Sharp County record., 1878-12-05

COUldlu6u III IuC POI
There has been no such property known
until Miss Hosmer discovered it. Here
in lies the whole secret, and the whole
of her claim to originality. The ma,
chine to which the principle is applied
ingenious and valuable though it is
is not an absolute novelty; but, on the
other hand, this machine is only one OF
thousand applications which can be
made of the principle. If lwere allow
ed to set forth the method adopted to
obtain this result, could cover the
whole explanation in ten lines.
"When l knew that l had succeeded
in finding what had been seeking for
by study and experiment for 10 years,
said Miss Hosmer, 81 first asked the
opinion of we'll known American en-
gineer, Mr.. Clarke, a relative of the Rev.
James Freeman Clarke of Boston. Hav-
ING seen the invention, he assured me
that need have no doubts as to the
value and Importance of my discovery.
l then came to England and consulted
Mr.. Newton, of the well known firm OF
Newton & Hales. Well, he could
scarcely believe his own eyes, and | had
to repeat my demonstration several
times. Then he made the magnet ac-
complish the work himself. His part
ner, Mr.. HaleS, came in, and dropped
down on his knee beside the table as he
saw me repeat my experiment. These
gentlemen and Mr.. Browning, the well
known maker of scientific instruments,
are all enthusiastic over my discovery,
and are thoroughly convinced as to its
practicability,"
Miss Hosmer said further that among
others who been shown the new princi-
pie applied was Mr.. John Penn, Jr., of
the well known works at Greenwich, and
she had letter from him saying that
the discovery actually frightened him,
so great would be the revolution in ma
chinery. Prof. Tyndall was away in
Switzerland, but he had had the princi-
pie described 10 him, and in letter
from Mrs. Tyndall to Miss Hosmer he
enclosed a message testifying to theim-
portance and absolute novelty of her
discovery, and saying that he should
give it careful attention on his return to
England.
Mr.. Browning is now engaged on a
4-horse power machine for Miss Hos
mer, and it is to be completed this win
ter, when Miss Hosmer will return here
from Rome and have it publicly exhib-
tied.
"But now l will show you another
of my Inventions" Miss Hosmer said,
taking polished slab from yhe center
table. "What do you think of that for
piece of marble? Well, that's my Sec
ond invention, an imitation of marble.
1t is made from soft limestone. You
know that in Italy and elsewhere there
have been many attempts made to turn
limestone into marble, but heretofore
they have succeeded only in making
scagliola. l knew all about these ex-
periments, and ii occurred to me that
although dry heat had failed, possibly
moist heat might succeed. So | made
anumber of experiments, and finally
hit upon the idea of compression and
moist heat together. At the end of
three hours my retort contained marble
instead of limestone, and you see some
of the results before you"
Miss Hosmer's specimens were GER
tainly beautiful. They were as perfect
marble to all appearances as ever was
quarried. Every variety of color and
shade had been used. Some slabs were
of pure white, others deep black; the
delicate cream of the antique and the
rarest green and warmest rOse-colored
marbles were initiated to great perfec-
ton. These are not ordinary limitations,
which fall into dispepute by their com
monness. Placing column of genu-
inc green or cobalt marble along side Of
these limitations, no eye could tell which
was the imitation.
81 presume the stone thus made will
be available only under cover?" was
asked, cor will it stand the wear and
tear of outdoor exposurep"
Wherever marble can be used this
can be used, for it is marble. Of course
it is not suited for statuary- the grain is
not close enough; but for all building
purposes it is just as good as marble,
and far cheaper"
"What have you done about this in.
vention, Miss Hosmer?"
81 shall do nothing with it until my
other invention is eff my hands. re.
gard that as of the first Importance, and
this is only an accidental piece of good
fortune. The discovery with regard to
the magnet was the result of long
search, and, though finally succeeded,
as much by hit'as by wit, still it was
only fair that l should. At the end Of
10 years experiments, l suddenly hit
upon something greater than l had
hot ed for; 1 feel that it is far more i'm
portant than the marble, and so | de-