Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1871-11-11

HOW AN INVENTOR STRUGGLED AND WON.
In the Scientific American we find a story of
the struggles and triumphs OF an inventor which
is worth preservation. The substance of it is as
follows:
In 1858, Mr.. Thomas Sheehan, of Dunkirk. n.
T., foreman in the blacksmith department OF the
Erie Railway shops at that place. patented sub
marine grapple, which, though an ingenious in
vention, 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 il,
completely exhausted Mr.. Sheehan's means, and
reduced him TO the EXTREMIST poverty. He was,
IN fact, in pretty nearly the same condition as
Palsy the Potter, at the moment of his greatest
distress. A wife and eight children. Sheehan's
family were reduced to the verge of restitution,
and Mrs. Sheehan became unconsciOusly bitter
Just at this crisis Mr.. ). ID. Colwell, general
freight agent of the Erie Railroad at Dunkirk.
CHANGED to meet Mr.. Sheehan in the streets of
that town, and accosted him with:
Well, Thomas, how are the yrapples
near they have used YOU up"
YES was the answer, ''the grapples have
Gone my business; wish i had never seen
.Throw 'em away" advised Mr. Colwell.
Have you any now finished ?"
81 have one almost done said Thomas"
Finish that; / will pay you $40 for it, and
nave IL used for picking up coal at the dock
The money will help you in your present emer-
geney, and you can go back to your old place in
the shop and earn a good living for your family"
Z" 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
hang A tap, the only one our inventor had of
the size required, suddenly snapped asunder,
and, as 1t was essential to the progress of the
work, he must have anew one or he could not 60
on.
In this strait, he applied to his wife to lend
him % cents to buy the necessary steel to forge
the tap. But she, having no faith in the Crap
pie, refused, for two very good reasOns-hrst,
that she believed the money would be thrown
away if she gave it to her husband; and second,
that she had not the money to give him, even if
so disposed. The refusal was seasoned with
some very hot word-spice that made it very
Paatable 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 be required for the tap.
To this merchant he hied, and somewhat
reluctant TO prefer bis request, began beating
about the bush; and finally straying into poll
tics, hot words PASSED between them, and our
friend, feeling his manlness would suffer too
keenly by asking credit for the steel, came away
without il.
With no definite purpose he went home, pom
dering upon how he should surmOunt this, now
no trifing obstacle OF the broken tap.
He found his wife making lye for soft soap,
but her acidity in no way Deutralized by the
alkaline reaction. DespOndent and discouraged,
he sat down in no very cnviable mood, when he
Glanced to spy piece of iron lying near the
tubs at which his spouse was working. Medi-
tating upon how he could make that piece of
u
rude experiment, the results of which have in
the end made him a richer man than he ever
dreamed of being.
1t SO happened that from distant relative, a
Roman Catholic priest in Ireland, our friend
had inherited quite library of works on chem
istry, some of them rare and valuable. He had
read some of these books to very good purpose.
he. " If i only could get that into this iron i'm
the proper proportion, should have steel, and
from that my tap, and SO finish my grappe."
fnf mr. hnr hat .l h.aa.l
coed. he took some of the I've, and adding,
without any particular reason for so doing, some
saltpetre and common salt, made paste with
this solution and a hard grudged saucerful OF
the little remaining -four 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 exposed it to heat for two hours in black
smiths fire. To his joy and surprise, when he
took 1t out 1t was hard enough to cut cast steel.
The grspple was finished, and forty dollars
flowed into the family treasury of Thomas
Sheridan. He went back to his old work
Disguised with patents, and resolved never to
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 though one day
lie would repeat the experiment upon a large
scale, which he did with perfect success.
For twelve months he went on to experiment,
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 patents, and
applied for one on his process, which was
granted September 4, 1860, the claim being for
combination of damaged flour, potash lye, or
I've from hard wood ashes, nitre, common salt
and sulI hate OF zinc, for case hardening iron.
In 1867, he patented an improvement on the
above named process. In 1868 he took out an
other patent for an entirely new process, which
consists in the of raw limestone, charcoal
black oxide OF manganese, sal soda, common
salt, and pulyerized rosin, combined, for con-
verting iron into steel. which is now widely used
and from which he has reaped quite a fortune
y leading
ways in America now use this process under
hcenSe from the patentee, for hardening the
links, guides, pins, and nuts of locomotives,
efecting, We are told, no less saving than
from five TO six hundred dollars annually on
each locomotive, in Obviaiing the lost motion
consequent upon the wear OF links, guides, and
pins.
The inventor has already received for licenses
under his patent OF 1865, So, 500, and has lust
sold the remainder of his patent in America for
S45,0O0