The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-02-26
GREAT INVENTIONS.
How They Are Made, as Exemplified b.
the Late Mr.. BigelOW.

lucTc II a very pTtNdie0b QOktOIl IHdl
an inventor is tinkering fellow, san I'M
easy sort of mechanic who is always ex-
perimentirig, cutting and trying, gsith g
vague expectation of some day hitting
upon something novel and possibly use
full. Doubtless there are in almost
every community men who waste theil
time and means in brainless labor OF
that character, would-be inventors, who,
having no clean-cut or well-considered
purpose in view, are ever busy at moth
ing, making show of invention without
ever inventing any thing. But such men
are no more worthy of the name of in
ventor than the corner loafer who wran-
giles over the affairs of local politics is
worthy of the name of statesman.
The real inventor is man of an en-
tirely different type. He knows pre-
cisely what he is driving at, and very
frequently his invention is entirely
thought out before the first stoke is
made TO put it upon paper or to shape
it in 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
81 sit down and Think was the suffi-
cient reply.
The capacity to think is the invent
or's first and most essential endowment,
and no amount of tinkering, however
patient and mechanically skillful, can
ever take its place. A striking exam
pie of the true inventors ability to think
creatively is furnished in the inventions
of the late Erastus B. Bigelow. He was
not mechanic, he had no practice in
the use of tools, he could not even han
die pencil with skill and facility. His
inventions were made in the recesses of
his brain, where the complicated ma
chinery of each was created, thought
out in detail, before any attempt was
made to give it material embodiment
To writer in the last issue of the BuL-
Letin of the National Association of Wool
Manufacturers, Mr.. Bigelow said that
his most recent carpet-loom-one 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 invention came over him.
Retiring within himself, the machine
soon assumed in his mind complete
form in every part and detail. Showing
rough sketch of the invention, the
only drawing of it that had been made,
Mr.. Bigelow said: "Al have now 10
do is to direct 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
ventor, copying from the plan imprint
ed on his brain, dictated to the draughts-
man (who acted as a mere pantOgraph)
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 to construct a perfect machine,
working without experiment or adjust
ment exactly as it was contrived by the
inventor.
The difference between the working
of mind like Mr.. Bigelow'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 soon 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 apprehended is to
invite confusion and failure by turning
the mind off from the highway of inven-
ton to the bewilderirg 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 new result by
wise choice and combination of known
means, the rules to be followed are ad-
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. | learn S require
ments as 6. 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, 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.
/ am never at loss for means in the |
sense above explained. On the contrary,
my chief difficulty is to select from.tbe |
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 part of the whole. Each de-
vice must be thus examined and re-eX-
amined until harmony and unity are |