Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-07-26
F. w. Pendergast born and his
early years spent near
Burlington.
Later Owned n Sawmi1l mt Rochester
Now Works mt headquarters Of
Experiment station for Trade
Trnining Of the blind in
Boston.

Totally pima III III years OF age ana mar
lrowly missing a fortune. the fruits OF his
first invention at II, Frederick w. Fender
CAST, mechanical genius, has persevered
until. in spitesof his infirmity. the devices
which he has created are likely to be-
como the means of giving employment to
scores OF other blind persons, says the
Boston Sunday Globe.
For the last two years he has carried on
his work at the headquarters oftheexperi-
ment station for the trade training of the
blind, now established at 67S Massachu-
sets avenue and has entered into a busi-
ness arrangement with the management
for the manufacture of some of his in
Nentions.
Before he took up his present special
lied work, however, Mr.. Pendergast was
in active businesS competition with seeing
men. And of all possible occupations it
would seem that he selected the one in
which sight was most essential, not only
to the success OF work. but to the safety
OF his own life. for during period of
more than 10 years he owned and superin-
tended the operation of n single and saw
mill near his home at Rochester, VT II was
not until after the sawmill, uninsured,
had burned and the property become a
Waltham and later came to Boston,
Those who meet him now in his work.
shop at the experiment station see a quiet.
self-contained man OF 46 whose clear-cut
features and ready. welcoming smile tell
not only of the alert and intelligent brain
of the inventor, but of the kindly spirit
of the man.
Though he has been in his present quar-
tore l.t,. gl,o
familiar with them that he Is never at a
loss where to put his hand upon any OF his
belongings, and as he moves about the
rooms picking up this. that and the other
object as occasion requires. 1t seems that
there must be a mistake soms where, that
this man cannot really be blind And to
complete the illusion, as he sits on work
bench. one leg thrown across the corner
and talks to his visitor, he will reach
down to the floor. pick up stick, and
with his jacknlfe white away at 1T as
many good Nermonter has done before
Mr.. Pendergast spent his early years on
his fathers farm near Burlington 1t
was as the result of scarlet fever that he
lost his sight at this age of II, and from
that time until he was q he continued to
live upon the farm, MISUNDERSTANDING and
place.
1t was in connection with the butter
making that his mechanical bent first led
him to aninvention which properly followed
up would have brought him Independent
fortune. Mechanical churns were already
upon the market, but the results from
them left much to be desired, and they
made Roadway slowly. Young Pendergast
81 i.1 bair n yt
upon what he thought was fundamentally
wrong with the principle. He made
churn according to the theory which he
had evolved. ana 1t worked to perfection.
BY the time he had decided that some
thing should be done to introduce the new
idea, a churn involving the principle was
patented by somebody else and such
churns have ever since held their place in
the market.
About this time another brother. John
a. Pendcrgast, lost his sight as the re-
suit of sunstroke, and though he partial
~ recovered it his sight has ever since
been seriously impaired. John had always
been a staunch friend of his blind brother.
and when he. too, became nearly blind.
the two joined forces and John has ever
since acted as the business agent of the
pair
The next invention was a spring seat
for carriages. The brothers sold all
they could make. but because of lack of
capital the production was limited. and
b.fore long similar device was put out
under patent by a large carriage manufac-
turer.
For several years Mr., Pendergast spent
time and all the money that he could COM
mand in Il vain effort to have his sight in
some degree restored, In the meantime he
worked at shaving shingles by hand
Cedar blocks must first he split, the thin
slabs are then shaped with a drawknife
and the finished shingles are finally count
cd and tied into bundles OF arbitrary
form. In the shingle making Mr.. Fender
CAST used TO turn out 1000 day, but he
worked after a fashion Of his own. and not
as a seeing man.
When he became convinced that moth
ing could be done for his eyes he turned
TO developing the shingle business In
der his direction n mill was built for cut
ting shingles with circular saw Though
he had assistants he himself did a great
part of this cutting.
II was n favorite habit of his to work
in what he called the evening" which
meant any time until ~ or l O'Clock. Night
after night from the black mass of the
mill, rising dimy through the darkness
the whir Of the great saw would come
to this, ears of the neighbors, bringing
home to them as nothing else could the
conditions under which this blind
man daily risked life and limb before the
flying teeth of the saw.
once, and only once, he met
with mishap. 1t was when he
was working alone at night and his foot
slipped on some shavings. The saw cut
through his boot and completely amputated
A toe. lie hobbled to his brothers house
and explained in matter of fact way
that his foot had touched the saw and
probably needed bandagirg. Before the
foot could be dressed" said John Fender
CAST, in telling of the incident, ''it was
necessary for the doctor TO trim away the
decorations, but in spite of what must
have been the most terrible pain, Fred
was the most unconcerned man In the
room He never murmured, but sat there
until the doctor had finished. and forall We
heard from him 1t might have been some
one else that the doctor was working
over" After several years of the shngle
business, Mr.. Pendergast decided 10 en-
large his mill and saw boards and tim
bcrs as well as shingles. 1t took about
all of his available capital to buy the
and he saw that 1t would be