Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-19
LUCK Of INVENTORS
TRIVIAL INCIDENTS SUGGESTED
NOTED MEcHAAN1cAL DEVICES.
Fortunes Have Been Realized by the
Merest Accidents-Skillful Men
Have Failed

From the Chicago Chronicle
In the course of his life the average man
stumbles across many inventions. Unfor-
tunately he has seldom the wit to realize
what he has done. One man in perhaps
million can appreciate the value of his dis
covery. He becomes an Edison or a Marconi
and the world wonders. The other members
of the milion-well, the writer is one Are
you another? Many years ago a kitchen
maid at Stanley farm, near Burslem. was
boiling up some salt and water for curing
pork The vessel used was Of unglazed
earthenware, and during her absence from
the kitchen the brine boiled over and there
was trouble. Subsequently the brine re-
fused to be scraped off the clay. but stuck
to the outside Of the vessel in a shiny
waterproof coat.
The story Of that accident came to the
ears Of a Burslem potter. To him 1t signi-
fled something more than the wicked
waste Of brine Of the kitchen maid. He
pirated the unconscious discovery, invent
ed" the system of glazing by common salt
and simultaneously gave the Staffordshire
potteries one of the greatest boons they
have ever experienced.
Suggested the Lighthouse.
In the latter half of the eighteenth CEN
fury one OF the members of little scien-
tific society in Liverpool laid a curious
wager. He bet a brother scientist that he
would read a newspaper by the light Of
| farthing dip at distance Of thirty feet.
The brother scientist finding the feat diff
cult at even a sixth of the distance cheer
| fully accepted the wager. The layer merely
coated the inside Of a shallow wooden box
with sloping pieces Of looking glass, so as
to form concave lens, placed behind his
| farthing dip and readily deciphered the
| small print at the stipulated distance
| The experiment was witnessed by a Liv-
erpool dockmaster. He was a thinking
| man and saw great possibilities in this
| learned jest He straightway adapted the
! principle to lighthouse requirements and
| forthwith the modern reflected light, with
| it's miles OF effective range and untold
life-saving powers, sprang into being
| Staffordshre potter named Astbury once
stopped at Dunstable on his way to Lon
| don in order to obtain advice as to his
| horses weak vision. The hostler at his inn
| burned some fiints and pulyerized them in
| to a fine powder, which he blew into the
animals eyes. Astbury was astounded-not
| at the nature Of the operation, but at the
fact that the erstwhile black flint became
| white with the heat. Surely thought he
| if this powdered flint were added to the or
| binary pipe clay it would on being fired
| produce a far harder and more serviceable
| white ware than ordinary clay. He tried
! the experiment, and flint ware was added
| to the list of British manufactures.
The Result of Accidents.
| LuIuylOOl, the Wefl-knOWn Snunmaker OF
our grandfathers' days, was once driving
some snuff preparatory to presenting 1t for
sale By accident it was baked too long
and burned beyond repair, but Lundyfoot
| was not cast down. Most men would have
| thrown away the entire stock He decided
| upon a holder course. Making a virtue of
| necessity, he advertised his charred stock
| as the new high dried" snuff, and started
| to push it for all he was worth. 1t had a
| pungent flavor all its own, and greatly to
| his surprise, it caught on" He made a
large fortune out of his invention"
| Many present-day< inventions have had
| equally unlikely beginnings Saccharine Is
| the most valuable Substitute for sugar we
| know. 1t can be taken with impunity by
dlabetlc patients, to whom ordinary sugar
| is death and 1t is many times sweeter than
| that commodity Nevertheless, it has only
| been known to science since 1887. In that
year DR.. Fahlberg was employed upon the
| all-important subject of coal tar derivatives
| at the Johns Hopkins University. United
| States of America. Sitting one evening at
! tea, he was surprised to find how sweet his
| bread and butter tasted. He traced the
| sweetness TO his fingers, thence to his coat
| sleeves. and finally to one of the bowls of
| derivatives in his laborat tory. Experiments
! upon himself and animals proved alike the
| harmiessness of the compound and it's ex-
| treme sweetness. He had "dscovered' sac
| charine
| Edison Knows a Good Thing.
| coast, when he came across a patch of
black sand. Curious to know what it con-
| tanned, he filled his pockets with it. and
| subsequently turned it out a bench in
| his laboratory. Just then a passing work
! man stumbled against the table and drop
| ped the big magnet he was carrying across
| the sand. When he picked it up again it
| was covered with tiny black grains, prov
| ing the sand to consist largely of metallic
! particles. Most men would have sworn and
passed on. To Edison, however, this action
| suggested the modern process of metal ex-
| traction from low-grade ores. In this the
| ore Is first crushed to powder and then
passed between powerful magnets, while
| the dross passes on.
The end. alas! is not always so satisfac-
tory Sixty years ago, when Daguerre
| Talbot and their brother scientists were
| working night and day to fix the fleeing
photographs which Daguerre had just in
| troduced, an unknown lad humbled the en-
| tlre french academy. poor, pinched lit
| tie Fellow whose shabby clothes and half
| starved appearance accorded but ill with
the Drain that must have been his, walked
| one evening into the shop of Chevalier the
optlcian. of the Quai de l'Horloge.
Tomorrow Never Came.
Before he left he had shown plate to NJ
Chevalier which proved beyond doubt
that he had mastered the much-pondered
| problem. He would not divulge his secret
| at least, mot until tomorrow" But that
tomorrow did not come, for the poor lad
| was never seen again. Whether the long
| toll mad unseated his reason, whether he
mad persisted miserably in the dark-running
Seine or the casualty ward Of Paris hos
pital must remain matter Of conjecture
SO, too. must the name of the original fxer
of the modern photograph.
Mines Of Wax.
From the Brooklyn Citizen.