The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1872-04-27

In 1865 Mr.. Thomas 81 han, of Dun
kirk, n. u, foreman in the blacksmith de-
partment Of the Erie Railroad shop, at that
place, patented submarine grapple, which
though an ingenious invention, proved to
be one for which there was little demand.
This was the first invention, and the cost
Of its completion, together with one years
struggle to manufacture and introduce it,
completely exhausted Mr.. Sheehans means
and reduced him to the EXTREMIST poverty.
He was, in fact, in pretty nearly the same
condition as Palissy the Potter at the mo
ment Of his greatest distress wife and
eight children, Sheehans family, were re-
duced to the verge Of destitution, and Mrs.
Sheehan became unconsciously bitter.
Just at this crisis Mr.. s. D. Crowell,
general freight agent Of the Erie Railroad
at Dunkirk, chanced to meet Mr.. Sheehan
in the streets Of that town, and accosted
him with
We'll, Thomas, how are your Napples
! hear they have used you up"
"Yes, was the answer, ''the grapples
have done my business wish had never
seen them.
Throw EN- away, advised Mr. Crow
ell. Have you any now finished r.
II have one almost DONE" said Thomas.
Finish that: will pay you forty dollars
for it, and have it used for picking up coal
for the dock. The money will help you in
your present emergency, and you can 20
back to your place in the shop. and earn a
good living for your family"
Il will, said Thomas.
Back to his humble home went the in
ventor, 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 re-
quired, suddenly snapped asunder, and, as
it was essential to the progress Of the work,
he must have a new one or he could not 90
on.
In thn strait he applied to his wife TO
lend him twenty-five cents to buy the nee
essary steel to forge the tap. But she, hav-
ing 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 her husband and second, that
she had not the money to give him even if
50 disposed. The refusal was seasoned with
hot wosd-spice,. that made it very unpAlA-
table to Thomas. But he bethought hmm
of merchant who, in brighter days, had
seen the color Of his money, and who, per
haps would now give him credit for the
small modicum Of steel he required for the
tap.
TO this merchant he hied, and, somewhat
reluctant To prefer his request, began beat
ing 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 creditor
his steel, came away without it. With no
definite purpose he went home, pondering
how he should surmount this now no tri-
fling obstacle Of the broken tap. He found
his wife making lye for soft soap, but her
acidity in no way neutralized by the aka
line reaction. Desp Indent and discodr-
aged, he sat down in no very enviable
mood, when he chanced to spy a piece of
iron lying near the tub at which his spouse
was working. Meditating how he could
make that piece Of iron hard enough for a
tap, he was led to a rather rude expert
ment, the results Of which have in the end
made him richer man than he ever dream
ed Of being
1t 50 happened that from a distant rela-
tive, Roman Catholic priest in Ireland.
our friend had inherited quite library Of
works on chemistry, some of them rare and
valuable. He had read some of these
books to very good purpose. There is
surely carbon in that lye, " thought he '1f
| only could get that into this iron in the
proper proportion | should have steel, and
from that my tap, and so finish my Crap
ple."
With little faith or hope that he should
succeed, he took some of the lye, and ad-
ding, without any particular reason for 20
doing, some saltpetre and common salt,
made paste with this solution and 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 in a luted iron box
and exposed it to the heat for two hours in
/ blacksmiths fire. To his Joy and surprise,
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, disgusted with pat.
ents, and resolved never to have anything
/ to do with one again. But. the remem-
r brance Of the tap, hardened in 30 unique Q
; manner, stimulated him. Having a great
| deal of case-hardening to do, he thought
one day he would repeat the experiment
upon a large scale, which he did with per.
feet success.
' For twelve months he went on to exper
iment, purchasing the materials with hi,
: own money, and working in secret by nigh
. and at odd hours. At the end Of twelve
months he reconsidered his condemnation o.
| patents, and applied for one on his process
T which was granted Sept. 4, 1850, the claim
being for = combination Of damaged -four
: potash lye, OF lye from hard-ashes. nitre
: common salt and sulphate of zinc, forcase
hardening iron. In 1867 he patented al
9 Improvement on the above named process
! In 1883 he took out another patent for m
: entirely new process, which consists in tn.
c use Of raw limestone, charcoal, black oxid,
Of magnesia, sal-soda, common salt anc
: pulveriSed resin combined, for convertins
iron into steel, which is now widely used
and from which he has reaped quite q for
b tune.
y No less than twenty three Of the leadinl
railways in America now use this process
n under license from the Patentee, for hard
4 ening the links, guides, pima and nuts Of 10
9 comotives, effecting, we are told, no less
4 saving than from 500 to 300 annually o,
o each locomotive, in obviAting the lost mo
n tion consequent upon the wear of links