unthought of a hundred years ago. The typewriter saves
time, labor, postage and paper ; it reduces the liability to mistakes, brings
system into official correspondence, and delights the heart of the printer.
It furnishes profitable amusement to the young, and satisfactory aid to the
nervous and paralytic. All over the world it has already traveled — from
the counting house of the merchant to the Imperial Courts of Europe, from
the home of the new woman in the Western Hemisphere to the harem of
the East — everywhere its familiar click is to be heard, faithfully translating
I bought into all languages, and for all peoples.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 183
CHAPTER XV.
The Sf.\vi.\"g Machine.
Embroidering Machine, the Forerun»n'er of the Sewing Machine — Sewing Ma-
chine OF Thomas Saint — The Thimonnier Wooden Machine — Greenough'.s
Double Pointed Needle — Bean's Stationary Needle — The Howe Sewing
Machine — Bachelder's Continuous Feed — Improvements of Singer — Wil-
son's Rotary Hook and Four-Motion Feed — The McKay Shoe Sewing Ma-
chine— Buttonhole Machines — Carpet Sewing M.achine — Statistics.
"With fingers weary and worn,
With eyelids heavy and red,
A woman sat in unwomanly rags,
Plying her needle and thread —
Stitch! Stitch! Stitch!
In poverty, hunger and dirt.
And still with a voice of dolorous pitch,
She sang the 'Song of the Shirt.' ""
IN 1844 Thomas Hood wrote and published his famous "Song of the
Shirt," in which the drudgery of the needle is portrayed with pathetic
fidelity. It is not to be supposed that any relation of cause and effect
exists between the events, but it is nevertheless a singular fact that
about this time Howe commenced work on his great invention, which was
patented in 1846, and was the prototype of the modern sewing machine. If
the sewing machine had appeared a few years earlier, the "Song of the
Shirt" would doubtless never have been written.
From the time of Mother Eve, who crudely stitched together her fig
leaves, sewing seems to have been set apart as an occupation peculiarly be-
longing to women, and it may be that this was the reason why in the his-
tory of mechanical progress the sewing machine was so late appearing, for
women are not, as a rule, inventors, and none of the sewing machines were
invented by women.
In all the preceding centuries of civilization hand sewing was exclu-
sively employed, and it was reserved for the Nineteenth Century to relieve
women from the drudirerv which for so manv centuries had enslaved them.
184 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
Embroidery machines had been patented in England by Weisenthal in
1755, and Alsop in 1770, and on July 17, 1790, an English patent, No. 1,764,
was granted to Thomas Saint for a crude form of sewing machine, having
a horizontal arm and vertical needle. In 1826 a patent was granted in the
United States to one Lye for a sewing machine, but no records of the same
remain, as all were burned in the fire of 1836. In 1830 B. Thimonnier pat-
ented a sewing machine in France, 80 of which, made of vi'ood, were in use
in 1841 for sewing army clothing, but they were destroyed by a mob, as
many other labor-saving inventions had been before. Between 1832 and
1835 Walter Hunt, of New York, made a lock-stitch sewing machine, but
abandoned it. On Feb. 21, 1842, U. S. Pat. No. 2,466 was granted to J. J.
Greenough for a sewing machine having a double pointed needle with an
eye in the middle, which needle was drawn through the work by pairs of
traveling pincers. It was designed for sewing leather, and an awl pierced
the hole in advance of the needle. On j\'larch 4, 1843, U. S. Pat. No. 2,982
was granted to B. W. Bean for a sewing machine in which the needle was
stationary, and the cloth was gatliered in crimps or folds and forced over
the stationary needle. In 1844, British Pat. No. 10,424 was granted to
Fisher and Gibbons for working ornamental designs by machinery, in
which two threads were looped together, one passing through the fabric,
and the other looping with it on the surface without passing through.
The great epoch of the sewing machine, however, begins with Elias
Howe and the sewing machine patented by him Sept. 10, 1846, No. 4,750-
Almost everyone is familiar with the modern Howe sewing machine, and
it will be therefore more interesting to present the form in which it origin-
ally appeared. This is shown in Fig. 144. A curved eye-pointed needle
was carried at the end of a pendent vibrating lever, which had a motion .
simulating that of a pick-ax in the hands of a workman. The needle
took its thread from a spool situated above the lever, and the tension on the
thread was produced Ijy a spring brake whose semicircular end bore upon
the spool, the pressure being regulated by a vertical thumb screw. The
work was held in a vertical plane by means of a horizontal row of pins pro-
jecting from the edge of a thin metal "baster plate," to which an inter-
mittent motion was given by the teeth of a pinion. Above, and to one side
of the "baster plate" was the shuttle race, through which the shuttle carry-
ing the second thread was driven by two strikers, which were operated by
two arms and cams located on the horizontal main shaft. As will be seen,
this machine bears but little resemblance to any of the modern machines,
but it embodied the three essential features which characterize most all
practical machines, viz. : a grooved needle with the eye at the point, a shut-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 185
tie operating on the opposite side of the cloth from the needle to form a
lock stitch, and an automatic feed.
Howe first commenced his work on the sewing machine in 1844, and
although he had made a rough model of that date, he was too poor to fol-
low it up with more practical results until a former schoolmate, George
FIG. 144. — HOWE S SEWING MACHINE, 1846.
Fisher, provided $500 to build a machine and support his family while it
\vas being constructed, in consideration of which Mr. Fisher was to receive
a half interest in the invention. In April, 1845, the machine was com-
pleted, and in July he sewed two suits of clothes on it, one for Mr. Fisher
186
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
and the other for himself. Notwithstanding the success of his machine,
which on pubhc exhibition beat five of the swiftest hand sewers, he met
only discouragement and disappointment. He, however, built a second ma-
chine, which was the basis of his patent, and is the one shown in the illus-
tration. After obtaining his United States patent Howe went to England
with the hope of introducing his machine there, but, failing, he returned to
America, some years later, only to find that his invention had been taken
up by infringers, and that sevv'ing machines embodying his invention were
being built and sold. These infringers sought to break his patent by en-
deavoring to prove, but without success, that Howe's invention was an-
ticipated by the abandoned experiments of Walter Hunt in 1834. Howe
won his suit, and the infringers were obliged to pay him royalties, which,
FtG. 145. — WILSON SEWING MACHINE, 1852.
for a time, amounted to $25 on each machine. Howe then bought the out-
standing interest in his patent, established a factory in New York, and
from the profits of his manufacture, and the royalties, he soon reaped a
princely fortune of several million dollars. In six years his royalties had
grown from $300 to $200,000 a year, and in 1863 his royalties were esti-^
mated at -$4,000 a day.
A patent that occupied an important place in sewing machine feeds
was that granted to Bachelder May 8, 1849, No. 6,439, '" which a spiked
and endless belt passed horizontally around two pulleys. This patent con-
tained the first continuous feed, and it was re-issued and extended, and
ran with dominating claims on the continuous feed, until 1877.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
187
In connection with the development of the sewing machine the name
of A. B. Wilson stands next in rank to that of Howe. Wilson invented
the rotary hook carrying a bobbin, which took the place of the reciprocat-
ing shuttle. This was patented by him June 15, 1852, No. 9,041, and is
shown in Fig. 145. He also invented the far more important improvement
of the four-motion feed, which is a characteristic feature of nearly all prac-
tical family sewing machines. This four-motion feed was pooled in the
early sewing machine combination with the Bachelder and other patents,
and earned for its promoters a far greater pecuniary return than the origi-
nal Howe sewing machine itself. Estimates place this profit high in the
millions. The four-motion
feed was patented December
19, 1854, No. 12,116, and
it is a comparatively
simple affair. Divested of its
operating mechanism, it con-
sists simply of a little metal bar
serrated with forwardly pro-
jecting saw teeth on its upper
surface, to which Isar, b;
means of an operating cam, ;
motion in four directions ii
the path of a rectangle i
given. The serrated bar first
rises through a slot in the
table, then moves horizontally
to advance the cloth, then
drops below the table,
and finally moves back again horizontally below the table to its starting
point.
Upon these two important features — the rotating hook patented by
Wilson iri 1852, and the four-motion feed, patented in 1854 — a large
and important business was built. In this business Mr. Nathaniel Wheeler
was associated with Mr. Wilson, and the well-known Wheeler & Wilson
machines are the result of their enterprise and ingenuity.
Contemporaneous with the Wheeler & Wilson machine were other ex-
cellent machines, among which may be mentioned the Singer machine,
patented Aug. 12, 1851, No. 8,294, by Isaac M. Singer, the original model
of which is shown in Fig. 146. The Singer machine met the demands of
the tailoring and leather industries for a heavier and more powerful ma-
FIG. 146. — ORICIN.\L SINGER SEWING M.^CHINE.
188 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
chine. A characteristic feature was the vertical standard with horizontal
arm above the work table, which was afterwards adopted in many other
machines. Singer was the first to apply the treadle to the sewing machine
for actuating it by foot power in the place of the hand-driven crank wheel.
In 185 1 W. O. Grover and W. E. Baker patented a machine which made
the double chain stitch, characteristic of the Grover & Baker machine.
James E. A. Gibbs invented and covered in several patents from 1856 to
i860 the single-thread rotating hook, which was embodied in the Wilcox &
Gibbs machine. In addition to these, the "Weed'' machine, made under
Fairfield's patents; the "Domestic" machine, made under Mack's patents;
and the "Florence" machine, made under Langdon's patents, were other
representative machines, which, in a few years after Howe's patent, helped
to revolutionize the art of tailoring, introduced the great era of ready-made
clothing and ready-made shoes, emancipated women from the drudgery of
the needle, and increased the efficiency of one pair of hands fully ten fold.
In 1856 the owners of the original sewing machine patents formed the
famous "sewing machine combination," for the establishment of a common
license fee, and for the protection of their mutual interests. The com-
bination included Elias Howe, the Wheeler & Wilson Manufacturing Com-
pany, the Grover & Baker Sewing Machine Company, and I. M. Singer &
Co. The following summary of machines made by the leading companies
from 1853 to 1876 illustrates the early growth of this industry:
Manufacturer. 1853. i839- i^'^Z- iS"'- 1873. 1S76.
Wheeler & Wilson
Manufacturing Co. . 799 21,306 38,055 128,526 119,190 108,997
The Singer Manufac-
turning Company. . . 810 10,953 43,053 181,260 232,444 262,316
Grover & Baker Sew-
ing Machine Co 657 10,280 32,999 50,838 36,179
Howe Sewing Machine
Company ",053 134.010 90,000 109,294
Wilcox & Gilibs Sew-
ing Machine Co 14,152 30,127 15,881 12,758
Domestic Sewing Ma-
chine Company 10,397 40,114 23,587
From the foregoing table it will be seen that as far back as a quarter of
a century ago the output of machines was over a half a million a year. By
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 189
1S77 all of the fundamental patents on the sewing machine had expired,
but the continued activity of inventors in this field is attested by the fact
that to-day there are many thousands of patents relating to the sewing ma-
chine and its parts. Besides those relating to the organization of the
machine itself there is an endless variety of attachments, such as hemmers,
tuckers, fellers, quilters, binders, gatherers and rufflers, embroiderers, cord-
ers and button hole attachments. Every part of the machine has also re-
ceived separate attention and separate patents, all tending to the perfection
of the machine, until to-day, with all fundamental principles public prop-
erty, and endless improvements in details, it is difficult to discriminate as
to comparative excellence.
There is to-day a great variety of sewing machines on the market,
standard machines for ordinary work, and special machines for numerous
special applications. It is said that one concern alone manufactures over
four hundred different varieties of sewing machines.
One of the most important and revolutionary of the applications of the
sewing machine is for making shoes. Prior to i86i shoemaking was con-
fined to the slow, laborious hand methods of the shoemaker. Cheap shoes
could only be made by roughly fastening the soles to the uppers by wooden
pegs, whose row of projecting points within has made many a man and boy
do unnecessary penance. Hand sewed shoes cost from $8 to $12 a pair,
and were too expensive a luxury for any but the rich. With the McKay
shoe sewing machine in 1861, however, comfortable shoes were made, with
the soles strongly and substantially sewed to the uppers, at a less price even
than the coarse and clumsy pegged variety. The McKay machine was the
result of more than three years patient study and work. It was covered by
United States patents No. 35,105, April 29, 1862 ; No. 35,165, May 6, 1862 ;
No. 36,163, Aug. 12, 1862 ; and No. 45,422, Dec. 13, 1864, and its develop-
ment cost $130,000 before practical results were obtained. A modern form
of it is shown in Fig. 147. In preparing a shoe for the machine, an inner
sole is placed on the last, the upper is then lasted and its edges secured to
the inner sole. An outer sole, channeled to receive the stitches, is then
tacked on so that the edges of the upper are caught and retained between
the two soles. The shoe is then placed on the end of a rotary support called
a horn, which holds it up to the needle. A spool containing thread coated
with shoemakers' wax is carried by the horn, and the thread, with its wax
kept soft by a lamp, runs up the inside of the horn to the whirl. The latter
is a small ring placed at the upper end of the horn, and through which
there is an opening for the passage of the needle. The needle has a barb,
or hook, and as it descends through the sole the whirl lays the thread iii
190
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
this hook, and as the needle rises it draws the thread through the soles and
forms a chain stitch in the external channel of the outer sole. As the sew-
ing proceeds, the horn is rotated so as to bring every part of the margin of
the sole under the needle. With this machine a single operator has been
able to sew nine hundred pairs of shoes in a day of ten hours, and five hun-
dred to six hundred pairs is only an average workman's output. It is said
that up to 1877 there were 350,000,000 pairs of shoes made on this machine
in the United States, and probably
an equal or greater number in Eu-
rope. Shoes made on this machine
were strongly made and comforta-
ble, but they could not be resoled by
a shoemaker, except by pegging or
nailing, and the soles were further-
more somewhat stiff and lacking in
flexibility. To meet these difficulties,
a new machine known as the "Good-
year Welt Machine," was patented
in 1871 and 1875, ^"<^ brought out a
little later. This sewed a welt to an
upper, which welt in a subsequent
operation was sewed by an external
row of stitches to the sole. This
gave much greater flexibility, and
the further advantage of enabling a
shoemaker to half sole the shoe by
the old method of hand sewing.
This advanced the art of shoemak-
ing in the finer varieties of shoes,
and to-day nearly all men's fine
shoes are made in this way. The introduction of the sewing machine into
the shoe industry made a new era in foot wear, and it is said that no na-
tion on earth is so well and cheaply shod as the people of the United States.
A bitttonhole does not strike the average person as a thing of any im-
portance whatever. The needlewoman, however, who has to patiently
stitch around and form the buttonholes, knows differently, and when this
needlewoman, working in the great shirt factories and shoe factories, is
confronted with the many millions of buttonholes in collars, cuff's, shirts
and shoes, the great amount of this painstaking and nerve destroying labor
becomes appalling. For cheapening the cost of buttonholes, and reducing
FIG. 147. — MCKAY SHOE SEWING MACHINE
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
191
the Iiand labor, various Ijuttonhole machines and attachments to sewing
machines have been devised. Patents Nos. 36,616 and 36,617, to Hum-
phrey, Oct. 7, 1862, covered one of the earhest forms, but the Reece button-
hole machine, which is specially devised for the work, is one of the most
modern and successful. It was patented April 26, 1881, Sept. 21, 1886,
and Aug. 20, 1895. These machines mark an important departure, which
consists in working the buttonhole by moving the stitch forming mechan-
ism about the buttonhole, instead of moving the fabric. An illustration of
the machine is given in Fig. 148. Upon this machine 10,010 button holes
FIG. 148. — REECE BUTTONHOLE M.^CHINE.
have been made in nine hours and fifty minutes. The machine first cuts
the buttonhole, then transfers it to the stitching devices, which stitch and
bar the buttonhole, finishing it entirely in an automatic manner. The sav-
ing involved to the manufacturer by this machine over the hand method is
several hundred per cent., Init the relief to the needlewoman is of far
greater consequence.
j\Iany striking applications of the sewing machine to various kinds of
work have been made. A recent one is the automatic power carpet sewing
192 THE PROGRESS OF INrENTlON
niacliine, made and sold by the Singer Manufacturing Company. It was
patented by E. B. Allen in 1894. This machine in general appearance re-
sembles a miniature elevated railroad. It consists of an elevated track
about thirty-six feet long, sustained every three or fotir feet upon stand-
ards, and having clamping jaws, which hold together the upper edges of
the two lengths of carpet to be sewed together. A compact little stitching
apparatus, not larger than a tea-pot, is actuated b)' an endless belt from an
electric moior at one end. The little machine runs along and stitches to-
gether the upper edges of the suspended carpet lengths, and as it crawls
along at its work, it strikingly reminds one of the movements of a squirrel
along the top of a rail fence. This machine will sew five yards of seam
every minute, fastening together evenly and strongly ten yards of carpet,
and entirely dispensing with all hand labor in this roughest and most try-
ing of all fabrics.
Probably no organized piece of machinery has ever been so systemati-
cally exploited, so thoroughly advertised, so persistently canvassed, and
so extensively sold as the sewing machine. With their main central offices,
tlieir branch offices, sub-agencies and traveling canvassers in wagons, every
city, village, hamlet, and farmhouse has been actively besieged, and with
the enticing system of payment by instalments there is scarcely a home too
humble to be without its sewing machine. The retail price of sewing ma-
chines bears no proper relation to their cost, but this price to the consumer
results from the liberal commissions to agents, and the expensive methods
of canvassing. In the early days of the sewing machine its sales were
chiefly for family use, but this is now no longer the case. While almost
every family owns a sewing machine, it is only brought into recjuisition
for finer and special varieties of work, since nearly all the clothing of men.
women and children can now be purchased ready made, at a price much
less than the cost of the material and the labor of making it up. A man
to-day buys a ready-made shirt for fifty cents, which fifty years ago would
have cost him $2. This has largely transferred the sphere of action of the
sewing machine from the family to the factory. Great factories now make
ready-made clothing for men, women and children, shirts, collars and
cuffs, shoes, hats, caps, awnings, tents, sails, bags, flags, banners, corsets,
gloves, pocketbooks, harness, saddlery, rubber goods, etc., and all these
industries are founded upon the sewing machine, which may be seen in
long rows beside the factor)- walls, busilv supplying the demand of the
world. With this transition in the sewing machine foot treadles are no
longer relied on, but the machines are run by power from countershafts.
This, in turn, has opened up possiliilities of much higher speed and greater
1.x THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 193
efficiency in the machine. Inventors have found, however, that high speed
is handicapped with certain Hmitations. Beyond a certain speed the needle
gets hot from friction, which burns off the thread and draws the temper.
Cams and springs, moreover, are not positive enough in action, as the re-
sihence of the spring does not act quickly enough, and so more positive
gearings, such as eccentrics and cranks, must be employed. Despite these
difficulties, however, the modern factory machine has raised the speed of
the old-time sewing machine from a few hundred stitches a minute to
three and four thousand stitches a minute.
The United States is the home of the sewing machine, and New York
City is the center of the industry, probably go per cent, of the sewing ma-
chine trade being managed and handled there. German manufacturers are
making great efforts to compete in this field, but American machines are
generally regarded as the best in the world.
Among those prominently interested in the machine in its early days
were Orlando B. Potter and the law firm of Jordan & Clarke. The latter
were attorneys representing some of the prominent inventors in litigation,
and in this way Mr. Edward Clarke became interested in the business, and
it was he who in 1856 instituted the system of selling on the instalment
plan. For some years before his death Mr. Clarke was the president of the
Singer Company.
Recent statistics in relation to the sewing machine industry are difficult
to obtain, partly by reason of the great extent and ramifications of the
business, and partly by reason of the unwillingness of the larger companies
to give out data for publication. At the Patent Centennial in Washington,
in 1 89 1, Ex-Commissioner of Patents Butterworth made the statement
that "Cresar conquered Gaul with a force numerically less than was em-
ployed in inventing and perfecting the parts of the sewing machine." The
great Singer Company, with headquarters at New York, operates not
only a factory at Elizabethport, N. J., employing 5,000 men, but also other
factories in Europe and Canada, the one at Kilbowie, Scotland, employing
6.000 men. Of the total of 13,500,000 machines made by this company
from 1853 to the end of 1896, nearly 6,000,000 have been made in factories
located abroad, but directly controlled and managed by the New York
office. It is stated that the present output of the American factory of the
Singer Company amounts to over 11,000 weekly, or more than half a
million annually. Although so many sewing machines are made abroad,
the exports from the United States for 1899 amounted to $3,264,344.
In the early days of the Howe sewing machine it was denounced as a
menace to the occupations of the thousands of men and women who
194 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTIOM
worked in the clothing shops, and the struggles of the inventor against
this opposition and discouragement form an interesting page of history.
But it had come to stay and to grow. Some 7,000 United States patents
attest the interest and ingenuity in this field, in the neighborhood of
100,000 persons make a living from the manufacture and sale of the ma-
chine, millions find profitable employment in its use, and from 700,000 to
800.000 machines are annually manufactured in the United States. The
output of all countries is estimated to be from 1,200,000 to 1,300,000 an-
nually.
The sewing machine has for its objective result only the simple and in-
significant function of fastening one piece of fabric to another, but its in-
fluence upon civilization in ministering to the wants of the race has been so
great as to cause it to be numbered with the epoch-making inventions of
the age. It has created new industries. It has given useful employment
to capital, has extended the lists of the wage earner, and increased his
daily pa}'. It has clothed the naked, fed the hungry, and warded off the
ravages of cold and death ; but, best of all its tuneful accompaniment has
lightened the heart and smoothed the pathway of life for Hood's weary
working woman, to whose tired fingers and aching eyes it has brought the
balm of much-needed rest.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 195
CHAPTER X-VI.
The Reaper.
Early English Machines— Machine of Patrick Bell— The Hussey Reaper —
^IcCormick's Reaper and Its Gee-\t Success — Rivalry Between the Two
American Reapers — Self Rakers — Automatic Binders — Combined Steam
Reaper and Threshing Machine — Great Wheat Fields of the West —
Statistics.
I
X the harvest scenes upon the tombs of ancient Thebes the thirsty
reaper is depicted, with curved sickle in hand, ahernately bending
his back to the grain and refreshing himself at the skin bottle. For
more than thirty centuries did man thus continue to earn his bread
by the sweat of his brow. Even to the present time the scythe, with its
cradle of wooden fingers, is occasionally met with, and it is to the older
generation a familiar suggestion of the sweat, toil, bustle and excitement
of the old harvest time. But all this has been changed by the advent of
the reaper, and ere long the grain cradle will hang on the walls of the
museum as an ethnological specimen only.
The first reaper of which we find historical evidence is that described
by Pliny in the first century of the Christian Era (A. D. 70). He says:
''The mode of getting in the harvest varies considerably. In the vast do-
mains of the province of Gaul a large hollow frame, armed with comb-like
teeth, and supported on two wheels, is driven through the standing grain,
the beasts being yoked behind it (in contrarium juncto), the result being
that the ears are torn ofi and fall within the frame."
This crude machine has in late years been many times re-invented, and
it finds a special application to-day for the gathering of clover seeds, and is
called a "header."
The first attempt of modern times to devise a reaper was the English
machine of Pitt, in 1786, which followed the principle of the old Gallic im-
plement, in that it stripped the heads from the standing grain. The Pitt
machine, however, had a revolving cylinder on which were rows of comb
teeth, which tore off the heads of grain and discharged them into a recep-
tacle. In 1799 Boyce, of England, invented the vertical shaft, witli hori-
zontally rotating cutters. In 1800 Clears devised a machine employing
196
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTIOyi
shears. In iSo6 Gladstone devised a front-draft, side-cut machine, in
which a curved segment-bar with fingers gathered the grain and held it
while a horizontally revolving knife cut the same. In 1811 Gumming in-
troduced the reel, and in 1814 Dobbs described a wheelbarrow arrangement
of reaper in which he used the divider. In 1822 the important improve-
ment of the reciprocating knife bar was made by Ogle, which became a
characteristic feature of all subsequent successful reapers. It was drawn
by horses in front.
The cutter bar pro-
jected at the side. It
had a reel to gather
the grain to the cutter,
and the grain platform
was tilted to drop the
gavel. In 1826 Rev.
Patrick Bell, of Scot-
land, devised a reaper
that had a movable
vibrating cutter work-
ing like a series of
shears, a reel, and a
traveling apron,
which carried off the
grain to one side. This
machine was pushed
from behind, and,
with a swath of five
feet, cut an acre in an
hour. It was, how-
ever, for some reason
laid aside till 185 1,
when it was reor-
ganized and put in
competition with the
in the develop-
in
FIG. 149. — PATENT OFFICE DRAWING, HUSSEY's REAPER,
DECEMBER 3I, 1833.
service at the World's Fair
American machines. All the
in London in
earlier experiments
ment of the reaper were made in England. Grain raising was in its in-
fancy in the United States, and near the end of the Eighteenth Century the
Royal Agricultural Society of England had stimulated its own inventors by
offering a prize for the production of a successful reaper, and continued
thus to offer it for many years. There is no evidence, however, that the
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
197
preceding machines attained any practical results, and it remained for the
fertility of American genius to invent a practical reaper which satisfac-
torily performed its work, and continued to do so. Quite a number of
patents for reapers were granted to American inventors in the early part
of the century, among which may be mentioned that to Manning, of Plain-
field, N. J., May 3, 1831, which embodied finger bars to hold the grain and
a reciprocating cutter bar with spear-shaped blades.
Cyrus H. McCormick, of Virginia, and Obed Hussey, of Maryland,
were the men who brought the reaper to a condition of practical utility.
The commercial development of their machines was practically contem-
poraneous, and their respective claims for superiority had about an equal
FIG. 150. — P.\TENT OFFICE DRAWING, MCCORMICK's RE.^PER, JUNE 31, 1834.
number of supporters among the farmers of that day. Hussey, originally
of Cincinnati, but afterwards of Maryland, was the first to obtain a patent,
which was granted December 31, 1833. An illustration of the patent
drawing is given in Fig. 149. It embodied a reciprocating saw tooth cut-
ter f sliding within double guard fingers c. It had a front draft, side-cut.
and a platform. The cutter was driven by a pitman from a crank shaft
operated through gear wheels from the main drive wheels. His specifi-
cation provided for the locking or unlocking of the drive wheels ; also for
the hinging of the platform, and states that the operator who takes off the
grain may ride on the machine.
On June 21, 1834, Cyrus H. McCormick, of Virginia, obtained a pat-
ent on his reaper. In Fig. 150 appears an illustration of his patent draw-
198 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
ing. This had two features which were not found in the Hussey patent,
viz., a reel on a horizontal axis above the cutter, and a divider L, at the
outer end of the cutter, which divider projected in front of the cutter, and
separated in advance the grain which was to be cut from that which was
to be left standing. McCormick's machine had two cutters or knives, re-
ciprocated by cranks in opposite directions to each other. This feature
he afterward abandoned, adopting the single knife, described by him as
an alternative. This machine was to be pushed ahead of the team, which
was hitched to the bar C of the tongue B in the rear, but provision was
made for a front draft by a pair of shafts in front, shown in dotted lines.
The curved dotted line beside the shafts indicated a bowed guard to press
the standing grain away from the horse. The divider L had a cloth
screen extending to the rear of the platform.
Neither Hussey nor McCormick appears at that time to have been
cognizant of the prior state of the art, and as the patent law of 1836 had
not yet been enacted, there was little or no examination as to novelty, and
no interference proceedings as to priority of invention, and consequently
their respective claims were drawn to much that was old, and probably
much that would have been in conflict with each other under the present
practice of the Patent Office. In the Scientific American, of December
16 and 23, 1854, in a most interesting series of articles on the reaper, the
Hussey machine is fully described. The first public trial was on July 2,
1833, before the Hamilton County Agricultural Society, near Carthage,
O., and its success was attested by nine witnesses. Great stress was laid
by Mr. Hussey on the double finger bar, i. e., a finger bar having one
member above and the other below the knife. The Scientific American
said the machine was a success from the first ; that "in 1834 the machine
was introduced into Illinois and New York, and in 1837 into Pennsyl-
vania, and in 1838 Mr. Plussey moved from Ohio to Baltimore, Md., and
continued to manufacture his reapers there up to the present time."
In 1836 Hussey was invited by the Maryland Agricultural Society for
the Eastern Shore to exhibit his machine before them. On July i he did
so, and made practical demonstration of its working to the society at Ox-
ford, Talbot County, and again on July 12 at Easton. On the following
Saturday it was shown at Trappe, and it was afterwards used on the farm
of Mr. Tench Tilghman, where 180 acres of wheat, oats and barley were
cut with it. The report of the Board of Trustees of the society was an
unqualified commendation of the practicability, efficiency and value of the
machine, and a handsome pair of silver cups was awarded to the inventor.
The report was signed by the following well-known residents of the East-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
199
ern Shore : Robert H. Goldsborough, Samuel Stevens, Samuel T. Ken-
nard, Robert Banning, Samuel Hambleton, Sr., Nichol Goldsborough,
Ed. N. Hambleton, James L. Chamberlain, Martin Goldsborough, Ho-
ratio L. Edmonson, and Tench Tilghman.
Hussey made and sold his machine for years. In the American
Fanner, of October, 1847, ^n agricultural journal printed at Baltimore,
the advertisement of his machine appears with full price lists of the differ-
ent sizes of machines, and also of an improvement in the manner of dis-
posing of the grain, which was the invention of Mr.. Tench Tilghman,
and was adopted by Hussey on his reaper.
While Hussey was at work at his reaper, McCormick also was busily
engaged with his, and he took his second patent January 31, 1845. ^'O-
3,895. This related to the cutter bar, the divider, and reel post. McCor-
FIG. 151. — THE MCCORMICK REAPER OF 1847.
mick's next patent was dated October 23, 1847, No. 5,335, and in this the
raker's seat was to be mounted on the platform as shown in Fig. 151.
McCormick's last named patent also covered the arrangement of the gear-
ing and crank in front of the drive wheel, so as to balance the weight of
the raker. In the same year Hussey took out his patent of August 7,
1847, No. 5,227, for the open top and slotted finger guard, which is an
important part of all successful cutter bars.
The rivalry between the McCormick and Hussey machines continued
for many years, and they were frequently in competition both in America
and England. The stinuilus of this rivalry doubtless had much to do with
the development and success of the reaper. Both Hussey and McCormick
200
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
asked for extensions of their patents, but they failed to get them. In li
pending McCormick's extension proceedings, facts were introduced by him
to show that his invention of the reaper antedated Hussey's, and that he had
made his machine as early as 183 1, and had used it then on the farm of
Mr. John Steele, in Virginia. This claim to priority was supported by the
publication of a description of the machine, and certificate of its use, in
the Union, a newspaper published at Lexington, Va., September 28.
1833, and although no adjudication was ever made on this issue, this fact,
together with Mr. McCormick's success in the contest in England in 185 1,
and his subsequent persistence and activity in improving, developing and
introducing the reaper, has so distinguished him in this connection, that
FIG. 152. — THE MANN HARVESTER OF 1849.
to-day his name is as commonly associated with the reaper as is Fulton's
with the steamboat, or that of Morse with the telegraph. To Mr. McCor-
mick more than to anybody else the perfection of the reaper is due. In the
spring of 185 1 McCormick placed his reaper on exhibition at the World's
Fair in London. Flussey also had his machine there, and they were the
only ones represented. The machines were tested in the field, and as-
tonished all who saw them operate. The Grand Council medal, which was
one of four special medals awarded for marked epochs in progress, was
given to McCormick, and the judges referred to the McCormick machine
as being worth to the people of England "the whole cost of the exposi-
tion." It is only fair to state that Hussey was not present to direct the
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
201
trial of his machine, and that in a subsequent trial another jury decided in
his favor, and His Royal Highness, Prince Albert, ordered two of Hus-
sey's machines in 1851 — one for Windsor and the other for the Isle of
Wight. The Duke of Alarlborough also gave his personal testimonial to
Air. Hussey as to the excellence of his machine. In 1855, at a competitive
trial of reapers near Paris, three machines \Vere entered. The American
machine cut an acre of oats in twenty-two minutes, the English machine
in sixty-six minutes, and the Algerian in seventy-two. In 1S63, at the
great International Exposition at Hamburg, the McCormick reaper again
took the grand prize. While in Paris in 1878 Mr. McCormick was
elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences as "having done
more for the cause of agriculture than any living man." Mr. McCormick
FIG. 153. — THE MARSH HARVESTER OF 1858.
continued to the end of his days, in 1884, to devote his entire energies to
the development of the reaper, and well deserved the princely fortune
that resulted from his indefatigable labors, a good portion of which for-
tune he spent during his life in the cause of education and acts of philan-
thropy. The inventory of his estate, filed in the Probate Court of Cook
County, 111., showed $10,000,000 as the reward of his genius and industry,
and is an object lesson of the reward of merit for the ambitious youth of
the Twentieth Century.
In the development of the reaper one of the first deficiencies to be sup-
plied was automatic mechanism for taking the grain from the platform.
202
THE PROGRESS OF INFENTIOX
ents
bought
In November, 1848, F. S. Pease took out patent No. 5,925 for a rake
whose teeth projected up through slots in the platform, and moved back
and forth to deposit the grain upon the ground. On June 19, 1849, J- J-
& H. F. Mann took but patent No. 6,540 on a machine employing the prin-
ciple of an endless band for carrying the cut grain to the side of the ma-
chine, where it passed up an inclined plane and accumulated in a re-
ceptacle to form a gavel, which was dumped upon the ground. This
machine is shown in Fig. 152. On July 8, 185 1, W. H. Seymour took out
patent No. 8,212 for a self-raker, and this machine marks the beginning
of the era of self-raking reapers, which for a quarter of a century in vari-
ous modifications continued to be used, until displaced by subsequent im-
provements in binding devices. In 1853 the Sylla and Adams machine was
brought out, the pat-
for which were
by the Ault-
mans, and the Ault-
man and Miller, or
"Buckeye" harves-
ter, was manufac-
t u r e d thereunder.
The general form of
the modern harvester
has followed along
the lines of the Mann
machine of 1849.
The development began by replacing the gavel receptacle on the
right of that machine (Fig. 152) with a platform on which
stood men who rode on the machine as they bound the grain.
An early and important example of a harvester of this class is
given in the Marsh machine, patented August 15, 1858, No. 21,207, ^"d
shown in Fig. 153. To this type of machine the self-binding devices were
subsequently applied, but before they materialized many other improve-
ments in self-rakers were made and applied, among which may be men-
tioned the combined rake and reel of Owen Dorsey, of Maryland
(1856), sweeping horizontally across the quadrantal platform ; the
McClintock Young revolving reel, carrying a rake ; the Henderson
rake (t86o) used on the Wood machine; the Seiberling dropper (1861),
which consisted of a slotted platform which moved to discharge the gavel :
and the various improvements covered by Whiteley's patents, which were
embodied in the Champion reaper, of Springfield, O., and which is shown
FIG. 154. — THE CHAMPION REAPER.
m THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
203
in Fig. 154. This machine had a combined rake and reel of the Dorsey
type, whose arms moved over a circular inclined and stationary cam, and
whose rakes had a horizontal sweep over the platform, and a vertical re-
turn over the wheels.
The next step, and, perhaps the most important one, in the develop-
ment of the reaper, was in providing automatic devices for binding the
gavels of grain into sheaves. John E. Heath, of Ohio, in patent No. 7,520,
of July 22, 1850, was the pioneer, and he used cord. Watson, Renwick &
^^■atson, in patent No. 8,083, of May 13, 1851, and C. A. McPhitridge, in
patent No. 16,097, of November 18, 1856, quickly followed in the attempt
to provide such a device, the former using cord and the latter wire. But
the problem was not an easy one to solve. On November 16, 1858, W.
em. 155. — THE locke wire binder of 1873.
Grey took out patent No. 22,074, for starting the binding mechanism by
the weight of the bundle. Probably the first to complete a binding attach-
ment that was partly automatic, and to attach it to a reaping machine,
were H. M. & W. W. Burson, of Illinois. On June 26, i860, and October
4, 1864, W. W. Burson patented a cord binder, and in 1863 one thousand
machines were built. These machines, however, used wire, and being as-
sisted in their operations by hand labor, were not truly automatic. On
February 16, 1864, Jacolj Behel, of Illinois, obtained a patent. No. 41,661,
for a very important invention in binders. He showed and claimed for
the first time the knotting bill, which loops and forms the knot, and the
turning cord holder for retaining the end of the cord. On May 31, 1870,
George H. Spaulding took out patent No. 103,673 for a binder which
204
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
automatically regulated the bundles to a uniform size. Sylvanus D.
Locke, of Wisconsin, was the next inventor who undertook to solve the
problem. He took out patents No. 121,290, November 28, 1871, and No.
149,233, March 31, 1874, and many others. In 1873 ^e associated him-
self with Walter A. ^^'ood, and they built and sold probably the first auto-
matic self-binding harvester that was ever put upon the market. The
Locke wire binder of 1873 is shown in Fig. 155. The use of wire, how-
ever, for binding grain, involved certain objections in that it
required a special cutting tool for cutting the sheaves at the
thresher, and it was not easy to remove the wire, and parts
of it were likely to go through the thresher. Inventors accordingly con-
centrated their attention on the use of twine or cord. Marquis L. Gor-
ham, of Illinois, built a successful twine binder, and had it at work in the
harvest field in 1874. This machine, covered by patent No. 159,506, Feb-
FIG. 156. — MODERN .\UTOMATIC SELF BINDING EE.'\PER.
ruary 9, 1875, not only bound by cord, but produced Ijundles of the same
size. The grain in this machine is delivered by the elevator of the har-
vester upon a platform, where it is seized by packers and carried forward
into a second chamber, where it is compacted by the packers against a
yielding trip, so that when sufficient grain is accumulated, the trip will
yield and start the binding mechanism into operation. The ball of cord
carried on the machine has one end threaded through the needle and
fastened in a holder. The grain is forced against the cord by the packers,
and when the binder starts the needle encircles the gavel, carrying the
cord to a knotting bill, and the end is again seized by the rotating holder,
the loop formed, the ends of the band severed, and the bound bundle is
discharged from the machine. A gate, which has in the meantime shut off
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 205
the flow of grain, is now drawn back, and the operation is repeated. On
February i8, 1879, John F. Appleby took out a patent, No. 212,420, for
an improvement on the Gorham binder. In Fig. 156 is shown a modern
automatic self-binding reaper which embodies the fundamental principles
of McCormick and Hussey, the inclined elevator and platform shown by
Marsh, and the automatic binding devices of Behel, Gorham and
Appleby.
This machine, under favorable conditions, with one driver, cuts
twenty acres of wheat in a day, binds it, and carries the bound bundles
into windrows, and with one shocker, performs the work of twenty men,
and does it better, the saving in the waste of grain over hand labor being
sufficient to pay for the twine used in binding. It is said that the self-
binding reaper has reduced the cost of harvesting grain to less than half
a cent a bushel.
It is estimated that more than 180,000 machines of the self-binding
type are now produced yearly, the manufacturers in Chicago alone turn-
ing out more than three-fourths of this number. It is not possible to do
justice to all the worthy workers in this great industry. Nearly 10,000
patents have been granted on reaping and mowing machines, and the con-
spicuous names of Whiteley, Wood, Atkins, Mannv. Yost, and Ketchum,
in addition to those already mentioned, are only a small part of the great
army of inventors who have contributed to the development and perfec-
tion of the reaper.
In 1840 it is said there were but three reapers made. To-day the
total number of self-binding harvesters, reapers and mowers in use is es-
timated to be two millions. The growth of this industry in the four
earlier decades is as follows (the relatively small increase between i860
and 1870 being accounted for by the Civil War) :
1840. 1850. t86o. 1870. if
Machines made 3 3,000 20,000 30,000 60,000
Immediately succeeding this period the automatic cord binder was put
into use, and within five years the increase in output of reapers and
mowers was very great. In 1885 more than 100,000 self-binding harvest-
ers and 150,000 reapers and mowers were built and sold. In 1890 two
manufacturing estaljlishments in Chicago made more than 200,000 ma-
chines, half of which were self binders and the other half reapers and
mowers, and these two institutions alone employed in their various
branches of manufacturing and selling 10,000 employees. In 1895 the out-
206
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
put of the largest of these manufacturing establishments was 60,000 self-
binding harvesters, fitted with bundle carriers and trucks, 61,000 mowers,
10,000 corn harvesters, and 5,000 reapers, making 136,000 machines in all.
In 1898 the output of this one factory for the year was 74,000 self-binding
FIG. 157. — STEAM H.^RVESTER AND THRESHER.
The wheat is headed, threshed, cleaned and sacked by this machine in one continuous operation. —
Cutter, '^IJ feet wide; Capacity. 75 acres per day.
harvesters, 107,000 mowers, 9,000 corn harvesters, and 10,000 reapers,
amounting to 200,000 machines. This output, together with 75,000 horse
rakes, also made, averaged a complete machine for every forty seconds in
the year, working ten hours a day. The estimated annual production of all
factories in this class of agricultural implements i.s 180,000 self-binding
FIG. 158. — FIFTY HORSE POWER STEAM PLANTING COMBINATION.
Traction engine pulling si.xteea 10-inch plows, four (i-foot harrows, and a drill.
harvesters, 250,000 mowing machines, 18,000 corn harvesters, and 25,000
reapers.
There were exported in the year 1880 about 800 self-binding harvest-
ers, 2,000 reapers, and 1,000 mowers. In 1890 this was increased to 3,000
sclf-l)inding harvesters, 4,000 reapers, and 2,000 mowers. The total value
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTCRY. 207
of mowers and reapers exported in 1890 was $2,092,638. The growth sul>
sequent to 1890 is well attested by the exports for 1899, which for mowers
and reapers was $9,053,830, or more than four times what it was in 1890.
These exported machines harvest the crops of the Argentine Republic,
Paraguay, and Uruguay, of South America ; carry their labor-saving
values to Australia and New Zealand ; traverse the wheat fields along the
banks of the Red Sea and the \'olga, and are used throughout all the con-
tinent of Europe.
With the self-binding harvester performing the work of twenty men,
cutting and binding the grain, and arranging the bundles in windrows, it
would seem that perfection in this art had been reached, but the tendency
of the age is to do things on a constantly increasing scale, and so the latest
developments in harvesters comprise a mammoth machine (Fig. 157) pro-
pelled across the grain fields by steam, and which by the same power cuts
a swath from 26 to 28 feet wide, threshes it at once as it moves along,
blows out the chaff, and puts the grain in bags at the rate of three bags
per minute, each bag containing one hundred and fifteen pounds, and re-
quiring two expert bag sewers to take the grain away from the spout, sew
the bags, and dump them on the ground. Seventy-five acres a day is its
task. A companion piece to this machine is illustrated in Fig. 158, which
shows the same power utilized for planting. A powerful steam traction
engine of fifty horse power hauls across the field a planting combination of
sixteen ten-inch plows, four six-foot harrows and a seeding drill in the
rear. Such great reaping machines only find useful application in the
enormous wheat fields of California and the Pacific Coast States, where
the dry climate permits the grain to ripen and dry sufficiently while stand-
ing in the field. Moreover, only the heads of the grain are cut, the straw
being left standing. Some conception of the enormous scale upon which
grain is raised in the Western States mav be gotten from the dimensions
of the farms. It is said that Dr. Glenn's wheat farm comprises 45,000
acres; the Dalrymples', in North Dakota, 70,000; and Mr. Mitchell, in the
San Joaquin Valley, in California, has 90,000 acres. The Dalrymple
farms in 1893 had 54.000 acres in wheat, and employed 283 self-binding
reapers to harvest the crop. There is a single unbroken wheat field on the
banks of the San Joaquin River, near the town of Clovis, in Madera
County, California, which comprises 25,000 acres, or nearly forty square
miles of wheat — a veritable sea of waving grain. The field is nearly
square ; each side is a little over six miles long. If its shape were changed
to the width of one mile, the field would then be forty miles long. It has
been said of the grain fields of the West.^ that the men and teams eat break-
208
THE PROGRESS OF ISVESTIOX
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTL'RY. 209
fast at one end of a fiuTow, take dinner in the middle of the row, and at
night camp and sup at the end of the same row. With a field of such pro-
portions it is not difficult to see how this may be true. The cultivation and
garnering of crops from such vast areas can only be appreciated by com-
parisons. If it were one man's work to plow such a field, even with a
double gang plow, cutting a furrow twenty-four inches wide, he would
travel 105,600 miles, which would be equivalent to going around the world
four times. If he plowed twenty miles a day, it would take 5.280 days.
To harrow would require as long, and to plant would take about the same
time, or about forty-three years altogether. A full lifetime would be re-
quired to plant the crop, and a second generation would be required to reap
it. But great results require great agencies, and so great labor-saving
machines, operated by armies of men, are brought into requisition, and
with tlicse the crop is both planted and reaped. A long procession of self-
binding harvesters, following close one behind the other, makes quick work
of it, and before the weather changes this great field is mowed, its crop gar-
nered, and bread stipplied for the hungry of all lands.
The exports of wheat to foreign lands in i8g8 were 148,231,261 bush-
els, worth $145,684,659, and the exports of wheat flour for the same year
were 15,349,943 barrels, worth $69,263,718. The total yield of wheat in
the United States for 1898 was 675,148,705 bushels.
With the fertile earth, and its prolific inventors, the United States has
become the richest country in the world. What its future is to be no man
may say, but its destiny is not yet fulfilled, and it is pregnant with potential
possibilities.
210 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
■ CHAPTER XVII.
Vulcanized Rubber.
Early Use of Caoutchouc by the Indians — Collection of the Gum — Early Ex-
periments Failures — Goodvear's Persistent Experiments — Nathaniel Hay-
ward's Application or Sulphur to the Gum — Goodyear's Process of Vulcan-
ization— Introduction of His Process Into Europe — Trials and Imprison-
ment for Debt — Rubber Shoe Industry — Great Extent and Variety of
Applications — Statistics.
MOST all important inventions have grown into existence by slow
stages of development, and by successive contributions from
many minds, not a few having descended by gradual processes
of evolution from preceding centuries. Vulcanized rubber,
however, is not of this class. It belongs exclusively to the Nineteenth Cen-
tury, and owes its existence to the tireless energy of one man. The value
of the crude gum had been previously speculated upon, and for years at-
tempts had been made to utilize it, but not until Goodyear invented his
process of vulcanizing it did it have any real value. This process was an
important, distinct and unique step, entirely the work of Mr. Goodyear,
and it has never been superseded nor improved upon to any extent.
Charles Goodyear was born in New Haven, December 29, 1800, and his
life, beginning two da}-s in advance of the Nineteenth Century, furnishes
an extraordinary illustration of the struggles and trials of the inventor
against adverse fortune, and is a pathetic example of self denial, inde-
fatigable labor, and unrequited toil. Of feel^le health, small stature, poor,
and frequently in prison for debt, he made the development of this art the
paramount object of his life, and with a pious faith and unfaltering cour-
age for thirty years he devoted himself to this work. Money he cared
nothing for, except in so far as it was necessary to carry on his work, and
he died July i, i860, poor in this world's goods, but rich in the conscious-
ness of the great benefit conferred bv his invention upon the human race.
India rul^ber, or caoutchouc, as it is more properly called, is a concen-
trated gum derived from the evaporation of the milk}- juice of certain trees
found in South America, Mexico, Central America and the East Indies.
The South American variety is called Jatropha elastica, and the East Indian
IN THE NINETEENTH CENIUKY.
211
variety the Ficus clastica. The South American Indians called it cahncha.
The province of Para, south of the eciuator, in Brazil, furnishes the largest
part and best quality of gum. The tree from which the gum exudes grows
to the height of eighty, and sometimes to one hundred feet. It runs up
straight for forty or fifty feet without a branch. Its top is spreading, and
is ornamented with a thick and glossy foliage. The gum is collected by
chopping through the
bark with a hatchet
and placing under
each series of cuts a
little clay cup formed
In- the hands of the
workman. About a
gill of the sap accu-
mulates in each cup in
the course of a day,
and it is then trans-
ferred to receiving
vessels and taken to
camp. The first use
of the gum was made
h\ the South Ameri-
c a n Indians, who
made shoes, bottles,
playing balls and va-
rious other articles
from it. Their meth-
od for making a shoe
was to take a crude
wooden last, which
they covered with clay
to prevent the adhesion of the gum. It was then dipped in the sap, or the lat-
ter was poured over it, which gave it a thin coating. It was then held over
a smoky fire, which gave it a dark color and dried the gum. When one
coating became sufficiently hard another was added, and smoked in turn,
and so successive coatings were applied until a sufficient thickness was ob-
tained. When the work was completed it was exposed for some days in
the sun, and while still soft the shoes were decorated as the fancy or taste
of the maker suggested. The clav forms were then broken out, and the
shoe stuffed with grass to keep it in shape for use or sale. In 1820 a pair
FlU. 160. — COLLECTING THE GUM.
212 THE PROGRESS OF INDENTION
of these eliimsy shoes was brought to Boston and exhibited as a curiosity.
They were covered with gilding, and resembled the shoe of a Chinaman.
Subsequently considerable numbers of these shoes were brought from
South America, and being sold at a large price, they served to stimulate
Yankee ingenuity into devising methods of making them from the raw
material, which being brought as ballast in the ships from Brazil, could be
had cheaply. In France some attention had been given to the material,
and the rubber bottles of the Indians had been cut into narrow threads
which were woven into strips of cloth to form suspenders and garters. In
England an application of it in thin solution had been made by a Mr. Mac-
intosh, who spread it between two thicknesses of thin cloth to form Mac-
intosh water-proof coats. The first practical use of the gum on a large
scale was instituted by Mr. Chaffee in Roxbury, Mass., about 1830. He
dissolved the gum in spirits of turpentine and invented steam-heated
rolls for spreading it upon cloth. Companies were formed to exploit the
products, and in the fall and v/inter of 1833 and 1834 many thousands of
dollars' worth of goods were made by the Roxbury Company, but the busi-
ness proved a total failure, for in the summer the goods melted, decom-
posed and became so oflensive as to be worse than useless, while the cold
of winter rendered them stiff and liable to crack. With a knowledge of
these facts and conditions Charles Goodyear commenced his experiments,
believing that there was a great future for this material if it could only be
prevented from melting in summer and stiffening in winter. He tried
mi.xing it with many materials, first using magnesia, which, however,
proved ineffective. On June t", 1837, he took out patent No. 240, in which
he proposed to destroy the adhesive properties of caoutchouc by super-
ficial application of an acid solution of the metals, nitric acid with copper
or bismuth being specially recommended. He also claimed the incorpora-
tion of lime with the gum to bleach it. Under this process Mr. Goodyear
made various articles in the form of fabrics, toys and ornamental articles,
using the fabric to make clothing for himself, which he wore to demon-
strate its value and wearing qualities. A striking word picture of Mr.
Goodyear at this time is given by the reply of a gentleman who, being
asked by a man looking for INTr. Goodyear as to how he might recognize
him, replied, "If }ou meet a man \\ho has on an India rubber cap, stock,
coat, vest, and shoes, and an India rubber money purse in his pocket, with-
out a cent of money in it, that is he."
Many useful and artistic articles were made under this first patented
process, including maps, surgical bandages, etc., and were brought by Mr.
Goodyear to the notice of President Jackson, Henry Clay and John C.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 213
Calhoun, from whom he received very encouraging letters. His efforts,
however, to introduce his process commercially were not attended with
success. Capitalists and manufacturers had been rendered so conserva-
tive by the large loss of money in the Roxbury Company, that they were
disinclined to have anything further to do with it. Practically alone he
was obliged to continue his work. By the kindness of Mr. Chaffee and
Mr. Haskins he was allowed the use of the valuable machinery standing
idle in their factory at Roxbur}-, and he made shoes, piano covers, table
cloths and carriage covers of superior equality, and from the sale of these,
and of licenses to manufacture, he for the first time was able to support
his family in comfort. Mr. Goodyear had not yet discovered, however,
the process of vulcanization, upon which the rubber industry is founded.
In 1838 Mr. Nathaniel Hayward, of Woburn, Mass., who had been em-
ployed in the bankrupt rubljcr company, discovered that the stickiness of
the rubber could be prevented by spreading a small quantity of sulphur on
it. The same result had also been noticed by a German chemist. On Feb.
24, 1839, ^^^- Hayward procured the patent. No. 1,090, on his process, and
assigned it to Mr. Goodyear. The patent covered a process of dissolving
sulphur in oil of turpentine and mixing it with the gum, and also included
the incorporation of the dry flowers of sulphur with the gum, the product
afterwards being treated by Mr. Goodyear's metallic salt process. This
was the starting point of vulcanization, for vulcanization consists simply in
admixing sulphur with the rubber, and then subjecting it for six to eight
hours to a temperature of about 300°. Its effect is to so change the nature
of the gum to prevent it from melting or becoming sticky under the in-
fluence of heat, or of hardening and becoming stiff under the influence of
cold, the vulcanized gum remaining elastic, impervious, and unchangeable
under all ordinary conditions. This great discover)- of the influence of
heat on the sulphur treated gum was quite accidental and wholly unex-
pected. Heat above all things was the agency which in all previous obser-
vations was most to be feared, for it was this more than anything else that
melted down, decomposed and destroyed all of his manufactured arti-
cles. While sitting near a hot stove engaged in an animated discussion
concerning his experiments, a piece of the gum treated with sulphur,
which he held in his hand, was, by a rapid gesture, thrown upon the stove.
To his astonishment, he found that this relatively high heat did not melt
it, as heretofore, and while it charred slightly, it was not made at all
sticky. He nailed the piece of gum outside the kitchen door in the intense
cold, and upon examining it the next morning found it as perfectly flexible
as when he put it out. Goodyear had discovered the process which after-
214 THE PROGRESS OF IXrENTION'
wards came to be known as "vulcanization." The discovery was made in
1839, but was not accepted by those to whom it was submitted as possess-
ing any importance. Prof. SiUiman, of Yale College, however, in the fall
of 1839 testified to the results claimed for it by Mr. Goodyear — that it did
not melt with heat, nor stiffen with the cold. On June 15, 1844, Mr. Good-
year took out his celebrated patent. No. 3,633, covering this process, in
which he not only used sulphur, but added a proportion of white lead. The
proportions named were 25 parts of rubber, 5 parts of sulphur, and
7 parts of white lead, the ingredients either to be ground in spirits of tur-
pentine, or to be incorporated dry between rolls. The odor imparted by
the sulphur was to be destroyed by washing with potash or vinegar. This
patent was reissued in two divisions Dec. 25, 1849, 3-nd again on Nov. 20,
i860, and was extended for seven years from June 15, 1858, which was the
end of the first term. Under this patent two kinds of rubber were made
and sold — "soft rubber," containing only a small proportion of sulphur,
while the other, known as the "vulcanite," "ebonite," or "hard rubber," had
from 25 to 35 per cent, of sulphur and was subjected to a longer heat.
The history of this patent is a remarkable one. Immensely valuable as
it was, Goodyear reaped but a small share of the profit, for in the midst of
his poverty and necessities he was obliged to sell licenses and establish
royalties at a figure far below the real value of the rights conveyed. Some
idea of the great value of the business which Mr. Goodyear had developed
may be had from the fact that the companies who held rights under the
patent for the manufacture of shoes paid at one time to Daniel Webster
the enormous fee of $25,000 for defending their patent interests.
With the idea of extending his invention Mr. Goodyear visited Eng-
land in 1851, where he found that Thomas Hancock, of the house of Mac-
intosh & Co., had forestalled him, although not the inventor. A peculiar
provision of the English patent law, which gives the patent to the first
introducer, permitted this. Nothing daunted, however, he organized a
magnificent exhibit for the Great International Exhibition held in Crystal
Palace at Hyde Park, London, in 185 1. This exhibit cost him $30,000,
and he called it the Goodyear Vulcanite Court. It comprehended an ele-
gantly constructed suite of open rooms made of hard rubber ornamented
with handsome carvings, and furnished with rubber furniture, musical in-
struments, and globes made of rubber, and it was also carpeted with the
same material. For his exhibit he received the "Grand Council Medal,"
whicli was one of the highest testimonials of the exposition. This exhibit
was afterwards moved from London to Sydenham, where it was exposed
and used as an agency for some years for the sale of rubber goods.
IN- THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
215
Mr. Goodyear had obtained a French patent for his invention, and at
the Exposition Universelle in Paris, in 1855, he fitted up at an expense of
$50,000 two elegant courts with India rubber furniture, caskets and rich
jewelr}-, and for this exliiljit he had conferred upon him by the Emperor
Napoleon the "Grand Medal of Honor" and the "Cross of the Legion of
FIG. 161 — MACHINE FOR GRINDING AND WASHING CRUDE RUBBER.
Honor." It was a singular instance of the irony of fate that the decoration
of the "Cross of the Legion of Honor" should have been conveyed to
him while imprisoned for debt in "Clichy," the debtors' prison in Paris.
The lofty courage of the man was well illustrated at this time in his reply
to his wife's solicitous inquiries as to how he had spent the night while in
prison. He said, "I have been through nearly every form of trial that hu-
216
THE PROGRESS OF INTENTION
man flesh is heir to, and I lind that there is nothing in life to fear but sin."
The decHning- years of his hfe were full of sorrow, pain and affliction.
and at his death in i860 his estate was $200,000 in debt. He lived lono-
enough, however, to see his material applied to nearly five hundred uses.
giving employment in England, France and Germany to 60,000 persons,
and producing- in this country alone goods worth $8,000,000 a year.
The greatest of all applications of rubber are to be found in the manu-
facture of boots and shoes. The number of attacks of cold, rheumatism,
and death-dealing diseases from wet feet, that have been averted bv the
FIG. 162. — MAKING RUBBER CLOTH.
use of rubber shoes, can never be estimated, but perhaps it is safe to say
that the rubber shoe has done more to conserve the health of the human
family than any other single article of apparel.
In the manufacture of shoes the finest quality of rubber is received in
wooden boxes 4 x 2 x 1J/2 feet, containing about 350 pounds in lumps of
I to 75 pounds. These lumps are cut to suitable size, and are then ground
and washed in the machine shown in Fig. 161, water and steam being
sprayed on the rubber during the operation. It is then worked into shee'-s
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 217
or mats between rolls. From the grinding room the sheets are taken to the
mixing room, where lampblack, sulphur and other ingredients are added,
and worked into it by being passed many times between heated rolls, the
sheets being finally reduced to a thickness of less than 1-32 of an inch. The
rubber sheets are then applied to a cloth backing by cloth calendering
rolls, shown in Fig. 162, which are steam heated and by great pressure
serve to incorporate the sheets of rubber and cloth into intimate and in-
separable union. Out of this rubber fabric, which is made of dififerent
thicknesses for the upper, sole and heel, the patterns for the shoe are cut,
and the parts are deftly fitted around the forms by girls, and secured by
rubber cement, as shown in Fig. 163. The shoes are then covered with a
coat of rubber varnish, and are put into cars and run into the vulcanizing
ovens, where they remain from six to seven hours at a temperature of about
275°. The goods are then taken out, and after being inspected are boxed for
the market. The vulcanizing is a very important part of the manufacture of
a rubber shoe, for it is absolutely necessary in order to give them stability
and wearing qualities. A shoe that had not been vulcanized would mash
down, spread, become sticky and go to pieces after a few hours' wear.
The rubber shoe industry of the United States is carried on by about
fifteen large companies, representing an investment of many millions of
dollars, most of which companies are located in ]\Iassachusetts, Rhode Isl-
and and Connecticut.
Some idea of the immensity of this industry may be obtained from the
import statistics. In 1899 the United States alone imported crude rub-
ber to the extent of 51,063,066 pounds, as much as 1,000,000 pounds a
month coming from the single port of Para. The export of manufactured
rubber goods for the same year amounted to $1,765,385. The statistics
for Great Britain for 1896 showed the imports of rubber to that country to
be one-third more than the imports of the United States. Germany also
is a large consumer. The great Harburg-V'ienna factories cover sixty-
seven acres, are capitalized at 9,000,000 marks, and employ 3.500 hands.
Much fine technical apparatus, toys, and balls are made here, the daily out-
put of balls reaching 8,000. These, with the Noah's arks of India rubber
animals, are the delight of the little ones all over the world.
Although so much in evidence about us, India rubber is not by any
means a cheap material. Costing only five cents a pound when Goodyear
commenced his experiments, it is now worth a dollar a pound, and is
therefore much more expensive than any of the ordinary metals, woods,
or building materials. Many substitutes in the form of compositions of
various ingredients have been devised and patented, but no real substitute
218
THE PROGRESS OF INl'ENTION
for nature's product has yet been found. For many years old and worn
out rubber goods were thrown away as worthless. Now all such rubber
is reclaimed, and used in many grades of goods which do not require a
pure gum. Insatiable as the demands of the trade may appear, there is no
need to fear a rubber famine, for the forests of trees in South America and
the East Indies are practically inexhaustible, and in the rich alluvial soil of
their habitat nature's processes of growth rapidly restore the decimation.
FIG. 163. — MAKING RUBBER SHOES.
Since the time of Goodyear, the amplification of this art and the multi-
plication of uses for rubber, and its increased commercial importance, have
gone on at such a rate of increase that to-day we may be said to be living
in the rubber age. Its uses and applications are legion, and they extend
literally from the cradle to the grave. When the baby comes into the
world its introduction to India rubber begins at once with the nursing
bottle and the gum cloth, and when the aged invalid takes leave of the
• IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 219
world his last moments are soothed with the water bag and the rubber
bed, and between these extremes we find it in evidence everywhere about
us. In wearing apparel it extends from the crown of the head to the sole
of the foot — rubber cap, coat, gloves, and shoes. The man has it in his
suspenders and his pipe stem, the woman in her garters and dress shields,
and the baby in its teething ring and rattle. The soldier stands on picket
duty in the rain, and the rubber blanket protects him from rheumatism. If
wounded, the surgeon dresses his mangled limb with rubber bandages,
and when he gets well he has a rubber cushion on the end of his crutch,
or on the foot of his artificial leg. If wounded in the mouth perhaps the
government gives him a set of artificial teeth on a rubber plate. The rub-
ber mat greets you at the front door, a little pad cushions the door stops
and the backs of chairs, and a ring seals the mouth of the fruit jar. The
whole array of toilet articles, including combs, brushes, mirrors, shoe
horns, etc., are made from it. In the parlor it is found in picture frames
and the piano cover ; in the bath room the wash rag, water bag, rubber cup,
and hose pipe of the shower bath are all made of it ; in the play room are
found ruljber balls and toys of all kinds ; in the kitchen the clothes wringer
and the table cloth ; in the dining room the handles of knives, and the tea
tray, and what is more useful and more ubiquitous in the office than the
rubber band, the rubber ruler, the pencil eraser, or the fountain pen? But
these are only a few of the personal and indoor uses and applications. Rub-
ber belting for machinery, fire engine and garden hose, steam engine
packing, car springs, covers for carriages and the big guns of the navy,
life preservers, billiard table cushions, and chemical and surgical apparatus
in endless variety. The electrical world is almost entirely dependent upon
it for the insulation of our ocean cables and electric light wires, for battery
cups, and the insulating mountings of all electrical apparatus. The pneu-
matic bicycle tire could not exist without rubber, and the modern applica-
tion of it to this use alone amounts to nearly four million pounds annually.
Everv automobile carriage takes twenty-five pounds of rubber for each
tire, or too pounds altogether. This great and growing industry, together
with the now common use of rubber tires on horse-drawn vehicles, raises
the sum total of rubber employed in the arts to an enormous figure.
That the sap of an uncultivated tree in a swampy, tropical, and malarial
forest, thousands of miles from civilization, should cut so great a figure in
the necessities of modern life, seems strange and unaccountable on any
basis of probabilities. It is only another illustration of the possibilities of
the patient and persistent work of the inventor. Charles Goodyear took
this nearly worthless material, and made of it, as Parton said in 1865 —
220 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
"not a new material merely, but a new class of materials, applicable to a
thousand divers uses. It was still India rubber, but its surface would not
adhere, nor would it harden at any degree of cold, nor soften at any degree
of heat. It was a cloth impervious to water ; it was a paper that would
not tear ; it was a parchment that would not crease ; it was leather which
neither rain nor sun would injure ; it was ebony that could be run into a
mould ; it was ivory that could be worked like wax ; it was wood that never
cracked, shrunk nor decayed. It was metal, 'elastic metal,' as Daniel
Webster termed it, that could be wound round the finger, or tied into a
knot, and which preserved its elasticity like steel. Trifling variations in
the ingredients, in the proportion and in the heating, made it either pliable
as kid, tougher than ox hide, as elastic as whalebone, or as rigid as flint."
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 221
CHAPTER XVIII.
Chemistry.
Its Evolution as a Science— The Coal Tar Products— Fermenting and Brewing
— Glucose, Gun Cotton and Nitro-Glycerine — Electro-Chemistry — Fertil-
izers and Commercial Products — New Elements of the Nineteenth Cen-
tury.
THE foundation stones of empirical discovery, upon which this sci-
ence is based, had been crudely shaped by the workmen of pre-
ceding centuries, but the classification and laying of them into
the structure of an exact science is the work of the Nine-
teenth Century. The glass of the Phoenicians, and the dyes and metallur-
gical operations of the Egyptians, involved some chemical knowledge;
much more did the operations of the alchemists, who vainly sought to con-
vert the baser metals into gold, but these were only the crude building
stones, out of which the great complex modern structure has been raised.
In the Sixteenth Century the study of chemistry, apart from alchemy, be-
gan, and some attention was given to its application to the uses of medi-
cine. Aristotle's four elements — fire, air, earth and water — were no longer
accepted as representing a correct theory, and new ones were pro-
posed only to be found as erroneous, and to be superseded in time
by others.
EirieH}' traversing the more important of the earlier steps, there may
be mentioned the phlogiston theory of Stahl in the earlier part of the
Eighteenth Century ; the discovery of the composition of water by Caven-
dish in 1766: of oxygen by Priestly and Scheele in 1774; the electro-
chemical dualistic theory of Lavoisier in the latter part of the Eighteenth "
Centurv, followed by a rational nomenclature established by Guyton de
Morveau, Berthollet and Fourcroy ; the doctrine of chemical equivalents
by Wenzel in 1777 and Richter in 1792; Dalton's atomic theory; Wollas-
ton's scale of chemical equivalents; Gay Lussac's law of combining vol-
umes ; Berzelius' system of chemical symbols and theory of compound rad-
icals ; contributions of Sir Humphrey Davy and Faraday in electro-chem-
222 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
istry, and Thenard's grouping of the metals. These interesting phases of
development of the old chemistry have been followed by the new theorv of
substitution, by Dumas and others. This change, beginning about iSiio
and running through a period of nearly twenty years, has gradually sup-
planted the old electro-chemical dualistic theory and established the pres-
ent system.
Among the important and interesting achievements of chemistrv in the
Nineteenth Century is the artificial production of organic compounds. All
such compounds had heretofore been either directly or indirectly derived
from plants or animals. -In 1828 Wohler produced urea from inorganic
substances, which was the first example of the synthetic production of or-
ganic compounds, and it was for many years the only product so formed.
Berthelot, of Paris, by heating carbonic oxide with hydrate of potash pro-
duced formiate of potash, from which formic acid is obtained : by agitating
olefiant gas with oil of vitriol a compound is produced from which, upon
the addition of water and distillation, alcohol is formed ; he also re-com-
bined the fatty acids with glycerine to form the original fats.
In the classification of this science, it has been divided into inorganic
chemistry, relating to metals, minerals and bodies not associated with or-
ganic life, and organic chemistry, which was formerly limited to matter
associated with or the result of growth or life processes, but which is now
extended to the broader field of all carbon compounds. In later years the
most remarkaljle advances have been made in the field of organic chemis-
try. The four elements carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen have
been juggled into innumerable associations, and in various proportions,
and endless permutations, have been combined to produce an unlimited
series of useful compounds, such as dyes, explosives, medicines, perfumes,
flavoring extracts, disinfectants, etc.
The most interesting of these compounds are the coal tar products.
Coal tar, for many years, was the waste product of gas making. Forty
years ago about the only use made of it was by the farmer, who painted the
ends of his fence posts with it to prevent decay, or by the fisherman, who
applied it to the bottoms of his boats and his fishing nets. To-day the
black, offensive and unpromising substance, with magical metamorphosis,
has been transformed by the chemist into the most beautiful dyes, excelling
the hues and shades of the rainbow, the most delightful perfumes and
flavoring extracts, the most useful medicines, the most powerful antisep-
tics, and a product which is the very sweetest substance known. The
aniline dyes represent one of the great developments in this field. In 1826
Unverdorben obtained from indigo a substance which he called "Crystal-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 223
line." In 1834 Runge obtained from coal tar "Kyanol." In 1840 Fritzsch
obtained from indigo a product which he called "Aniline," from "Anil,"
the Portuguese for indigo. Zinin soon after obtained "Benzidam." All
these substances were afterward proved to be the same as aniline. Perkins'
British patent, No. 1,984, of 1S56, is the first patented disclosure of the
aniline dyes, and represents the beginning of their commercial production.
This combines sulphate of aniline and bichromate of potash to produce an
exquisite lilac, or purple color. The first United States patent was in 1861.
and now there are about i ,400 patents on carbon dyes and compounds, the
most of which belong to the coal tar group. In dyes artificial alizarine, by
Graebe and Lieberman (Pat. No. 95,465, Oct. 5, 1869) ; aniline black, by
Lightfoot (Pat. No. 38,589, May 19, 1863) ; naphthazarin black, by Bohn
(Pat. No. 379,150, March 6, 1888) ; artificial indigo, by Baeyer (Pat. No.
259,629, June 13, 1882): the azo-colors, by Roussin (Pat. Xo. 210.054,
Nov. 19, 1878) ; and the processes for making colors on fibre, by Hollidav
(Pat. No. 241,661, May 17, 1881), are the most important. The artificial
production of salicylic acid, by Kolbe (Pat. No. 150,867, May 12, 1874),
marks an important step in antiseptics. Artificial vanilla, by Fritz
Ach(Pat. No. 487,204, Nov. 29, 1892), represents flavoring extracts; and
artificial musk, by Baur ( Pat. No. 536.324, ]\Iarch 26, 1895) , is an example
of perfumes. In medicines a great array of compounds has been pro-
duced, such as antipyrin, the fever remedy, by Knorr ( Pat. No. 307.399,
Oct. 28, 1884) ; phenacetin, by Hinsberg (Pat. No. 400,086, March 26,
1889) : salol, by A'on Nencki (Pat. No. 350.012, Sept. 28, 1886). and sul-
fonal by Bauman (Pat. No. 396,526, Jan. 22, 1889). To these may be
added antikamnia" (acetanilide) the headache remedy, and saccharin, by
Fahlberg ( Pat. No. 319,082, June 2, 1885), which latter is a substitute for
sugar, and thirteen times sweeter than sugar. Among the more familiar
products of coal tar or petroleum are moth Imlls, carbolic acid, benzine,
vaseline, and paraffine.
In the commercial application of chemistry the work of Louis Pasteur
in fcrincnting and bretving deserves special notice as making a great ad-
vance in this art. His United States patent. No. 141,072, July 22, 1873.
deals with the manufacture of yeast for brewing.
The manufacture of sugar and glucose from starch is an industry of
great magnitude, which has grown up in the last twenty-five years. Water,
acidulated with i-iooth part of sulphuric acid, is heated to boiling, and a
hot mixture of starch and water is allowed to flow into it gradually. .-Vfter
boiling a half hour chalk is added to neutralize the sulphuric acid, and
when the sulphate of lime settles the clear syrup is drawn off, and either
224 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
sold as syrup, or is evaporated to produce crystallized grape sugar, which
latter is only about half as sweet as cane sugar. Glucose syrup, however,
has largely superseded all other table syrups, and is extensively used in
brewing, for cheap candies, and for bee food. Our exports of glu-
cose and grape sugar for 1899 amounted to 229,003,571 pounds,
worth $3,624,890.
An important discovery, made in 1846, was that carbohydrates, such as
starch, sugar, or cellulose, and glycerine, when acted upon by the strongest
nitric acid, produced compounds remarkable for their explosive character.
Gun cotton and nitro-glyccrine are the most conspicuous examples. Gun
cotton is made by treating raw cotton with nitric acid, to which a propor-
tion of sulphuric acid is added to maintain the strength of the nitric acid
and effect a more perfect conversion. Besides its use as an explosive, gun
cotton when dissolved in ether has found an important application as collo-
dion in the art of photography. Nitro-glycerine only differs in its manu-
facture from gun cotton in that glycerine is acted upon by the acids, in-
stead of cotton. Pyroxiline, xyloidine, and celluloid are allied products,
which have found endless applications in toilet articles and for other uses,
as a substitute for hard rubber.
The applications of chemistry in the commercial world have been in
recent years so numerous and varied that it is not possible to do more than
to refer to its uses in the manufacture of soda and potash, of alcohol, ether,
chloroform, and ammonia, in soap making, washing compounds and tan-
ning, the production of gelatine, the refining of cotton seed and other oils,
the art of oxidizing oils for the manufacture of linoleum and oil cloth, the
manufacture of fertilizers, white lead and other paints, the preparation of
proprietary medicines, of soda water and photographic chemicals, the
manufacture of salt and preserving compounds, in the fermentation
of liquors and brewing of beer, the preparation of cements and
street pavements, the manufacture of gas, and the embalming of the
dead.
The most interesting and, in many respects, the most important, de-
velopment of the last twenty-five years has been in electro-chemistry.
Electro-chemical methods are now employed for the production of a large
number of elements, such as the alkali and alkaline earth metals, copper,
zinc, aluminum, chromium, manganese, the halogens, phosphorus, hydro-
gen, oxvgen, and ozone; various chemicals, including the mineral acids,
hydrates, chlorates, hvpochlorites, chromates, permanganates, disinfectants,
alkaloids, coal tar dyes, and various carbon compounds ; white lead and
other pigments: varnish; in bleaching, dyeing, tanning; in extracting
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 225
grease from wool ; in purifying water, sewerage, sugar solutions, and alco-
holic beverages. The present low price of aluininiim, reduced from $12 per
pound in 1878 to 2,2, cents now, is due to its production by electrical meth-
ods. Among the earliest successful processes is that described in patents
to Cowles and Cowles, No. 319.795, June 9, 1885, and No. 324,658, August
18, 1885. in which a mixture of alumina, carbon and copper is heated to
incandescence by the passage of a current, the reduced aluminum alloying
with the copper. This has now been superseded by the Hall process ( Pat.
No. 400,766, April 2, 1889), in which alumina, dissolved in fused cryolite,
is electrolytically decomposed. Practically all the copper now produced,
except that from Lake Superior, is refined electrolytically by substantially
the method of Farmer's patent (Pat. No. 322,170, July 14, 1885). All
metallic sodium and potassium are now obtained by electrolysis of fused
hydroxides or chlorides (Pats. No. 452,030, May 12, 1891, to Castner, and
No. 541,465, June 25, 1895, to Vautin). The production of caustic soda,
sodium carbonate, and chlorine by the electrolysis of brine, is carried on
tipon a large scale, and will probably supersede all other methods. Nolf's
process (Pat. No. 271,906, Feb. 6, 1883), and Caster's (No. 528,322, Oct.
30, 1894), employ a receiving body or cathode of mercury, alternately
brought in contact with the brine undergoing decomposition, and with
water to oxidize the contained sodium. Carborundum, or silicide of car-
bon, is largely superseding emery and diamond dust as an abradant. It
is produced by Acheson (Pat. No. 492,767, Feb. 28, 1893), by passing a
current of electricity through a mixture of silica and carbon. Calcium
carbide, a rare compound a few years ago, is now cheaply produced by the
action of an electric arc on a mixture of lime and carbon, as described by
Willson (Pats. Nos. 541,137, 541.138, June 18, 1895). Calcium carbide
resembles coke in general appearance, and it is used for the manufacture
of acetvlene gas, for which purpose it is only necessary to immerse the
calcium carbide in water, and the gas is at once given off by the mutual
decomposition of the water and the carbide.
Agricultural chemistry is another one of the practical developments
of the Nineteenth Century. A hundred years ago the farmer planted his
crops, prayed for rain, and trusted to Providence for the increase ; he
was not infrequently disappointed, but was wholly unable to account for the
failure. To-day the intelligent farmer understands the value of nitrogen,
has ascertained how it may be fed to his crops through the agency of nitri-
fying organisms, or he has his soil analyzed at the Agricultural Depart-
ment, finds out what element it lacks for the crop desired, and in chem-
ically prepared fertilizers supplies that deficiency. The chemical analysis
226 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
of drinking water has also contributed much to the knowledge of right liv-
ing and to the avoidance of disease and death, which our forefathers were
accustomed to regard as dispensations of Providence.
America has furnished some eminent chemists in the Nineteenth Cen-
tury, who have made valuable contributions to the science, notably in the
field of metallurgy. It is a fact, however, which must be admitted with
regret, that America has not in the field of chemical research occupied the
leading place she has in mechanical progress. The European laboratory is
the birthplace of most modern inventions in the chemical field, and this is
so simply by reason of the fact that these more patient investigators have
set themselves studiously, systematically and persistently to the work of
chemical invention. It is said that some of the large commercial works
in Germany have over loo Ph. D.'s in a single manufacturing estalilish-
ment, whose work is not directed to the management of the manufacture,
but solely to original research, and the making of inventions. The laliora-
tories in such works differ from those in the universities only in being
more perfectly equipped, and more sumptuously appointed. The result of
this is seen in the fact that in 1899 the United States imported coal tar dyes
alone to the extent of $3,799,353. and 5,227,098 pounds of alizarine, most
of which came from Germany, and for which we paid a good price, since
the German manufacturers control the United States patents. The aliza-
rine dyes are for the most part the artificial kind made by German chemists.
Prior to 1869 the red alizarine dye was of plant origin, being obtained from
madder root, and it cost $2 a pound. The German chemist produced an
artificiallv made product, which took the place of the madder dye, and was
sold at $1.20 a pound. At the end of the patent term (seventeen years)
the price fell to 15c. a pound, showing that the product was produced
at a profit of more than $1.05 a pound, and as millions of pounds were im-
ported annually, it is estimated that $35,000,000 was the price paid the
German chemists for their foresight in comljining science with business.
Many United States patents granted to foreign chemists are still in force,
and the rich reward of their skill is reaped at our expense.
Discovery of elements. — In the early days of chemical knowledge, fire,
air, earth and water constituted the insignificant category of the elements,
which was as faulty in classification as it was small in size.. Gradual split-
ting up of compounds, and an increase in the number of elements, has gone
on progressively for some hundreds of years, until to-day the list extends
well on to one hundred elementary bodies. Those which belong to the
credit of the Nineteenth Century are given in the table following, with the
name of the discoverer, and th.e dat'e of its discoverv.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
227
ELEMENTS DISCOVERED IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
ELEMENTS.
DISCOVEKER.
Columbium Hatchett 1801
Tantalum.., . Ekeberg 1802
Iridium Tenant 1803
Osmium Tenant 1803
Cerium Berzelius 1803
Palladium Wollaston 1804
Rhodium Wollaston 1804
Potassium . . . Davy 1807
Sodium Davy 1807
Barium Davy 1808
Strontium Davy 1808
Calcium Davy 1808
Boron .... Davy 1808
Iodine Courtois i8u
Cyanogen Gay Lussac 18 14
(Corap. rad.)
Selenium Berzelius. 1817
Cadmium Stromeyer 1817
Lithium Arfvedson 1817
Silicon Berzelius 1823
Zirconium Berzelius 1824
Bromine Balard 1826
Thorium Berzelius 1828
Yttrium Wohler. 1828
Glucinum Wohler 1828
Aluminum Wohler 1828
Magnesium. . Bussey 1829
Vanadium ,. Sefstroem 1830
Lanthanum Mosander. 1839
Didymium Mosander 1839
ELEMENTS. DISCOVERER. YE.^R.
Erbium Mosander 1 843
Terbium, ..... .Mosander 1843
Ruthenium Claus 1845
Rubidium Bunsen i860
Caesium .
Thallium .
Indium. .
.1863
Gallium
Ytterbium ....
Samarium
Scandium
Thulium
Neodymium. . .
Praseodymium,
Gadolinium. . . ,
Germanium. . .
Argon
Krypton ,
Bunsen c86o
Crookes 1862
Reich
Richter
. Boisbaudran 1875
. Marignac 1878
. Boisbaudran 1879
Nilson ... .1S79
. Cleve 1879
.Welsbach 1SS5
. Welsbach. 1885
.Marignac r886
.Winkler 1886
^^^^^S^i 1894
Ramsey )
Ramsey
Travers
Neon ,
Metargon . . .
Coronium. . .
Xenon
Monium . . .
Etherion (?).
j Ramsey )
( Travers \
( Ramsey (
} Travers ) '
Ramsey j
Travers f
. 189S
.Nasini 1898
. Ramsey 189S
.Crookes . . 1898
.Brush i8g8
Whether or not these so-called elements are really true elementary
forms of matter, which are absolutely indivisible, is a problem for the
chemists of the coming centuries to solve. The classification has the ap-
proval of the present age. What new elements may be found no one may
predict. ]\Iendelejeff's periodic law, however, suggests great possibilities
in this field. Allotropism, in which the same element will present entirely
different physical aspects, is also a significant and suggestive phenomenon,
for in it we see carbon appearing at one time as a crude, black and ungainly
mass of coal, and at another it appears as the limpid and flashing diamond.
In more than one mind there is a lurking suspicion that there may, after all,
be only one form of primordial matter, from which all others are derived
by some wondrous play of the atoms, and if so the old idea of the alchem-
ist as to the transmutation of metals may not be entirely wrong. The
Twentieth Century may .give us more light.
228 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
CHAPTER XIX.
Food and Drink.
The Nature of Food— The Roller Mill — The Middlings Purifier — Culinary
Utensils — Bread Machinery — Dairy Appliances — Centrifugal Milk Skim-
mer— The Cannikg Industry — Sterilization — Butchering and Dressing
Meats — Oleomargarine — Manufacture of Sugar — The Vacuum Pan — Cen-
trifugal Filter — Modern Dietetics and Patented Foods.
IF called upon to name the most important of all factors of human exist-
ence, that which underlies and sustains all others, even to life itself,
everyone must agree that it is food. A remarkable fact in this
connection is that all animal life lives and thrives by eating some
other thing that is or has been alive, or is the product of organic
growth. The vegetarian may pride himself upon his higher ideals of liv-
ing, but after all his fruit, vegetables, and cereals belong to the great cate-
gory of living organisms, and are to a certain extent sentient and con-
scious, for even the plant will turn to the sun. The beasts of the field and
fowls of the air live by preying upon other weaker animals and birds,
these upon plants and grasses, and the plants and grasses upon
the decaying mosses and organic mould of the soil, and the
mosses upon still lower organisms. The big fish of the sea eat the little
fish, the little fish the small fry, and these in turn live upon worms and
animalcula, and so on all the way down to protoplasm. Omniverous man,
in spite of his boasted civilization and enlightment, not only eats them all,
flesh, fowl, fish, grain and plants, but lives exclusively upon them. But he
can only live on that which has been produced by the mysterious
agency of life, and this furnishes a significant suggestion for the philoso-
pher, for it may be that life itself is only an accumulated active power or
unitary force regenerated in some metamorphic way from vital force
stored up in the bacteria of organic food, and necessarily connected there-
with in an endless chain of reproductions, and if this be true, the hope of
the scientist as to the synthesis of food from its elements must ever re-
main a philosophic dream, because the scientist cannot create a bacterium.
It has been said that when a man eats meat he thinks meat, and when
he eats bread he thinks bread, and when he eats fruit he thinks fruit. It
is not clear that the quality or character of man's food is so closely cor-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 229
related to his thought, but that it has its influence cannot be doubted. It
would be safer to say, however, that when a man eats meat he acts meat,
and when he eats bread he acts bread, for the muscular energy and ag-
gressive potentiality appear to be much more closely related to the quality
of his food than are his thoughts. May it not be that the powerful achieve-
ment of the British Empire was directly related to its roast beef? Is not
the listless apathy of the Chinese due to a diet of rice? Is not the domi-
nant and masterful power of the lion or the eagle related to a carniverous
diet, and the mild and placid temper of the ox the reflex expression of
his vegetable food ? It is quite true that our potentialities are largely rep-
resented by what we eat, and our food therefore becomes a most interest-
ing topic, not only by virtue of its indispensable quality, but by reason also
of the possibilities of development in the betterment and elevation of the
human race.
From the earliest times even down to the present day man's food has
been the same — flesh, fish, cereals, fruits and vegetables. The development
of the present century has not extended this category, but it has been di-
rected to an increase in the supply, an improvement in quality, the preser-
vation against decay and waste, and its intelligent selection and adaptation
to the special needs of the body. Progress manifests itself in the great
field of agriculture, in improved processes and machines for milling: in
butchering, packing and handling meats ; in preserving and drying fruits ;
in the preparation of canned goods, in dairy appliances, in cake and
cracker machines ; in the manufacture of sugar : in the great advance in
cookery : in the science of dietetics, and in thousands of minor industries.
In agriculture the raising of grain has extended in the Nineteenth
Century to enormous proportions. More than ten thousand patents for
plows, as many for reapers, and a proportionate number of planters, culti-
vators, threshers, and other implements and tools represent the extent to
which inventive genius has been directed to the increase of the yield in the
harvest field.
This yield in the United States for the year 1898 was :
Corn 1,924,184,660 bushels
Wheat 675,148,705 bushels
Oats 730,906,643 bushels
Rye 25,657,522 bushels
Barley 55,792,257 bushels
Buckwheat 11,721,927 bushels
Potatoes 192,306.338 bushels
For converting the grain into flour, the inventors of the Nineteenth
230
THE PROGRESS OF INl'ENTION
Century have made revolutionary changes. Milling processes within the
■ last twenty-five years have been completely transformed by the introduc-
tion of the roller mill and middlings purifier. Formerly two horizontal
disk-shaped stones or burrs were employed, the lower one stationary and
the upper one revolving in a horizontal plane and crudely crushing the
grain between them. In all modern mills these have been entirely displaced
by porcelain rolls revolving on horizontal axes and crushing the grain be-
tween them. The first of these roller mills is shown in pat. No. 182,250, to
Wegmann, Sept. 12, 1876. (See Fig. 164). The outer rolls d e are pressed
FIG. 164. — ROLLER PROCESS OF MAKING FLOUR, WEGMANN's PATENT.
against the inner ones a c by a system of weighted levers, and scrapers be-
low remove the crushed grain from the periphery of the rolls. Many sub-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
23 1
w^-'^-'-'.-^^^^^y^^^^^^
'<^^^^:^^:^^^f^f^^^yy^^^^y^^.
kJ.
sequent improvements have been made, one type of which employs a suc-
cession of rolls which act in pairs on the grain one after the other and re-
duce it by successive gradations.
The middlings purifier, see Fig. 165, comprehends a flat bolt or shaker
screen b, of bolting
cloth, arranged as a
horizontal partition _2>
in an enclosing case
through which passes
an upward draft of
air produced by suc-
tion fan D at the top.
This air passing up
through the bolting
screen lifts the bran
specks and fuzz from
the shaken material
as it passes down-
ward through the
screen, brushes K be-
arranged below
FIG. 165. — MIDDLINGS PURIFIER.
ing
to keep the screen
constantly clean. A
representative and pioneer type of this machine is seen in Pat. No. 164,050
to George T. Smith, June i, 1875, from which the view is taken.
The useful effect of the roller mill and middlings purifier is to save the
most nutritious and valuable part of the grain, which lies between the outer
cuticle and the white starch within, and which breaks up in fine grains and
is of a golden hue. This portion of the grain was formerly unseparated,
and was mixed with the middlings and bran as an inferior product. Mod-
ern analysis has disclosed its superior food value, and the roller mill and
middlings purifier have provided means by which it can be separated from
the bran and incorporated with the flour, thereby greatly adding to its
wholesome character and nutritive value, and imparting to the flour the
rich creamy tint which characterizes all higher grades.
Minneapolis, Minn., is the great center of the milling interests of the
United States. The Pillsbury Mills are located there, and the "Pillsbury
A." which is said to be the largest in the world, has a capacity of 7,000
barrels per day.
In 1877-78 disastrous flour dust explosions at Minneapolis brought
232
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
about the development of the dust collector, for withdrawing from the air
of the mills the suspended particles of flour dust, which not on'y invited
explosion, but rendered the air unfit to breathe. Washburn's Pat. No.
213,151, March 11, 1879, is an early example.
The use of crushing rolls has also developed a great variety of new
foods, such as cracked wheat, oatmeal grits, etc. These crushing rolls
have sometimes been made hollow, and are steam heated, and as they crush
the grain they simultaneously effect the cooking or partial conversion of
the starch, and the product is known as hominy flake, ceraline, coralline,
etc., which furnish popular breakfast foods when served with cream.
In the field of cookery such activity has been displayed that the average
kitchen to-day is a veritable museum of modern inventions. Egg beaters,
waffle irons, toasters, broilers, baking pans, apple parers, cherry stoners,
cheese cutters, butter workers, coffee mills, corn poppers, cream freezers,
FIG. 166. — DOUGH MIXER.
dish washers, egg boilers, flour sifters, flat irons, knife sharpeners, can
openers, lemon squeezers, potato mashers, meat boilers, nutmeg graters,
sausage grinders, and frying pans in endless array ; all patented and clus-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
233
tered around the modern cooking range as a central figure, and all pre-
senting points of excellence in the matter of economy and convenience, or
the betterment of result. The most extensive application of inventive
genius is to be found in the large manufacturing bakeries, which make and
sell the millions of pounds of crackers and cakes that fill the bins and
shelves of the grocery store. In these manufactories the dough is prepared
by a mixer, see Fig. i66, which consists of a spiral working blade revolv-
ing in a trough, and ca-
pable of handling half a
dozen barrels of flour at
a time. It is then put
through a kneading ma-
chine, called a "brake,"
shown in Fig. 167, and
is then ready to be con-
verted into crackers or
cakes on a great machine
25 feet long, which fin-
ishes the crackers and
puts them in the pan
ready for the oven. This
machine, see Fig. 168,
receives the dough at A, fig. 167. — brake, or K^'EADING machine.
where it is coated with
flour and flattened into a sheet between rolls. It is then received on a trav-
eling apron B,has the flour brushed off by a rotary brush C.and is then cut
into crackers or cakes by vertically reciprocating dies U. At E a series of
fingers press the cakes down through the sheet of dough, while the sur-
rounding scraps are raised on a belt F and delivered into a suitable re-
ceptacle. The separated cakes at B' are then delivered into pans at G, the
pans being fed on the subjacent belt at G'. Such machines, costing nearly
a thousand dollars, produce from forty to sixty barrels of crackers a day,
enabling them to be sold at about 5 cents a pound at retail.
Dairy Appliances have come in for a large share of attention at the
hands of the Nineteenth Century inventor. There are about sixteen million
milch cows in the United States, and their contribution to the food stuft's of
the day in milk, butter, and cheese is no insigniflcant factor. There have
been over 2,700 patents granted for churns alone, and besides these there
are milk coolers, cheese presses, milk skimmers, and even cow milkers.
The centrifugal milk skimmer is an interesting type of this class of ma-
234
THE PROGRESS OF INTENTION
chine. In the old way the milk was set for the cream to rise, which it did
slowly from its lighter specific gravity. In the centrifugal skimmer the
milk is continuously poured in through a funnel, and the cream runs out
continuously through one spout, and the skimmed milk at the other. An
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
235
ikistrative type of this machine is shown in Fig. 169. A steam turbine
wheel near the base turns a vertical shaft bearing at its upper end a pan
whicli rotates within the outer case. The milk enters through the faucet
at the top, and as the
pan within rotates, the
heavier milk, by its
greater specific gravity,
is thrown to the outer
part of the pan and
passes out through the
larger of t he two
spouts, while the lighter
cream is crowded to the
center and passes out of
the upper spout, which
opens into the center of
the pan. Patents to Le-
feldt & Lentsch, No.
195,515, Sept. 25, 1877.
and Houston and Thom-
son. No. 239,659, April
5. 1881, represent pio-
neer milk skimmers of
this type.
Closely allied to the
dairy appliances are the
incubator and the bee
hive, both of which have
claimed a large share of
attention, and for which
many patents have been
granted.
One important and characteristic feature of the present age is the con-
servation of waste in perishable foodstuffs. Fruits, vegetables, fish and
oysters were suitable food to our forefathers only when freshly taken,
and any superabundance in supply was either wasted by natural processes
of decay, or was fed to the hogs. To-day thousands of patented fruit dry-
ers, cider mills, and preserving processes save this waste and carry over for
valuable use through the unproductive winter months these wholesome and
valuable articles of diet. Even more important is the canning industry, by
FIG. 169. — CENTRIFUGAL MILK SKIMMER.
236 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
which not only fruits are maintained in a practically fresh condition for an
indefinite time, but oysters, meats, fish, soups, and vegetables are also put
up in enormous quantities. To-day the grocer's shelves present an endless
array of canned tomatoes, peaches, corn, peas, beans, fish, oysters, con-
densed milk, and potted meats, which constitute probably three-fourths of
his staple goods. The tin can is in itself a very insignificant thing, not enti-
tled to rank with any of the great inventions, but in the every-day campaign
of life it is playing its part, and working its influence to an extent that is
little dreamed of by the casual observer. It renders possible our military
and exploring expeditions ; it holds famine and starvation in abeyance ; it
gives wholesome variety to the diet of both rich and poor ; and it trans-
fers the glut of the full season to the want of future days. Perhaps no
single factor of modern life has so great an economic value. Simple as is
the tin can, quite complex machines are required to make it. O^'iginally
such machines were operated by hand or foot power, but within tiie last
25 years power machines have been devised which automatically con\-ert
a simple blank or plate of sheet metal into a finished can. Of the many pat-
ents granted for such machines the most representative ones are 243,287,
250,096, 267,014, 384,825, 450,624, 465,018, 480,256, 495,426, 489,484.
In the process of putting up canned goods the products are filled into
the cans, and the caps, or -heads, are soldered on. These caps have a
minute hole in the center for the escape of air and steam in the process of
cooking and sterilizing, which is conducted as follows : A large number of
cans are placed on a tray swung from a crane and the cans lowered into one
of a series of great cooking boilers. The cover of the boiler is then closed
and fastened by lugs, and steam turned on until the goods in the can are
thoroughly heated through. During this process the air and steam escape
through the little vent hole from the interior of each can. The cans are
then removed, the vent hole closed by a drop of solder, and the goods tlv.is
hermetically sealed in a cooked or sterilized condition will keep for a long
period of time.
Sterilizing. — During the last quarter of the century, which has wit-
nessed the growth of the wonderful science of bacteriology, a class of de-
vices known as sterilizers has come into existence, whose primary function
is to kill the germs of decay by heat. This has had in the canning industry
an important commercial application. An example is found in the patent
to Shriver, No. 149,256, March 31, 1874. In some of these devices the re-
ceptacles containing the food stuffs are in large numbers placed within the
heating chamber, and by devices operated from the outside the cans or
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 237
bottles are opened and shut while within the steam filled chamber. A late
illustration is found in patent to Popp el al., 524,649, August 14, 1894.
Butchering and Dressing Meats. — Chicago is the leading city of the
world in this industry, and Armour & Co. the largest packers. In the year
ending April i, 1891, they killed and dressed 1,714,000 hogs, 712,000 cat-
tle, and 413,000 sheep. They had 7,900 employees, and 2,250 refrigerating
cars were employed for the transportation of their products. The ground
area covered by their buildings was fifty acres, giving a floor area of 140
acres, a chill room and cold storage area of forty acres, and a storage ca-
pacity of 130,000 tons. In addition to its meat packing business the firm
has separate glue works, with buildings covering fifteen acres, where 600
hands are employed, their production in 1890 being 7,000,000 pounds of
glue, and 9,500 tons of fertilizer. Since 1891 this great business has in-
creased until to-day it is said that the army of workmen employed is
greater than that of Xenophon, that the firm pays out in wages alone, half a
millions dollars every month, that four thousand cars are required to carry
the products of their factory, and whose business amounts to the enormous
sum of one hundred million dollars annually.
There are from forty to fifty million cattle raised in the United States,
and an equal amount of sheep. The number of hogs raised has diminished
somewliat in the past few years, but from 1889 to 1892 more than fifty mil-
lion were maintained. The process of slaughtering and dressing pork, as
practiced to-day, is a continuous one, and is well illustrated in Fig. 170, in
13 operations. The animals are driven into a catching pen at i, where they
are strung up by one leg, and secured to a traveling pulley on an overhead
rail. At 2 the animal is instantly killed by a knife thrust that reaches the
heart ; at 3 he is dumped into a vat of scalding water, kept hot by steam
pipes, where the hair is loosened (see detail view Fig. 171). A series of os-
cillating curved arms, shaped like a horse hay-rake, dips the carcass out of
the scalding vat and deposits it upon the table 4 (Fig. 170), where it is
attached to an endless cable that drags it through a scraping machine at 5.
This takes ofl^ the hair, as shown in detail view Fig. 172. At 6 (Fig. 170)
the remnants dl hair are removed by hand, and at 7 the skin is washed
clean. At 8 the carcass is inspected, and the throat cut across ; at 9 the en-
trails are removed; at 10 the leaf lard is taken out; at 11 the heads are
severed and tongues removed ; at 12 the carcass is split into halves, and at
13 the sections are ready to be run into the cooling room.
From 10 to 15 minutes only are required to convert the living animal
into dressed pork. Every part of the animal is utilized. The lungs, heart,
liver and trimmings go to the sausage department. The feet are pickled or
238
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
/.V THE NIXETEEXTH CENTURY.
239
converted into glue. The intestines are stripped and cleaned for sausage
casings. The soft parts of the head are made into so-called cheese, and
the fat is rendered into lard. The finer quality of bristles goes to the brush-
makers, and the balance is used by upholsterers for mixing with horse
hair. The blood is largely used for making alJDumen for photographic
uses, as well as in sugar refining, for meat extracts, and for fertilizers.
The bones are ground for fertilizer, and even the tank waters are concen-
trated and used for the same purpose.
Oleomargarine. — About 1868 M. Mege, a French chemist, commis-
sioned by his government to investigate certain questions of domestic
economy, was led into the study of beef fat, and to make comparisons of
the same with iDiitter. He found that when cows were deprived of food
containing fat they still continued to give milk vielding cream or fatty
FIG. 171. — SCALDING TO LOOSEN THE HAIR.
products. He therefore concluded that the stored-up fat in the animal
was then converted into cream, and that it was practicable, therefore, to
convert beef fat into butter fat. Physiology taught that in the living ani-
mal the change was wrought through the withdrawal of the larger part
of the stearine by respiratory combustion, while the oleomargarine was
secreted by the milk glands, and its conversion into butyric oleomargarine
effected in the udder under the influence of the mammary pepsin. In the
process of making butter by the ordinary method of churning the cream,
240
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
the finely divided butter fat globules are united into masses, containing by
mechanical admixture from 12 to 14 per cent, of water or buttermilk carry-
a fractional per cent, of cheese. This buttermilk contributes somewhat to
the flavor, but at the same time furnishes a ferment which ultimately spoils
the butter by making it rancid. It is a purely accidental ingredient, and
one not at all desirable. To some extent the same may be said of the sol-
uble fats which give to the butter its variable though characteristic flavor.
They are unstable compounds, decomposing readily, and furnish the acrid
products which make "strong" butter. M. Mege sought to imitate the nat-
ural process of butter-making, which was first to separate from the oily
fat of suet the cellular tissue and excess of stearine or hard fat ; second, to
add to the oil a sufficient proportion of butyric compounds to give the
necessary flavor, and third, to consolidate the butter fat without grain, and
to add at the same time the requisite proportion of water, salt, and color-
FIG. I7J. — SCR.->.P!NG OFF THE HAIR BY MACHINERY.
ing matter, to make a compound substantially the same in composition, fla-
vor, and appearance, as butter churned from the cream, and all this with-
out adding to the original fat anything dietetically objectionable, and with-
out submitting it to any process capable of impairing its wholesome quality.
These objects were fairly obtained in the product known as oleomargarine,
the United States patent for which was granted to Mege Dec. 30, 1873, No.
I.<|.6,OI2.
The process in brief is to take fresh beef fat, which is first chopped up
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 241
and thorougnly washed. It is then placed in melting tanks at a tempera-
ture of 122° to 124° F, and the clear yellow oil is drawn off and allowed to
stand until it granulates. The fat is then packed in cloths set in moulds
and a slowly increasing pressure squeezes out the pure amber colored oil,
leaving the stearine behind. This sweet and pure yellow oil is then
churned with milk for 20 minutes until the oil is completely broken up, and
a small quantity of annato, a vegetable coloring matter, is added to give a
yellow color. The product is then cooled in ice, and after a second churn-
ing with milk it is salted and finished like butter. Chemical analysis shows
oleomargarine to have substantially the same constituents and in almost
the identical proportions of pure butter. It is equally wholesome, and
while it does not have the same rich flavor, it has the advantage that it
keeps better, and is not so liable to become rancid or strong. The oleomar-
garine industry is closely related to the beef packing industries of the
United States, and its growth has been enormous. Notwithstanding the
stringent laws on the subject, much of the oleomargarine made is sold for,
and by the average purchaser is not distinguishable from, pure butter. In
1899 there were 80,495,628 pounds of oleomargarine made in the United
States, or more than a pound for every man, woman, and child in the
country. The internal revenue tax paid on it was $1,609,912.56. The ex-
ports for the year 1899 were 5,549,322 pounds of the artificial butter, and
142,390,492 pounds of the oleo oil prepared for conversion into the com-
plete product by simply churning with milk.
Sugar. — Sugar-cane, beets, and the sap of the maple constitute the
sources from which sugar is extracted, but the cane furnishes by far the
largest supply. When crushed between rolls it yields 65 per cent, of its
weight as juice, and 18 per cent, of this juice is sugar. It is concen-
trated bv evaporation at a low temperature, the crystallized portion being
known as "raw" or brown sugar, which is subsequently refined, while the
uncrystallized portion forms molasses.
In the process of refining, 2 or 3 parts of raw sugar, with one of water
containing a little lime, ground bone black, and the serum of bullocks'
blood, is heated by the passage of steam through it. The albumen of the
serum coagulates and rises to the surface in a scum which entangles the im-
purities and bone black, leaving the syrup light in color. The latter is then
filtered through bone black until it is colorless and is then evaporated in the
vacuum pan, which is the important invention of the century in sugar
making. Heat has the effect of converting the crystallized sugar into the
uncrystallized variety, and hence the evaporation must, to prevent this, be
conducted at a low temperature. Contact with the air is also objectionable.
242
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
These conditions are provided for by conducting the evaporation in a
vacuum, which lowers the evaporating temperature and avoids contact with
the air. The vacuum pan was the invention of Howard, an Englishman.
(British Pat. No. 3,754, of 1813). As constructedto-day it is an enormous
vessel (see Fig. 173), capable of holding 7,000 or more gallons, and yield-
FIG. 173. — VACUUM PAN FOR F.VAPOKATTNn THE SYRUP TO PROnUCE SUGAR.
ing 250 barrels of sugar at a strike. In this a vacuum is maintained by a
condenser, the vapors passing from the pan to the condenser through the
great curved pipe rising from the top, which pipe is five feet in diameter.
A gentle heat is applied through internal steam-heateil coils which connect
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. . 243
with an external series of steam miet pipes on one sicie, and a correspond-
ing series of steam outlet pipes on the other. A large discharge valve for
the concentrated syrup closes the bottom of the pan. After concentration
the crystallized sugar is separated from the syrup by a centrifugal filter, in
which the liquid is thrown from the crystallized sugar b}' centrifugal' ac-
tion. The first centrifugal filter is shown in British patent to Joshua Bates,
No. 6,068, of 1831. This, however, revolved about a horizontal axis.
The present form of centrifugal filter is a cylinder revolving alDout a ver-
tical axis, the sides of the cylinder being formed of filtering medium,
through which the liquid is thrown by centrifugal action, while the sugar
is retained within. This was the invention of Joseph Hurd, of Mass., U. S.
Pat. No. 3,772, Oct. 3, 1844; re-issue No. 607, Sept. 29, 1858, which
patent was extended for seven years, from Oct. 3, 1858. The diffusion
process, which extracts the juice by cutting the cane in slices and soaking
in water ; the bagasse furnace, which dries and burns the expressed cane
stalks as fuel, and the manufacture of glucose and grape sugar by the re-
action of sulphuric acid on starch, are interesting allied features of this
industry which can only be briefly mentioned. Most of the sugar consumed
in the United States is imported, much raw sugar being imported and re-
fined here. The imports for the year 1899 were 3,980,250,569 pounds, and
the per capita consumption in 1898 was 61. i pounds a year.
Aids to Digestion. — It is only during the last part of the Nineteenth
Century that the world has learned how to live. "What is one man's food
is another man's poison" has been a trite old saying for many years, but
the reason why has only in late years been fully understood. The physiol-
ogy of digestion, the relative digestibility of different articles of food, and
their nutritive values, have received of late years the earnest attention of
physicians and students of dietetics and have contributed much to the equal-
ity and kind of food, and a knowledge of when and how to eat it. \\'e know
that the starchy foods are digested by the saliva, which is an alkaline diges-
tion ; that meat, fish, eggs, cheese and the albumenoids are digested in the
stomach by the gastric juices (pepsin and hydrochloric acid) which is an
acid digestion, and that the remaining portions of starch, the sugars, and
fats are digested in the intestines, and that this is also an alkaline diges-
tion, and this has helped to solve the problem for us. We also know that
starch is an excellent food, provided the vital powers are sufficiently stimu-
lated by fresh air, sunlight, and exercise to digest it, as do the horse and
the ox when they eat corn, but we know furthermore that the sedentary
occupations of modern life leave many stomachs in a condition unable to
assimilate starch, and so bread, oatmeal, potatoes and such simple staples.
244 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
instead of nourishing the body, ferment m the enfeebled stomach, produce
acids and gas, and lay the foundation for serious chronic diseases. The
student of chemistry and dietetics knows to-day that one part of diastase
will effect the conversion of 2,000 parts of starch into grape sugar, as a
preliminary step to its digestion, and so by treating starchy matter
with substances containing diastase (derived from malt) a partial trans-
formation is effected which will materially shorten and assist its digestion.
This fact has been largely made use of in the preparation of easily soluble
or pre-digested foods, examples of which are found in patent to Horlick
(malted milk). No. 278,967, June 5, 1883 ; to Carnrick (milk-wheat food),
Dec. 27, 1887, No. 375,601 ; and Boynton and Van Patten (cereals and
diastase), 344,717, June 29, 1886.
Bez'crages.^Pure water, nature's own gift, has ever supplied every le-
gitimate need of the human race, but civilized life has greatly extended its
list of drinks, much to its own detriment. Soda water, whiskey, beer, gin-
ger ale, tea, coffee, and chocolate represent enormous industries, and prob-
ably all do more harm than they do good. Much inventive genius in the
Nineteenth Century has been bestowed upon the soda water fountain, on
stills, and processes for aging liciuors and processes for brewing beer, on
cider and wine presses, on bottling machines and bottle stoppers, on devices
for carbonating waters, and in coffee and teapots. The trend of the times
is shown in the follovinng figures, which represent the per capita consump-
tion of beverages in the United States for 1898 : tea, .91 of a pound ; coffee,
11.45 pounds; wines, .28 of a gallon; distilled spirits, i.io gallons; and
malt liquors 15.64 gallons. The largest per capita increase since 1870 has
been in malt liquors, and the next in coffee. In tea and distilled spirits
there has been a decrease, while the consumption of wines is the smallest of
all and has varied but little.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 245
CHAPTER XX.
Medicine, Surgery, Sanitation.
Discovery of Circulation of the Blood by Harvey — Vaccination by Jenner — Use
OF Anaesthetics the Great Step of Medical Progress of the Century — Ma-
teria Medica — Instruments — Schools of Medicine — Dentistry — Artificial
I.TMBS — Digestion — Bacteriology, and Disease Germs — Antiseptic Surgery —
House Sanitation.
IN the early gropings through the uncertain light of first progress, man
was accustomed to ascribe the ills of his flesh to the anger of the
gods, and in his craven and abject superstition made peace offerings.
Later he learned to locate the cause within himself, and constructed
the theory that the fluids of the body had become disordered. The charac-
teristic feature of progress in the Nineteenth Century, in this field, has
been in the accurate tracing of the relation of cause and effect, and with the
discovery of true causes has grown efficient means of treatment. The old
expedients of charms, incantations, conjuration and exorcism gave place
first to intelligent medication, and this in turn is rapidly giving way to the
prevention of disease by improved conditions of sanitation and right living.
The ounce of prevention has been found to be worth more than the pound
of cure. With the improved knowledge of physiology, anatomy, chemistry
and biology, which the century has brought, the intelligent physician was
able to make a logical and for the most part a correct diagnosis, but sup-
plemented with the microscope, that great revealer of the unseen world
of small things, corporeal existence itself becomes an open book, and from
the principles of organic evolution to the germ theory of disease the mys-
tery of life and death is being slowly revealed.
When the Eighteenth Century gave birth to the Nineteenth, its great
natal gift in medicine was vaccination. Jenner in 1798 for the first time
announced his discovery of this great boon to the human race. In 1799
Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, in Boston, obtained virus from Jenner
and vaccinated four of his children, and in 1801 Dr. A'alentine Seaman ob-
tained virus from Dr. Waterhouse and performed the first vaccination in
New York. During the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries the annual
death rate from smallpox in London ranged from 2 to 4 per 1,000 of popu-
lation. In 1892 it was only 0.073 P^^ 1,000.
246 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
It is also stated on good authority that the mortahty from smallpox
in England alone, was 20,000 a year less after the introduction of vaccina-
tion than it was in the preceding century, and that its benefits to the world
at large have been so great that the lancet of Jenner has saved more lives
than were sacrificed by the sword of Napoleon.
Each century in modern history has been marked by some important
discovery in the field of medicine. The Seventeenth Century was notable
for the discovery of the circulation of the blood by Harvey ; the Eighteenth
Century brought with it vaccination by Jenner. The Nineteenth Century's
greatest gift in this field has been anaesthesia, or insensibility to pain. Na-
ture has wisely endowed man with nerves of sensation as danger signals
for the conservation of life. Accident and disease, however, are the in-
separable concomitants of human existence, and suffering and pain the in-
effaceable legacies of mortality. Sometimes these nerves of sensation are
no longer useful as monitors, and in the unavoidable emergency of acci-
dent, surgical operations, child birth, and certain diseases, suffering can
do no good, and then pain — that Prince of Terrors — thrusting his presence
upon the hapless victim, racks body and limb, calling forth groans, and
shrieks and writhings, till the poor sufferer, possessed with a dominating
agony which displaces all thought of life, memory of friends, and love of
God, breaks down in unutterable distress, and prays for death and obliv-
ion. To this poor sufferer insensibility is next to heaven. For the past
half century all the formidalDle operations of the surgeon have been per-
formed with the aid of anaesthetics and without suffering to the patient,
producing happy recoveries, and greatly contributing to the success of the
result by relieving the surgeon of the distraction of the patient's pain, and
the interference of his involuntary movements. Quite a number of anzes-
thetics are known and used to-day. Those more generally employed are —
naming them in the order of their first application — nitrous oxide gas,
ether, and chloroform. Nitrous oxide gas is chiefly used for the extraction
of teeth. Sir Humphrey Davy, in 1800, was the first to observe the pe-
culiar quality of nitrous oxide gas, which gave it the name of "laughing
gas," from the fact that it caused those inhaling it to act in a manner ex-
hibiting an abnormal exhilaration. Dr. Horace Wells, a dentist of Hart-
ford. Conn., in 1844, had the gas administered, experimentally, to him-
self during the operation of extracting a tooth, and was the discoverer of
its useful application as an anjesthetic.
The greatest discoverv, however, in anjesthetics is the application of
ether for this purpose. Ether as a chemical product has been known for
several centuries, and as early as 1818 Faraday pointed out the similarity
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 247
between the effects of ether and nitrous oxide gas. Dr. Morton, a dentist,
of Boston, first applied it as an anaesthetic Oct. i6, 1846, being guided
largely in its selection and use by Dr. Jackson, an eminent chemist of the
same city. On Nov. 12, 1846, U. S. Pat. No. 4,848 was issued to them for
this invention. In the latter part of December of the same year Dr. Lis-
ton, an eminent English surgeon, performed the operation of amputating
the thigh while the patient was under the influence of ether.
Chloroform, discovered by Guthrie in 1831, was first applied as an an-
aesthetic by Sir James Y. Simpson, of Edinburgh, in 1847. Of the two lead-
ing anaesthetics, ether is more generally used in the United Sates and chlo-
roform in Europe. Ether is less dangerous, but its administration is more
difficult and disagreeable. It is said on the highest authority that in the
Crimean War chloroform was administered 25,000 times without a single
death, and ether is even safer than chloroform. In the hands of a skillful
physician practically no danger is to be apprehended from the use of
either of the two agents. A little over fifty years ago any severe or pro-
longed surgical operation involved such irresistable pain that the patient's
writhings were required to be restrained by powerful muscular assistants,
and by straps which bound the patient to the table, and when it is remem-
bered that a false cut of a hundredth part of an inch might be fatal, the
haste, the disquieting influence upon the surgeon, and the interference with
the accuracy of his hand, added greatly to the percentage of unsuccessful
operations, as well as to the prolonged agony of the patient. Contrast this
with the present methods of using anesthetics, and we find the patient
■ dropping into a quiet and peaceful sleep before the operation, and awaken-
ing thereafter to find, to his astonishment, that it is all over, and that re-
coverv is only a question of careful nursing.
Materia Medica. — Many important contributions have been made to the
pharmacopoeia in the century. In 1807 the remedy known as ergot was,
brought to the notice of the profession by Dr. Stearns, and named by him
pulvis parturiens. Iodine was first used as a medicine in 1819 by Dr.
Coindet, Sr., of Geneva. Quinine was discovered by Pelletier and Caventou
in 1820, although Peruvian bark had long been used for the same purpose.
Chloral hydrate, discovered by Liebig in 1832, was applied in medicine in
1869 by Dr. Liebreich, of Berlin. Carbolic acid was discovered in 1834 by
Runge. Artificial seidlitz powders were first put up under Savory's British
Pat. No. 3,954, of 1815. Veratrum viride, lobelia, worm seed, and chloro-
form were all introduced in the first part of the century. The sulphates
of morphia, strychnia, atropia and other alkaloids are of comparatively re-
cent addition to the pharmacopoeia, and the iodide of potash, tincture of
248
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
iron, digitalis, bichloride of mercury, sub-nitrate of bismuth, boracic acid
and gallic acid, chlorate of potash and Dover's powders have become stand-
ard remedies within a hundred years. In the latter part of the century the
new remedies derived from coal tar have occupied an important place. Of
these may be mentioned antipyrine, by Knorr (pat. Oct. 28, 1884),
phenacetin, by Hinsberg (pat. March 26, 1889), salol, by Von Nencki( pat..
.Sept. 28, 1886), sulfonal, by Bauman (patented Jan. 22, 1889), antikamnia
(acetanalide), and many others, besides new and valuable antiseptic com-
pounds, such as salicylic acid and formalin. A characteristic feature of
FIG. 174. — THE OPHTHALMOMETER.
the modern practice of medicine is in improved forms of its administration.
Sugar-coated pills, gelatine capsules and cod liver oil emulsions make the
remedy much less disagreeable to take, and very ingenious and effective:
machines have been devised for putting up remedies in surli forms.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
249
Instruments. — Laennec's discovery in 1819 of auscultation, and the
stethoscope, for determining internal conditions by sound, was a great step
in diagnosing diseases. The binaural stethoscope was invented by Cam-
mann in 1854, and a later improvement is the phonendoscope, by Bianchi,
The opthalmoscope is an instrument for inspecting the interior of the eye,
which was invented by Prof. Helmholtz, and described by him in 1851.
The laryngoscope, for obtaining a view of the larynx, was said to have been
constructed by Mr. John Avery, of London, as early as 1846. The opthal-
mometer, Fig. 174, is a comparatively recent invention. It is designed to
ascertain variations in corneal curvature for the correction of corneal astig-
matism. Electric lights with reflectors are arranged on each side of the
patient's head, while the operator looks into the eye with a telescope. The
sphvgmograph. a little instrument to be strapped on to the wrist to
record the action of the pulse, was first reduced to a practically useful
form bv T^Iarev in i860. A later development of these devices, by Verdin.
known as the sphygmometrograph, is shown in Fig. 175. The endoscope,
for looking into the
urethra, and the cys-
toscope, for looking
into the bladder, are
other useful instru-
ments of the modern
practitioner. Greater
than them all, how-
ever, is the modern
X-ray apparatus, for
locating foreign sub-
stances in the body
and making visible
the bones tlirough the
flesh, for which see
special chapter. The
use of the thermometer in recording the progress of fevers is also a
valuable modern application, and the list of instruments and small tools
is beyond enumeration. There are series of obstetrical appliances, instru-
ments relating to bone surgery, to the taking up of arteries, cupping instru-
ments, trepanning instruments, speculums, hypodermic syringes, electric
cauteries, fracture appliances, instruments for lithotrity, bandages for vari-
cose veins, atomizers, breast pumps, inhalers, nasal douches, trusses,
pessaries, catheters, abdominal supporters, and an endless variety of pro-
175. — VF.RDIN S SPHYGMOMETROGR.\PH, FOR RECORDING
THE ACTION OF THE PULSE.
250 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
prietary articles, such as electric baths and belts, plasters, chest protectors,
liver pads, and so forth, all of which are practically the products of the
Nineteenth Century. The surgeon of to-day can straighten the eyes of a
cross-eyed man, or take the bow out of his bandy legs, can make him a
new nose of his own flesh, patch his skull with a silver plate, remove the
stone from his bladder, supply him with a wind-pipe, wash out his stomach,
and perform many other operations even more difficult. Among such
more important operations may be mentioned ovariotomy, which was first
performed by Dr. Ephraim McDowell, of Danville, Kentucky, in 1809, and
the tying of the great arteries. The operation of lithotrity, for removing
stone from the bladder by crushing the stone, was introduced by Civiale,
1817-1824, who devised successful instruments and modes of using them.
In 1836 to 1840 Richard Bright, an English physician, made important re-
searches and discoveries in relation to the functions and diseases of the
kidneys, and established the nature of the so-called "Bright's disease."
Schools of Medicine. — While the regular school of medicine (called by
some "Allopathy") has held the leading place in medicine, various other
schools have sprung up in the Nineteenth Century, all of which represent
advances in a knowledge of the laws of health, and the modes of prevent-
ing and curing diseases. Hahnemann, in his "Organon dcr Ratioiiallen
H eilkunde ," in iSio, gave homoeopathy its name, and reduced it to a sys-
tem. The doctrine of siiiiilia siniilibus curantiir (like cures like), has
gained great popularity in the latter part of the century. Hydropathy, as
a school, also made its appearance in the early part of the Nineteenth Cen-
tury. Priessnitz was its first disciple, and the Grafenbcrg cure, established
in 1826, was a noted institution for many years. The useful application
of water in the form of baths and cold packs, has been known for cen-
turies, and will always be used as a valuable agency in sickness and in
health. The "Thompsonian" system of treating diseases was covered by
patents in 1813, 1823 and 1836, and attained considerable notoriety in the
early half of the century. Sweating by hot bricks and hot tea made of
"Composition Powders," vomiting with lobelia to produce relaxation, and
a fiery liquid for cramps, called "No. 6," were the chief remedies, and
very few boys who had once taken the treatment were ever willing after-
wards to admit that they were sick. In the latter part of the Nineteenth
Century electro-therapeutics has received a large share of attention, many
forms of medical batteries have been devised, and probably no more prom-
ising field of study and research exists in the whole domain of medicine.
Dentistry. — George Washington had false teeth, and it is said that
the teeth of some of the mummies of Egypt had gold fillings, but it re-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 251
mained for the Nineteenth Century to estabUsh dentistr)- as an art, and its
influence in securing better mastication and digestion of food, more san-
itary mouths and shapely faces, cannot be estimated. Few people can be
found to-day who have not either filled teeth, bridge work, gold caps, or
artificial sets of teeth. The most important advance in the art was in the
invention of the rubber plate for holding the porcelain teeth. This was the
invention of J. A. Cummings, and was covered by him in his patent No.
43,009, June 7, 1864. In more recent years "bridge-work" represents the
most important advance. In this practice one or more artificial teeth are
firmly held in the place of missing teeth by a strong bridge-piece of metal,
which at its ends is anchored to the adjacent natural teeth. This was first
done by Bing (British Pat. No. 167, of 1871), and was afterwards pat-
ented in somewhat dift'erent form in the United States by J. E. Lowe, No.
238,940, March 15, 1881, No. 313.434. March 3, 1885, and Richmond,
May 22, 1883, No. 277,933. Porcelain and gold crowns and dental plug-
gers run by electricity represent other important advances in this art. It
is said that there are 20,425 dentists in the United States, and that in 1899
they employed in their practice 20,499,000 false teeth.
Artificial Limbs. — With the successful work of the surgeon came the
efifort to repair, as far as possible, the loss of the limb. Until about the
middle of the Nineteenth Century the survivor of an operation was an un-
symmetrical, unique, and pitiful object. The peg-leg of Peter Stuyvesant
lives in history, and the arm-hook of Capt. Cuttle is familiar to every
reader. The first United States patent for an artificial leg was granted
to B. F. Palmer, Nov. 4, 1.846, No. 4,834. Wooden legs with a restricted
back and forward ankle motion and a spring, were constructed by A. A.
Marks from 1853 to 1863. On Dec. i, 1863, a patent. No. 40,763, was
granted to Mr. Marks for the use of sponge rubber for constructing artifi-
cial feet and hands that dispensed with the articulated joints, and made a
great improvement. In patent No. 366,494, July 12, 1887, to G. E. Marks,
the foot and leg portion of a wooden leg are made from wood which grows
with a crook, as at the root of a tree, where the strength and lightness of
a continuous natural grain is obtained at the instep. About 300 patents
have been granted for artificial legs and arms. Modern improvements
have extended to every detail of construction, and so perfect to-day is the
average wooden leg that it is hardly to be detected. ]Men with wooden
legs ride horseback, are expert users of the bicycle, and have even per-
formed feats on the tight rope. The inventor's genius has not stopped at
repairing limbs, however, for artificial eyes, artificial ear drums, the audi-
phone, foot extensions for short legs, crutches, braces, abdominal sup-
252 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
porters, and various other applications to supplement the defects of the
body h.ave been devised.
Digestion. — The physiology of digestion had, perhaps, the first real
light shed upon it by Beaumont's observations from 1825 to 1832. A
Canadian boatman, Alexis San Martin, was wounded in the abdomen from
a charge of buckshot, and the wound healed, leaving a permanent opening
in the stomach, through which the operation of digestion could be ob-
served. This furnished visible evidence of the relative digestibility of
different kinds of foods, and the general functions of the stomach. The
peculiar and different conditions governing the digestion of the starch
foods, the albumenoids (such as meat and fish), and the sugars and fats,
have been clearl}- ascertained, and "what is one man's food is another
man's poison" is now susceptible of intelligent diagnosis and effective
adjustment. Of late years the stomach has been greatly aided in its func-
tions by prepared or predigested foods. The action of diastase, in con-
verting starch into grape sugar, has been taken advantage of, and cereals
treated with diatase, malted milk, lactated and peptonized foods, have
proven a boon to the enfeebled digestion, while the intelligent study of die-
tetics has done much to relieve the physician and promote the health of the
individual by right living.
Bacteriology. — Although Leeuwenhoeck discovered the bacterium in
1668-1675, up to 100 years ago disease and death were largely regarded
as dispensations of Providence, and with fatuous resignation were ac-
cepted as inevitable. The microscope and the study of bacteriology, how-
ever, have revealed to us the presence of minute living organisms or germs,
which are evervwhere around us, infesting the air, the earth, the water,
our food, our bodies, and all organic matter in countless millions. These
infinitely small beings multiply with a rapidity and fecundity that be-
wilders the imagination. Their method of multiplication is by fissiparism
— that is to say, each splits into two independent beings that separate
and afterwards lead independent lives. It is said that there is one species
in which not more than six or seven minutes are required for the division
to take place. A single individual might consequently produce more than
a thousand offspring in an hour, more than a million in two hours, and
in three hours more than the number of inhabitants on the globe. They
are known as micro-organisms, of which the bacteria are the most impor-
tant. The bacteria are further divided into species, and names are given
them to distinguish the different forms. The little rod-shaped ones are
called bacilli: the spheroidal ones micrococci or cocci. If they cling to-
gether in chains they are called streptococci; if of a spiral or corkscrew
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
253
form they are called spirallae. The curved bacilli are called ''comma"
bactilU, from their resemblance to the punctuation mark of that name. The
presence of peculiar forms of these bacteria in diseases has so suggested
the relation of cause and effect as to have given rise to the so-called "germ
theory" of disease. Now we know with reasonable certainty that cholera,
diphtheria, typhoid fever, whooping cough, nuimps, cerebro-spinal men-
J»'
--^
i\
\'
^^■^-o>
/
V.' ^
BACILLUS OF TUBERCULOSIS IN SPUTUM. BACILLUS OF DIPHTHEKI.X ( KLEES-LOEFFLER") .
\'^-'^ '
id-
luff
BACILLUS OF TYPHOID FEVER.
(Photo-Micrographs, i,ooo diam., by William -M. Gray, M. D.)
ingitis, pneumonia, tuberculosis, hydrophobia, and many other diseases
have each its specific cause in the form of a microbe.
Henle, a German physiologist, as early as 1840, maintained the doctrine
of contagium viviim, or contagion by the transmission of living germs.
254
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
Certain classes of diseases have also long been known as zymotic, or fer-
ment diseases. Louis Pasteur's work, however, marks the first definite
and important results in the study of bacteriology, and he is the father of
the "germ theory" of disease. He exploded the previously held theories
of scientists concerning the spontaneous generation of living things, and
clearly established and promulgated the knowledge of disease germs.
Commencing his great work about 1865 with the investigation of the silk
worm plague in France, he discovered it to be due to parasites, and
checked it. He also gave great attention to the subject of fermentation,
proving it to be caused by micro-organisms. Taking up the diseases of men
and animals, he gave practical value to the truths of his theory in the treat-
ment of hydrophobia, diphtheria, and other diseases, using the principle
TERTIAN FORM.
AESTIVO-.MJTUMNAL FORM.
FIG. 177. — BLOOD OF MAN, SHOWING PARASITi; QF MALARIA (lAVERAN).
(Photo-Micrographs, i,ooo diam., by WilUam M- Gray, M. D.)
of vaccination to destroy or render innocuous the toxins or disease-pro-
ducing poisons derived from living germs. Working along the same lines
must be mentioned Dr. I-Coch, whose success in detecting the microbes
which cause consumption and cholera has made him famous the world
over. Of the great variety of these little microbes which have been sepa-
rately identified, many are innocuous, and, in fact, subserve many impor-
tant and useful purposes in nature, while others are to be as much dreaded
as the deadly cobra or the rattlesnake. A few typical examples of the latter
are given in Figs. 176 and 177, multiplied 1,000 diameters. The illustra-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
255
tions represented in Fig. 177 show the parasites that cause malaria, or
fever and ague. The dark bean-shaped cells are the normal blood cor-
puscles, and the few speckled cells are those infested with the malarial
parasites. It is now believed that the mosquito is the active factor in the
dissemination of malaria, and it is, therefore, to be remembered that this
pestiferous little insect not only inflicts a painful and disagreeable sensa-
tion with his puncture, but innoculates the system with poisonous malarial
germs at the same time.
For the study of bacteria they are propagated artificially in a test tube —
i. e., a substance called a "culture'' is prepared from some organic material
which, like the substances of the human body, is favorable to their propa-
gation. Such culture media are found in beef blood, gelatine, beef ex-
tracts, meat broth, milk, etc. An
ordinary test-tube is supplied
with some of the culture medi-
um, and is then sterilized over
the fire to destroy all interfering
germs. Material infected with
the microbe is then placed in the
test-tube by a sterilized platinum
wire and the tube closed by raw
cotton. It is then placed in an
incubator oven and is subjected
to a gentle heat. In a little while
the microbes begin to develop
and increase, forming colonies,
in which they swarm by the mil-
lion, and present the clotted ap-
pearance seen in Fig. 178. The
separation of different bacteria
existing in the same material, so
as to isolate each species and get
what is called a "pure culture,"
has been greatly promoted by-
Prof. Koch's method of plate
"ifimwfYi
'^Viiiimiiii
FIG. 178.
TUBE CONTAINING TU BE CONTAIN IN G
CULTURE OF BACILLI CULTURE OF COMMA BA-
culturc. In this the propagation of tuberculosis. cilli of cholera.
of bacteria is effected upon a
sterilized glass plate under a bell jar in such a thin layer as to facilitate the
segregation of species, enabling them to be counted under the microscope
and picked out and sown in another culture to get an unmixed crop of a
256
THE PROGRESS OF INDENTION
definite species. Such a culture so multiplies the same microbe, to the ex-
clusion of others, as to permit it to be easily identified and studied.
According to the practice in modern municipal health regulations, the
test as to when a child recovering from diphtheria is incapable of dissem-
inating the disease is by test culture. A swab of cotton is rubbed against
the interior walls of the child's throat to secure the germs (if present),
and the swab is then placed in a "culture" in a test-tube and the tube put
in an incubator. If, after the period of incubation, no colonies of the germs
develop, it is accepted as evidence that the diphtheria germs are no longer
present in the throat, and the child is released from quarantine.
It is the presence of these specific microbes in the fluids or solids of the
system which constitutes the disease, and for the cure of the same the
intelligent physician of to-day looks less to medication, and more for some
agent that will destroy the germ, neutralize its effect, or render the body
tolerant thereto. Out of the knowledge of disease germs has grown the
great era of antiseptic surgery, inaugurated by Sir Joseph Lister, al.iout
1865. Carbolic acid, the bichloride of mercury, and formalin are the most
efficient weapons against the dreaded microbe. To-day every surgeon in
the civilized world sterilizes his knife, and conducts the treatment of
wounds and all operations by antiseptic methods, in accordance with a
knowledge of the deadly influence of the ubiquitous microbe, and the re-
sult has been to so reduce the risk to life that even capital operations are
no longer coupled with the apprehensions of death. Every hospital, Ijoard
of health, and organized medical and sanitary body predicates its laws
and modes of treatment upon the principles of bacteriology.
House Sanitation. — The permanent home of the microbe is the sewer,
and sanitary plumbing, de-
signed to exclude from the
house the germ-laden and
disease-breeding gases from
the sewer, constitutes one of
the great advances of the
century. About 3,500 pat-
ents have been granted for
water closets and bath ap-
pliances, and about 900 pat-
ents on sewerage alone, the
most of which are directed
to improved conditions of
sanitation ^^^' ^79-'^- — street connections, modern
SANITARY HOUSE PLUMBING.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
257
FIG. 179. — MODERN SANITARY HOUSE PLUMBING.
258 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
An illustration of the plumbing and sewer connections of a modern
house is given in Figs. 179 and 179a. The sewer pipes are shown in
solid black, the unshaded pipes (in outline only) are air ventilation pipes,
the single black lines are cold water pipes, and the dotted lines hot water
pipes. The important sanitary feature in modern plumbing is to keep all
sewer gas and disease germs out of the house. For this purpose traps
have long been used under the wash basins, closet hoppers, and sinks ;
but the back pressure of sewer gas would sometimes bubble through the
trap into the house, and besides the water in passing out from a basin
would sometimes, by a siphon effect, pass entirely out of the trap, leaving
it unsealed. Both these results are prevented by the air ventilation pipes
which connect with the discharge side of every trap in the house and
lead to a stack extending out through the roof. This prevents pressure
of sewer gas on the water seal of the trap, destroys the siphon action of
the trap and allows a circulation of air to be taken in from the sidewalk
on the house side of the running trap and through the sewer pipe of the
house, and thence through the air vent pipes to the roof.
The great science of bacteriology, dealing with these smallest of living
things, only came into existence with the microscope, and it was a field
which was not only wholly unknown and unexplored a few years ago, but
there was no suggestion visible to the eye to direct attention to it, until the
lens began to reveal the secrets of microcosm. What development the fu-
ture may bring, no one can predict, but to the biologist and the physician
no more promising field exists. Certain it is that the knowledge already
gained is of incalculable benefit, and constitutes one of the greatest eras
of progress the world has known, for with the noble army of patient, de-
voted, and self-sacrificing physicians, the discoveries of the scientist, our
boards of health, our hospitals and asylums for the insane, our quarantine
laws, our modern plumbing and improved sanitation in the home and pub-
lic departments, there is no reason why the life of man should not be
extended far beyond the three-score and ten years, and the 50 per cent, of
population dying in childhood saved for useful lives and citizenship.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 259
CHAPTER XXI.
The Bicycle and Automobile.
The DraisinEj iSi6 — Michaux's Bicycle, 1855 — United States Patent tj3 Lalle-
MENT AND CARROt., 1866 — TRANSITION FROM "VERTICAL FoRK" AND "StAR" TO
Modern "Safety" — Pneumatic Iire — Autojiobile, the Prototype of the Lo-
comotive— Trevithick's Steam Road Carriage, i8oi — The Locomobile of To-
day— Gas Enoine Automoeiles of Pinkus, 1839; Selden, 1879; Duryea, Win-
ton AND Others — Electric Automobiles a Development of Electric Locomo-
tives AS Early as 1S36 — Grounelle's Electric Automobile of 1852 — The Co-
lumbia, AND Other Electric Carriages — Statistics.
HOWEVER superior to other animals man rhay be in point of in-
tellect, it must be admitted that he is vastly inferior in his
natural equipment for locomotion. Quadrupeds have twice as
many legs, run faster, and stand more firmly. Birds have their
two legs supplemented with wings that give a wonderfully increased speed
in flight, and fish, with no legs at all, run races with the fastest steamers ;
but man has awkwardly toddled on two stilted supports since prehistoric
time, and for the first year of his life is unable to walk at all. That he has
felt his inferiority is clear, for his imagination has given wings to the
angels, and has depicted Mercury, the messenger of the gods, with a
similar equipment on his heels. We see the ambition for speed exemplified
even in the baby, who crows in exhilaration at rapid mdvement, and in the
\\\V^ bey when the ride on the flying horses, the glide on the ice, or the swift
descent on the toboggan slide, brings a flash to his. eye and a glow to his
cheeks. "^'' ^"^
A characteristic trend of the present age is toward increased speed in
everything, and the most conspicuous example of accelerated speed in late
years is the bicycle. It has, with its fascination of silent motion and the
exhilaration of flight, driven the younger generation wild with enthusiasm,
has limbered up the muscles of old age, has revolutionized the attire of
men and women, and well-nigh supplanted the old-fashioned use of legs.
It is the most unique and ubiquitous piece of organized machinery ever
made. The thoroughfares and highways of civilization fairly swarm with
thousands of glistening and silently gliding wheels. It is to be found
260
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
everywhere, even to the steppes of Asia, the plains of AustraHa, and the ice
fields of the Arctic.
The true definition of the bicycle is a two-wheeled vehicle, with one
wheel in front and the other in the rear, and both in the same vertical
plane. Its life principle is the physical law that a rotating body tends to
preserve its plane of rotation, and so it stands up, when it moves, on the
same principle that a top does when it spins or a child's hoop remains erect
when it rolls.
A form of carriage adapted to be propelled by the muscular effort of
the rider was constructed and exhibited in Paris by Blanchard and I\Iagu-
rier, and was described in the Journal de Paris as early as July 27, 1779,
but the true bicycle was the product of the Nineteenth Century. It was in-
vented by Baron von Drais, of Manheim-on-the Rhine. See Fig. 180. It
consisted of two
wheels, one before the
other, in the same
plane, and connected
together liy a bar
bearing a saddle, the
front wheel being ar-
ranged to turn about
a vertical axis and
provided with a han-
dle for guiding. The
rider supported his
elbows on an arm rest
and propelled the de-
vice by striking his
toes upon the ground,
and in this way
t h r u s t e d himself
along, while guiding
his course by the han-
dle bar and swivelling
front wheel. This
machine was called the "Draisine." It was patented in France for the
Baron by Louis Joseph Dineur, and was exhibited in Paris in 1816. In
1818 Denis Johnson secured an English patent for an improved form of
this device, but the principle of propulsion remained the same. This
device, variously known as the "Draisine," "velocipede," "celerifere,"
■^i-^V^Xx
Fin. 180. — THE DRAISINE. 1816.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
261
"pedestrian curricle," "dandy horse," and "hobby-horse," was introduced
in New York in 1819, and was greeted for a time with great enthusiasm in
that and other cities.
On June 26, 1819, William K. Clarkson was granted a United States
patent for a velocipede, but the records were destroyed in the fire of 1836.
In 1 82 1 Louis Gompertz devised an improved form of "hobby-horse," in
which a vibrating handle, with segmental rack engaging with a pinion on
the front wheel axle, enabled the hands to be employed as well as the feet
in propelling the machine. Such devices all relied, however, upon the
striking of the ground with -the toes. Their fame was evanescent, how-
ever, and for forty years thereafter little or no attention was paid to this
FIG. 181. — VELOCIPEDE OF 1868.
means of locomotion, except in the construction of children's carriages and
velocipedes having three or more wheels.
In 1855 Ernst Michaux, a French locksmith, applied, for the first time,
the foot cranks and pedals to the axle of the drive wheel. A United States
patent, No. 59,915, taken Nov. 20, 1866, in the joint names of Lallement
262
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
and Carrol, represented, however, the revival of development in this field.
Lallement was a Frenchman, and built a machine having the pedals on the
axle of the drive wheel, and it was at one time believed that it was he who
deserved the credit for this feature, but it is claimed for Michaux, and the
monument erected by the French in 1894 to Ernest and Pierre Michaux
at Bar le Due gives strength to the claim. The bicj'cle, as represented at
this stage of development, is shown in Fig. 181. In i868-'69 machines of
this type went extensively into use. Bicycle schools and riding academies
appeared all through the East, and notwithstanding the excessive mus-
FIG. 182. — VERTICAL FORK OF 1879.
cular effort required to propel the heavy and clumsy wooden wheels, the
old "bone-shaker" was received with a furor of enthusiasm.
In 1869 Magee, in Paris, made the entire bicycle of iron and steel, solid
rubber tires and brakes followed, and the front wheel began to grow to
larger size, until in 1879 '^^^ bicycle presented the form shown in Fig. 182.
This placed the weight of the rider more directly over the drive wheel, and
was known as the "vertical fork." It gave good results but for the acci-
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
263
dents from "headers," to which it was especially liable. Means to over-
come the danger were resorted to, and the "Star" bicycle represented such
a construction. In this the high wheel was behind and the small one in
front, and straps and ratchet wheels connected the pedals to the axle. In
1877 Rousseau, of Marseilles, removed the pedals from the wheel axle
and applied the power to the axle by a chain extending from a sprocket
wheel on the pedal shaft to a sprocket wheel on the wheel axle. By gradual
steps, initiated in Starley's "Rover" in 1880, (see Fig. 183), the high
front wheel was reduced in
size, imtil the proportions of
the modern "Safety" (Fig.
184) have been obtained.
Strange to say, these propor-
tions have, through nearly a
century of evolution, gone
back to those employed in the
old "Draisine," where the two
v/heels were of the same size.
The modern "Safety," how-
ever, is quite a different ma-
chine. Its diamond frame of
light but strong tubular steel,
its ball bearings, its suspen-
sion wheels and pneumatic
tires impart to the modern bi-
cycle strength with lightness,
and beauty with efficiency, to
a degree scarcely attained by
any other piece of organized
machinery designed for such
trying work.
- The most important of all modern improvements on the bicycle was
perhaps the pneumatic tire. This was not originally designed for the
bicycle, but was patented in England by R. W. Thompson in 1845 and
in the United States May 8, 1847, ^'O- 5'i04- Its application to tiie bi-
cycle was made in 1889 by Dunlop, United States patent No. 435.995. Sept.
9, 1890, and 453,550, June 2, 1891. It furnishes not only an elastic bearing
which cushions the jar, but also makes a broader tread that renders cycling
on the soft roads of the country at once practical and delightful. The
chainless wheel, which connects the axle of the pedal crank with the axle
FIG. 1S3. — "ROVER," 1880.
264
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
of the rear wheel by a shaft with bevel gears, is the most recent form ex-
ploited by the manufacturers, but it is doubtful whether it presents any
points of superiority over the chain type. All of the parts of the bicycle
have come in for a share of attention at the hands of inventors, differen-
tial speed gears and brakes having received especial attention. The Mor-
row hub brake, which applies friction to the rear wheel hub by back pres-
sure on the pedal, is a popular modern form. The first back-pedal brake
is shown in United States Pat. No. 418,142, to Stover & Hance, Dec. 24,
1889.
Among the many modifications of the bicycle as used to-day may be
mentioned the drop frame, which has made cycling possible for ladies, the
tandem, for two riders, the sextet or octet, carrying six or eight riders and
resembling a centipede in movement and an express train in speed ; the
FIG. 184. — MODERN "SAFETV."
ice velocipede, in which two runners are combined with a spiked driving
wheel, and the hydrocycle, or water velocipede, in which the drive wheel,
formed with paddles, is used to propel a buoyant hull through the water.
In point of speed there seems to be no limit to the bicycle. In a test
made on the Long Island Railroad in the summer of 1899 between a wheel
and an express train, the bicyclist, riding on a plank road between the rails
and protected behind the train by a wind break, covered a mile in 574-5
seconds, and while going at top speed of more than a mile a minute, over-
took the train, was caught by his friends on a rear platform and pulled on
board, bicvcle and all. This is the first instance on record of overtaking
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 265
and boarding an express train going at the rate of sixty-four miles an hour,
and yet it is said that the rider (JXIurphy) was not doing his best.
Nearly 5,000 patents have been granted on velocipedes and bicycles.
Most of them were for bicycles which, as improved to-day, are not only
as fleet as the birds, but almost as countless in numbers. It is estimated
that in 1889 the total product of bicycles in this country reached 200,000
machines annually. In 1892, after the general adoption of the pneumatic
tire, a great increase followed, which has grown from year to year until in
the year 1899 a conservative estimate for the output in the United States
is 1,000.000 wheels annualh', worth from thirty to fifty million dollars.
Each bicycle tire takes about two pounds of pure rubber, or four pounds to
the wheel. The annual output in wheels consequently consumes about
4,000,000" pounds, or 2,000 tons of rubber. Ten years ago there were
not more than twent}-five legitimate manufacturers of bicycles in the
United States. In 1897 tliere were over 200 concerns in the business.
It is estimated that there are to-day between 150 and 155 regular man-
ufacturers, exclusive of the mere assemblers of parts. The Pope Man-
ufacturing Company, which occupies the leading place, einployed in 188S
about 500 hands. To-day their shops give employment to 3,800 work-
men, which furnishes a significant object lesson as to the importance
and growth of the industry.
The Antoinobilc: — Gliding silently along our cit_v streets without the
custoniar}- accompaniment of the clatter of the horse's hoofs, the auto-
mobile suggests to the average observer a very recent invention. This
is, however, not the case. The automobile is older even than the locomo-
tive, and is, in fact, the early model from which the rail locomotive was
evolved. As early as 1680 Sir Isaac Newton proposed a steam carriage
in which the propelling power was the reactionary discharge of a rear-
wardly directed jet of steam. Cugnot, in 1769, built a steam carriage,
which is still preserved in the museum of the Conservatoire des Arts et
^letiers in Paris. Hornblower also in the same year devised a steam
carriage. Watt's patents of 1769 and 1784 contemplated the application
of his steam engines to carriages running on land. Symington
in 1770, and Murdoch in 1784, built experimental models. In
1787 Oliver Evans obtained a patent in Maryland for the exclusive
right to make steam road wagons. Nathan Read in 1790 also patented
and built a steam carriage.
Of these, Cugnot represents the pioneer in the heavier forms of
self-propelled vehicles, but the steam carriage which best deserves to
be regarded as the prototype of the modern passenger automobile is that
266
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
of Trevithick, in England, who may also be considered as the father of
the locomotive. On Christmas eve, 1801, this steam carriage made
its experimental trip along the high road carrying seven or eight pas-
sengers. The next day the party, with Trevithick in charge of the en-
gine, visited Tehidy House, the home of Lord Dunstanville. They met
with an accident, however, and the carriage turned over. It was placed
under shelter, and while the party were at the hotel regaling themselves
with roast goose and popular drinks, the water in the engine boiled
away, the iron became red hot, and nothing combustible was left either
of the carriage or the building in which it was sheltered. On March 24,
1802, Trevithick and Vivian obtained a British patent, Xo. 2,599, on this
device, and another carriage was built, and in the spring of 1803 started
a run from Camborne to Redruth, but it stuck in the mud. It was pop-
ularly known as Capt. Trevithick's "Puffing Devil." It was subsequently
reconstructed in London and run upon the streets of that city. Fig.
185 presents an illustration of the first steam automobile. The cylinders
and pistons were en-
closed within the fire
box in the rear.
Clutches (called strik-
ing boxes) on the axle
of the front gear
wheel allowed either
running wheel to
move independently of
the other in turning.
A pair of small front
steering wheels was
arranged to turn
about a vertical a.xis
and was manipulated
by a handle bar. .\
brake was provided
for in the specification, as were also variable gears for changing speed, and
an automatic blower for the fire. The carriage had an elevated coach
body mounted on springs, and the running wheels were of large size,
adapted to the higher speed and lighter uses of passenger traffic.
It is not possible to trace the succeeding steps in steam carriage de-
velopment by James and Anderson, by Gurney, in 1822, by Marcerone
and Squire in 1833, by Russel in 1846, and many others: it is sufficient to
FIG. 185. TREVITHICK's STEAM CARRIAGE, 180I.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
267
know that bad roads and the success attending the steam locomotive on
rails diverted attention from the steam road carriage, and not until the
latter part of the Nineteenth Century was there any marked revival of
interest in this field. Then came first the ponderous road engine, known
as a traction engine, and used for heavy hauling ; and this in the last
decade has been followed by the modern steam motor carriage, an ex-
ample of which is seen in Figs. i86 and i86a, which represent the "Loco-
r'^'&.Vi^,
FIG. l86. — "LOCOMnniLE" STEAM CARRWCE.
mobile" and its actuating mechanism. The fuel used is gasoline, stored
in a three-gallon tank under the footboard. The boiler, which is arranged
under the seat, is a vertical cylinder wrapped with piano wire for greater
tensile strength, and contains 298 copper tubes. The engine, which
is seen in Fig. i86a, is arranged in upright position under the seat, in
front of the boiler, has two cylinders, 2>4-inch diameter and 4-inch
stroke, a Stephenson link-motion and an ordinary D-valve. Sprocket
wheels and a chain connect the engine shaft to the rear axle. The en-
gine runs from 300 to 400 revolutions per minute and develops from
268
THE PROGRESS OF INrENTlON
four to five horse power. It lias a mufik' for the steam exhaust and the
whole weight is 550 pounds. It is one of the lightest' and cheapest of
automobiles, runs easil}- at ten to twelve miles an hour, and is an effi-
cient hill-climber. Although naming the steam automobile first because of
its earlier genesis, it is not to be understood as representing at present the
most popular t3'pe of motor car-
riage, although it bids fair to be-
come so.
In France and the continent
of Europe the type employing an
explosive mixture of gasoline
and air is most frequently found,
and in England and the United
States the electric motor with the
storage battery is chiefly used.
In automobiles of the explo-
sive gas type probably the earli-
est example is found in the Brit-
ish patent to Pinkus, No. 8,207,
of 1839. In France Lenoir, in
i860, is credited with being the
pioneer. Among modern appli-
cations the patent to George B.
Selden, No. 549,160, occupies a
prominent place. This was only
granted Nov. 5, 1895, but the ap-
plication for the patent was filed
in the Patent Office May 8, 1879.
so that the invention described
has quite an early date, and some
broad claims have been allowed
to the ir.ventor. In the last de-
cade many applications of the ex-
plosive gas engine to road car-
riages and tricycles have been
made, especially in France. Rep-
resentative motor carriages of this type are to be found in the United States
in the Duryea and the Winton. An illustration of the latter is given in Fig.
1S7. The form shown represents a phaeton weighing 1,400 pounds; the
motor is of the single hydrocarbon type, and is simple, powerful and com-
iS6a. — THE FOUR HORSE POWER ENGINES
OF "locomoiule."
pact.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 269
It is also free from noise and vibration, and is under control at all
times. The maximum speed is eighteen miles an hour.
Prol^ably the most popular type of the automobile in the United
States is the "electric." The application of the electric motor to the
propulsion of vehicles dates back to quite an earh' ])eriod. It is said
FIG. 187. — WINTON AOTOMnniLE. HYDROCARBON TYPE.
that as far back as 1835 Stratingh and Becker, of Groeningen, and in
1836 Botto, of Turin, constructed crude electric carriages. Davenport,
in 1835, Davidson, in 1838, and Dr. Page, in 1851, built electric loco-
motives which ran on rails. The prototype of the electric automobile.
270
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTIOM
however, is best represented in the French patent to M. Grounelle, No.
7,728, Feb. 7, 1852 (2 Ser., Vol. 25, p. 220, pi. 46.) This shows a per-
fectly equipped electric automobile. It did not have a practical electric
generator, however, for the storage battery was not then known. A
large sulphate of copper battery was employed, which could through the
agency of a train of gears give only a very slow speed. This road car-
riage, however, only needed a storage battery to make it a well organ-
ized and efficient electric automobile. It is believed by many that elec-
tricity fulfills more of the necessary conditions of a successful motive
power for motor carriages than any other power. It is clean, compact.
FIG. 188. — THE COLUMBIA "dOS-A-DOS.''
noiseless, free from vibration, heat, dirt and gases, and is under perfect con-
trol. Its chief objection is that it is only possible to recharge it where
electric power is availalile, and in this respect it is inferior to the gaso-
line motor, whose supply may be conveniently obtained at every citv,
village, and country store. The Columbia two-seated Dos-a-Dos (Fig.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 271
i88), Woods' Victoria Hansom Cab, and the Riker Electric Delivery
Wagon are representative types of the modern electric automobile.
All of the motor carriages illustrated are of American make, and for
lightness, grace, and efficiency they have no superiors. A peculiar and
recent type which attracted much attention and took the gold medal at
the Motor Carriage Exposition at Berlin, held in September, 1899, is
the Pieper double motor carriage. It has both a benzine motor and an
electric motor, which can be worked separately or together, and yet is
said to be lighter than most electric carriages. On a long journey, re-
mote from electrical supply, the benzine motor is used not only to propel
the carriage, but by running the electric motor as a dynamo or gener-
ator, recharges the storage battery. On level, easy roads, where the
power recjuired falls below the maximum power exerted by the benzine
motor, the electric motor changes automatically to a dynamo and the
surplus force of the benzine motor is converted into current and stored.
In running down hill or stopping the carriage, the momentum of the vehicle
is also received by the electric motor acting as a dynamo and brake, and
is stored as electricity in the battery, which is thus in an ordinary journey
kept constantl}- charged.
It is not probable that man will ever be able to get along without
the iiorse. but the release of the noble animal from the bondage of city
traffic, which was begun only a few years ago with mechanical street
car propulsion, promises now to be extensively advanced by the substi-
tution of the motor carriage and the auto-truck for team-drawn vehicles.
The rapidity with which this industry has grown, and its promise for
the future may be realized when it is remembered that so far as practi-
cal results are concerned it has all grown up in the last decade of the
Nineteenth Century, and yet to-day it is said that there are already in
the United States about 200 incorporated concerns with an aggregate
capitalization of some $500,000,000, organized to build automobiles, to
say nothing of the vast number of individuals who are experimenting
in this field. The greatest activity, however, is to be found in France,
which claims over 600 manufacturers and has in use 6.000 automobiles
out of a total of 11,000 in all of Europe.
The most significant suggestion for the future of the automobile is
that the cost of maintenance and all things considered, it is in some ap-
plications cheaper than the horse-drawn vehicles of the same efficiency.
In a consular report of Oct. 16, 1899, forwarded to the State Depart-
ment by J\Ir. ^Marshal Halsted, consul at Birmingham, Mr. E. H.
Bayley, an English authority, is quoted as saying that in operating
272 THE PROGRESS OP INVENTION
heavy motor vehicles for hauling, the cost is three half-pence ( three
cents) per net ton per mile, as compared with i8 to 24 cents per net
ton per mile by horse-drawn vehicles. In England much attention is being
given to this subject.
As before stated, the modern automobile cannot be considered as a
new invention so far as fundamental principles are concerned. Its suc-
cess, in late years, is to be credited to the perfection of the arts in gen-
eral, and as essential factors contributing to this may be named the re-
finement of steel, giving increased strength with lightness, the increased
efficiency of motive power, the vulcanization of rubber, the mathematical
nicety of mechanical adjustment, the reduction of friction by liall bear-
ings, the wonderful developments in electricity and improvement in
roads.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 273
CHAPTER XXII.
Thk Phonograph.
Invention qf PnoNOGRArH bv Edison — Scott's Phon.autograph — Improvements of
Bell and Tainter — The Graphophone — Library of Wax Cylinders — The
Gramophone.
FOLLOWING closely upon the discovery of the telephone the
phonograph came, literally speaking for itself, and adding an-
other surprise to the wonderful inventions of that prolific
period. It was in the latter part of 1877 that Thomas A. Edison
showed to a few privileged friends a modest looking little machine. He
turned the crank, and to the astonishment of those present it said.
"Good morning! How do you do? How do you like the phonograph?^'
Its voice was a little metallic, it is true, but here was presented an in-
significant looking piece of mechanism which was undeniably a talking
machine and one with an unlimited vocabulary. So-called talking ma-
chines had been made before, of which the Falser machine was a type.
These, by an arrangement of bellows to furnish air, and flexible pipes in
imitation of the lar3'nx and vocal organs, made laborious and wheezy
efforts to imitate the mechanical functions of the throat and tongue in
articulate speech, but the method was fundamentally faulty and no suc-
cess was attained. Edison followed no such leading. His phonograph
made no attempt at imitating in construction the complex organization
of the human throat, but was as wonderful in its divergence therefrom
and in its simplicity as it was in the success of its results. The machine
was patented by him Feb. 19, 187S, No. 200,521, and its life principle is
simply and clearly defined in the first claim of the patent, as follows :
"The method herein specified of reproducing the human voice, or
other sounds, by causing the sound vibrations to be recorded sub-
stantially as specified, and obtaining motion from that record as set
forth for the reproduction of sound vibrations."
The invention was a striking and interesting novelty and at nnce
attracted the attention of scientific men as well as the general public. Its
first public exhibition was about the latter part of Januarv, 1878, before
the Polvtechnic Association of the American Institute, at New York. It
274
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
spoke English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish and Hebrew with equal
facihty. It imitated the barking of a dog and crowing of a cock, and
then catching cold, coughed and sneezed and wheezed until it is said a
physician in the audience proposed sending a prescription for it. It was
also suggested by an irreverent man that it might take the place of
preachers in the rendition of sermons, while another thought that as it
reproduced music with equal facility it might take the place of preacher and
choir both. In the spring of 1878 it was exhibited at Washington by
Edison and his assistant, Mr. Batchelor. Mr. Edison was the guest of
Mr. U. H. Painter, and in his parlors it was shown to a party of gen-
tlemen.
From Mr. Painter's house the machine was taken to the office of the
Assistant Secretary of the Interior, thence to the Academy of Sciences,
in session at the Smith-
sonian Institution, and
at night it was taken to
the White House and
exhibited to President
and Mrs. Hayes.
The form of the
first phonograph is
shown in Fig. 189. It
consisted of three prin-
cipal parts — the mouth-
piece A, into which
speech was uttered, the
spirally grooved cylin-
der B, carrying on its
periphery a sheet of tin
foil, , and a second
mouthpiece D. The cy-
linder B and its axial
FIG. 180. — FIRST PHONOGR.^PH. 1 r* u 1.1
■^ shaft were both pro-
vided with spiral grooves or screw threads of exactly the
same pitch, and when the shaft was turned by its crank its screw
threaded bearings caused the cylinder to slowly advance as it rotated.
The mouthpiece A had adjacent to the cylinder a flexible diaphragm
carrying a little point or stylus which bore against the tin foil on the cyl-
inder. When the mouthpiece A was spoken into and the cylinder B was
turned, the little stylus, viljrating from the voice impulses, traced by in-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
275
dentations a little jagged path in the tin foil that formed the record.
To reproduce the record in speech again, the mouthpiece A was adjusted
away from the cylinder, the cylinder run back to the starting point, and
mouthpiece D was then brought up to the cylinder. This mouthpiece
had a diaphragm and stylus similar to the other one, only more delicately
constructed. This stylus was adjusted to bear lightly in the little spiral
path in the tin foil traced by the other stylus, and as the tin foil revolved
\vith the cylinder its jagged irregularities set up the same vibrations in
FIG. igo — SECOND FORM OF PHONOGR.\PH.
the diaphragm of mouthpiece D as those caused by the voice on the
other diaphragm, and thus translated the record into sounds of artic-
ulate speech, exactly corresponding to the words first spoken into the
instrument. In Fig. 190 is shown a further development of the phono-
graph, in which a single mouthpiece with diaphragm and stylus serves
276 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
the purpose both of recorder for making the record and a speaker for
reproducing it, a trumpet or horn being used, as indicated in dotted
lines, to concentrate the vibrations in recording and to augment the
sound in reproducing.
The phonograph is in reality a development of the phonautograph,
which was an instrument invented by Leon Scott in 1857 to automat-
ically record sounds by diagrams. There is a model of Scott's phon-
autograph in the National Museum at Washington, D. C, and it con-
sists of a chaml:)er to catch the sound waves and an elastic diaphragm
with stylus working on a revolving c}-linder bearing a sheet of paper
coated with lampblack. The phonograph's record-making mouthpiece,
with its diaphragm and stylus, is substantially a phonautograph, but in-
stead of simpl}- causing the stylus to trace a record on carbon-coated
paper and stopping with this result, Edison traced a record in a sub-
stance— tinfoil — which was capable of mechanically translating that
record into sound again by a mere reversal of the function of the stylus
and diaphragm. This was the very essence of simplicity and logical
reasoning. All records had been heretofore traced for visual inspection
only. Edison's record was not for visual inspection, but was endowed
with the mechanical function of reproducing sound.
From the first Edison believed that his phonograph was to nil an
important place in the business activities of the world, since here seemed
a silent but faithful stenographer which reproduced the words of the
speaker with absolute fidelity, even to the qualit}- of emphasis and in-
flection, and which made no mistakes, was always even with the speaker
in its work, and asked no questions. For a number of years, however,,
the invention lay dormant and served no other purpose than that of a
sciejTtific curiosity or an amusing toy. The difficulty of its practical ap-
plication largely existed in the perishable form of the record, which,
being in tinfoil, was liable to be mutilated and distorted, and was not
well adapted for storage or transportation.
A few years after the announcement of 'Sir. Edison's invention. Dr.
Alexander Graham Bell, the distinguished inventor of the telephone,
with his associates, Messrs. Chichester A. Bell and Charles Sumner
Tainter, directed their attention to the improvement of the phonograph.
Dr. Bell had received from the French government, upon the recom-
mendation of the French Academy of Sciences, the \'olta prize of 50.000
francs as a recognition of his successful work in acoustics and the in-
vention of the telephone, and with this sum he built the \'olta Institute
in Washington and carried on the work of developing the phonograph.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
211
On May 4, 1886, Chichester A. Bell and Sumner Tainter obtained
patents Nos. 341,214 and 341,288, which covered a great improvement
in the record of the phonograph. This invention substituted for the tin-
foil sheet a surface of wax, which was finally fashioned into a cyHnder,
and instead of merely indenting the record on tinfoil the stylus cut a
distinct groove or kerf in the wax cylinder as it revolved, dislodging
therefrom a minute filament or shaving and forming a record which
was not only far more positive in its translating effect and more easily
transported and stored, but was also less perishable, and besides it could
be easily effaced without loss of the cylinder by simply smoothing off the
surface of the cylinder again when it was desired to make a new record.
This invention quickly grew into practical use, and is known as the
"Graphophone."
In Fig. 191 is shown on the left a cross section of the diaphragm, re-
FIG. igi. — THE GR..VPHOPHONE, KECOKDING AN'Ll UEl'KODUCING DEVICES.
cording stylus, and wax cylinder, of the graphophone, the stylus plow-
ing a tiny groove in the wax cylinder in the act of recording the speech,
and on the right is shown the reproducing stylus traversing the record
groove in the wax cylinder, and the diaphragm chamber with which the
ear tubes are connected. The ptoovcs in the wax. although giving
278 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
forth mechanical movement that is translated into sound, are very
minute, being only 6-10,000 of an inch deep.
When the possibilities of the graphophone became known, capital
was quickly supplied for its commercial exploitation, and the Columbia
Phonograph Company was organized. At the present time, owing to the
great increase in the business, the control of the graphophone business
is vested in two branches, the Columbia Phonograph Company, which has
charge of the selling, and which has offices throughout all the principal
cities of this country and some of the larger ones of Europe, and the
American Graphophone Company, which attends to the manufacturing
branch, and whose factory is located at Bridgeport, Conn., where, it is
said, that in 1-898 the production of the factory reached the point of one
graphophone for every minute of the day, making a total daily output
of 600 machines. Although the Bell and Tainter patents of 1886 repre-
sent the basic principles of the graphophone, its development and per-
fection have been contributed to in many subsequent improvements by
Messrs. Bell, Tainter, McDonald, and others. The more important of
these are covered by patents No. 375,579, Dec. 27, 1887; No. 380,535,
April 3, 1888; No. 527,755, Oct. 16, 1894, and No. 579,595, March 30,
1897.
At the beginning of this industry it was thought that the principal
tise of the instrument would be found in business applications, to take
the place of the stenographer, but it proved difficult to revolutionize
office methods, especially as the earlier machines were somewhat intri-
cate, and the business man had no time to divide in engineering a ma-
chine. These difficulties, however, have been so far overcome by mod-
ern improvements and simplification of the machine that its use in busi-
ness houses as an amanuensis has become quite common. The greatest
use of the graphophone is, however, for amusement purposes. Its songs,
orchestral and solo renditions, and its humorous monologue reproduc-
tions constitute to-day a great library of wax cylinders, regularly cata-
logued and sold by the thousands. It will readily be understood that
the formation of the cylinders must constitute a great business of itself
when it is remembered that many record cylinders accompany each
graphophone, and that the latter are turned out at the rate of one a minute
by a single company. Many thousands of these cylinders are made daily.
Some are sent out simply as plain wax cylinders, onto which the records
are made by the voice of the purchaser, while others have records made
for them of popular music, monologues in dialect, humorous speeches,
etc. The waxy composition, which is in reality a species of soap, is melted
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 279
in huge pots, and then passes from one floor to another, undergoing' a
refining process in its progress, and finally reaches the molds. These
molds are arranged in rows around a horizontal wheel about eight feet
in diameter. The wheel is kept revolving, and a man on one side is kept
constantly busy in filling the molds with the molten material as they
reach him. A half revolution of the wheel brings the filled molds to the
other side of the room, and by that time the material has hardened suf-
ficiently to enable another attendant, stationed there, to remove the cyl-
inders from the molds. Thus the wheel is kept going, receiving at one
side a charge of the melted wax and discharging at the other molded cyl-
inders, which are afterwards turned true on the surface. The record-
making department is both unique and interesting. Here the records of
music are produced, and they are made by bands and performers en-
gaged for the purpose, nian}^ of which, operating at the same time, pro-
duce such a medley as to be scarcely distinguishable to the visitor. The
records are tested by about half a hundred women, each of whom has a
little compartment or booth framed in by glass partitions. The duty
of the tester is to decide upon the merits of the record by actually listen-
ing to it on the graphophone.
A very important feature in record-making, from a commercial
standpoint, is in means for cheaply duplicating records. If every .record
cylinder had to be made by the separate act of a performer such records
would be very expensive. An original record is first made by some cele-
brated musician or speaker, and this record is afterwards multiplied am!
reproduced in large numbers. For this purpose an original record by
suitable mechanism is made to take the place of the speaker or singer,
and so multiplies and reproduces the original record. The duplicating
of records was contemplated by Edison from the first, as seen in his
British patent, 1,644 oi 1878, and later appliances for accomplishing such
results are covered under Tainter's patent. No. 341,287, Bettini's, No.
,188,381, and McDonald's, No. 559.806. The diaphragms used in the
recorders and reproducers are made of French rolled plate glass, thinner
than a sheet of ordinary writing paper. The recording stylus is shaped
like a little gouge to cut the little grooves in the wax, while the corre-
sponding stylus of the reproducer has a ball-shaped end to travel in the
groove. Both the recording stylus and reproducing ball are made of
sapphire, chosen on account of its hardness, to resist the great frictional
wear to which they are subjected. When a record is to be efifaced from
a cylinder, it is turned ofif smooth on a sort of lathe, and the cutting tool
or knife for this purpose is also made of sapphire.
280
THE PROGRESS OF INrENTION
The latest, loudest, and most impressive form of the talking ma-
chine is the "Graphophone Grand." This has a horn attachment ex-
ceeding the big horn of a brass band in size, and the wax cylinder is
about four inches in diameter. Its reproductions in music and speech
are so full and strong as to be clearly heard at the most remote part of
a large hall, and its versatile voice lends effective rendition to all sorts
and kinds of sounds, from the inspiring chords of "A Choir Invisible"
:o the grandilocjuent and facetious rattle of a noisy and hustling auc-
tioneer.
It is not to be understood, however, that the graphophone is the only
speaking machine on. the market, for about 250 patents have been
granted on phonographs and graphophones. The National Phonograph
Company, under many later patents granted to Mr. Edison, manufac-
tures and sells the phonograph shown in Fig. 192, which is a very in-
VIC. I(j2. .MOPF.KN PIIONOPK.M'H.
genious and effective instrument. This modern form of phonograph is
actuated either l)y electricity or spring power, is regulated by a speed
governor, and bifurcated ear tubes connect with the diaphragm case,
which tubes are placed in the ears when the instrument is operated.
The gramophone is also another speaking machine. This is the in-
vention of Mr. E. lierliner and covered by him in patent No. 372,786,
Nov. 8, 1887. An illustration of the gramophone recorder is given in
IN THE XIXETEHXTH CEXTURV.
281
Fig. 193. Instead of a wax cylinder this machine employs a flat disc
on which the record is formed as a vohite spiral groove, gradually draw-
ing toward the center. It is produced as follows: A zinc disc is cov-
ered bv a thin film of acid resisting material, such as wax or grease, and
is placed in a horizontal pan, mounted to revolve as a turn table about
a vertical axis. A stylus and diaphragm, with speaking tube attached,
are arranged above the disc, and when spoken into the vibrations of the
diaphragm cause, through the stylus, a record to be traced through the
FIG. 193. — THE GK.\MOI'HONE RECORDER.
wax, down to the zinc. As the waxed disc and pan are revolved, the
stvlus and diaphragm are gradually moved by gears toward the center
of the disc. While the record is being traced the waxed disc is kept
flooded with alcohol from a glass jar, seen in the cut, to soften the film
and prevent the clogging of the stilus. The disc, when completed, is
then rinsed off and etched with acid, chromic acid being used, to prevent
liberation of hydrogen bubbles. The etched disc is then electrotyped to
form a. matrix, and from this electrotype hard rubber duplicates of the
282 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
original record are molded, which are capable of giving i,ooo reproduc-
tions. These rubber discs are placed on the reproducing instrument,
which is arranged to cause the st\dus to freely trail along in the spiral
groove, and when the disc is rotated under the said st\-lus its record is
converted into articulate speech. Such flat disc records give quite loud
reproductions, are not easily destroyed, and may be compactly stored and
transported. In the gramophone the diaphragm stands at right angles
to the record disc and the stylus does not vibrate endwise to make a path
of varying depth, as in the phonograph and graphophone, but the stylus
vibrates laterally and traces a little zigzag line.
The cost of a talking machine is from $5 to $150. The wax cylinders
cost from 25 cents to $3.00, and the cylinders will hold a record of from
800 to 1,200 words, equivalent to about three or four pages of print in
an octavo volume. An important part of such machines is the motor,
which must maintain a uniform rate of speed, and much ingenuity has
been displayed on this part of the machine. Probably the largest use
of the phonograph or graphophone is for home amusement and exhibi-
tion purpose. The coin operated, or "nickel-in-the-slot" machine, finds
a popular demand, while its utilitarian use as an amanuensis, or sten-
ographer, is as yet a subordinate one.
Although twenty-one years of age, and of full growth, the phono-
graph is ever a wonderfully new and impressive device. When listening
to it for the first time the conflict of emotions which it excites is diffi-
cult to analyze. A voice full of human quality, of clear and familiar
enunciation, and speaking in the most matter of fact way about the
most matter of fact things, proceeds from an insignificant and insensible
bit of metal, presenting the apparently anomalous condition of speech
witb.out a speaker. When convinced that there is no trick, astonishment
struggles with admiration and a desire for a personal introduction. We
speak into it, and have the unique experience of listening to our own voice
emanating from a different part of the room, instead of our own mouths.
]t is really difficult to believe one's own senses, and no wonder that it in-
spires the superstitious with a feeling of awe. If Mr. Edison had lived
a few centuries earlier, and had produced such an instrument, his life
might have paid the penalty of his ingenuity, for without doubt he would
have been classed as a wizard, and of close kin to the evil one.
The phonograph is the truth-telling and incontrovertible witness
whose memory is never at fault, and whose nerves are never discomposed
by any cross-examination. As evidence in court its word cannot be
doubted, and the witness confronted by his own utterances from the
/;V THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 283
phonograph must yield to its infalhble dictum. The dying father, unable
to write, may dictate to it his last will and testament, and leave a message
for his loved ones, and long after the sod is green on his grave, that
message would still be audible, and fresh and true to all the tender inflec-
tions of the heart's emotions. By its aid the Holy Father, at Rome, may
give his personal and audible blessing to his children throughout the world,
though separated by thousands of miles. Who can tell what stories of in-
teresting and instructive knowledge would be in our possession if the pho-
nograph had appeared in the ages of the past, and its records had been pre-
served ? The voices of our dead ancestors, whose portraits hang on the
wall, and the eloc|uent words of Demosthenes and Cicero would be pre-
served to us. In fact, we should be brought into vocal contact with the
world's heroes, martyrs, saints, and sages, and all the great actors and
teachers whose personalities have made history, and whose teachings
have given us our best ideals. But perhaps the most practical
and best characterization of the phonograph is given in Mr. Edison's own
terse words. He says : "In one sense it knows more than we know our-
selves, for it retains the memory of many things which we forget, even
though we have said them. It teaches us to be careful of what we say. and
1 am sure makes men more brief, more businesslike, and more straightfor-
ward."
284 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
CHAPTER XXIII.
Optics.
Early Telescopes — The Lick Telescope — The Grande Lunette — The Stereo-
Binocular Field Glass — The Microscope — The Spectroscope — Polariz.\tion
OF Light — Kaleidoscope — Stereoscope — Range Finder — Kinetoscope and Mov-
ing Pictures.
/ / 4 XD God said, Let there be light : and there was light. And God
/ \ saw the light that it was good ; and God divided the light
_^ V from the darkness." Thus early in the account of the crea-
tion is evidenced man's appreciation of the value of vision.
Of all the senses which place man in intelligent relation to his environment
none is so important as sight. JMore than all the others does it establish our
relation to the material world. When the babe is born, and its little eman-
cipated soul is brought in contact with the world, its wondering gaze sees
the panorama of visible things touching its eyes, and it stretches forth its
tiny arms in the vain effort to pluck the stars, apparently within its reach.
Distance and time add their values to light and vision, and as his life ex-
pands to greater fullness, the perspective of his existence creeps into his
consciousness, and he finds himself farther away, but still peering beyond
into the infinity of distance, searching for the visible evidence of knowl-
edge. From the earliest times man learned to spurn the groveling
things of earth, and to delight his soul with the marvelous infinity of the
sky and its heavenly bodies. Nunc ad astra was his ambitious cry, and in
no field has his quest for knowledge been more skillfully directed, faithfully
maintained, or richly rewarded than in the study of astronomy. Many im-
portant discoveries in this field have been made in the Nineteenth Century,
among which may be named the discovery of the planet Neptune by
Adams, Leverrier and Galle in 1846; the satellites of Neptune in 1846, and
those of Saturn in 1848 by Mr. Lassell ; the two satellites of Mars by Prof.
Asaph Hall in 1S77; and the discovery of the so-called canals of Mars by
Schiaparelli in 1877. But the purpose of this work is to deal with material
inventions rather than scientific discoveries, and the leading invention in
optics is the telescope.
Who invented the telescope is a question that cannot now be answered.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 285
For man}- years Galileo was credited in popular estimation with having
made this invention in 1609. But it is now known that, while he built tele-
scopes, and discovered the mountains of the moon, the spots on the sun's
disk, the crescent phases of Venus, the four satellites of Jupiter, the rings
of Saturn, and made the first important astronomical observations, the in-
vention of the telescope, as an instrument, cotild not be rightly claimed for
him. Borelli credits it to Jansen & Lippersheim, spectacle makers, of Mid-
dleburg, Holland, about 1590; Descartes credits it to James iNIetius ; Hum-
boldt says Hans Lippershey (or Laprey), a native of Wesel and a spectacle
maker of jNIiddeburg in 160S, naming also Jacob Adriansz, sometimes
called Metius and also Zacharias Jansen.
The great impetus given to the study of astronomy by Galileo, in 1609,
was followed up by Huygens in 1655 with his improvement, by Gregory's
reflecting telescope of 1663, and Newton's in 1668. In 1733 Chester More
Hall invented the achromatic object glass of crown and flint glass. In 1758
John Dolland reinvented and introduced the same in the manufacture of
telescopes. In 1779 Herschel built his reflecting telescope, and in March,
1 78 1, he discovered the planet Uranus. In 1789 he built his great reflector.
It was while the latter telescope was exploring the heavens that the Nine-
teenth Century began, and in the early part of this century Herschel laid
before the Royal Society a catalogue of many thousand nebulae and clusters
of stars. Among the great telescopes of the Nineteenth Century may be
mentioned that made in London in 1802 for the observatory of Madrid,
which cost ii 1,000; the great reflecting telescope of the Earl of Rosse,
erected at Parsonstown, in Ireland, in 1842-45. This was 6 feet diameter.
54 feet focal length, and cost over £20.000 ; the magnificent equatorial tele-
scopes set up at the National Observatories at Greenwich and Paris in
i860; Foucault's reflecting telescope at Paris, 1862, whose mirror was 31^2
inches diameter, and focal length 17% feet; Mr. R. S. Newall's telescope,
set up at Gateshead by Coo'kcs, of York, in 1870; object glass, 25 inches,
tube, 30 feet ; Mr. A. Ainslie Common's reflecting telescope, Ealing. ;\Iid-
dlesex, 1879, niirror, 373^4 inches diameter, tube, 20 feet ; the telescope at
the United States Observatory, at Washington, 1873, object glass, 26
inches, tube, 33 feet long ; and the large refracting telescope by Howard
Grubb, at Dublin, for Vienna, 1881.
In more recent times the great refracting telescope by Alvan Clark &
Sons, for the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, California, in 1888,
attracted attention as superior to anything in existence up to that time.
■ This is shown in Fig. 194. The supporting column and base are of iron,
weighing twenty-five tons. This rests on a masonry foundation, which
286
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
FIG. 194. — TELESCOPE AT LICK OBSERVATORY.
IN THE XIXETEEMH CENTURY. 287
forms the tomb of James Lick, its founder. The tube is 52 feet long, 4 feet
diameter in the middle, tapering to a little over 3 feet at tlie ends. The ob-
ject glass is 36 inches in diameter, and weighs, with its cell, 530 lbs. The
steel dome is 75 feet 4 inches in diameter, and the weight of its moving
parts is 100 tons. This instrument was perfectly ec|uipped with all gauges,
scales, photographic and spectroscope accessories, and fulfilled the condi-
tion imposed in the trust deed of James Lick, of being "superior to and
more powerful than an)- telescope made." It is a giant among instruments
of precision, and its ponderous aspect still asserts the dignity of its purpose,
and impresses even the frivolous visitor with a silent and thoughtful re-
spect.
It is not to be understood, however, that the great Lick telescope still
maintains its supremacy. The Yerkes telescope, which was exhibited at the
World's Fair Exposition in 1893, at Chicago, had an object glass of 3.28
feet in diameter and a focal distance of 65 feet, and it moved around a cen-
tral axis in a vast cupola or dome 78 feet in diameter. The Grand Equa-
torial of Gruenewald, at the recent Berlin Exposition, was even still larger,
since its ol^ject glass was 3 feet 7 inches, or nearly 2 inches larger than the
Yerkes.
Even these great instruments have now been excelled in the Grande
Lunette, of the Paris Exposition, in 1900. When it is remembered that an
increase in the diameter of any circular bod}' causes, for every additional
inch, a vastly disproportionate increase in the cross-sectional area and
weight, it will readily he seen how handicapped the instrument maker
is in any increase in the power of such a telescope. An increased
diameter of a few inches in the glass lens means an enormous increase
in the cross section, its weight and the difficulties attending its success-
ful casting free from imperfections, and the perfect grinding and polish-
ing of the lens. An increased length of the tubular case of the telescope
is liable to involve, from the great weight, a slight bending or springing
out of axial alignment when supported near the middle for equatorial
adjustment, and a few feet increase in the diameter of the massive and
movable steel dome add greatly to the weight and incidental difficulties
of constructing and delicately adjusting it. The great Lunette, see Fig.
195, changes entirely the method of manipulating the telescope, and also,
in a measure, its principle of action, so as to avoid some of these difficul-
ties. Its tube, instead of being pointed upwardly through the slot of a
movable dome, and made adjustable with the dome, is laid down hori-
zontally on a stationary base of supporting pillars, and an adjustable
reflecting mirror and regulating mechanism, called a "siderostat," is
288
THE FROG RES S OF LM'ENTION
larranged at one end, to catch the view of the star, or moon, and reflect
it into the great tube, and through its lenses on to the screen at the other
end. The tube is 197 feet long, and the object glass or lens is a fraction
over 4 feet in diameter. There are two of these, which together cost
$120,000. The siderostat is supported on a large cast iron frame, and
no. 195. — CRE.VT TELESCOPE, PARIS EXPOSITION, IQOO.
is provided with clockwork and devices for causing the mirror to fol-
low the movement of the celestial object which is being viewed. The
entire weight of the siderostat and base is 99,000 pounds, the movable
part weighs 33,000 pounds, r.nd the mirror and its cell weigh 14,740.
The mirror itself is of glass, weighs 7,920 pounds, is 6.56 feet in diameter,
l.\ THE XiXETEEXTH CENTURY
289
and 10.63 ini^lies thick. To facilitate the free and sensitive adjustment
of this great mirror its base floats in a reservoir of mercury. The entii^e
cost of the instrument is said to be over 2,000,000 francs. With the
wonderful strides of improvement in all fields of invention, it is not un-
reasonable to suppose that the revelations in astronomy may keep pace
with those of mundane interest, and that great discoveries may be made
in the near future. The average individual does not bother himself much
about the calculation of eclipses, or the laws which govern the movements
of an erratic comet. He is, however, intensely personal and neighborly,
and what he wants to know is. Is Mars inhabited ? and if so, are its
denizens men, and may we communicate with them? The wonderful
regularity of the so-called canals, of apparently intelligent design, already
discovered on the surface of Mars, has stimulated this neighborly curi-
ositN- into an expectant interest, and who knows what marvelous intro-
ductions the modern telescope may bring about ?
Many minor improvements have been made in recent years in the
form of the telescope known as field and opera glasses. Probably the
most important of these is the Stereo-Binocular, invented by Prof. Abbe,
of Germany, and pat-
ented by him in that
country in 1893, and
also in the United
States, June 22, 1897,
Xo. 584,976. This
gives a much in-
creased field, and also
an increased stereo-
scopic effect, or con-
ception of relative dis-
tance, by having" the
object glasses wider
apart than the eyes of
the observer. The
field is also flatter,
the instrument ren-
dered very nuich
smaller and more
compact, and no change of focus is required for changing from near-by to
remote objects. The rays of light, see Fig. 196, enter the object glasses,
strike a dotible reflecting prism, and are first thrown awa\' from the ob-
FiG. 196. — ruciF. ache's stkreo-binocui.ar.
290
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
server, and then striking another double reflecting prism, arranged after
Porro's method, are returned to the observer in Hne with the eye-piece.
The Microscope. — Just as the telescope reveals the infinity of the great
world above and around us, so does the microscope reveal the infinity
of the little world around, about, and within us. Its origin, like the
telescope, is hidden in the dim distance of the past, but it is believed to
antedate the telescope.
Probably the dewdrop
on a leaf constituted the
first microscope. The
magnifying power of
glass balls was known to
the Chinese, Japanese,
Assyrians and Egyp-
tians, and a lens made of
rock crystal was found
among the ruins of Nin-
evah. The microscope is
either single or com-
pound. In the single the
object is viewed directly.
In the compound two or
more lenses are so ar-
ranged that the image
formed by one is magni-
fied by the others, and
viewed as if it were the
object itself. The single
microscope cannot be
claimed by any inventor.
The double or compound
microscope was invented
by Farncelli in 1624, and
it was in that century
that the first important
applications were made
for scientific investiga-
tion. Most of the investi-
gations were made, how-
ever, by the single microscope, and the names of Borelli, Malpighi, Licbcr-
'Wa««'v.w-'i/Wt-//^^\ M^'fjr 1
FIG. 197. — MODERN MICROSCOrE.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 291
kuhn, Hooke, Leeuwenhoek, Swammerden, Lyonnet, Hewson and Ellis
were conspicuous as the fathers of microscopy. For more than two
hundred and fifty years the microscope has lent its magnifying aid to the
eye, and step by step it has been gradually improved. Joseph J. Lister's
aplanatic foci and compound objective, in 1829, was a notable improve-
ment in the first part of the century, and this has been followed up by
contributions from various inventors, until the modern compound micro-
scope, Fig. 197, is a triumph of the optician's art, and an instrument of
wonderful accuracy and power. Its greatest work belongs to the Nine-
teenth Century.
Multiplying the dimensions of the smallest cells to more than a thou-
sand times their size, it has brought into range of vision an unseen world,
developed new sciences, and added immensely to the stores of human
knowledge. To the biologist and botanist it has yielded its revelations
in cell structure and growth ; to the physician its diagnosis in urinary
and blood examinations ; in histology and morbid secretions it is in-
valuable ; in geology its contribution to the knowledge of the physical
history of the world is of equal importance ; while in the study of
bacteriologv' and disease germs it has so revolutionized our conception
of the laws of health and sanitation, and the conditions of life and death,
and is so intimately related to our well being, as to mark probably the
greatest era of progress and useful extension of knowledge the world has
ever known. In the useful arts, also, it figures in almost every depart-
ment; the jeweler, the engraver, the miner, the agriculturalist, the chem-
ical manufacturer, and the food inspector, all make use of its magnifying
powers.
To the microscope the art of photography has lent its valuable aid, so
that all the revelations of the microscope are susceptible of preservation
in permanent records, as photomicrographs. A curious, but very prac-
tical, use of the microscope was made in the establishment of the pigeon-
post during the siege of Paris in 1870-71. Shut in from the outside world,
the resourceful Frenchmen photographed the news of the day to such
microscopic dimensions that a single pigeon could carry 50,000 messages,
which weighed less than a gramme. These messages were placed on
delicate films, rolled up, and packed in quills. The pigeons were sent
out in balloons, and flying back to Paris from the outer world, carried
these messages back and forth, and the messages, when reaching their
destination, were enlarged to legible dimensions and interpreted by the
microscope. It is said that two and a half million messages were in
this wav transmitted.
292
THE PKUGRESS OF INFENTION
The Spectroscope. — To the popular comprehension, the best definition
of any scientific instrument is to tell what it does. Few things, however,
so tax the credulity of the uninformed as a description of the functions
and. possibilities of the spectroscope. To state that it tells what kind
of materials tliere are in the sun and stars, millions of miles away, seems
like an unwarranted attack upon one's imagination, and yet this is one
of the things that the spectroscope does. A few commonplace observa-
tions will help to explain its action. Every schoolboy has seen the play
of colors through a
triangular prism of
glass, as seen in Fig.
T98, and the oldei-
generation remem-
bers the old-fashion-
ed cand e 1 a b r a s ,
which, with their
brilliant pendants
of cut glass cast
beautiful colored
patches on the wall,
and whose dancing
beauties delighted
the souls of many a
boy and girl of fifty
years ago. This
spread of color is
called the spectrum.
and it is with the
spectrum that the
spectroscope has to
deal. The white light
of the sun is com-
])osed of the seven colors : red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and
violet. When a sunbeam falls upon a triangular prism of glass the beam is
bent from its course at an angle, and the different colors of its light are
deflected at difl^erent angles or degrees, and consequently, instead of ap-
pearing as white light, the beam is spread out into a divergent wedge shape,
that separates the colors and produces what is called the, spectrum. This
discovery was made by Sir Isaac Newton, in 1675.
In 1S02 Dr. Wollaston, in repeating Newton's experiments, admitted
FIG. IQS. — PRISM AND SPECTRUM.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
293
the beam of light through a very narrow sht, instead of a round hole,
and noticed that the spectrum, as spread out in its colors, was not a con-
tinuous shading from one color into another, but he found black lines
crossing the spectrum. These black lines were, in 1814, carefully mappcl
by a German optician, named Fraunhofer, and were found by him to be
576 in number. The next step toward the spectroscope was made by
Simms, an optician, in 1830, who placed a lens in front of the prism so
that the slit was in the focus of the lens, and the light passing through
the slit first passed throtigh the lens, and then through the prism. This
lens was called the "Collimating" lens. With these preliminary steps of
development. Prof. Kirchhoff began in 1859 his great work of mapping
the solar spectrum, and he, in connection with Prof. Bunsen, found sev-
eral thousand of the dark lines in the spectrum, and laid the foundation
of spectrum-analysis , or the determination of the nature of substances
from the spectra cast by them when in an incandescent state.
The form cf Kirchhofif's spectroscope is given in Fig. 199. The sli*.
FIG. 199. — KIRCHHOFF S FOUR-PRISAt SPECTROSCOPE.
forming slide is seen on the far end of the tube A, and is shown in en-
larged detached view on the right. The collimating lens is contained in
the tube A. The beam of light entering the slit at the far end of the
tube A, passes through the lens in that tube, and then passes successively
through the four triangular prisms on the table, and is successively bent
by these and thrown in the form of a spectrum into the telescopic tube B,
294 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
and is seen by the eye at the remote end of said tube B. The greater
the number of prisms the wider is the dispersion of the rays and the
longer is tlie spectrum, and the more easily studied are the peculiar lines
which Wollaston and Fraunhofer found crossing it. It was the presence
of these black lines on the' spectrum which led to the development of the
spectroscope and established its significance and value. The work which
the spectroscope does is simply to form an extended spectrum, but this
spectrum varies with the different kinds of light admitted through the slit,
the different kinds of light showing different arrangement of colored
bands and dark lines, and such a definite relation between the light of
various incandescing elementary bodies and their spectra has been found
to exist, that the casting of a definite spectrum from the sun or stars in-
dicates with certainty the presence in the sun or stars of the incandescing
element which produces that spectrum. This application of the spectro-
scof)e is called spectrum-analysis, and by rendering any substance incan-
descent in the flame of a Bunsen burner, and directing the light of its in-
candescence through the spectroscope, its spectrum gives the basis of in-
telligent chemical identification. So delicate is its test that it has been
calculated by Profs. Kirchhoff and Bunsen that the eighteen-millionth part
of a grain of sodium may be detected.
The useful applications of the spectroscope are found principally in
astronomy and the chemical laboratory, but some industrial applications
have also been made of it in metallurgical operations, as, for instance, in
determining the progress of the Bessemer process of making steel, and
also for testing alloys. Many hitherto unknown metals have also been
discovered through the agency of the spectroscope, among which may be
named caesium, rubidium, thallium, and indium.
The field of optics is so large that many interesting branches can re-
ceive only a casual mention. The polarization of light, first noticed by
Bartholinus in 1669, and by Huygens in 1678, in experiments in double
refraction with crystals of Iceland spar, were followed in the Nineteenth
Century by the discoveries of Malus, Arago, Fresnel, Brewster, and Biot.
Mains, in 1808, discovered polarization by reflection from polished sur-
faces; Arago, in 181 1, discovered colored polarization; Nicol, in 1828, in-
vented the prism named after him. The Kaleidoscope was invented by
Sir David Brewster in 1814, and British patent No. 4,136 granted him
July ID, 1817, for the same. The reflecting stereoscope was invented by
Wheatstone in 1S38, and the lenticular form, as now generally used, was
invented by Sir David Brewster in the year 1849.
Among the more recent inventions of importance in optics may be
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 295
mentioned the Fiske range finder (Patent No. 418,510, December 31,
1889), for enabling a gunner to direct his cannon upon the target when
its distance is unknown, or even when obscured by fog or smoke. The
Beehler solarometer (Patent No. 533,340, January 29, 1895), is also an
important scientific invention, which has for its object to determine the
position, or the compass error, of a ship at sea when the horizon is
obscured. There is also in late years a great variety of entertaining and
instructive apparatus in photography, and improvements in the stere-
opticon and magic lantern.
The most interesting of the latter is the Kinetoscope, for producing the
so-called moving pictures, in which the magic lantern and modern results
in the photographic art, have wrought wonders on the screen. The old-
fashioned magic lantern projections were interesting and instructive ob-
ject lessons, but modern invention has endowed the pictures with all the
atmosphere and naturalness of real living scenes, in which the figures
move and act, and the scenes change just as they do in real life.
The foundation principle upon which these moving pictures exist is
that of persistence of vision. If a succession of views of the same object
in motion is made, with the moving object in each consecutive figure
changed just a little, and progressively so in a constantl}' advancing atti- •
tude in a definite movement, and those difi^erent positions are rapidly
presented in sequence to the eye in detached views, the figures appear to
constantly move through the changing position. The theory of the dura-
tion of visible impressions was taught by Leonardo da Vinci in the fif-
teenth century, and practical advantage has been taken of the same in
a variety of old-fashioned toys, known as the phenakistoscope, thau-
matrope, zoetrope, stroboscope, rotascope, etc.
The phenakistoscope was invented by Dr. Roget, and improved by
Plateau in 1S29, and also by Faraday. A circular disk, bearing a circular
series of figures is mounted on a handle to revolve. The figures following
each other show consecutively a gradual progression, or change in posi-
tion. The disk has radial slits around its periphery, and is held with its
figured face before a looking glass. When the reflection is viewed in the
looking glass through the slits, the figures rapidly passing in succession
before the slits appear to have the movements of life. The thaumatrope,
which originated with Sir John PTerschel, consists of a thin disc, bearing
on opposite sides two associated objects, such as a bird and a cage, or
a horse and a man. This, when rotated about its diameter, to bring
alternately the bird and cage into view, appears to bring the bird into
the cage, or to put the rider on the horse's back, as the case mav be.
296
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
'*^/;'>^
SHOOTING GLASS BALLS. FIRING DISAPPEARING GUN.
FIG. 200.
IX THE XtXETEEXTH CEXTURY. 297
The zoetrope, described in the Phiiosophical Magariiic, January, 183^,
emplo^■s the general principle of the phenakistoscope, except that, instead
of a disc before a looking glass, an upright rotating drum or cylintler is
employed, and has its figures on the inside, and is viewed, when rotating,
through a succession of vertical slits in the drum.
The earliest patents found in this art are the British patent to Shaw,
Xo. 1,260, Isiay 22, 1800; L'nited States patents. Sellers, Xo. 31.357.
February 5, 1861, and Lincoln, No. 64,117, April 23, 1867. In Brown's
patent, Xo. 93.594, August 10, 1S69, the magic lantern was applied to
the moving pictures, and Muybridge"s photos of trotting horses in 1872,
followed by instantaneous photography, which enabled a great number of
views to be taken of moving objects in rapid succession, laid the f.nmda-
tion for the modern art.
In Fig 200 is shown a succession of instantaneous photographs of a
sportsman shooting a glass ball, and the firing of a disappearing gun.
A multiplicity of views extending through all the phases of these move-
ments, when successively presented in order, before a magic lanVern pro-
jecting apparatus, gives to the eye the striking semblance of real move-
ments. In practice these views are taken by special cameras, and are
printed on long transparent ribbons that contain many hundreds, and
even thousands of the views. Edison's Kinetoscope is covered by patent
Xo. 493.426, IMarcli 14, 1893, and his instrument known as the \'itascope,
is one of those used for projecting the views upon a screen. In Fig. 20 1
a similar instrument, called the Biograph, is shown, in which the seeming
approach of the locomotive makes those who witness it shudder with
the apparent danger.
To secure the best results, the ribbon with its views should remain
with a figure the longest possible time lietween the light and the lens,
and the shifting to the ne.Kt view should be as nearl_\- instantaneous as pos-
sible. This problem has been admirabl}- solved by C. F. Jenkins, who. in
1894, devised means for accomplishing it, and was one of the first, it
not the first, to successfully project the views on a large screen adapted
to public exhibitions. Flis apparatus is shown in Fig. 202. An electric
motor, seen on the left, drives, through a belt and pulley, a countershaft,
and also through a worm gear turns another shaft parallel to the counter-
shaft, and bearing a sprocket pulley, whose teeth penetrate little marginal
holes in the ribbon of views, and, drawing it down from the reel aliove,
deliver it to the receiving reel on the right. On the end of the counter-
shaft, just in front of the sprocket wheel, is a revolving crank pin or
spool, which intermittently beats down the ribbon of views, causing the
298
THE PROGRESS OF INrEN'flOX
latter to advance through the vertical guides in front of the lens by a
succession of jerks. This holds each view for a maximum period before
the lens, and then suddenly jerks the ribbon to bring the next view into
position. In the Kinetoscope the animated pictures not only present the
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 299
movements of life, but, by a combination with the phonograph, the audible
speech, or music fitting the occasion, is also presented at tne same tinit;,
making a marvelous simulation of real life to both the eye and the ear.
Among the latest promises of the inventor is the "Distance Seer," or
telectroscope, which, it is said, enables one to see at any distance over
electric wires, just as one may telegraph or telephone over them. The
FIG. 202. — JENI-CI.NS PHANT.\SCOPE.
surprises of the Nineteenth Century have been so many and so astounding,
and the principles of this invention are so far correct, that it would be
dogmatic to say that this hope may not be realized.
To the sum total of human knowledge no department of science has
contributed more than that of optics. With the telescope man has climbed
into the limitless space of the heavens, and ascertained the infinite vast-
ness of the universe. The flaming sun which warms and vitalizes the
world, is found more than ninety millions of miles away. The nearest fixed
stars visible to the naked eye are more than 200,000 times the distance
of the sun, and their light, traveling at the rate of 190,000 miles a second,
requires more than three years to reach us. Although so far away,
their size, distance, and constitution have been ascertained, and their move-
ments are scheduled with such accuracy that the going and coming thereof
are brought to the exactness of a railroad time table. The astronomer
predicts an eclipse, and on the minute the spheres swing into line, verify-
ing, beyond all doubt, the correctness of the laws predicated for their move-
300 THE PROGRESS OF IXI'EXTION
ments. The wonders of the telescope, the microscope, and the spectro-
scope are, however, but suggestions of what we may still expect, for
science abundantly teaches that the eye ma}- yet see what to the eye is
now invisible, and that light exists in what may now seem darkness.
Xo man may say with certainty what thought was uppermost in
Goethe's mind when, grappling in the final struggle with the King of
Terrors, he exclaimed "Mehr licht!" It may be that it was but the wish
to dispel the gathering glocm of his dimming senses, or perchance the
unfolding of an illuminated vision of a brighter threshold, but certain it
is that no words so voice the aspirations of an enlightened humanity as
that one crv of "More light !"
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 301
CHAPTER XXIV.
Photography.
Experiments of Weugevvood and Davy — Niepce's Heliography — Daguerre and
THE Daguerreotype — Fox Talbot Makes First Proofs from Negatives — Sir
John Herschel Introduces Glass Plates — The Collodion Process — Silver
AND Cakbox Prints — Ambrotypes — Emulsions — Dry Plates — The Kodak
Camera — The Plaxinotype — Photography in Colors — Panorama Cameras—
Photo-Engraving and Photo-Lithography — Half Tone Engraving.
■'.Vrt's proudest triumph is to imitate nature."
~T" Jl "T'HEX nature paints she does so with the brush of beauty.
\ /\/ dipped in the pigment of truth. The tender aftection of
1^ V a ray of Hght touches the heart of a rose, brings a blush
to its cheek, and hfe, becoming the bride of chemical affinity,
blooms into surpassing beauty and loveliness. Photography is closely
allied to nature's painting, for just as light brings into existence nature's
living beauties, so does light fix, preserve, and perpetuate these beauties
by the same subtile and n^ysterious agency of a Ciuickened chemical affin-
ity. Photography is both an art and a science, and as such is both beautiful
and true. It is an art intimately associated with the tenderest affections
of the human heart in keeping alive its precious memories. By it the
youthful sweetheart of long ago, the loving face of the departed mother,
and the cherished form of the dead child are brought back to us in
familiar presence, while our great men have become the every-day friends
and ideals of the common people. What an enrichment and satisfac-
tion it would have added to our lives if the art had been coeval with his-
tory, and all the world's exalted scenes and faces had come to us through
the camera with the knowledge of absolute truth and fidelity. But not onl_\-
in portraiture is photography a great art, for it catches the stately pose
of the mountain, the grandeur of the sea, the beauty of the forest, or
the majesty of Niagara Falls, and brings them all home to us, pven to
the vision of the bed-ridden invalid. The camera alike records the
secrets of the starry heavens and the bacteria of the microscopic world.
Hanging on the tail of a kite it photographs the face of mother earth,
and, acting quicker than the lightning, it catches and defines the path
302 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
of that erratic tiash. It plays the part of a private detective, and its
testimony in court is never douJ^ted. The architect, engineer, and ihus-
trator find it in constant requisition. By the aid of the Roentgen Rays, it
locates a buhet in a wounded soldier, and takes a picture of one's spinal
column. In fact, it sees and records things both visible and invisible,
acts with the rapidity of thought, and is never mistaken.
The art of photography, named from the two Greek words cpooros
ypaq)r) (the writing of light), is a comparatively new one, and belongs
entirely to the Nineteenth Century. It was known to the ancient alchem-
ists that "horn silver" (fused chloride of silver) would blacken on ex-
posure to ligiit, but there was neither any clear understanding of the
nature of this action, nor any application made of it prior to the year 1800.
We now know that the art of photography is dependent upon the actinic
effect of certain of the rays of the spectrum upon certain chemical salts,
notably those of silver and chromic acid, in connection with organic mat-
ter. The rays which have this effect are the blue and violet rays at one
end of the spectrum, and even invisible rays beyond the violet, the red
and yellow rays having little or no such actinic effect.
That which made photography possible for the Nineteenth Century
was the philosophical observation of Scheele, in 1777, upon the decom-
posing influence of light on the salts of silver, and the superior activity^
of the violet rays of the spectrum over the others in producing this
effect. In 1801 Ritter proved the existence of such invisible rays beyond
the violet end of the visible spectrum by the power they possessed of
blackening chloride of silver.
Earliest Application of Principles. — The first attempt to render the
blackening of silver salts by light available for artistic purposes, was
made by Wedgewood and Davy in 1802. A sheet of white paper was
saturated with a solution of nitrate of sdver, and the shadow of the figure
intended to be copied was projected upon it. Where the shadow fell the
paper remained white, while the surrounding exposed parts darkened un-
der the sun's rays. There was, however, no means of fixing sucn a
picture, and in time the white parts would also turn black.
Introduction of Camera. — The camera cbscura, a very old invention
designed for the use of artists in copying from nature, was at a very early
period brought into this art, but it was found that the chemicals em-
ployed by Wedgewood and Davy were not sufficiently sensitive to be
aflfected by its subdued light. In 1S14, however, Joseph Nicephore
. Niepce, of Chalons, invented a process that utilized the camera, and which
was called "Heliography," or sun drawing. In 1827 he discarded the
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 303
use of silver salts, and employed a resin known as "Bitumen of Judea"'
i^asphaltum). A plate was coated with a solution of this resin and ex-
posed. The light acting upon the plate rendered the resin insoluble where
exposed, and left it soluble under the shadows. Hence, when treated with
an oleaginous solvent the shadows dissolved out, and the lights, repre-
sented by the undissolved resin, formed a picture, which was in reality
a permanent negative. The process, however, was slow, requiring some
hours.
The Daguerreotype. — In 1829 Niepce and Daguerre became partners,
and in 1839, after the death of the elder Niepce, the process named after
Daguerre was perfected (British patent No. 8, 194, of 1839). He abandoned
the resin as a sensitive material, and went back to the salts of silver. He
employed a polished silver surfaced plate, and exposed it to the action of
the vapors of iodine, so as to form a layer of iodide of silver upon the
surface, which rendered it very sensitive. By a short exposure in the
camera an effect was produced, not visible to the eye, but appearing
when the plate was subjected to the vapor of mercury. This process
reduced the time required from hours to minutes, and as it involved the
production of a latent image, which was subsequently developed by a
chemical agent, it represented practically the beginning of the photo-
graphic art as practiced to-day. Daguerre sought also to permanently
fix his pictures, but this was accomplished only imperfectly until 1839,
when Sir John Herschel made known the properties of the hyposulphites
for dissolving the salts of silver. In 1844 Hunt introduced the proto-
sulphate of iron as a developer.
Production of Posithe Proofs from Negatk'cs. — This was first done
by Mr. Fox Talbot, of England, between 1834 and 1839. In his first
communication to the Royal Society, in January, 1839, it was directed
that the paper should be dipped first in a solution of chloride of sodium,
and then in nitrate of silver, which, by reaction, produced, on the face
of the paper, chloride of silver,' which was more sensitive to the light
than nitrate of silver. The ofiject to be reproduced was laid in contact
with the prepared paper, and exposed to the light until a copy was
produced which was a negative, having the lights and shadows reversed.
A second sheet was then prepared, and the first or negative impression
was laid upon it, and used as a stencil to produce a second print which,
by a reversal of the lights and shadows, formed an exact reproduction
of the original. In 1841, British patent No. 8,842 was obtained by Mr.
Talbot, for what he called the "Calotype," and which was afterward
known as the "Talbotype." A ■•'•.eet of paper was first coated with iodide
304 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
of silver, by soaking it alternately in iodide of potassium and nitrate
of silver, and was then washed with a solution of gallic acid containing
nitrate of silver, by which the sensitiveness to light was increased. An
exposure of some seconds or minutes, according to the brightness of the
light, produced an impression upon the plate, which, when treated with
a fresh portion of gallic acid and nitrate of silver, developed into the
image. After being fixed it formed a negative from which any num-
ber of prints might be obtained. The Talbot process represented a great
advance in this art. Glass plates to retain the sensitive film were in-
troduced by Sir John Herschel in 1839, and were a great improvement
over the paper negatives, which latter, from lack of transparency and
uniformity in texture, had prevented fine definition and sharpness of
outline. Blue printing was also invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842,
and he was the first to apply the term "negative" in photography. In
1848 M. Xiepce de St. Victor, a nephevif of Daguerre's former partner,
applied to the glass a film of albumen to receive the sensitive silver coating.
Collodion Process. — The most important step in the preparation of the
negative was the application of collodion. This is a solution of pyroxilin
in ether and alcohol, which rapidly evaporates and leaves a thin film adher-
ing to the glass. M. Le Gray, of Paris, was the first to suggest collodion for
this purpose, but Mr. Scott Archer, of London, in 1851, was the first to
carry it out practically. A clean plate of glass is coated with collodion
sensitized with iodides of potassium, etc., and is then immersed in a solu-
tion of nitrate of silver. Metallic silver takes the place of potassium,
forming insoluble iodide of silver on the film. The plate is then exposed
and the latent image developed by an aqueous solution of pyrogallic acid,
or protosulphate of iron. When sufficiently developed, the plate is
washed, and the image fixed by dissolving the unacted-upon iodide of
silver with a solution of cyanide of potassium or hyposulphite of soda.
This completed the negative or stencil from which the positives are printed
by passing rays of light through it upon sensitive paper.
The Aiitbrotype succeeded the Daguerreotype, and was produced by
making a very thin negative by under exposure on glass, using the col-
lodion process, and, after drying, backing" the glass with black asphaltum
varnish or black velvet, causing the dense portions of the negative to
appear white by reflected light, and the transparent portions black. Such
pictures were quickly made, and were much in vogue forty years ago. but
are now obsolete. A modification of the ambrotype, however, still sur-
vives in what is known as the "tin-type" or "ferro-type." In the tin-
type the collodion picture is made directly upon a very thin iron plate,
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 305
covered with Ijlack enamel, which Ijoth protects the plate from the action
of the chemicals in the bath, and forms the equivalent of the black back-
ground of the ambrotype.
Silver Printing. — A sheet of paper, previousl_\- treated with a solution
of chloride of sodium and dried, is sensitized in an alkaline bath of nitrate
of silver. When the paper is exposed under a negative, the light through
the transparent parts of the negative reduces the silver, converting the
chloride, it is supposed, into a metallic sub-chloride of silver which be-
comes dark or black, and constitutes the main portion of the picture.
The image is then fixed by dissolving out the chloride of silver unaltered
by light in a bath of hyposulphite of soda. After fixation, the image is
well washed in several changes of water to eliminate all traces of the
hyposulphite of soda and prevent the subsequent fading of the darkened
portions of the picture and the yellowing of the whites. If the printed
image is immediatel_\- fixed, it will have a red color. To avoid this it is
washed first in water and then immersed in a chloride of gold toning bath
and fixed.
The Platinotyl^c Process is one in which potassium chloroplatinite and
ferric oxalate are converted by light into the ferrous state, and metallic
platinum is reduced when in contact with the ferrous oxalate of potash
solution. The unacted upon portions are dissolved out by dilute hydro-
chloric acid, leaving a black permanent image. This process is character-
ized b}' simplicity, sensitiveness in action, permanence of print, and a
peculiarh- soft and artistic quality in the picture. British Patent No. 2,011,
of 1873, ^o Willis, is the first disclosure of the platinotype.
Carbon Printing is a process in which lampblack or other indestructible
pigment is mixed with the chemicals to render the photograph more stable
against fading from the gradual decomposition of its elements. Mungo
Ponton, in 1S38, discovered the sensitive quality of potassium bichromate,
which led up to carbon printing. Becquerel and Poitevin, in Paris, in 1855,
were the first to experiment in this direction, and Fargier, Swan, and
Johnson were successors who made valuable contributions.
Eninlsions. — A photographic emulsion is a viscous liquid, such as col-
lodion or a solution of gelatine, containing a sensitive silver salt with
which the glass plate is at once coated, instead of coating the plate with
collodion or gelatine, and then immersing it in a sensitizing bath. The de-
sirability of emulsions was recognized as early as 1850 by Gustave Le
Grav, and in 1853 by Gaudin. Collodion emulsion with bromide of silver
was invented by Sayce and made known in 1864. In 1871 Maddox pub-
lished his first notice of gelatine emulsion, and in 1873 the gelatine emul-
306 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
sions of Burgess were advertised for sale. In 1878 Mr. Charles Bennett
brought out gelatino-broniide emulsion of extreme sensitiveness, by the
application of heat, and from this time gelatine began to supersede all
other organic media.
Dry Plates were a great improvement over the old wet process, with
its tray for baths, its bottles of chemicals, and other accessories. Espe-
cially was this the case with out of door work, which heretofore had in-
volved the carr\"ing along of much unwieldy and inconvenient parapher-
nalia. With the dry plate process only the camera and the plates were
needed, and this step marks the beginning of the spread of the art among
amateurs, and the great snap-shot era of photography, growing into a dis-
tinct movement about the year 1888, has since spread over the entire
world. The first practical dry plate process (collodion-albumen) was
published in 1855 by Dr. J. JNI. Taupenot, a French scientist. Russell, in
1862; Sayce, in 1864; Captain Abney, for photographing the transit of
Venus in 1874; Rev. Canon Beechey, of England, in 1875; Prof. John W.
Draper, of the University of New York, and the Eastman Walker Com-
pany, of Rochester, were the chief promoters of dry plate photography.
The practical introduction began about 1862 with the application of the
alkaline developer.
The progress of the photographic art may be appro.ximately noted as
follows :
Process. Time Required. Introduced.
Heliography 6 hours' exposure 18 14
Daguerreotype 30 minutes' exposure 1839
Calotype or Talbo'ype 3 minutes' exposure 1841
Collodion process 10 seconds' exposure 185 1
Collodion emulsion (dry plate) . .15 seconds' exposure 1864
Gelatine emulsion (dry plate) . . i second e.xposure 1878
Mechanical Development. — The photographic camera is but an adap-
tation of the optical principles of the old camera obscura, which has been
credited to various persons, including Roger Bacon in 1297, Baptista
Porta about 1569, and others. The essential elements of the camera obscura
are a dark chamber, having in one end a perforation containing a lens, and
opposite it on the back of the chamber a screen upon which an image of
the object is projected by the lens for the purpose of enabling it to be
directly traced by a pencil. The photographic camera, introduced by
Daguerre in 1839, adds to the camera obscura some means for adjusting
the distance between the lens and the screen on which the image falls.
This was accomplished by making the dark chamber adjustable in length
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
307
by forming it in two telescopic sections sliding over each other, and in
later years by the well-known bellows arrangement. A luminous
image of any object placed in front of the lens is thrown in an inverted
position upon the screen, which is of ground glass, to permit the image
to be seen in focusing. When the proper focus on this ground glass is
obtained a sensitive plate is put in the plane of this screen to receive the
image.
It is not possible to trace all the steps of development of the camera
which have brought it to its present perfection. Most of the improve-
ments have had relation to the lens in correcting chromatic and spherical
FIG. 203. — KODAK.
aberration, and in shutters for regulating exposure, in stops for shutting-
out the oblique rays and holders for the sensitive plate.
The "Iris" shutter, so-called from its resemblance in function to the
iris of the eye, consists of a series of tangentially arranged plates which
open or close a central opening symmetrically from all sides.
The ordinary camera of the photographic artist is too familiar an
object to require special illustration. It has been looked into by the rich
and the poor, and the high and the low, all over the whole world. Be-
tween the traveling outfit, and the "look pleasant, please!' of the peri-
patetic artist, and the handsome studios of the cities, it is hard to find an
308
THE PROGRESS OF INTENTION
individual in the civilized world who has not posed before its lens.
Through its agency the great man of the da}' has found himself in evi-
dence everywhere ; the country maiden has many times experienced the
delicious thrill of satisfied vanity as she posed before it, and the super-
stitious savage is paralyzed with fear lest the mysterious thing should
steal his soul.
In 1851 the first instantaneous views were made by jVIr. Cady and Mr.
Beckers, of New York, and also by Mr. Talbot, who employed as a flash
light a spark from a Leyden jar. In 1864 magnesium light was employed
by 3,Ir. Brothers, of Manchester, for photographic purposes, and about
FIG, 204. — FOLDING KODAK,
1876-8 Van der VVeyde made use of the electric light for the same purpose.
The roller slide, or roll film, was invented by A. J. Melhuish, in Eng-
land, in 1854 (British patent No. 1,139, of 1854). The films were, how-
ever, of paper. In 1856 Norris produced sensitized dry films of collodion
or gelatine (British patent No. 2,029, of 1856). In later years apparatus
for utilizing the roll film has been greatly improved and extensively ap-
plied by Eastman, Walker & Co., of Rochester, N. Y.
About 1888 a new thing in the photographic world made its appear-
ance. It was a little black leather-covered rectangular box, about six
inches long, with a sort of blind eye at one end closed by a cylindrical
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
3C9
shutter, substantially as seen in Fig. 203. This shutter was woimcl up
by a spring operated by a pull cord. In the back of the box was a film or
ribbon of sensitized paper wound upon one spool, and unwinding there-
from and winding onto another spool, and being distended as it passed
so as to form a flat surface which was directly in rear of the lens. A
thumb piece or key on the top, and a push button on the side, were the
only suggestions of the operative mechanism within. When the button
was pressed the shutter for an instant passed from in front of the lens,
and as quickly covered it again, but in this brief interval an image had
been flashed upon the sensitive riljbon or film, and a snap-shot picture was
taken. By a simple movement of the thumb piece or key, the receiving
roll was made to take up the exposed section of the sensitive film and bring
another section into the range of the lens, for a repetition of the opera-
tion. This little instrument was slung in a case looking like a cartridge
box, and its sensitive roll was able to receive 100 successive pictures.
When the roll was exhausted, it was removed and developed in a dark
room. The device was placed upon the market by the Eastman Company,
and it was called the "Kodak." The advertisment of the company, that
"You press the button and we do the rest," was soon realized to be
founded in fact, and in a short while the great era of snap-shot photog-
raphy had set in. To-day this form of camera is a part of the luggage of
every tourist, traveler, scientist, and dilletante. In fact, it has become the
familiar scientific toy of man, woman, and
child, interesting, instructive, and useful to
all. In Fig. 204 is shown a modern form of
Kodak, which is made in various sizes and is
foldable for compact and convenient porta-
bility.
A very convenient and useful development
in films is to be foimd in the cartridge sys-
tem, by which the film may be placed in and
removed from the camera in broad daylight.
The film has throughout its length a backing
of black paper which extends far enough
beyond the ends of the film to allow it to be
unwound, so far, in making connection with the roll holder, without ex-
posing the film to light, and also to allow it to be removed without ex-
posure to light, after all the exposures have been made.
Among the many other ingenious and useful hand cameras may b,e
mentioned the "Premo," made by the Rochester Optical Company, and
FIG. 205. — H.-\ND PREMO.
310
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
STEREOSCOPIC CAMERA.
shown in Fig. 205. The "Premo" is arranged for either snap-shot or
time exposure, is adapted to be either held in the hand or mounted upon a
tripod, and is furnished for use either with glass plates or roll films. In
Fig. 206 is shown the "Premo" for stereoscopic work, in which two pict-
ures are tal<en at once, a sufficient distance from each other to produce the
effect of binocular vision and give the appearance of relief when viewed
through the stereoscope. Brett's British patent No. 1,629, of 1853, ap-
pears to be the earliest description of a stereoscopic camera.
There have been 2,000 United
States patents granted in photography,
most of which have been taken in the
past thirty years, and great efficiency
and detail in both the chemical and
mechanical branches of the art have
been obtained.
The useful applications of the art
have been numerous and varied. Por-
trait making is probably the largest
field. This was first successfully
accomplished in 1839 by Professor Morse, of telegraph fame, working
with Prof. John W. Draper, of the University of New York.
Celestial Photography began with Prof. Draper's photograph of the
moon in March, 1840, and Prof. Bond, of Cambridge, Mass., in 1851.
In 1872 Prof. Draper photographed the spectra of the stars, and in 1880-
81 the nebulje of Orion, and in 1887 the Photographic Congress of Astron-
omers of the World, organized in Paris, began the work of photograph-
ing the entire heavens. In late years notable work has been done at the
Lick Observatory by Prof. Flolden. In 1861 Mr. Thompson, of Wey-
mouth, photographed the bottom of the sea, and Prof. O. N. Rood, of
Troy, N. Y., the same year described his application of it to the micro-
scope. In 1871 criminals were ordered to be photographed in England,
and in America the Rogues' Gallery became an institution in New York as
early as 1857, ambrotypes being first used. In 1876 the Adams Cabinet
for holding and displaying the photos was invented. To-day the New
York collection amounts to nearly 30,000, while that of the National
Bureau of Identification at Chicago approximates 100,000. It is a strik-
ing illustration of the law of compensation that the counterfeiter who
invokes the aid of photography to copy a bank note is, by the same
agency of his photo in the Rogues' Gallery, identified and convicted.
Photography in Colors has been the goal of artists and scientists in
IX THE KIXETEEXTH CEXTURY.
311
this field for many years. Robt. Hunt, in England, in 1843, ^'^^ Edmond
Becquerel, in France, in 1848, made evanescent photographs in colors, but
little progress was made until about the last decade of the Nineteenth
Century. Franz "V'eress in 1890, F. E. Ives (United .States patent No. 432,-
530, July 22, 1890), W. Kurtz (United States patent No. 498,396, May
30, 1893), Gabriel Lippmann in 1892 and 1896, Ives in 1892, M. Lumiere
in 1893, Dr. Joly in 1895, M. V'illedien Chassagne, and Dr. Adrien, M.
Dansac and M. Bennetto, all in 1897, represent active workers in this field.
Among recent developments of the camera may be mentioned the wide
angle lens, which permits larger images to be made on the plate from small
-■--.!? !."A '-^-*'^aB|tt^^&amiii
1gggtg%
wM
■■1
■
■naasHBi
^^^
SSSSSi. .
' ■ .
^
M.
^
-./cJ~yi \._ -
^^
f 1
1
■
w
''^^'H
^iSkE
Q
HH
w^^
^
I
"
^gj^^^^^g
■
FIG. 207. — PANORAM-KODAK.
near-by objects, and the telephotographic camera, which gives a large
image of remote objects, such as an enemy's fort, and the panorama cam-
era, which is designed to cover a broad field. For this purpose the lens is
movably mounted for a semi-circular swing, and the image is flashed
across a curved film, in the case. The Eastman Panoram-Kodak. seen in
Fig. 207, is an external illustration of this type, and in Fig. 207A is shown
a sectional view of another make of panorama camera which clearly shows
the internal construction.
As allied branches of the photographic art. photo-engraving, photo-
lithographing, and half-tone engraving are important developments of the
Nineteenth Century.
312
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
Photo-engraving is a process l)y means of which photographs mav be
used in forming plates from which prints in ink can be taken. The process
depends upon the property possessed by bichromate of potassium, and
other chemicals, of rendering insoluljle under the action of light, gelatine
Of some similar sul)stance. A picture is thus produced on a metal plate,
and the blank spaces are etched out by acid, leaving tlie lines in relief as
printing surfaces. When the operation is reversed, and only the darks are
etched in intaglio, to be filled with ink, as in copper-plate engraving, it is
called photo-gravure. Mungo Ponton, in 1839, discovered the sensitive
quality of a sheet of paper treated with bichromate of potash. In 1S40
.Becc|uerel discovered that the sizing had an important function, and Fox
Talbot, in 1853, dis-
covered and utilized
the insolubility of gel-
atine exposed to light
in presence of bichro-
mate of potash. In
1854 Paul Pretsch ob-
served that the ex-
posed parts of the gel-
atine did not swell in
water. One of the
first suggestions of
photo-engraving ap-
pears in the British
patent No. 13,73(1. of
1 85 1, of James Palmer. In recent times great perfection in details has
been obtained by Mr. Moss, of the Photo-Engraving Company, and others.
The Albert-type and Woodbury-type are early modifications of this art.
In photo-lithography the photograph is transferred to the stone, and
the latter then used to print from, as in lithography. The operation con-
sists: [, in making the photographic negative; 2, printing with it upon
transfer paper coated with gelatine and bichromate of potash ; 3, the
transfer paper is then given a coat of insoluble fatty transfer ink from an
inking stone ; 4, all ink on surfaces not reached by the light being on a
soluble surface is washed off, leaving the insoluble lines acted upon by
light forming the picture; 5, the washed transfer sheet is then applied to
the stone, and the remaining inked lines of the design are transferred to the
stone ; 6, the stone with transferred lines will now receive ink from the ink
rolls on these lines, and repels inl< from all other surfaces, which latter are
FIG. 207A. — tECTIONAI, PLAN OF PANORAMIC CAMERA.
7.V THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
313
made repellent by being kept constantly wet, as in ordinary lithography.
The first attempts in this art were by Dixon, of Jersey City, and Lewis, of
Dublin, in 1841, who used resins. Joseph Dixon, in 1854, was the first to
use organic matter and bichromate of potash upon stone to produce a
photo-lithograph. In 1859 J- W. Osborne patented in Austraha, and in
1861 in the United States, a transfer process which gave such great im-
petus to the art that he may be considered its founder and chief promotor.
.His United States patents are No. 32,668, June 25, 1861, and No. 33,172,
August 27, 1 86 1.
For photo-lithography only line drawing, type print, or script, without
any smooth shading, can be employed. The most extensive application
FIG. 208. — PHOTOGRAPH GALLERY.
of photo-lithography is in the reproduction of the Patent Of^ce drawings,
which amount to about 60,000 sheets weekly. The contracting firm,
which is probably the largest in the world, also prints each week by photo-
lithography 7,000 copies of the Patent Offi.ce Gazette, of about 165 pages
each, including both drawings and claims, and also reproduces specifica-
tions without errors or proof reading, thus saving about 200 per cent, in
cost over type setting. This art is also largely employed for printing maps,
and the reproduction of the pages of books by this process has flooded the
stores and news stands with cheap literature.
314
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
Half-ttmc engraving enables a photograph to be reproduced on a print-
ing press, and for faithfulness in reproduction and low cost has revolution-
ized the art of illustrating, as nearly all books, magazines, and newspapers
are now illustrated by this process. Before its introduction it was not pos-
sible to reproduce cheaply in printers' ink shaded pictures like photo-
graphs, brush drawings, paintings, etc. Half-tone engraving renders it
possible to thus print on a press, with printers' ink, reproductions 'of
photographs or any shaded picture, in which the soft shadows fade away
in depth to white by an imperceptible tenuity. It does so by breaking up
^vK^XV,.
FIC. 209. — DIAGRAM SHOWING PRODUCTION OF DOT.
the soft shadows into minute stipples which form inkahle printing faces
in relief, by the interposition of a fine reticulated screen between the
camera lens and the sensitive plate. This forms a sort of stencil negative
through which the copper plate is etched, which latter is thus converted
into a relief plate whose raised surfaces left by the etching may receive
ink and print like an ordinary relief plate. By making the screen lines
very fine (80 to 250 meshes to the inch), the visible effect of the shading
is so far preserved that the photograph may be reproduced in printers'
ink with but little depreciation. At first, bolting cloth was used for
the screen, but at present two glass plates, with closely ruled lines,
laid crosswise upon each other, form the screen. A character-
istic distinction of half-tone work is the regularly stippled surface, formed
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
315
by the stenciling out of a portion of the picture by the screen, which
may be easily seen with any magnifying glass. It is called half-tone
process because half of the tones or shadows are preserved, the
other half being stenciled out. The
use of gauze screens was first de-
scribed by Fox Talbot in British
patent No. 565, October 29, 1852.
Tn the making of a half-tone neg-
ative, the photograph, painting, or
wash drawing which is to be repro-
duced, is set up in front of the cam-
era, which is arranged on an in-
clined runway, as seen in Fig. 208,
and an exposure is made on a plate
prepared by the wet collodion pro-
cess (see page 304). The shadows
of the picture are broken up into
stipples or dots by the interposition
of a cross-lined screen arranged in
the plate holder between the lens
and the sensitive plate, so that the
picture taken is "half-toned" or stippled. Fig. 209 illustrates the relation
of the parts, in which the picture to be copied is seen on the right,
the camera lens in
the middle, and the
cross-lined screen
on the left in front
of the sensitive
plate.
The image on the
plate is then devel-
oped and fixed, and
in order to secure a
printed image ex-
actly like the copy
as to right and left
position it is neces-
sary to reverse the
negative. This is
STRIPPING FILM. doue by cutting the
FIG. 210. — TRIMMING FILM.
316
THE PROGRESS OF INTENTION
film square, as seen in Fig. 210, and then peeling it off the glass, as seen at
Fig. 211, and transferring it to another glass plate in reversed relation.
The copper printing plate is produced as follows : The plate is first pol-
ished, as seen at the top of Fig. 213, and is then sensitized with a solution
of organic matter and an alkaline bichromate. The face of the reversed
negative is laid flat against and in direct contact with the face of the sensi-
tized copper plate, and tightly held thereto by the screw clamps of the half
tone printing frame. The printing on the sensitized copper face through
the stippled or half-tone negative is then effected either by day-
light or by the electric light. The application of the electric light for
this purpose is shown in Fig. 212. The copper plate is then taken
out and subjected to the three lower operations seen in Fig. 213. It
is first developed ynder a stream of water from a faucet, seen on the left,
and is then taken in a pair of
pliers and held over a gas stove,
as seen at the bottom, to "burn-
FIG, 212. — PRINTING BY ELECTRIC LIGHT.
in" the image, and then placed in a tray containing an etching bath of
chloride of iron seen on the right, by which the copper is eaten away
around the little stipples, and the latter, representing the half tones of the
original picture, are left raised, or in relief, to form the inkable surfaces of
the printing plate. So fine are these stipples, however, that the picture is
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTl'R}\
317
to the eye perfectly reproduced. The several views illustrating this
process are made in this way, the lines of the reticulated screen being 175
^
to the inch. The plate is next subjected to the mechanical operation of
"routing out" or cutting away the undesirable portions by a routing
machine, seen in Fig. 214. It then receives further mechanical treatment
318
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
to correct imperfections and finish its edges, and is finally mounted upon a
block ready for the printer.
The most striking application made of photography in recent years
is in the production of so-called moving pictures, in which a series of
photographic figures thrown upon the screen have all the motion of ani-
mated scenes which have been caught and imprisoned by the swiftlv
FIG. 214. — ROUTER AT WORK ON H-\LF-TOXE PLATE.
acting and never failing memory of the camera, to be again turned loose
in active play through the Kinetoscope or Biograph. Perhaps the
most valuable contribution to science at the end of the century made by
this art is in surgery, for photographing through opaque bodies b)" the
aid of the Roentgen rays, but for the latter subjects treatment in separate
chapters must be reserved.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 319
CHAPTER XXV. j
The Roentgen or X-Rays.
Geissler Tubes — Vacuum Tubes of Crookes, Hittorf and Lenard — The Cathode
Ray — Roentgen's Great Discovery in 1895 — X-Ray Apparatus — Salvioni's
Cryptoscope — Edison's Fluoroscope — The Fluorometer — Sun Burn from X-
Rays — Uses of X-Rays.
THE majority of people have been accustomed to regard light
as something to be excluded and controlled by opaque screens
just as effectively as rain is exclitded by a tin roof, or cold is
kept out by a brick wall. The shady retreat furnished relief
from the garish day to the primitive man, and the opaque shades and
\'enetian blinds of modern civilization exclude the excess of light at our
windows. Sunshine and shadow have, in fact, been correlated conditions
to the ordinary observation of man since time began. The last few years
of the Nineteenth Century, however, were to witness the discovery of a
new kind of light ray which, in its behavior, subverted all previous con-
ception of the nature and action of light. It was a species of electric
light, which we are accustomed to regard as brilliant, but this light ray
was invisible to the eye. It could not be refracted or bent from its course
bv a prism or lens, and it was so subtle, penetrating and insidious, that
it could not be barred out like sunlight, but passed readily through many
opaque substances, such as wood, flesh tisstie, paper (even a book of
1,000 pages), as well as some of the metals. The lighter the weight of
the substance, or less its density, the easier these rays passed through it,
or the more transparent such bodies were to the rays. The heavier
metals, like platinum, gold and lead, were practically opaque, or allowed
none of the rays to pass through them, while the very light metal alu-
minum was about as transparent to these rays as was glass to ordinary
light, and for that reason this metal could form window panes for such
rays, while excluding other light. Most organic stibstances are trans-
parent or semi-transparent to these rays, and hence such rays readily
pass through the body of an individual, being only intercepted in part
by the denser parts of the anatomy, such as the bones, so that a man
in such light no longer casts a well-defined shadow of his outline, but
320 THE PROGRESS OF I WENT ION
the shadow disclosed is that of a skeleton, by virtue of the greater
density of the bones. Any object of higher density, such as a ring upon
the finger, clearly establishes its shadow by virtue of its greater density.
Likewise, any foreign object in the body, such as a bullet from a gun-shot
v/ound, or a foreign body accidentally swallowed, is perfectly disclosed
and located by the shadow which it casts. As these light rays have been
characterized as invisible, it may be difficult to understand how invisible
rays can cast a visible shadow, and it should be here stated that when
these unseen rays fall upon certain chemical substances the latter are
made to glow with a peculiar fluorescence, and a screen made of such
fluorescing materials will light up where the rays fall upon it, and re-
main dark at the points where the rays are intercepted by a substance
opaque to such rays, thus outlining a shadow.
Not only do these light rays in passing through the body tissues
(transparent to them) cast a shadow of the bones or any foreign objects,
but by the application of photography to these shadow pictures a species
of photograph, called a radiograph, or skiagraph, may be taken, and thus
any foreign body, such as a bullet, may be definitely located in the human
body and quickly extracted, without the element of doubt which beset the
old method of diagnosis, which, at best, was only intelligent guessing.
Xot only are foreign bodies so located, but the fractures of the bones
may also be accurately observed, studied and adjusted. Stone in the
bladder may be discovered, and the condition and movernents of the heart
Tind lungs ascertained.
This new kind of light ray was discovered November 8, 1895, by
Prof. W. C. Roentgen, of the Royal University of Wurzburg, and was
named b}' him the ''X-Ray," probably because the letter x in algebraic
fornuila represents the unknown quantity, and the hitherto unknown and
elusive quality of this light suggested to Prof. Roentgen this appropriate
name.
-Vs before stated, a peculiar qualitv of the X-Rays is that they are not
visible to the eye. A beam of X-Rays, thrown into a dark chamber
through an aluminum window, would produce no illumination whatever
in the room, but such rays would still penetrate the room, and if a
fluorescing screen were placed in their path it would instantly light up.
It is not surprising, therefore, that these suljtle rays should have so long
eluded the observation of the scientist.
.-V brief sketch of the conditions leading up to the discovery of the
rays is necessary to a proper imderstanding of the same.
Every sturlent of physics remembers the old-time lecture room ex-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
321
periments in which the Geissler tubes, with their beautiful play of colored
lights, illustrated the action of the electrical discharge from the glass
plate machine or the Ruhmkorft coil, on rarified gaseous media. Elec-
trical experiments in high vacua by Sir William Crookes, and by Hittorf
and Lenard, have greatly added to the present knowledge in this field,
and paved the way to the discovery of Prof. Roentgen. It was knov^fn
that a vacuum tube, variously called after the names of these scientists, as
a Crookes, Hittorf, or Lenard tube, having platinum electrodes sealed in
its ends, would, under the static discharge of electricity through it, give
peculiar manifestations of light. One of the conducting terminals of
such tubes was called, in electrical parlance, the "anode," from the Greek
ava (up) oSo? (way), meaning the way up or into the tube, and
referring to the entering path of an electric current, or its positive pole :
while the other was called the "cathode," from Kara (down), odoz
(way), meaning the way down or out, and referring to the outgoing
path of an electric current, or its negative pole. When such glass tube,
partially exhausted of air, received through its anode and cathode termi-
nals a discharge of static electricity, a peculiar manifestation of light is
seen between the anode and cathode terminals. At the anode it appears
as a peach blossom glow,
and at the cathode it ap-
pears as a bluish green
light. If the exhaustion
of the air in the tube
is carried very high, ap-
proaching a perfect
vacuum, or to about one
millionth of the atmos-
pheric pressure, the glow
light at the anode disap-
pears, and that at the
cathode increases until it
fills the entire tube with
its characteristic light.
This is called the "cathode ray," or "cathodic ray," an illustration of which
IS given in Fig. 215, where the cathode ray is seen in a Crookes tube ema-
nating from the negative pole X or cathode a, and casting a shadow of
the }ilaltese cross b into the end of the tube, as seen at d. Many of the
characteristics of the cathode ray had been observed prior to Prof.
Roentgen's discovery, which, briefly stated, grew out of the following
FIG. 215. — THE CATHODE R.^Y.
322
THE PROGRESS OE INrENTION
observation : He noticed that when a vacuum tube ilUmiined by the
cathode ray was completely masked or covered up by an external shield
of black paper, so that no illumination of the tube was visible to the eye,
there still passed through it certain subtle rays of light, invisible to the
eye, but which would instantly illuminate a sheet of paper coated on one
side with barium platino-cyanide, even at a distance of two yards or
more, and that these invisible light rays were capable of passing through
many substances opat]ue to ordinary light. He also discovered that these
rays could be made to take a shadow photograph on a sensitive plate
without even exposing the plate in the usual way, the X-Rays passing
freely through the opaque ebonite or pasteboard screen of the plate
holder. It did not take the scientific world long to realize the immense
importance of this discovery, and to-day X-Ray apparatus constitutes
the greatest addition to the surgeon's resources that has ever been made
in the form of mechanical appliances, since by its aid any foreign body
in the human frame of greater density than the flesh may be at once
definitely located and extracted, or any fracture of the bone disclosed, as
the case may be. Tn the illustration. Fig. 216, is shown an X-Ray
FIG. 216. — X-RAY PHOTO OF HAND, SHOWING DISEASED THUMD BONE.
photograph of the hand of a gentleman whose thumb bone has been de-
stroyed by disease.
Soon after the announcement of Prof. Roentgen's discovery, ap-
paratus was devised for seeing with the naked eye the image formed by
the shadow of the X-Ravs. Prof. Salvioni constructed such a device and
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
323
described it before the Rome Medical Society as early as February 8,
1896. He called it the "cryptoscope." It was quite a simple affair, and
consisted of an observation tube with a lens, having in front of it a screen
of fluorescing material, such as platino-cyanide of barium. When the
object to be examined, the hand, for instance, was held in front of the
fluorescing screen, and the X-Rays from the vacuum tube fell upon the
hand, located between the vacuum tube and the fluorescing screen, a
shadow of the bones was cast on the fluorescing screen by virtue of the
greater density of the bones, which shadow was clearly discernible to
the eye at the end of the observation tube. By this device one was able
FIG. 217. — EDISON S SURGEON S X-R.AY APPARATUS.
10 see his own bones through the flesh. A device, invented by Edison and
called the "fluoroscope," was constructed on substantially the same prin-
ciple. This used a tapered observation tube like the old-fashioned stereo-
scope box, which had at its outer
wide end the fluorescing screen, and
324 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
its small end fashioned to fit the forehead and strapped thereto so as to
enclose both eyes. This device is shown in Fig. 217, in which an X-Ray
vacuum tube is housed in a wooden box, on which the hand of the pa-
tient, or other part to be viewed, is laid, the X-Rays passing readily
through the top of the box and casting a shadow of the bones of the
hand, or foreign body, on the fluorescing screen of the observation tube.
Edison's experiments also led him in constructing his fluorescing screen,
after testing a great number of substances, to select the chemical known
as calcium tungstate, instead of the barium platino-cyanide, since the
calcium tungstate appeared to give better results in fluorescing. Many
other chemicals can be used, however, for making the fluorescing screen,
such as the sulphides of calcium, barium and strontium. A recently dis-
covered and powerful fluorescing substance is the double fluoride of am-
monium and uranium, discovered by Dr. Mecklebeke. Such fluorescing
materials are spread in a thin layer on the side of the screen next to the
observer in the viewing apparatus.
It is not to be understood that such viewing apparatus is necessary
in taking a surgical photograph. In such case only the X-Ray tube,
means for exciting it, the patient's body, and the sensitive photographic
plate, are essential factors, the patient's limb or body being interposed
between the light tube and photographic plate, so as to cause the X-Rays
emanating from the tulje to cast the shadow of the patient's l^ones, the
bullet in his body, or other foreign object, directly upon the photographic
plate, the sensitive and conscious plate obeying the will of these subtle
rays, and receiving the impress of their actinic effect under conditions
which it denies to ordinary light.
For exciting the vacuum tube any electrical machine capable of
throwing a series of sparks across a gap of al)out five inches is sufficient.
Various electrical machines may be used for this purpose, the Holtz, or
the W'inishurst glass plate machine, the Ruhmkorfl", or induction coil, or
even the high frequency transformer. A good example of a complete
X-Ray apparatus is that in use at the Army Medical Museum at Wash-
ington, made by Otis Clapp & Son, and shown in Fig. 218. The electrical
generator is of the Wimshurst type, and is shown in a large glass-enclosed
cabinet on the right. The glass disks within are rotated either by a small
electric motor shown on the floor, or by a hand crank above. The X-Ray
tube, of globular or bulb shape, is shown just above the patient's hip, and
its opposite poles are connected by wires to the opposite electrodes of
the generator. When the currrent is switched on by the operator, the
bull) is illuminated with the cathode rays, and the X-Rays, proceeding
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
325
therefrom through the clothhig and flesh of the patient, cast a shadow
of the patient's hip joint upon the photographic plate placed on the cot
l)eneath the patient.
326
THE PROGRESS OF INTENTION
In the effort to secure greater sharpness in the image cast by the X-
Rays, various forms of vacuum tubes have been devised. That shown in
Fig. 219 represents one of the most important improvements. K is the
cathode plate, formed of a concave disk of aluminum, which focuses the
rays at a point near the center of the bulb. At this point a plate of plati-
num A, which metal allows practically none of the X-Rays to pass through
it,- is mounted on the anode in such an angular position that it gathers the
FIG. 219. — X-EAV. FOCUS TUBE.
focused rays and reflects them through the side ,of the tube. They thus
make a sharper shadow than when radiating from the more extended sur-
face of the glass.
In Fig. 220 is shown an X-Ray tube, as applied for locating a
foreign body in the brain cavity, in which view the patient's head is
interposed between the X-Ray tube and the fluorescing screen, or photo-
graphic plate, as the case may be; while Fig. 221 shows the applica-
tion of the same devices to the body. In both these views the par-
ticular form of X-Ray apparatus is known as the "Fluorometer," made
under the Dennis Patent, No. 581,540, April 27, 1897, and it is de-
vised with reference to more accurately locating the foreign object by
its shadow, for which purpose adjustable bracket-sights, seen in Fig. 221
on opposite sides of the body, are provided for bringing the X-Rays into
proper alignment for projecting the shadow of the foreign body in true
indicative position on the fluorescing screen, while a cross hatched grat-
ing behind the body, graduated in aliquot spaces of an inch, furnishes a
measured field, and forms an easy and quick means of platting the position
of said object. In the position of parts in the two figures the horizontal
line, on which the foreign object lies, would be determined, but it would
not indicate how deep in the object was, /. c, whether it was in the middle.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
327
or on one side. To determine tliis the fluorescing screen and grating are
placed under the patient, and the X-Ray tube above, and the vertical line
of the object is thus obtained. Both the vertical line and horizontal line
having been obtained, it will be obvious that the foreign object will lie at
the intersection of these two lines, which establishes for the surgeon its
definite location.
It has been observed by Prof. Elihu Thomson, and also by Dr. Kolle,
that the X-Rays are not absorbed and destroyed by the sensitive chemi-
FIG. 220. — LOCATING A FORECGN BODY IN THE BRAIN.
cals of a single photographic plate, but so potent and penetrating is their
influence that the rays pass through and produce an image on a number
of plates, placed one behind the other, thus affording means for multi-
plying the image at one exposure.
Among other uses of the X-Ray may be mentioned its capacity to
detect spurious from genuine gems, the diamond giving a distinct color
from its imitations, as do also most other precious stones.
A peculiar physiological efl:'ect of the X-Rays is their capacity to pro-
328
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
duce a severe effect on the skin, somewhat resembling sunburn. Such
result, produced by long and continued exposure, has sometimes so de-
ranged the skin tissues as to make sores that resulted in the entire loss
of and renewal of the skin.
The discovery of the X-Ray by Prof. Roentgen may be fairly con-
sidered one of the most wonderful scientific achievements of the centur\-.
FIG. 221. — X-RAY APPARATUS APPLIED TO THE BODY.
and his first memoir in 1895 is so full, clear and exact, as to have left
very little more to be said about it. It is to-day, as it was found by him
in 1895, the same mysterious, unseen, but positive force, a species of
elect'.ical energy without a domicile, and needing no conductor, a form
of light passing through closed doors, invisible itself, and yet lighting up
certain substances with a halo of glory, and radically changing and de-
composing others. Rivaling the sun in actinic power, and writing its
autograph with an unseen hand, it is truly called the X-, or unknown, ray.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 329
CHAPTER XXVI.
Gas Lighting.
Early Use of Natural Gas — Coal Gas Introduced by Mukdoch — Winsor Organ-
izes First Gas Company in 1804 — JNIelville in United States Lights Beaver-
Tail Lighthouse With Gas in 1817 — Lowe's Process ok Making Water Gas
— Acetylene Gas — Careuretted Air — Pintsch Gas — Gas Meter — Otto Gas
Engine — The Welsuach. Burner,
FOR many centuries the going down of the sun marked a cessa-
tion of man's labors, and among his first efforts toward in-
creasing his efficiency was the prolongation of his hours of
vision by artificial illumination. Beginning with a shell for a
lamp, a rush for a wick, and the fat of his game for oil, the first crude
lamp was made, and while it shed but a feeble and flickering light, man
ceased to go to sleep with the fowls and the beasts, and continued his
labors and amusements into the night. For many centuries the lamp held
its exclusive sway, and probably will ever find a useful place ; but with the
discovery of coal gas and its practical manufacture the nights of the
Nineteenth Century have been made to represent illuminated illustrations
of the world's progress. Coal gas can hardly be claimed as an invention,
however, for natural gas from the bowels of the earth had been observed
and used in China from time immemorial. The holy fires of Baku on the
shores of the Caspian and elsewhere were also thus supplied. The first
steps toward its artificial production began in the latter part of the Seven-
teenth Century with Dr. Cla}ton. Bishop Watson, in 1750, and Lord
Dundonald, in 1786, also experimented with combustible gas made from
coal, but the man who more than any other contributed to its practical
manufacture and introduction was Mr. Murdoch, of Redruth, Cornwall,
England. In 1792 Murdoch erected a gas distilling apparatus, and lighted
his house and offices by gas distributed through service pipes. In 1798
he so lighted the steam engine works of Boulton & Watt, at Soho, near
Birmingham ; and in '1802 made public illumination of the works by this
means on the occasion of a public celebration. In 1801 Le Bon, of Paris,
used a gas made from wood for lighting his house. In 1803-4 Frederick
330
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
Albert Winsor lighted the Lyceum Theatre, took out a British patent No.
2,764, of 1804, for lighting streets by gas, and established the National
Light and Heat Company, which was the first gas company. In 1804-5
Murdoch lighted the cotton factory of Phillips & Lee at Manchester, the
light being estimated as equal to 3,000 candles, and this was the largest
undertaking up to that date. In 1807 Winsor lighted one side of Pall
Mall, London, and this was the first street lighting. A disastrous ex-
plosion occurred shortly afterwards, and such eminent men as Sir
Humphrey Davy, WoUaston, and Watt expressed the opinion that it
could not be safely used; but the so-called "coal smoke" had come to
stay, and in 1813 Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament
were lighted with gas. In 18 15 there was general adoption of gas in the
streets of London, and shortly afterwards in Paris. In 1805-6 David
Melville, of Newport, R. I., invented a gas apparatus and lighted his
house with it. He took out United States patent March 18, 1813, and in
1817 contracted with the United States to supply for a year the Beaver
Tail .Lighthouse. In 1815 James McMurtrie proposed the lighting of
the streets of Philadelphia; Baltimore commenced the use of gas in 1816,
Boston in 1822, and New York in 1825.
In Fig. 222 is shown a diagrammatic illustration of the principal
FIG. 222. — \ COAL C.-VS PLANT.
features of a gas works, as emplo}'ed throughout the greater part of
the Nineteenth Century. On the left is seen the furnace, in which is
arranged above the fire a series of retorts, which are in the nature of
horizontal closed cast iron boxes. Onlv one of the series is visible in the
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 339
material to toughen them and prevent them from breaking in packing and
transportation.
Natural Gas. — No review of gas lighting would be complete without
some reference to the development incident to the use of the natural gas
flowing from the internal reservoirs of the earth. Such gas has been
known and utilized for centuries in China, and was conveyed by the Chi-
nese in bamboo pipes to points of utilization. The discovery of coal oil
in the United States in 1859, ^"d the great advances made in the methods
and apparatus for sinking oil wells, have restilted in the discovery of num-
erous wells of natural gas, whose values were c^uickly perceived and util-
ized by their owners. The village of Fredonia, N. Y., was probably the
first to be lighted by natural gas, and a flow from a well at West Bloom-
field, N. Y., opened in 1865, was carried in a v.'Ooden main more than
twenty miles to the city of Rochester. Many v^'ells of natural gas have
since been found at various points, and so extensive has been its use for
cooking, heating, lighting and metallurgical processes, that thousands of
patents have been taken for various forms of burners, pressure regulators
and other appliances for utilizing the same. The annual production of
natural gas in the United States for 18S8 was valued at $22,629,875.
There has, however, been a steady decrease in the past ten years. The
amount produced in 1897 was $13,826,422. The insatiable demands of
modern civilization must some day exhaust the supply, and what will take
place when the subterranean chambers are relieved of their burden is a
question for the geologists to answer.
340 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
CHAPTER XXVII.
Civil Engineering.
Great Bridges — Pneumatic Caissons — Tunnels — The Beach Tunnel Shield —
Suez Canal — Dredges — The Lidgerwood Cableway — Canal Locks — Artesian
Wells — Compressed Air Rock Drills — Blasting — Mississippi Jetties — ■
Iron and Steel Buildings — Eiffel Tower — Washington's Monument — The
United States Capitol.
ALMOST entirely of an outdoor character, and necessarily on pub-
lic exhibition, the engineering achievements of the Nineteenth
Century have always been conspicuously in evidence, challeng-
ing the admiration of the public eye. They represent man's at-
tack upon the obstacles presented by nature to his irrepressible spirit of
progress. Difficulties apparently insuperable have confronted him, only
to melt away under his persistent genius until nothing seems impossible.
He has connected continents with the telegraph, has crosshatched the
land with railroads, penetrated the bowels of the earth with artesian wells,
opened communication between oceans with the Suez Canal, reclaimed
territory from the sea in Holland, pierced mountain ranges with tunnels,
drained marshes, irrigated deserts, reared lofty structures of masonry and
steel, spanned waters with magnificent bridges, opened channel-ways to
the sea, built beacons for the mariner, and breakwaters for the storm
beaten ship.
Probably the most important branch of engineering work is railroad
construction, already considered under steam railways. Closely related
to the railroad, however, is bridge building, and many of these noble
structures hang between heaven and earth, conspicuous monuments of
the engineer's skill.
The Forth Bridge. — -This massive structure, of the cantilever type, is
shown in Fig. 22S. It was begun in 1882 and finished in i8go, and is the
largest and most costly viaduct in the world. It is built across the Firth
of Forth, and is the most important link in the direct railway communica-
tion of the North British Railway, and associated roads, between Edin-
burgh on the .one side, and Perth and Dundee on the other. The total
length of the viaduct is 8,296 feet, or nearly i->^ miles. The extreme
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
341
So
o
342 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
height of the structure is 361 feet above the water level, and the founda-
tions extend 91 feet below the water level. The two main ispans are
1,710 feet, and these both give a clear headway for navigation of 150 feet
height. There are over 50,000 tons of steel in the superstructure, and
about 140,000 cubic yards of masonry and concrete in the foundation piers.
The three main piers consist each of a group of four masonry columns
faced with granite, 49 feet in diameter at the top, and 36 feet high, which
rest on solid rock, or on concrete carried down in most cases by means
of caissons of a maximum diameter of 70 feet to rock or boulder clay.
No intelligent conception of the enormous size of this great structure
can be obtained except by comparison. Estimating from the bottom of
the masonry piers to the towering heights of the cantilevers, it reaches
above the dome of St. Peter's at Rome, and is only a little short of the
height of the greatest of the pyramids of Egypt. The cost of the bridge
is given as £3,250,000 or nearly $16,000,000.
The Brooklyn Bridge. — Having for its successful construction and
maintenance the same foundation principle upon which the spider builds
its web, this magnificent bridge of steel wires spans the East River be-
tween New York and Brooklyn, with a total length of 5,989 feet, and in
length of span and cost is second only to the great Forth Bridge. It is
shown in Fig. 229, and among suspension bridges it ranks first. It has
a central span of 1,595/4 feet between the two towers, over which the
suspension cables are hung, and has a clear headway beneath of 135 feet.
It has two side spans of 930 feet each between the towers and the shore.
The suspension towers stand on two piers founded in the river on solid
rock at depths of 78 and 45 feet below high water, and they rise 277 feet
above the same level. There are four suspension cables 15J/2 inches in
diameter, each composed of 5,282 galvanized steel wires, placed side by
side, without any twist, and arranged in groups of 19 strands bound up
ftvith wire. These cables have a dip in the center of the large span of 128
(feet, rest on movable saddles on the top of the towers to allow for slight
movement of the cables due to expansion and contraction, and are held
down at the shore ends by massive anchorages of masonry. The bridge
has a width of 85 feet, and has two roadways, two lines of railway, and a
foot way. It was begun in 1876 and opened for traffic in 1883,
and its cost was about $15,000,000. It fulfills a great function for the
busy metropolis, and it hangs in the air a monument in steel wire to the
genius of the Roeblings.
Masonry Bridges. — The largest and finest single span of masonry in
America, and believed to be the largest in the world, is to be found about
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
343
« „-
344
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
9 miles northwest of the city of Washington. It is known as the \\'ash-
ington Aqueduct or Cabin John Bridge, and is seen in Fig. 230. It
extends across the small stream known as Cabin John Creek, and car-
ries an aqueduct 9 feet in diameter, that supplies the National Capital
with water, its upper surface above the water conduit being formed into
a fine roadway. It is 450 feet long. Its span is 220 feet, the height of
FIG. 230. — CABIN JOHN BRIDGE, NEAR WASHINGTON, D. C. LARGEST MASONRY ARCH IN"
THE WORLD. LENGTH, 45O FEET; SPAN OF ARCH, 220 FEET; HEIGHT, ICO FEET.
the roadway above the bed of the stream is too feet, and the width of
the structure is 20 feet 4 inches. Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs was the
engineer in charge of its construction. It was begun in 1857 'I'ld finished
in 1864, with the exception of the parapet walls of the roadway, which
were added in 1872-3. Its cost was $254,000. Only one other masonry
arch has ever been built which equalled this in size. The Trezzo Bridge,
built in the fourteenth century, over the Adda in North Italy, and subse-
quently destroyed, is said to have had a span of 251 feet, but the Wash-
ington Aqueduct Bridge at Cabin John is a noble work in masonry, and
when standing beneath its majestic sweep, and viewing the regular courses
of masonry hanging nearly a hundred feet high in the air, and springing
more than a hundred feet from the embankment upon either side, one
/;V THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 345
loses sight of the prineiples of the arch, and the fear that the mass may
fall upon him gives way to the impression that nature has bowed to the
genius of man, and suspended the law of gravity.
Among the patents granted for bridges the most important are those
relating to the cantilever type, among which may be mentioned those to
I'.ender, Latrobe, and Smith, No. 141,310, July 29, 1873; Eads, Xo. 142,-
378 to 142,382, September 2, 1873, and Clarke, Xo. 504,559, September
5, 1893.
Caissons. — For submarine explorations the ancient diving bell, which
was said to have been used more than 2,000 years ago, has given place
to diving armor, while for more extensive local work the pneumatic cais-
son is employed. The latter w'as invented by M. Triger, a French en-
gineer, in 1841. An early example of it is also given in Cochrane's Brit-
ish patent No. 3,226, of 1861. It consists of a vertical cylinder di-vided
into compartments, its lower open end resting on the river bottom. Com-
pressed air forced into the lower compartment forces the water back,,
while the men are at work, the intermediate chamber forming an air
lock, by which entrance to, or egress from, the lower w'orking chamber
is obtained. The pneumatic caissons of Eads (patents Nos. 123,002, Jan-
uary 2T„ 1872, and 123,685, February 13, 1872) and Flad (patent Xo.
303,830, August 19, 1884) are modern applications of the same principle.
The sinking of shafts through quicksand, by artificially freezing the same
and then treating it as solid material, is an ingenious modern method
shown in patents to Poetsch, No. 300,891, June 24, 1884; and Smith, Xo.
371,389, Octolier IT, 1887.
Tunnels. — Less conspicuous than bridges, by virtue of their under-
ground character, but none the less important, are these mole-like means
of communication. Especially difficult of construction for the reason that
the nature of the soil or rock is largelv unknown, and for the reason also
that the work may have to encounter faults in rocks, and springs or quick-
sands in the earth ; nevertheless the demands of the railroads for shorten-
ing the distance of travel and economizing time have stimulated the
engineer to expend millions of dollars in piercing the earth with these
great underground passageways.
TJic Mont Ccnis Tunnel was constructed to establish railway com-
munication between France and Italy through the Alps. It was begun
in 1857, and after having been in progress of construction for thirteen
vears, was opened for traffic in 1871. This tunnel was commenced by
hand borings, being for the most part through solid rock, and its progress
up to 1862 was so slow that it was estimated that thirty years would be
345 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
i-e(.|uired for its construction. Its earlier completion was due to the in-
troduction of rock drills operated by compressed air, which trebled the
rate of advance, and which device made a new epoch in all rock-boring
and mining operations. This tunnel was cut from both ends at the same
time, and so accurate were the surveys in establishing the alignment of
the two headings through the mountain mass, that, although the tunnel
was more than 7V2 miles long, when the two headings came together in
the middle, only a difference of one foot in level existed between them.
When it is remembered that most of the yyi miles of tunnel was cut
through solid rock, by boring and blasting, the immensity of the under-
taking can be appreciated. As completed the tunnel is 8 miles long, anil
wide enough for a double track railway.
The St. Gothard Tunnel is another tunnel through the Alps, which in-
•\-olved even a longer and deeper cut through the mountains than the
Mont Cenis Tunnel. This is 9J4 niiles long, and it was begun in 1872,
the headings joined in 1880, and the tunnel opened for traffic in 1882.
Although ]jy far the largest undertaking yet made, the improvement in
rock-boring machinery enabled it to be constructed much more rapidly
and at less expense.
The Arlberg is still another Alpine tunnel. It is b^A miles long, was
commenced in 1880, and opened for traffic in 1884.
Tunneling under rivers presents many more difficulties than driving
through the hardest rock. This is so by reason of the inflow of water.
Among successful tunnels of this kind may be named the Mersey and
Severn tunnels in England, opened in 1886, and the St. Clair tunnel be-
tween the United States and Canada. The histories of the abandoned
Detroit and Hudson river tunnels are object lessons of the difficulties en-
countered in this class of work.
An im])ortant engineering invention for tunneling through silt or soft
soil is the so-called "shield." This was first employed by the engineer
Brunei in the construction of the Thames tunnel, which was begun in 1825
and opened as a thoroughfare in 1843. '^''"'2 shield, as now used, is a sort
of a cylinder or sleeve as large as the tunnel, which sleeve, as the excava-
tion proceeds in front of it, is forced ahead to act both as a ring-shaped
cutter and a protection to the workmen, its advance being effected by pow-
erful hydraulic jacks or screws which find a back bearing against the
completed wall of the tunnel. As the digging proceeds the shield is
advanced, and a section of tunnel is built behind it which, in turn, fur-
nishes a bearing for the jacks in the further advance of the shield.
This latter improvement was the invention of the late Alfred E. Beacli,
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 347
of the Scientific American, and was covered by him in patent No. 91,071,
June 8, 1869, and was used in driving the experimental pneumatic subway
constructed by him under Broadway, New York, in 1868-9, ^"^d also in
the St. Clair River tunnel and the unfinished Hudson River tunnel and
other works.
Subsequent improvements made upon the shield by J. H. Greathead
of England and covered by him in United States patents Nos. 360,959,
April 12, 1887; and 432,871, July 22, 1890, have greatly added to the value
and efnciency of this device, and made it one of the leading instrumentali-
ties in tunnel construction.
Suez Canal. — It is said that the undertaking of connecting the Med-
iterranean and Red Seas vi^as considered as long ago as the time of
Herodotus, and a small channel appears to have been opened twenty-five
centuries ago, but was subsequently abandoned. In 1847 ^^^^ subject was
again taken up for serious consideration, the work begun in i860, and fin-
ished in 1869, at a cost of 120,500,000, or more than a hundred million
dollars. The canal starts at Port Said, on the Mediterranean, a view of
v.'hich with its ships of all nations and the canal reaching far away in the
distance is seen in Fig. 231. The canal extends nearly due south to Suez
on the Red Sea, a distance of about 100 miles, through barren wastes of
sand and an occasional lake. It was originally formed with a bottom
v.'idth of 72 feet, spreading out to 196 to 328 feet at the top, and of a depth
of 26 feet, but has since been increased in transverse dimension to accom-
modate the great increase in travel.
Sixty great dredges were employed on the work, and the dredged ma-
terial was discharged in chutes on to the bank. The canal was the work
of M. De Lesseps, the eminent French engineer, and has proved a great
success from both an engineering and financial standpoint. The stock
is mainly held in England, having been bought from the Khedive of
Egypt. In 1898 the ships passing through the canal during the year
reached the remarkable number of 3,503. The rate of tolls is 10 francs
(about $2) per net ton. The gross tonnage of ships passing through in
1898 was 12,962,632, the net tonnage 9,238,603. The total receipts for
the year were 87,906,255 francs (about $17,500,000), and the net profit
63,441,987 francs (about $12,500,000). An average size ocean liner pays
about $5,000 for the privilege of sailing through this great ditch. Ad-
miral Dewey's ship, the "Olympia," returning from the Philippines, paid
tor her toll $3,516.04, and the "Chicago," $3,165.95. Going the other
way, our supply .ship ".-\lexander" paid $4,107.99, while the "Glacier" paid
$5,052.38. Sh>ns rriaking the passage through the canal move slowly on
348
THE PROGRESS OF IN I' EN TI ON
IN THE SINETEEXJH C EXT CRY.
349
account of the washing of the banks, about 22 hours being required,
but the shortening of the travel of ships going east and west, and the
saving of hfe, property, and time, involved in avoiding the circuitous
f.nd stormy passage around the Cape of Good Hope, has been of incalcul-
able benefit to the world.
With the construction of canals and harbors, great improvements have
been made in dredges. Some of these are of the clam-shell type, some
emplo}" the scoop and lever, others an endless series of buckets. An
example of the latter, used on the Panama Canal, is seen in Fig. 232.
^Mm^3''
'lit
^Ut^'^^^'.s:^,^^^ ^
.^^.j>»,5g=ggSjBfaajj.' £ll>l^igfc£_'a^>»'a<i<6lM
KIG. 232
-HERCULES DREDGER.
Still another form, and the ntost recent if not the most important is the
hydraulic dredger, which, by rotating cutters, stirs and cuts the mud and
silt, and by pov/erful suction pumps and immense tubes draws up the semi-
fluid mass and sends it to suitable points of discharge. The best known
of the latter type is the Bowers hydraulic dredge, covered by manv
patents, of which Nos. 318,859 and 318,860, ]\Iay 26, 1885; 388,253.
August 21, 1S88; and 484,763, October 18, 1892, are the most important.
For surface excavations in solid earth the Lidgerwood Cablew-ay is an
important and labor saving device. A track cable is stretched from two
distant towers, and a bucket holding well on to a ton of earth is made to
travel on a trolley running on said cable track, rising at one end out of
the exca-vation, and dumping at the other end to fill in the excavation as
350 THE PROGRESS OF INrENTION
the cutting progresses, all in a continuous and economical manner. This
device is made under the patent to M. W. Locke, No. 295,776, ]\Iarch 25,
1884, and comprehends many subsequent improvements patented by sill-
ier, Delaney, North and others. The Chicago Drainage Canal is a work
just completed, which largely employed these devices. This canal was
designed to connect the Chicago River with the Mississippi River, so as to
send the sewage of Chicago down the A'lississippi instead of into Lake
Michigan. Although it cost $33,000,000 and required seven years for
completion, the labor-saving cableways greatly cheapened its cost and
shortened the time of its construction.
Among the leading inventions relating to canal construction may be
mentioned the bear-trap oanal-lock gate (patents Nos. 229,682, 236,488
and 552,063), and the Button pneumatic lift locks. The latter provide
ease and rapidity of action by a principle of balancing locks in pairs, and
are covered by his patent No. 457,528, August 11, 1891, and others of sub-
sequent date.
Artesian Wells represent an important branch of engineering work,
and they are so called from the province of Artois, in France, where they
have for a long time been in use. Extending several thousand feet into
the subterranean chambers of the earth, they have brought abundant water
supply to the surface all over the v/orld, from the desert sands of Sahara
to the hotels of the modern city ; they have contributed oil and gas in in-
credible quantities to supply light and heat, and have made valuable addi-
tions to the salt supply of the world.
They are diriven by reciprocating a ponderous chisel-shaped drill
within an iron tube, six inches more or less in diameter, which is built
up in sections, and moved down as the cutting descends. The drill is
reciprocated by a suspending rope from machinery in a derrick, and in
order to give a hammer-like blow to the chisel a pair of ponderous iron
links coupled together like those of a chain, and called a "drill jar" con-
nect the drill to the rope. As the sections of the link slide over each
other they come together with a hammer blow at the moment of lifting
yiat dislodges the drill from the rock, and on the descend-
ing movement they come together with a hammering blow im-
mediately after the drill touches the rock to drive it into the same. The
first United States patent for a drill jar is that to Morris, No.
2,243, September 4, 1841. When an oil well ceases to flow, it is re-
juvenated by being "shot," which is quite contrary to the ordinarv con-
ception of prolonging life. For this purpose a dynamite cartridge is
exploded at the low^er end of the well, which shatters the rock, and, in
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 351
opening up new channels of flow for the oil, renews the yield. Many
patented inventions have been made in the field of well boring, and the
discovery of coal oil in the United States in 1859 has developed a great
industry and built up enormous fortunes. The amount of petroleum pro-
duced in the United States in i8g6 was 60,960,361 barrels, the largest
yield on record. In 1897 the amount was 60,568,081 barrels.
Of less consec|uence than the artesian well, but finding many useful
applications, is the drive well. A metal tube with a perforated lower end
is driven down by hammers into the ground, and furnishes a quick and
cheap source of water supply. This was invented by Col. Green in 1861,
in meeting the necessities of his military camp during the civil war, and
was patented by him January 14, 1868, No. 73,425.
Rock Drills. — In mining and tunneling through rock, the rock drill
has been the implement of paramount importance and utility. F'or boring
by rotary action the diamond drill is most effective. This uses bits set
with diamonds which, by their extreme hardness, cut through the most
refractory rock with great rapidity. It was invented by Hermann and
patented by him in France, June 3, 1854.
More important, however, is the compressed air rock drill, in which
a piston has the drill bit directly on its piston rod and cuts by a recipro-
cating action. The piston is actuated by compressed air admitted alter-
nately to its opposite sides in an automatic manner by valves. The com-
pressed air conve}-ed to the drill in the tunnel or mine not onlv operates
the drill, but helps to ventilate the tunnel. As early as 1849 Clarke and
Motley, in England, invented a machine drill, and in 185 1 Fowle de-
vised a similar machine, having the drill attached directly to the piston
cross head. The Hoosac and JMont Cenis tunnels greatly stimulated in-
vention in this field, and among the notable drills of this class may be
named the Burleigh, Ingersoll, and Sergeant. The Burleigh drill was
brought out in 1866, and was covered by patents Nos. 52,960, 52.961
and 59,960 of that year, and 113,850 of 1871, and the Ingersoll drill, by
patents No. 112,254, and No. 120,279, oi 1871.
Bla.<!ti]ig. — The discovery of nitro-glycerine in 1846, followed bv its
convenient commercial preparation in the form of dynamite, gave a great
impetus to blasting. Notalile as the largest operation of the kind in the
century is the blowing up of Flood Rock, in the path of commerce be-
tween New York City and Long Island Sound. The dangerous character
of this and other rocks in this vicinity gave long ago to this channel the
significant name of Hell Gate. The undermining of the rocks by shafts
and galleries is seen in Fig. 233, and the final blowing up of the same
352
THE PROGRESS OF INTENTION
in a single blast was the culmination of a series of similar operations at
this point tending to safer navigation. On October lo, 1885, 40,000 car-
tridges, containing 75,000 pounds of dynamite and 240,000 pounds of
rack-a-rock, were, by the touching of a button and the closing of an elec-
tric circuit, simultaneously exploded. In the twinkling of an eye nine
acres of solid rock were shattered into fragments by the prodigious force,
and a vast upheaval of water 1,400 feet long, 800 feet wide, and 200 feet
high, sprang into the air in tangled and gigantic fountains. As the ter-
FIG. 223- — ULOWING CP FLUOU ItUCK.
mination of the most stupendous piece of engineering of the kind the world
has ever seen, and with spectacular features fitting the enormous expense
of Si, 000,000, wdiich the work cost, this final scene put an end to the
menaces of Flood Rock, and wiped out of existence the worst dangers
of Hell Gate.
iMississippi Jetties. — The broad bar and shallow waters at the mouth
of the Mississippi involved such an obstruction to commerce that in 187:;
it received the attention of Congress, resulting in the building, by Capt.
Eads. of the celebrated jetties. They were begun in 1875 and finished in
1879, 'I"'' '^ost $5,250,000. The channel obtained was 30 feet deep and
200 feet wide. Its construction involved the building across the bar and
out into the Gulf of JMexico two long reaches of parallel embankments,
called jetties. This was efl^ected by sinking mattresses of willow branches
bound together and weighted with stone. These were laid in four lay-
ers, and when submerged, and resting upon the bottom, were covered with
a layer of loose stone, and this in turn was surmounted with a capping
of concrete blocks, as seen in cross section in Fig. 234. These jetties so
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
353
concentrated the flow of waters into a narrow channel as to cause its
increased, velocity to wash out the mud and silt and deepen the channel.
The immensity of the work may be measured by the quantity of material
used in its construction, which included 6,000,000 cubic yards of willow
mattresses, 1,000,000 cubic yards of stone, 13,000,000 feet (board meas-
ure) of lumber, and S, 000,000 cubic yards of concrete. The mattresses
FIG. 234. — CROSS SECTION MISSISSIPPI JETTIES.
were laid 35 to 50 feet wide at the bottom, which width was consider-
ably increased by the superimposed layer of stone, and the jetties ex-
tended 234 miles into the sea. Their influence upon commerce is in-
dicated by the fact that before their construction the annual grain export
from Xew Orleans was less than half a million bushels, and in 1880, the
year following their completion, it was increased to 14,000,000 bushels.
High Buildings. — A distinct feature of modern architecture is the
enormously tall steel frame building known as the "sky scraper." The
increasing value of city lots first brought about the vertical extension
of buildings to a greater number of stories, and the necessity for making
them fireproof, coupled with the desire to avoid loss of interior space, due
to thick walls at the base, made a demand for a different style of archi-
tecture. To meet this a skeleton frame of steel is bolted together in
unitary structure, the floors being all carried on the steel frame, and the
outer masonry walls being relatively thin, and carrying onlv their own
weight. In Fig. 235 is shown an example of the interior structure of
such a building. The vertical columns are erected upon a very firm
foundation, and to them are bolted, on the floor levels, horizontal I-beams
and girders, stayed by tie rods, which I-beams receive between them hollow
fireproof tile to form the floor. The outer masonry walls are built around
the skeleton frame, as seen in Fig. 236, and the details of connections
for the floor members appear in Fig. 237.
The construction of iron buildings began about the middle of the
354 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
centr,r\'. In 1845 Peter Cooper erected the largest rolling mill at that
FIG. 235. — INTERIOR CONSTRUCTION MODERN STEEL BUILDING.
time in the United States for making railroad iron, and at this mill
wrought iron beams for fireproof buildings were first rolled. In the
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
355
building of the Cooper Institute in
first to employ such beams with
brick arches to support the floors.
The unifying of the iron work into
an integral skeleton frame, for re-
lieving the side walls of the weight
of the floors is, however, a compara-
tively recent development, and this
has so raised the height of the mod-
ern office building as to cause it to
impress the observer as an obelisk
rather than a place of habitation.
An earthquake-proof steel palace
for the Crown Prince of Japan is
one of the modern applications of
steel in architecture. It is being
built by American engineers, and is
to cost $3,000,000.
Eiffel Tozvcr. — Loftiest among
the high structures of the world,
and significant as indicating the
possibilities of iron construction,
New York City -in 1S57 he was the
FIG. 237. — DETAILS OF INTERN.-VL CONSTRUCTION.
FIG. 236. — ENCLOSURE OF STEEL FK.-VME
BY MASONRY.
the Eififel Tower of
the Paris Exposition
of 1889 was a distinct
achievement in the
engineering world. It
is seen in Fig. 238. It
is 984 feet high, and
410 feet across its
foundation, and has a
supporting base of
four independent lat-
tice work piers. In
the top was construct-
ed a scientific labora-
tory surmounted by a
lantern containing a
powerful electric
light. The total
356
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
weight of iron in the structure is about 7,000 tons, the weight of
tlie rivets alone being 450 tons, and the total number of them 2,500,000.
The level of the first story is marked by a bold frieze, on the panels of
which, around all four faces, were inscribed in gigantic letters of gold the
names of the famous
Frenchmen of the
centur}'. The summit
of the tower was
reached by staircases
containing 1,793 steps,
and by hydraulic ele-
vators running in
four stages. The cost
of this structure was
nearly $1,000,000.
IJ'ashingtoii's Mon-
ument. — Next in
height to the Eiffel
Tower, and being, in
fact, the tallest mas-
onry structure in the
world, this noble obe-
lisk, by its simplicity,
boldness and solidity,
challenges the admira-
tion of every visitor,
and gratifies the pride
of every patriot. It is
seen in Fig. 239, and
is 555 feet 5^/^ inches
high, 55 feet square at
the base, and 34 feet
square at the top. The
walls are 15 feet thick at the base, and 18 inches at the top,
and its summit is reached by an internal winding staircase and a cen-
tral elevator. At the height of 504 feet the walls are pierced with port
holes, from which a magnificent view is had of the capital city and sur-
rounding country. The summit is crowned with a cap of aluminum, in-
scribed Laiis Deo. The foundation of rock and cement is 36 feet deep
and 126 feet square, and the total cost of the monument was $1,300,000.
-THE EIFFEL TOWER. HEIGHT, 984 FEET.
STRUCTURE IN THE WORLD.
!N THE NINETEEXTH CEXTURV.
357
The corner stone was laid in 1848. In
1855 the work was discontinued at the
height of 152 feet, from lack of funds. In
1878 it was resumed by appropriation
from Congress, and completed and dedi-
cated in 1885, under the direction of Col.
Thomas L. Case}", of the United States
Corps of Engineers.
The Capitol Building. — Representing
the heart of the great American Republic,
and overlooking its Capital City, this
grand building, shown in Fig. 240. is a
poem in architecture. Massive, symmet-
rical and harmonious, its highest point
reaches 307 J4 feet above the plaza on the
east. It is 751 feet 4 inches long, 350 feet
wide, and the walls of the building
proper cover 3^ acres. Crowning the
center of the building is the imposing
dome of iron, surmounted bv a lantern,
and above this is the bronze statue of
Freedom, 19 feet 6 inches high, and
FIG. 239. — \V.\SHINGT0N"'S MONUMENT. HEIGHT 555 FEET, 5'
HIGHEST .M.\SONRY STRUCTURE IN THE WORLD.
INCHES.
358
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
'S'-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 359
weighing 14,985 pounds, the latter being set in place December 2, 1863.
The dome is 135 feet 5 inches in diameter at the base, and the open space
of the rotunda within is 96 feet in diameter and i8o feet high.
The corner stone of the original building was laid in 1793 by Wash-
ington. The first session of Congress held there was in 1800, while the
building was still incomplete. The original building was finished in 181 1.
In 1814 it was partly burned by the British. In 1815 reconstruction was
begun, and completed in 1827. In 1850 Congress passed an act authoriz-
ing the extension of the Capitol, which resulted in the building of the
north and south wings, containing the present Senate Chamber and Hall
of the House of Representatives. The corner stones of the extension were
laid by President Fillmore in 185 1, Daniel Webster being the orator ot
the occasion, and the wings were finished in 1867. Since this time hand-
some additions in the shape of marble terraces on the west front have
added greatly to the beauty and apparent size of the building.
It is not possible to give anything like an adequate review of the en-
gineering inventions and achievements of the Nineteenth Century in a
single chapter, and only the most noteworthy have been mentioned. The
modern life of the world, however, has been replete with the resourceful
expedients of the engineer, and the ingenious instrumentalities invented
by him to carry out his plans. There have been about 1,000 patents
granted for bridges, about 2,500 for excavating apparatus, and about
1,500 for hydraulic engineering. In mining the safety-lamp of Sir
Humphrey Davy, in 18 15, has been followed by stamp mills, rock-drills,
derricks, and hoisting and lowering apparatus, and lately by hydraulic
mining apparatus, by which a stream of water under high pressure is
made to wash away a mountain side. Apparatus for loading and unload-
ing, pneumatic conveyors, great systems of irrigation, lighthouses, break-
waters, pile drivers, dry-docks, ship railway's, road-making apparatus, fire
escapes, fireproof buildings, water towers, and filtration plants have been
devised, constructed and utilized. Many gigantic schemes, already begun,
still await successful completion, among which may be named the drain-
ing of the Zuyder Zee, the Siberian railway, the Panama and Nicaraguan
Canals, the Simplon tunnel, the new East River Bridge, and the Rapid
Transit Tunnel under Xew York City ; while a bridge or tunnel across
the English Channel, a ship canal for France, connecting the Bay of Biscay
with the Mediterranean, a tunnel under the Straits of Gibraltar, and a
ship canal connecting the great lakes with the Gulf of Mexico, are among
the possible achievements which challenge the engineer of the Twentieth
Centurv.
360 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
CHAPTER XXYIII.
Woodworking.
Early Machines of Sir Samuel Bentham — Evolution of the Saw — Circular
Saw — Hammering to Tension — Steam Feed for Saw Mill Carriage — Quar-
ter Sawing — The Band Saw — Planing Machines — The Woodworth Planeu
— The Woodbury Yielding Pressure Bar — The Universal Woodworker — The
Blanchard Lathe — Mortising Machines — Special Woodworking Machine.^.
SURROUNDED as we are in the modern home with beautiful and
artistic furniture, and installed in comfortable and inexpensive
houses, one does not appreciate the contrast which the life of the
average citizen of to-day presents to that of his great-grandfather
in the matter of his dwelling house appointments. A hundred years ago
most of the dwellings of the middle and poorer classes were crudely made,
\vith clap-boards and joists laboriously hewn with the broad ax, and the
roof was covered with split shingles. Uncouth and clumsy doors, win-
dows and blinds, were framed on the simplest utilitarian basis, and a
scanty supply of rude hand-made furniture imperfectly filled the simple
wants of the home. To-day nearly every cottage has beautifully moulded
trimmings, paneled doors, handsomely carved mantels and turned balus-
ters, all furnished at an insignificant price, and art has so added its
JEsthetic values to the furniture and other useful things in wood, that
beautiful, artistic and tasteful homes are no longer confined to the rich,
but may be enjoyed by all. This great change has been brought about
by the sawmill, the planing machine, mortising and boring machines, and
the turning lathe.
Pre-eminent in the field of woodworking machinery, and worthy to
Ije called the father of the art, is to be mentioned the name of Gen. Sir
.Samuel Bentham, of England, whose inventions in the last decade of
the Eighteenth Century formed the nucleus of the modern art of wood-
working.
The Sazi' was the great pioneer in woodworking machinery, and the
circular saw has, in the Nineteenth Century, been the representative type.
Pushing its way along the outskirts of civilization, its glistening and ap-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
361
parently motionless disk, filled with a hidden, but terrific energy, and
singing a merry tune in the clearings, has transformed trees into tene-
ments, forests into firesides, and altered the face of the earth, the record
of its work being only measured by the immensity of the forests which
it has depleted. It is not possible to fix the date of the first circular saw,
for rotary cutting action dates from the ancient turning lathes. The
earliest description of a circular saw is to be found in the British patent
to Miller, No. 1,152, of 1777. It was not until the Nineteenth Century,
however, that it was generally applied, and its great work belongs to this
period. The preceding saws were of the straight, reciprocating kind.
The old pit-saw is the earliest form, and in course of time the men were
replaced by machinery to form the "muley" saw, the man in the pit being
replaced by a mechanical "pitman," which accounts for the etymology
FIG. 241. — PORTABLE CIRCUL.\R SAW.
of the word. With the "muley" saw the log was held at each e\v\. and
each end shifted alternately to set for a new cut. The first development
was along the lines of this form of saw, and to increase its efficienc}- the
saws were arranged in gangs, so as to make a number of cuts at one
pass of the log. This type was especially used in Europe, but on th^
up stroke there was no work being done, and hence half of the time was
lost. This and other difficulties led finally to the adoption of the circular
type, whose continuous cut and high speed saved much time and present-
362
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
ed many other advantages. A representative example of the circular
saw is given in Fig. 241.
With the increased diameter and peripheral speed of the circular saw,
however, a grave difficulty presented itself. The saw would heat at its
periphery, and its rim portion expanding without commensurate expan-
sion of the central portion, would cause the saw to crack and fly to pieces
under the tremendous centrifugal force. This difficulty is provided for
by what is known as "haniuiering to tension," i. e., the saw is hammered
to a gradually increasing state of compression from the rim to the center,
thus causing an initial expansion or spread of the molecules of metal of
the central parts of the saw, which is stored up as an elastic expansive
force that accommodates itself to the tension caused by the expansion of
the rim, and prevents the unequal and destructive strain, due to the ex-
pansion of the rim from the great heat of friction in passing through
the log.
Mounted upon a portable frame, this machine was 'put to its great work
upon the logs in the forests of America, and for many years this type
of sawmill held its sway, and an enormous amotmt of work was done
through its agency. Among its useful accessories were the set-works for
adjusting the log holding knees to the position for a new cut, log turners
for rotating the log to change the plane of the cut, and the rack ana
pinion feed, by which the saw carriage was run back and forth. Follow-
ing the rack and pinion feed came the rope feed, in which a rope wrapped
around a drum was carried at its opposite ends over pulleys and back
,M_
FIG. 242. — DIRECT-ACTING STE.'iM FEED SAWMILL CARRIAGE.
to the opposite ends of the carriage, which was thereby carried back and
forth by the forward or backward movement of the drum.
The greatest advance in sawmills in recent years, however, has been
the steam feed, in which a very long steam cylinder was provided with a
piston, whose long rod was directly attached to the saw carriage, and
the latter moved back and forth bv the admission of steam alternately
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
363
to Opposite sides of the piston. This type of feed, also known as the
shot gun feed, from the resemblance of the long cylinder to a gun barrel,
was invented about twenty-five years ago, by De Witt C. Prescott, and
is covered by his patent, No. 174,004, February 22, 1876, later improve-
ments being shown in his patent, No. 360,972, April 12, 1887. The value
of the steam feed was to increase the speed and efficiency of the saw, by
FIG. 243. — METHOD OF SHAPING AND HOLDING LOG FOR QUARTER SAWING.
expediting the movement of its carriage, as many as six boards per minute
being cut by its aid from a log of average length. An example of a
modern steam feed for sawmill carriages is seen in Fig. 242. ^Vith the
modern development of the art the ease and rapidity of steam action have
recommended it for use in most all of the work of the sawmill, and the
364
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
direct application of steam pistons working in cylinders has been utilized
for canting, kicking, flipping and rolling the logs, lifting the stock, taking
away the boards, etc.
Beautifully finished furniture in quartered oak has always excited the
pleasure, and piqued the curiosity of the uninformed as to how this result
is obtained. Fig. 243 illustrates the method of sawing to produce this
effect. The log is simply divided longitudinally into four quarters, and
the quarter sections are then cut by the vertical plane of the saw at an
oblique angle to the sawed sides, which brings to the surface of the boards
the peculiar flecks or patches of the wood's grain so much admired when
finished and polished.
The Band Sam is an endless belt of steel having teeth formed along
one edge and traveling continuously around an upper and lower pulley,
with its toothed edge presented to the timber to be cut, as seen in Fig.
244, which represents a form of band saw made by the J. A. Fay &
Egan Company, of Cincinnati. A
form of band saw is found as early
as 1808, in British patent Xo. 3.105,
to Newberry. On iVIarch 25, 1834,
a French patent was granted for a
band saw to Etiennot, No. 3.397.
The first United States patent for a
band saw was granted to B. Barker,
January 6, 1836, but it remained for
the last quarter of the Nineteenth
Century to give the band saw its
prominence in woodworking ma-
chines. That it did not find general
application at an earlier period was
due to the difficulty experienced in
securely and evenly joining the
ends of the band. For many
years the only moderately suc-
cessful band saws were made in
France, but expert mechanical skill has so mastered the problem that
in recent years the band saw has gone to the verv front in wood-sawing
machinery. To-day it is in service in sizes from a delicate filament, used
for scroll sawing and not larger than a baby's ribbon, to an enormous
steel belt 50 feet in peripheral measurement, and \2 inches wide, travel-
ing over pulleys 8 feet in diameter, making 500 revolutions per minute.
FIG. 244. — AUTOMATIC BAND RIP SAW.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
365
and tearing its way through logs much too large for any circular saw,
at the rate of nearly two miles a minute. A modern form of such a saw
is seen in Fig. 245. Prescott's patents, Nos, 368,731 and 369,881, of 1887 ;
FIG. 245. — MODERN BAND SAW FOR LARGE TIMBER.
416,012, of 1889, and 472,586 and 478,817, of 1892, represent some of
the important developments in the band saw.
When the band saw is applied to cutting logs the backward move-
ment of the carriage would, if there were any slivers on the cut face of
the log. be liable to force those slivers against the smooth edge of the
band saw, and distort and possibl_\- break it. To obviate this the saw
carriage is provided with a lateral adjustment on the back movement
called an "off-set." so that the log returns for a new cut out of contact
with the saw. Examples of such off-setting are found in patents to
Gowen, No. 383,460, May 29, 1888, and No. 401,945, April 23, 1889,
and Hinkley, No. 368,669, August 23, 1887. A modern form of the
band saw, however, has teeth on both its edges, which requires no off-
setting mechanism, but cuts in both directions. An example of this.
366 THE' PROGRESS OF INVENTION
known as the telescopic band mill, is made by the Edward P. AUis Com-
pany, of jNIilwaukee.
A saw which planes, as well as severs, is shown in patents to Doug-
lass, Xos. 431,510, July I, 1890, and 542,630, July 16, 1895. Steam
power mechanism for operating the knees is shown in patent to Wilkin,
No. 317,256, May 5, 1885. ileans for quarter sawing in both directions
of log travel are shown in patent to Gray, Xo. 550,825, December 3,
1895. Means for operating log turners and log loaders appear in patents
to Hill, No. 496,938, May 9, 1893 ; No. 466,682, January 5, 1892 ; Xo.
526,624, September 25, 1894, and Kelly, No. 497,098, May 9, 1893. A
self cooling circular saw is found in patent to Jenks, No. 193,004, July
10, 1877; shingle sawing machines in patents to O'Connor, X^o. 358,474,
March i, 1887, and Xo. 292,347, January 22, 1884, and Perkins, Xo.
380,346, April 3, 1888 ; and means for severing veneer spirally and divid-
ing it into completed staves, are shown in patent to Hayne, Xo. 509,534,
November 28, 1893.
Planing Machines. — While the saw plays the initial part of shaping
the rough logs into lumber, it is to the planing machine that the refine-
ments of woodworking are due. Its rapidly revolving cutter head re-
duces the uneven thickness of the lumber to an exact gauge, and simul-
taneously imparts the fine smooth surface. The planing machine is
organized in various shapes for different uses. When the cutters are
straight and arranged horizontally, it is a simple planer. When the cut-
ters are short and arranged to work on the edge of the board they are
known as edgcrs; when the edges are cut into tongues and grooves it
is called a matching machine; and when the cutters have a curved orna-
mental contour it is known as a molding machine, and is used for cut-
ting the ornamental contour for house trimmings and various orna-
mental uses.
The planing machine was one of the many woodworking devices in-
vented by General Bentham. His first machine, British patent Xo. 1,838,
of 1 79 1, was a reciprocating machine, but in his British patent X^o.
1,951, of 1793, he described the rotary form along with a great variety
of other woodworking machinery.
Bramah's planer, British patent Xo. 2,652, of 1802, was about the
first planing machine of the Xineteenth Century. It is known as a
transverse planer, the cutters being on the lower surface of a horizontal
disc, which is fixed to a vertical revolving shaft, and overhangs the board
passing beneath it. the cutters revolving in a plane parallel with the
upper surface of the board. The planing machine of Muir, of Glasgow.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 367
British patent No. 5,502, of 1827, was designed for making boards for
flooring, and represented a considerable advance in the art.
With the greater wooded areas of America, the rapid growth of the
young repubhc, and the resourceful spirit of its new civilization, the lead-
ing activities in woodworking machinery were in the second quarter of
the Nineteenth Century transferred to the United States, and a phenom-
enal growth in this art ensued. Conspicuous among the early planing
machine patents in the United States was that granted to William \\'ood-
worth, December 27, 1828. This covered broadly the combination of
the cutting cylinders, and rolls for holding the boards against the cut-
ting cylinders, and also means for tongueing and grooving at one oper-
ation. The revolving cutting cylinder had been used by Bentham thirty-
five years before, and rollers for feeding lumber to circular saws were de-
scribed in Hammond's British patent No. 3,459, of 181 1, but Woodworth
did not employ his rolls for feeding, as a rack and pinion were provided
for that, but his rolls had a co-active relation with a planer cylinder, or
cutter head, in holding the board against the tendency of the cutter head
to pull the board toward it. A patent was granted to Woodworth for
these two features in combination, which patent was reissued July 8,
1845, twice extended, and for a period of twenty-eight years from its
first grant, exerted an oppressive monopoly in this art, since it cov-
ered the combination of the two necessary elements of every practical
planer.
Following the Woodworth patent came a host of minor improvements,
among which were the Woodbury patents, extending through the period
of the third quarter of the Nineteenth Century, and prominent among
which is the patent to J. P. Woodbury, No. 138,462, April 20. 1873,
covering broadly a rotary cutter head combined with a yielding pressure
bar to hold the board against the lifting action of the cutter head.
In modern planing machinery the climax of utility is reached in the
so-called universal ivoodzvorker. This is the versatile Jack-of-all-work
in the planing mill. It planes flat, moulded, rabbeted, or beaded sur-
faces ; it saws with both the rip and crosscut action ; it cuts tongues and
grooves ; makes miters, chamfers, wedges, mortises and tenons, and is the
general utility machine of the shop.
In Fig. 246 is shown a well known form of planing machine. Its
work is to plane the surfaces of boards, and to cut the edges into tongues
and groves, such as are required for flooring. This machine planes
boards up to 24 inches wide and 6 inches thick, and will tongue and
grove 14 inches wide.
36S
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
Wood Turning. — To this ancient art Blanchard added, in 1819, liis
very ingenious and important improvement for turning irregular forms.
A few efforts at irregular turning had been made before, but in the arts
generally only circular forms had been turned. With Blanchard's im-
provement, patented January 20, 1820, any irregular form, such as a
shoe-last, gun-stock, ax-handle, wheel-spokes, etc., could be smoothly
FIG. 246. — 24-INCH SINGLE SURFACER AND MATCHER.
and expeditiously turned and finished in any required shape. In the ordi-
nary lathe the work is revolved rapidly, and the cutting tool is held
stationary, or only slowly shifted in the hand. In the Blanchard lathe
the work is hung in a swinging frame, and turned very slowly to bring
its different sides to the cutting action, and the cutting tool is constructed
as a rapidly revolving disk, against which the work is projected bodily
by the oscillation of the swinging frame, to accommodate the irregular-
ities of the form. In order to do this automatically, a pattern or model
of the article to be turned was also hung in the swinging frame, and made
to slowly revolve and bear against a pattern wheel, which, acting upon
the swinging frame carrying the work, caused it to advance to or recede
from the cutting disc exactly in proportion to the contour of the model,
and thus cause the revolving cutters to cut the block as it turns synchron-
ously with the model, to a shape exactly corresponding to said model.
In Fig. 247 is shown a perspective view of Blanchard's lathe, as patent-
ed January 20, 1820. H is a swinging frame, carrying the model T
of a shoe last, and a roughed-out block U, partly converted into a shoe
last. A sliding frame, fed horizontally by a screw, carries a pattern
IN THE NINETEENTH, CENTURY.
369
wheel K, that bears against the pattern T, and a rotary cutter E, acting
against the roughed-out block U. The revolving disk-shaped cutter E is
rotated by a pulley and belt from a drum, which latter is made long
enough to accommodate the travel of the frame. The pattern T and block
U are advanced to contact respectively, with pattern wheel K and cutter
E by the swinging ac-
tion of frame H, and ILrI.
as the pattern T and
block U are slowly re-
volved, the travel of
T against K is made
to react on frame H
and regulate the ad-
vance of U against E,
with the result that
the rough block U is
cut to the identical
shape of the pattern
T.
Among modern de-
velopments in this art
may be mentioned the
patents to Kimball,
No. 471,006, March
15. 1892, and No.
498,170, May 23,
1893, the latter showing ingenious means whereby shoe lasts of the same
length, but varying widths, may be turned. A polygonal-form lathe is
shown in patent to Merritt, No. 504,812, September 12, 1893 ■ ^ multiple
lathe in patents to Albee, No. 429,297, June 3, 1890, and Aram, No.
550,401, November 26, 1895 ; a tubular lathe in patent to Lenliart, No.
355,540, January 4, 1887; and a spiral cutting lathe in patent to Mack-
intosh. No. 396,283, January 15, 1889.
Mortising Machines have exercised an important influence in mill
work in the joining of the stiles in doors, sashes and blinds, and in the
making of furniture. The Fay & Egan machine is seen in Fig. 248. The
self acting mortising machine v\'as among the numerous early contribu-
tions of Gen. Bentham in woodworking machinery, and was described in
his British patent No. 1,951, of 1793, a number of them having been
made by him for the British Admiralty. Brunei's mortising machine for
FIG. 247. — BLANCHARD LATHE.
370
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
making ships' blocks is another early form described in British patent No.
2,478, of 1801. As representing novel departures in this art, the end-
less chain mortising machine shown in Douglas patent, No. 379,566, March
20, 1888, may be mentioned, and reissue patent, No. 10,655, October 27,
1885, to Oppenheimer, and No. 461,666, October 20,
189 1, to Charlton, are examples of mortising augers.
Special Woodworking Machines. — Of these
there have been great numbers and variety. No
sooner does an article become extensively used than
a machine is made for turning it out automatically.
Indeed, machines for cheaply turning out articles
have, in many cases, led the way to popular use of
the article by the extreme cheapness of its produc-
tion.
Among various automatic machines for making
special articles may be mentioned those for making
clothes pins, scooping out wood trays, pointing
skewers, dovetailing box blanks, cutting sash stile
pockets, cutting and packing toothpicks, making
matches, boxing matches, duplicating carvings, cut-
ting bungs, cutting corks, making umbrella sticks,
making brush blocks, boring chair legs, screw-driv-
ing machines, box nailing machines, making cigar boxes, nailing baskets,
wiring box blanks, applying slats, gluing boxes, gluing slate frames, mak-
ing veneers, bushing mortises, covering piano hammers, making staves
and barrels, making fruit baskets, etc.
It is impossible to give in any brief review a proper conception of the
immensity of the woodworking industry in the United States. It is
estimated in the Patent Office that about 8,000 patents have been granted
for woodworking machines. Besides this there are about 5,000 patents
in the separate class of wood sawing, about an equal number for wood-
working tools, and these, with other patented inventions in wood turning,
coopering, or the making of barrels, wheelwrighting, and other minor
classes, give some idea of the activity in this great field of industry.
The exports of wood and wooden manufactures from the United
States in 1899 amounted to $41,489,526, of which $15,031,176 were for
finishef! boards, $4,107,350 for barrels, staves and hea.ds, and $3,571,375
for household furniture, but this is only an insignificant portion, for with
a prosperous country, an abundance of wood, and a thrifty and ambitious
nation of home builders, the home consumption has been incalculable. '
FIG. 248. — MORTISING
MACHINE.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 371
CHAPTER XXIX.
Metal Working.
Early Iron Furnace — Operations of Lord Dudley^ Abraham Darby and Henry
CoRT — Neilson's Hot Blast — Great Blast Furnaces of Modern Times — The
Puddling Furnace — Bessemer Steel and the Converter — Open Hearth
Steel — Siemens' Recener.-vtive Furnace — Siemens-Martin Process — Armor
Plate — Making Horse Shoes — Screws and Special Machines — Electric
Welding, Annealing and Tempering — -Coating with Metal — Metal Found-
ing— Barbed Wire Machines — Making Nails, Pins, etc. — Making Shot —
Alloys — Making Aluminum, and Metallurgy of Rarer Metals — The
Cyanide Process — Electric Concentrator.
TAKE away iron and steel from the resources of modern life, and
the whole fabric of civilization disintegrates. The railroad,
steam engine and steamship, the dynamo and electric motor,
the telegraph and telephone, agricultural implements of all
sorts, grinding mills, spinning machines and looms, battleships and fire-
arms, stoves and furnaces, the printing press, and tools of all sorts —
each and every one would be robbed of its essential basic material, with-
out which it cannot exist. Steam and electricity may be the heart and
soul of the world's life, but iron is its great body. King among metals,
it gives its name to the present cycle, as the "Iron Age," and the Nine-
teenth Century has crowned it with such refinements of shape, and en-
dowed it with such attributes of utility, and such grandeur of estate,
that its powers in organized machinery have, for effective service, risen
to all the functions and dignity of human capacity — except that of thought.
A crude gift of nature, in the mountain sirde, it remained, however,
a sodden mass until extracted, refined, and wrought into shape by the
genius of man. Yielding to the magical touch of invention, it has been
cast in moulds into cannon, mills, plowshares, and ten thousand articles;
it has been drawn into wire of any fineness and length to form cables
for great suspension bridges : it has been rolled into rails that grill the
continents : into sheets that cover our roofs ; and into nails that hold our
houses together. It has been wrought into a softness that lends its
susceptible nature to the influence of magnetism, and has been hardened
into steel to form the sword and cutting tool. From the delicate hair
372
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
spring of a watcli to the massive armor plate of a battleship, it finds end-
less applications, and is nature's most enduring gift to man — abundant,
cheap, and lasting.
Metallurgy is an ancient art, and the working" of gold, silver and cop-
per dates back to the beginning of history. Being found in a condition
of comparative purity, and needing but little refinement, they were, for
that reason, the first metals fashioned to meet the wants of man. Iron,
somewhat more refractory, appeared later, but it also has an early his-
tory, and is mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible (Genesis iv., 22),
in which reference is made to Tubal Cain as an artificer in brass and iron.
The iron bedstead of Og, King of Bashan, is another reference. That
it was known to the Egyptians and the Greeks at least 1000 B. C., seems
reasonably certain. The Assyrians were also acquainted with iron, as
is clearl)- established by the explorations of Mr. Layard, whose contribu-
tions to the British Museum of iron articles from the ruins of Ninevah
include sa,ws, picks, hammers, and knives of iron, which are believed
to be of a date not later than 880 B. C.
Iron ore is usually found in the form of an oxide (hematite), and
its reduction to the
metallic form consists
in displacing the oxy-
gen, which is effected
by mixing carbon in
some form with the
ore, and subjecting
the mixture to a high
heat by means of a
blast. The carbon
unites with the oxy-
gen and forms car-
bonic acid gas, which
escapes, while the
metallic iron fuses
and runs out at the
bottom of the furnace,
and when collected
in trough - shaped
moulds, is known as
pig iron.
The first
FIG. 249. — PRIMITIVE IRON FURN.^CE OF HINDOSTAN.
iron furnaces were known as air bluoincrics, and had no
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 373
■forced draft. The first step of importance in iron making was the forced
blast. An early form of blast furnace is shown in Fig. 249, which rep-
resents an iron furnace of the Kols, a tribe of iron smelters in Lower
Bengal and Orissa. An inclined tray terminates at its lower end in a
furnace inclosure. Charcoal in the furnace being well ignited, ore and
charcoal resting on the tray are alternately raked into the furnace. The
blowers are two boxes, connected to the furnace by bamboo pipes, and
provided with skin covers, which are alternately depressed by the feet
and raised by cords from the spring poles. Each skin cover has a hole
in the middle, which is stopped by the heel of the workman as the weight
of the person is thrown upon it, and is left open by the withdrawal of
the foot as the cover is raised. The heels of the workman, alternately
raised, form alternately acting valves, and the skin cover, when depressed,
acts as a bellows. The fused metal sinks to a basin in the bottom of
the furnace, and the slag or impurities run off above the level of the
basin at the side of the furnace.
The great modern art of iron working dates from Lord Dudley's
British patent, No. 18, of 1621, which related to "The mistery, arte, way
and meanes of melting iron owre, and of makeing the same into cast
workes or barrs with seacoales or pittcoales in furnaces with bellowes
of as good condicon as hath bene heretofore made of charcoale."
The next step of importance after the blast furnace was the substitu-
tion of coke for coal for the reduction of the ore, which was introduced
by Abraham Darby, about 1750.
Next came the conversion of cast iron into wrought iron. This was
mainly the work of Mr. tienry Cort, of Gosport, England, who, in 17S3-84,
introduced the processes of puddling and rolling, which were two of the
most important inventions connected with the production of iron since
the employment of the blast furnace. Mr. Cort obtained British patents
No. 1,351, of 1783, and No. 1,420, of 1784, for his invention. His first
patent related to the hammering, welding, and' rolling of the iron, while
in his second patent he introduced what is known as the reverberatory
furnace, having a concave bottom, into which the fluid metal is run from
the smelting furnace, and which is converted from brittle cast iron, con-
taining a certain per cent, of carbon, into wrought iron, which has the
carbon eliminated, and is malleable and tough. This process is called
puddling, and consists in exposing the fnolten metal to an oxidizing cur-
rent of flame and air. The metal boils as the carbon is burned out, and
as it becomes more plastic and stifif it is collected into what are called
blooms, and these are hammered to get rid of the slag, and are re-
374
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
duced to marketable shape as wrought iron by the process described in
his previous patent. Mr. Cort expended a fortune in developing the
iron trade, and was one of the greatest pioneers in this art.
The first notable development of the Nineteenth Century was the in-
troduction of the hot air blast in forges and furnaces where bellows or
blowing apparatus was required. This was the invention of J. Beaumont
Neilson. of Glasgow, and was covered by him in British patent No. 5,701
of 1828. This consisted in heating the air blast before admitting it to the
furnace, and it so increased the reduction of refractory ores in the blast
furnace as to permit three or four times the quantity of iron to be pro-
duced with an expenditure of little more than one-third of the fuel.
An illustration of a modern blast furnace plant is given in Fig. 250. A
FIG. 250.-
-MODERN HOT BLAST FURNACE.
is the furnace, in which the iron ore and fuel are arranged in alternate
layers. The hot air blast comes in through pipes t at the bottom, called
tuyeres. As gas escapes through the opening b at the top, it is first
cleared of dust in the settler and washer B, and then passes through the
pipe C to the regenerators D D D, where it is made to heat the incoming
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 375
air. The gas mixed with some air burns in the regenerators, and, after
heating a mass of brick within the regenerators red hot, escapes by the
underground passageway to the chimney on the right. When the bricks
are sufficiently hot in one of the regenerators, gas is turned ofif therefrom,
and into another regenerator, and fresli air from pipe H is passed through
the bricks of the heated regenerator, and being heated passes out pipe F
at the top and thence to the pipe G and tuyeres t. to promote the chemical
reactions in the blast furnace.
In the earlier blast furnaces a vast amount of heat was allowed to
escape and was wasted. The utilization of this heat engaged the attention
of Aubertot in France, 1810-14; Teague in England (British patent No.
6,211, of 1832) ; Budd (British patent No. 10,475, °^ i845)' and others.
To enable the escaping hot gases to be employed for heating the hot blast
regenerators a charging device is now used, as seen at a in Fig. 250, in
which the admission of ore and fuel is regulated by a large conical valve,
and the gases are compelled to pass out at b and be utilized.
Among the world's largest blast furnaces may be mentioned the
Austrian Alpine Montan Gesellschaft, which concern owns thirty-two
furnaces. This is said to be the largest number owned by any one concern
m the world, but most of them are of small size and run on charcoal iron.
The furnaces of the United States are, however, of the largest yield, and
the leading ones of these are :
Annual capacity
No. Furnaces. in tons.
Carnegie Steel Co 17 2,200,000
Federal Steel Co 19 1,900.000
Tennessee Coal and Iron Co 20 1,307,000
National Steel Co t2 1,205,000
The present annual output of pig iron in the United States is about ten
million tons, of which these four companies make about one-half.
When the iron runs from the bottom of the blast furnace it is allowed
to flow into trough-like moulds in the sand of the floor, and forms pig iron.
Pig iron can be remelted and cast into various articles in moulds, but it
cannot be wrought with the hammer, nor rolled into rails or plates, nor
welded on the anvil, because it is still a compound of iron and carbon with
other impurities, and is crystalline in character. To bring it into wrought
iron, which is malleable and ductile, it is puddled and refined, which in-
volves chiefly the burning out of the carbon and silicon. The pig iron is
remelted (see Fig. 251) in the tray-shaped hearth b from the heat of the
376
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
fire in the reverberatory furnace a, the reverberatory furnace being one in ■
which the materials treated are exposed to the heat of the flame, but not
to contact with the fuel. The hot flame mixed with air beating down
upon the melted iron on hearth b for two hours or so, burns out the silicon
and carbon, the process be-
ing facilitated by stirring
and working the mass with
tools. During the operation,
the oxj'gen of the air com-
bines with the carbon and
forms carbonic acid gas.
which, in escaping from
the metal, appears to make
it boil. When the iron parts
with its carbon it loses its
fluidity and becomes plastic
and coherent, and is formed
into balls called blooms.
These blooms consist of
particles of nearly pure
iron cohering, but retaining
still a quantity of slag or
vitreous material, and other
impurities, which slag, etc.,
is worked out while still,
hot by a squeezing, knead-
ing, and hammering proc-
FIG. 25 1, -PUDDLING FURNACE. . ^^^ ^^ f^^.,^^ wrOUght irOU
that may be worked into any shape Isetween rolls or under the hammer.
Bessemer Steel. — Steel is a compound of iron and carbon, standing
between wrought iron and cast iron. Wrought iron has, when pure, prac-
tically no carbon in it, while cast iron has a considerable proportion in
excess of steel. Steel making consists mainly in so treating cast iron as to
get rid of a part of the carbon and other impurities. Of all methods of
steel making, and in fact of all the steps of progress in the art of metal
working, none has been so important and so far reaching in effect as the
Bessemer process. It was invented by Henry Besserner, of England, in
1855. About fifty British patents were taken by Mr. Bessemer relating
to various improvements in the iron industry, but those representing the
pioneer steps of the so-called Bessemer process are No. 2,321, of 1853;
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
377
No. 2,768, of 1855, and No. 356, of 1856. The process is illustrct-ed in
Figs. 252, 253 and 254. The converter in which the process is carried
out is a great bottle-shaped vessel 15 feet high and 9 feet wide, consisting
of an iron shell with a heavy lining of refractory material, capable of hold-
ing eight or more tons of melted iron, and with an open neck at the top
turned to one side. It is mounted on trunnions, and is provided with gear
wheels by which it may be turned on its trunnions, so that it may be main-
tained erect, as in Fig. 252, or be turned down to pour out the contents
into the casting ladle, as in Figs. 253 and 254. At the bottom of the con-
verter there is an air chamber supplied by
a pipe leading from one of the trunnions,
which is hollow, and a number of up-
wardly discharging air openings or noz-
zles send streams of air into the molten
mass of red hot cast iron. The red hot
cast iron contains more or less carbon
and silicon, and the air uniting with the
carbon and silicon burns it out, and in
doing so furnishes the heat for the con-
tinuance of the operation. When the
pressure of air is turnefl into the mass of
molten iron a tongue of flame increasing
in brilliancy to an intense white, comes
roaring out of the mouth of the converter,
and a violent eljullition takes place with-
in, and throws sparks and spatters of
metal high in the air around, producing
the impression and scenic effect of a
volcano in eruption. In fifteen minutes
the volume and brilliancy of the flame diminish^^and this indicates the
. critical moment of conversion into tough steel, which must be adjusted to
the greatest nicety. When the carbon is sufficiently burned out the blast
is stopped and the converter turned down to receive a quantit\- of ferro-
manganese or spiegeleisen (a compound of iron containing manganese),
which unites with and removes the sulphur and oxide of iron, and then
the lurid monster, with its breath of fire abated, and its energv exhausted,
bows its head and vomits forth its charge of boiling steel, to be wrought
or cast into ten thousand useful articles.
Like most all valuable inventions, Mr. Bessemer's claim to priority for
the invention was contested. An American inventor, William Kellv, in
252. — BESSEMER CO^n'ERTER
DURING THE "BLOW."
378
THE PROGRESS- OF INDENTION
an interference with Mr. Bessemer's United States patent, successfully
established a claim to the broad idea of forcin? air into the red hot cast
FIG. 253.— POURING THE MOLTEN MET.\L.
FIG. 254. — SIDE VIEW, SHOWING TURNING GEARS.
iron, and United States patent No. 17,628, June 23, 1857, was granted to
Mr. Kelly. The honor of inventing and introducing a successful process
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 379
and apparatus for making steel by this method, however, fairly belongs
to Mr. Bessemer, to whose work was to be added the valuable contribution
of Robert F. Mushet (British patent No. 2,219, of 1856) of adding
spiegeleisen, a triple compound of iron, carbon and manganese, to the
charge in the converter. This step served to regulate the supply of carlDon
and eliminate the oxygen, and completed the process of making steel. The
Holly converter, covered by United States patents No. 86,303, and No.
86,304, January 26, 1869, represented one of the most important x\merican
developments of the Bessemer converter.
The importance of Bessemer steel in its influence upon modern civiliza-
tion is everywhere admitted. It has so cheapened steel that it now com-
petes with iron in price. Practically all railroad rails, iron girders and
beams for buildings, nails, etc., are made from it at a cost of between one
and two cents per pound.
In recognition of the great benefits conferred upon humanity by this
process. Queen Victoria conferred the degree of knighthood upon the
inventor, and his fortune resulting from his invention is estimated to have
grown for some time at the rate of $500,000 a year. In a historical sketch
of the development of his process, delivered by Sir Henry Bessemer in
December. 1896, before the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
at New York, Mr. Bessemer was reported as saying that the annual pro-
duction of Bessemer steel in Europe and America amounted to 10,000,000
tons. The production of Bessemer steel in the United States for 1897 was
for ingots and castings 5,475,315 tons, and for railroad rails 1,644,520
tons. The extent to which steel has displaced iron is shown by the fact
that in the same year iron rails to the extent of 2,872 tons only were made,
as compared with more than a million and a half tons of Bessemer steel.
In the popular vote taken by the Scientific American, July 25, 1896,
as to what invention introduced in the past fifty years had conferred the
greatest benefit upon mankind. Bessemer steeL was given the place of
honor.
A recent improvement in the handling of iron from the Ijlast furnace
is shown in Fig. 255. Heretofore, the iron was run in open sand moulds
on the floor and allowed to cool in bars called "pigs," which were united in
a series to a main body of the flow, called a "sow." To break the "pigs"
from the "sow," and handle the iron in transportation, was a very laborious
and expensive work. The illustration shows two series of parallel trough
moulds, each forming an endless belt, running on wheels. The molten
cast iron is poured direct into these moulds, and as they travel along they
pass beneath a body of water, which cools and solidifies the iron into pigs,
3"0
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
and then carries them up an inchne and dumps them directly into the
cars.
Open Hearth Steel is not so cheap as Bessemer steel, but it is of a finer
and more uniform quality. Bessemer steel is made in a few minutes by
the most energetic, rapid and critical of processes, while the open hearth
FIG. 255. — CASTING AND LOADING PIG IRON.
Steel requires several hours, and its development being thus prolonged it
may be watched and regulated to a greater nicety of result. For railroad
rails and architectural construction Bessemer steel still find.s a great
field of usefulness, but for the finest quality of steel, such as is employed
in making steam boilers, tools, armor plate for war vessels, etc., steel made
by the open hearth process is preferred. It consists in the decarburization
of cast iron by fusion with wrought iron, iron sponge, steel scrap, or iron
oxide, in the hearth of a reverberatory furnace heated with gases, the
flame of which assists the reaction, and the subsequent recarlnu-ization or
deoxidation of the bath by the addition, at the close of the process, of
spiegeleisen or ferro-manganese. The period of fusion lasts from four to
eight hours. The advantages over the Bessemer process are, a less ex-
pensive plant and the greater duration of the operation, permitting, by
7iV THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
381
means of sampling, more complete control of the quality of the product
and greater uniformity of result.
The British patents of Siemens, No. 2,861, of 1856; No. 167, of i86i,
and No. 972, of 1863, for regenerative furnaces, and the British patents
of Emile and Pierre Martin, No. 2,031, of 1864; No. 2,137, of 1865, and
No. 859, of 1866, represent the so-called Siemens-Martin process, which
is the best known and generally used open hearth process.
The Siemens Regenerative Furnace, in which this process is carried
out, is seen in Fig. 256. Four chambers, C, E, E', C, are filled with fire
FIG. 256. — SIEMENS REGENERATIVE FURNACE.
brick loosely stacked with spaces between, in checker-work style. Gas is
forced in the bottom of chamber C, and air in Ijottom of chamber E, and
lUey pass up separate flues, G, on the left, and being ignited in chamber
D above, impinge in a flame on the metal in hearth H, the hot gases
passing out flues F on the right, and percolating through and highly heat-
ing the checker-work bricks in chaml)ers E' and C'. As soon as these are
hot, gas and air are shut off by valves from chambers C and E, and gas
and air admitted to the bottoms of the now hot chambers C' and E'. The
gas and air now passing up through these chambers C', E', become
highly heated, and when burned above the melted iron on hearth H
produce an intense heat. The waste gases now pass down flues G, and
382
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
impart their heat to the checker work bricks in chambers C and E. When
the bricks in E' C become cooled by the passage of gas and air, the
valves are again adjusted to reverse the currents of gas and air, sending
them now through chambers C and E again. In this way the heat
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 383
escaping to the smoke stack is stored up in the bricks and utiHzed to heat
the incoming fuel gases before burning them, thus greatly increasing
the efifective energy of the furnace, saving fuel, and keeping the smoke
stack- relatively cool.
Armor Plate. — In these late days of struggle for supremacy between
the power of the projectile and the resistance of the battleship, the pro-
duction of armor plate has become an interesting and important industry.
Three methods are employed. One is to roll the massive ingots di-
rectly into plates between tremendous rolls, a single pair of which, such
as used in the Krupp works, are said to weigh in the rough as much as
100,000 pounds. Usually there are three great rollers arranged one above
the other, and automatic tables are provided for raising and lowering
the plates in their passage from one set of rolls to the other. The man in
charge uses a v/histle in giving the signals which direct these movements,
and without the help of tongs and levers the glowing blocks move easily
back and forth between the rollers. The men standing on both sides of
the rollers have only to wipe off the plates with brooms and occasionally
turn the plates.
The second method utilizes great steam hammers weighing 125 tons,
and striking Titanic blows upon the yielding metal. The most modern
method, however, is by the hydraulic press forge, now used in the shops
of the Bethlehem steel works in the production of Harveyized armor
plate. In Fig. 257 is seen the great 14,000 ton hydraulic press-forge
squeezing into shape a port armor plate for the battleship "Alabama."
After leaving the forge, the plate is trimmed to shape by the savage bite
of a rotary saw and planer, seen in Figs. 258 and 259, whose insatiable
appetites tear ofif the steel like famished fiends. The plate is then taken
to be Harveyized by cementation, hardening, and tempering, as seen in
Figs. 260, 261, and 262. The 125-ton mass of metal representing the
plate in the rough, and weighing more than a locomotive, is thus handled
and brought to shape with an ease and dispatch-that inspires the observer
with mixed emotions of admiration and awe.
Making Horse Shoes. — Anthony's patent, April 8, 1831 ; Tolles', of
October 24, 1834, and H. Burden's, of November 23, 1835, were pioneers
in horse-shoe machines. Mr. Burden took many subsequent patents, and
to him more than any other inventor belongs the credit of introducing
machine-made horse shoes, which greatly cheapened the cost of this
homely, but useful article. Nearly 400 United States patents have been
granted for horse-shoe machines.
Making Screzvs, Bolts, Nuts. Etc. — Screw-making according to
384
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
FIG. 258. — ROTARY SAW, CUTTING HEAVY ARMOR PLATE.
FIG. 259. — ROTARY PLANER, TRIMMING HKAVY ARMOR PLATE.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
385
^^■:r,--;^,.
FIG. 260. — THE CEMENTATION FURNACE.
FIG. 261. — H.\RDENING THE PLATE BY JETS OF WATER.
modern methods began between 1800-1810 with the operations of iVIauds-
ley. Sloan, in 1851, and Harvey, in 1864, made many improvements in
machines, operating upon screw blanks. The gimlet-pointed screw, which
386
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
allows the screw to be turned into wood without having a hole bored for
it, was an important advance in the art. It was the invention of Thomas
J. Sloan, patented August 20, 1846, No. 4,704, and was twice re-issuetl
and extended. In later years the rolling of screws, instead of cutting the
threads by a chasing tool, has attained considerable importance, and pro-
FIG. 262. — OIL TEMPERING.
vides a simpler and cheaper method of manufacture. Knowles" United
States patent of April i, 1831, re-issued March i, 1833, described such a
process, while Rogers, in patents No. 370,354, September 20, 1887 ; No.
408,529, August 6, 1889; No. 430,237. June 17, 1890, and No. 434,809,
August 19, 1890, added such improvement in the process as to make it
practical.
In the great art of metal working the names of Bramah, Whitworth,
Clements and Sellers appear conspicuously in the early part of the century
as inventors of planing, boring and turning machinery for metals. Our
present splendid machine shops, gun shops, locomotive works, type-
writer and bicycle factories, are examples of the wonderful extensions of
this art. In later years the field has been filled so full of improvements
and special machines for special work, that only a brief citation of a few
representative types is possible, and even then selection becomes a very
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 387
difficult task. Many special tools, particularly those designed for bicycle
zvork, have been devised, as exhibited by patent to Hillman, August ii,
1891, No. 457,718. In turning car wheels, an improvement consists in
bringing the wheel to be dressed into close proximity to the edge of a
rapidly revolving smooth metal disk, whereby the surface of the wheel
is melted away without there being any actual contact between the wheel
surface and the disk. This is shown in patent to Miltimore, August 24,
1886, No. 347,951. In metal tube manufacture three processes are worthy
of mention : ( I ) Passing a heated solid rod endwise between the working
faces of two rapidly rotating tapered rolls, set with their axes at an angle
to each other, as shown in Mannesmann's patent, April 26, 1887. No. 361,-
954 and 361,955. (2) Forcing a tube into a rapidly rotating die, whereby
the friction softens the tube, and the pressure and rotation of the die spin
it into a tube of reduced diameter, shown in patent to Bevington, January
13, 1891, No. 444,721. (3) Placing a hot ingot in a die and forcing a
mandrel through the ingot, thereby causing it to assume the shape of the
interior of the die, and greatly condensing the metal, shown in patents to
Robertson, November 26, 1889, No. 416,014, and Ehrhardt, April 11,
1893, No. 495.245-
In zvcldiiig, the employment of electricity constitutes the most impor-
tant departure. This was introduced by Elihu Tliomson, and is covered in
his patents Nos. 347,140 to 347,143, August 10, 1886, and No. 501,546,
July 18, 1893. In annealing and tempering, electricity has also been em-
ployed as a means of heating (see patent to Shaw, No. 211.938. February
4, 1879). It supplies an even heat and uniform temperature, and is much
used in producing clock and watch springs. The making of iron castings
malleable by a prolonged baking in a furnace in a bed of metallic oxide
was an important, but early, step. It was the invention of Samuel Lucas,
and is disclosed in his British patent No. 2,767, of 1804.
The Harvey process of making armor plate is an important recent
development in cementation and case hardening, and is covered by his
United States patents No. 376,194, January 10, 1888, and No. 460.262,
.September 29, 1891. It consists, see Fig. 260, in embedding the face of the
plate in carbon,, protecting the back and sides with sand, heating to about
the melting point of cast iron, and subsequently hardening the face. The
Krupp armor plate, now rated as the best, is made under the patent to
Schmitz and Ehrenzberger, No. 534,178, February 12, 1895.
In coating zvith metals, the so-called "galvanizing" of iron is an im-
portant art. This was introduced by Craufurd (British patent No. 7.355,
of April 29, 1837), and consisted in plunging the iron into a bath of
388 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
melted zinc covered with sal ammoniac. In more recent years the tin-
ning of iron has become an important industry, and machines have been
made for automatically coating the plates and dispensing with hand labor,
examples of which are found in patents No. 220,768, October 21, 1879,
Morewood; No. 329,240, October 27, 1885, Taylor, et a!., and No. 426,962,
April 29, 1890, Rogers and Player.
In metal founding the employment of chill moulds is an important
step. Where any portion of a casting is subjected to unusual wear, the
mould is formed, opposite that part of the casting, out of metal, instead
of sand, and this metal surface, by rapidly extracting the heat at that
point by virtue of its own conductivity, hardens the metal of the casting
at such point. The casting of car wheels by chill moulds, by which the
tread portion of the wheel was hardened and increased in wearing quali-
ties, is a good illustration. Important types are found in patents to Wil-
mington, No. 85,046, Deceniljer 15, 1868; Barr, No. 207,794, September
10, 1878, and Whitney, re-issue patent. No. 10,804, February i, 1887.
In zi'ire-zuorking great advances have been made in machines for
making barbed zvire fences. The French patent to Grassin & Baledans,
in 1 86 1,, is the first disclosure of a barbed wire fence. This art began
practicalh", however, with the United States patent to Glidden and
Vaughan for a barbed wire machine. No. 157,508, December 8, 1874, re-
issued March 20, 1877, No. 7,566, and has assumed great proportions.
A machine for making wire net is shown in patent to Scarles, No. 380,664,
April 3, 1 888, and wire picket fence machines are shown in patents to
Fultz, No. 298,368, May 13, 1884, and Kitselman, No. 356,322, January
18, 1887. Machines for making wire nails were invented at an early
period, but the product found but little favor until about t88o, when
they began to be extensively used, and have almost entirely supplanted cut
nails for certain classes of work, since their round cross section and
lack of taper give great holding power and avoid cutting the grain of
the wood. In 1897 the wire nails produced in the United States amounted
to 8,997,245 kegs of 100 pounds each, which nearly doubled the output
of 1896. The output of cut nails for the same year was 2,106,799 kegs.
The bending of wire to form chains without welding the links has
long been done for watch chains, etc., but in late years the method has
extended to many varieties of heavy chains. The patents to Breul, No.
359,054. March 8, 1887, and No. 467,331, January 19, 1892, are good
examples.
An interesting class of machines, but one impossible of illustration on
account of their complication, are machines for making pins. In earlier
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 389
times pins had their heads applied in a separate operation. ""Making
pins from wire and forming the heads out of the cut sections began in
the Nineteenth Century with Hunt's British patent. No. 4,129, of 1817.
This art received its greatest impetus, however, under Wright's British
patent No. 4,955, of 1824. A paper of pins containing a pin for everv
day in the year, and costing but a few cents, gives no idea to the purchaser
of the time, thouglit and capital expended in machines for making them,
and yet were it not for such machines, rapidly cutting coils of wire into
lengths, pointing and heading the pins, and sticking them into papers, the
world would be deprived of one of its most ubiquitous and useful articles.
Many tons of pins are made in the United States weekly, and it is said
th.at 20,000,000 pins a day are required to meet the demand.
In the metal working art the making of fire-arms and projectiles has
grown to wonderful proportions. Cutlery and builders' hardware is an
enormous branch ; wire-drawing, sheet metal-making, forging, and the
making of tools, springs, tin cans, needles, hooks and eyes, nails and
tacks, and a thousand minor articles, have grown to such proportions
that only a bird's-eye view of the art is possible.
In the making of sliot, the old method was to pour the melted metal
through a sieve, and allow it to drop from a tower 180 feet or more in
height. David Smith's patent, No. 6,460, May 22. 1849, provided an
ascending current of air through which the metal dropped, and which, by
cooling the shot by retarding its fall and bringing a greater number of
air particles in contact with them, avoided the necessity of such high
towers. In 1868, Glasgow and Wood patented a process of dropping
the shot through a column of glycerine or oil. Still another method is
to allow the melted metal to fall on a revolving disk, which divides it into
drops by centrifugal action.
Alloys. — Over 300 United States patents have been granted for various
allo}'s of metals. The so-called babbit metal was patented in the United
States by Isaac Babbit, July 17, 1839, and in England, May 15, 1843,
No. 9,724. This consists of an antifriction compound of tin, 10 parts,
copper, I part, and antimony, i part, and is specially adapted for the
lubricated bearings of machinery. Phosphor bronze, introduced in 187 1,
combines 80 to 92 parts copper, 7 of tin, and i of phosphorus (see
United States patents to Lavroff, No. 118,372, August 22. 1871, and
Levi and Kunzel, No. 115,220, May 23, 1871). The addition of phos-
phorus promotes the fluidity of the metal and makes very clean, fine and
strong castings. In alloys of iron, chromium steel is covered by patents
to Baur, No. 49,495, August 22, 1865; No. 99,624, February 8, 1870, and
390 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
No. 123,443, February 6, 1872; manganese steel, by Hadfield's patent, No.
303,150, August 5, 1884; aliuninuni steel, by Wittenstrom's patent, No.
333,373, December 29, 1885, and phosphorus steel, by Kunkel's patent,
No. 182,371, September 19, 1876. The most recent and perhaps most
important, however, is nickel steel, used in making armor for battleships.
This is covered by Schneider's patents, Nos. 415,655, and 415,657, No-
vember 19, 1889.
In 1878 England led the world in the iron industry with a production
of 6,381,051 tons of pig iron, as compared with 2,301,215 tons by the
United States. In 1897 the United States leads the world in the following
ratios :
Tons Pig Iron. Tons Steel.
United States 9,652,680 7.156,957
Great Britain 8,789,455 4,585,961
Germany 6,879,541 4,796,226
France 2,472,143 1,312,000
The United States made in that year 29.30 per cent, of the world's
production of pig iron, and 34.58 per cent, of its steel. The total output
of the whole world in that year was 32,937,490 tons pig iron, and 20,-
696,787 tons of steel.
Metallurgy of Rarer Metals. — Although less in evidence than iron,
this has engaged the attention of the scientist from the earliest years of
the century. The full list of metals discovered since 1800 may be found
under "Chemistry." The more important only are here given. Palladium
cuid rhodium were reduced by Wollaston in 1804. Potassium and sodium
were first separated in metallic form by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1807,
through the agency of the voltaic arc ; barium, strontium, calcium and
boron by the same scientist in 1808; iodine by Courtois in 181 1 ; selenium
by Berzelius in 1817; cadmium by Stromeyer in 1817; silicon by Ber-
zelius in 1823, and bromium by Balard in 1826. Magnesium was first
prepared by Bussey in 1829. Aluminum was first separated in 1828 by
Wohler, by decomposing the chloride by means of potassium. Oersted,
in 1827, preceded him with important preliminary steps, and Deville, in
1854. followed in the first commercial applications. In late years the
metallurg}- of aluminum has made great advances. The Cowles process
heats to incandescence by the electric current a mixture of alumina, car-
bon and copper, the reduced aluminum alloying with the copper. This
process is covered by United States patents to Cowles and Cowles, No.
3^9795' June 9, 1885, and Nos. 324,658 and 324,659, August 18, 1885. It
has, however, for the most parts been superseded by the process patented
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
391
by Hall, April 2, 1889, No. 400,766, in which alumina dissolved in fused
cryolite is electrically decomposed.
In the metallurgy of the precious metals probably the most important
step has been the cyanide process of obtaining gold and silver. In 1S06
it was known that gold was soluble in a solution of cyanide of potassium.
In 1844 L. Eisner published investigations along this line, and demon-
strated that the solution took place only in the presence of oxygen.
Mc Arthur and Forrest perfected the process for commercial application,
and it is now extensively used in the Transvaal and elsewhere. It is
covered by their British patent, No. 14.T74, of 1887, and United States
patents No. 403,202, May 14, 1889, and No. 418,137, December 24, 1889,
which describe the
application of dilute
solutions of cyanide
of potassium, not
exceeding 8 parts
cyanogen to i .000
parts of water : the
use of zinc in a fine
state of division to
precipitate the gold
out of solution, and
the preparatory
treatment of the par-
tially oxidized ores
with an alkali or
salts of an alkali. By
this solution-process
gold, in the finest
state of subdivision,
which could not be
extracted by other
processes from the
earth}' matters, ma}'
be recovered and
saved in a simple,
practical and cheap
way.
In the working of ores of gold and silver the old method of- commi-
nution of the rock and the separation of the gold and silver by amalgama-
-EDISON M.\GNETIC CONCENTR.'VTINC WORKS.
THE GI.-^NT CRUSHING ROLLS.
392
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
tion with mercury has given birth to thousands of inventions in stamp
mills, amalgamators, ore washers, concentrators and separators. In the
treatment of iron ores, and especially those of low grade, the magnetic
concentrator is an interesting and striking departure. This method goes
back to the first half
of the Nineteenth
Century, an example
being found in the
patent to Cook, No.
6,121, February 20,
1849. Edison's pat-
ent. No. 228,329. June
I, 1880. is however,
the basis of the first
practical operations in
which magnets, oper-
ating b}' attraction
upon falling particles
of iron ore, are made
to separate the parti-
cles rich in iron from
the sand. In Fig. 263
is shown the Edison
magnetic concentrat-
ing apparatus. The
ore, in masses of all
sizes up to boulders
of five or si.x tons
weight, is dumped be-
tween the giant rolls,
and these enormous
masses are crunched
and comminuted more
easily than a dog
crunchesabone. These
gigantic rolls are six feet in diameter, six feet long, and their surfaces are
covered with crushing knobs. They weigh with the moving machinery
seventy tons, and when revolved at a circumferential speed of 3.500 feet
in a minute, their insatiable and irresistible bite soon chews the rock, into
fragments that pass into similar crushing rolls set closer together until
FIG. 264. — EDISON MAGNETIC CONCENTRATOR.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 393
reducea lo the desired fineness. The sand is then raised to the top of
the concentrating devices, shown in Fig. 264, and is allowed to fall in
sheets from inclined boards in front of a series of magnets, of which four
sets are shown in the figure. These magnets deflect the fall of the
particles rich in iron (which are attracted), while the non-magnetic
particles of sand drop straight down. A thin knife-edge partition board,,
arranged below the falling sheets of sand, separates the deflected mag-
netic particles from the straight-falling sand. These magnetic particles
are then collected and pressed into little bricks, which are now so rich in
iron, by virtue of concentration, as to make the final reduction of the iron
in the blast furnace easy and profitable. More recent developments in
this art are shown in patents to Wetherill, No. 555,792. March 3, 1896,
and Payne, No. 641,148, January 9, 1900.
In the production of copper the well-known Bessemer process for
refining iron is now largely used, as shown in patent to IManhes, No.
456,516, July 21, 1 89 1, in which blasts of air are forced through the
melted copper to remove sulphur and other impurities. Electrolytic
processes of refining copper are also largely used, as described in Farmer's
patent. No. 322,170, July 14, 1885.
The production of metals, other than iron, in the United States for the
year 1897, was as follows:
Gold, 2,774,935 ounces; worth $57,363,000.
Silver, 53,860,000 ounces; worth $32,316,000.
Copper, 220,571 long tons.
Lead, 212,000 short tons.
Zinc, 99,980 short tons.
Aluminum, 4,000,000 fts. ; worth (37^^ cents tt).) $1,500,000.
(This was three times the product of 1896.)
Mercury, 26,691 flasks ; worth $993,445.
Nickel, 23.707 pounds; worth (33 cents pound) $7,823.
394 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
CHAPTER XXX.
Firearms and Explosives.
The Cannon the Most Ancient of P'ire.\rms — Muzzle and Breech Loaders op
THE Sixteenth Century — The Armstrong Gun — The Rodman, Dahlgren
AND Parrott Guns — Breech Loading Ordnance — Rapid Fire Breech Loading
Rifles — Disappearing Gun — Gatling Gun — Dynamite Gun — The Colt and
Smith & Wesson Revolvers — German Automatic Pistol — Breech Loading
Small Arms — Magazine Guns — The Lee, Krag-Jorgensen, and Mauser
Rifles — Ha.mmerless Guns — Rebounding Locks — Gun Cotton — Nitro-Glyc-
ERiNE and Smokeless Powder — Mines and Torpedoes.
STRANGE as it may appear, the evolution of an enlightened civiliza-
tion and the deadly use of firearms have developed in parallel
lines. What relation there may be between the adoption of the
teachings of Christ to men to love one another, and the
invention of increased facilities among men for killing one another,
is a problem for the philosopher. Is it because killing at long range
is less brutal, or does the deterrent influence of this increased facility oper-
ate as a check appealing to the fear of the individual, or is the cannon one
of God's missionaries in working out the great law of the survival of the
fittest ? Whatever it may be, there does seem to be some relation of cause
and effect between the two factors, and doubtless all three of the causes
have exercised a contributory influence. In the olden days the wage of
battle was almost universally decided by the strength of brawn, and the
higher qualities of mind were subservient. The advent of firearms has
changed all this. It has made the weakest arm equal to the strongest when
supported by the same or a superior mental equipment, and this has made
a great step toward the supremacy of the intellectual against the attack of
the physically strong. In the fifth century the great civilization of Rome
fell under the ruthless attack of the northern barbarian. Could such a
thing have been possible with the gates defended by Gatling guns, maga-
zine rifles, and dynamite shells? On the contrary, we find to-day a handful
of trained soldiers equipped with modern firearms putting to flight a
horde of ignorant savages. The history of modern wars is filled with il-
lustrations of the shifting of the contest among men from an issue of brute
force to a contest of brains, and of the support rendered the latter by fire-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
395
arms. But is war really necessary, and may we not hope that it shall
cease ? We can only say that the ideal sentiment of beating the sword into
the plowshare is as yet the dream of the optimist, for man has gone right
along in perfecting the arts of war and raising the execution of firearms
to such a deadly efficacy, that the Nineteenth Century in a paramount de-
gree has been conspicuously notable for its advances in this art. Inven-
tion after invention has followed in such rapid succession, even to the last
years of the Nineteenth Century, until war now assumes the conditions of
suicide and annihilation.
No coherent history of firearms and explosives is possible in any short
review. The cannon, bombard or mortar, musket, pistol and petard, all
belong to former centuries, and in one form or another extend back to the
most ancient times, but they have grown in the Nineteenth Century into
such accuracy and distance of range, into such rapidity of action, into such
multiplied efficiency in repeating systems, into such energy of explosives,
and such convenient
embodiment and pene-
tration of projectile,
that these subjects
must must needs be
considered in separate
divisions.
The Cannon is the
most ancient of all fire-
arms, and. like gun-
powder, is believed to
have had its origin with
the Chinese. In the
Eleventh Century the
vessels of the King of
Tunis, in the attack on
Seville, are said to have
had on board iron pipes
from which a thunder-
ing fire was discharged.
Conde, in hi,": history of the Moors in Spain, speaks of them as used
in that country as early as 1118. Ferdinand, in 1309, took Gibraltar from
the ]\Ioors by cannon, and in 1346 the English used them at the battle of
Crecy, and from that time on they became a common weapon of warfare.
In the first cannon used the balls were of stone, and some of them were of
FIG. 265. — MUZZLE LOADING CANNON OF THE SI.KTEENTH
CENTUIiY.
396
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
enormous size. The bronze cannon of Mohammed II., A. D., 1464, had a
bore of 25 inches, and threw a stone ball of 800 pounds. The Tsar-
Pooschka, the great bronze gun of Moscow, cast in 1586, was even larger,
and had a bore 36 inches in diameter. Early in the history of the cannon
the breech-loading feature was introduced. In Figs. 265 and 266 are
shown illustrations from the Sixteenth Century, Fig. 265 representing a
muzzle loader, and Fig. 266 a breech-loader.
Passing through various stages of development, the cannon came down
to the Nineteenth Cen-
tury, and was known
generally as ordnance
or artillery, and speci-
fically as cannon or
heavy guns, mortars
for throwing shell at a
great elevation, and
howitzers for field,
mountain, or siege, and
which latter are lighter
and shorter than can-
non, and designed to
throw hollow projec-
tiles with comparative-
ly small charges. The
feature of importance
in the cannon which
contributed most to its
efficiency was the rifling
of the bore with spiral
grooves. This, by giv-
ing a rotating effect to the projectile, caused it to maintain a truer flight
by taking advantage of the law of physics that a rotating body tends to
preserve its plane of rotation. The rifling of the barrels of firearms is,
however, of very ancient origin. The British patent to Rotsipen, No. 71,
of 1635, is an early disclosure of this art. The patent was granted him for
''Fourteen yeares if he live soe long." * + * "Xo draw or to shave barrells
for pieces of all sortes straight even and smooth, and to make anie crooked bar-
rell perfectly straight with greate ease, and to riHc cutt out or screwe barrells as
wyde or as close or as deepe or as shallowe as shalbe required, with greate ease."
The rifle grooves, however, were first made spiral or "screwed" by
riG. 266. — BREECH LOADING CANNON OF THE SIXTEENTH
CENTURY.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 397
Koster, of Birmingham, about 1620, wliile straight grooves are said to
have been in use as far back as 1498. In Berhn there is a rifled cannon
of 1664 with thirteen grooves. Rifled cannon were first employed in actual
service in Louis Napoleon's Italian campaign of 1859, and were first intro-
duced in the United States service by General James in 1861.
About the middle of the Nineteenth Century a great impetus was given
to the development of artillery by the Crimean War, followed by the Civil
War of the United States.
In England the Armstrong gun was introduced about 1855, and was
covered by British patents No. 401, of 1857 ; No. 2,564, of 1858 ; No. 61 r,
of 1859, and No. 743, of i8fii. This originally consisted of an internal
tube of wrought iron or gun metal, with c}lindrical casings of wrought
iron shrunk on. It was afterwards improved in what was known as the
Fraser gun. In Germany the operations of Krupp as a gun maker began
to be notable about this period. In the United States, Colonel Rodman
devised a means of casting guns of large calibre, by having a hollow core
through which water was circulated to rapidly cool and harden the metal in
the vicinity of the bore, and to relieve the unequal strain in cooling. He
obtained patent No. 5,236, August 14, 1847, ^O"" the same. The Dahlgren
gun was patented August 6, 1861, Nos. 32,983, 32,984, and 32,985, by
Admiral Dahlgren, U. S. N. The improvement covered the adjustment of
the thickness of the metal at the breech of the gun to the varying pressure
strains along the bore. These guns were distinguishable by the smooth
bulbous breech of great thickness and curvilinear contour. The Parrott
gun, patented October i, 1861, No. 33,401, and ]\Iay 6, 1862, No. 35,171,
comprehended a form of hooped ordnance in which the breech was re-
enforced by an encompassing hoop or sleeve, which was shrunk on.
Brccch-Loading Ordnance. — \^"hile the breech-loading cannon is sev-
eral centuries old, and was, in fact, one of the first forms of that firearm,
it is to this principle of action that the rapid fire and great execution of the
modern weapon are chiefly due. The earliest of existing forms of breech
mechanism is that which comprehends the channeling of the breech trans-
versely to receive a tapered plug, which permits the charge to be placed
in the open rear end of the gun in front of the channel, and the transverse
plug then closed behind the charge. This is described in Hadley's British
patent Xo. 577, of 1741 : was first patented in the United States in a
modified form by Wright and Gould, No. 22,325, December 14, 1858, and
afterwards came to be known as the Rroadwell system, being developed by
him and covered in patents No. 33,876 .of December 10, 1861 ; No. 43,553,
July 12, 1864, and No. 55,762, June 19, 1866. This general principle is
398
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
C^'^^
^^
riC. 267. — THE KRUPP BREECH MECHANISM.
Still employed by Krupp in some of his guns, and as used by him is shown
in Fig. 267. The transverse channel through the breech is tapered, and
the sliding breech block X is slightly wedge-shaped to fit tightly therein.
When the breech block is withdrawn for loading, as shown, a sleeve S,
shown in dotted lines, is temporarily arranged in alignment with the bore
and gives smooth passage
way to the charge to a posi-
tion in front of the breech
block. This sleeve is then
withdrawn, the breech
block forced in, and is
there locked by a turn of
the threads of a locking
screw h into the corre-
sponding recesses a in the
breech. A detachable
wrench e may be applied
either to the screw d b to
turn it to lock or unlock, or to the traversing screw c, which, bv engaging
with a nut (not shown), runs the breech block in and out.
By far the most popular principle of the breech block, however, is that
of the interrupted thread, shown in Fig. 268, in which the plug, when
closed, has its axis in alignment with the axial bore of the gun. Its
threads are interrupted by longitudinally arranged channels, and the
breech of the gun has corresponding threads and channels. When the
plug is pushed into the gun, the screw threads of the plug enter the chan-
nels of the breech, and a rotary turn of the screw plug then locks its
threads into those of the breech. The screw plug is supported l.i)- a carrier
hinged at one side to the gun, and arranged to swing the plug into a.xial
alignment with the bore, or be thrown to one side to admit the charge.
The patents to Chambers, No. 6.612, July 31, 1849 (re-issue Xo. 237,
April 19, 1853), and to Cochran, No. 26,256, November 29, 1S59. are the
earliest American examples of this principle of action, and are believed to
be the original inventions of the same.
In one form or another this construction enters into most all modern
breech mechanisms. Among the forms used by the United States are the
Driggs-Seabury, the Dashiell, and the Vickers-Maxim. To prevent the
expanding gases from driving through the crevices of the breech block,
expanding or swelling rings, known as gas checks, are arranged on the
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
399
front of the breech block. De Bange's patent, No. 301,220, July i, 1884,
covers the most popular form.
The elements of efficiency of the modern rapid-fire breech-loading rifle
are to be found in the following features : First, in the increased length of
FIG. 268. — INTERRUPTED THREAD BREECH MECH.ANISM.
the gun, which, for a 6-inch gun is now as much as 25 feet, the increased
length lending a longer period of expansion for the explosion of the pow-
der charge, and imparting a correspondingly higher momentum ; secondly,
in the fixed ammunition, which means a cartridge case in which a metallic
shell encloses the powder charge, and is connected with the projectile, and
third, in the great improvement and rapidity of action of the breech mech-
anism, which permits as many as eight rounds per minute to be fired.
In Fig. 269 is shown a 6-inch rapid-fire gun of the United States Navy,
loaded, and being sighted for fire. Rapid-fire guns of this class represent
the most efi^ective form of modern ordnance. It was largely such rapid
fire batteries of Admiral Dewey's squadron that swept the Spanish fleet out
of existence at ^Manila, and that demolished the fleet of Cervera at Santi-
ago b)' the awful hail of shells poured into his ships. These relatively
small guns throw a shell six miles, and the striking energy of their pro-
jectiles at the muzzle is equal to the penetration of iron plate 21 inches
thick, or 16 inches of steel. When the gun is loaded, it is held in the for-
ward position by coil springs, inclosed in cylinders and holding a recoil seat
for the trunnions, and also has two pistons traveling in cylinders filled
with glycerine. When the gun is fired, the recoil causes it to slide back.
400
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
carr^-ing the pistons, and the recoil is checked by the resistance of the
glj'cerine travehng through an opening past the pistons. After full recoil,
the gun is automatically returned to its forward position by the action of
the coil springs, which are compressed during the recoil. The gun crew
is protected by Harveyized steel plate 4 inches thick, and the gun is so
FIG. 26g. — SICHTlNf; .4. SIX-INCH R.\PII1 FIRE GUN.
delicately mounted on ball liearings that its great weight of 7JX tons re-
sponds readily to the slight pressure in training the same.
Powerful as these guns appear to be, their big brothers in the revolving
turrets are far more so. While not so nimble in action, the great power
of these guns of the main battery, and the elaboration and completeness
of mechanism for operating them, for supplying them with ammunition,
?.nd for rotating the turrets, constitute a complete world in ordnance in
itself. As the gun increases in size, its cost both in construction and
service increases in a greatly disproportionate ratio. A 6-inch breech-
/iV THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
401
loading rifle costs $64.40 for each discharge, while a 12-inch gun costs
$458 for each discharge. The largest guns of our battleships are of 13
inch calibre, and about 40 feet long, but larger ones are employed for sea
coast defenses. The great 16-inch 126-ton gun, now building for the
United States at the Watervliet arsenal, is 49J4 feet long, over 6 feet in
diameter at the breech, and it will have an extreme range of over twenty
miles. Its projectile will weigh 2,370 pounds, and it will cost $865 to fire
the gun once. The accompanying view, Fig. 270, will give graphic illus-
wllCHr CFPHOjfCrut' Z.'sTOPSS.
Powolf) ChahgC 576 POS.
FIG. 270. — RANGE OF SIXTEEN-INCH GUN.
tration of the range of this gun. If tired at its maximum elevation from
the battery at the south end of New York in a northerly direction, its pro-
jectile would pass over the city of New York, over Grant's Tomb, Spuyten
Duyvil, Riverdale, Mount St. Vincent, Ludlow, Yonkers, and would land
near Hastings-on-the-Hudson, nearly twenty miles away, as shown in our
map, Fig. 271. The extreme height of its trajectory would be 30,516 feet,
or nearly six miles. This means that if Pike's Peak, of the Western Hem-
isphere, had piled on top of it Alont Blanc, of the Eastern Hemisphere,
this gun would hurl its enormous projectile so high al:ove them both as to
still leave space below its curve to build Washington's Monument on top of
]\Iont Blanc, as shown in Fig. 270.
The Disappearing Gnu. — The importance of secreting the location of
the battery in coast defences, and the better protection of the gunners, have
suggested a species of gun carriage which would permit the gun to be
normally hidden behind and under the protection of the parapet, and be
only temporarily elevated to a position above the parapet while firing.
Various forms of this have been devised. General R. E. De Russy, Corps
Engineers, U. S. A., devised such a carriage in 1835. Moncrief, of
England, was one of the first to put in practice such a form of carriage.
'' 'nited States patents covering this invention were granted him as follows :
402
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
No. 83,873, November 10, 1868; No. 115,502, May 30, 1871, and No.
144,120, October 28, 1873. Its principle of operation was to utilize the
force of the recoil as a power to raise the gun into firing position. The
gun is fulcrumed in a lever frame provided with a counterpoise which
FIG. 271. — RADIUS OF ACTION OF SIXTEEN-INCH GUN.
more than balances the gun. When the gun is fired the recoil raises the
counterweight, and the gun descends and is locked in its lower position.
When loaded and released the counterpoise raises the gun again to firing
position.
x^mong later gun carriages of this type of American construction may
be mentioned those devised by Spiller, Gordon, Howell, and others, but the
one most generally known is the Buffington-Crozier, covered by patents
No. 555,426, February 25, 1896, and No. 613,252, November i, 1898.
This carriage, sustaining the 8 and 10 inch breech-loading rifles at Fort
Wadsworth for the defence of New York harbor, is shown in Figs. 272
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
403
2
404
THE PROGRESS OF INJ-E.ynOM
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 405
and 273, Fig. 272 representing it in its lowered position, and Fig. 273 in
its elevated position for firing. The trunnions of the gun rest in bearings
at the upper ends of the pair of levers, which latter are fulcrumed near the
middle to horizontally sliding carriages connected to hj'draulic cylinders
that move backward as the gun recoils. These cylinders move over sta-
tionary pistons which have orifices that allow the liquid to pass from one
side of the piston to the other. As the gun recoils and the levers turn to
the horizontal position, the forward ends of the levers are made to raise
vertically an immense leaden counterweight, weighing 32,000 pounds,
which ordinarily over-balances the weight of the gun on the levers. This
cylindrical counterweight is seen raised on the left of Fig. 272. In firing,
the energy of the recoil is absorbed partly by raising the counterweight,
and partly by the resistance of the hydraulic cylinders, and when the gun
reaches its lowest position it is caught and retained by pawls. After load-
ing the pawls are tripped, and the greater gravity of the cotmterweight
raises the gun to firing position aga-in. Ten shots from an 8-inch gun on
tliis carriage have been fired in 12 minutes 21 seconds.
The Machine Gun. — During the Civil War a gun made its appearance
which, although of small calibre, rivaled in its deadly effectiveness the
wholesale slaughter of the cannon. It was a new type, and was known as
the machine gun, or battery gun, in which balls of comparatively small
size were discharged uninterruptedly and in incredible succession. It was
the invention of Dr. R. J. Catling, and was covered by him in patents No.
36,836, November 4, 1862, and No. 47,631, May 9, 1865, and in many sub-
sequent patents for minor improvements, and is now universally known
as the Catling gim. It consisted of a circular series of barrels mounted
on a central shaft, and revolved by suitable gears and a hand crank. The
cartridges were automatically and successively fed into the chambers of
the barrel, and its several hammers were so arranged in connection with
the barrels that the whole operation of loading, closing the breech, dis-
charging and expelling the empty cartridge cases was conducted
while the barrels were kept in a continuous revolving movement
by turning the hand crank. In Fig. 274 is shown a modern ex-
ample of the Catling gun equipped with the Accles feed. Ordinaril}'
the gun has ten barrels, with ten corresponding locks, which
revolve together during the working of the gun. When the gun is in
action there are always five cartridges going through the process of load-
ing, and five empty shells in different stages of being extracted, and many
hundred shots a minute can be fired. Many modifications of this gun
have been made bv Hotchkiss and others. Maxim. Nordenfelt, and Benet
406
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
have each made vahiable inventions in machine guns of a somewhat differ-
ent type, some of which utihze the force of tlie exploding charges to react
on the feed and firing mechanism, and thus furnish the power to continue
FIG. 274. — CATLING GUN ON UNITED STATES ARMY MODEL CARRIAGE.
the consecutive operation of the gun, so that no hand crank is required,
but the gun wortcs itself with an incessant hail of balls until its supply of
cartridges is exhausted.
The Dynaiiiilc Gun. — Most impressive to the layman, and most de-
moralizing to the enemy, is this latter day form of ordnance. The first
efforts to hurl dynamite shells from a gun were made with compressed air
for fear of prematurely exploding the sensitive dynamite in the gun, which
would be more disastrous to the gunners themselves than to the enemy.
The Zalinski dynamite gun was of this class, and the first which attained
any notoriety. Foolhardy as it might appear, Yankee genius was led to
believe that dynamite shells could be fired with powder charges, and this
is now done in a practical and safe way in the Sims-Dudley Dynamite Gun.
This is manufactured under the fundamental patents of Dudley, Nos. 407,-
474, 407,475. 407,476, of July 23, 1889, which cover a method of exploding
a charge of powder in one gun barrel, and causing it to compress the air in
front of it, and force it into another barrel behind the dvnamite shell, so
that this relatively cool body of air is interposed between the hot powder
/;V THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
407
gases and the dynamite. Fig. 275 represents Dudley's patent drawing.
C is the powder charge in barrel A, and H is the dynamite shell in barrel
G. The front of barrel A is connected to the rear of barrel G behind the
FIG. 275. — DYNAMITE GUN, DUDLEYS PATENT, JULY 23. 1889.
dynamite shell by the tube F. When the powder C explodes, all the air in
barrel A and tube F is driven out and acts on the dynamite shell H to dis-
charge it without allowing it to come in contact with the hot powder gases.
A frangible plate D closes the end of barrel A, but blows out above a cer-
tain pressure to .avoid bursting strain in the gun. The Sims patent, No.
619,025, February 7, 1899, covers a more simple and practical form of
constructing a gun on this principle, and the gun as used in the United
States is constructed in accordance with this latter improvement.
Small Anns. — Pistols and guns are the two classes into which the lay-
man divides small arms, although in latter years this classification has been
much disturbed by the western frontiersman, who calls his pistol a gun,
and by the artillerist, who also calls his cannon a ,gun.
The pistol may be defined as a small arm held in one hand to be fired.
It is an ancient weapon, but had attained no special importance or popu-
larity prior to the Nineteenth Century. The duelling pistol, with its long
barrel, its hair trigger and inlaid stock, and the derringer, with its short
barrel of large bore, were the popular forms. Not until the revolver made
its appearance did the pistol attain any importance. Colt is popularly
credited with having invented this, but it is really a very old principle.
408
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
In the Alte Deutscher Drehling Der Ruckladungs Gevvehre, by Edward
Zemin, 1872, Darmstadt and Leipzig, is shown an ancient form of match
lock revolver, said to belong to the period 14S0-1500. It is probably the
same as the match-lock revolver in the museum of the Tower of London,
which is also credited to the Fifteenth Century. In the British patent to
Puckle, No. 418, of 1718, is shown and described a well-constructed re-
volver carried on a tripod, and of the dimensions of the modern machine
gun. The inventor naively states that it has round chambers for round
balls, designed for Christians, and square chambers, with square balls, for
the Turks. The first revolving firearm in the United States was made
by John Gill, of Newberne, N. C, in 1829. It had fourteen chambers, and
was a percussion gun, but was never patented. The first revolver patented
in the United States was that to D. G. Colburn, June 29, 1833. The re-
volver of Col. Samuel Colt was patented February 25, 1836, (re-issue
No. 124, October 24, 1848), and again August 29, 1839, No. 1.304;
September 3, 1850, No. 7,613, and September 10, 1850. No. 7,629. It
was the first practical invention of this kind, and it embodied as a leading
feature the automatic rotation of the cylinder in cocking by a pawl on the
hammer engaging a ratchet on the end of the cylinder.
Various types followed, such as the old pepper box. patented by
Darling April 13, 1836; the self-cocking pepper box, patented by Allen,
FIG. 276. — SMITH & WESSON REVOLVER DISCH.-kRGING SHELLS.
No. 3,998, April 16, 1845; the four sliding barrels of Sharp, No. 6,960,
December 18, 1849, ^nd many others. The most popular and successful,
however, of the succeeding types is that of Smith & Wesson, shown
in Fig. 276, and covered by many patents. One of its most important
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 409
features is the simultaneous extraction of the shells by an ejector, having
a stem sliding through 'the cylinder. This was the invention of W. C.
Dodge, patented January 17, 1S65, No. 45,912, re-issue No. 4,483, July
25, 1871. In Fig. 277 is shown Smith & Wesson's latest pattern of Ham-
FIG. 277.^-SMITH .'^- WESSON SELF ACTING HAMMERLESS REVOLVER.
merless Safety Revolver, with automatic shell extractor and rebounding
lock.
The latest development in this class of arms is the automatic magazine
pistol, designed for the use of the officers of the German army, and
adapted to fire ten shots in as many seconds. Only a slight pressure on
the trigger is necessary, as it is not required to perform the work of turn-
ing any other part by the trigger, as is the case in the self-cocking re-
volver. The pressure of gas at each explosion does all the work of pushing
back the closing piece of the breech through the recoil of the shell, extracts
and ejects the shell, cocks the hammer, and also compresses recuperative
springs, which effect the reloading and closing of the weapon, all of these
functions being performed in proper sequence at each explosion in a frac-
tion of a second. The act of firing thus prepares the pistol for the next
shot automatically. In Fig. 278 are shown two makes of pistol of this
tvpe. No. I is known as the Mauser (United States patent No. 584.479,
June 15, 1897) ; No. 2 shows it with an extemporized stock, to be used
as a carbine in firing from the shoulder. This stock is hollow and forms
the holster or case for the pistol. At No. 3 is shown the Mannlicher
pistol (United States patent No. 581,296, April 27, 1897), which is
another form of the same type. In the Mauser the breech moves to the
rear during recoil. In the ^Mannlicher the barrel moves to the front,
leaving space for a fresh cartridge to come up from the magazine below.
410
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
The calibre of this pistol is 0.3 inch, and the initial velocity i,395 feet. At
33 feet the ball passes through 1034 inches of spruce, at 490 through 5
inches, and its extreme range is 3,000 feet, or more than half a mile.
When empty it is quickly re-charged vvitii cartridges, which are made
up in sets of ten in a case and inserted in one movement.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 411
Breech-Loading Guns. — Although the breech-loading principle was
well known prior to the Nineteenth Century, it remained for this period
to give it effective development. The first United States patent for a
breech-loading gun was to Thornton and Hall, May 21, 181 1. It was a
flint lock, and many of these arms were made at Harper's Ferry Armory
in 1814, and issued to the troops, one being given by order of Congress
to each member cf Congress to take home with him to show to his con-
stituents. The present style of break-down gun was invented by Pauly, in
France, and is to be found in his British patent No. 3,833, of 1814.
Lefaucheux, of Paris, however, made this form of gun practical. Mine-
singer, in United States patent No. 6,139, February 27, 1849, supplied the
important improvement of making the front edge of the metallic cartridge
shell thinner than elsewhere, so as to expand by the pressure of the ex-
ploding charge, and swell to a tight fit of the barrel. The JNIaynard rifle,
first patented May 27, 1851, No. 8,126, was one of the earliest practical
forms of breech-loaders.
]\{aga::ine Guns. — Walter Hunt's United States patent No. 6,663,
August 21, 1849, ^"^'^^ '■'"'s ^-^st O" ^ magazine firearm of modern type.
It had a sliding breech block carrying the main spring and firing pin. The
Spencer rifle was one of the early ones that came into use. This had a
row of cartridges in the stock, and was first patented March 6, i860. No.
27,393. It was this weapon which in the Civil \\'ar gave proof of the
deadly efficacy of the breech-loading magazine gun, and its superiority to
the old style military arm. Another type of magazine firearm which in
the last half century has gained great prominence and popularity is the
so-called ''A^'inchester." This has its cartridges arranged in a tube below
and parallel with the barrel, and they are fed in a column to the rear by
a helical spring as fast as they are used up at the breech. The pioneer of
this type is the arm patented by Smith & Wesson February 14, 1854, No.
10,535, re-issued December 30, 1873, No. 5,710. This was subsequently
improved as to the extractor by B. F. Henry in patent No. 30,446, October
16, i860, re-issued December 7, 1868, No. 3.227, and was manufactured
and favorabl}- known for man}- years as the Hcnr\ rifle. This rifle was
also used in the Civil War. O. F. \\'inchester subsequently re-organized
it in patent No. 57,808, September 4, 1866. and the arm in late years has
taken his name.
Tlie Needle Gun. of Prussia, represents an early form of breech loader,
and may be considered the prototype of the modern bolt gun. The needle
gun has in the place of the swinging hammer a rectilinearlv sliding bolt,
carrying in front a needle which pierces th.e charge and ignites the fulmi-
412
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
nate by its friction. Its construction permits the fulminate to be placed
in advance of the powder, which thus bums from the front, and is entirely
consumed in the gun, instead of being partially blown out of the gun, as
may occur when ignited in the rear. The needle gun was invented by
Dreyse in 1838, was first introduced about 1S46, and gave effective service
in the Prusso-Austrian war of 1S66. The Chasscpot, brought out in
1867, United States patent No. 60,832, was a French development of the
Prussian needle gun.
About 1879 two forms of magazine guns appeared which have become
types for most all subsec^uent guns of this class. Both of them employed
the bolt system as previously embodied in the needle gun, but added to it
the magazine principle and changed the method of supplying and feeding
the cartridges. One was the invention of James Lee, and the other was
the joint invention of Colonel Livermore, of the Corps of Engineers, and
Major Russell, of the Ordnance Department, U. S. A. In the Lee, whose
,,^^ name has been much in evi-
dence in late years, there was
a relatively small detachable
box (see Fig. 279) capable of
holding five cartridges and
designed to be filled and then
placed in a slot opening cen-
trally under the gun, below
the receiver, and directly in
front of the trigger guard.. A
spring within the magazine
fed the cartridges up into alignment with the barrel. Lee's first patent
was No. 221,328, November 4, 1879.
The Livermore-Russel gun, patented October 28, 1879, No. 221,079,
had a magazine opening transversely in the upper edge of the stock behind
the bolt, and the cartridges were fed to the barrel beneath the bolt. The
FIG. 279. — lee's magazine RIFLE, PATENTED
.NOVEMBER 4, 1879.
important feature of the gun, however, was a cartridge case slotted on its
side and detachable from the gun, and each bearing a group of live
cartridges, which were to be thus made up in small packets and carried in
the belt or cartridge box of the soldier. This idea was subsequently de-
veloped by Livermore and Russel in patent No. 230,823, August 3, 1880,
and this feature, viewed in the light of the importance subsequently at-
tained by the "clip" in the Mauser and Mannlicher guns, may be fairly
considered the pioneer of this idea of grouping cartridges in made-up
packets for bolt guns. Its great advantage is the large numljer of shots
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
413
that may be fired in a short space of time without an excessive weight in
the gun itself.
Subsequent patents for improvements were taken by Lee as follows :
No. 513,647, January 30, 1894, and No. 547,583, October 8, 1895, and the
gun used by the United States Navy is modeled along the lines of Lee's
invention.
The Krag-Jorgensen Maga::ine Rifle was patented June 10, 1890, No.
429,811, and February 21, 1893. No. 492,212. It is the arm adopted by
the United States infantry service, and is seen in Fig. 280. The fixed
magazine chamber,
shown in the cross sec-
tion, passes through
the breech laterally be-
low the barrel, and is
filled with cartridges on
one side of the gun,
which cartridges pass
through the breech lat-
erally, and, turning a
curve, enter the barrel
from the opposite side.
When the bolt is drawn
back by the knob handle
a cartridge is fed up in-
to position to enter the
barrel, and when pushed forward the cartridge is forced into the bore of
the gun, and at the same time a spiral spring is put under tension to set
the hammer of the gun, which carries a firing pin at its front end. When
the trigger is pulled the hammer and firing pin plunge forward to explode
the cap in the cartridge, and when the handle of the bolt is drawn ba:ck
again to extract the empty shell, a fresh cartridge rises to take its place.
The j\laiiser RiHe is shown in Fig. 281. This is the arm of which so
much was heard during the recent war with Spain, and against which
our soldiers had to contend. Five cartridges are carried in a magazine
immediately in front of the trigger, and are fed up by a subjacent spring,
one at a time, centrally through the breech into line with the barrel, as
the bolt with the knobbed handle is worked back and forth. The cartridges
are carried by the soldier in groups of five in a "clip," which is a simple
strip of metal with inturned parallel edges, which enclose the flanged
heads of the cartridges as they project at right angles to the clip. To
FIG. 280. — KRAG-JORGENSEN MAGAZINE RIFLE.
414
THE PROGRESS OF LYFENTION
FIC;. 281. — THE .MAUSER RIFLE AND CLIP.
transfer the cartridges to the magazine, the cHp with its cartridges is
placed above the barrel, and the cartridges forced down out of the clip
into the magazine. In the Mannlicher gun, adopted by the German army,
the clip which holds the cartridges is itself inserted into the magazine,
along with the cartridges.
The modern trend of development in firearms has been toward the
reduction of calibre,
the standard for small
arms being 30/100.
The lead bullets
are covered with a
seamless jacket of
harder metal ( Gei-
ger's patents, No.
306,738 and 306,739,
October 21, 1884),
which prevents the
"leading" and foul-
■ing of the gun, and
the distortion of the
bullet. -Modern magazine guns permit twenty-five to thirty shots a minute
as single loaders, and besides they hold in reserve five cartridges. They
have a killing range of a mile, and the cost of the cartridge is 3.2 cents. At
a trial at the Washington Navy Yard a few years past a steel projectile
1.07 inches long and 32/100 calibre penetrated solid iron 1.15 inch thick,
fired at an angle of 80°. It also penetrated 50 inches of pine boards, and
its range was estimated at three miles.
Haiiiincrless Guns. — Among improvements in shot guns the so-called
'"hammerless" feature is a noteworthy departure. This hides the hammers
in the breech and cocks them by the act of breaking down the gun. In
Fig. 282 is given a section and plan view of the Greener mechanism, which
was patented July 6, 1880, No. 229,604, and was one of the first guns of
this kind put on the market. The hammers A are constructed as elbow
levers. Their upper ends have each a round point adapted to strike
through a small hole in the breech onto the cap of the cartridge. The
lower front portions of the hammers are extended forward and curved
inwardly toward each other, so that their inner ends nearly meet. C is a
pendent hook jointed to the barrel, and when the latter is tilted, as shown
in dotted lines, the hook acting upon the forwardly projecting arms of
the hammers turns them backward to the cocked position, in which they
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
415
are retained by the dogs B engaging with their notches. As the hammers
move back the mainspring is compressed, and when the dog B is removed
from the notch by pulhng on the trigger, the hammers are released and
the gun fired.
The rebounding lock, now universally applied to shot guns, is another
comparatively recent improvement. This promotes safety by causing
the hammers to be normally and automatically held away from the firing
pins. The first practical form of this lock was patented by Hailer. July
26, 1870, No. 105,799, in which a single spring serves to deliver the blow
of the hammer and also withdraws the hammer from the firing pin. A
marked tendency in shot guns in late }'ears is toward a reduction in bore,
many sportsmen now using a 28 gauge in preference to the old regulation
12.
Nearly 5,000 patents have been granted in the United States for fire-
FIG. 28.2.— -THE GREENER HA5IMERLESS GUN.
arms, and about 2,400 for projectiles. The most important of the latter
is the torpedo, of which the Whitehead, or fish torpedo, which supplies
its own means of propulsion, is the best known and most used. It was
first brought out in 1866 by Whitehead, at Fiume, a port of Hungary.
The Gathmann aerial torpedo, weighing 1,800 pounds and carrying 625
pounds of wet gun cotton, is designed to be fired from a gun 44 feet long
and 1 8 inch bore, and is supposed to have a range of ten miles. Tests
are about to be made under special appropriation of Congress, and if its
claim can be substantiated, it may become the most destructive engine of
warfare known.
Explosives. — The invention of gunpowder is ascribed to the Chinese,
416 THE PROGRESS OF INTENTION
and at a period so far back that its origin is buried in antiquity. It is
believed to have been known since the time of Closes, something very hke
it being mentioned in the ancient Gentoo laws of India 1,500 to 2,000
E. C. For many years it was thought that Roger Bacon invented it in
J249, but it is now known that he was only a factor in its development.
Most likely the saltpetre of the plains of China came first in accidental
contact with the charred embers of a prehistoric fire, and to the observant
man the oxygen-giving saltpetre furnished the charcoal with its means of
energetic combustion for the first time.
Gunpowder consists of about 75 parts of saltpetre (nitrate of potash),
15 of charcoal, and 10 of sulphur, the proportions varying somewhat with
the use to which it is to be applied. In ordinary combustion the air sup-
plies the necessary oxygen. In gunpowder the presence of the air is
not necessary, as the saltpetre has imprisoned in its composition a large
Cjuantity of oxygen which furnishes to the carbon and sulphur the means
for its combustion, gasification and enormous expansion. Originally,
gunpowder was pulvurulent, like that used in fire works, and had but
little propelling force. The making of it in grains ("corned") is ascribed
to Berthold Schwarz, a German monk, about 1320, and this, by promoting
the rapidity of its burning, added greatly to its effective force, and gave
a new impetus to firearms.
In the early part of the Nineteenth Century there were but few im-
provements in either the composition or manufacture of gunpowder.
The introduction of the percussion cap, which exploded the charge by
a blow, in the place of the old flint lock, was, however, a notable advance.
Alexander John Forsyth, a Scotch clergyman, was the first to apply a
percussion or detonating compound, as set forth in his British patent No.
3,032, of 1S07. The embodiment of such compounds in the little copper
caps was made about 1818, and has been claimed by various parties.
iManton's British patent No. 4,285, of 1818, describes a thin copper
tube filled with fulminate and struck sidewise by the hammer to explode
it. Joshua Shaw took a United States patent on a percussion gun, June
19, 1822, and the copper percussion cap was said to have been introduced
in the United States by him in 1842. The embodiment of the charge
of povi'der and ball in brass and copper shells was done in France by
Galay Cazalat as early as 1826. Drawn metallic shells were made by
Flobert and Lefaucheux, in 1853, and Palmer, in 1854. Drawn copper
cartridges with center fire were introduced in the United States, and
patented bv Smith & Wesson August 8, 1854, No. 11,496, and solid
headed shells by Hotchkiss, August 31, 1869, No. 94,210.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
417
In 1846 a new and distinct development in explosives was made in
the discovery of gun cotton by Schonbein, and of nitro-glycerine in 1847
by Sobrero. The former is made by the reaction of nitric acid, aided by
sulphuric acid, on ordinary raw cotton, which, while changing the physical
aspects of the cotton but little, gives to it a terrific explosive energy.
A'itro-glycerine is made in a somewhat similar way by treating glycerine
with nitric and sulphuric acids. At first it found no practical applications,
except as a homoeopathic medicine for headache, but about 1864 Nobel
commenced its manufacture for explosive uses, and since that time nearly
all the great blasting operations have been performed through its agency.
Its most familiar form '
is dynainitc, or giant
powder, Nobel's patent.
No. 78,317, May 26,
1868, which is simply
nitro-glycerine held in
absorption b}- some in-
ert granular solid, such
as infusorial earth, and
is thus rendered safer
to handle and more ::■
convenient to use. A
suggestive application ij
of the terrible power of
these explosives is in
submarine mines. The
instantaneous and das-
tardly destruction of our battleship, "The Maine," with 250 of her
crew, in Havana harbor, February 15, 1898, by one of these agencies, is
a harrowing illustration. Fig. 283 represents one of these submarine
mines carrying 250 pounds of dynamite, and Fig. 284 is an instantaneous
photograph at the moment of explosion.
Wliitc gnnpozvder. or wood powder, was invented by Captain Schultz,
of the Prussian army. It is made by treating granulated wood with a
mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids, which, acting upon the cellulose
of the wood, convert it into an explosive something of the nature of gun
cotton. The grains are afterward saturated with saltpetre. This was
patented in the United States June 2, 1863, No. 38,789, and in Great
Britain, No. 900, of 1864. Dittmar's powder is another of the same gen-
FIG. 283. — SUBMARINE MINE. CHARGE, 25O POUNDS
DYNAMITE.
418
THE PROGRESS OF INVEA'TION
IG. Jb'4.-
-EXPLOSION OF A MINE. BASE ul- WAlim COLU.M^f, 100 FEET WIDEj HEIGHT.
246 FEET.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 419
eral nature, covered by United States patents. No. 98,854, January 18,
1870; No. 99,069, January 25, 1870, and No. 145,403, December 9, 1873.
Among the high explosives of more recent date may be mentioned :
Tonite (gun cotton and barium nitrate), British patents No. 3,612, of
1874, and No. 2,742, of 1876.
Rack-a-rock (potassium chlorate and nitro-benzene). United States pat-
ent No. 243,432, June 28, 1881 ; British patent No. 5.5S4. of 1881.
Bellite (ammonium nitrate and nitro-benzene), United States patent. No.
455,217, June 30, 1891 ; British patent. No. 13,690, of 1885.
Melinite (picric acid and gun cotton), British patent No. 15,089, of 1885.
Lyddite, not patented, but believed to be substantially same as melinite,
and containing for its active ingredient picric acid, which is a
compound formed by the reaction of nitric acid on carbolic acid.
Cordite ( nitro-glycerine, gim cotton, and mineral jelly or oil), British
patent No. 5,614, of 1889; United States patent No. 409,549,
August 20, 1889.
Indurite (gun cotton and nitro-benzene, indurated). United States patent.
No. 489,684, January 10, 1893 ; British patent. No. 580. of 1893.
In recent years smokeless powders have largely superseded all others.
These contain usually nitro-cellulose (gun cotton), or nitro-glycerine, or
both, made up into a plastic, coherent, and homogeneous compoimd of a
gluey nature, and fashioned into horn-like sticks or rods by being forced
under pressure through a die plate having small holes, through which the
plastic material is strained into strings like macaroni, or else is molded
into tablets, pellets, or grains of cubical shape. Prominent among those
who have contributed to this art are the names of Turpin, Abel and
Dewar, Nobel, Maxim, Mimroe, Du Pont, Bernadou and others.
In the recent years of the Nineteenth Century great activity has been
manifest in this field of invention. In the United States more than 600
different patents have been granted for explosives, the larger portion of
them being for nitro-compounds, which partake in a greater or less degree
of the qualities of gun cotton or nitro-glycerine. The influence exerted
by them has been incalculable. Subtile as is the force imprisoned in inter-
atomic relation, it has been the power behind the boom of the cannon : it
has lent itself to the driving of great timnels through the solid rock ; it has
lifted the coal and ore from the solid embrace of the mountain, and the
building stone from its sleep in the quarry : it has opened up channels to
the sea, canals on land, and in both war and peace has been one of the
great agencies of civilization.
420 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
CHAPTER XXXI.
Textiles.
Spinning and Weaving an Ancient Art — Harcreaves' Spinning Jenny — Ark-
wright's Roll-Drawing Spinning Machine — Crompton's Mule Spinner —
The Cotton Gin — Ring Spinning — The Rabbeth Spindle — John Kay's Fly-
ing Shuttle and Robert Kay's Drop Box — Cartwricht's Power Loom — The
Jacquard Loom — Crompton's Fancy Loom — Bigelow's Carpet Looms — Lyall
Positive Motion Loom — Knitting Machines — Cloth Pressing Machinery — ■
Artificial Silk — Mercerized Cloth.
FAR back in the obscuring gloom of a prehistoric antiquity,
man wore probably only the hirsute covering which na-
ture gave him. As he emerged from barbarism, senti-
ments of modesty marked the evolution of his mind,
and this, together with the need for a more sufficient protection
against cold and heat, suggested an artificial covering for his body.
At first he robbed the brute of his fleecy skin and wore it bodily.
Later he learned to spin and weave ; ne.x;t to food and drink, clothing-
became a fundamental necessit}', for without it his life could not extend
outside of the limited zone of the tropics. Food and drink were to be
found as nature's free gifts, but clothing had to be made, and its manu-
facture constituted probably the oldest of all the living arts. The making
of cloth may be said to be coeval with history. The Old Testament of the
Bible is replete with references to spinning and weaving, and the cloths
wrapped about the mummies of ancient Egypt, although thousands of
}'ears old, were of exceeding regularity and fineness.
So old an art, and so great and continuous a need for its products
necessarily must have resulted in much development and progress. When
the Nineteenth Century began, the world already enjoyed the results of
Hargreaves' spinning-jenny, Arkwright's roll-drawing spinning machine,
the mule spinner, the cotton gin, and the power loom, all of which were
most radical inventions, equaling in importance, perhaps, any that have
followed.
Prior to the invention of the spmning-jenny, the loose fibre was spun
into }-arns and thread by hand on the old-fashioned spinning wheel, each
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
421
thread requiring the attention of one person. In 1763 Hargreaves in-
vented the spinning-jenny (see Fig. 285), in which a multipHcity of spin-
dles was employed, whereby one person could attend to the making of
many threads simultaneously. For this purpose the spindles were set
upright at the end of the frame, and the rovings or strips of untwisted
fibre were carried on bobbins on the inclined frame. The rovings ex-
tended from these bobbins to a reciprocating "clasp" held in the left
hand of the workman, and thence extended to the spindles at the end of
the frame. The workman drew out the rovings by moving the clasp
^cJtt^-jrP^
FIG. 285. — HARGRE.WES' SPINNING JENNY.
back and forth, and at the same time turned the crank with his right
hand to rotate the spindles. Hargreaves' machine is shown and described
in his British patent, No. 962 of 1770.
The next important step in spinning was the introduction of drawing
rolls, which were a series of rolls running at different speeds for drawing
out or elongating the roving as it was spun into a thread. This was
mainly due to Arkwright, a contemporary of Hargreaves. The principle
of the drawing rolls had been foreshadowed in the British patents of
Louis Paul, No. 562, of 1738, and No. 724, of 1758, but Arkwright made
422
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
the first embodiment of it in practicall}' useful machines, wliich were
covered by him in British patents No. 931, of 1769, and No. 1,1 11, of
1775. Arkwright's spinning machine is shown in Fig. 286, the drawing
rolls being shown at the top of the figure.
Following these important inventions came the mule spinner. This
was invented by Crompton between 1774 and 1779, but was never pat-
ented. It combined the leading
features of Hargreaves and Ark-
wright. The spindles were
mounted on a wheeled carriage
that traveled back and forth
a considerable distance from the
drawing rolls, which were
mounted in bearings in a station-
ary frame. The long travel of
the carriage back and forth, and
the simultaneous twisting and
drawing of the yarns, produced
threads of great fineness and
regularity. The value of the
long travel of the carriage may
be briefly noted as follows :
When the threads or slivers
emerge from the drawing rolls
they are not absolutely of uni-
form size, and the thick portions
do not twist as tightly as the
thinner portions. The stretch-
ing and drawing of these thicker
or , parts down to a uniform size by
FIG. 2b6. — ARKWRIGHT S ROLL-DRAWING ^ ■'
SPINNING MACHINE. the receding of the carriage is
the distinctive feature of its
action. As the thread has greater tensile strength at the thinner hard-
twisted parts than it has at the thicker untwisted parts, it will be seen that
the stretching action is localized on the thicker untwisted parts of the
thread, which are thus brought down to uniform size by elongation. The
drawing and twisting of the thread is effected as the carriage runs out,
and when the carriage runs in these twisted lengths are wound around the
spindles. The rendering of the action of the mule automatic or self-acting
in its travel back and forth was the invention of Richard Roberts, of Eng-
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
423
land, and was covered by him in British patents No. 5,138 of 1825, and
No. 5.649 of 1830. The mule spinner shown in Fig. 287 is a good modern
example of this machine.
One of the most important of the earl)^ inventions in the textile art was
the cotton gin. This was the invention of Eli Whitney, of Massachusetts,
and was patented by him March 14, 1794. Prior to its use the picking of
the cotton fibre from the bean-like seed with which it is compactly stored
in the boll was entirely effected by hand, and it was a slow and tedious
FIG. 287. — MULE SPINNING MACHINE.
process, and about 4 pounds per day was the average work of one man.
The cotton gin, shown in Fig. 288, is a device for doing this by machinery
in a rapid, thorough, and expeditious manner. The cotton, mixed with seed,
is fed to the roll box J, in which a sort of reel F continually turns the cotton.
The bottom of the roll box is formed with a grating of parallel ribs E, be-
tween which project the teeth of a gang of circular saws C, which pull the
fibre through between the ribs and deliver it to the revolving brush B,
which beats the fibre off the teeth of the saws and p-roduces a blast that
discharges the fleece through the rear of the gin. The cotton seed, which
424
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
are too large to pass between the ribs with the fibre, drop out the bottom
of the roll-box. With the aid of the cotton gin the efficiency of one man is
raised from four pounds per day to several thousand pounds per day, and
the culture and manufacture of cotton fibre was revolutionized and greatly
stimulated by providing a mode of putting it into merchantable condition
at a reasonable price. It is said that the crop of cotton increased from
-COTTON GIN.
189,316 pounds in 1791 to 2,000,000,000 pounds in 1859. The cotton gin,
as invented by Whitney more than a hundred years ago, is still in use, sub-
stantially unchanged in principle, but its efficiency has been raised from 70
pounds per day to several thousands. The cotton crop of the United
States for 1899, which was handled by the modern gins at this rate,
amounted to 11,274,840 bales, of about 500 pounds each, or more than five
thousand million pounds. But for the cotton gin this great staple would
have only a very limited use, and one of the greatest of the world's indus-
tries would have practically no existence.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
425
A modern step of importance in spinning was the ring frame. Ring
spinning was invented bj' Jolm Tliorp, of Rhode Island, who took out two
patents for the same November 20, 1828. The leading feature of the ring
frame is the substitution of a light steel hoop or traveler running upon
the upper edge of a ring surrounding the spindle in lieu of the flyer for-
merly employed. The thread passes through the hoop as it is wound upon
the spindle. In modern times ring spinning has attained considerable pro-
portions, especially in cotton manufactures.
Nearly 3,000 United States patents have been granted in the class of
spinning, and many valuable improvements in the details of
construction in spinning machinery have been made in recent
years. The most important, perhaps, are those relating to
spindle structure, whereby the speed and efficiency of spin-
ning machines have been greatly increased. Prior to 1878 the
speed of the average spindle was limited to 5,000 revolutions
a minute. In 1878 improvements were made which doubled
its working speed and permitted as high as 20,000 revolutions
a minute. This result was accomplished by making a yielding
bolster. The bolster is an upright sleeve bearing, in which
the spindle revolves, and against which is sustained the pull
of the band that drives the spindle. By making this bolster or
sleeve bearing to yield laterally by means of an elastic packing
which surrounds it, a much greater freedom and speed of rev-
olution were obtained. The preliminary step in this direction
was made by Birkenhead in patent No. 205,718, July 9, 1878.
In the same year this idea was perfected by Rabbeth. The
bolster was placed loosely in a bolster case of slightly larger
diameter than the bolster, and the bottom of the spindle had a
free lateral movement as well as the top, as shown in his pat-
ent No. 227,129, May 4, 18S0. With such perfect freedom of
movement, the spindle at high speed could find its own center
of revolution, and an indefinitely high speed and quadrupled
efifciency were attained. The Draper Spindle is shown in Fig.
289 as one of the most modern and representative of spinning
spindles. Considering the great speed of the modern spindle
and the fact that a single workman attends a thousand or more of them,
the record of progress in this art becomes impressive. In 1805 there were
only 4,500 cotton spindles at work in the United States. In 1899 there
were 18,100,000.
Weavin?. — A woven fabric consists of threads which run lengthwise.
426 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
called the "warp," crossed by threads running transversel)^ called the
"woof," "weft," or "filling," which latter are imprisoned or locked in by
the warp. In a simple loom the warp threads are divided into two groups,
the threads of one group alternating with those of the other, and means
are provided for separating these groups to form a wedge-shaped space
between them called a "shed." Through this shed the shuttle which
carries the woof or filling thread is sent crosswise the warp threads.
Means are provided for changing the inclination and position of the two
groups of warp threads in relation to each other, so as to lock in the
filling, and put the warp threads in position to receive the next filling
thread. For this purpose the warp threads, usually horizontal, are each
passed through a loop, and every alternate loop is attached to a frame
called a "heddle." The intervening loops and threads are attached to
another frame or "heddle," and the two heddles by being worked, one up
and the other down, separate the warp threads to form the shed. For-
merly the shuttle was thrown by hand through the shed. In 1733 John
Kay, of England, took out British patent No. 542, for the flying shuttle
and picking stick, by which the shuttle was struck a hammer-like blow
and driven like a ball from a bat across the warp, and was struck by a
similar stick on the other side, to be returned in the same way. This gave
a much more rapid action than could be obtained by hand-throwing, and
enabled one weaver to do the work of two or three. In 1760 Robert Kay
invented the drop box, by which different shuttles carrying different colors
of thread were employed.
The power loom, however, marked the first great growth in the art
of weaving. The enormously increased quantity of cotton spun by Ark-
wright's machinery made a demand for increased facilities for weaving
it into cloth. Dr. Cartwright, of England, foresaw and met this demand
in his pozi'cr loom, in which all of the intricate operations were per-
formed by power-driven machinery. His invention was not extensively
introduced until about the beginning of the Nineteenth Century. One
difficulty experienced was that the warp threads, from their fuzzy nature,
had to be dressed with size, and this required the loom to be stopped from
time to time, and necessitated the services of a man to dress or size the
warp threads. This difficulty was overcome, however, by Johnson &
Radcliffe, about 1803, by the sizing and dressing of the yarns by passing
them between rollers and coating them with a thin layer of paste before
being put into the loom. Dr. Cartwright was granted British patents No.
T,470, of 1785; No. 1,565, of 1786; No. 1,616, of 17S7, and No. 1,676, of
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
427
1/88, but being unable to maintain any monopoly under his patents he
was compensated by Parliament with a grant of fio.ooo.
Jacquard Loom. — This most notable step in the art of weaving was
FIG. 2g0. — JIODERN JACQUARD LOOM.
made at the very beginning of the Nineteenth Century. It enabled all
kinds of fabrics, from the finest to the coarsest, to be cheaply woven into
428 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
patterns having figured or ornamental designs. Jacquard, a native of
Lyons, conceived the plan of his great invention in the last decade of the
Eighteenth Century, and on December 28, iSoi, took out French patent
No. 245, on the same. His invention was not, in fact, a new form of
loom, but rather an attachment to a loom which was universally applica-
ble to all looms. Before his invention, figured patterns of cloth could only
be made by slow and laborious processes. Jacquard's invention con-
sisted in individualizing and differentiating the movement of the warp
threads, instead of operating them in constant groups. This individual-
izing of the movement of the warp threads allowed any warp thread to
be held up automaticrJIy any length of time, or let down, according as
was necessar)' to form the figure of the pattern. This was accomplished
by making a chain of articulated cards, like a slatted belt, and perforating
these cards with varying arrangements of holes. The cards were suc-
cessively and intermittently fed to a set of needles, which latter, by rising
and falling, raise or lower the warp threads attached to the same. By
perforating these cards differently, and arranging them so that when
one card was brought in front of the needles it would let certain needles
through the perforations and hold the others back, it will be seen that
each card controlled the action of a different set of needles, and the
sequence of the series of cards effected the necessary change in the needles
and movement of the warp threads to form the growth of the figure in
the fabric.
In Fig. 290 is seen a modern form of Jacquard loom, showing at
the far end the chain of perforated cards. Jacquard received a bronze
medal at the French Exposition in 1801, was decorated with the Cross of
the Legion of Honor, and the gratitude of his countrymen was attested
by a pension of 6,000 francs, and a statue erected to his memory at Lyoris
in 1840.
Subsequent improvements and developments of the Jacquard loom
have carried its work to great nicety and refinement of action. Li the
chain of pattern cards it is said that as many as 25,000 separately punched
cards or plates are sometimes used in weaving a single yard of brocade.
The great variety of elaborate designs of delicate tracery in silk, rich
patterns in brocades, and gorgeous figures in carpets, attest the value of
Jacquard's important step in this art.
Nearly 5,000 L^nited States patents have been granted in the class 01
weaving. In the early part of the century much notable work was done.
Steam was applied to looms by William Horrocks ( British patent No.
2,699, o^ 1803). From 1830 to 1842 there were brought out the fancy
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 429
looms of Crompton, the application of the Jacquard mechanism to the
lace frame by Draper, and the carpet looms of Bigelow. In 1853 Bonelli
sought to improve on the Jacquard mechanism by employing electro-
magnets to effect the selection of the needles, instead of perforated cards
(British patent No. 1,892, of 1853).
Among more recent developments is the Positive Motion loom of
Lyall, patented December 10, 1872, No. 133,868, re-issue No. 9,049,
January 20, 1880. The distinguisliing feature of this is that the shuttle
is not thrown or impelled as a projectile through the wedge-sliaped space
fshed), between the two sets of warp threads, but is positively dragged
back and forth through the same by an endless belt attached to the shuttle
FIG. 291 CROMPTON FANCY LOOM.
carriage and running first in one direction and then in the other to drag
the shuttle through.
It is not to be understood that the positive motion loom has superseded
the flying shuttle. The latter is still the leading type, of which the
Crompton fancy loom, shown in Fig. 291, is a representative illustration.
The tendency in late years in the art of weaving has been toward labor-
saving devices, a reduction in the cost to the consumer of all kinds of
textile fabrics, and the extension of the loom to the weaving" of new kinds
of materials. Prominent among these are the inventions in the loom for
weaving plain fabrics made between the years 1881 and 1895, shown in
patents to Northrop, No. 454,810, June 23, 1891 ; No. 529,943, November
27, 1894, and Draper, No. 536,948, April 2, 1895. This loom, as usual,
employs a single shuttle, but as the weft becomes exhausted another
430 THE PROGRESS OF INrEsN'TION
bobbin is automatically supplied to the shuttle without stopping the opera-
tion of the machine. During the year 1S95 the first loom for weaving an
open mesh cane fabric having diagonal strands was invented. Patents
to Morris, No. 549,930, and to Crompton, No. 550,068, November 19,
1895, were obtained for this. Prior to this time two distinct machines
were necessary to produce this fabric, and the operation was slow and
expensive. Between 1893 and 1895 two machines were invented, upon
either of which the well-known Turkish carpets can be woven. Patents
to Youngjohns, No. 510,755, December 12, 1893, and to Reinhart von
Seydlitz, No. 533.330, January 29, 1895, disclose this. The drawing of
warp threads into the eyes of the heddles and through the reed of a loom
requires great skill, and prior to 1880 was performed by hand at great
expense. In 1882, however, a machine for doing this was invented,
■thereby dispensing with the old hand method and cheapening the opera-
tion. Patents to Sherman and Ingersoll, No. 255,038, March 14, 1882,
and Ingersoll, No. 461,613, October 20, 1891, were granted for this
machine.
To-day the shuttle flies at the rate of 180 to 250 strokes a minute, and
yet the complex organization of the machine works with an energy, a
•uniformity, an accuracy and a continuity that leaves far behind the
strength of the arm, the memory of mind, and the accuracy of the human
eye, and yet, if the tiny thread breaks, the whole organization instantly
stops and patientl}- w^aits the remedial care of its watchful master.
Knitting Machines. — Knitting differs from weaving, braiding, or
plaiting in the following respects : In weaving there are longitudinal
threads called warp threads, which are crossed on a separate weft or
filling thread. In braiding or plaiting all the threads may be considered
warp threads, since they are arranged to run longitudinally, and instead
of locking around a separate transverse thread at right angles, they ex-
tend diagonall}' and are interwoven with each other. In netting and
knitting, however, there is but a single thread, which, in netting, is
knotted into itself at definite intervals to leave a mesh of definite size,
while in knitting the single thread is merely looped into itself without any
definite mesh. Knitted goods have the peculiarity of great elasticity in
consequence of this formation of the fabric, and for that reason find a
special application in all garments which are required to snugly conform
to irregular outlines, such as stockings for the, feet, gloves for the hands,
and underwear for the body.
Weaving, braiding, and netting are very old arts, but the art of knit-
ting is comparatively modern, . It is believed to have originated about
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
431
the year 1500 in Scotland. In 1589 William Lee, of England, is credited
with making the first knitting machine. It is said that the girl with whom
he was in love, and to whom he was paying his attention, was so busy
with her work of hand knitting that she could not give him the requisite
FIG. 292. — BRANSON I5-16 AUTOM.'\TIC KNITTER.
attention, and he invented the knitting machine that they might have
more time to devote to their love affairs. Another version is that he
married the girl and invented the machine to relieve her weary fingers
from the work of the knitting needle, and still another is that the machine
was the leading object of his affections, to the neglect of his sweetheart,
who "gave him the mitten" before he had knitted one on his machines.
432 . THE PROGRESS OF INJ'ENTION
The earliest circular knitting machine was by Brunei, described In
British patent No. 3,993, of 1816. Power was applied to the knitting
frame by Bailey in 183 1, and the latch needle was patented in the United
States by Hibbert, January 9, 1849, No. 6,025. This patent was extended
for seven years from January 9, 1863, and covered a very important
and universally used feature of the knitting machine. Research has
shown, however, that the latch was not broadly new with Hibbert, as it
appeared in the French patent to Jeandeau, No. 1,900, of April 25, 1806.
Among the earlier knitting machines, the straight reciprocating type was
most in evidence, and of which the Lamb machine was a popular form.
The increased speed and capacity of the circular machine have, however,
caused it to largely supersede the others. In the circular machine a circu-
lar series of vertical parallel needles slide in grooves in a cylinder, and
are raised and lowered successively by an external rotating cylinder
which has on the inner side cams that act upon the needles. The Branson
35-16 Automatic Knitter, shown in Fig. 292, is a good modern illustration.
It performs automatically fifteen-sixteenths of the various movements
Avhich ordinarily would be performed b}' hand on a hand machine. Its
salient features are covered by patents No. 333,102, December 29, 1885,
and No. 519,170, May i, 1894. About 2,000 United States patents have
been granted in the class of knitting and netting, and the value of hosiery
and knit goods in the United States in 1890 was $67,241,013.
An important branch of the textile art is cloth finishing, whereb}' the
rough surface of the cloth r.'S it comes from the loom is rendered soft and
smooth. One method is to raise the nap of the cloth by pulling out the
fibre by a multitude of fine points. Originally this was done by combing
it with teasles, a sort of dried burr of vegetable growth, having a multi-
tude of fine hook-shaped points. Machines with fine metal card teeth are
now largely used for this purpose, and of which the planetary napping
machine of Ott, patent No. 344,981, July 6, 1886, is an example. Another
method of finishing the cloth is to iron or press it. Plate presses were
first used in vi^hich smooth plates were folded in alternate layers with the
cloth and pressure then applied, but in later years continuous rotary
presses have been employed, that of Gessner, patent No. 206,718, August
6, 1878, re-issue No. 9,076, 9,077, February 17, 1880, is one of the earliest
examples of a continuous rotary press. The old Gessner presses of Sax-
ony were the pioneers in this field. A modern Gessner cloth press is seen
in Fig-. 293.
In the field of textiles there are many related arts and machines.
There are hat felting and finishing machines, darning machines, quilting
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
433
machines, embroidering machines, processes and apparatus for dyeing
and sizing, machines for printing fabrics, machines for making rope and
cord, machines for winding and working silk, and in treating the raw
material there are cotton-pickers, cotton baling presses, cotton openers
and cleaners, flax brakes and hackling machines, feeding devices, wool
carding and cleaning apparatus, all in variety and numbers that defy both
comment and count.
In fabrics every class of fibre has been called into requisition. Flax,
FIG. 293- — MODERN GESSNER CLOTH PRESSING MACHINE.
wool, silk, and cotton have been supplemented with the fibres of metal, of
glass, of cocoanut, pine needles, ramie, wood-pulp, and of many other
plants, leaves and grasses.
Artificial silk is made out of a chemically prepared composition, and
the fibres are spun by processes simulating not only the act of the silk
worm, but its product in quality. \'andura silk was spun from an aqueous
solution of gelatine by forcing it through a fine capillary tulae, but it at-
tained little or no practical value. A far more important artificial silk is
434 THE PROGRESS OF INDENTION
covered by the patents to De Chardonnet, No. 394,559, December 18,
1888; No. 460,629, October 6, 1891, and No. 531,158, December 18, 1894,
and also in subsequent patents to Lehner and to Turk. These all relate to
the manufacture of artificial silk by spinning threads or filaments from
pyroxiline (solution of gun cotton), collodion, or some such glutinous
solution which evaporates rapidly, leaving a tiny thread, having most of
the characteristics of silk and produced by the same method employed
by the silk worm when it expresses and draws out its viscid liquid. The
De Chardonnet artificial silk took a "Grand Prix" at the Paris Exposi-
tion in 1889, and the industry is growing to considerable proportions.
Large works are in operation at Besangon, in France, producing 7,000
pounds per week, and it is said that the plant is to be increased to a
capacity of 2,000 pounds a day. Similar works at Avon, near Coventry,
England, have an equal capacity, and other factories are about to be estab-
lished in Belgium and Germany.
Polished or diamond cotton is a lustrous looking article of a soft
silky nature, formed by plating the threads with a liquid emulsion of a
waxy and starchy substance, and polishing the threads with rapidly re-
volving brushes.
Mercerized Cloth. — In late years a distinct novelty has appeared on
the shelves of the dry goods stores. Beautiful, filmy fabrics, and lustrous
embroidery thread, not of silk, but so close to it in appearance as to be
scarcely distinguishable, have gained much popularity and attained a
large Sale. They are known as merceri::ed goods. About the middle of
the century John Mercer, of England, found that when cotton goods
were treated with chemicals (either alkalies or acids), a change was pro-
duced in the fibre which caused it to shrink and become thicker, and
which imparted also an increased affinity for dyes. He took out British
patent No. 13,296, of 1850, for his invention, but practically nothing
further was done with the process. Recently the important step of
Thomas and Prevost of mercerizing under tension gave some new and
wonderful results. United States patents No. 600,826 and No. 600,827,
of May 15, 1898, disclose this process. The cloth or thread, while being
treated chemically, is at the same time suljjected to a powerful tension
that causes the fibres (softened and rendered glutinous by the chemicals')
to be elongated or pulled out like fibres of molten glass, giving it the same
striated texture and fine luster that silk has, and by substantially the
same mechanical agency, for it is the elongation of the plastic glutinous
thread from the silk worm that gives the thread its silkv luster, bv a
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 435
process which has a famihar iUustration in the molecular adjustment that
imparts luster to spun glass or drawn taffy.
Standing in the light of the Twentieth Century, and looking back
through past ages, we find the art of spinning and weaving in an ever
present and unbroken thread of evidence all along the path of history —
through wars and famine, floods and conflagrations ; through the progress
and decay of nations, through all phases of change, and the vicissitudes
of centuries, it has never been relegated to the domain of the lost arts,
but has remained a persisting invention. It has been a paramount ne-
cessity to the human race, indissolubly locked up with its continuity and
welfare, and will ever continue to supply its work in maintaining the
greater fabric of human existence.
436 THE PROGRESS OF INP'ENTION
CHAPTER XXXII.
Ice Machines.
Gener.^l Principles — Freezing Mi.xtures — Perkins' Ice Machine, 1834 — Pictet's
Apparatus — Carre's Ammonia Absorption Process — Direct Compression and
Can System — The Hoi.den Ice Machine — Skating Rinks — Windhausen's
Apparatus for Cooling and Ventilating Ships.
\
"T'ERY few people have any correct conception of the principles of
ice-making. Most persons have heard in a vague sort of way
that chemicals are employed in its manufacture, and many
a fastidious individual has been known to object to artificial
ice on the ground that he could taste the chemicals, and that it could
not therefore be wholesome. Such is the power of imagination, and such
the misconception in the public mind. Nothing could be more erroneous,
nor more amusing to the physicist, since no chemicals ever come in con-
tact with either the water or the ice. An intelligent understanding of the
operations of an ice machine involves only a correct appreciation of one
of the physical laws governing the relation of heat to matter, and the
forms which matter assumes under different degrees of heat. We see
water passing from solid ice to licjuid water and gaseous steam, by a mere
rise in temperature, and conversely, by abstraction of heat, steam passes
back to water, and then to ice.
When one's hands get wet they get cold. A commonplace, but con-
venient proof of this is to wet the finger in the mouth and hold it in the
air. A sensible reduction of temperature is instantly noticeable. A more
pronounced illustration is to wet the hands in a basin of water, and then
plunge them in the blast of hot, dry air coming from a furnace register.
Instead of warming the hands, as many would suppose, this will, as long
as the hands are wet, produce a distinct sensation of increased cold. It
is due to rapid evaporation, which in changing the water from a liquid to
a gaseous form, abstracts heat from the hands.
Evaporation may be effected in two ways. The common one is by
applying extraneous heat, as under a tea kettle, in which case the evapo-
rated vapor is hot by virtue of the heat absorbed from the fire. The
other way is to reduce pressure or produce a partial vacuum over the
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 437
liquid without any application of heat, in which case the vapor is made
cold. As early as 1755 Dr. Cullen observed this, and discovered that
the cold thus produced was sufficient to make ice. An incident of evapo-
ration is the passing from the limited volume of a liquid to the greatly
increased volume of a gas. Water, for instance, when it changes to a
vapor, increases in volume about 1,700 times; that is, a cubic inch of
water makes about a cubic foot of steam, and when evaporation takes
place from a reduction of pressure, this involves a dissipation of heat
throughout the increased volume, and the corresponding production of
cold. When, however, matter changes from a liquid to a gas, or from a
solid to a liquid, a peculiar phenomenon manifests itself, in that a great
amount of heat is absorbed and, so far as the evidence of the senses goes,
disappears in the mere change of state. It is called latent heat. In such
case the heat becomes hidden from the senses by being converted into
some other form of intermolecular force not appreciable as sensible heat,
and producing no elevation of temperature. In illustration, if a pound
of water at 212° F. be mixed with a pound of water at 34° (both being
matter in the same state), there results two pounds of water at the mean
temperature of 123°. If, however, a pound of water at 212° be mixed
with a pound of ice at 32° (matter in another state), there will not be
two pounds of water at the mean temperature of 122°, as might be
expected, but two pounds at 51° only, an amount of heat sufficient to
raise two pounds of water 71° being absorbed in the mere change of ice
to water without any sensible raise in temperature. This absorbed heat
is called latent heat, and it plays an important part in artificial freezing.
A familiar illustration of the absorption of heat in changing from a
solid to a liquid is found in the admixture of salt and ice around an ice-
cream freezer. These two solids, when brought together, liquefy rapidly
with an absorption of heat that produces in a limited time a far greater
degree of cold than that which could be obtained from the ice by mere
conduction, since the reduction of temperature proceeds faster by lique-
faction than can be compensated for by the absorption of heat from the
air. Were this not true, ice cream could not be frozen by a mixture of
salt and ice. Many such freezing mixtures are known, and a few have
been made commercially available, btit they cannot be economically em-
ployed in ice-making, and it is therefore only necessary to consider the
development of the more common principle of evaporation and expansion,
in which the change from a liquid to a gas occurs. The volatile liquid
which was first employed was water, but as it did not vaporize as readily
as some other liquids, more volatile substitutes were soon found, among
438
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
which may be named ether, ammonia, liquid carbonic acid, liciuid sul-
phurous acid, bisulphide of carbon and chymogene, which latter is a
petroleum product lighter and more volatile than benzine or gasoline. As
these liquids were expensive, it is obvious that their vaporization could
not be allowed to take place in the open air, since the reagent would thus
be quickly dissipated and lost, and hence means were devised to con-
Q
V2^/m//////////^///////////////7////M'M
FIG. 294. — Perkins' ice machine, 1834.
dense and save this valuable volatile liquid to be used over again. The
vaporization of the volatile liquid to produce cold, and its re-condensation
to liquid form to be used over again in an endless cycle of circulation,
seems to have been first effected by Mr. Perkins, of England, whose
British patent No. 6,662, of 1834, affords a simple and clear illustration
of the fundamental principles of most modern ice machines. His ap-
paratus is shown in Fig. 294. A tank a is filled with water to be frozen
or cooled. A refrigerating chamber fo, submerged in the water, is charged
internallv with some volatile liquid, such as ether. When the piston of
suction pump c rises a partial vacuum is formed beneath it, and the
volatile liquid in h being relieved of pressure, evaporates and expands
7.Y THE NI.VETEENTH CENTURY. 439
into greater volume, the vapor passing out through pipe / and upwardly
opening valve e. This vapor is rendered intensely cold by expansion,
and this cold is imparted to the water in tank a to freeze it. A more
scientific statement, however, is that the cold vapor absorbs the heat units
of the water, and taking them away with it, lowers the temperature of
the water to the freezing point. When the piston of pump c descends,
valve e closes, and the vapor, laden with the heat units absorbed from
the water, is forced through the downwardly opening valve c', and
through pipe g to a cooling coil d, around which a body of cold water
is continually flowed. This water, in turn, takes the heat units from the
vapor, and passes off with them in a constant flow, while the vapor of
ether is condensed into a liquid again by the cold water, and passing
through a weighted valve h, goes into the evaporating or refrigerating
chamber to be again vaporized in an endless circuit of flow. It will be
seen that the heat units from the water in tank a are first handed over to
the cold ether vapors passing out from chamber b, and by this vapor are
then transferred to the flowing body of water surrounding the coil (/.
The result is that the heat units carried off by the water flowing around
coil d are the same heat units abstracted from the water in tank o. which
water is thus reduced to congealation.
Among later ice machines of this type the Pictet machine was a con-
spicuous example. This employed anhydrous sulphurous acid as the
volatile agent, and is described in United States patent No. 187.413,
February 13, 1877; French patent No. 109,003, of 1875.
In Fig. 295 is represented a vertical longitudinal and also a vertical
transverse section of a Pictet ice machine. A is a double acting suction
and compression pump, D and E are two cylinders which are similarly
constructed in the respect that they are both provided with flue pipes and
heads for a double circulation of fluids, one fluid passing through the
pipes while the other passes through the spaces between the pipes, much
like the condenser of a steam engine. The cylinder D is the refrigerator
where the volatile liquid is evaporated to produce cold, and the cylinder E
is the condenser where the gasified vapor is cooled and condensed again
to liquid form to be returned to the refrigerator. The action is as follows :
The pump A by pipe B draws from the chamber in the refrigerator D
containing the volatile liquid, causing it to evaporate and produce an
intense degree of cold which is imparted to the liquid surrounding it and
filling the tank. This liquid is either brine, or a mixture of glycerine and
water, or a solution of chloride of magnesium, or other liquid which does
not freeze at a temperature considerably below the freezing point of
440
THE PROGRESS OF INFENTION
water. Now, this non-congealable liquid being below the freezing point,
it will be seen that if cans H be filled with pure water, and are immersed
in this intensely cold non-congealable liquid, the water in the cans will
freeze. This is exactly what takes place, and this is how the ice is formed.
As the volatile liquid is drawn out of the refrigerator D through pipe B
by the pump A it is forced by the pump through pipe C and into the
chamber of the condenser E. A current of cold water is kept flowing
around the pipes in E, coming in through a pipe at one end and passing
out through a pipe at the other end. The compressed and relatively hot
gases are by the contact of this cold water along the sides of the pipes
FIG. 295. — THE PICTET ICE MACHINE.
cooled and condensed into a liquid again, which passes up the small
curved pipe F and is returned to the refrigerator D. to be again evapo-
rated by the suction of the pump to continue the production of cold. In
large plants the non-congealable liquid and cans of water to be frozen are
(in order to get larger capacity) carried to a large floor tank in a re-
moved situation.
One of the earliest methods of producing ice in a limited quantity was
by evaporating water by a reduction of pressure and causing the vapor
to be absorbed by sulphuric acid, which has a great affinity for the water
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 441
vapor. Mr. Nairne, in 1777, was the first to discover the affinity that
sulphuric acid had for water vapor, and in 18 10 LesHe froze water by
this means. In 1824 Vallance obtained British patents No. 4,884 and
5,001, operating on this principle, in which leaden balls were coated with
sulphuric acid to increase the absorbing surfaces, and which apparatus
was effective in freezing considerable quantities of ice.
The carafes frappees of the Parisian restaurant were decanters in
which water was frozen by being immersed in tanks of sea water whose
temperature was reduced below freezing by the vaporization of ether in a
reservoir immersed in the sea water. Edmond Carre's method of pre-
paring carafes frappees involved the use of the sulphuric acid principle
of absorption, and to that end the aqueous vapor was directly exhausted
from the decanter by a pump, and the said vapor was absorbed by a large
volume of sulphuric acid so rapidly as to freeze the water remaining in
the decanter.
Probably the earliest practical ice machine to be organized on a com-
mercial basis was the ammonia absorption machine of Ferdinand Carre,
which was a continuously working machine. It is disclosed in French
patents Nos. 81 and 404, of i860, and No. 75,702, of 1867; United States
patent No. 30,201, October 2, i860. In this case advantage is taken
first of the very volatile character of anhydrous ammonia, in the expan-
sion part of the process, and, secondly, of the great affinity which water
has for absorbing such gas. Strange as it may appear, the production of
ice in the Carre process begins with the application of heat. It must be
understood, however, that this forms no part of the refrigerating process
proper, but only a means of driving ofif or distilling the anhydrous
ammonia gas (the refrigerant) from its aqueous solution. Ammonia
dissolved in water, known as aqua ammonia, is placed in a boiler or still
above a furnace. The pure ammonia gas is thus driven off from the
water by heat under pressure, similar to that in a steam boiler, and
passes direct to a condenser, where, by cold water flowing through pipes,
the pure gas is liquefied under pressure. The liquefied gas is then ad-
mitted to the evaporating or refrigerating chamber, where it expands to
produce the cold, and is afterward re-absorbed by the water from which
it was originally driven ofif in the still, to be used over again. Machines of
this type are known as absorption machines, for the reason that the volatile
gas is after expansion re-absorbed by the liquid in which it was dissolved,
and is continuously driven ofl:' therefrom by the heat of a still. Ab-
sorption machines were the outgrowth of Faraday's observations in 1823.
A bent glass tube was prepared containing at one end a quantitv of
442
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
chloride oi silver, saturated with ammonia and hermetically sealed.
When the mixture was heated, the ammonia was driven over to the
other end of the tube, immersed in a cold bath, and the ammonia gas be-
came liquefied. It was found by him then that if the end containing the
chloride was plunged in a cold bath and the end containing liquid ammonia
was immersed in water, the heat of the water made the ammonia rapidly
evaporate, the chloride at the other end of the tube absorbed the ammonia
vapors, and the water around the end of the tube containing the liquefied
ammonia was converted into ice, by the loss of its heat imparted to the
ammonia to volatilize it. It only needed the substitution of water for the
FIG. 2g6. — COMPRESSION PUMPS OF ICF, PLANT.
chloride of silver, as an absorbing agent for the ammonia, and mechanical
means for economically working the process in a continuous way to pro-
duce the Carre absorption machine. The most common form of ice ma-
chine to-day is, however, what is known as the compression or direct
system, in which the absorption principle is dispensed with, the ammonia
being compressed by powerful steam pumps, then cooled to liquid form
by condensers, and then allowed to expand from its own pressure through
pipes immerged in brine in a large floor tank, in which cans containing
pure water are immersed, and the water frozen. Fig. 296* shows the com-
pression pumps, and Fig. 297 the floor tanks, of such a system. Many
* By courtesy of "Ice and Refrigeration.'
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
443
hundred cans filled with pure water are lowered into the cold brine of the
tank, and their upper ends form a complete floor, as seen in Fig. 297.
When the water in the cans is frozen, the cans are raised out of the floor
by a traveling crane and carried to one of the four doors seen at the far
end of the room. The ice in the can is then loosened by warm water, and
the block dumped through the door into a chute, whence it passes into the
storage room below, seen in Fig. 298. In the can system the water is
frozen from all foiu" sides to the center, and imprisons in the center any air
bubbles or impurities that may exist in the water. The plate system
freezes the water on the exterior walls of hollow plates, which contain
FIG. 297. — FLOOR TANK OF CAN SYSTEM.
within them the freezing medium. In freezing the water externally on
these plates all impurities and air bubbles are repelled and excluded, and
the ice rendered clear and transparent.
An ice plant, employing what is known as the "can" system and
capable of producing 100 tons of ice in twenty-four hours, requires a
building about 100 feet wide and 150 feet long, on account of the great
floor space needed to accommodate the freezing tank, and the great number
of cans which are immersed in the same. A radical departure from this
style of plant is presented in the Holden ice machine. This does not
require a multitude of cans and a great floor space, but a lot 25 by 50
feet is sufficient, for the ice is turned out in a continuous orocess like
444
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
bricks from a brick machine. The machine works on the ammonia ab-
sorption principle, but the freezing is done on the outer periphery of a
revolving cylinder, from which the film of ice is scraped off automatically
and the ice slush carried away by a spiral conveyor to one of two
press molds, in which a heavy pressure solidifies the ice into blocks, which
are successively shot down from the presses on a chute to the storage
room, as seen in Fig. 299.
The foregoing examples of ice machines give no idea of the great
activity in this field of refrigeration in the Nineteenth Century. Over
600 United States patents have been granted for ice machines alone, to
FIG. 298. — STORAGE ROOM OF ICE PLANT,
say nothing of refrigerating buildings, refrigerator cars, domestic re-
frigerators, and ice cream freezers, etc. Among the earlier workers in
ice machines, in addition to those already named, may be mentioned the
names of Gorrie, patent No. 8,080, May 6, 1851, followed by Twining,
1853-1862; Mignon and Rouart, in 1865; Lowe, in 1867; Somes, in
1867-1868; Windhausen, in 1870; Rankin, in 1876-1877, and many others.
An application of the ice machine which attracted much attention and
attained great popularity for a while' was that made in the production of
artificial skating rinks, in which a floor of ice was frozen bv means of a
system of submerged pipes, through which the cold liquid from the ice
machine was made to circulate. The earliest artificial skatinsr rink is tO'
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
445
be found in the British patent to Newton, No. 236, of 1870, but it was
Gamgee, in 1875 and 1876, who devised practical means for carrying it
out. and brought it into pubHc use. His inventions are described in his
British patents No. 4,412, of 1875, and No. 4,176, of 1876, and United
States patent No. 196,653, October 30, 1877, and others in 1878.
FIG. 299. — HOLDEN ICE MACHINE.
The Windhausen machine was one of the earliest applications for
cooling and z'entilating ships. This machine operated upon the principle
of alternately compressing and expanding air, and is described in United
States patents No. 101,198, March 22, 1870 (re-issue No. 4,603, October
17, 1871), and No. 111,292, January 24, 1871. To-day every ocean liner
446 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
is equipped with its own cold storage and ice-making plant, refrigerator
cars transport vast cargoes of meats, fish, etc., across the continent, and
bring the ripe fruits of California to the Eastern coast ; every market
house has its cold storage compartments, and to the brewery the refrig-
erating plant is one of its fundamental and important requisites.
The great value of refrigerating appliances is to be found in the re-
tardation of chemical decomposition or arrest of decay, and as this has
relation chiefly to preserving the food stuffs of the world, its value can be
easily understood. This branch of industry has grown up entirely in the
Nineteenth Century, and the activity in this field is attested by the 4,000
United States patents in this class.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 447
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Liquid Air.
Liquefaction of Gases by Northmore, 1805; Faraday, 1823: Bussy, 1824; Thilor-
lER, 1834, AND Others — Liquefaction of Oxygen, Nitrogen and Air by Pic-
TET and Cailletet IN 1877 — Self-Intensification of Cold by Siemens in 1857,
and Windhausen in 1S70 — Operations of Dewar, Wroblewski, and Ols-
zewski— Self-Lntensifying Processes of Solvay, Tripler, Linde, Hampson,
. AND OsTERGREN AND BeRGER — LiQUID AlR EXPERIMENTS AND USES.
T "T'NTIL quite recently the physicist divided gaseous matter into con-
I densable vapors and permanent vapors. To-day it is known
V J that there are no permanent gases, since all the sd-called per-
manent gases, even to the most tenuous, such as hydrogen, may
be made to assume the liquid and even the solid form. The average in-
dividual knows very little about hydrogen, but he is very well acquainted
with air, and when he was told that the air that he breathes — the gentle
zephyr that blows — the wind that storms from the north, or twists itself
into the rage of a cyclone in Kansas — may be bound down in liquid form,
and imprisoned within the limits of an open tumbler, or be bottled up in a
flask or even frozen solid, he was at first impressed with the suspicion of
a fairy story. Seeing is believing, however, to him, and the striking ex-
periments from the lecture platform, the approval of the scientists, and
the sensational accounts of it in the press, have not only been convincing,
but have completely turned his head and made him a too willing victim
of the speculator. Liquid air is a real achievement, however, and while it
is astonishing to the layman, the physicist looks upon it in the most
matter-of-fact way, for it is only a fulfilment of the simplest of nature's
laws, and entirely consonant with what he has been led to expect for many
years.
The liquefaction of gases has engaged the attention of the scientist
almost from the beginning of the century. In 1805-6 Northmore lique-
fied chlorine gas. This was done again in 1823 by Faraday. In 1824
Sussy condensed sulphurous acid vapors to liquid form. In 1834 Thi-
lorier made extensive experiments and demonstrations in the liquefaction
of carbonic acid gas. In 1843 Aime experimented with the liquefaction
448 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
of gases by sinking them in suitable vessels to great depths in the ocean.
Natterer, in 1844, greatly advanced the study of this subject by both
novel methods and apparatus. Liquefaction of air was attempted as early
as 1823 by Perkins, and again in 1828 by Colladon, but it was not accom-
plished until 1877. In this year the liquefaction of oxygen, by Pictet, of
Geneva, and Cailletet, of Chatillon-sur-Seine, was independently accom-
plished. Pictet used a pressure of 320 atmospheres and a temperature of
— 140°, obtained by the evaporation of liquid sulphurous acid and liquid
carbonic acid. Cailletet used a pressure of 300 atmospheres and a tempera-
ture of — 29°, which latter was obtained by the evaporation of liquid
sulphurous acid. In 1883 Dewar, Wroblewski and Olszewski commenced
operations in this field, and greatly advanced the study of this subject. In
January of 1884, Wroblewski coniirmed the liquefaction of hydrogen,
which had been imperfectly accomplished by Cailletet before. In the
liquefaction of oxygen and nitrogen, the principal component gases of air,
the liquefaction of air itself followed immediately as a matter of course.
Air has usually been held to consist of four volumes of nitrogen and
one volume of oxygen, with a very small proportion of carbonic acid gas
and ammonia. Recent discoveries have definitely identified new gases in
it, however, chief among which is argon. For all practical purposes, how-
ever, air may be considered simply a mixture of the two gases ; nitrogen,
which is inert and neither maintains life nor combustion ; and oxygen,
which performs both of these functions in a most energetic way. Air is
more dense at the surface of the earth, and becomes continually more rari-
fied as the altitude increases, until it becomes an indefinitely tenuous ether.
Light as we are accustomed to regard it, the weight of a column of air one
inch square is 15 pounds, and this tenuous and unfelt covering presses
upon our globe with a total weight of 300,000 million tons.
Liquid air is simply air which has been compressed and cooled to what
is called its critical temperature and pressure, i. c, the temperature and
pressure at vi'hich it passes into another state of nTatter, as from a gas to a
liquid. To liquefy air it is compressed until its volume is reduced to
1/800, that is to say, 800 cubic feet of air are reduced to one cubic foot.
This requires a pressure of 1,250 to 2,000 pounds to the square inch.
The important step in liquefying air cheaply and on a large scale was
accomplished by the discovery of what is known as the self-intensifying
action. This dispenses with auxiliary refrigerants, and causes the ex-
panding gases to supply the cold required for their own liquefaction by an
entirely mechanical process. It consists in compressing the air (which
produces heat), then cooling it by a flowing body of water, then passing
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
449
it through a long coil of pipes and expanding the cool compressed air by
allowing it to escape through a valve into an expansion chamber, where
its pressure falls from 1,250 pounds to 300 pounds, which produces a great
degree of cold ; then taking this very cold current of air back in reverse
direction along the walls of the coil of pipes, and causing said returning
cold air to further cool the air flowing from the compressor to the expan-
sion tank, and finally delivering the cold return flow to the compressors
and compressing it again from a lower initial point than it started with on
the first round, and so continuing this cycle of circulation through the
FIG. 300. — THE SELF-INTENSIFYING PRINCIPLE OF PRODUCING COLD, USED TO LIQUEFY AIR.
alternating compressing and cooling stages until the air condenses in liquid
form in the bottom of the expansion chamber. This successive reduction
of temperature by the air acting upon itself is called self-intensification of
cold, and it has an analogy in the regenerative furnace, where the augmen-
tation of heat corresponds to the augmentation of cold in the self-intensi-
fying action.
This principle of self-intensification was first announced by Prof. C.
W. Siemens in the provisional specification of his British patent No.
■iSO IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
2,064, of 1857, but it does not seem at that time to liave been carried
out with any practical result. The first embodiment of the principle in
a refrigerating apparatus is by Windhausen — United States patent No.
101,198, March 22, 1870. Solvay, in British patent No. 13,466, of 1885,
gave further development to the idea, and following him came the oper-
ations of Prof. Tripler, who was the first to liquefy large C]uantities of
air and to introduce it to the American people. Linde, Hampson and
Ostergren and Berger are more recent operators in this field of self-in-
tensification, and Linde's British patent No. 12,528, of 1895, may be
regarded as a representative exposition of the principle. A simplified
form of the Linde apparatus is seen in Fig. 300. C is an air compress-
ing pump, whose plunger descending compresses the air and forces it
out through valve I, pipe 2, and coil 3. The coil 3 is immersed in a
flowing body of water in the condenser W, the water entering at Y and
passing out at Z. The cold compressed air then passes through pipes
4 and 5, pipe 5 being arranged concentrically within a larger coil 7. The
cold air flowing down pipe 5 escapes through a valve adjusted by handle
6, into the subjacent chamber L, and expanding to a larger volume, pro-
duces a great degree of cold ; this cold expanded air then passing up the
larger and outer pipe 7 flows back over the incoming stream of air in
pipe 5, chilling it still lower than the condenser W did, and this cold re-
turn flow then passing from the top of coil 7 descends through pipe 8
to the compressing pump C, and as its piston rises, it enters the pump
through the inwardly opening valve 9, and here it undergoes another
compression and circuit through the pipes 2, 3, 4, 5, but it is compressed
on its second round of travel at a lower temperature than it had initially,
and so this circulation of air going to the chamber L, expanding, and
returning over the inlet flow pipe 5, successively cooling the latter and
also successively entering the compressor at a continually lower temper-
ature at each cycle of circulation, finally issues through the valve at the
lower end of pipe 5, and expands to such a low temperature that it con-
denses in chamber L in liquid form. Fresh accessions of air are furnished
to the apparatus through valve 10 as fast as the air is liquefied. The in-
let flow to the liquefying chamber is shown by the full line arrows, and
the return flow to the compressor by the dotted arrows, and the explana-
tion of the term self-intensification is to be found in the cooling of the
incoming air in pipe 5 by the outflowing air in the surrounding pipe 7,
and the repeated reductions of temperature at which the air is returned
to the compressor.
In Fig. 301 is shown the liquefier of a modern liquid air plant, in
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
ISl
FIG. 301. — CO.MMEKCIAL PRODUCTION OF LIQUID AIR.
452
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
which hquid air is being drawn into a pail from the liquefier. Liquid air
evaporates very rapidly, and produces the intense cold of 312° below
zero. There is no known way to preserve it beyond a limited time, for, if
put in strong, tightly closed vessels, it would soon absorb enough heat to
vaporize, and in time would acquire a tension of 12,000 pounds per
square inch, and would burst the vessel with a disastrous explosion. If
left exposed to the air, which is the only safe way to transport it, it is
quickly dissipated. A shipment of eight gallons from New York to
FIG. 302. — VESSEL FOR TRANSPORTING LIQUID AIR.
Washington for lecture purposes shrunk to three gallons in two days'
time. It may usually be kept longer than this, however, as the jarring
of a railway train promotes its evaporation and loss. A small quantity,
such as a half pint, will boil away in twenty-five to thirty minutes. The
only way to preserve it for any length of time is to surround it with a
heat-excluding jacket. The simplest and most effective means for doing
this in the laboratory is to surround it with a vacuum. Fig. 302 shows
a specially devised vessel for the commercial transportation of liquid air.
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
453
A double walled globular vessel has between its walls air spaces and
non-conducting packing. The liquid air in the interior chamber vapor-
izes gradually, and escaping through the outwardl}' opening valve at the
top, expands around the air space surrounding the inner vessel. From
this space it reaches the outer air by a valve at the bottom of the outer
vessel. The liquid air in evaporating is thus carried around the bodv
of liquid air in the center, and surrounding it with an intensely cold en-
velope, prevents the transmission of heat to the inner vessel. To with-
IP
^-.y
i
Evaporation of Nitrogen. Evaporation of NitronB Oxide. Evaporation of Pure Oxygen.
FIG. 303. — SEP,\RATION OF LIQUID AIR INTO ITS CONSTITUENTS.
draw the liquid air, a pipette or so-called siphon tube, shown in detached
view, is substituted for the valve at the top.
As to the uses of liquid air it may be said that up to the present time
it has attained little or no practical application. There are two principal
ways in which it may be utilized ; one is to employ its enormous expansive
force to produce mechanical power, and the other is as a refrigerant. As
a means for obtaining motive power it is a fallacy to suppose that any
rr-ore power can be obtained from its expansion than was originally re-
quired to make it. It is like a resilient spring in this respect, that it
can give out no more power than was required to compress it. In some
special applications, however, as for propelling torpedoes, where its cost
is entirely subordinate to effective results, it might prove to be of value.
For blasting purposes also it presents the promise of possible utilization.
454
THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
As a refrigerant for commercial purposes, and for supplying a dr^', cool
temperature to the sick room, and for the preparation of chemicals re-
quiring a low temperature to manufacture, it might find useful applica-
tion. Inasmuch as the nitrogen of liquid air evaporates first, and leaves
nearly pure liquid oxygen, it may also be employed as a means for pro-
ducing and applying oxygen. Good illustration of this is given in Fig.
FIG. 30^. — LIQUID AIR EXPERIMENTS.
I. Magnetism of oxygen. 2. Steel burning in liquid oxygen. 3. Frozen sheet iron.
4. Explosion of confined liquid air. 5. Burning paper. 6. Explosion of
sponge. 7. Freezing rubber ball. 8. Double walled vacuum
bulb. g. Boiling liquid air.
303, in which at i is shown a vessel tilled with liquid air. The gas
first evaporating is nitrogen, and a lighted match applied to the surface
of the liciuid is quickly extinguished, since nitrogen does not support com-
bustion. As the level of the liquid falls by evaporation, the remaining
portions become richer in oxygen and poorer in nitrogen, and nitrous
oxide gas is then given off, which supports combustion as seen at 2 ; and
when the last portions of the liquid are being evaporated, as at 3, it is
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
455
practically pure oxygen, which gives a brilliant combustion of a carbon
pencil, or even of a steel spring when the latter is heated red hot. Already
Prof. Pictet has formulated a plan for the commercial production and
separation of the ingredients of liquid air — the nitrogen, carbonic acid,
and oxygen being separated by their different evaporating temperatures
with a view to applying
them to various industrial
uses. All of the commercial
applications of liquid air,
however, depend upon its
cost of production, which
seems at present an uncer-
tain factor. According to
the claims of some it may
be produced at a cost of a
few cents a gallon. More
conservative physicists say
tliat it costs $5 a gallon.
However this may be,
the phenomena which it
presents are both interest-
ing and instructive. In
Figs. 304 and 305 are
shown some of the experi-
ments. At No. I a test tube
containing liquid air, from
which the nitrogen has es-
caped, is strongly attracted
by an electro-magnet,
showing the magnetic qual-
ity of oxygen. At No. 2 is
shown the combustion of a
heated piece of steel in
liquid air, which has become
rich in oxygen by the evap-
oration of the nitrogen. At
No. 3 a tin dipper, which
has been immersed in liquid air, has become so cold and crystalline that it
breaks like glass when dropped. At No. 4 liquid air imprisoned in a
tube and tightly corked up, blows the stopper out in a few minutes with
FIG. 305. — LIQUID AIR EXPERIMENTS.
Frozen mercury. 11. Liquid oxygen in water.
12. Frozen whisky. 13. Carbonic acid snow.
14. Combustion of carbon pencil.
456 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
explosive effect. At No. 5 a piece of paper saturated with liquid air burns
witl) great energy, and at No. 6 a piece of sponge or raw cotton similarly
saturated explodes when ignited. At No. 7 a rubber ball floated on liquid
air in a tumbler is frozen so hard that when dropped it flies into fragments
like a glass ball. The white, snow-like vapor seen falling over the edges
of the tumbler is intensely cold and heavier than ordinary air. At No. 8
is illustrated the preservation of liquid air by surrounding it with a vacuum
in a Dewar bulb. At No. 9 a flask of liquid air is made to boil by the mere
heat of the hand. A more striking experiment still of the same kind is to
place a tea kettle containing liquid air on a block of ice. The block of ice
is relatively so much hotter than the liquid air that the liquid air in the
kettle is made to boil. At No. 10, Fig. 305, a heavy weight is suspended
by a link composed of a bar of mercury frozen solid in liquid air. So hard
is the mercury frozen that a hammer made of it will drive a tenpenny nail
up to its head in a pine board. In No. 1 1 a layer of liquid air on water at
first floats because it is lighter than water. As the lighter nitrogen evap-
orates, the heavier oxygen sinks in drops through the water. At No. 12
a tumbler of whiskey is frozen solid by immersing a tube containing liquid
air in it. The frozen block of whiskey with the cavity formed by the tube
is shown on the left. It is a whiskey tumbler made out of whiskey. A
more sensational experiment is to substitute a tapering tin cup for the tube,
then fill it with liquid air and immerse, it in water. In a few minutes the
tapering tin cup has frozen on its outer walls a tumbler of ice. This may
be carefully removed, and the ice tumbler is then filled with liquid air rich
in oxygen, which, by maintaining the cold of the ice tumbler, keeps it from
melting. A carbon pencil or a steel spring heated to redness will now, if
dipped in the liquid oxygen in the ice tumbler, burn with vehement bril-
liancy and beautiful scintillations, involving the anomalous conditions of'
a white hot 'heat and active combustion in the center of a tumbler of ice,
without melting the tumbler. In experiment 13, Fig. 305, a jet of car-
bonic acid gas directed into a dish floating in a glass of liquid air is
immediately frozen into minute flakes, producing a miniature snow storm
of carbonic acid. In experiment 14 an electric light carbon heated to a
red heat at its tip, is plunged vertically into a deep glass of liquid oxygen.
A most singular combustion takes place. The heat of the carbon evap-
orates the oxygen in its immediate vicinity, and the carbon burns with
great brilliancy and violence, forming carbonic acid, which is largely
frozen in the liquid before it reaches the surface, and falls back to the bot-
tom of the dish, so that the combustion is maintained and its products re-
tained within the dish. A beefsteak may be frozen in liquid air to such
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 457
brittleness that it is shattered like a china plate when struck a slight blow.
The intense cold of liquid air does not destroy the vitality or germinating
power of seed, but produces serious so-called burns on the flesh that
destroy the tissues and do not heal for many months, and yet for a moment
the finger may be dipped in liquid air with impunity because of the gaseous
envelope with which the finger is temporarily surrounded.
458 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Minor Inventions
AND
Patents in Principal Countries of the World.
IF the reader has been patient enough to have reviewed the preceding
pages, the impression may have been formed that the notable inven-
tions referred to represent all that is worth while to consider in this
great field of human achievement. It would be a fallacy to entertain
such a thought, for the little stars out-number the big ones, and the twigs
of the tree are far more numerous than its branches. The great things in
life are comparatively few and far between, and the bulk of human exist-
ence is made up of an unclassified mass of little things, sown like sands
along the shore of time between the boulders of great events. So also in
invention is its warp and woof made up of a multitude of little threads be-
hind the gorgeous patterns of meteoric genius. Every hour of the day of
modern life is replete with the achievements of invention. Look around
the room, and there is not a thing in sight that does not suggest the
material advance of the age ; the books, the furniture, the carpets, the cur-
tains, the wall paper, the clock, the mantels, the house trimmings, the culi-
nary utensils, and the clothing, all represent creations of this century. So
full is the daily life of these things, and so much of a necessity have they
all become, that their commonplace character dismisses them from con-
spicuous notice. Take tjie most matter-of-fact and prosy half hour of the
day, that at the time of rising, and see what a faithful account of the aver-
age man's everyday life would present. The awakening is definitely deter-
mined by an alarm clock, and the sleepy Nineteenth Century man rolling
over under the seductive comfort of a spring bed. .takes another nap, be-
cause he knows that the rapid transit cars will give him time to spare. Ris-
ing a little later his bare feet find a comfortable footing on a machine-made
rug, until thrust into full fashioned hose, and ensconced in a pair of ma-
chine-sewed slippers. Drawing the loom-made lace curtains, he starts up
the window shade on the automatic Hartshorn roller and is enabled to see
how to put in his collar button and adjust his shirt studs. He awakens
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 459
the servant below with an electric bell, calls down the speaking tube to
order breakfast, and perhaps lights the gas for her by the push button. He
then proceeds to the bath, where hot and cold water, the sanitary closet, a
gas heater, and a great array of useful modern articles present themselves,
such as vaseline, witch hazel, dentifrices, cold cream, soaps and antiseptics,
which supply every luxurious want and every modern conception of sani-
tation. His bath concluded, he proceeds to dress, and maybe puts in his
false teeth, or straps on an artificial leg. Donning his shirt with patented
gussets and bands, he quickly adjusts his separable cuff buttons, puts on
his patented suspenders, and, winding a stem-winding watch, proceeds
down stairs to breakfast. A revolving fly brush and fly screens contribute
to his comfort. A cup of cofl^ee from a drip cofifee-pot, a lump of artificial
ice in his tumbler, sausage ground in a machine, batter cakes made with an
G.gg beater, waftles from a patented waffle iron, honey in artificial honey
comb, cream raised by a centrifugal skimmer, butter made in a patented
churn, hot biscuits from the cooking range, and a refrigerator with a well
stocked larder, all help to make him comfortable and happy. The picture
IS not exceptional in its fullness of invented agencies, and one could just as
well go on with our citizen through the rest of the day's experience, and
start him off after breakfast with a patented match, in a patented match
case, and a patented cigarette, with his patented overshoes and umbrella,
and send him along over the patented pavement to the patented street car,
or automobile, and so on to the end of the day.
Some of the minor inventions are really of too much importance to be
passed without comment. The cable car is a factor which has cut no small
figure in the activities of city life. The first patent on a slotted under-
ground conduit between the rails, vvfith traction cable inside and running
on pulleys, was that to E. A. Gardner, No. 19,736, March 23, 1858. Halli-
die, in San Francisco, in 1876, directed his energies to a development of
this system, and brought it to a degree of perfection and general adoption
that made it for many years the leading system of street car propulsion.
To-day, however, it represents but a decadent type, being largely sup-
planted by the superior advantages of electricity.
Passenger elevators constitute one of the conspicuous features of mod-
ern locomotion. Without them the tall office buildings, hotels, and depart-
ment stores would have no existence ; the Eiffel Tower would never have
been dreamed of, and the expenditure of vital force in stair climbing would
have been greatly augmented. The passenger elevator has for its prototype
the ancient hoist or lift for mines, but in the latter half of the Nineteenth
Century it has developed into a distinct institution^a luxurious little
460 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
room, gliding noiselessly up and down, actuated by a power that is not
seen, and supplied with every appliance for safety and comfort, such as
governors, safety catches, automatic stops, mirrors and cushioned seats.
The principle of the screw, of balance weights, of the lazy tongs, and other
mechanical powers have each found application in the elevator, but steam,
hydraulic power, and electricity constitute the moving agencies of the
modern type. The patent to E. G. Otis, No. 31,128, January 15, 1861,
marks the beginning of its useful applications.
Of close kin to the elevator are the fire escape, dumb zvaiter and grain
elevator, each of which fills a more or less important function in the life of
to-day.
What more ubiquitous or ingenious illustration of modern progress
than the American stem ivinding tvatch! Up to the middle of the century
all watches were made by hand throughout. Each watch had its own in-
dividuality as a separate creation, and only the privileged few were able to
carry them. In 1848 Aaron L. Dennison, a Boston watch maker, began
making watches by machinery, and the foundation of the system of inter-
changeable parts was laid. A small factory at Roxbury, iVIass., was estab-
lished in 1850, which four years later was moved to Waltham. In 1857 it
passed into the hands of Appleton, Tracy & Co., and was subsequently
acquired by the American Watch Co. As presenting some idea of the
great elaboration involved in this art, it was estimated a few years ago
that 3,746 distinct mechanical operations were required to make an ordi-
nary machine made watch. A single pound of steel wire is sometimes con-
verted into a couple of hundred thousand tiny screws, and another pound
of fine steel wire furnishes 17,280 hair springs, worth several thousand
dollars. The absolute uniformity and perfect interchangeability of parts
in the American watch have been obtained by substituting the invariable
and mathematical accuracy of the machine for the nervous fingers and
dimming eyes of the old time watchmaker, and the American machine
made watch, discredited as it was at first, stands to-day the greatest mod-
ern advance in horology.
Friction Matches. — In 1805 Thenard, of Paris, made the first attempt
to utilize chemical agencies for the ordinary production of fire. In 1827
John Walker, an English druggist, made friction matches called "con-
greves." In 1833 phosphorus friction matches were introduced on a com-
mercial scale by Preschel, of Vienna. In 1845 ""^f' phosphorus matches
(parlor matches) were made by Von Schrotter. of Vienna, and in 1855
safety matches, which ignited only on certain substances, were made by
Lundstrom, of Sweden. Prior to the Nineteenth Century, and in fact until
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 461
about 1833, the old flint and steel and tinder box were the clumsy and un-
certain means for producing fire. To-day the friction match is turned out
by automatic machinery by the million, and constitutes probably the most
ubiquitous and useful of all the minor inventions.
Step into any of the great department stores and the genius of the in-
ventor confronts you in the cash carrier whisking its little cars back and
forth from the cashier's desk to the most remote corners of the great build-
ing. The first of these mechanical carriers adapted for store service was
patented by D. Brown, July 13, 1875, No. 165,473. Not until about 1882,
however, was there any noticeable adoption of the system, when practical
development was given in Martin's patents, No. 255,525, March 28, 1882;
No. 276,441, April 24, 1S83, and No. 284,456, September 4, 1883. Go to
the lunch counter, and the cash register reminds you that the millenium of
absolute honesty is not }et realized. The bell punch on the street car and
the burglar proof safe with its combination locks are other suggestions in
the same line. The first fire proof safe is disclosed in the British patent to
Richard Scott, No. 2,477, of 1801. The time lock, which prevents the safe
from being opened by anyone except at a certain period of daylight, was
invented by J. V. Savage, and was covered by him in United States patent
No. 5,321, October 9, 1847. The practical adoption of time locks began
about 1875 with the operations of Sargent, Stockwell and others, and to-
day they constitute one of the most important features of bank safes and
vaults, and represent a marvelously beautiful and accurate example of
mechanical skill.
The Otto gas-engine, and the Ericsson air-engine are important devel-
opments in power producing motors, and the improvements in pavements
and in street szvcepers for cleaning them, contribute to the cleanliness, san-
itation, and jesthetic values of city life. The cigarette machine, which con-
tinuously curls a ribbon of paper around a core of tobacco to form a rope,
and then cuts it oft into cigarettes, is an important invention in the tol^acco
industry, however doubtful its hygienic ^'al^e to the world may be. The
lightning rod has brought protection to hemes and lives, and the incubator
has become the hen's wet nurse. In agriculture, the reaper has been sup-
plemented with threshing machines, seeders, drills, cultivators, horse rakes
and plows. In the farm yard appear the improved carriage and wagon,
the well pump, the v/ind wheel, the fruit drier, the bee b.ive, and the cotton
and cider press. In the kitchen, the washing machine, the churn, the
cheese press, ironing machine, wringer, the rat trap, and fruit jar. In the
house, the folding bed, tilting chair, carpet sweeper, and the piano. In
heating appliances, steam and water heating systems, base burning and
462 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
latrobe stoves, hot air furnaces, gas and oil stoves. In plastics there are
brick machines, pressed glass ware, enameled sheet iron ware, tiles, paper
buckets, celluloid and rubber articles. In hydraulics there are rams, water
closets, pumps, and turbine water wheels. In mining there are stamp
mills, ore crushers, separators, concentrators, and amalgamators. In the
leather and boot and shoe industry there is a great variety of machines and
appliances. The paper industry, with book binding machines, and paper
box machines, is a fertile field of invention. Steam boilers, metallurgical
appliances, soap making, chemical fire extinguishers, fountain pens, the
sand blast, bottle stoppers, and a thousand other things present themselves
in miscellaneous and endless array. These are, however, only some of the
things which the limitation of space precludes from individual treatment,
but which are none the less important in making up the great resources of
modern life, and, for the most part, represent the contributions of the
Nineteenth Century not heretofore considered.
The observant and thoughtful reader finds just here occasion to inquire
the meaning of this great rising tide of progress which has so distin-
guished the Nineteenth Century. It is largely due to the Patent Law,
which justly regards the inventor as a public benefactor, and seeks to make
for him some protection in the enjoyment of his rights. If a man be in the
possession of a legacy by the accident of birth, the law of inheritance rules
that it is rightfully his. The finding of a thing, whether by jetsam, flot-
sam, or the lucky accident of a first discovery, this also makes good his
title, if there be no other owner. There is, however, a right of property
which is higher than all others, and in which there is coupled with the pos-
session of the thing the sacred function of its creation. The right of a
mother to her child is of this nature, and like unto it is the right of the
inventor to the creation of his genius. In the last two centuries of the
world's history this right has been recognized by ata enlightened civiliza-
tion, and provision made for its enjoyment in the grant of patents, and if
there be any right more strongly entrenched than another in the eternal
verities of equity and justice it is this. Our first crude patent law was en-
acted in 1790, but not until 1836 was the present system adopted. Our
own and comparatively new country has, therefore, not yet had a hundred
years of existence under our present Patent System, and yet to-day it out-
strips the world both in its material resources and in its wealth of patented
inventions. The accompanying diagram. Fig. 306, illustrates in a graphic
way just what relation the United States bears to the o'her leading
countries of the world in the matter of patents granted, and when it is
remembered that under our system a patent can only be granted for a
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
463
new invention, while in some of the other countries it is not essential to
the grant, the richness in invention of the United States, with its six
hundred and fifty thousand patents, can be better appreciated. This is a
greater number than has been issued by Great Britain and France put
together. Connecticut is the most productive State in invention in pro-
portion to its people, and Edison is the most prolific inventor. From 1870
to 1900 he has taken 727 United States patents, and there are from
twenty-five to thirty other American inventors each of whom has taken
100 or more patents.
The year 1790 was notable in two events, the birth of our patent sys-
rOT/IL NUMBER PATENTS TO JftN. 1^^1300
(fOKCICN PAT^S FOR /899,£STrA!/1Te D^
UNITED STRTES
FRANCE
ENCLRNO I
BELGIUM
GERMANY,...
fiUSTNIA-Hllf^a.
Cfi.r/ADfi
tTALY-SMO.
650.123
-2S.S27r"/lT'S.
-2^S67ftflr'5.
/if\T£ OF ISSUE OF U.S . PfiTE NTS
FIG. 306.
tem and the death of Benjamin Franklin. That grand old philosopher,
with a prescience of future greatness to come from the genius of the in-
ventor, is said to have expressed the wish before he died that he might be
sealed up in a cask of old Madeira and be brought to life a hundred years
in the future, that he might witness the growth of the world. Who can
tell what his emotions would be if he were with us to-day? It is said,
when he first saw the fibres of the string diverge, and the spark pass from
the cord of his kite, and the lightning was for the first time obedient to
the will of man, that he uttered a deep sigh and wished that that moment
were his last. To this poor knowledge of electricity he would now have
added all the wonders and powers of the telegraph, the dynamo, the tele-
464 THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION
phone, and the great modern electrical science ; to ! lis primitive hand press
he would have contrasted the Octuple perfecting press, turn-ng out pa-
pers at the rate of i,6oo a minute; his modest type-setting case would be
replaced by a great array of linotype machines, and he would find several
acres of woodland sacrificed to produce the wood-pulp paper of a single
edition of a New York daily. Would he not realize indeed that truth is
stranger than fiction, and fact more wonderful than fancy's dream !
INDEX.
Abbe's Stereo-Binocular 28y
Absorption Process, Ice Making. . . 441
Acetylene Gas 333
Adirondack, Steamer 141
Agricultural Chemistry 225
Aids to Digestion 243
Air Blast 374
Air Brakes 129
Air, Carburetted 336
Alloys 389
Aluminum 225 — 390
Anibrotype 304
Anaesthesia 246
Anesthesia by Chloroform 247
Ancient Iron Furnace ZT^
Aniline 222
Annealing and Tempering, Electri-
city in 387
Antiicamnia (Acetanalide) 248
Antipyrine 24S
Antiseptic Surgery 256
Antiseptics, Coal Tar 223
Archer's Collodion Process Photos 304
Arc Lamp Feed 66
Arc Lamp, Simple 64
Arc Lamp, Weston 65
Arc Lamp, Large 65 — 6g
Arkwright's Drawing Rolls 421
Arlberg Tunnel 346
Armored Cruiser 150
Armor Plates, Manufacture of.... 383
Artesian Wells 350
Artificial Limbs 251
Atlantic Cable 32—37
Automatic Ball Governor 104
Automatic Telegraph 22
Automobile 265 — 272
Automobile Statistics 271
Babbitt Metal 389
Bachelder Sewing Machine Feed.. 186
Bacteriology 252
Bain's Telegraph 22
Baldwin's Locomotives 126
Band Saws 364
Barbed Wire Fences 38S
Barlow's Electric Wheel 48
Battery, Storage 88
Battleships 150
Beach. Alfred E.. Tunneling Shield 346
Beach's Typewriter 174
Bell & Tainter's Improved Phono-
graph 276
Bell's Telephone Tj
Bentham, Sir S., Invents Wood-
working Machinery 360
Berliner's Telephone 82
Bessemer Steel 376
Beverages 244
Blake Telephone Transmitter 83
Blanchard's Lathe 368
Blast Furnace 374 — 375
Blasting 351
Blasting, Electro 99
Blenkinsop's Locomotive 119
Blickensderfer Typewriter 180
Bloomeries, Air 373
Body Appliances, Electric 97
Book Typewriter 181
Bourdon's Steam Gauge 107
Bicycle 259 — 265
Bicycle Speed 264
Bicycle Statistics 265
Binding Devices for Reaper 203
Biograph 298
Bipolar Dynamo 42
Brake, Bicycle 264
Bramah's Planer 366
Branca's Steam Turbine 109
Branson's Automatic Knitter 431
Breech Mechanism, Interrupted
Thread 399
Bridge, Brooklyn 342
Bridge, Cabin John 344
Bridge, Forth .' 340
Bridges, Masonry 342
Bridge, Trezzo 344
Bright's Disease 250
Brooklyn, Armored Cruiser 131
Brooklyn Bridge 342
Buildings, High 353
Burt's Typewriter 172
Butchering and Dressing Meats... 237
Buttonhole Machine 191
Cabin John Bridge 344
Cablegrams, First 33
Cable Statistics 36
Cable, Submarine 32
Cable Tolls 37
Cableway. Lidgerwood 349
Caissons 343
Calcium Carbide 225
Calcium Carbide Factories 336
470
INDEX.
Calcium Carbide Furnace 46
Caligraph Typewriter 177
Calotype 303
Camera 306
Camera Obscura 306
Camera Shutter 307
Canal, Chicago Drainage 350
Canal, Suez 347
Candle, Jablochkoff 64
Canning Industry 235
Cannon, Breech-Loading 397
Cannon Invention 395
Caoutchouc 210
Capitol Building 357
Caps, Percussion 416
Carafes, Frozen 441
Carbolic Acid 247
Carbon Microphone 82
Carbon-Printing, Photography.... 305
Carborundum 225
Carborundum Furnace 45
Carburetted Air 336
Car Coupling I2g
Carpet Sewing Machine 192
Carre's Ice Machine 441
Cartwright Invents Power Loom. . 426
Car Wheels, Turning 387
Cash Carrier 461
Casting Pig Iron 379
Castalia, Steamer 140
Cathode Ray 321
Celestial Photography 310
Cemementation 385 — 387
Centrifugal Filter 243
Centrifugal Milk Skimmer 235
Chain Bicycle 263
Chair, Electrocution 44
Champion Reaper 202
Charlotte Dundas, Steamboat 134
Chemical Telegraph 22
Chemistry 221 — 227
Chicago Drainage Canal 350
Chill Molds 388
Chipping Logs, Wood Pulp 162
Chloral Hydrate 247
Chronology of Inventions 7 — 14
Circular Saw, Hammering to Ten-
sion 362
Circulation of Blood 246
Civil Engineering 340 — 359
Clermont, Steamboat 136
Cloth, Finishing 432
Cloth Presser 432
Coal Gas Works 330
Coal Tar Dyes, Statistics 226
Coal Tar Products 222
Coating with Metal 387
Code, Morse 20
Collecting Rubber at i
Collodion Process Photography. . . 304
Color Photography 311
Color Printing Press 159
Columbia Electric Automobile 270
Columbian Press 156
Compound Expansion Engine 115-
Compound Locomotive 128- -130
Compound Steam Turbine 109
Concentrator, Magnetic 392
Continuous Web Press 157
Cooper, Peter, Rolls Iron Beams
for Buildings 354
Cord Binding Reaper 203
Corliss Valve Gear 106
Cort Makes Wrought Iron 373
Cotton, Diamond 434
Cotton Gin 423
Cracker and Cake Machine 234
Crompton Invents Mule Spinner. . 422
Cryptoscope, Salvioni's 322
Cuisine, Ocean Steamer 145
Culture, Bacteria 255
Cut-Off, Sickel's 105
Cut-Off, Steam 104
Cyanide Process 391
Daguerreotype 303
Daguerre's Invention 303
Dahlgren Gun 39J
Dal Negro Electric Motor 49
Daniell Battery 16
Darby Makes Iron with Coke 373
De Laval's Steam Turbine in
De Lesseps Builds Suez Canal 347
Demologos, First War Vessel 146
Densmore Typewriter 180
Dentistry 250
Desk Telephone 86
Deutschland's Engines 115
Digesters, Wood Pulp 163
Digestion 252
Disease Germs 253
Double Hull Steamer 140
Dough i^'fixer 232
Drais ne Bicycle 260
Drawing Rolls, Spinning 421
Dredges 34Q
Drill Jar 35°
Drills, Rock 3Sl
Drinks 244
Drummond Light S.iS
Dry Plate Photography 306
Dudley's Early Iron working 373
Duplex Telegraph 23
Duplicating Phonograph Records. . 279
Dust Collector, Flour Mills 2,32
Dyes, Coal Tar 223
Dynamite Gun 40,1
Dynamo Armature. 43
Dynamo, Bipolar 42
INDEX.
471
Dynamo, Description of 42
Dynamos, Different Kinds 42
Dynamo Electric Machine 38 — 47
Dynamo, Gramme and D'lvernois. 4/
Dynamo, Hjorth 40
Dynamo, Multipolar 47
Dynamo, Siemens' 41
Dynamo, Wilde 41
Eads, Caissons of 34S
Earthqualce-Proof Palace 355
Edison's Electric Lamp 67 — 7Z
Edison's Carbon Microphone 82
Edison's Concentrating Works.... 392
Edison's Electric Pen 96
Edison's Kinetoscope 297
Edison's Three Wire System 72 — 74
Edison's X-Ray Apparatus 323
Eiffe
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Elec
Tower 355
ric .'Vutomobile 270
ric Body Appliances 97
ric Cautery 97
ric Furnace 44
ric Furnace, Acheson 45
ric Furnace, Bradley 46
ric Lamp, Edison's 67 — 7i
ric Lamp, Sawyer-Man ....67 — 7 >,
ric Lamp, Starr-King 65
ric Launch 93 — 94
ric Light 63—75
ric Light Beacon 65 — 6g
ric Light Circuit 74
ric Locomotive 59
ric Motor 48 — 62
ric Motor, Barlow's Wheel... 48
ric Motor, Dal Negro 49
ric Motor, Davenport 51 — 52
ric Motor, Dr. Page 51
ric Motor, Faraday 48
ric Motor, Henry 50
ric Motor, Jacobi 51
ric Motor, Nefif 52
ric Motor, Prof. Henry's 50
ric Motor, Railway 58
ric Motor. Westinghouse .... 53
ric Musical Instruments 98
ric Pen. Edison's 96
ric Piano 98
ric Railway, First 54
ric Railway Statistics 60
ric Telephone 76
ric Welding gi
rical Generation, Polyphase.. 43
rical Navigation 02
ricity Direct from Fuel 92
ricity in Medicine 96
ricity. Miscellaneous 88 — 90
ro-BIasting 99
ro-Chemistry 225
rocution 44
Electro-Magnet, Henry's 17 — jS
Electro-Magnetism by Oersted.... 18
Electro-Magnet, Sturgeon's 18 — 19
Electro-Plating 93
Elements, New 227
Elevators, Passenger 459
Elliott & Hatch Typewriter 182
Emulsions, Photography 305
Engine, Gas 337
Engine, Rotary loq
Epilogue 465—467
Ericsson's Monitor 148
Ericsson's Screw Propeller 137
Etherization 246
Excavating Quicksand by Freezing 345
Explosives, High 419
Facsimile Telegraph 24
False Teeth 25 1
Faraday Converts Electricity Into
Power 48
Farmer Utilizes Electric Light.... 67
Farms, Large 207
Fastest Railway Speed 131
Fastest Speed, Steam Vessel 146
Faure Storage Battery 90
Feathering Paddle Wheel 138 — 141
Feed, Sewing Machine 186 — 187
Fermenting and Brewing 223
Field, Cyrus W 32
Fields, Large 207
Films, Photographic 308
Filter, Centrifugal 243
Fire Alarm Telegraph 24
Firearms and Explosives 394 — 419
Firearms, Early 395
Fire Engine, Steam 114
First Cable Message 33
First Dynamo 40
First Electric Light in Dwelling. . . 67
First Gas Company 330
First Incandescent Lamp 66 — 72
First Locomotive 119
First Ocean Voyage 137 — 145
First Phonograph 274
First Photographic Portrait 310
First Railway in U. S 131
First Rubber Shoes 212
First Telegraphic Message 15
First Telegraphic Signal 18
First War Ve sel 146
Hood Rock, Destruction of 352
Flour Mills 230
Fluorometer (X-Ray) 326
Fluoroscope, Edison's 323
Focus Tube, X-Ray 326
Food and Drink 228 — 244
Food Products, Statistics 229
Foods, Patented 244
Forging Press 383
474
INDEX.
Phantascope 299
Phenacetin 248
Phenakistoscope 295
PhcEnix, Steamboat 136
Phonautograph 276
Phonograph 273 — 283
Phosphor Bronze 389
Photo-engraving 312
Photographic Experiments, First. . 302
Photographic Positives 303
Photographic Roll Film 308
Photographs by Artificial Light. 308 — 316
Photography 301—318
Photography, Celestial 310
Photography, Half Tone Engrav-
„,ing 314
Photography in Colors 311
Photo-lithography 312
Photo-micrographs 253
Piano, Electric 98
Pictet Ice Machine 439
Pictet's Researches 455
Pieper Automobile 271
Pig Iron 375
Pigs, Castmg 379
Pins, The Manufacture of 389
Pintsch Gas 336
Pistols 407
Pixii Electric Machine 39
. Planing Machines 366
Plante Storage Battery 88 — 89
Plate Printing 169
Platinotypes 305
Pneumatic Caissons 345
Pneumatic Tires 263
Poetsch Method of Tunneling 345
Polarization of Light 294
Polyphase Generation 43
Ponton, Mungo, Photography 305
Precious Metals, Statistics 393
Premo Camera 309
Preparing Rubber 215
Preserving Food 235
Printing 154 — 170
Printing Telegraph 23 — 24
Priscilla, Steamer 142
Progin's Typewriter 172
Progress Photographic Art 306
Puddling Furnace 373
Pulp, Wood 161
Pulse Recorder 249
Purifier, Middlings 231
Quadruplex Telegraph 23
Quarter Sawing 363
Queen Victoria, First Cablegram. . 33
Quinine Discovered 247
Rabbeth Spinning Spindle 425
Railway Motor, Electric 58
Railway Statistics 131
Railway, Steam nS
Range Finder 295
Rapid Fire Gun 400
Rare Metals, Metallurgy 390
Reaper 195—209
Reaper Statistics 205 — 206
Rebounding Lock 415
Recorder, Siphon 35
Reece Buttonhole Machine 191
Regenerative Furnace 381
Register, Morse 21 — 22
Reis' Telephone . 78
Remington Typewriter 176
Return Circuit, Earth 18
Review of Century 3 — 6
Revolvers 408
Revolving Turret 147
Rifling of Firearms 396
Ring Frame, Spinning 42;
Rock Drills 35^
Rocket, Locomotive 122
Rodman's Method of Casting Guns 397
Roentgen Rays 319 — 328
Rogues' Gallery 310
Roller Mill, Flour 230
Roll Film, Photography 308
Rotary Engine 109
Rotary Hook Sewing Machine.... 187
Rotary Press is(3
Rover Bicycle 263
Rubber Cloth 216
Rubber, India 2ro — 220
Rubber Shoes 217 — 218
Safes, Fireproof 461
Safety Bicycle 264
Safety-Lamp 359
Saint's Sewing Machine 184
Salol 248
Salvioni's X-Ray Tube 322
Sanitation 245
Sanitation, House 256
Savannah, Steamer 137 — 145
Saw 360
Saw, Circular 361
Sawmill Carriage 362
Sawyer-Man Electric Lamp 67 — 73
Saxton Electric Machine 39
Schlick System 116
Schools of Medicine 250
Screw Propeller 135 — 137
Screws. Bolts, etc 3S3
Screws, Gimlet Pointed 385
Screws, Rolling 386
Screw Steamer, Stevens' 134
Search Light 70 — 71
Seidlitz Powders 247
Self-Binding Reaper 203
Self-Raking Reaper 202
INDEX.
475
Sewerage, Sanitary 256
Sewing Machine 183 — 194
Sewing: Machine Statistics 188 — 193
Sheathing Railway Train 132
Shield, Tunneling 346 — 347
Shoe Sewing Machine 190
Sholes' Typewriter 176
Shot Making 389
Shuttle, Flying 426
Sickel's Cut-ol'f 105
Siemens' Electric Railway 54
Siemens-Martin Steel 381
Siemens' Regenerative Furnace... 381
Silk, Artificial 433
Silver Printing 305
Singer Sewing Machine 187
Siphon Recorder 35
Skating Rinks, Ice 445
Skeleton Construction 353
Skimmer, Milk 235
Sleeping Car 131
Small Arms 407
Smith-Premier Typewriter 178
Snap-Shot Camera 309
Solarometer 295
Spectroscope 292
Spectrum 292
Spectrum Analysis 293
Speed Across Atlantic 14S
Speed, Railway 13:
Sphygmograph 249
Sphygmometrograph ' 249
Spindle, Spinning 425
Spinning-Jenny 420
Spinning Spindle 425
Statistics, Steam Navigation 152
Steam Automobile 266
Steamboat 133
Steamboat, Fulton's 136
Steam Cut-off 104
Steam Engine 100 — 117
Steam Engine, Hero's loi
Steam Engine, Newcomen 102
Steam Engine, Watt's 103
Steamer, Swinging Cabin 140
Steam Feed Saw Carriage 363
Steam Fire Engine 113
Steam Gauge 107
Steam Hammer 1 12
Steam Harvester and Thresher. . . . 206
Steam Locomotive 118
Steam Navigation 133 — 153
Steam Navigation Statistics 152
S"team Planting 206
Steam Power Statistics 116
Steam Railway 118 — 132
Steam Turbine 109
Steel Alloys 389
Steel. Open Plearth 380
Stephenson's Link Motion 128
Stephenson's Locomotives I2i — 123
Stereo-Binocular Field Glass 289
Stereoscope 294
Stereoscopic Camera 310
Stereotyping 159
Sterilizing Food Stuffs 236
Stethoscope 249
Stevens' "Phcenix" 136
Stevens' Screw Steamer 134 — 135
St. Gothard Tunnel 346
Stockton & Darlington Railway. . . 121
Storage Battery 88
Storage Battery. Faure 90
Storage Battery, Plante 88
Storage Battery, Ritter 88
Stourbridge Lion, Locomotive 123
Submarine Boat 152
Suez Canal 347
Sugar Making 241
Sulfonal 248
Surgery 245
Surgical Instruments 249
Symington's Steamboat 134
Synthesis Organic Compounds.... 222
System, Third Rail 57
Talbot's Photographic Prints...... 303
Talbotype 303
Taupenot's Dry Plates 306
Telegraph, Edison's Quadruplex. . 23
Telegraph, Electric 15 — 31
Telegraphic Conductor 17
Telegraphing by Induction 25
Telegraph Statistics 30
Telegraph, Wireless 26
Telephone 70 — 87
Telephone, Bell 77
Telephone, Blake Transmitter S3
Telephone, Bourseul 77
Telephone, Drawbaugh yy
Telephone Exchange 86 — 87
Telephone, Gray 77
Telephone, Reis 78
Telephone Statistics 86
Telephone, Undulatory Current... 79
Telephone, Variable Resistance.... 82
Telescope 285
Telescopic Discoveries 2?,.%
Textiles 420 — 435
Thaumatrope 295
Thinionnier's Sewing Machine.... 184
Third-Rail System 57
Thompsonian System Medicine.... 250
Thompson, Sir William 35
Thorp Invents Ring Spinning 425
Three Wire System 72 — 74
Thurber's Typewriter 173
Ticker, Stock Broker's 23 — 24
Timby's Revolving Turret 147
Time Locks 461
476
INDEX.
Tolls, Suez Canal 347
Tonnage World's Navies 146
Tools, Machine 386
Traction iingine 206
Transformer 43
Trevithick's Locomfltive 118
Trevithick's Steam Carriage 266
Tripler, Liquid Air 450
Trolley, Overhead 55
Trolley, Underground 56
Trouve Electric Boat 9.2
Tube Manufacture 387
Tunneling Shield 346
Tunnels 345
Turbine, Steam 109
Turbinia, Steamer , lit
Turret Monitor 148
Typewriter 171 — 182
Typewriter, Oldest 171
Typewriter for Blind 174
Typewriter Statistics 182
Utilizing Heat from Blast Furnace 375
Vaccination 245
Vacuum Pan, Sugar 242
Vacuum Tubes 2-^
Valve Gear, Corliss 106
Velocipede 261
Vertical P'ork Bicycle 262
Viper, Torpedo Boat ill
Vitascope 297
Voltaic Arc 63
Voltaic Pile 16
Vulcanized Rubber 210
Wall Telephone 85
Washington Monument 356
Washington Press 156
Watch, Stem- Winding 460
Water Closets 256
Water Gas , 33 j.
Watt's Steam Engine 103
Wax Cylinder, Phonograph zyj
Weaving ^25
Wegmann's Roller Mill 230
Welding, Electric 91
Wells, Artesian 350
Wells. Petroleum 350
Wells, Dr., Produces Anaesthesia.. 246
Welsbach Gas Burner 338
Westinghouse Air Brake 129
Westinghouse Electric Motor 53
Wheat Produced 209
Whitney Invents Cotton Gin 423
Willis Invents Platinotypes 305
Wilson's Sewing Machine 1S6
Windhausen Cold Storage Device. 445
Winsor Introduces Gas in London 330
Winton Automobile 269
Wire Bending 388
Wire Fences 388
Wireless Telegraphy 26
Wood Pulp 161
Woodruff Sleeping Car 131
Wood Turning 368
Woodworker, Universal 367
Woodworking 360 — 370
Woodworth Wood Planer 367
World's Blast Furnaces 375
X-R.ays 319
X-Ray Apparatus 324
X-Ray Focus Tube 326
X-Ray Photograph 322
X-Ray Surgery 325
Yerkes Telescope 287
Yost Typewriter 180
Zoetrope , 297
ADVICE IN REGARD TO PATENTS.
HE influence of invention on modern life can be very justly
estimated by a perusal of "The Progress of Invention in
the Nineteenth Century." It is, of course, well known
that inventors are necessarily assisted in the prosecution of
their applications for patents in the Patent Office by patent attorneys.
It gives Messrs. Munn & Co. pleasure to announce that they have
prosecuted, during a period of over fifty years, some of the most impor-
tant patent cases which have ever been sent to the Patent Office. During
this long period they have filed and prosecuted over one hundred
thousand applications for patents. Their reputation is such that
inventors have found that they may subniit their ideas with entire
confidence that their trust will not be betrayed, and that their interests
will be protected to the fullest extent. They secure patents, trade-marks,
caveats and copyrights. A little book entitled " Hand-Book on Patent
Practice" will be sent free to any address, and any questions relating to
patents will be cheerfully answered by return mail without charge.
Thousands of clients all over the United States, many of them the
most successful inventors which this country has produced, have had the
professional services of Messrs. Munn & Co. in the preparation and
prosecution of their patent applications before the United States and
foreign patent offices. The integrity of this firm, and their attention to
this branch of their business, has resulted in the largest practice of any firm
of patent attorneys in the United States. Inventors are invited to write
freely regarding their inventions, and their sketches will be carefully and
promptly examined. All communications of this kind are treated as
strictly confidential. The readers of "The Progress of Invention in the
Nineteenth Century " may also be interested to know that Munn & Co.
have offices in both New York and Washington, and thus are able to
keep in close touch with the work of the Patent Office. They have
unsurpassed facilities for examining and reporting on the probable
patent-ability of inventions, and they render opinions on questions of
infringement and validity of patents; and they also have been most
successful in the prosecution of interferences.
Further particulars may be obtained by addressing
A\UNN 6c CO.,
Branch Office : SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN OFFICE,
625 F Street, 3b J Broadway,
Wastington, D. C. New York City.
Scientific American
THE MOST POPULAR SCIENTIFIC PAPER
IN THE WORLD
Established J845. . . . Weekly, $3.00 a Year; $J.50 Six Months
This unrivalled periodical is now in its FIFTY-SIXTH YEAR, and, owing to its
ever increasing popularity, it enjoys the largest circulation ever attained by any
scientific publication. Every number contains sixteen large pages, beautifully
printed, handsomely illustrated : it presents in popular style a descriptive record of
the most novel, interesting and important developments in Science, Arts and Manu-
factures. It abounds in fresh and interesting subjects for discussion, thought or
study. It provides material for experiment at home and in the laboratory, and it
enables the intelligent reader to keep informed as to the industrial and scientific de-
velopment of the country. To the inventor it is invaluable, as every number con-
tains a complete list of all patents and trade marks issued weekly from the Patent
Office. It promotes industry, progress, thrift and intelligence, in every community
where it circulates.
The Scientific American should have a place in every dwelling, shop, office,
school or library. Workmen, foremen, engineers, superintendents, directors, presi-
dents, officials, merchants, farmers, teachers, lawyers, physicians, clergymen — people
in every walk and profession in life, will derive satisfaction and benefit from a reg-
ular reading of The Scientific American.
As an instructor for the young it is of peculiar advantage. TRY IT. — Subscribe
for yourself — it will bring you valuable ideas : subscribe for your sons — it will
make them manly and self-reliant; subscribe for your workmen — it will please and
assist their labor;, subscribe for your friend.s — it will be likely to give them a practical
lift in life. Terms. $3.00 a year: $1.50 si.x months. Specimen copies free. Remit by
postal order or check.
Scieatiiic American Supplement
Established 1876
This journal is a separate publication from The Scientific American, and is de-
signed to extend and amplify the work carried on by the parent paper. In size and
general make-up it is uniform therewith, covering sixteen pages of closely-printed
matter, handsomely illustrated. It has no advertising pages, and the entire space is
given up to the scientific, mechanical and engineering news of the day. It differs
from The Scientific American in that it contains many articles that are too long to
be published in the older journal or of a more technical nature. College professors
and students find this edition especially adapted to their wants. It contains reports
of the meetings of the scientific societies, both in this country and abroad, and ab-
stracts of many papers read before such societies. It has a page of short notes con-
cerning the electrical, engineering and general scientific news of the day, together
with a column of selected formula;. Each number contains much foreign scientific
news, and, when taken in connection with The Scientific American, it places before
the reader a weekly review of the latest and most important discoveries and the most
advanced technical and scientific work of the times all over the world.
PRICE FOR THE SUPPLEMENT, $s A YEAR, or one copy of The Scien-
tific A.merican and one copy of Supplement, both mailed to one address, for one
year, for $7. Address and remit by postal order or check.
MUNN & CO., Publishers, ^ '"'^^L'^^Lraf.''J?et^o°r^'^^
The scientific AMERICAN,
ARCHITECTS' and BUILDERS' EDITION.
$2.50 a Year Single copies, 25 cts.
This is a special edition of the Scientific American, issued monthly — on the first
day of the month. Each number contains about forty large quarto pages, equal to
about 200 ordinary book pages, forming, practically, a large and splendid Maga-
zine OF AiJCiiiTECTUKE, richly adorned with elegant plates in colors and with fine
engravings, illustrating the most interesting examples of modern architectural con-
struction and allied subjects. A special feature is the presentation in each num-
ber of a variety of the latest and best plans for private residences, city and country,
including those of very moderate cost, as well as the more expensive. Drawings in
perspective and in color are given, together with plans, specifications, costs, etc.
No other building paper contains so many plans and specifications, regularly pre-
sented, as the SciFNTJFic A.merican. Thousands of dwellings have already been
erected on the various plans we have issued, and many others are in process of
const-uction.
Architects, builders and house owners will find this work valuable in furnishing
fresh and useful suggestions. All who contemplate building or improving homes, or
erecting structures of any kind, have before them in this work an almost endless
series of tlic latest and best examples from which to make selections, thus saving
time and money.
?'.Lin3' other subjects, including sewerage, piping, lighting, warming, ventilating,
decorating, laying out of grounds, etc.. are illustrated. An extensive Compendium
of manufacturers' announcements is also given, in which the most reliable and ap-
proved building materials, goods, machines, tools and appliances are described and
illustrated, with addressesof the makers, etc.
The fulness, richness, cheapness and convenience of this work have won for it
the largest circulution. of any architectural publicalion in the world.
Fiftieth Anniversary Number
OF THE
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.
In commemoration of the fiftieth vear ol the publication of the weekly edition
of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, its publishers on July 25th. 1S96, issued a mem-
orial edition which forms a valuable resume of the progress of science^and inven-
tion during the past fifty years. Among the subjects treated are:
THE EFFECT OF INVENTION ON THE PEOPLE'S LIFE. THE P.\TENT SYSTEM. THE TRANS.-VTLAN"
TIC STEA.MSHIP. RAILROADS AND BRIDGES. THE TELEGRAPH. PHYSICS. MEN OF PROGRESS-
THE TEXTILE INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED ST.4TES SINCE 1S46. THE SUBMARINE CABLE.
FIFTY YEARS OF PHOTOGRAPHY. CHEMISTRY. THE PHONOGRAPH. THE PROGRESS MADE
IN THE GENERATION OF ELECTRIC ENERGY AND ITS APPHC-\TIO.V TO THE OPERATION OF
MOTORS DURING THE PAST FIFTY YEARS. THE AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE. THE BICYCLE.
THE SEWING MACHINE. .'IGRICULTURAL MACHINERY. N.WAL AND COAST DEFENSE. FIFTY
YEARS IN THE PRINTING BUSINESS. THE PRIZE ESS.W OF THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVER-
SARY NUMBER — " THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION DURING THE LAST FIFTY YEARS." STEEL.
DISTINGUISHED INVENTORS. AMERICAN SHIPBUILDING. DEVELOPMENT OF THE ASTRONOM-
ICAL TELESCOPE IN FIFTY YEARS. THE TELEPHONE. FIFTY YEARS OF THE " SCIENTIFIC
AMERICAN."
The number is fully illustrated and contains fifty pages. In it is printed "The
Progress of Invention During the Last Fifty Years," for which a prize of $350 was
offered. It is interesting to note that this prize was won by Edward W. Byrn, the
author of "The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century." Never before
has so much valuable information of historical interest and importance been pub-
lished in so condensed and popular a form. It forms a valuable addition to any
library, and copies of the Anniversary Number can be supplied at 25 cents per copy.
MUNN & CO., Publishers, J^ ^'''f^ril':.^'-^^^^^l^°i^'!'^'
Experimental Science,
By GEORGE M. HOPKINS.
TWENTIETH EDITION, REVISED AND OREATLY ENLARGED.
914 Pages. 820 Illustrations. Handsomely Bound in Cloth.
Price by mail, postpaid, $4.00; Half Morocco, $5.00.
The new matter comprises eighty pages of text in the form of an
appendix, including among other subjects
A Complete Article on the X=Ray.
Wireless Telegraphy. Liquefaction of Air.
Acetylene Gas Apparatus. Artificial Spectrum.
And other articles which faring the work fully up to date.
This is a book full of interest and value for teachers, students and others
who desire to impart or obtain a practical knowledge of Physics.
THE MOST POPULAR SCIENTIFIC BOOK OF THE DAY
What the press says of " EXPERIHENTAL SCrENCE. "
" The electrical chapters of the book are notably good, and
the practical instruction given for building simple electrical
machinery may be safely carried out by those — not a few —
who like to make their own apparatus." — Eiectrical H'orid
" The author has avoided repeating the hackneyed illustra-
tions which have been passed from one book to another so
long, and, instead, offers a set of experiments which are
largely of a novel character and very striking." — Engineering
and Minins^ Journal.
' It is a treat to read a book of this kind, that sets forth the
principles of physics so fully, and without the use of mathe-
matics."— 'J he Locomotive.
"All teachers of science are aware that real knowledge is
acquired best by the student making experiments for him-
self, and anyone who points out how those experiments may
be easily made is doing excellent work." — Engtisli Mi-chanic
and World of Science.
" The work bears the stamp of a writer who writes nothing
but with certainty of action and result, and of a teacher who imparts scientific information
in an attractive and fascinating manner." — American Engineer.
Mr. Thomas A. Edison says : " The practical character of the physical apparatus, the
clearness of the descriptive matter, and its entire freedom from mathematics, give the
work a value, in my mind, superior to any other work on elementary physics of which I am
aware."
Send for Illustrated Circular and Complete Table of Contents.
I^Serd for our New atid Complete Catalogue of Books, sent free to any address.
MUNN & CO., Publishers. ^
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN OFFICE,
361 Broadway, New York.
THE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
Cyclopedia of Receipts
NOTES AND QUERIES
12,500 RECEIPTS, 708 PAGES
Edited fay ALBERT A. HOPKINS
THIS splendid work contains a careful compilation of the most useful
Receipts and Replies given in the Notes and Queries of corre-
spondents as published in the Scientific cAmerican during the past
fifty years ; together with many valuable and important additions.
OVER TWELVE THOUSAND selected receipts are here collected ;
nearly every branch of the useful arts being represented. It is by far
the most comprehensive volume of the kind ever placed before the public.
The work may be regarded as the product
of the studies and practical experience of the
ablest chemists and workers in all parts of the
world ; the information given being of the
highest value, arranged and condensed in con-
cise form, convenient for ready use.
Almost every inquiry that can be thought
of, relating to formulae used in the various
manufacturing industries, will here be found
answered.
Instructions for working many different
processes in the arts are given.
Many of the principal substances and raw
materials used in manufacturing operations are
defined and described. No pains have been spared to render this collateral
information trustworthy.
Those who are engaged in any branch of industry will probably find
in this book much that is of practical value in their respective callings,
Those who are in search of independent business or employment,
relating to the home manufacture of salable articles, will find in it hun-
dreds of most excellent suggestions.
It is impossible within the limits of a prospectus to give more than an
outline of a few features of so extensive a work. To those interested, a
fully descriptive circular will be sent free upon application.
Price, $5.00 in Cloth ; $6.00 in Sheep ; $6.50 in Ha.lf Morocco : Postpa.id.
MUNN & CO., Publishers, =^
12,500 RECEIPTS, 708 PAGES.
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN OFFICE,
361 Broadway, New York
A Complete Electrical Library.
By Prof. T. O'CONOR SLOANE, A.M., E.M. Ph.D.
An inexpensive library of the best books en Elec-
tricity. Put up in a neat folding box. For the student,
the amateur, the workshop, the electrical engineer,
schools and colleges. Comprising five books, as follows :
Arithmetic of Electricity, 138 pages Si-oo
Electric Toy Making, 140 pages i.oo
How to Become a Successful Electrician, i8g pages i.oo
Standard Electrical Dictionary, 682 pages 3.00
Electricity Simplified, 158 pages i.oo
Five volumes, 1,300 pages, and over 450 illustrations.
A valuable and indispensable addition to every library.
Our Great Special Offer. — We will send prepaid the above five volumes hand,
somely bound in blue cloth, with silver lettering, and inclosed in a neat folding
box, at the Special Reduced Price of $5.00 for the complete set. The regular
price of the five volumes is $7.00. A special circular will be sent free to any address
on application.
MAGIC. Sta^e Illusions and Scientific Diversions
§
5 Volumes
^ for $5.00
i,m
M
Ww
il
pfflaHpr^sii
i^
v\\^w\v***\w\<
INCLUDING TRICK PHOTOGRAPHY.
tVHWS COMPILED AMD EDITED BY
ALBERT A. HOPKINS,
Editor of " Scientific American Cyclopedia of Receipts. Notes and Queries," etc.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HENRY RIDQELY EVANS.
Author of "Hours with the Ghosts; or, XIX. Century Witchcraft," etc.
568 Pages. 420 Illustrations. Price, $2.50.
This work appeals to old and young alike, and it is one
of the most attractive holiday books of the year. The illu-
sions are illustrated by the highest class of engravings,
and the exposes of the tricks are in many cases furnished
by the prestidigitateurs themselves. Conjuring, large stage
illusions, fire eating, sword-swallowing, ventriloquism,
metal magic, ancient magic, automata, curious toys, stage
effects, photographic tricks, and the projection of moving
photographs are all well described and illustrated, making
a handsome volume. It is tastefully printed and bound.
Acknowledged by the profession to be the STANDARD
WORK ON MAGIC. Send for large illustrated circular,
sent free to any address.
MUNN & CO., Publishers. ^
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN OFFICE,
361 Broadway, New York.
Mechanical Movements,
POWERS, DEVICES AND APPLIANCES.
By GARDNER D. HISCOX, M. E.
Author of "Gas, Gasoline, and Oil Engines."
Large 8vo. 402 Pages. J649 Illustrations, with Descriptive Text. Price, $3.00.
A Dictionary of Mechanical Movements, Powers, Devices and Appliances, em-
bracing an illustrated description of ttie greatest variety of mechanical movements
and devices in any language. A new work on illustrated mechanics, mechanical
movements, devices and appliances, covering nearly the whole range of the practical
and inventive field, for the use of Machinists, Mechanics, Inventors, Engineers,
Draughtsmen, Students and all others interested in any way in the devismg and
operation of mechanical works of any kind.
THE CHAPTERS TREAT OF :
I. Mechanical Powers. X. Navigation and Roads.
U. Transmission of Pow^er. XL Gearing.
III. Measurement of Power. XII. Motion and Devices Controlling
IV. Steam Power— Boilers and Adjuncts. Motion.
V. Steam Appliances. Xld. Horological.
VI. Motive Power — Gas and Gasoline XIV. Mining.
Engines. XV. Mill and Factory Appliances.
VII. Hydraulic Power and Devices. XVI. Construction and Devices.
VIIL Air Power Appliances. XVII. Draughting Devices.
IX. Electric Power and Construction. XVIII. Miscellaneous Devices.
Send for descriptive Circular.
GAS ENGINE CONSTRUCTION,
A PRACTICAL TREATISE DESCRIBING IN EVERY DETAIL
THE ACTUAL BUILDING OF A GAS ENGINE.
Ba HEHRY V. fl. PHRSELL. Jr., Iflem. 1 1. Elec. Eng., and HHTHUR J. WEED, pi. E.
Large 8vo. Handsomely Illustrated and Bound. 300 Pages. Price, $2.50.
This book treats of the subject more from the standpoint of practice than that of theory. The prin-
ciples of operation of Gas Engines are clearly and simply described, and then the actual construction
of a half-horse power engine is taken up, step by step, showing in detail the making of a Gas Eng'ine.
First come directions for making the patterns; tliis is followed by all the details of the mechanical
operations of finishing up and fitting the castings, and is profusely illustrated with beautiful engravings
of the actual work in progress, showing the modes of chucking, turning, boring and finishing the parts in
the lathe, and also plainly showing the lining up and erection of ttit engine. Dimensioned workinfj
drawings give clearly the sizes and forms of the various details. The entire engine, with the exception
of ihe fiy-wheels, is designed to be made on a simple eight inch lathe, with slide rest. The book closes
with a chapter on American practice in Gas Engine design, and gives simple rules so that anyone can
figure out the dimensions of similar engines of other powers. Every illustration in this book is new and
original, having been made expressly for this work.
SEND FOR DESCRIPTIVE CIRCULAR.
MUNN & CO., Publishers, ^ '^'^^aliXa^af ^^ct^Yo?^'
I
This book is a preservation photocopy.
It is made in comph'ance with copyright law
and produced on acid-free archival
60# book weight paper
which meets the requirements of
ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (permanence of paper)
Preservation photocopying and binding
by
Acme Bookbinding
Chariestown, Massachusetts
2001
DATE DUE
DE
; 1 4 2G
m
UNIVERSITY PRODUCTS, INC. #859-5503
71442