The sun., 1901-03-09
FORTUNES IN PATENTS.
Men Who Have Made Millions by
Recent Inventions.


wages, and in not IL lew instances the
IDEAS evolved from their brains have
veritable showers OF gold.
W. NJ. Jennc, Of Lion, \. ", was II
mechanic working BY the day when he
began to produce typewriter Inventions.
lis ideas in this line have brought him
wealth, and he is now superintendent oi
Il typewriter manufacturing company.
10 lenne and G. l.. Sholes--two men
whose names are almost unknown to the
general public-is chiefly due the develop
ment OF the writing machines of today.
Sholes, who died rich, began as me-
chanic, and universally known type
writer was to IL great extent his cfea-
tion.
Mergenthaler, who received millions
from the linotype machine, was orig
inally AN expert mechanic, engaged III
making telescopes and other scientific
apparatus. His contrivance is now IN
use all over the world, the mechanical
compositor having taken the place Of the
human typesetter III nearly every great
newspaper Office.
l.. G. Jrowell was likewise toier at
days wages when he began to invent
Improvements in printing machines. HIS
contrivance for folding, which brought
him Il large fortune, made possible the
present enormous editions of many-paged
newspapers. Up to that time the lack
of n fom,ng device had set Il limit Oh
the output of the printing press, but
, now the Crowell folder takes the sheets
as they receive the impressions, packs
them into neat shape and stacks then
up all ready for distribution.
Frank A. johnson was IL mechanic IL
Minneapolis when he took out his hrs,
patent for typesetting machine. Hi'
inventions i'll this line have brought hin
wealth, and he owns large blocks of stocl
| in the companies that manufacture me
chancal typesetters.
The process of welding metals undel
water by means of the electric arc wa'
not recognized at first as Il great dis
covery. Its inventor, George ID. Burton
was II mechanic, and every cent he coult
get hold of he spent on his idea, uhtii
lust as he had begun to despair he sol'
II part interest in his patent for 500,
900.
Alexander l.. Morrow was mcchani
employed by bicycle company when h
invented the coaster brake which bear
his name. Two hundred and fifty thous
and of these brakes have been sold, AM
the royalty has made Mr.. Morrow
rich
Il. A. Flanegin had a little jewclr
shop in Washington, but at length h
devised method OF cleaning oil well
by dropping an electric stove down int
them. Formerly, when such wells bt
came choked with paraiin they wer
cleaned by exploding nitroglycerin cal
tridges, which was costly method an
risky. The electric stove process, whic
is cheap and can do no damage, ha
made the inventor Il rich man.
William Painter, of Baltimore, was
poor man. The notion of crimping
piece Of thin metal around the neck &
bottle, to take the place of corl
: struck him, and he became well OF
Many bottles nowadays have such cap
Augustus Schultz, of New York, il
vented the modern method of tanning
which has reduced the process of maxim
leather from an affair of IL year or tw
| to one of few weeks, thus revolution
izing the business. All of the thii
+. tough leather manufactured nowaday
}. is made in this way. When Schultz b
4 gan his experiments he was so poe
that it is said, he had to prepare h
solutions in tumblcrs. His inventic
made him rich.
Charles NJ. Hall was II student
: Dberln College when he discovered
, ;olyent by which aluminium could
} separated from its ore. Though the met
is very plentiful in nature, every cl;
,ank being Il mine of it, the difficulty WI
{ 10 part it economically from other su
tances with which il is commonly foul
.ombined. Hall solved this problem, III
lis process. which is in Use today, h
made IL fortune for him.
Charles j. Van Dcpoele. inventor
he UNDERSTANDING trolley, was mocha
i d. Now thanks to this and other de
Z II regard to electric railroadinS he Is
= 'ich man.
Emile Berliner was clerk, and
,aid mechanic fifty cents night
each him something about elccti icii
rhe teacher was very ignorant of I
,ubject, and that was one reason W
terlner was led off the beaten ira,
lie began to make discoveries. and i
a lily he evolved ideas which made
a ong-dlstamcc telephone possible. the Il
u apparatus being good only for short d
II tances. The monopoly OF the Bell co
c' ,any is now held under the Berlil
&c ,atcnts and the ambitious clerk is W
o o do.
u Thomas L. Wilson, of New York, W
u / dabbler in experimental chemistry.
= lit upon a cheap method of making c
:. ,ide of calcium, which up to that ii
:, lad been known only as n laborat'
>, product, and the discovery has brou,
= him wealth, calcium carbide being
source of acetylene gas.
DIR. Bell, the telephone man, was
's' school teacher. He took the first wo
Ar ing model of his telephone TO John
ry Logan and offered him Il half inter
lal 'or $2.5OO. saying that it would do av
b. With the telegraph and that there '
81. Millions in it. Logan said: Il d
XXI ;ay your machine works perfectly,
IL Who would want to talk through 81
al / thing as that, anyway? / advise
nIe o save your money, young man." IL
ly phone stock is worth today $4,000
" some such sum, and Bell got sevt
~ millions of money. He offered a tie
~" interest to an examiner in the Fat
u. Office for 800. 1t was refused. L
w 4enth interest was worth $1,600,000 wit
ne, Is years. and the man to whom it
M %. ,ffered is still examining patents
4 !, $4,000 per annum.
ON Edison was Il telegrapher when
iao made his first important invention.
re, looll it to company on Broadway. J
ar, York and the manager told him
nt would pay $4,000 for it and not {
-. | ,,nrn trLn fut;lrn Mizall MnS aStnl