The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-11-17
How an Inventor Struggled and Won.

stOry Vi inc stIuSSics anu tiiuihph9 vi
an inventor, which is worth preserva-
ton. The substance of it is as fol-
lows:
In 1858, Mr.. Thomas Sheehan, Of
Dunkirk, n. Y, foreman in the black
smith department of the Erie Railway
shops in that place, patented sub
marine grapple, which, though an in
genious 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 to manufacture and introduce
it, completely exhausted Mr.. Sheehan's
means, and reduced him to the extrem-
est poverty.
Just at this crisis Mr.. s. ID. Colwell,
General Freight Agent of the Erie Rail
road at Dunkirk, CHANGED to meet Mr..
Sheehan in the streets Of that town,
and accosted him with
"Well, Thomas, how are the crap
pies? ! hear they have used you up"
Eyes" was the answer, the grapples
have done my business; | wish had
never seen them"
"Throw 'em away" advised Mr..
Colwell. Have you any now fin
ished 2"
81 have one almost DONE" said
Thomas.
Finish that; | will pay you $40 for
it, and have it used for picking up coal
at the dock. The money will help you
in your present emergency, and you
can go back to your old place in the
shop and earn a good living for your
family"
~ will, said Thomas.
Back to his humble home went the
inventor, with new hope in his breart,
and set himself to finish the grapple
with all due speed. But, upon what
slender threads do the fortunes of men
hang A tap, the only one our inven-
tor had of the size required, suddenly
snapped asunder, and, as it was es-
sential to the progress of the work, he
must have new one or he could not
90 on.
In this strait, he applied 10 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,
refused, for two very good reasons
first, that she believed the money would
be thrown away if she gave it to he"
husband and, second, that she had not
the money to give him, even if SO dis
posed.
Respondent and discouraged, he sat
down in no very enviable mood, when
he CHANGED TO spy piece Of iron lying
near the tubs at which his spouse was
workin Meditating upon how he
could make that piece of IRON hard
enough for tap, he was led to a rather
rude experiment, the results Of which
have in the end made him a richer man
than he ever dreamed of being.
With little faith or hope that he
should succeed, he took some I've, and
adding, without any particular reason
for so dong, some saltpetre and COM
mon salt, made a paste with this solu-
ton and hard grudged saucerful of
the little remaining flour there was in
the house. He then forged the tap,
and, enveloping it in the paste, put the
whole into a luted iron box and ex-
posed it to heat for two hours in
blacksmith's fire. To his JOY and sur
prise, when he took it out it was hard
enough to cut cast steel. The grapple
was finished, and forty dollars flowed
into the family treasury of Thomas
Sheehan. He went back to his old
work, disguised with patents, and re-
solved never 10 have anything to do
with one again. But the remembrance
of the tap, hardened in so unique
manner, stimulated him. Having a
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-
pertinent, purchasing the materials with
his own money, and working in secret
by night, and at odd hours. At the
end Of twelve months he reconsidered
his sentence Of condemnation on pa
tents, and applied for one on his pro.
cess, which was granted September 4,
1860, the claim being for a combination
of damaged flour, potash lye, or I've
from hard wood ashes, nitre, common
salt, and sulphate of zinc, for case hard
ening iron. In 1867, he patented an
improvement on the above named pro-
cess. In 1868 he took oNt another pat
ent for an entirely new process, which
consists in the use of raw limestone,
charcoal, black oxide of manganese,
sal soda, common salt and pulverized
rosin, combined for converting iron
into steel, which is now widely used,
and from which he has reaped quite
fortune.
No less than twenty three of the lead,
ing railways i'll America now use this
process, under license from the paten-
tee, for hardening the links, guides,
pins, and nuts of locomotives, effecting,
we are told, no less a saving than from
five to six hundred dollars annually on
each locomotive, in obviating the lost
motion consequent upon the wear of
links, guides, and pins.
The inventor has already received, for
licenses under his patent of 1868,
S29,650, and has just sold the remain.
der of his patent in America for
$4,000.
Public Debt Statement.