The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1871-11-24
A Remarkable History,
How AN INVENTOR STRUGGLED AND
WON.

kirk, New York, foreman in the black
smith department of the Erie railway
shops at that place, patented subma-
rine grapple, which, though an ingen-
ious invention, proved to be one for
which there was little demand. This
was his first invention, and the cost of
its completion, together with one years
struggle 10 manufacture and introduce
it, completely exhausted Mr.. Sheehan's
means, aud reduced him to the extrem-
est poverty. He was, in fact, in pre- tty
nearly the same condition as Palissy,
the potter, a. the moment of his great.
est distress. A wife and eight children
In Sheehan's family were reduced to the
verge of destitution, and Mrs. Sheehan
became uncommonly bitter.
just at this crisis, Mr.. s. ID. Colwell.
General Freight Agent of the Erie rail.
road, at Dunkirk, chanced to meet Mr..
Sheehan in the streets of that town and
accosted him, with
"Well, Thomas, how are the gran.
pies? hear they have used you up"
YES" was The answer, "the crap.
pies have done my business; wish
had never seen them.r
throw 'em away" advised Mr.. Col
well. "IIave you any now finished ?"
u have one almost done,r said
Thomas
Finish that; I will pay you $40 for
IT, and have 1t used for picking up coal
at the dock. The money will help you
IN yourpresent emergency, and you can
go back to your old place in the shop
and earn good living for your family"
II will" said Thomas.
Back to his humble home went the
inventor, with new hope in his breast,
and set himself to finish the grapple
with all due speed. But, upon what
slender threads do the fortunes of men
depend A tap, the only one our in
ventor had of the size required sudden.
ly snapped asunder, and, as it was es-
sential to the progress of the work, he
must have new one or he could not
go on.
In his straight, he applied to his wife
to lend him twenty-five cents to buy
the necessary steel to forge the tap. But
she having no faith in the grapple, re.
fused, for two very good reasons-frst,
that she believed the money would be
thrown away if she gave it to her hus-
band; and second, that she had not the
money to give him, even if so disposed.
The refusal was seasoned with some
very hot spice that made it very unpal-
atable to Thomas. But he bethought
him of a merchant who, in brighter
days had seen the color of his money,
and who, perhaps, would now give him
credit for the small modicum of steel
he required for the tap.
To this merchant to prefer his request
he began beating about the bush and
finally straying into politics, hot words
passed between them, and our friend,
feeling his manliness would suffer too
keenly by asking credit for the steel,
came away without it.
With no definite purpose he went
home, pondering upon how he should
surmount this, now no trifling obstacle,
and came away without it.
He found his wife making lye for soft
soap, but her acidity in no way neutral.
lied by the alkaline reaction. Despond-
ent and discouraged, he sat down, in no
very enviable mood, when he CHANGED
to spy piece of iron laying near the
tubs at which his spouse was working.
Meditating upon how he could make
That piece of iron hard enough for tap,
led him to rather rude experiment.
the results of which have in the end
made him richer man than he ever
dreamed of being.
1t so happened that from distant rel |
ative, Roman Catholic priest in Ire.
land, our friend had inherited quite a |
library of works on chemistry-some of
them rare and valuable. He had read
some of these books to very good pur-
pose. "There is surely carbon in that |
iye," thought he. "If only could get |
that into this iron in the proper proper
ton, should have steel, and from that
my tap, and so finish my grapple."
With little hope or faith that he
should succeed, he took some OF the lye,
and adding, without any particular rea.
son for so doing, some saltpetre and
common salt,made paste with this
solution and hard grudged saucerful
ofthe little remaining flour there was in
the house. He then forged the tap, and
enVeloped 1t in the paste, put the whole
into luted iron-box and exposed it to
heat for two hours in blacksmith's fire,
To his joy and surprise when he took 1t
out, 1t was hard enough to cut cast steel.
The grapple was finished, and forty dol.
lars flowed into the family treasury of
Thomas Sheehan. He went back to his
old work disgusted with patents, and
resolved never to have anything to do
with one again. But the remembrance
of the tap, hardened in so unique a
manner, still haunted him. Having
great deal of case hardening to do, he
thought one day he would repeat the
experiment, upon large scale, which
he did with perfect success.
For twelve months he went on to ex.
periment,purchasing the materials with
his own money, and worked in secret
by night and at odd hours. At the end
of twelve months he reconsidered his
sentence Of condemnation on patents,
and applied for one on his process which
was granted September 4, 1860, the
claim being for combination of dam
aged flour, potash lye, or lye from hard
wood-ashes, nitre common salt, and sui.
phate of zinc, for hardening iron.
In 1867 he patented an improvement on
the above-named process. In 1868 he
took out another patent on an entirely
new process, which consists in the use
of raw limestone, charcoal, black oxide