Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-04-02

well. But finally be discovered that,
when heated 70 fairly high tempera-
tnre. It lost OF Of these disadvantages
and became even better than sperm oil
This idea was applied simply by arraDg-
ing the oil reservoir Of the lamp so that
Il would be constantly subjected 70 heat.
IL was necessary TO reconstruct ell the
lighthouse lamps Ia the service, but IN
this way a saving was made Of SlO0OOO
per annum. In after years processes
were devised for refining petroleum IN
such manner as 20 render 1t perfectly
safe, and that mineral oil Is used in all
Of the lighthouses now.
FItANl[L1N'S ELECTRIC "BAT-
Terry"
Benjamin Franklin died Just about
the time when the patent system Ia this
country was first started No models Of
his Inventions, therefore. nre TO be found
IN the patent Office. In his day electric
ity was newly attracting public atten-
ton Us mysterious novelty. Acct
dental discovery was made ia 1I40 of the
possibility Of accommodating large quanti-
ties Of the slippery nuid In jar
People Travelled around with such jars
and generators Of simple pattern. aston.
ishing customers by giving thou shocks.
This was all that was known about cleo
tricity, except that the rubbing OF certain
substances together produced IT, Frank
lin amused himself aud his friends by
experiments with the new element. In
cidentally II occurred to him to connect
number Of the Jars together so as to
give more powerful shock the whole
accumulation being discharged at once.
Thus was produced the FIRST electric
battery, as he called Il.
IL had already been suggested that
lightning and thunder might be merely
electrical Pneumonia Franklin con-
ycrted this guess into a scientific fact.
| He said IL was not surprising that thun-
| der should be 80 loud: for, If two electrl-
| fed gun barrels would strike u spark at
a distance OF two inches and make
| loud report &C how great n distance
should 10000 acres Of electrified rlouds
| strike and give fire, aud how loud must
| be that crack
THEN INVENTOR OF LIGHTNING
RODS.
| One day he CHANGED 70 see kite which
boy was dying. and IL suddenly occur
| red 10 him that here was an easy way of
! reaching the clouds Having made Il kite
for himself by stretching large silk
handkerchief over three sticks, he took u
walk In the fields near Philadelphia on
| an afternoon when he saw a thunder
storm approaching This was in June,
| 100. The kite being raised In the air,
! he fastened key 10 the lower end Of the
string. then insulated the key by at
| taching 1t 10 Il wooden post with silk.
! Presently thunder cloud passed over,
and he saw some loose threads Of the
| Eempen string rise erect rs " electrified.
| lie touched his knucllle 10 the key and,
| 10 his great delight, drew from IL the
| Well-known electric spark. SO overcome
was he at this tremendous discovery,
which was destined TO immortul2c ha
name, that ne nearly fuinted. As the
rain increased moisture made the string
| hNffnT
out electricity copiously. Had the cord
been thoroughly wet, the daring inventor
might have paid for his temerity with his
life. II should be realized that he was
knowingly taking chances with death
IN thus tapping the clouds of their fire
house by means of insulated iron rods
nnd played with t. The lightning rod,
so largely used today for protecting build
ings were his invention.
MARK TWAIN'S PATENT.
Thomas Paine. the genius and philan
thropst. himself contemporary OF
Franklin. IL numbered among American
inventors, He devised a new method OF
constructing bridges, Senators Johr
Ruggles OF Maine. who accomplished tn,
reorganization of the United States pat
ent system In 1896 patented In the same
year locomotive for inclined planes
Mark Twain Is the only literary man o
reputation represented at the patent Of
fee. His patent scrap book rs one OF tn
things which visitors most often ask I,
see II is just like an ordinary scral
book, except that the pages are sprea,
with Dry muciage like postage stamps
so thnt they have only 60 be mofstene,
when scraps are 10 be stuck upon them
This Is very convenient for persons VIII,
may have no bottle of muclage handy.
RENE BACHB.
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