The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1875-10-29
Pleasant Talks About inventions.

and became the great power of the world
A new impetus was given to commerce, The
arts and industry, which created great de
mand for labor-saying machinery of al
kind, Heretofore, as a rule, inventions OF
discoveries were accidental, or the result Of
| the necessity which suggested them. Now
inventors began to assume the rank of q
profession, and at the present day tens Of
thousands of great and small inventions at.
test their skill and deep research.
Balloons were invented by Gusmac, a
Jesuit, in 1929. They were not broughtbe
fore the public for some years after, and
then by the Montgolier brothers, of France
Aerial navigation, ever since its first sue.
cess. has been made the. subject of scien.
tific and laborious research and expert.
ment, and as yet the problem remains un.
solved. AS far as practical navigation il
| concerned, the balloon of to-day is under
no better control than the first tiny air shit
that sped upward to the unknown region
beyond. FraAklin bottled lightning in
1748, and his daring experiments led to the
triumph of that science.
The next important invention was that OF
the spinning jenny, in 1859, over 400 years
after the invention of the spinning wheel.
1t was named after the wife of the invent
or. an honor hardly deserved, for she was a
regular termagant and led her husband a
terrible life, and finally kicked him and his
model out doors. 1t took him weary months
to repair the damages resulting from her
causeless fit of anger. 1t was done, how
ever, and the genius and patience of the
humble mill-hand rewarded by the greatest
labor-saving machine of the age.
| The cotton gin, machine that made cot
ton king, and developed the resources of
the South as no other one discovery has
since the settlement of the country, was in
vented by Eli Whitney, in 1893. Whitney
was school teacher, and the idea was sug-
gested to him by southern lady, at whose
house he was stopping.
Lithography was discovered in 1796-S at
Munich by one Alois Senefelder. The
most important discovery of the century
Was that of galvanism, in 1856. This great
science is, and will ever be, of inestimable
value and benefit to the human family.
AS an indication of the manner of the
early gastronomists, it will be noted with
interest that forks were invented in Italy,
and subsequently introduced into England,
in the seventeenth century. The table and
its auxiliaries have been very greatly i'm
proved since accubation was considered
quite the thing among the ancients, who
lifted their food with their fingers and were
satisfied. Or even our own worthy ances-
tors, who gathered about the well-filled
tureen of swimming fat pork and gravy
and "sopped" out their fill meanwhile
passing round the huge chunk of maple
sugar suspended over the table, biting off a
due quantity to sweeten each sip of their
fragrant Bohea. Such proceedings in this
day of finger-bowls, napkins, etc., would
be apt to disgust the fastidieus
To enumerate the inventions of the pres
ent century would be a herculean task. Of
their magnitude and practical benefits, we
have ample evidence in our oceans and riv-
ers, in our workshops and manufactures,
in the chambers of art and the halls of sci
ence, in the miles of iron and steel rails
that diverge to the uttermost limits of CIV
ilization, and in the transmission of intelli-
gence by the network of electric wires that
encompass the whole world.
One of the most important inventions of
this century is that of locomotive engines
in 1904. In 1820-30 mechanics institutes
made an appearance and rapidly spread
over Europe and America. The greatest
invention of the age is, beyond cavil, the
electric telegraph, claimed by Morse, as his
invention, in 1882. 1t was not developed
and introduced until some years later. This
invention is also claimed by Cooke and
Wheatstone, of England, they having pa
tented their system on June 10Th, 1887,
while letters patent were not obtained by
Morse until September 9th, 1887, differ
ence of nearly three months in favor of the
Englishmen. 1t is, and probably will re-
main vexed question as to whom the
honor is due, although public opinion
throughout the world generally sustains
Morse in his claim. Daguerreotypes, nam
ed after the inventor, were the product of
1889. Another experimenter claims that
he communicated the discovery of photog-
raphy to the French Academy of Science
at an earlier date. As Daguerre was sew
eral years perfecting his sun-pictures be-
fore he brought them to the notice of the
world, there is no doubt but that he is en-
titled to the honor of the invention. Gun
cotton belongs to the year 1947, and nitro
glycerine followed in 1847 A minor in
vention, and one of wide spread usefulness,
is that Of steel pens, in 1903. Before that
time, he who would write had to depend
upon his gray goose quill. An innovation
was attempted late in the seventeenth GEN.
tury, by the introduction of tortoise she'll
pens tipped with gold. They were not
success.
The entire world is now anxlously await
ing the development of the Kelley motor.
If it sustains all that is claimed for it by
its inventor, its advent will completely rev.
olutionize mechanics and trade. It will be
a power beyond calculation. The stories
told of its capacity are 80 fabulous that
thinking men are apt to doubt their relia-
bility. A few months will determine, how
ever, whether the Keeley motor is myth or
the acme of invention" IT. j. f." in
Scientific Press.