The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-11-02
SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS.
Fin de Steele Contrivances Used Every Day
Everywhere-Unused Inventions.


Everywhere-Unused1 Inventions.
Especial Correspondence
PITTsBURG, Oct. 9.-"Not day passes"
said an ingenious inventor of these times
to me today, that you and | and almost
every one in all this land do not make use
of one or more of the contrivances that by
reason of their recent invention and ingen-
ious nature may be appropriately termed
fin de steele devices. The telephone and
the phonograph, electric cars and cable
cars and a host of other things that will
occur to your mind come naturally under
this heading, but they are not nearly so in
teresting to me as are, in their way, the in
genious inventions that for some reason
have never been put into general use
ut is said that Edison made half dozen
inventions in telegrapby which were bought
up by the Western Union and buried, and
that in that way the Wizard got much of
the money that enabled him to 20 ahead
and perfect his electric light and the other
things that have made him famous and
very rich and have practically changed
methods of life and of doing business the
| world over. His telephone was in many re-
spects a better one than Bells, and II it
| had not been judicially decided that it was
an infringement on the latter's patent
would perhaps have been the more success
| full of the two. Its speaking qualities were
wonderful and 10 or ~ years ago there
| We're Edison exchanges in many cities all
over the country.
MANY newspaper readers have recently
| read of the Louisville man who discovered
| a chemical compound that would remove
| every trace Of ink from paper without in
any way discoloring the surface of the pa
| per and have approved of his course in
withdrawing it from the market because
| he found that INSCRIPTIONS persons had
| made use of it to alter checks and legal
documents Not every inventor would be
| broad minded enough to do this, but every
| one must admire the motive that prompted
| so unselfsh an action.
Every little while we read of some new
continuance that seems bound to revolu-
| tionize some feature of business or render
| possible some attainment that has long
| been sought in vain. For instance much
| has been said about possibilities In the way
| of electrical cooking, and it was predicted
| two or three years ago that in short time
| food could be prepared more cheaply and
| better by the agency of the subtle, mysteri-
| Gus fluid that has had such great influence
for modern life than in any other way.
"Well, it is possible to cook by electrici-
ty, but the process is so costly that it's gen.
| eral adoption seems as far off now as it did
when it was first talked of. A friend of
mine, who is known to have money which
he wishes to invest in something of the sort,
was approached not long ago by an invent
or of an apparatus which, he said, would
overcome every difficulty. Set one up in
my Kitchen said the capitalist, and if it
works satisfactorily l will put up the
money to float n company for it's manufac.
| ture'
"An electrical cooker was put up as re-
quested, and it did it's work perfectly, but
at the end of three days trial it had burned
out and was useless. 1t was renewed again
and again, but it could not be made to last,
and so the company was never formed, and
the invention is not used. My capitalistiC
friend had a similar experience with new
smoke consumer. The man who success
fully solves the problem of the consump
tion of soft coal in such way as to dc
away with the black sooty smoke now pro
duced will speedily become multimillion
aire, and my friend was very glad to have
an opportunity to test a continuance fol
that purpose which was brought to him
Put it on the furnaces under the boilers in
my factory he said to the inventor, and il
1t stands the test will back you
$50 the apparatus WAS tried, as the cleo
| Crlcal cooker ndu Deen, ana IL consumed
the smoke successfully and to the great
delight of all concerned. By the end of g
week, however, fatal defect manifested
itself. The intense heat of the smoke com
bustion destroyed the iron of the apparatus
and it has not yet been found possible tc
change the device so as to overcome the
difficulty. The smoke consumer has there
fore been relegated to the scrap heap of un
available inventions. l have no doubt that
both electrical cooking and the consump
tion of the smoke Of soft coal will be prac
tically accomplished by and by, but good
deal of patient study and long and careful
experiments must be gone through with
first.
Notwithstanding the many dishearten
ing difficulties that inventors are constant
ly encountering, several great discoverie,
in electricity and chemistry are likely soor
to be made public, and among them will
undoubtedly be that of sending telegraph,
and telephone communications without
wires Already under favorable conditions
this has been done. There really seems NJ
good reason to the scientific mind why tn,
electrical current should not be projected
without metal conductors, and when thii
is done the seemingly impossible problem
is solved" NJ |, DEXTER.