The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1870-04-15
A WONDERFUL JERsEYMAN,

A WONDERFUL JERSEYMAN.
Seth Boyden, the inventor, died at his
home in Vaudeville, Clinton township,
near Newark, yesterday, in the sgd year Of
his age. Mr.. Boyden was native of Fox
bore, Massachusetts,, and settled in New
ark in 1915. He brought with him nov
ell machine, of his own invention, for split
ting leather, which has since been so i'm
proved that hide may be split into sew
eral layers. Another man would have
made fortune from the invention, but
Boyden's restless mind always abandoned
machine as soon as it was success.
His next invention was also of great
value to leather manufacturers, being a
machine for cutting brads. In 1918 he
was in the silver plating business, and
commenced experiments on varnish to be
applied to leather. Out of this came pat
ent leather, of which he manufactured the
first In 1919, using it in his own shop only
until 1922, when he manufactured it as an
article of merchandise and threw it on the
market. His sales in 1922 amounted to
$4.621 in 1924 to $9,703.06-the small
beginning of what is now vast trade ::
But in 1881 Mr.. Boyden sold out of the
business.
Seth Boyden made the first malleable
iron on the 4th of July, 1926, and contin-
ued its manufacture until 1881. In 1885
he started a machine shop for the construc-
ton of steam engines The Morris and
Essex Railroad found its heaviest Difficult
ty in the grade of $40 feet to the mile from
Broad street to the summit of Quarry Hill,
and it was proposed to place a stationary
engine on the hill to raise the trains by
traction. Mr.. Boyden contracted with the
road to build locomotive which would
do the work, and to the establishment of
almost all, accomplished it, and the first
train over the road was drawn steadily
and without difficulty over the hill by
Boyden's engine 1t was on this machine
that he made memorable improvement
in placing the driving rod outside the
wheels. Boyden threw the driving rod
outside, made the wheel itself substitute
for the crank, and so gained the highest
leverage, the most direct action, and the
minimum of friction. While in this shop
he invented the well known "cut-off'' of
the steam engine.
When the Daguerrean process was first
made known Mr. Boyden saw an account
OF 1t in the newspapers, and patiently
worked the thing out, making the first
daguerreotype ever produced in this coun-
try But there it ended, and except from
an acquaintance with Prof Morse which
followed there were no results. But at
that time Prof Morse was busy with his
grand invention, the telegraph, and Mr..
Boyden was largely consulted upon the
mechanical difficulties to be overcome. He
| ot finoa al ioio % e..
his attention had once been directed to
electricity, he went into the subject with
zeal. 1t occurred to him that if an cleo
trio equilibrium is to be maintained even
in thunder storms, the lightning cannot
all come from one direction, and that there
is just as much lriori reason that bolts of
lightning should pass from the earth to
the clouds as from the clouds to the earth.
To test this he set up an electrometer
showing the direction of the current. and
found that some of the fiercest "strokcs"
came from the ground and went up to the
clouds. A subsequent study Of the Incl
dents of lightning strokes confirmed this
idea, and his conclusion was that sur
charged earth is quite as likely as a sur
charged cloud.
Another of his inventions was the man
ufacture of "spelter" in this country 1t
is one of the most available forms of zinc.
Still another was that OF Russia sheet-iron.
This has always been regarded as one of
the most profound secrets of the arts, but
Mr.. Boyden plodded through it and made
good article of Russia sheet, but at cost
so great that it cannot compete with the
imported article. While upon the list of
his mechanical achievements, given quite
incompletely, the Burr Hat Body Forming
Machine comes in.
1t is not Seth Boyden's invention, but
he made an improvement upon it, and for
the only time in his life applied for and
secured a patent. A dozen others had tried
to improve this machine, which is won
derful combination ofscience speed, cheap
ness and convenience, and all had been en-
joined by the United States Supreme Court,
except one or two which had been bought
out by Burr. Boyden's improvements
stood the test in law, and after a tedious
and expensive suit in which he took small
interest, the case was decided in his favor.
This was in his old age, after he had passed
his three score years and ten, and seems to
have been almost the only instance in which
he cared at all who owned his inventions.
In 1849 he took the "gold fever" and
went to California, where he was noted as
a successful man in prospecting"
In agriculture he was the same quiet and
successful student. He once said laugh
ingly to us (be never boasted) that with
twenty years more of life he could make a
strawberry as large as pineapple and pre-
serve the original flavor. The "Agricul-
turist" was his berry, so was the "Boyden
No. co." 80 was the abundant and yielding
"Green Prolific" and finally that chief and