Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1899-08-31
Invented by Accident.

If it were not for inventions living
today would be just as primitive as
It was when the inhabitants of De-
troit were running around in paint
and feathers. The conveniences Of
living are so common that we scarcely
ever stop to think how they came into
existence. We have all heard Of the
man that fell out of a balloon-he
landed accidentally; and it's the same
way with many of the greatest of in
ventions. Every student of natural
philosophy knows that Newton dis
covered the law Of gravitation by see
ing an apple drop from tree to the
ground and Archimedes jumped out
of his bathtub and ran through the
streets believing Eureka because he
had discovered accidentally that "a
body will displace volume of water
equal to its own bulk.
Then there was Watt who discov-
cred the motive power Of steam while
amusing himself with stopping up the
nozzel of a teakettle and watching
the lid fly up.
Vaucanson, the grand master OF the
automatic art, first became interested
in mechanics by peeping through a
crack and watching the movements
of clock at time when he was sup
posed to be listening to the prayers Of
his very austere mother.
The perfection of the Argand lamp
was brought about by the merest accl-
dent. Anne Argand, a chemist OF
Geneva, was experimenting with it,
while his younger brother, a harum
scarum chap, was skylarking around
the laboratory, clapping fask-with
the bottom knocked out-over every
available thing he could find. The
chemist was able to make only dim,
smoky light, and in a discouraged
moment turned his back, when young
Argand clapped the flask over the
flame, and it Immediately gave bril-
liant white light.
Several stories are told of discover
ing the principle of raising water by
means of a partial vacuum, which is
applied in the steam engine. One is
that towards the end Of the seven
teenth century Capt. savery entered
a tavern in Florence, drank the con-
tents of a wine flask and threw the
bottle into the fire. A few drops IN
the bottom began to come out IN the
form Of steam, when, seeing this, the
captain took out the bottle and par
TALLY filled it with water that imme-
diately rushed up and nearly filled the
flask.
The invention of cooking utensils
was crude and entirely accidental. In
primitive times stoves consisted Of
hole in the ground with fire kindled
in it, and water was sometimes boiled
by contact with heating stones.
GourdS were used for pans, and they
were protected from the fire by coats
of clay, 1t was soon discovered that
the gourds were unnecessary, and thus
the potter's art was established.
The invention of bridges is supposed
to be owing to the fact that at some
primeval time treefell across a stream
and accustomed the natives to the idea
of getting over that way.
Animal organisms have suggested
many inventions. The mode of pro-
pulsion of the cutie fish, which is by
violently expelling water admitted
into the breathing sac, has been ap-
piled to the skyrocket, the stream CT
gas that issues from the lower
end of the tube driving the rocket in
an opposite direction. For catching
its prey, the dragon fly has queer
kind of apparatus that elOngates and
then folds up when not in use. This
principle has been used in the folding
rule, pocket compass and pocket scis-
sors, and in many other things that
need to be folded into a small space
for convenience sake.
Rope making is almost identical
with the way spiders thread is wo-
ven.
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