The National tribune., 1881-09-10
ANTICIPATED INVENTIONS.


Scarcely any important invention starts at once
into being; usually. it has had long period of
preparation, by men who reaped no profit from
their labors. The world considers the inventor
to be the person who gives the capital touch
which imparts practical value to an original idea,
whether or not he himself reap any portion of
that value and whether or not he be really more
clever than the preliminary inventors who cleared
the path for him. DR.. Johnson, looking out of his
window in Boltcourt one evening, saw lamp
lighter much troubled to light lamp; he did
not succeed until there was good deal OF black
vapOr over the wick; whereupon the great lexico-
grapher said, "Ah! one Of these days we shall see
the streets of London lighted by smoke" Was
not the real idea of gas-lighting in Johnsons
mind at that moment? And yet we do not call
him an inventor. Long before Johnson's time,
Dr. Clayton about 1850 distilled coal in a retort,
producing what is called "phlegm, black-oil, and
spirit; this spirit was gas, which he confined in
a bladder because he could not condense it into a
LIQUID. He was won't to amuse his friends with
burning this gas as it issued from the bladder
through holes pricked with pin. This was
century and half before streets were lighted by
gas.
The Marquis of Worcesters Century of Inven-
lions is awell-known repertory of new and strange
curiosties. He wrote this book in the time of
Charles the Second, and adopted the name " Cen
tury" because there are hundred projects de-
scribed. Or rather, the projects are asserted, for
none of them are so clearly detailed as to enable
an artisan to work from them. The range of sub
jects is something amazing. Ships to resist any
explosive proiectiles, and boats to work against
wind and tide, might be taken to prefgure our
irOn-clads and steamboats,. Large cannon to be
shot six times in a minute, and pistol to dis
charge a dozen times with one loading, certainly
seem very much indeed like revOlvers. A brass
mould to cast candles, is verbally exact descrip
tiOn Of the means used in making mould
candles, with the simple substitution of pewter
for brass. A machine for dredging harbOrs, and
a machine for raising ships for repair, are
edly among the ways and means of modern hy-
draulic engineering. An apparatus for lighting
its own lamp or candle at any predetermined
hour of The day or night was recently displayed
in the Metropolis, at one of the Working-Men's
Exhibitions: whether the ingenious fellow who
made it had read the Marquis of Worcester, we
do not know. A calculating machine for per-
forming addition and substractiOn was made a
hundred and fifty years after the Marquis talked
about it in his book. key that will fasten all
the drawers in a cabinet with one locking exactly
achieves what Mr. Sopwith achieves with his
MOnOcleid cabinet. New chemical inks for secret
writing; new apparatus for semaphores or signal
ing; explosive proiectiles to sink ships; an in
strument for teaching perspective; a method of
fxi,,, ,rel,3g IL h H.
bow TO shoot off two arrows at once; flying ma
chimes; an endless watch to go without winding
up; these are among the various novelties men
toned. 1t is difficult to decide how far the Mar
quis had really worked out any of these contriv-
ances, either in his own mind or on paper; that
he did not always advance so far as working mod
els may be safely supposed Nevertheless, he is
believed 10 have made model of something
which we in our days would call a steam-engine;
and he is known to have had a German artisan
Casper kaltOff, in his employ. as model-maker
and machlnlst. The visitor at Raglan Castle in
MOnmOuthshire, is told Of an ingenious mechan-
ical cOntrivance with which the MARQUIS who
was lord OF the castle in the times of the Civil
War cOntTived TO battle the Roundheads and
befriend the ROyalists a critical occasion.
The beautiful art Of photography is not so
modern, in its leading principles, as most of us
are in the habit of supposing. 1t was known
nearly hundred years ago that certain chemical
substances are blackened or at least darkened, by
exposure to light. Scheele discovered this fact in
relation TO chloride silver and Ritter to nitrate
of silver. Sir Humphrey Davy, DR.. WOllaston,
and Mr.. WedgwOod, actually obtained photo
graphs in 1902, by taking advantage OF this sci
entitic discovery. A camera Obscura was provided,
through the lens of which the suns light was adj
mitted the light was localized on a small sheet
OF glass, painted with colored device or picture;
and then it fell upon a sheet of paper rendered
sensitive by nitrate Of silver. 1t was found that
according TO the depth of color through which
the light passed, so did the paper become more
or less darkened; reproducing the picture. not in
cOlors, but with due gradations of light and
shade. In this way, photographs (as we should
now call them were produced of patterns, figures