The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1880-07-09

anu DldGLlLt GllbIJ Ill NtlitlC NL4ECO AAiety
he seen an iron image of a man-that IS,
so far as the trunk goes to make up the
image. the legs and arms being missing.
This curious figure attracts the attention .
of passers-by. many of whom suppose .
that il was once used to ornament a sea
going vessel or as d statue in some city .
or country dOOryaTd. The TACT is the .
image is what remains of the famous
steam man, that attracted so much at
tention from the public about twelve
wears ago. The steam man was the in .
vention Of a Staten Island genius named /
AdOlph Byrne. who worked a long time
to perfect his singular machine. when
completed. the concern was sold to a
stock company. who made a moderate
fortune by exhibiting it in New \ ork,
and other cities throughout the United
States. The newspapers teemed with
accounts of the wonderful performances
of the steam man. On one occasion.
when the invention was being expert
mented with at StapletOn, :. l.. report
was spread that the steam man had es-
capped from the keeper and was running
at full speed through the streets of the
village People became alarmed for
the safety of their childIen, and the lit
tie ones were hurried out of harms way
and kept indoors. The peace of mind
of many poor mother was destroyed by
Alt ltEIIDlt apprehension tt-0l lltI tllllNl-
ren be crushed under the iron wheel of
the monster. The fact was the sO-called
monster had not escaped at all, but was
prisoner in the building that had been
leased for the exhibition.
The steam man was on exhibition in
a vacant store on Broadway, in this city
in the summer of 1868. and the place
was thronged with visitors. Ladies
and gentlemen of all ranks and classes
of society called to see the iron wonder
tramp to and fro on the floor of She store.
Among the visitors were such men as
Commodore Vanderbilt, John Ericsson.
Peter Cooper and :. +. B. Morse, all of
whom took deep interest in the ma
chine from a scientific point of view.
The steam man was about > feet 10 in
ches tall His face has iron sternneSS
of expression. He was never known to
smile, and it is common remark that he
was a hard-featuTed fellow. and looked
upon life with stOical Indifference His
head was round as Il pumpkin, and the
crown was painted black % resemble hair.
The neck was somewhat too long, and
the trunk was so cOTpulent that the fig
ure reSembled that of well-fed aldermen.
There was a good reason for the corpu-
lency. for the trunk was the boiler i'll
which the steam was generated to fur
niSh the power whereby the iron image
was made to walk. y door opened into
the stomach, which was the furnace in
to which the coal which supplied the
fire was placed.
The feet were immensely heavy. as
they had to balance the body, so as to
prevent the figure from falling prone
upon the floor The walking apparatus
was not as complicated as might he sup
posed. The steam man was. in fact,
nothing more nor less than a walking
doll, such as are sold in the various toy
shops. reproduced on q large scale, and
with steam instead of springs as the mo-
tive power. The movements Of the
steam man were neither rapid nor grace
full. He was indeed a very clumsy fel-
low. and could not walk otherwise than
upon Il floor, the sidewalk or some level
surface. Furthermore. he could not
proceed except in a straight line. 1t
was impossible for him to turn himself
either to the right or the left.
When he was on exhibition in the va
cant store in on Broadway the ''shOw'
was conducted something after this fash
ion y walk or path about SIX feet wide
was rallied off on one side of the store
the whole length of the building, which
was about 12j feet long. The steam
man was put i'm motion once every half
hour. Before he was started the show
man would say : Now. ladies and
gentlemen. this is the most wonderful!
invention OF the age. | have the pleas
TIRE of introducing TO your notice the IA
nous steam man whose exploits have at
tracted the critical attention of many
of the leading scientific men of the age.
This machine can OutWalk Weston or
any other human pedestrian. We keep
him fenced in with a railing SO that lie
cannot get out and tIanple upon the
people. Some persons may fear that
the steam man will explode. Now. my
friends. there is not the least danger ON
this score. His body. which is the boil
er. is made of cast iron. and the walls
are fully three inches in thickness.
Then he has u pressure gauge and a safe
ty valve. It is impossible for him to
burst a. il would be tor an old fashioned
kitchen range
While the Snowman was making the
above little speech an assistant was busy
stirring up the fire i'm the bowels of the
iron man aud getting up a good head of
steam. When all was in readiness the
throttle valve was opened, and the ma
chine walked off with "a heavy tramp,
that shook the whole building. The eX-
hibitor and his assistant walked on eth
er side of the apparatus, ready TO catch
him If he stumbled or was i'm danger of
falling. When the machine had walk
ed the length of the track he was seized
and faced about the other way so that
he could TetraC. his steps. by the time
the machine had reached the starting
point again the steam would be SO low
that the apparatus would not work un-
til more steam was generated.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, - remark
ed the Snowman. You have seen all there
is TO see and yOuaTe requested to leave the
building and make room for other peO-
pie who are outside waiting to come III
to see this macvelOus steam man..
1t is estimated that the owners of
the steam man realized upward of 500
900 by exhibiting him in New York and
other cities Finally the machine ceas-
ed to be a novelty, and was no longer a
source of profit TO the proprietOrs. They
leased the steam man 10 a spcculator,
who took HIM TO England and placed
him on exhibition in London and Liver
pool. The English people, however,
cared very little about him, and very
few paid their shillings 20 see him walk.
The lessees brought him back 90 Amcri-
ca and after he had changed hands sew
eral times, he was sold for old iron.
The inventor of the steam-man also de
voted much time 90 PCrfecting steam
wagon, with which he hoped to do away
with the use of horses. In this he was
in a measure successful. His wagon could
he pushed To a speed of between seven
and eight miles per hour. The idea was
utilized in building a self-propeliug
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