Stillman Williams Robinson; a memorial

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GIFT OF

STILLMAN WILLIAMS ROBINSON

A MEMORIAL

PUBLISHED BY

THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

COLUMBUS

1912

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INTRODUCTION

FEELING most keenly the loss, not only to the Uni-
versity but also to the world of science, that had been
sustained in the death of Stillman W. Robinson, and de-
siring to pay a more than passing tribute of respect and love
to his memory, the Faculty of the Ohio State University
voted to hold a memorial service in honor of its distinguished
colleague in the University Chapel on February 22, 1911.
The committee having in charge the arrangement of the
program sought to have a representative from each univer-
sity with which Professor Robinson had been identified,
and one speaker to represent the large body of alumni who
had had the good fortune to be members of his classes in
their undergraduate days. In behalf of the University of
Michigan, Professor Joseph Baker Davis prepared the ad-
dress which, in the absence of the writer, was read by Dean
Mortimer Elwyn Cooley; Professor Ira Osborn Baker rep-
resented the University of Illinois; Mr. Charles Frederick
Marvin, '83, the Alumni, and Professor Embury Asbury
Hitchcock spoke in behalf of the Faculties of the Ohio
State University.

Owing to the rare value of the addresses presented on
this occasion, it was decided that they should be brought
together in a form of such permanence as their worth sug-
gests. To this end the publication of this volume was
authorized by the University. Although it may be highly
treasured by those who knew him best, it is but a feeble
tribute to the memory of a man whose life and work have
touched, in a helpful manner, the lives of so many.

242495

STILLMAN WILLIAMS ROBINSON

Born on a farm near South Reading, Vermont, March
6, 1838.

Apprentice in a machine shop, 1855-1859.

Entered University of Michigan, January, 1861.

Received Civil Engineering degree, June, 1863.

Assistant Engineer, United States Lake Survey, 1863-
1866.

Instructor of Engineering, University of Michigan,
1866-1867.

Assistant Professor of Mining Engineering and Geod-
esy, 1867-1870.

Assistant Engineer and Astronomer in establishing
western boundary line of Nebraska, Summer of 1869.

Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of
Illinois, 1870-1878.

Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Physics, The
Ohio State University, 1 878- 1 88 1 .

Professor of Mechanical Engineering, 1881-1895.

Inspector of Railways and Bridges, Railroad Commis-
sion of Ohio, 1880-1884.

Consulting Engineer for Lick Telescope and Mountings,
1887.

Resigned from The Ohio State University to devote his
time to his extensive professional interests, 1895.

Received degree of Doctor of Science, The Ohio State
University, 1896.

Title of Emeritus Professor of Mechanical Engineering
conferred, 1899.

Was a member of the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers; American Society of Civil Engineers; Society of
Naval Architects and Marine Engineers; Ohio Society of
Mechanical, Electrical and Steam Engineers; Fellow in
American Association for the Advancement of Science.

One of the Founders of the Society for the Promotion
of Engineering Education.

Death occurred October 31, 1910.

In Behalf of the University of Michigan

JOSEPH BAKER DAVIS, C. E.

Professor Emeritus of Geodesy and Surveying

TTHE power of a nation is in the character of its men and
A women. The greatness of a nation is in the ideals of
its citizens. The glory of a nation is in the lives of its
people. It is these unseen things which endure — that are
eternal. By any of these tokens — or by them all — Stillman
Williams Robinson was a useful and valuable citizen. So
may we remind ourselves of our place and part in the
making of the nation.

When the University of Michigan counts up its treas-
ures, it places first its graduates, for by these fruits shall be
known the value of its work. Conscious that in honoring
one of them, the University is in a sense but honoring itself,
it will not withhold a tribute of loyal regard, but plead for
the kind indulgence of the natural sentiments of an Alma
Mater.

When we meet to honor a man of science, a teacher, or
an engineer, and Mr. Robinson was all of these in a most
admirable sense of the words, those who observe our devo-
tion naturally ask what has this person done to deserve these
tributes of respect. In the case of Mr. Robinson this is
not so easy to answer. There is the briefest possible cate-
gory of his labors prepared by himself some time in 1905
or early in 1906, from which has been taken nearly every
fact that has appeared regarding him, except the few remi-
niscences of friends. This seems to be all that there is. We
may be very sure there is no line, nor word, nor hint, in the
data furnished by him, giving the slightest clue to his inner
life. We may read in the Memorial presented to the
American Society of Civil Engineers by Professor Orton
and his two associates, that "His early life was that of a
country boy, but he had such a love for mechanics that he

served a four-year apprenticeship as a machinist. In this
way he earned the money to defray the expenses of his
early education and his preparation for college.

"In 1 860 he entered the University of Michigan, mak-
ing the journey from his home principally on foot, and meet-
ing his expenses by working as a machinist." In these simple
words are embraced the youthful aspirations that impelled
Professor Robinson to his destiny. Let us look within a
little and see what this really means. Presumably young
Robinson's home was where he was born at South Reading,
Vermont, on the sixth of March, 1838. By the time he
was twenty-two and one half years of age he had defrayed
the expenses of his early education and prepared for college,
largely from his own resources. He had served his time,
four years, in becoming a real machinist, as his work after-
wards showed. He was not merely a tender of machines
that did the work. He was a mechanic. Indeed he be-
came a mechanician. This showed how well his four years
had been spent

He presented himself for admission to the University of
Michigan after a journey that could not have been less than
six hundred and twenty-five miles, made principally on foot.
How far he actually traveled, or how long he was on the
way we may never know. We can guess how he might
have paid his way. How had he learned about the far off
University of Michigan, then just beginning to offer courses
leading to the degree of Civil Engineer? However, he had
learned of it. The fact that he did know of it is a witness
of his acuteness in acquiring useful knowledge that was
characteristic of him always. We may, perhaps, assist our-
selves to realize how far away this University was by re-
flecting that the sovereign state in which was his home is

10

about forty-two miles wide at the latitude where he lived.
At this time, 1860. the University of Michigan began its
course for civil engineers with the sophomore work in the
Department of Literature, Science and Arts, and gave the
degree after three years of study. Mr. Robinson came pre-
pared to enter upon this course of study. So we find him
at twenty-two and one-half years of age entering the Uni-
versity, really a self-made, and a well-made man.

About three years after his graduation, namely, in the
fall of 1 866, he began teaching as Assistant in Civil Engi-
neering under Professor De Volson Wood. At the end of
this college year he was made Assistant Professor of Mining
Engineering and Geodesy, which position he retained until
1870. He was a teacher in the University of Michigan for
four years. His work in the class room was always char-
acterized by personal friendliness for the student; balance
and repose on his own part; very adequate knowledge, a[>-
parently the result of experience; no thought of himself, his
position, place, or dignity; just a kind gentleman who stood
always ready to do anything we needed to have done.
Discipline never showed itself. There was no need of any.
Those who went to college in 1865 to 1870 will better
understand what this reference to discipline means. It is
no exaggeration to refer to those times as rough, — they
were rough in many ways. His success as a teacher was
only the fruitage of the character and labors of the young
man from Vermont, who, as a student but a few years
before, entered the very class-rooms where he was teaching,
and was proof that he really was a well-made man, of ex-
perience, understanding, and attainments.

His graduation thesis upon the subject of "A New
Form of Suspension Bridge," was published in the Journal

11

of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, in 1863, the year
he received his degree of C. E. Immediately upon gradu-
ation he became an assistant engineer on the United States
Survey of the Northern and Northwestern Lakes, com-
monly spoken of as the Lake Survey, where he remained
for three years, and until his return to the University as
Professor Wood's assistant. The next year, 1864, he
published three more articles in the Journal of the Franklin
Institute, two of which follow up the abstruse subject of
his thesis and the studies suggested thereby. The third
was upon an engineering problem of the rafters. The same
year, and in the same journal, appeared his article upon
Dr. Briinnow's magnetic break-circuit Here are three
investigations of original problems in the theory of structures
and the paper upon the break-circuit, published the next
year after graduation, and representing labors in addition to
the requirements laid upon him by his position upon the
Lake Survey. The next year, 1865, he published in the
Journal of the Franklin Institute his papers upon "Leveling
and Surveying by Means of the Visual Angle and Rod."
Quite likely these papers grew out of his connection with
the Lake Survey. What is called the Stadia had been in-'
troduced upon the Lake Survey by an assistant engineer
named Myers and may have come from Italy. Assistant
Engineer Robinson, with others, appreciated the lack of any
mathematical basis for the theory of this useful device.
The result was the papers here referred to. Possibly there
have been but two material additions to this theory since,
and it is quite doubtful if there have been any additions to
the collection of methods of reducing the field notes of a
stadia survey published by him at that time, — forty-five
years ago. This is a witness of the comprehensive nature

12

of his investigations, and the thoroughness with which he
carried them out. Men are still bringing out new things
relating to stadia reductions that he published before they
were born. This was the second year after graduation.
In this same year he published in this same journal a con-
tinuation of his studies in structural mechanics, — matter at
that time sufficiently abstruse. To this he added his paper
on the use of the double eye-piece in the determination of
the personal equation. It is to be readily doubted if there
were a large number of engineers, not to say mathema-
ticians, at that time, who stood ready to attack the problem
of the stadia, or to seek to confine within rational bounds the
elusive personal equation, — different for every different person
and for every hour and circumstance of the day's work.
The prohibitive difficulties of a problem, instead of dis-
couraging this recent graduate, only made it seem more
desirable to his mind that the thing should be done. He
did many impossible things, in those years, and afterwards.
The next year, 1 866, the third after his graduation, he put
forth his paper on "Jets of Water." So his writings con-
tinued nearly to the end of his days, as we knew him.
They covered an astonishing variety of subjects and there
is an astonishing number of them. It may be doubted if he
knew how many there are, as he refers to them as some
fifty in number, in the memorandum of 1905 or 1906,
above referred to; while a search of the library of the
University of Michigan reveals seventy contributions of his
to engineering knowledge. References are made by him
to still other publications of his that were not found. The
memorandum of this search ends with the statement that
"This is not a complete bibliography." Regarding the
range and variety of subjects comprised in this incomplete

13

bibliography a few references must now suffice. Besides
those mentioned before there are the following titles:

Vibration in Extended Media and the Polarization of
Sound.

Principles of Mechanism.

Railroad Economics.

Efficiency of the Crank.

Screw Propulsion.

Spiral Springs.

Electric Induction by Stress.

Cutting and Planing Stone.

River Gauging and the Double Float.

Economy in Electric Generation.

Measurement of Gas Wells.

There are also his inventions. He numbers them at
about fifty. Some thirty-five or forty of which were pat-
ented, he says. The records of the patent office show
forty-two patents granted to him. He enumerates nine
subjects of his inventions and refers to the rest as "Others
for various purposes." As a matter of fact his inventions
cover a range and variety of subjects comparable with the
exceeding great range and variety of his contributions to
engineering knowledge by publication. They also cover the
same time, — namely, from his graduation from college until
the end of his life. His patent office record begins in 1 866,
the third year after his graduation and closes with 1910,
the year of his death. His first patent appears to have been
for an Escapement for Timepieces. His last patent was a
Lens Grinding Machine. Between these came some inter-
esting inventions, such as the steam rock drill, a treadle
motion without dead points, the telephone (in 1880, but

14

four years after it was exhibited at the Centennial Expasi-
tion, Philadelphia), shoe closing machines, metal piling and
substructure, a gauge for measuring the velocity of fluids, a
transmission dynamometer, and an automatic air brake. The
person somewhat acquainted with engineering operations,
manufacturing, and the history of their development, will
perceive at once the work of a pioneer, even in this very
brief and incomplete list of references. The shoe manu-
facturing, for which this country is so justly celebrated, was
just well under way, — the main difficulties overcome, — in
1 882 and 1 884, when he received his first patents for shoe
closing devices that led to his really wonderful inventions
that were so successful mechanically, as well as otherwise.
Here one might pause to consider a marked characteristic of
all his mechanical inventions. He was never satisfied with
anything in this line that was not a material embodiment
of mechanical principles so nearly perfect as to astonish any
competent observer of his work, and often fill them with
wonder at his daring and his success. In some particulars
his shoe closing machine is an illustration of this, which a
qualified person might use as the subject of a paper, or
article, of considerable length. The telephone is referred
to above as the subject of an invention of his while this
useful device was still almost, if not quite, at the beginning
of its commercial history. The steam rock drill, another
instance in point was, in 1867, the date of his first rock
drill patent, in its very infancy. Much inventing and ex-
perimenting, had preceded the allowance of this patent.
Mr. Robinson was associated with Professor De Volson
Wood in bringing out this drill, and it became the property
of Professor Wood afterwards, I believe. I saw one of
these drills returned to Ann Arbor after six months in the

Hoosac Tunnel, which was accounted about the worst place
a rock drill could be set to work, and fifty cents would
have made it about as good as new. There had been no
repairs at all. It had been at the heading every day and
at work. Two men could do anything with it. It would
even feed itself up to the work and begin drilling with no
attention. It had been at work beside drills that were re-
ported to require sixteen men to keep one of them running,
counting the men in the repair shops and at the heading.
It was really automatic. This will testify to the quality of
the inventions made by Mr. Robinson and also to the me-
chanical skill and faithful care with which they were per-
fected experimentally. He never was satisfied with a device
because it worked. It had to be as good as he could make
it, and he had to believe it to be better than others of its
kind.

He was a pioneer in the field of experimental instruc-
tion in engineering. As early as 1865 to 1870 the ideas
now accepted as fundamental in this field, had become
settled convictions of his, and he was endeavoring to have
them put in practice. Quite likely he left the University
of Michigan in 1870 and went to the University of Illinois
as Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Physics, be-
cause of the better promise afforded there for carrying out,
in the instruction of students, the ideas he held regarding
experimental work, more particularly in shop practice. How
well he comprehended the situation is attested by the mil-
lions of dollars now invested in buildings and equipment for
the carrying out of the ideas that were vital realities to him
forty-five years ago. His place in this field of endeavor is
a most honorable one whose value to the engineering pro-
fession is not likely to be overestimated.

16

With these brief, incomplete, and in a measure unsatis-
factory, references to his labors this account of him must
close. No attempt has been made to prepare a memorial
of him, this farmer boy, who as a young man trudged from
Vermont to Michigan ; became a civil engineer, a mechan-
ical engineer and an educator, whose labors now pervade
and characterize the instruction given in schools of engi-
neering. He was also an astronomer, an inventor of useful
machines and scientific apparatus, a discoverer in the fields
of applied science, an administrator, and a scientist of dis-
tinction. What is offered here is only to tell about him as
he was known, respected, and esteemed at the University
of Michigan.

17

In Behalf of the University of Illinois

IRA OSBORN BAKER, C. E., D. Eng.

Professor of Civil Engineering

OTILLMAN W. ROBINSON began service in the
fc-J University of Illinois January 1, 1870, as Professor
of Mechanical Engineering and Physics; and he held that
position until September 1, 1878, when he resigned to
come to the Ohio State University, greatly to the regret of
all connected with the University of Illinois.

It is the speaker's privilege to bring greetings to this
University from the sister institution where Professor Rob-
inson began his career as a teacher of mechanical engi-
neering, and it is his duty to give an account of the pioneer
work of Professor Robinson at the University of Illinois
and of the effect of his work upon the development of that
institution and of its influence upon engineering education;
but before entering upon the more formal portions of this
address, the speaker desires to bear testimony as to his
admiration of the personal character of Professor Robinson.
The speaker entered the University of Illinois as a student
only a little more than a year after Professor Robinson
began his labors there; and for two years the speaker was
in classes personally taught by him, and for four years was
intimately associated with him as assistant in physics lab-
oratory practice. The speaker considers himself fortunate
to have received instruction from so enthusiastic and able a
teacher, to have had the inspiration of contact with one
possessing the scientific spirit in so high a degree; and is
proud to have had the personal friendship of him in whose
honor we are met to-day.

To the people of the state of Illinois more than to those
of any other state was due the passage by Congress of the
act which has resulted in the establishment of forty-five or
forty-six institutions of higher learning, among them the

21

University of Illinois and later the Ohio State University,
in which, as the law declares, instruction in agriculture and
the mechanic arts shall be a leading object. Among the
first of these institutions was the Illinois Industrial Univer-
sity, which, twenty years after it was opened, became the
University of Illinois. Such an institution was in large part
without precedent or example; and the difficulties in the
development of the infant university were greatly increased,
as it afterwards developed, by the broad and far-sighted
determination of those in charge to give the most liberal
interpretation to the acts of Congress and of the state legis-
lature, and to establish an institution of the broadest scope,
one which should give instruction in the branches of learn-
ing relating to agriculture and the mechanic arts, but which
should not exclude other scientific and classical studies.
The numerous appeals, pamphlets, and conventions by the
people of Illinois leading to the act of Congress, and to
that of the legislature establishing the University of Illinois,
developed widely different ideas and ideals in the minds of
the people in the state at large and also in the Board of
Trustees, as to the field and the character of instruction to
be given by the new institution ; and for many years after it
was opened, there was a conflict as to the work the Uni-
versity might wisely or legally undertake. Not a few de-
sired to limit materially the field of what has become the
College of Literature and Arts, and many others were in
opposition to the University because the College of Agricul-
ture did not run before it could walk, or because certain
things were not done and because some other things were
done. This difference of views among men, perhaps all
equally earnest to promote the most useful form of educa-
tion, seriously retarded the growth of the University; but

12

notwithstanding the severe criticism of other branches of the
University, from the beginning the work of the College of
Engineering had the hearty aproval and undivided support
of all, largely because of the ability and insight of its first
professor, Stillman \V. Robinson.

The work of the Engineering College may be said to
have begun January 1, 1870, when he entered upon his
duties as professor of mechanical engineering. In the pub-
lished proceedings of the Board of Trustees there are numer-
ous reports of the Regent and of committees of the Board
which show an earnest desire to do everything in their power
to promote instruction in the mechanic arts ; but there seems
to have been no very definite conception of the object to be
accomplished or of the methods and appliances to be used,
until the advent of Professor Robinson. Reference is fre-
quently made to a shop established almost as soon as in-
struction was started, but this shop occupied much the same
relation to the University that the farmer's tool-room does
to the work of his farm. It consisted of a few carpenter's
tools in a small room cut off from a mule-stable. Professor
Robinson was elected December 13, 1869, and entered
upon his work January 1 following. Ten days thereafter
he appeared before the Board of Trustees and presented a
communication, in which he forcibly stated the reasons for
uniting theoretical and practical instruction, and outlined
his method of accomplishing this. The Professor asked for
$2,000 for the purchase of certain tools and apparatus, a
very large sum considering the state of engineering education
and the condition of the University's finances at that time;
but apparently the Board recognized that the newly elected
Professor was a man of force who had definite ideas about
the subject in hand, and the appropriation was promptly

23

granted, the mules were driven out of the 24 by 30 building
used as both a shop and a stable, and the carpenter's tools
were moved to a second story added for that purpose. A
steam-boiler, an engine-lathe, a few tools, and the partly
finished castings for a steam-engine were purchased; and the
Professor, with the help of his students, proceeded to make
a 10-horse power steam-engine which had some novel fea-
tures to adapt it to experimental purposes. In the succeeding
summer vacation the speaker visited this shop, and was
greatly impressed by seeing the Professor and his students
working upon this engine. Thus was opened the first dis-
tinctly educational shop in America, and seven years elapsed
before another similar shop was opened in the United
States. The University of Illinois and Professor Robinson
have never received the credit due for this pioneer work in
educational shop practice, the first in this country, and
probably the first in the world. In less than a year after the
opening of this small shop in a mule-stable, the Legislature
appropriated $25,000 for a new mechanical and military
building, which is the strongest evidence of the approval of
the methods of instruction employed.

In the beginning the shop was run upon what may bfe
called a commercial basis; that is, the students were em-
ployed in turning out articles of commercial value, and were
incidentally instructed by the foreman as to the best method
of performing the particular operation. The shop for
several years took contracts for making certain articles for
dealers, the most noted of which were power hay-forks and
wind mills ; and also repaired such machinery as was sent to
it for that purpose from the surrounding agricultural com-
munity, among which the most common were mowing ma-
chines and corn shelters. The Department of Mechanical

Engineering under Professor Robinson's direction also made
apparatus for other departments of the University, for ex-
ample, a dozen microscope stands for the Department of
Botany. There were two all-compelling reasons for this
departure from what is now usually considered good peda-
gogical practice. In the first place, the University of
Illinois was greatly handicapped by lack of funds, since the
State supplied money only for buildings, and there were
untold demands upon the meager sum obtained from the
endowment; and consequently it was decreed that the shop
must be self-supporting, and the Professor in charge adopted
the only course open to him, and engaged in commercial
manufacturing. In the second place a prominent ideal in
the discussions leading to the founding of the so-called
Land Grant Colleges was the establishment of institutions
"at which the poor boy could get an education"; and for
the first few years of its history this idea dominated at the
University of Illinois, and every effort was made to furnish
remunerative labor to students. The Mechanical Engineer-
ing Department under the direction of Professor Robinson
was surprisingly successful in meeting this demand; but he
had vastly higher ambitions than merely to run a shop in
which students could earn enough to keep body and soul
together while they obtained a meager education. He was
very desirous to have the opportunity and the facilities for
giving instruction in the more far-reaching elements of a
technical education; in a word, he was ambitious to have a
technical laboratory and not a mere shop. In view of the
conditions under which he labored in those days, it is sur-
prising that he was able to do any real laboratory work,
to make tests and to perform experiments; and notwith-
standing the almost insurmountable limitations, he did give

25

real laboratory work. For example, after a lapse of more
than a third of a century, the speaker can recall the follow-
ing which he saw as he happened about the so-called shop,
but in which he had no part. Professor Robinson and his
students measured the efficiency of the steam engine then
furnishing power for the shop under various conditions as
to cut-off and load; determined the amount of power re-
quired to run the various machine tools in the shop; de-
signed and made an air-compressor in order to investigate
the flow of air through orifices.

But Professor Robinson did more than establish a shop
in which was given an education based upon sound peda-
gogical principles. The work in his recitation room was a
unique innovation that was an inspiration to his students.
The class-room work in machine design was professedly
instruction in invention ; and while it violated some principles
in education, it was eminently successful in arousing the en-
thusiasm of the students, and it is certain that the results
justified the method. With small classes and a genius for
a teacher, some of the more staid rules of educational prac-
tice may be disregarded. The fact that Professor Robin-
son is the inventor of about forty successful and valuable,
machines and inventions that are not patented, is some evi-
dence that the class-room work was neither aimless nor
useless, and conformed to good mechanical practice. Of
the machines designed in the class-room and made in the
shops of the University of Illinois by students under the
direction of Professor Robinson, the writer recalls the fol-
lowing, the enumeration of which will, at least, show some-
thing of the character and scope of that work: 1. Chron-
ologically, a 25-horse power steam-engine which furnished
the power for the shop for twenty-five years, and which had

26

several features about it which a distinguished mechanical
engineer informs me were twenty-five years ahead of the
times, but which were then new and which are now re-
garded as standard practice. 2. A considerable number
of ingenious and novel mechanical movements for use in the
recitation room. 3. Numerous pieces of illustrative physi-
cal apparatus including a chronograph. 4. An automatic-
ally directed heliotrope for the United States Lake Sur-
vey. 5. A lawn mower for the University. 6. An
odontograph, an instrument to facilitate the laying out of
gear teeth of scientific form, — an instrument, I am told, that
directly and indirectly materially improved mechanical prac-
tice in this important field. 7. A tool for trimming pho-
tographs to an oval form, a device which for several years
was made in the shops of the University of Illinois by
students and shipped all around the world. 8. A machine
for automatically graduating thermometer scales, which
seems to be the sole one in use in the world to-day. For
six or eight years all that were in use were made in the
shop of the University of Illinois under the personal direc-
tion of Professor Robinson. 9. A sewing-machine without
any dead center which was astonishingly easy to start and
also easy to keep going. 10. And last, chronologically, a
tower clock of novel design that for thirty-two years has
continued to announce the time accurately.

Again, Professor Robinson was more than the professor
of mechanical engineering, for during the eight and one-half
years he was connected with the University of Illinois, in
addition to his duties as professor of mechanical engineering,
he taught mining engineering and physics. His work in
physics, in scope and novelty, was second only to that in
machine design ; but time will permit a mere mention of only

27

two typical cases. When the class was studying mathe-
matical optics, he proposed as a problem for the students
the design of a spectacle lens which should be free from
the reflection that frequently annoys the auditors of a public
speaker. It is unnecessary to say that the students neither
individually nor collectively were able to solve the problem;
but the next day the Professor presented and explained to
the class the equations which he said solved the problem,
and later in the term he exhibited a pair of spectacles made
to his order according to his own formula, which really was
free from the annoying reflections of ordinary spectacle
lenses. The second example is of an entirely different na-
ture. Before the days when a professor of physics could
have an unlimited electrical current by simply turning a key
on his lecture-room desk, Professor Robinson set a dry
goods box in a window of his recitation room, placed there-
in two hundred platinum-acid-porous-cup batteries with
which he generated the electrical current for an arc light
and with some poor lenses and prisms simply set upon a
table projected the spectra of metals as large as the side of
his lecture-room, and discussed before his students the bear-
ing of his experiments upon the then current theories of the.
physical constitution of the atmosphere of the sun.

In still another field Professor Robinson was more than
a professor of mechanical engineering and physics, for
during the first two or three years he gave all the technical
engineering instruction; and as long as he remained at the
University, he taught some of the leading subjects taken by
all engineering students. His work in resistance of materials
and in hydraulics was fully as stimulating and creditable as
his work in machine design and in physics. In these sub-
jects there was no apparatus, but he so enthused his students

that they were willing to work on Saturdays and in vaca-
tions constructing apparatus in order that they might make
experiments. Thus was implanted in his students one of the
highest forms of education. One piece of apparatus pro-
posed by him to his class in hydraulics, made by his stu-
dents in the shop, and tested by them in the river at Dan-
ville, Illinois, thirty-three miles from the University, fur-
nished the data which enabled him to refute the fallacious
theories of two eminent authorities in river hydraulics; and
ten years later this same improved Pilot's tube was the only
apparatus that could accurately measure the outflow of
natural gas from wells in Ohio and Indiana.

But incidentally Professor Robinson performed a greater
service to the University of Illinois and to the cause of
engineering education than to devise instructive apparatus or
to conduct interesting experiments. Many people believed
that that institution was founded as a protest against past
educational practice; and many, if not most, of those seek-
ing preparation for the practice of engineering misappre-
hended the purpose and the method of what is now univer-
sally recognized as the most approved form of engineering
education. Many of the students of that day thought that
the sole purpose of the college was to give them engineering
information in a predigested form. Fortunately for the
University of Illinois, Professor Robinson had clear and
correct conceptions as to the better forms of engineering
instruction, and his methods and ideals dominated in the
early history of the College of Engineering. Almost con-
temporaneously with the coming of Professor Robinson to
the University of Illinois, there was published what has
rightly become a noted engineering handbook, in which it
was boldly asserted that the higher mathematics were use-

less to an engineer. This statement greatly impressed the
engineering students of that day, and strongly tended to
alienate them from that mathematical and scientific prepara-
tion now universally recognized as necessary for any reason-
able engineering education. Professor Robinson's versa-
tility, ability, and enthusiasm in his work were very effective
in leading students to adopt the better ideals of an engi-
neering education. He did this by force of his example,
without argument or ostentation, just as the light of the
rising sun dispels the fog, gloom, and darkness of the
night.

In still another way, Professor Robinson performed a
service of inestimable value to the cause of engineering
education, and particularly to the future of the College of
Engineering of the University of Illinois. For several years
after that institution was inaugurated, there was much skep-
ticism among practicing engineers as to the possibilities of
giving by college instruction, any conception of the princi-
ples and practice of engineering. In those days engineering
students, and particularly those of the then newly founded
University of Illinois, found it unwise to disclose the fact
that they had taken collegiate training in engineering; but
Professor Robinson's acquaintance with practicing engineers
enabled him to help students to positions where they were
able to demonstrate the value of their engineering education,
and thus aided in dispelling, in some quarters at least,
doubts as to the value of collegiate instruction in engi-
neering.

Finally, Professor Robinson's work contributed materi-
ally to the general interests of the University of Illinois in a
still more important way. The work of the College of
Engineering was more easily exhibited to the public and

more easily understood by all than the work of most other
departments, and hence it contributed a large share to the
early reputation of the University, a reputation which the
struggling institution greatly needed in those early days.
"The engine designed in the class-room and made in the
shop by the students," as the phraseology always ran, was
frequently pointed out with pride by president, faculty, and
students; and the personal accomplishments of Professor
Robinson were frequently referred to in public and in
private, in discussing the success of the University. Under
such circumstances, it is not surprising that for at least the
first twenty-five years the engineering students outnumbered
all others, sometimes constituting two-thirds of the student
body. Rightly, then, the early history of its College of
Engineering was in a large measure the history of the Uni-
versity of Illinois; and without the insight, ability, and en-
thusiasm of the first professor of engineering that history
might have been very different. It was unfortunate for the
University of Illinois that the condition of its finances made
it necessary to permit Professor Robinson in 1 878 to go to
the Ohio State University; but it was fortunate indeed that
his ideals and methods had so permeated the work of the
College that they continued to dominate after his departure.
Happily, the principles of sound engineering education are
now so thoroughly understood, and the place of the institu-
tion is so well established in the estimation of the profession
and of the people of the state, and the work of the College
of Engineering has attained such a momentum, that at
present it is not a matter of any great moment who the
workers are; but the University of Illinois, and particularly
its College of Engineering, owe to Professor Stillman W.

31

Robinson a debt for his services in a critical period of its
history that has never been adequately recognized.

In closing, permit a few remarks about the personality of
Professor Robinson. He was always patient and pains-
taking in his instruction, and ever ready to help the slow
students. Because of the then low admission requirements
and of the labor system, there were many ill-prepared and
tired, if not naturally dumb, students at the University of
Illinois in those days; and the speaker personally knows
that many were the days that Professor Robinson was late
home to meals because he stopped to help a slow student;
but it is certain that no one ever saw him impatient or
heard a word of complaint. It is marvelous that a man
of his quick perception and of his ambition and fertility did
not rebel at the restraints of the long and arduous recitation
work required of him; and that he did not rebel is proof
that he had the spirit of a true teacher as well as the ability
of an inventor and an investigator. In those days he was not
strong of body, but none put in more hours at the Univer-
sity than he, none were back earlier after dinner or worked
later in the afternoon; and he worked long into the night
either in his study or in the laboratory. Many and many a
night did the speaker work with him in the physics labora-
tory until after midnight, but he was always out for a
recitation at 7:30 in the morning. He was a rapid and
expert worker with his hands, and spent not a little time in
the shop making illustrative and experimental apparatus,
which, owing to the scarcity of money, must be made with
his own hands or not at all. But the fact which most
astonished his co-laborers was his rapidity as a draftsman
and a designer. A number of incidents are related of his
getting a new idea concerning some proposed machine or

32

apparatus, and of his appearing in an incredibly short time
with a complete set of working drawings. And the thing
that most astonished the students who were compelled to
study the wretchedly poor text-books of that day on calculus
and mechanics, was his ability to handle the mathematics of
those subjects. The text-book on resistance of materials,
probably the first on that subject in the world, and which
he began to teach to the class of which the speaker was a
member, before the text-book was wholly out of the press,
contained a list of complicated problems that had never
been solved; and Professor Robinson was not slow to ac-
cept the challenge, and from time to time he published in
Van Nostrand's Engineering Magazine, the only engineer-
ing periodical of that day, solutions of these problems,
which his students viewed with wonder and admiration un-
bounded. And now that the speaker by personal experience
has come to know something of the tax and exhaustion of
recitation room work, of conferences with students, and of
administrative matters, he wonders still more when Professor
Robinson found time to do such work, much less the inven-
tive work which he did during his pioneer days as a Pro-
fessor of Mechanical Engineering and Physics.

Such was the pioneer work of Professor S. W. Robin-
son at the University of Illinois, a work that that institution
is always glad to honor, as also all who know of it

In Behalf of the Alumni

CHARLES FREDERICK MARVIN, M. E. '83

United States Weather Buieau, Washington, D. C.

Mr. President and dear Friends:

IT is difficult for me to convey adequately to you the
feelings of mingled pleasure and diffidence with which I
undertake to speak at these exercises in memory of our
beloved Professor Robinson. I was one of his first pupils
at this University, and while I realize how much better
others could discharge this task, yet I am sure none feels
animated by a greater admiration, a deeper appreciation, or
a< more affectionate remembrance than mine, and I hope
these feelings may help me to speak worthily of him.

Called to the Ohio State University to establish a course
in Mechanical Engineering and to fill the chair of Physics,
made temporarily vacant by a leave of absence granted
Professor Mendenhall, Professor Robinson entered upon
his duties in September of 1878. Then, also, began my
own work at this University as a freshman, and my ac-
quaintance with Professor Robinson. It is my purpose in
these brief remarks, to mention only a few of the events of
his life that came under my personal notice during my stay
at the University ending in 1 883. It was my great pleasure
to spend a morning with Professor Robinson in November
about two years ago. This proved to be our last meeting,
and I shall always cherish with the greatest affection the
memory of the happy moments passed with him on this
occasion, when, as if by some common impulse, each of us
seemed prompted to talk over early student experiences, he
of his trip west to Ann Arbor and his work there and both
of us of the times and incidents at this University beginning
with 1878.

The great majority of those present today are hardly
conscious of the extensive and rapid development of this

37

great institution since that date. There are a few, however,
who have been with it over the whole period and these will
recall those early years when all the educational activities of
the University were carried on in the one building we now
occupy. The laboratory of the new Department of Me-
chanical Engineering occupied the basement rooms at the
west end of the building. The task of organization de-
volving upon Professor Robinson, called for original and
pioneer work in many senses of the word. In those days
manual training and the mechanical laboratory were just
beginning to be recognized as valuable adjuncts in educa-
tional methods. It was not possible then as now to pattern
after fully developed and perfected laboratories in other
institutions, nor to profit by the advice and experience of
fellow-workers in the same field. Professor Robinson was
then a pioneer authority on these questions and introduced
means and methods more or less original. Even in the few
years that have since elapsed, these and similar methods
have been elaborated and introduced at educational insti-
tutions all over the land, yielding results of inestimable
value to the mechanical professions and manufacturing1
industries everywhere.

As one considers the present splendid equipment in
Mechanical Engineering of the University it is hard to
realize that the foundations for this work were laid in 1878
when Professor Robinson began his work in the basement
rooms of University Hall. Funds for improvement were
soon provided and the "Mechanical Laboratory," the first
separate building for student work to be erected upon these
grounds, was added to the Campus during the summer of
1879.

It is probably not generally known that the furnishings
and equipment of the new laboratory contained numerous
illustrations of Professor Robinson's ability to devise and
supply special facilities of a novel and up-to-date character
such as are often not easily obtainable in the customary
market. The small steam engine needed to drive the ma-
chinery of the prospective laboratory is worthy of mention
in this connection. Steam engineers were then beginning to
take advantage of the benefits and economies to be realized
by the double and multiple expansion of steam in engine
cylinders, and were introducing the more efficient automatic
cut-off governing valves in place of the old well-known
throttling valve and ordinary ball governor. The new
laboratory, therefore, must have a double-expansion, high-
speed engine with centrifugal governor and automatic cut-off
valve; not exactly on the score of economy, because the
advantages of the new features are mostly subordinate to
other considerations in an engine so small as that required,
viz., 10-horse power, but the new model was desired chiefly
as an illustration of the application of important mechanical
and thermodynamic principles. Since such an engine could
not be directly purchased at that time, Professor Robinson
worked out its design, prepared all the drawings and speci-
fications, and supervised the construction of the engine in
one of the machine shops of the city.

Always ready to extend opportunities to students seek-
ing work, Professor Robinson employed some of them to
install the shafting and machinery of the new laboratory,
and to complete other details of the shop equipment. Thus
during the course of the first 1 8 months of his incumbency
Professor Robinson succeeded in fully establishing the

work in Mechanical Engineering at the Ohio State Univer-
sity, and in housing it in its own building.

As a teacher of technical principles and their applica-
tion to the solution of every-day problems in engineering,
Professor Robinson's instruction was always simple and
clear, and often of rare practical value. In after years I
have repeatedly recalled some special item of instruction
received in the Mechanical Laboratory on some particular
operation or method, or used in pointing out some common
fault or mistake made by the average professional workmen.
It may not be inappropriate to mention a single illustration.
I especially remember the instructions upon the right and
the wrong way to join steam or other pipes when right-
and left-hand threaded fittings are employed. The pro-
cedure is so simple and so obviously correct when once
pointed out, and leaky or imperfect joints so easily result
from its neglect, that one would suppose this valuable detail
of knowledge was well understood by the average workman
everywhere. Nevertheless, I have yet to meet the mechanic,
however well trained, who seems to know and to practice
the correct method of "making up" right- and left-hand
threaded pipe connections. I realize now, that the whole*
matter is but an example of the thoroughness and practical
value of Professor Robinson's teaching.

In the class room he utilized the calculus and other
mathematical processes for the solution of this or that
problem as so many available tools, much the same as he
would employ a file or a chisel or some machine tool in the
workshop to produce a given form or effect. We can
hardly conceive of a student in the shop, for example, with
such a vague idea of his task that he does not distinguish
his tools from his work. In the class room, however, every-

40

thing is new and unfamiliar to students when they are
pressing rapidly onward in the acquisition of different
branches of advanced knowledge. To them, especially,
the new technical studies are certain to be more or less
abstract and difficult of comprehension. It is no easy
matter for them to readily distinguish between tools and
task, for both are alike intangible and mostly the creatures
of the conceptions. I think the student needs all the aid
possible to enable him to discriminate between what I have
called his tools and his task. I am here referring more par-
ticularly to the use of advanced mathematical methods in
the discussion and solution of problems in physics, me-
chanics, thermo-dynamics and the like. His writings show
how effectively Professor Robinson could employ analytical
methods when occasion arose, and this practical use of
mathematical tools in his personal studies and investigations
doubtless helped him to present matters in a way readily
comprehended by his pupils, who seem unanimous in praise
of his methods of mathematical instruction.

The establishment of the course in Mechanical Engi-
neering, including building and equipping the new Mechan-
ical Laboratory, and attention to class-room work, by no
means absorbed Professor Robinson's activities. It is well
known that he took an active part in the work of the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers, was the author
of many excellent technical papers and the inventor of a
great variety of mechanical devices many of which proved
profitable patents. I can mention at this time but a few of
the many things he accomplished. During the summer va-
cation of 1879, while the Mechanical Laboratory yet
occupied the basement of University Hall, Professor Rob-
inson engaged me to help him construct models of improve-

41

ments in the telephone which was then just entering upon its
career of marvelous utility. After a few weeks spent on
this problem, gratifying results were obtained, an applica-
tion for a patent was filed, and the invention was subse-
quently disposed of to advantage. I was particularly for-
tunate during my course at the University, in obtaining from
Professor Robinson the privilege of constructing for the
market two simple devices previously patented by him,
namely his Odontograph and his Photographic Guides and
Trimmers. The demand for these articles was no greater
than a student could readily supply without neglecting his
University work, nevertheless the sales brought in a small
but most acceptable little income which helped defray
current expenses. This instance is but one of many cases
in which Professor Robinson afforded students opportuni-
ties for profitable employment, and indeed I think he was
quite indifferent regarding his own profits provided the
student fared well.

Of all the inventions patented by Professor Robinson,
the greatest and probably the most profitable was the flat-
tened and threaded shoe-sole fastening. This device and
the long list of machines invented to manufacture it and tq
drive it rapidly and automatically through the sole, required
several years for their ultimate development. They contain
numerous illustrations of his great genius and his ability to
utilize a profound knowledge of mechanics in the solution
of intricate practical problems.

When the Hon. H. Sabine was State Commissioner of
Railroads for Ohio, Professor Robinson was chosen as one
of three inspectors employed to examine the tracks, bridges,
and mechanical equipment of all the railroads in the State.
This work gave Professor Robinson opportunity to minutely

42

examine into existing engineering works and practices on a
large scale, opening a new field of activity for his great
genius and originality. Probably some of his best scientific
work is embodied in the splendid technical papers sub-
mitted with his reports to Commissioner Sabine and pub-
lished in the Ohio Railway Reports, particularly those for
1881 and 1884. Keenly alive to the hidden dangers
lurking in the possible excessive stresses in bridges, caused
by dynamic actions and the cumulative effects of vibrations,
he devoted a great deal of his attention during his inspec-
tions, to procuring diagrams of the deflections and oscilla-
tions of bridges under rapidly moving trains. For this
purpose he devised an instrument called a "bridge indica-
tor" which, when properly installed in connection with a
bridge under examination, gave him a diagram showing all
the characteristic deflections and vibrations of the bridge
whenever a train crossed.

Upon beginning his inspection of railway bridges he
felt at once the need for full and complete numerical
formulae for computing the strength and resistance of col-
umns, floor beams, eye bars and other important members
especially of iron and steel structures. The available ma-
terial of this character was scanty, incomplete, and inade-
quate for the purpose desired. Owing to the great labor
and difficulty of developing the equations from the strictly
analytical basis very few of these could be found in print
and, even among these, important terms of the equations
were often omitted in order to simplify the mathematics.
On the other hand formulae in current use frequently based
only upon experimental data, are mostly empirical and
cannot be safely applied to existing conditions that may
often differ greatly from those comprised in the experiments

from which the results are drawn. Professor Robinson's
solution of this difficult problem forms an exceeding valu-
able chapter upon the "Strength of Materials." The the-
oretical equations admit of a very wide application and are
themselves a lasting monument to this great man.

His trips of inspection carried him over many thousands
of miles of rails and it is quite certain he experienced a
good deal of that discomfort we all know more or less
about, which is caused by the jolting, lurching and rocking
of the average railroad train even under the greatly im-
proved conditions of the present day. These experiences
no doubt prompted him to write the paper, "Railway
Shakes," in which he comments on the care and attention
the average section boss and the track hands take to pre-
serve the accurate horizontal alignment of the rails whereas
these men, lacking a technical knowledge of the importance
of exact vertical alignment and having no simple means of
easily discovering its defects, either fail to eliminate or even
unwittingly produce false vertical adjustments that may
often explain much of the discomfort the traveler feels.

A still more important contribution to railway engineer-
ing is found in Professor Robinson's characteristic paper oft
"Easement Curves." The customary text-books and similar
sources of information point out that it is impossible for a
rapidly moving train to pass from a stretch of straight track
onto a simple circular curve or from the curve onto the
straight track again without serious lurchings and disturb-
ance at the points of tangency, no matter how correctly the
circular curve may be laid out. It is explained also that
so-called easement curves are required at the points of tan-
gency to produce a gradual transition in curvature from the
straight track to the circular curve and vice versa. The

44

text-books rather leave the matter with these broad general-
izations. But how can the engineer in the field accurately
stake out these easement curves and join them properly to
the great circular arc constituting the main curve? The
occasion of his inspection of railroads brought this matter
to Professor Robinson's attention and his absolute mastery
of the dynamics and mathematics of the problem readily
indicated the complete solution. He worked this out fully
for the field engineer, giving him all the tables, numerical
data, and instructions needed to lay out any required ease-
ment curve which, mathematically, is nothing but a piece
of a great spiral having an infinite radius of curvature at
its junction with the straight track and the same radius as
the main curve at the point of tangency. The next time you
make a railway journey just take notice of the motion of
the train as it speeds along, possibly at the rate of a mile a
minute, and swings smoothly and easily around the curves
— often traversing a whole curve in the course of a few
seconds. Just think what it means, dynamically, to transfer
without shock or serious disturbance the hundreds of tons
of swiftly moving matter or the train from straight line to
curvilinear motion and back again to linear motion in a few
seconds. The possibility of doing this in the case of the
railway train resides first of all in staking out the track.
How this may be done has been very beautifully worked
out by him whose name we honor today, and if the engineer
who stakes out the track and all those that follow after
him but do their parts well then our swiftly moving train
will round its curves with barely perceptible disturbance.
Others have worked over this same problem, but his solu-
tion seems best of all in the ease of its application and in
the absence of sacrifice of technical correctness.

45

This brief mention of some of the work and writings of
Professor Robinson will serve to remind you of a little that
he has done, but his publications themselves and especially
the potential power for great benefits to mankind of this
splendid Institution for Mechanical Engineering, organized
and inaugurated by his labors, constitute far greater monu-
ments to his memory than anything I can say to-day.

Some great minds seem capable of dealing only with
broad generalizations, whereas, the working out of the de-
tails, a task often left to others, is nearly always the ulti-
mate necessity before a generalization can be reduced to a
useful working application in every-day affairs. Professor
Robinson's work affords us a splendid inspiration to give
close attention to details. This work is greater and better
of its kind just because he never neglected any essential
element, but with the master's hand he shaped the analysis
of this problem so as to include all the factors of any
consequence to the ultimate result.

In the affairs of life about us at the present day we are
often made to feel that success follows upon selfishness,
ostentation, personal push, and the like. All such qualities
were absolutely foreign to the character of him of whojm
we speak. Great modesty of his own worth and work;
constant thought and consideration for those about him;
generosity in securing and contributing to their welfare;
that grand old rule — The Golden Rule — all seem to have
been his guiding and controling impulses.

Let me earnestly commend all these, his excellent qual-
ities, to you and may each of us be found, like him, among
those who push and struggle to help their fellow men onward
and not to force our neighbor aside and downward in order
that we may ourselves reach the higher places.

46

In Behalf of the Ohio State University
EMBURY ASBURY HITCHCOCK, M. E.

Professor of Experimental Engineering

HP HE average young man while pursuing his course in
«•• the college or university and coming in daily contact
with associates, naturally forms friendships, which, before
completion of his course, become so strong that it seems as
if they must remain for all time. When commencement is
over and the separation time comes, it is with much regret
that we part from the comrades of those days. Although
at the time resolutions may have been made to keep in close
touch with each other, as time goes on and the thoughts
and energies of our entire being are taken up in carrying
forward to completion the tasks which have been our
fortune to accept, we very soon forget those excellent reso-
lutions and those friendships formed during those days.

This strenuous life intervenes to such a degree that
oftentimes the word comes to us indirectly of the great suc-
cess attained by one of those college friends.

On starting out in life, this young man naturally falls in
with associates of about the same age, but possibly of other
callings or professions than his own. However, if wise, he
will naturally crave the friendship, good will and guidance
of those older and of larger experience, not necessarily of
those in the same line as he is pursuing, but men in other
walks of life, men from whom he can gain knowledge,
receive guidance and help. No young man can be so self-
sufficient that he cannot profit greatly by the advice of
those older and of greater experience.

During my eighteen years of service at this institution,
there have passed into the life beyond, three men for whom
I, as many others, held the highest esteem. To have known
and been associated with these three characters has been
of untold value in that their knowledge and advice were so

49

freely given and that their definiteness of purpose, untiring
devotion to duty and highest integrity have been a goal to
be constantly sought after.

The first to whom I refer was a prominent business man
of Columbus, one of those self-made men, who had been
compelled to start out in life at a very early age and by
constant application to duty, by the highest integrity in
business methods, by great devotion to church and family,
he left at the prime of life the greatest possible legacy, that
of a successful life and a good name.

The second was one whom I came to know and most
highly esteem soon after entering upon my duties at this
University; one whose loss was most keenly felt by his
associates, a man among men ; one whose opinion was sought
and valued; one who gave the best twenty years of his life
to the upbuilding and advancement of this University, in
honor of whom one of our engineering buildings is named.
On a bronze tablet in that building are these highly appro-
priate words: "Who by his arduous and successful labors
for the advancement of his institution, his pupils and his
community, won the love and admiration of all who knew
him."

To speak of the third, the one whose memory we are
here to honor, is in one way a difficult task, but when
viewed in another a joyous one. It is difficult for the
reason that, having served as his assistant in the department
of this University which he created, having been a member
of his household where for months, during the evening time,
problems of mutual interest were discussed, having traveled
with him on somewhat extended trips and having been,
during these latter years of his life, in almost constant com-
munication with him, there was a steadily increasing admi-

60

ration for and also a dependence upon this character. Al-
though the influence prevails and always will, there is ,a
feeling of groping in the dark, of trying to grasp something
tangible, but in vain.

It is a joyous task to speak of him because the half has
not been told, because we, his associates and co-laborers in
this institution, are familiar with his achievements and good
deeds, we glorify in them and would therefore give them to
the world that many may know and be inspired by the
works of this great and good man.

How well I remember my first meeting with Professor
Robinson. It seems but yesterday. As the result of corre-
spondence, knowing him at that time by reputation and as
the inventor of the Odontograph (an instrument used for
laying out forms of gear teeth), I arrived in Columbus and
met him at his residence one morning during the Christmas
season of 1892. We soon adjourned to what was known
then and up to quite recently as Mechanical Hall. Al-
though there was a fair equipment for instructional work in
metal and woodworking, the equipment for experimentation
and research was very meagre indeed. To-day it would
hardly seem possible to one passing through our present
laboratory and having pointed out the equipment with which
Professor Robinson was compelled to work at that time,
that instructional work could be carried on. That he could
accomplish so much with so little has always impressed me
with the fact that here indeed was a most resourceful man.
Thus we are made to realize that the strength of a Univer-
sity is not fully dependent upon fine buildings and elaborate
equipment, but does depend to a very large degree upon
the ability, resourcefulness and knowledge of the "man
behind the gun.'*

51

At this time was my first introduction to the little in-
strument known as the Pilot tube. One might say that
Professor Robinson had a Pitot tube laboratory, for on ac-
count of the simplicity of this correct little instrument, he
had applied it in many directions. It was some years
previous to this time, when the natural gas fields of Ohio
were discovered and the late Dr. Edward Orton was in a
quandary to know of some method for measuring the large
flow of gas from the wells, he appealed to Professor Robin-
son, who at once suggested this little instrument, the result
of which is that this has been the standard method for this
purpose ever since that time. It is only within recent years
that other engineers recognized what Professor Robinson
saw many years before in this little instrument. It appealed
to him on account of its great simplicity, its accuracy and its
dependence upon a fundamental law. The fact of its great
simplicity made many engineers skeptical.

Just at this time the field of electric lighting was ex-
tending very rapidly and with the introducton of the incan-
descent light, one of the problems facing the engineer was
close regulation on the part of the steam engine which was.
usually of the high speed class. Professor Robinson de-
signed and had constructed and applied to the engine of the
laboratory, a form of governor which in principle is the
same as in universal use at the present time, and although
the honors as the inventor are bestowed upon another, it is
believed by many that Professor Robinson could have
claimed priority if he had so desired.

There stands in the laboratory to-day, a machine for
the purpose of transmitting and measuring power. This
also is an illustration of Professor Robinson's originality

and simplicity in design, — a machine which is far more
accurate than others constructed for similar purposes.

Although Professor Robinson invented, designed and
constructed many successful appliances, he was not cha-
grined or in the least disheartened when something which he
had constructed strictly according to theory, did not work
out in practice; in fact he seemed to get considerable enjoy-
ment out of the fact that this was so and in speaking of it,
would say, "That is the way it should not be done."

At this time the instructional work, which at the present
time is carried on in the departments of Mechanical Engi-
neering, Applied Mechanics and Industrial Arts, was under
his direction. I often marveled at the energy displayed when,
after conducting three recitations and then during the after-
noon assist in laboratory and general department work, he
would devote his entire evening to some engineering problem
and often become so absorbed that it was indeed a very late
hour before retiring. His great endurance and vitality speak
well for that early life on a farm among the hills of
Vermont.

Professor Robinson was not given to after-dinner ex-
pressions or to much speaking in public. He did not hesi-
tate to express the opinions he may have held on some
particular subject, although he may have been very much
in the minority.

Some of us recall how in 1 902, six years after resigning
from active service in the University, he was in attendance
at one of the commencement luncheons and was invited to
sit at the speakers' table. We can imagine his hesitancy
when called upon for a few words and we remember well
his theme to be that nearest his heart, * 'science and engi-
neering." In discussing engineering education he expressed

himself here in public as he had often done privately,
namely, that the young man who came to this University for
an engineering training should be as well prepared as possi-
ble and should not be compelled to devote a considerable
portion of his time to the study of a modern foreign lan-
guage. It was at this luncheon also, when his remarks be-
came so highly scientific in that he discussed the mathematics
of a point, that to many listeners the intellectual atmosphere
became somewhat hazy. There was, however, a sudden
clearing up and an electrification of the company when he
announced his intention to endow a fellowship in engineering.
In his letter to the Trustees relating to this fellowship are
these words: "I wish if practicable that such fellowship
shall be awarded as a prize to some graduate engineering
student who shall have shown marked interest and ingenuity
in the study and investigation of some engineering problem
or problems, in order to give him further opportunity for
study and investigation and with the understanding that he
shall devote his entire time to study and research." A few
years later, feeling that the revenue from this fellowship
fund was not large enough to make it sufficiently attractive
to those graduates of this or other institutions who had
several years of experience and therefore would make the
most desirable investigators, he increased this endowment
fund so that the annual income now is $500, the most
heavily endowed and only full time fellowship in this
University.

During the past fifteen years there has been an enormous-
ly increasing demand for electrical energy for different pur-
poses that as a consequence there have been great strides
in steam power plant construction. Professor Robinson
fully appreciated what was being done in this direction and

therefore realized that the young engineer should receive
practical training along the line of steam generation, that he
should be able to apply and try out, as taught in the class
room, those principles underlying the combustion of fuels.
He also saw the opportunities for investigation and research
in this same field, so with this in mind, donated in 1900
to the Mechanical Engineering Department of this Uni-
versity, a most valuable experiment boiler with many acces-
sories. As a result of his generosity in this direction, over
two hundred graduates in mechanical and electrical engi-
neering have profited much more than they otherwise would
and some few who are specializing in the field of fuel engi-
neering are achieving very marked success and bringing
credit to this University.

With the termination of active service in this University,
his work did not cease. I do not believe he considered
favorably for one moment the resting upon the fruits of his
labors. A life of ease for him would indeed have been a
life of toil. He believed fully that the Almighty endows
all with certain gifts and faculties and that all should render
the very best possible account of their stewardship.

During his University period he taught the subject of
Mechanism by lecture from original notes. On resigning
he at once turned his attention to the publication of these
notes in text-book form and as a result brought out what is
considered the most original book on the subject.

This branch of Mechanical Engineering had a great
fascination for the Professor and therefore it is not sur-
prising that he gained a national reputation in this particular
direction and was considered second to none in the country.

In matters generally relating to engineering and engi-
neering education, Professor Robinson was strictly a pro-

55

gressive and not a standpatter. This is shown by the active
part he took in the organization of that society which to-day
is known as the Society for the Promotion of Engineering
Education, and the very active part which he took at the
first meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engi-
neers, held in New York City, in November of 1880, — a
society which to-day has a membership of about 4,000. At
this meeting he read two papers, one entitled, "The Effici-
ency of the Crank," the other, "Cushion Adjustment in
Engines." A glance through the published transactions for
this annual meeting, at which some seventeen papers and
addresses were given, it is at once seen that Professor
Robinson's papers were very highly mathematical as com-
pared with the others, so that we may rightly claim that he
was the first to introduce higher mathematics into the meet-
ings of this national society. It is also worthy of note that
he was one of those in attendance at the organization meet-
ing of this Society at Hoboken, New Jersey, in April of
the same year and was referred to as "one of those coming
from as far west as Ohio."

He was at work constantly upon the development of
some special device or machine. He was the principal in
more than fifty inventions, many of which have been pat-
ented in the United States and foreign countries. His last
development was that of a machine for the grinding of
lenses having two different radii, he receiving notification
from the United States patent office of its being allowed, a
few days before his death.

The great esteem and admiration held by the students
for Professor Robinson was very manifest. There never
was a complaint on the part of the indifferent man that he
did not get a "square deal," and on the other hand, never

56

have I heard from this teacher one single word or utterance
which would indicate impatience with the drone. In fact,
his feelings were that of sympathy or sorrow that any man
could be so short-sighted as not to make the most of every
opportunity and to take all the advantages within his reach.

It has been said that although the students held him in
the highest admiration, yet to these he did not seem as ap-
proachable in a social and comradeship way as others. It
was always a great pleasure to him to meet the student
personally and extend to him those little helps and en-
couragements which are often times of so much value to a
man who cannot always grasp many essential points when
presented in the crowded classroom. If he had occupied
the highest possible place in public life and was exalted of
all men, the very humblest citizen would have been most
welcome to his consideration. It was indeed an impressive
sight to me when in company with him we journeyed to
Pittsburgh, unexpectedly visited the Westinghouse Electric
and Manufacturing Company, and upon the word going
forth that Professor Robinson was in the building, there was
a gathering from many directions of former students, all so
anxious to do him honor and grasp the hand of him who
had labored for their advancement and welfare. The
trembling voice and moist eye indicated how great was his
appreciation of such marked attention.

It was in the spring of 1895 that a little incident
occurred which impressed me with his conscientiousness
relative to his obligations to his pupils, in that he consid-
ered it his duty at all times to give them value received.
He was called into the northern part of the State to use the
Pilot tube in the gaging of some stream and as was his
custom, he left with his assistant problems and exercises for

57

his several classes sufficient to cover the period of his
absence. The work did not progress as rapidly as he had
anticipated, so that his return was delayed one day. The
students, however, did not want for he made use of the tele-
graph and sent a most lengthy message which to the opera-
tor must have been some new and strange code as there
were many questions and problems in mechanics and mech-
anism.

He was extremely modest and retiring and never men-
tioned or referred to his achievement only with much hesi-
tation. This characteristic is illustrated in his text-book on
Mechanism, where in explaining the different instruments for
the laying out of gear teeth, naming them by their designer
or inventor, that instrument originated by himself, is spoken
of in a general way only and the reader would never know
from the text, the name of the inventor.

Even for professional services, his charges were not at
all commensurate with his reputation and the service ren-
dered. A characteristic quite the opposite from the average
professional man in this day and age.

The news of achievements of others in the engineering
world was always received by him with the greatest pleasure
and he always took great delight in relating that which
others had accomplished although in some cases, he himself
may have been the guiding thought in the conception. His
great thoughtfulness and consideration relative to the labors
of his assistants and the words of commendation for con-
scientious and full services given were of the greatest possible
inspiration and created feelings of love and loyalty that no
time could erase.

He was most resourceful and believed thoroughly in
solving any problem or constructing a machine in the simplest

58

possible manner, as he used to say the success of an inven-
tion depended largely upon its simplicity. He believed in
the combination of theory and practice, usually giving the
former precedence in the development of an idea and then
applying that practical knowledge largely gained during
those four years of apprenticeship at the machinist trade
just previous to his entering upon his University course.
There was nothing along mechanical lines in which he
would not at once be greatly interested, with one exception,
and that was a perpetual motion machine. Not only was
simplicity characteristic of his engineering achievements, but
this same quality prevailed throughout his daily life and in
all humility and simplicity did he worship Him who con-
trols the destiny of us all.

His great interest for this Institution was always manifest
and its advancement was always of great joy to him. He
always entertained the warmest feelings for his early asso-
ciates with whom he stood shoulder to shoulder and labored
for its advancement. Not only did his generosity extend, as
we have seen, to this University, but in many, many direc-
tions did his hand follow the dictates of his large heart and
make for joy and gladness, but yet not seen or heard of
men.

Although we, his associates, may have known him many
years, yet it is impossible for us to realize or have much
conception of the magnitude of his influence and the inspira-
tion and enthusiasm imparted to the many which makes for
the advancement of this world of ours and the uplift of
humanity.

To the memory of this great man, who, when as a young
farmer boy, started for the goal he attained, who by self-
help obtained his education at one of our leading state Uni-

versities, who served his country as an engineer, who for
many years served most faithfully the cause of education at
two state Universities, who was inspector of railroads in
Ohio, consulting engineer for many interests, designer of
bridges, investigator, inventor and author; a true friend, a
wise teacher, an honored citizen and benefatcor, we hope
in the near future there will stand among the engineering
group of buildings on this campus, a completed building
which will receive the name of Robinson Hall.

80

APPENDIXES

MEMORIAL

At a special meeting of the University Faculty, held
November 1, 1910, the following memorial was adopted:

STILLMAN WILLIAMS ROBINSON, Emeritus Professor
of Mechanical Engineering, died on Monday morning,
October 31, 1910.

Professor Robinson was born on a farm near South
Reading, Vermont, March 6, 1838. His early life was
that of a country boy, but his love of mechanics led him to
the shops and he served a four-year apprenticeship to the
trade of machinist.

He earned the money to defray the expenses of his
early education and to prepare himself for college. In
1860, he left home to attend the University of Michigan.
He made the journey largely on foot and met his expenses
by working as a machinist on the way and arrived at Ann
Arbor with fifty dollars more than the eight with which he
started.

He graduated from the University in 1863 with the
degree of Civil Engineer, having supported himself through
his college course by his skill as an instrument maker, in
particular graduating thermometers. This led to his first
invention, made while in college, of a machine for gradu-
ating such instruments. Notwithstanding the difficulties
under which he labored, he earned the reputation of a
brilliant and original student.

After graduation, he entered the government service as
assistant engineer in the U. S. Lake Survey, remaining in

63

that service until 1866, when he returned to the University
of Michigan as instructor in Engineering.

He left the University of Michigan in 1870 to become
Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Physics in the
Illinois Industrial University, now the University of Illinois.
There he established the Department of Mechanical Engi-
neering, which was the first to be established in a state
university in this country.

It is interesting to note, as illustrating his versatility,
that while there he designed and constructed the tower
clock now furnishing time at the University.

In 1878, he occupied the position of Dean of the
College of Engineering at that institution. The same year
he was called to the Ohio State University as Professor of
Physics and Mechanical Engineering. In 1881, the chair
was divided and he became Professor of Mechanical Engi-
neering, occupying that chair until he resigned in 1895 in
order to devote his time to his extensive professional interests.
In 1896, in consideration of his distinguished services as a
scientific inventor, investigator and writer, the Ohio State
University conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of
Science and in 1899 elected him Emeritus Professor of.
Mechanical Engineering.

Professor Robinson was a man of great originality and
inventive genius. He secured about forty patents, many of
which were fundamental and of great value. His inventions
were based upon scientific research and mathematical in-
vestigation, the results of skilful study. They were designs
rather than accidental discoveries. He was also the author
of important books and papers presented before learned
societies, which are marked by the same quality of thorough
research and originality. When the Ohio gas fields were

64

first discovered the problem of measuring the volume of flow
was referred to Professor Robinson and solved by him in
his brilliant application of the Pitot tube, resulting in the
methods now in universal use.

His interest in education was always great and led him
in 1 890 to organize an association composed of mechanical
engineering teachers which, in 1893, developed into the
present Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education.
His interest in and love for the University did not cease
with his retirement. He made at various times valuable
donations to the equipment of the Department of Mechan-
ical Engineering and finally established the Robinson Fel-
lowship in Engineering as a permanent foundation.

As a man, Professor Robinson was an indefatigable
worker. There was no limit to his enthusiasm and ambition
in his profession. Personally, he was modest and retiring
never claiming credit for himself though most generous in
according it to his assoicates. His nature was deeply sym-
pathetic and very kindly. He was inflexible in his devotion
to his duty and to his principles of integrity and honor. He
was greatly interested in the work and success of those
around him, both colleagues and students, and impressed
his own enthusiasm upon their efforts, encouraging, stimulat-
ing and rewarding them. His memory and influence will
long be felt in the lives of those who follow after him and
have taken up his work where he left it.

Your committee recommends the following action:

Resolved, by the University Faculty, That in the death
of Professor Stillman Williams Robinson, the University
loses one whose great and loyal service has left a deep
impression on the history and development of this Institution,
the Faculty, an associate whose ability and scholarship

has earned him a national reputation, and a friend whose
personal influence has helped those around him in their
work and professional advancement

That we extend our deep sympathy to his widow and
family in their bereavement and sorrow.

Resolved, That these resolutions be spread upon the
minutes and a copy sent to the family.

N. W. LORD,
EDWARD ORTON, JR.,
WM. T. MAGRUDER,

Committee.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Nature of Vibration in Extended Media and the
Polarization of Sound. Philadelphia, Merrihew & Lip-
pert, printers. 1881.

Reprinted from the Journal of the Franklin Institute,
March, 1881.

A Practical Treatise on Teeth of Wheels. With
theory of use of Robinson's odontograph. New York, Van
Nostrand, 1876.

A Practical Treatise on the Teeth of Wheels. With
the theory of the use of Robinson's odontograph. Revised,
with additions. New York, D. Van Nostrand. 1888.

Van Nostrand's science series. No. 24.

A Practical Treatise on the Teeth of Wheels. With
the theory and use of Robinson's odontograph, 3d. ed., rev.,
with additions. New York, D. Van Nostrand Company,
1906.

Van Nostrand's science series, No. 24.

Principles of Mechanism. A treatise on the modifica-
tion of motion by means of the elementary combinations of
mechanism, or of the parts of machines. 1st ed. 1st thou-
sand. New York, J. Wiley & Sons, 1896.

Principles of Mechanism. A treatise on the modification
of motion by means of the elementary combinations of
mechanism, or of the parts of machines. For use in college
classes, by mechanical engineers, etc., etc. 1st ed. 1st
thousand. New York, J. Wiley & Sons; London, Chap-
man & Hall, limited, 1 903.

87

Railroad Economics; or, Notes, with comments, from a
tour over Ohio railways, under the Hon. H. Sabine, Com-
missioner of Railroads and Telegraphs. New York, D.
Van Nostrand, 1882. Containing discussions of the fol-
lowing subjects:

Vibration of Bridges
Permissible Working Stresses
Strength of Columns
Brakes and Couplers
Railroad Testing Laboratories
Curves and Sidings
Transition Curves

Van Nostrand's science series, No. 59.
Reprinted from Van Nostrand's magazine.
Strength of Wrought-iron Bridge Members. Part I. —
General theory of beams. Part II. — Practical formulas for
beams, struts, columns and semi-columns. — Extended com-
parison of various formulas with experiment. Columbus,
Ohio, G. J. Brand, State printers, 1882.

In Ohio Department of Railroads and Telegraphs.
Annual report. June 30, 1881. Appendix.

Published also in "Van Nostrand's Engineering Maga-
zine," v. 26, p. 409-427 and as No. 60 of Van Nos-
trand's "Science series."

A Treatise on the Compound Engine. With John
Tumbull. Van Nostrand's science series No. 8. 1 884.

Railway Easement Curves. Columbus, 1886. Myers
Brothers, Publishers.

Mathematical Investigation of the Use of Floats in
Gaging Rivers and Streams. Hydrographic Report of D.
Farrand Henry, Detroit Water Commissioner, 1876. pp.
75-86.

American Society of Cfoil Engineers. Transactions.

Specifications for Strength of Iron Bridges. 15, 1886,
p. 432-45.

Vibration of Bridges. 16, 1885, p. 42-65.

Proper Relation to each other of the Sections of Rail-
way Wheels and Rails. 21,1 889, p. 29 1 . (Dis-
cussion.)

Red Rock Cantilever Bridge: General Specifications

and Proportions. 25, 1891, p. 697-720, 726-27.

American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Transactions.

Efficiency of the Crank. 1, 1880, p. 231-39.

Cushion Adjustment in Engines. 1, 1880, p. 255-64.

Rational System of Piston Packing. 2, 1881, p. 19-
34.

Counterbalancing of Engines and other Machinery hav-
ing Reciprocating Parts. 2, 1881, p. 243-81.

Railroad Economics, or Notes and Observations from
the Ohio State Railway Inspection Service. 2,
1881, p. 524-60.

Thermodynamics of Certain Forms of the Worthington
and other Compound Pumping Engines. 3, 1882,
p. 130-74.

Back Pressure on Valves or the Equilibrium Line by
Experiment and Theory for Broad-seated Valves.
4, 1882, p. 150-64.
The following Discussions appear in the Transactions:

Friction as a Factor. 1, 1880, p. 150.

Expansion in Single and Compound Engines. 1 , 1 880,
p. 174.

Most Economical Point of Cut-off. 2, 1881, p. 344.

Arranging and Indexing Drawings and Patterns. 2,
1881, p. 375.

Screw Propulsion. 2, 1881, p. 462, 467.

Standard Gauge System. 3, 1883, p. 128.

Upright Boilers at Roxbury Pumping Station. 3, 1 882,
p. 299.

Cambering Arrangement, Lackawanna I. & C. Com-
pany. 4, 1883, p. 117.

Spiral Springs. 4, 1884, p. 340.

Perfect Screw. 5, 1884, p. 250.

Indicators. 5, 1884, p. 333.

Training of a Dynamic Engineer. 7, 1886, p. 774.

Power to Drive a Blower. 7, 1886, p. 825.

Effect of Unbalanced Eccentric. 11, 1890, 1055.

Heating Surface of a Steam Boiler. 1 9, 1 898, p. 58 1 .

Patents. 19, 1898, p. 660.

Carbon Contents of Piston Rods. 19, 1898, p. 707.

Standard Method of Engine Tests. 19, 1898, p. 726.

Non-conducting Coverings. 19, 1898, p. 748.

American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Proceedings.

Ringing Fences. 1881, p. 36-7.

Electric Induction by Stress. 1882, p. 225.

Address: Training in Engineering Science. 42, 1893,

p. 113-18.
Improved Form of Transmission Dynamometer. 42,

1893, p. 122.
Franklin Institute Journal.

Suspension Bridges: a New System. 76, 1863, p.

145-54.
Suspension and Arch Truss Bridges according to a

New System. 77, 1864, p. 152-58.
The Arch Truss Girder Again — more upon the New
System. 77, 1864, p. 361-68.

Solutions of a Problem of the Rafters. 78, 1 864, p.

13-16.
On Dr. Brunnow's Magnetic Break-circuit. 78, 1 864,

p. 210-13.
Leveling and Surveying by means of the Visual Angle

and Rod. 79, 1865, p. 73-81.
Discussion of some Trussed Girders of One Arched

Cord. 79, 1865, P. 164-68.

On the Use of the Double Eye-piece in the Determina-
tion of the Personal Equation. 79, 1865, p. 388-

90.
Jets of Water — Experimental data arranged, and Some

Practical Hints. 81, 1866, p. 377-84.
Testing Steam Boilers. 85, 1868, p. 34.
Deepening of the Michigan & Illinois Canal. 85,

1868, p. 110-12.

Cutting and Planing Stone. 86, 1 868, p. 1 70-72.
Street Tunnel under Chicago River and Its Machinery.

87, 1869, p. 30-34.
Spectacle Glasses for Public Speakers. 87, 1869, p.

120-21.

The National Watch Company. 87, 1869, p. 193-97.
Economical Cut-off in Steam Engines. 1 1 0, 1 880, p.

85-86.

The Polarization of Sound and the Nature of Vibra-
tions in Extended Media. Ill, 1881, p. 201-12.

Annal. Phys. Chem., Bibli. 5, 1881, p. 643-4.

Van Noslrand's Engineering Magazine.

On River Gauging and the Double Float. 13, 1875,

p. 99-109, 561-63.

Heat Absorbed by Expansion. 13, 1875, p. 435-36.
On a New Odontograph. 15, 1876, p. 1-19.

71

On the Forms of Teeth for Gear Wheels. 15, 1876,

p. 97-108.
On Beams of Uniform Resistance, the Beam Forming

part of the Loading. 16, 1877, p. 199-205.
Economy in Electric Generation. 23, 1880, p. 204-08.
The Flow of Gases through Tubes. General and prac-
tical problems. 24, 1881, p. 370-77.
Back Pressure on Valves; or the Equilibrium Line by

Experiment and Theory for Broad-seated Valves.

1882, 29, 1883, p. 34-42.
The Two-cylinder Compound Engine in which the

strokes are simultaneous, or co-initial and co-terminal,

with receiver, cushion, clearance, etc. 29, 1883,

p. 329-47, 353-69.
Measurement of Gas Wells and other Gas Streams.

35, 1886, p. 89-102.
Rapid Methods of Laying Out Gearing. 15, 1876,

p. 312-317.

Construction of Conveyor Spirals, pp. 165-168.
The Long Column Formula. 1884, pp. 282-289.
Ohio Geological Survey. Annual report.

The Measurement of Natural Gas including Gas Wellsv

Pipe lines, Service pipes, etc. 1, 1890, p. 281-

305.
Measurement of Gas Wells and other Gas Streams, and

the Piping of Natural Gas. 1886, p. 550-594.

Fortschritte der P/ipszfr.

Verbesserung des Brunnow'schen magnetischen Stromun-

ter-brechers deutsch von Kuhn. v. 21, 1865, p.

444.

Polarisation des Schalles. v. 37, 1881, p. 307.
Maschinenelemente, v. 53, pt. 1, 1897, p. 378.

72

PATENTS SECURED

Patent Office Report.

Thermometer graduating machine, 1862.

Timepieces, escapements for, Nov. 13, 1866; v. 2, p

1427, 1866.
Rock drilling machine, Nov. 19, 1867; v. 2, p. 1378,

1867.
Steam engine valve-gear, March 31, 1868; v. 1, p.

760, 1868.
Regulating cut-off valve-gear, May 16, 1871; v. 2,

p. 366, 1871.
Photograph cutter, Nov. 21, 1871; v. 2, p. 901,

1871.

Patent Office Gazette.

Machine for drilling rocks, Feb. 17, 1873; v. 3, p.

206.
Treadle, Feb. 29, 1876; two patents, 174092 and

174093, v. 9, p. 419.
Telephone, May 18, 1880; v. 1 7, p. 1 107.
Air-compressor, Oct. 11, 1881 ; v. 20, p. 1017.
Sole-fastening for boots or shoes, Sept. 26, 1882; v.

22, p. 1107.
Machine for uniting the uppers and soles of boots or

shoes, April 29, 1884; v. 27, P. 462.
Automatic car-brake. May 12, 1885. Two patents,

3 1 7859 and 3 1 7860. v. 3 1 , pp. 759 and 760.
Machine for uniting soles and uppers. June 2, 1885.

v. 31, p. 1092.
Machine for uniting the soles and uppers of boots or

shoes. Sept. 1, 1885. v. 32, p. 1026.

73

Machine for making screw-wire for pegs. Sept. 1,

1885, v. 32, p. 1027.
Mechanism for winding wire, etc. Jan. 26, 1886.

v. 34, p. 365.
Machines for uniting soles to uppers of boots or shoes.

July 27, 1886. Four patents, 346127, 346128,

346129, and 346130. v. 36, pp. 362 and 363.
Metal piling and substructure. Jan. 31, 1888. v. 42,

p. 476.
Machine fpr uniting the soles and uppers of boots or

shoes. April 3, 1888. v. 43, p. 107.
Straight-edge trimmer. Sept. 11,1 888. v. 44, p.

1288.
Substructure for elevated railroads. May 28, 1889.

v. 47, p. 1107.
Machine for uniting soles and uppers of boots or shoes.

Sept 10, 1889. v. 48, p. 1512.
Nailing machine for boots or shoes. Dec. 3, 1889.

v. 49, p. 1403.

Paper-cutter. March 18, 1890. v. 50, p. 1578.
Peg. Nov. 18, 1890. v. 53, P. 961.
Nailing machine. March 3, 1891. Two patents,

447358 and 447359. v. 54, PP. 1 142 and 1 143.
Gauge for measuring the velocity of fluids. Aug. 23,

1892. v. 60, p. 1108.
Machine for inserting screw-treaded wire. Feb. 4,

1896. v. 74, p. 637.

Nailing machine. Oct. 12, 1897. v. 81, p. 278.
Transmission-dynamometer. Jan., 18, 1898. v. 82,

p. 408.
Hypodermic syringe. March 15, 1898. v. 82, p. 1664.

74

Hypodermic syringe. March 15, 1898. v. 82, p.

1664.
Automatic air-brake mechanism. March 28, 1899.

v. 86, P. 2077.
Right-angle shaft-coupling. June 19, 1900. v. 91,

p. 2326.

Angle shaft-coupling. Feb. 3, 1903. v. 102, p. 896.
Angle shaft-coupling. June 16, 1903. v. 104, p.

1805.

Angle-coupling. March 17, 1908. v. 1 33, p. 544.
Lens grinding machine. March 21, 1911. v. 1 64,

P. 622.

76

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