LOOKING BACKWARD
"Intelligent study and the application of unremitting effort to a
definite purpose are the factors that overcome obstacles."
Here follows a list of the principal inventions chronologically
arranged, with the names and nationalities of their inventors.
Year. Name of Invention. Name of Inventor. Nationality.
1620 Spirally grooved
rifle barrel Blaew German.
1643 Barometer Torricelli Italian.
1660 Discovery of
Electrical
Phenomena William Gilbert English.
1663 Steam engine Thos. Newcomen English.
1690 Steam engine with
piston Denis Papin French.
1702 First practical
application of
steam engine Thos. Savory English.
1709 Thermometer Fahrenheit Danzig.
1725 Franklin printing
press Benj. Franklin U.S.
1731 Stereotyping William Ged Scotch.
1733 Weaving flying
shuttle John Kay English.
1745 Leyden Jar Kleist German.
1752 Lightning conductor Benj. Franklin U.S.
1763 Spinning jenny Jos. Hargreaves English.
1767 Piano England.
1775 Cut nails Jere. Wilkinson U.S.
1777 Circular wood saw Miller English.
1782 Steam engine Jas. Watt Scotch.
1783 Balloon inflated
with gas Montgolfier French.
1784 Puddling iron Henry Cort English.
1784 Cast iron plow Jas. Small Scotch.
1786 Steamboat John Fitch U.S.
1787 Steam road wagon,
first automobile Oliver Evans U.S.
1788 Threshing machine And. Meikle English.
1791 Wood planer Sam'l Bentham English.
1794 Cotton gin Eli Whitney U.S.
1800 Electric battery Volta Italian.
1801 Fire-proof safe Richard Scott English.
1803 Steel pen Wise English.
1804 Malleable iron
castings Lucas English.
1808 Band wood saw Newberry English.
1808 First sea-going
steamboat John Stephens U.S.
1810 Revolving cylinder
printing press Fred'k Koenig German.
1811 Breech-loading
shot gun Thornton & Hall U.S.
1814 First locomotive,
U.S Geo. Stephenson English.
1815 Miner safety lamp Sir Humphry Davy English.
1815 Gas meter Clegg English.
1823 Discovery of water
gas Ibbetson English.
1825 Portland cement Aspdim English.
1827 Friction matches John Walker U.S.
1828 Hot blast for iron
furnaces Neilson Scotch.
1829 Washington printing
press Sam'l Rust U.S.
1831 Chloroform Guthrie Scotch.
1832 Electric telegraph Prof. Morse U.S.
1832 Rotary electric
motor Sturgeon English.
1832 "Old Iron Sides"
locomotive Baldwin U.S.
1833 Steam whistle Geo. Stephenson English.
1834 Reaper Cyrus H. McCormick U.S.
1834 Carbolic acid Runge German.
1835 Horse-shoe machine Burden U.S.
1836 Acetylene gas Davy English.
1836 Revolver Sam'l Colt U.S.
1836 Screw propeller for
steam navigation John Erickson U.S.
1837 Galvanizing iron Craufurd English.
1839 Babbitt metal Isaac Babbit U.S.
1839 Vulcanizing rubber Goodyear U.S.
1839 Daguerreotype Louis Daguerre French.
1840 Artesian wells French.
1842 Automatic piano Seytre French.
1844 First telegram sent Prof. Morse U.S.
1845 Double cylinder
printing press Richard Hoe U.S.
1845 Pneumatic tire Thompson English.
1846 Sewing machine Elias Howe U.S.
1846 Ether as an
anaesthetic Dr. Morton U.S.
1847 Nitroglycerine Sobrero
1847 Improved Hoe printing
press Richard Hoe U.S.
1849 Steam pressure gauge Bourdon French.
1849 Corliss engine George H. Corliss U.S.
1850 Mercerized cotton John Mercer English.
1851 Breech-loading rifle Maynard U.S.
1851 Ice-making machine Gorrie U.S.
1852 Telegraph fire alarm Channing & Farmer U.S.
1854 Diamond rock drill Herman U.S.
1854 Revolver Smith & Wesson U.S.
1855 Cocaine Gaedeke German.
1855 Bessemer steel Sir Henry Bessemer English.
1855 Bicycle Michaux French.
1856 Sleeping car Woodruff U.S.
1858 Cable car Gardner U.S.
1858 First Atlantic cable Cyrus Field U.S.
1859 "Great Eastern"
launched U.S.
1861 Passenger elevator E. G. Otis U.S.
1861 Barbed wire fence U.S.
1862 Gattling gun Dr. R. J. Gattling U.S.
1865 Antiseptic surgery Sir Jos. Lister English.
1866 Open hearth steel
process Siemens-Martin English.
1866 Torpedoes Whitehead U.S.
1868 Typewriting machine C. L. Sholes U.S.
1868 Dynamite Nobel French.
1868 Oleomargarine Mege French.
1868 Sulky plow Slusser U.S.
1869 Spring tooth harrow Garver U.S.
1870 Celluloid Hyatt U.S.
1872 Automatic brake Geo. Westinghouse U.S.
1872 Car coupler E. H. Janney U.S.
1873 Quadruplex telegraph Thos. A. Edison U.S.
1873 Twine binder
harvester Gorham U.S.
1873 Self-binding reaper Loche & Wood U.S.
1875 Roller flour mills Wegmann U.S.
1875 Ice-making machine Pictet Switzerland.
1876 Telephone Dr. Alex. Graham Bell U.S.
1877 Phonograph Thos. A. Edison U.S.
1877 Gas engine N. A. Otto U.S.
1877 Telephone
transmitter Emile Berliner U.S.
1878 Carbon filament for
electric lamps Thos. A. Edison U.S.
1878 Rotary disc
cultivator Mallon U.S.
1880 Telephone transmitter Blake U.S.
1880 Hammerless gun Greener U.S.
1880 Typhoid bacillus Robert Koch German.
1880 Pneumonia bacillus Sternberg U.S.
1881 Buttonhole machine Reece U.S.
1882 Tuberculosis bacillus Robert Koch German.
1882 Hydrophobia bacillus Louis Pasteur French.
1884 Cholera bacillus Robert Koch German.
1884 Diphtheria bacillus Loefler German.
1884 Lockjaw bacillus Nicolaier French.
1884 Antipyrene Kuno U.S.
1884 Linotype machine Ottmar Mergenthaler U.S.
1885 First electric street
railway in the U.S. Baltimore, Md.
1885 Overhead electric
trolley Van Depole U.S.
1886 Graphophone Bell & Tainter U.S.
1887 Cyanide process McArthur & Forest U.S.
1887 Incandescent gas
light Carl Welsbach German.
1888 Harveyized
armor plate Harvey U.S.
1888 Kodak snapshot
camera Eastman & Walker U.S.
1890 Bicycles equipped
with pneumatic
tires U.S.
1890 Magazine rifle Krag-Jorgensen U.S.
1891 Rotary steam
turbine Parsons English.
1893 Kinetoscope Thos. A. Edison U.S.
1893 Carborundum E. G. Acheson U.S.
1893 Calcium carbide
electrically
produced Thos. L. Wilson U.S.
1895 Liquifying air Carl Linde German.
1895 X-rays Prof. Roentgen German.
1895 Acetylene gas from
calcium carbide Thos. L. Wilson U.S.
1896 Wireless telegraphy G. Marconi Italian.
1896 Finsen rays Finsen Danish.
1898 Non-whittling lead
pencil F. H. Lippincott U.S.
1900 Mercury vapor
electric light Peter Cooper Hewitt U.S.
1901 Airship M. Santos-Dumont French.
1901 Automobile mower Deering Harvester Co. U.S.
From the Encyclopedia Americana.
"There are no elevators in the house of success."--Silent Partner.
* * * * *
Since the above list (taken from the Encyclopedia Americana) was
published, there have been a large number of very important inventions
brought out.
In 1898 Professor and Madam Curie, of Paris, discovered radium. This
remarkable substance is extracted from pitch-blende. It is said to
require the reduction of about five thousand tons of the blende to
produce one pound of radium. The cost of one pound of radium is
variously estimated at from one to three millions of dollars. Radium
overturns all the laws of chemistry and physics. Scientists state that
if a method of producing it cheaply is ever discovered it will create
the greatest revolution in industrial circles. One pound of radium is
said to be capable of lighting an enormous area for one billion years
without reducing its size or substance by one thousandth part. In
other words, it exerts abnormal energy without any appreciable loss.
In 1902, January, Peter Cooper Hewitt, of New York City, announced the
invention by him of his Mercury Vapor tube electric light. This light
is red-less,--gives off all colors except red. It is in present use in
many large establishments. It is practically indestructible, and gives
eight times as much light with the same amount of electricity as other
lights. Mr. Hewitt is a wealthy man, having inherited money. He comes
of the famous New York Hewitt family, whose members have been in the
forefront of progress. Mr. Hewitt also invented the "Hewitt Electrical
Converter" and the "Hewitt Electrical Interrupter," both inventions of
unusual merit.
In 1903, January 18th, Guglielmo Marconi sent a wireless message from
Cape Cod, Mass., to Cornwall, England, a distance of 3000 miles. Such
a thing, a few years ago, would have been considered absolutely
impossible,--unbelievable,--a wild flight of the imagination.
Marconi's achievement was accomplished only after the most prolonged
experimentation and many disappointments.
In 1908, September 12th, Hudson Maxim filed an application for a
patent on an electrical invention for the prolongation of human life.
In 1908, Professor Alexander Graham Bell and Professor Emile Berliner,
famous inventors in telephones, are working on new styles of flying
machines. With these experts in the field, aerial navigation will, no
doubt, shortly be a problem completely solved.
NOTES.
In 200 B.C., Hero, of Alexandria, gives an account of an ingenious
steam toy.
* * * * *
In 1543, one Blasco de Garay is said to have shown in the harbor of
Barcelona, Spain, a vessel of two hundred tons' burden, moved by a
paddle wheel driven by steam power.
* * * * *
In 1663 Edward Somerset, the ingenious Marquis of Worcester, contrived
the first steam engine.
* * * * *
In 1742, when Benjamin Franklin invented the "Franklin Stove," or as
it is sometimes called, the "Pennsylvania Fireplace," he refused to
accept a patent on it, saying, "we enjoy great advantages from the
inventions of others, so we should be glad of an opportunity to serve
others by an invention of ours." An unscrupulous London manufacturer
made some light changes in Franklin's stove, we are sorry to state,
got a patent on it, and made a fortune from its sale.
* * * * *
An invention of the greatest utility was that brought out in 1788 by
William Symington, a young Englishman, for a method of converting the
reciprocating motion of an engine into the rotary.
* * * * *
About 1790, Claude Chappe, a Frenchman, while at school at Angers,
contrived an apparatus consisting of a post bearing a revolving beam
and circulatory arms with which he conveyed signals to three of his
brothers who were at another school about half-a-league distant, who
read the signals with a telescope. In 1792 the French Legislature
voted Chappe 6000 francs ($1200) to enable him to make experiments in
Paris. This invention of Chappe was called the "Semaphore Telegraph."
Of course, misty or foggy weather would preclude the use of this
signalling device. During the war between England and France an
amusing incident is related of the use of the "Semaphore Telegraph."
The admiral at Plymouth started a "wigwag message" to Whitehall, but
was able to forward only part of the message, a thick fog gathering
over a portion of the line and interrupting the message. The first
part of the message was "Wellington defeated," which caused great
distress and anxiety in London. The remainder of the message, "the
French at Salamanca," received next day, changed the metropolitan
sorrow into gladness.
* * * * *
About the year 1790, Signor Galvani, a professor of anatomy at
Bologna, discovered the principle of Galvanic electricity. This was
brought about in a very peculiar way. Mrs. Galvani was ill, and her
physician prescribed some frog broth. Accordingly, frogs were
procured, skinned, washed and laid on a table in the professor's
laboratory, which seemed to serve a double purpose of a room for
scientific and culinary operations. One of the professor's assistants
was engaged in experimenting with a large electric machine which stood
upon the same table, and had occasion to draw sparks from the machine.
The wife of Galvani, who was present, was surprised to observe that
every time he did so the limbs of the frogs moved as if alive. She
immediately communicated this strange incident to her husband, who
repeated the experiments with, of course, the same result. From this
experiment was later developed the so-called zinc and copper wet jars
used in the art.
* * * * *
In 1807, Robert Fulton, who was of Irish Descent, made his famous trip
in his steamboat, the "Clermont," from New York to Albany, a distance
of one hundred and fifty miles, in thirty-two hours, and returned in
thirty hours, averaging about five miles per hour. Many stories are
told of the consternation the "Clermont" excited in those who saw her
for the first time. People who had seen her passing at night described
her as "a monster moving on the waters, defying wind and tide, and
breathing flames and smoke." The steamboats, at that time, used pine
wood for fuel, which sent columns of ignited vapor many feet above the
stack, and whenever the fire was stirred enormous showers of sparks
would fly off, which in the night produced a very brilliant and
beautiful effect. Sailors and seamen on vessels that had never seen a
steamboat were scared speechless, and in many cases prostrated
themselves, and besought Providence to protect them from the
approaches of the horrible monster which they saw.
* * * * *
In 1835 Thomas D. Edmundson, a station agent on the New Castle and
Carlisle line, in England, invented the first railroad ticket. The
inventor for several years devoted himself entirely to the ticket
industry, and by degrees a business arose which became one of the
largest in the world.
* * * * *
In 1840 the Government issued the first postage stamps.
* * * * *
George Stephenson died in 1848 at the age of 67, a wealthy man,
beloved and honored by all. Statues of him were erected at Liverpool,
London and Newcastle. In Rome, Italy, a tablet bears this inscription:
"In this Rome, from whence wondrous roads proceed to the empire of the
world, the employees of the Roman railways, on the 9th of June, 1881,
worthily commemorated the centenary of George Stephenson, who opened
still more wondrous roads to the brotherhood of the nations, and whose
virtues, inspiring to great works, have left an undying example."
During an examination before a Parliamentary Committee George
Stephenson was asked, "Suppose, now, one of your engines to be going
at the rate of nine or ten miles an hour, and that a cow were to stray
upon the line, and get in the way of the engine, would not that be a
very awkward circumstance?" Stephenson replied, "Yes, very awkward for
the cow." In the course of the same examination he was asked, "But
would not men and animals become frightened by the red hot smoke
pipe?" to which question Stephenson replied, "But how would they know
that it was not painted?" These extracts indicate some of the
difficulties inventors had to contend with.
* * * * *
In 1876 two hours after Bell filed his patent for his telephone,
Elisha Gray, of Boston, filed an application for a similar device.
Bell won, and has been awarded great honors for his invention. It was
at first referred to as a "scientific toy." It is now a necessity.
* * * * *
In 1880 Marthelemay Themonier, a Frenchman, was mobbed for building a
sewing machine, by laborers who thought his machines contrary to their
interests.
"Victory belongs to the most persevering."--Napoleon.
"Success is the child of audacity."--Beaconsfield.
By-Products
Many men mistake obstinacy for perseverance.
* * * * *
Anybody can slide down hill, but it takes good legs and good wind to
go up.
* * * * *
A third of our lives is spent in bed--that's why we ought to hustle
the other two-thirds.
* * * * *
Waste is criminal. The old proverb says, "Waste not, want not." And it
is true.
* * * * *
Anybody may drink at the fountain of knowledge, but you've got to
bring your own cup.
* * * * *
The farther you look back into the history of industry and invention,
the more you will be impressed with the fact that almost everything
has improved as our ability to produce it has increased.
* * * * *
Wireless telegraphy would never have come about had not the other kind
preceded, and it is impossible to imagine the phonograph's being ahead
of the telephone.
* * * * *
Without illuminating gas and gasoline, Welsbach lights would never
have been thought of or possible.
* * * * *
We would have no electric lights without the dynamo, and no dynamo if
wire-drawing had not first been perfected.
* * * * *
So it goes--everything is dependent on factors that have preceded and
any achievement of today is the result of thousands of years of
previous effort and thought.
* * * * *
And the knowledge that we are adding to the world's store today is but
the foundation for further advance by men to come.
* * * * *
As long as we don't know everything there will be things we cannot
explain and these things will be called chance. Into the life of every
human being there enter these inexplicable occurrences.
SILENT PARTNER.