The Red Cloud chief., 1880-03-18
GREAT INVENTIONS.
How They Are Asds. ~ E~ssmpitned
the Late Mr.. us19plou.

How They Arr Asds. ~ Essmpiiaed b,
b Late Ar. Bisess~.
There is a very prevalen, notion thai
an inventor Is n tinkering fellow, m un'
easy sort Of mechanic who Is always ex
perimenting, cutting ard trying. with
vague expectation of some day hitting
upon something novel and possibly use
fnl. Doubtless there are In almost
every community men who waste their
time and means in brainless labor of
tina; character, would be inventors, who.
having no clean-cui or well-eonsidered
purpose in view, are ever busy nj moth
Ing, making q show Of invention without
ever in~ventiDg any thing. But such men
are DO more worthy of the name Of in
vcntor than the corner loafer who wran-
giles over the affairs II local politics is
worthy Of the name Of statesman.
The real inventor is a man II an en-
tirely different type. He knows pre-
cisely what he is driving at, and very
frequently his invention is entirly
thought out before the first stoke is
made To put it upon paper or to shape
IT in q more material form. when
you strike a difficulty, what do you do?"
was asked Of an inventor whose fame is
worldwide for his many achievements
in overcoming alleged impossibilities.
al sit down and think" was the sufii-
cicnt reply.
The capacity TO think j. the invent
or's first and most essential endowment,
and no amount Of iinkering, however
patient and mechanically skillfll, can
eve take its place. A striking exam
pie Of the true inventors ability To think
creatiyely is furnished in the inventions
Of the late Erastus Il. Bigelow. He was
not a mechanic, he had no practice in
the Use Of tools. he could not even han
die a pencil with skill and facility. His
inventions were made in the. recesscs of
his brain, where the complicated ma
chinery of 80 was created, thought
out in detail, before any attempt was
made to give il material embodiment.
To a writer in the last issue Of the But
Letin of the National Association If Wool
Manufacturers, Mr.. Bigclow said that
his most recent carpet-loOm-oDs upon
which seventy-two yards Of Brussels
carpet have been woven by one girl in
ten hours-was completely worked out
in his mind and mapped out in his
brain, not in his study or factory, but in
railroad cars while making his last visit
To Europe. After sating his mind and
eyes with foreign lands and scenery, an
irresistible fit of inveniioncame over him.
Retiring within himself, the machine
o assumed in his mind complete
form in every part and detail. Showing
a rough sketch of the invention, the
only drawing of it that had been made,
Mr.. Bigelow said: "All | have now To
do is 10 direct a draughtsman to work in
the details" Subsequently the narrator
saw the draughtsman in the inventors
study, under his direction, at work up
on the drawings from which the ma
chine was to be constructed. The in
%yentor, copying from the plan imprint
ed on his brain, dictated 10 the draughts-
man (who acted as a mere Photography
every line, circle and curve which was
To be transferred to the paper, giving
the exact place, length and dimensions.
The result was a working drawing,
from which alone the machinists were
able 10 construct a perfect machine,
working without experiment or adjust
ment exactly as it was cOntrived by the
inventor.
lUt ulIIcTtUtt DelWttu tnc WOThlnO
of a mind like Mr.. Bigclow's and that
of an inferior inventor is one of degree,
not Of kind. The same kind of thinking
is done with more or less thoroughness
by every true inventor. And those who
stop short in their creative thinking
and begin To materialize their invention
too o % only multiply their chances for
going wrong, increase their labor need
lessly, and demonstrate their incapacity
to reach the higher levels of the art of
invention. To begin to build when the
object is but vaguely a~pprehended is to
invite confusion and failure by turning
the mind off from the highway of inven-
ton TO the ~bewildering by-paths of I'M
intelligent experimentation.
In that wide field of invention in
which the self-imposed task of the
worker is to accomplish a new result by
means, the rules to be followed are adj
mirably set forth in Mr.. Bigelow's de-
scription of the working Of his own
mind in developing the inventions for
which he is so %honorably known. Speak
ing upon this point, he said:
MY first step toward an invention
has always been to get a closer idea of
the object aimed at. l learn i S require
ments as a whole, and also as composed
of separate parts. Ii, for example, |
that object be the weaving of coach
lace, | ascertain the character of the
several motions required, and the rela-
tons these must sustain to each other
in order TO effect the combined result;
secondly, | devise means to produce
those motions; and thirdly, l combine
those means and reduce them to a state
of harmonious cooperation. To carry
an invention through the first and sec
Ond stages is comparatively easy; the
first is simply an investigation of facts;
the second, so far as l can trace the
operations of my own mind, comes
through the exercise of the imagination.
l am never at a loss for means in the
sense above explained. On the contrary,
my chief difficulty is 10 select from the
variety always at command those which
are most appropriate. To make this
choice of elementary means and to COM
bine them in unity and harmony-to
conduct, that is, an invention through
its last practical stages-constitutes the
chief labor.
"In making this choice of elementary
parts one must reason from what is
known TO what is not sO-keeping in |
mind, at the same time, the necessary
combinations, examining each element,
not only in reference to its peculiar
function, but to its fitness also for be-
coming a part of the whole. Each de-
vice must be thus examined and re-ex-
amined until harmony and unity are
fully established. l find no difficulty in
effecting that concentration of thought
which is so necessary in pursuits like
mine. Indeed, it is not easy for me to
withdraw my mind from any subject in
which it has once become interested I'M
I'll its general bearings, at least, are full
ly ascertained. l always mature in my
mind the general plan of an invention
before attempting to execute it, resort
ing occasionally to sketches on paper
for the more intricate parts. In build
ing a machine a draughtsman prepares
the working drawing from sketches fur
nished by me, which indicate in figures
the proportion of the parts. I never