New-York tribune., 1901-01-22
OBITUARY.
PROFESSOR ELISHA GRAY,

Newton Mass Ian 1-Professor Elisha Gray, of
Chicago died suddenly from neuralgia OF the heart
in Newtonville last night. He was associated with
Professor Alexander Graham Bell in the perfec-
tion of the telephone. and had been East about
a year and a half to assist Arthur j. Mundy in
the perfection of system Of submarine els sgnang
and had made arrangements to go to Maine ,In to5
consulted Dr. Talbot who told him he had slight
acidity of the stomach He was picked up IN an
into a neighboring house. where he died Mr. Gray
leaves widow and one son. He was sixty-seven
There is something particularly pathetic in the
career OF Elisha Gray. There be no question
that he was a man of remarkable talent and m
genuity 1t is conceded that the telephone Whlch
he invented was capable of transmitting human
speech. and there those who believe that IT
even more efficient than Bells. The principle
employed in the two devices different. but the
object the same. The formal applications for
a patent filed on the same day, February H.
1876. at Washington but the ground that Belfs
record few hours earlier than Cirays the
former received a patent. IT the American patent
system priority of invention is the chief stand
ard by which merit is judged. In the litigation
which ensued Gray alleged that his ''caveat. or
preliminary notice had been file before Bells
application. and it contended that by the dis
honest colluson of official in the Patent Office
Bell had been informed of Gray's aims and methods
in time to hasten his action The courts, however,
refused to believe this. and decided against the
disappointment. while Bell became immensely rich
Within a dozen years after his first applica
tion Gray took ou- nearly fifty patents on minor
details in telephony. OF late he had been working
system of submarine signalling. which would
enable ship at sea to detect the approach of an
other vessel ten miles more away.
Another Of Gray's inventions, the telautograph
made it possible for person sitting at one end Of
a telegraph wire to reproduce with fidelity at the
other end the penmanshP Of a message or de
sign of any kind in outline. The comparatively
limited to which such INSTRUMENT could be
put has stood in the way of its being introduced
into general service, but il exhibited remarkable
originality.
third field of experiment and Invention in which
he worked ordinary telegTaphy- GRAY was born
Bannersville, Ohio, August ,. 1855. and in
his early childhood captivated by the story OF
Morses work. In fact. while still a yOunSster. he
constructed a Morse recorder with his hands.
When in Oberin College he made a sDecial study OF
physical science but il was not until 1857 that he
took his first patent on teegraphic apparatus
From 1859 until 1878 he manufacturer of cleo
trical instruments in Chicago In 1874 he went
abroad TO improve his knowledge Of acoustics thus
the better t himself for the perfection of tele
phone. Among the telegraph instruments which
he invented a repeater, switch. annunciators
and typewriting telegraph But the financial re-
suits of all this labor and ingenuity were not COM
mensurate with the mans genius, and the closing
years Of his life were greatly embt'tered ny dis
appointment.