The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-12-03
an INVENTORS FAILURE
A Lifetime Spent in Perfecting a
Mechanical Road Machine.
A Renna rkable Scene I'm LOuisinna
Sagar House Leaves mn Impression
Ycar.-A Curiou. Boat I'm baltimore
Harbor The HOrseless Vehicle.

The evolution of the automobile driven
by electricity or by the naphtha engine
has been attended with so much that was
brilliant and spectacular that ii has
eclipsed the earlier efforts of inventors TO
produce the "horseless carriage Yet
the study and experiment devoted to the
problem of making vehicle which would
run self-propelled has perhaps exceeded
that given 10 any other mechanical device.
Indeed il was the electric storage battery
and the naphtha engine. rather than the
application of any new mechanical pr:n-
ciple that afforded machinists a starting
point in the automobile
The carly efforts to develop mechanical
carriages in this country were doomed 10
failure. because propulsion depended Upon
steam or man power. II was always
swapping the horse for the locomotive or
the human being, and inventive genius
could never get beyond the railroad and
the bicycle. But the persistence Of these
efforts after repeated failures was re-
markable, and the results achieved fur
nish the material for an interesting
chapter in the history Of invention.
One of the most interesting Of these
mechanical vehicles which would not
work was a road machine built by Bal
timore inventor ten years ago. 1t lacked
power chiefly, and after being examined
by experts and pronounced practically
worthless, the inventor retired to farm
in q distant State to pass the remnant
Of his days banned and disappointed. The
machine and the mechanical principle in
volved had been the work Of his life. and
had consumed the proceeds OF two sugar
plantations which formed part of his
fathers estate.
Fifty years ago, as a lad, he was wan
dering about one of these plantations in
Louisiana. II was picturesque spot IN
Assumption Parish, fronting on the Bayou
Lafourche. one of the lesser passages OF
the Father of Waters to the Gulf. The
plantation was the property of a 7romi-
nent citizen of Louisiana during the years
prior to the war. He had an extensive
law practice in New Orleans, where he
was engaged for many years upon the
Myra Gaines case. He also represented
the State of Louisiana in Congress and
was in Washington when the war began
The lad referred to was his only son.
Strolling one October day to the sugar
house, the boy was surprised to find the
usual hustle of the busy season a stand
still. The machinery which never ceased
to attract his young eyes was silent. Two
or three men were busily engaged near
the great fy-wheel, reaching nearly from
the floor to the roof. With levers they
we're trying to move this wheel and to
start 1t upon its usually rapid motion.
Slowly inch by inch, the great pitman was
forced along and the wheel with difficulty
was stirred to reluctant motion. Finally,
there was CULVER, a sudden waking sound
OF steam. and the massive thing resumed
its whirling. Subsequent enquiry reveal
ed the fact. not then known to the boy.
that the engine of that day had periodic
times, when steam was powerless, and the
piston had to be carried along past the
dead point by the impetus lodged in the
fly-wheel.
This incident of the plantation engine
stopping on the dead centre made an abid-
ing impression on the boys mind. Il re-
member" he once said in speaking OF
his experiences, Ito have felt in a vague
way that it would be easy to remedy that
defect in machinery, but it was not until
years afterward that this impression took
actual shape in my mind. Still that para
lysis of motion in the sugar house was the
starting point of my subsequent study and
experiment. AS boys will, l wandered
thoughtlessly over the plantation, build
ing engines in my play, which ran freely
enough under the guiding impulse of my
hand. But the school claimed my atten-
ton, and the years sped rapidly while J
was pursuing my studies and preparing
TO enter my fathers profession. Then the
war came on, and found myself in the
Confederate army under Jackson, and
finally a prisoner on parole in Baltimore
After the war I settled in New Orleans,
intending to practice law, but in leisure
hours ! continued to turn over in my mind
the problem of getting engine pistons past
dead centres. One day, in actually trying
to help an engine crank over the bad
point again on the old plantation, /
reached result instantaneously and al
most by accident, which would practically
annihilatc dead centres in rotary motion
by applying to them constantly pro-
polling force. ! explained the discovery
had made to my father and he at once
recognized the value of the mechanical
principle / had hit upon. He decided that
my life, il need be, should be spent in
working out the idea into practical shape
Patents were easily obtained, and, though
/ was unlearned in mechanics. l was not
long in reducing the principle to a model
THE first attempt TO use the new method
Of applying force was thirty years ago. at
Fell's Point. in Baltimore. A small skin
was fitted out with side wheels, driven by
wooden machinery. The experiment was
something Of a success. at least to the
boys at the Point, who were sometimes
allowed to try their hands at the wheels,
hut nothing was really accomplished be-
yond creating novelty and producing a
momentary sensation in Baltimore Harbor
MY next step was several attempts to
Interest prominent machinists and men of
capital In the new principle of mechanism,
but they received what had to say with
varying expressions of disapIroval. One