The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-12-03

was hardly civil. another dismissed the
scheme with an icy smile that froze my
hopes and almost bc-eft me of courage TO
proceed, and still another refused to as-
cept the invention. but did il in kindly
manner. After s;udious examination OF
the model which / had with me, he re-
marked. as he handed it back, 1: is pity
that so much real ingenuity has been ex-
crted in an attempt which has SO little
promise Of practical results
THUS after a year OF vain efforts to in
terest some one in my discovery, ! had
accomplished nothing toward perfecting the
machine, except the building of a brass
model which stands today somewhere
among the relics of the Patent Office. l
was still young. and could bear the disap-
2ointment with fortftude. but my father,
who was no less impressed with a belief
in the utility Of the machine than l wa,
was old, and the collapse of our plans con-
tinued TO be source of trouble to him
until his death in 1873.
My legal days did not return. With
my family l retired to farm in Virg MIA,
there to continue my experiments and to
give new form to the mechanical idea
which had haunted me since the incident
in the sugar house en- the old plantation.
l had begun to understand that machiT-
lists are, as a rule, routine men, working
almost thoughtlessly on the idc;s of
others. The belief had also taken pos
session of my mind that l was ordained
by providence to develop new method CT
applying power for the good Of mankind.
Whether l was to struggle on to the end
and leave rewards to others / knew not,
but of this i was convinced, that l rad
discovered the secret Of true mechanism,
and that the world would not only Gene
to see its utility, but would greedily APP
propriate its advantages.
"a few years later found a man who
understood my meaning, who was wealthy
and would further my plans. My crude
wooden models we're brought out, and
began once more to build machine in
Baltimore. / was ignorant of practical
mechanics, but my new friend was able TO
grasp the idea concealed in the models.
and, assigning skilled artisan to the
work, We soon had road machine in pro-
cess of construction. But new diff ,ui,ies
presented themselves. The workman had
a very imperfect knowledge of the Eng
lish language. He was n mechanic of
great patience and skill, but he failed at
many points to comprehend the full
meaning of my plans. and found out at
last that they were defective. Full SUI
cess, Of course, was impossible, and the
machine when completed did not work
we'll. though il could not be called
failure.
Business reverses shattered my
friends fortune, and further expcriml mt
was out of the question for two years.
But the interval gave time for a revision
of the models, removing their defects, and
brought the son of my friend out of ap-
premiership into full standing in his
fathers shop. From the beginning he had
taken great interest in my scheme. He
studied the models as no one else did, and
finally came to understand what l was
seeking for as we'll as l did myself. His
practical hand also was the one thing
needed TO put my ideas into graceful form
in wood iron, and steel. After years
effort he Machine was completed and
ready III trial. 1t was only model.
needles~iy heavy. and possibly not in the
best &c. N for practical use, but l had 4
vehicle which believed would cutIun The
horse. distance the bicycle. and which
was not afraid to exhibit to the world.
Success ] thought was within my grasp.
and the machine which did not cling on
the centre was ready for inspection. The
struggle had been a long one, and disap-
pointments had been many, but they
seemed about TO vanish in the triumph of
the machine which had made. did not
then imagine that another disappoint-
The machine which had cost the inven-
tor SO many years of study and effort, and
upon which he had staked his hopes of
success and fortune was simple road
vehicle, not unlike the buck board in gem
eral appearance. II was fOur-whesled
vehicle capable of carrying single rider.
1t was worked by lever in front, which
moved back and forth and caused the
thing 10 run rapidly and with a mcd;rate
expenditure of effort. One stroke of the
lever in the hands of the rider caused the
carriage to bound forward about twelve
feet. Beneath the seat were the pieces of
mechanism upon which the inventor had
spent so much time and effort. The pril-
ciple involved was double eccentric
which admitted of the exertion of con-
tinuous force on the drive wheels of the
vehicle. The parts were very simple. and
though the machine was worked by hand,
the inventor claimed that any motive
power could be applied, and that the en-
CINE was equally useful for the locomotive
or the automobile.
But il was here that lie had miscalcu
lated. He had put into form an appliance
for overcoming the fault of pistons stop
ping on dead centres. He had worked at
this problem for thirty-fve years. I'M
mindful of the several solutions of the
same problem in the stationary engine or
the locomotive While he had been exper-
imenting the bad point had been overcome
in practical way in rotary motion. As
result he had nothing new to offer. 4
number of trained machinists and engi-
neers, representing one Of the largest BIZ
cycle manufactures in the United States
and of two railroad companies were in
vited to examine the machine and in their
presence 1t was put TO a thorough trial.
II was soon discovered by their practiced