The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1869-07-16
Death of a Remarkable Man.

A remarkable man died in JERSEY
City On the 18th. The following
notice OF his career we extract from
the Standard of that city:
Joseph Dixon was born in Marble
head, Mass, January 10, 1899, and
was consequently in his seventy -s
year. He was very remarkabl.
man, and filled a wide space in the
great march of intellect which took
place in this country between 1920
and 1860. He made machine ia
cut files before he had attained his
majority, learned the printers trade,
afterward that of wood engraving,
then lithography, and aiterward
studied medicine, and in that con-
nectiOn became interested in chenis
try, becoming finally one of he most
accomplished and comprehensive
chemists in the country. He was a
thorough opticlan, and had no equal
in his knowledge of photography =
He took up the experiments of Da
guerre in 1889, and was probably the
first person to take portrait by the
camera.
He showed Professor Morse how
to take portraits by means of re
fector, SO that the subjects should
not appear reversed. Morse tried to
get it patented in Europe. MIR. Dix
on built the first locomotive with
wooden wheels, but wit b the same
double crank now useds; it caused q
sneer at the time, but when ii became
demonstrated that a steam-engine
could run on wheels and perform the
services of beasts of burden, his dou-
BILE crank was adopted. He origin
ated the process of photo-lithography
and published it years before it was
believed to be useful. BY his pro-
cess of transferring, the old bank
notes we're easily counterfeited, and
it was to guard against the abuse of
his own process that he bought out
the system of printing in colors on
the bills, and had the method patent
ed, but never received any benefit
from the patent, all the banks having
used it without pay. Many of our
readers will remember the original
''red dog" money, and the present
process used by the Government for
printing in colOrs, for which large
amount is paii to patentees, is the
old process at SIR. Dixon's, for which
his patent had 'xpired long before,
and the present patents are therefore
He perfected the system ofmaking
for the photographers. and
assisted Mr.. Harris in getting true
system for grinding the lenses tor
camera tubes. He originated the
metal, that has been for
4 great many years known as sBab-
Dit metal,'' and he is the father OF
.he steel melting business in this
He originated a number
,f machines and processes that do
lot occur to us at this moment, but
,e is most widely known among man
as the originator Of the
crucible, as now made
lie started the business in 1927, in
Salem, Massachusetts, and brought
{ TO this city in 1857. His name
became known in all civilized coun-
rles as a crucible maker, and his
in this city is the larg
EST OF the kind in the world, his pro-
luctions receiving a medal at the
Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1867.
He was singularly self,reliant, never
allied in his mechanical undertakings,
even in the last, that of tie great
,rchestrion, that occupied his time
or nearly eleven years, but which
I:ood before him perfect at last, and
still stands-a monument of his great
kill, patience and perseverance.