The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-02-24
HIS Is A THORNY PATH.
Some of the Trials Which Fate Be-
slows on the Inventor--SiOw Adop-
,G M In

stOWS Ou tue IuNeNtOT"sSloN AuoP-
tion of New Devices.
From the Baltimore Sun.
Tradition says that John aust, one
of the three inventors of printing, was
charged with multiplying books by the
aid Of the devil, and was both prosecute
ed by the authorities and prosecuted
by the people. The ribbon loom is an
invention of the sixteenth century, and,
on the plea that it deprived many work
men of bread, it was prohibited in
| Holland, in Germany, in the dominions
| of the church and in other countries
| of Europe. At Hamburg the authori-
| ties ordered ribbon loom to be public
| ly burned. The stocking loom shared
| the fate of the ribbon loom. In England
| the patronage of Queen Elizabeth was
| requested for the invention, but the
inventor was impeded rather than as
sisted in his undertaking. In France
opposition to the stocking loom was of
| the most base and cruel kind. a
Frcnchman who adopted the invention
manufactured by the loom a pair of
| silk stockings for Louis XIV. They
were presented to the monarch, but the
parties who supplied hosiery to the
court caused several of the loops of
the stockings to be cut and thus
brought the stocking loom into dis
repute at headquarters.
| luDlt lOlhS appear So ItCtS0cils q
| part of furniture of a dinner table that
one can scarcely beliVe that the tables
| of the sixteenth century were destitute
| of them. They We're not however, in
troduced into England until the COM
mencement of the seventeenth century,
and then We're ridiculed as effeminate
and Supertluous. The SaWmill was
brought into England from Holland in
1863 but the attempt to build one so
displeased the English that the enter
prise was abandoned. A second at
tempt was made a few years later and
mill was actually erected, but soon
after it was pulled down by mob. Pot
terry is glazed by throwing common salt
into the oven at a. certain stage of the
| baking. This mode of baking was IN
| troduced into England in 1890 by two
brothers. who came from StatfOrdShire
from Nuremburg. Their success and
their secrecy so enraged their neighbors
that persecution arose against them an
they were compelled to give up their
works. The pendulum was invented by
Calico; but 50 late as the end of the
seventeenth century, when Hooke
brought it forward as a standard, of
measure, it was ridiculed and passed
by the nickname of Swing
Papin in France and Fulton in this
country both encountered the strongest
popular opposition when they produced,
in their respective lands, the first
steamboats, The little vessel launched
, on the Hudson in 1907 was popularly
called" Fultons Folly" It's inventor has
left us his written testimony that not
a single person ever made an encour-
l aging remark to him about 1t while he
was constructing it. HargreaVes, Whc
invented the first spinning jenny in 1853
saw his machine smashed by MS fellow
workmen for his trouble and had to fly
| e., /; e. f,,p, 70
introduction Of railroads and steam
| locomotives furnishes another chapter
| of the same kind. The great Ch1ncellol
, Livingston of New York wrote a letter
demonstrating the impossibility o.
> building u practicable railroad in the
United States Daniel Webster alsC
went on record as strongly doubling
| | whether a railroad could be built tina
= would work In his opinion the fros
= on the rails would either prevent tbs
i train from moving or from being stop
4 | ped if it did move. When Murdoch dis
| covered the secret of Illuminating ga:
he was merCilessly guyed by another
inventor, Sir Humphrey Davy, and alsC
= | by Sir Walter Scott, who, nevertheless
i lived to light his own house with gas
I The starting of the first steam printing
q press in the office of the London Times
came near to causing riot. There arr
k still many people who believe that ma
|
of hand labor, has been injurious o th'
O mass of working people. The SEWING
machine was fervently prayed agains
in hundreds or American homes.
more melancholy chapter nigh
o be written of the inventions that nigh
y have blessed mankind but have beer
II | suppressed for one reason or another
d Their number is unknown, but it is un
q questonably very large. Thirty year
ago or more it was claimed that a 10
q comotve had been built for use ON rail
roads which would consume its owl
=, smoke and throw off the cinders. |
II was said to have been tested, and fOunC
all right. 1t was also declared to b.
Il applicable to factory chimneys 9e
- we are still going along with our rail
e road locomotive and our factory chin
a neys throwing off smoke, wasting fuel
damaging property, fouling the air "
q breathe and annoying everybody
:, Verify, the way of the inventor, equal.
>, with that of the transgressor, is hard
is KNIGHTS OF MALTA.