Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1901-04-08


prising to find that many of the most
valuable patents have been granted to
mechanics and other persons obliged
to work for days wages, and in not a
few instances the ideas evolved from
their brains have produced veritable
showers of gold. Some of the inven-
lions, indeed, have brought millions
of dollars, while in numerous other
instances they have made their origin
ators independent.
w. M. Jenne of lion, N. Y, was a
mechanic, working by the day when
he began to produce typewriter in
ventions. His ideas in this line have
brought him wealth, and he is now
superintendent of a typewriter manu-
featuring company. To Jenne and G.
L. Sholes-two men whose names
are almost unknown to the general
public-is chiefly due the development
of the writing machines OF today.
Sholes, who died rich, began as a
mechanic, and a universally known
typewriter was to great extent his
creation.
ions from the linotype machine, but
died poor, was originally an expert
mechanic, engaged in making tele-
scopes and other scientific apparatus.
His continuance is now in use all over
the world, the mechanical compositor
having taken the place of the human
typesetter in nearly every great news
paper Office.
l.. G.. Crowell was likewise toiler
at days wages when he began to in
vent improvements in printing ma
chimes. His contriyance for folding,
which brought him large fortune,
made possible the present enormous
editions of many-paged newspapers.
Up to that time the lack Of a folding
device had set limit on the output of
the printing press, but now the
Crowen folder takes the sheets as
they receive the impressions, packs
them into neat shape and stacks them
up all ready for distribution
Frank A. Johnson was a mechanic
in Minneapolis when he took out his
first patent for typesetting ma
chine. His invention in this line have
brought him wealth, and he owns
large blocks of stock in the companies
that manufacture mechanical typeset-
ters.
The process of welding metals und-
er water by means of the electric arc
was not recognized at first as a great
discovery. It's inventor, George d.
Burton, was a mechanic, and every
cent he could get hold of he spent on
his idea, until just as he had begun
to despair, he sold a part interest in
his patent for 100000
Alexander P. Morrow was a me
chanic employed by a bicycle com
pany when he invented the coaster
brake which bears his name Two
hundred and fifty thousand of these
brakes have been sold, and the roy
atty has made Mr.. Morrow rich.
F. A. Flanegin had a little jewelry
shop in Washington, but at length
he devised a method of cleaning oil
wells by dropping an electric stove
down into them. Formerly, when
such wells became choked with para
i'm they were cleaned by exploding
nitroglycerin cartridges, which was
costly method and risky. The electric
stove process, which is cheap and can
do no damage, has made the inventor
a rich man.
William Painter of Baltimore was
poor man. The notion of crimping
a piece of thin metal around the neck
of bottle, to take the place of a cork,
struck him, and he became well off,
Many bottles nowadays have such
caps.
Augustus Schultz of New York in
vented the modern method of tanning,
which has reduced the process of
making leather from an affair of a
year or two to one of a few weeks,
thus revolutionizing the business. All
of the thin, tough leather manufac-
tured nowadays is made in this way.
When Schultz began his experiments
he was so poor that, it, is said, he had
to prepare his solutions in tumblers.
His invention made him rich.
Charles M. Hall was student at
Oberlin college when he discovered a
solvent by which aluminium could be
separated from it's ore. Though the
metal is very plentiful in nature,
every clay-bank being a mine of it, the
difficulty was to part it economically
from other substances with which it
is commonly found combined. Hall
solved this problem, and his process,
which is in use today, has made
fortune for him.
Charles ]. Van Depoele, inventor of
the undermining trolley, was me-
chanic. Now, thanks to this and other
ideas in regard to electric railroading,
he is rich man
Emile Berliner was a clerk, and he
paid a mechanic fifty cents a night to
teach him something about electricity.
The teacher was very ignorant of the
subject, and that was one reason why