The St. Johns herald., 1891-07-23
Rain Made While You Wait.

Melbourne, the ram WlZaru hdlH- maker Frank Melbourne of Canton is now one of the busiest men in .he State, not even excluding Gov. F. Campbell. The number of in- quiries he receives about his rain- producing machine is enormous, and come from men of all classes from all over the country.
 The next day fixed for rain by Melbourne is July 11th. It is sig nifcant and noteworthy fact that each time he promised rain 1t has come, and on ore occasion too much of it came at Canton, where he con ducts his experiments, regular deluge, resulting in loss of thou sands of dollars worth of property following his operations. This hap pened within the last three weeks. Mr. Melbourne said to your core spondent that he left Ireland, his native country, for Australia twelve years ago, but that it was not until four years ago that he beganto think of inventing a contrivance for the production of rain. He was em- ployed in a paper mill and all of his spare time was devoted to the perfection of his apparatus. He worked at it late and early. and finally convinced himself that he had succeeded. About this time a noted astronomer in Queensland predicted three years drouth.
 "Then, ,''continued Mr, Melbourne, "I set to work on my experiments. There was nothing so very surpris- ing about the astronomers predic- ton, because two-thirds of the con- tinent of Australia is subject to pc riodical drouths, but his prophecy came to naught. My invention was successful, even beyond my utmost anticipations, and within a short time I produced dozen heavy falls of rain. That was condition of things never known before, and the history of the country was search. ed in vain for anything parallel to it. 1 tried to keep my invention secret, though I didn't succeed en- tirely in doing so, and finally left Australia for New Zealand, and there repeated the experiment, with the same result. Finally decided to come to America, and took ship for San Francisco
 "Did you try your experiments on the water?"
 Yes, I did and had lots of fun. with the Captains and the sailors. Of course Iworked my machine SC, cretly, and it was very easy mat ter to do it. You know perhaps that ram is very rare occurrence on the Pacific at the season I cross ed, but I brought it down twice. I kept the sky cloudy during nearly the entire voyage, a thing altogeth- CT unusual in the tropics. spent a week in California, and expert mented there, but made no attempt to acquaint the public with my in vention. Then I went on to Can ton, where I have been living ever since with my brother, who is con tractor in that city"
 As to the nature of his contriv- ance MT. Melbourne refused to say a single word, Mir. Melbourne has produced rain five times to order in this State. Each time the date was fixed by a newspaper man. The date of July 11th was fixed by re. porter of the Cincinnati Post.
 "What time do you require in which to produce rain?"
 Anywhere from six to twenty four hours; sometimes a little lon ger. It is all according to the at mosphere."
 What's your method of opera tion?"
 "Well, you won't expect me to tell you that. All can say is that it is part chemical and part mechanical.'
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