Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-11-23
JOHN ERICSSON.
Personal Peculiarities Of the RCccn-
trio Old swedish Inventor.

roundings are unfashionable. He doei
not like to be bothered by visitors, ant
he is choleric enough to be stage faith
er. Hc hns few acquaintances and an in.
flnitesimal number of intimates. He
: lives life that Is out of all excitement
and is only an endless routine. He in
vents, invents, and invents. He rests
not satisfied with the achievement of 9
: long and successful life of hard work, but
goes ahead as resolutely and as earnestly
and as enthusiastically rs though his ca.
reer were just beginning. Why should q
man work when he has done enough TIC
! the mind of lazy mortal like me there
seems no reply. But to the tireless en-.
ergy of John Ericsson, the only rest is in
activity. He was born to harness, has
driven himself to harness for eighty
years, and to harness he will go until al
last he drops dead in the middle of the
roadway. There is no rest for him.
Now, in the last of his long years. he
rises from his bed just as regularly at in
the morning as he did when boy He
takes his cold plunge and follows it with
his regular swinging of clubs and dumb
bells, just as he has done for years and
years. Then he gets into his old-fash-
ioned, starchlcss shirt, with limp, stand
ing collar, his broadcloth trowsers and
coat and his buff duck vest. A breakfast,
which Hanlan would think harsh adhe-
renee to training rules, follows the opera
tion of dressing. 1t consists of weak tea,
coarse bread and eggs, or some similar
dish. After that, hard work until in the
afternoon. Then dinner, largely vcgeta-
rian in its direction. From that time un-
til or 10 at night he sticks closely to his
drawingtable, outlining curious pieces Of
machinery for some new development Of
inventive genius. Here follows the most
curious and eccentric part of Mr.. Erics-
sons routine. Instead of sitting down to
rest and think, he puts an old chimney
pot hat upon his head seizos his cane
and goes for long and circuituous walk,
which usually brings him back to his own
front door about midnight. Such has
been and is the daily life of John Erics-
son, mechanical engineer. No cigars or
tobacco, no cocktails, no brandy and soda,
nothing but exercise, work, midnight
prowling, weak tea and strong temper
Ericsson is Swede. He was born in
place with more syllables than inhabi-
tants, the bulk Of the people having pre-
sumably been carried off in attempting to
pronounce the name of this sylvan but
complicated retreat. Before the door CT
miners hut there stands at this day m
eighteen-foot shaft of native granite,
bearing testimony that here John Erics-
son first saw the light in 1903. The spot
is in central Sweden, in the neighborhood
of the Langbanslihttan iron mines. Cap
tain Ericsson seems to have an exceeding
1ly good name i'll Sweden, and to have in
creased it there by his work in Americ,.
for on the anniversary of his birthday
month or SO ago. he received long cable
gram from one Of the workingmen's So
cieties of that country, in which the best
wishes for his health and continued pros
perity were mentioned, together with the
prevalent belief in Sweden that he is the
greatest worker of the age. He has GER
tainly produced matchless succession of
great inventions, and he has been at it
ever since he was q mere youngster. His
father was mine owner in Sweden at the
place with the big name where the monu-
ment commemorative of Captain Erics-
boy " VwlEiethl. now stands. He was only
place on the Gotha cafia7," We Got. bin. q
placed in charge of n section of the works.
He carried on operations in Sweden up to
his 23d year, at which time he went to
England to extend his field of labor. And
he has never since returned to his native
country.
He vas one of the competitors in the
exhibition of steam engines in which
George Stephenson's famous locomotive,
the Rocket, had first prize. Captain Erics-
son, with his customary dogmatic force,
declares that his engine was quite nov
city, attained far greater speed at the ex-
hibition than the one which took the prize.
That was in 1929. three years after Cap
tain Ericsson first landed on English soil.
1t was seven years later that he adopted
the screw propeller, which made great,
but unfavorable, sensation in shipping
matters all over the world. The English
anything. They still retain their old
fashion Of scouting anything whatever
that is new or likely to turn over the old
systems of shipping. They derided the
screw propeller in the most decisive
vainly tried to secure an admission of the
ter of him and he left for America. He
was 80 years old when he arrived in this
country, and during the next few years of
his life lie had tho satisfaction of seeing
his propelling scheme demonstrate its
long time Captain Ericsson devoted his
mechanical genius solely to the produc-
ton of vessels of war, to which his atten-
ton had been turned by his English
training.
One Of the curious traits of Mr.. Erics-
sons character is total absence of ankle
ty to personally see the workings of any
Of his machinery. He has never been on
board the Destroyer but once siIce she
was completed, although experiments
have been going forward steadily even
since the preparations were complete. In
fashionipg mn invention of this kind
Ericsson works almost entirely from draw
ings, and lie knows Just rs well how every
part of the finished machine looks, ul
should look, as though he had handled il
n thousand times. When ] entered Cap
tain Ericsson's parlor on Beach street thu
other day, I found myself surroundet
with models of various machines, mostl.
those in use for sclar observations. Th'
place was very plainly furnished, as Nigh
have been expected of the best room II
the house of man such MS l have alread,
described. 1 found him short, thickse
person, not looking to be more than tift.
| years of age, with hair slightly touches
with gray, and side whiskcrs that hay
+. hardly passed from their native colol
/. He talked shortly and with tinge Q
abruptness in his voice, and may ad
o that lie seemed intensely relieved whe
the ordeal of facts through which ha
s put him had passed. Through the bac
windows of his residence j saw men
work erecting in his rear yard new soll
engine, which is quite as remafkabie
la its way as the machinery of war which ]
- has thus far developed.
A contemporary tells Of woman wi
hair so long that she can sit on it. B
:" that is nothing. A Rockland womans ha
lc is so long that, the other night, at dance