Chapter II — Looking Backward — How to Succeed as an Inventor by Goodwin B. Smith

Chapter II 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.

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