The Lambertville record., 1889-05-08
CAPT. zALINsKps HOUSE.
The Surroundings of the Man who Made
the Dynamite Gun.

Among the houses which constitute
the officers barracks at Fort Hamilton
is one set apart for the protector and
perfecter of the pneumatic dynamite
gun which will play so important a
part in the reconstruction of our naval
armament. Capt. Zalinskis house
does not differ in architecture from
those of the other officers quarters at
the fort, nor is it in any way femarka-
Bile in its furnishings. 1t is simply
commodious and respectable within
and without. The visitor would COM
ment, however, upon the number of
flags and reyolvers he saw The flags
are veterans collected by the Captain
for their association with famous bat
ties in the nations wars. 1t gives you
a slight start as you hang your coat in
the hall to see two murderous-looking
revolVers of enormous pattern crossed
upon the.hat rack shelf. They lie as if
placed there awaiting the grasp of a
couple of short range duellists. Re-
covering from the start, the visitor
enters the fag-draped parlor, and at
once starts again at the sight OF. two
other huge weapons on the center ia
BILE. He turns away, and sees others
on the wall and on the mantel. They
are all of different patterns.
"I've never seen any dynamite"
said young lady who was visiting his
sister few evenings ago The Cap
tain at once took small box from a
table near by, aud pulled out stick
of ember gelatinous substance resem-
bling jujube.
"Will it go off if you drop it on the
hoorp" asked the girl timidly.
don't know said the Captain.
''If it is made right it won't, but, of
course, have to take the manufac-
turer's word for it that it is properly
compounded" The company at once
dispersed from that immediate vicin-
ity.
The study where the dynamite gun
was perfected is in the rear of the
house. 1t is a plain room, plainly
furnished. On one side are rows of
shelves filled with hundreds of PAM
phlet boxes with backs like books. In
these are stored treatises, clippings,
and papers, carefully classified, upon
the sciences of projectiles, strength of
materials, explosives, pneumatics,
mathematical curves, practical gun
merry, and other subjects relating to
his specially. They supplement, with
the latest developments of the world,
the exhaustive technical library that
occupies another side of the room. A
long, flat desk, filled with papers, oc-
cupies the centre of the floor, and near
it is type writer and curious look
ing cabinet 1t is to this cabinet that
Capt. Zalinski first takes his visitors.
He opens it and discloses phono-
graph. He is probably the first man
to utilize the photograph in the di-
rection in WHICH probably lies its
greatest future success. He uses it in
stead of stenographer. All his let
ters. his lectures, his memoranda, he
talks into the open mouth of his phon-
ograph. His secretary then writes
them out at her leisure from these
verbal notes. Miss Zalinski, his SIS
ter, is his secretary. When his wife
died his'sister came to live with him.
She learned shorthand and typewrit-
ing, studied out his problems after him,
read up his dry mathematics, and has
become of more use to him than O
thousand paid stenographers, since she
is almost as much of an expert in
dynamite, pneumatics, and gunnery
as her brother.
The Captain takes plenty of pleas
ure, as we'll as work, out of his phon-
ograph. He has tablets with all kinds
of music engraved upon them, which
he shoots off for the pleasure of him
self and his visitors, He can furnish
classical concerts by the talent to suit
any taste. Then hobby of his is to
get every pretty woman who visits the
house to say something or sing some
thing into his pnonOSrapn. lie labels
the tablets with her name, and can
afterward enjoy her conversation all
alone by himself whenever he feels
like it by turning on the photograph.
N Y SIN.