Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-12-01


The power of lenses, as applied tC
the telescope, was discovered by 6
watchmaker's apprentice. While hold
ing spectacle glasses between hi!
thumb and finger, he was startled a
the suddenly enlarged appearance o.
neighboring church spire.
The art of etching upon glass wa:
discovered by a Nuremberg glass cut
ter. By accident a few drops Of aqua
fortis fell upon his spectacles. He no
ticed that the glass became corrodet
and softened where the acid had touch
ed It, That was hint enough. He drew
figures upon glass, with varnish, ap.
piled the corroding fluid, then cut away
the glass around the drawing. Wher
the varnish was removed, the figure:
appeared raised upon a dark ground.
Mezzotinto owed it's invention to the
simple accident Of the gun-barrel Of 6
sentry becoming rusty with dew.
The swaying to and fro Of chande-
lier in a cathedral suggested to CALLED
the application Of the pendulum.
Art of Lithoeraphy.
The art of lithography was perfected
through suggestions made by accident
A poor musician was curious to know
whether music could not be etched up
on stone as well as copper.
After he had prepared his slab, his
mother asked him to make memoran-
dunn of such clothes as she proposed tc
send away to be washed. Not having
pen, ink and paper convenient, he wrote
the list on the stone with the etching
preparation, intending to make a copy
Of it at leisure.
A few days later, when about to clean
the stone, he wondered what effect
aqua forts would have upon it. He
applied the acid and in a few minutes
saw the writing standing out in relief
The next step necessary was simply to
ink the stone and take off an impress
sion.
The composition Of which printing
rollers are made was discovered by a
Salopian printer. Not being able to
discover the pelt-ball, he linked the
type with a piece of soft glue which
had fallen out of the glue pot. 1t was
such an excellent substitute, that, after
mixing molasses with the glue to give
the mass proper consistency the old
pelt-bal was entirely discarded.
The shop of Dublin tobacconist, by
the name Of Lundyfoot, was destroyed
by fire. While he was gazing dolefully
into. the smoldering ruins, he noticed
that his poorer neighbors were gather
ing the snuff from the canisters. He
tested the stuff for himself, and discov-
cred that the fire had largely improved
it's pungency and aroma.
1t was hint worth profiting by. He
secured another shop, built a lot OF
ovens, subjecting the snuff to heating
process. gave the brand a peculiar
name, and in a few years became rich
through an accident which he at first
thought had completely ruined him.
Tn process of whitening sugar was
discovered in a curious way. A her
that had gone through a clay puddle
went with her muddy feet into a su-
gar house. She left her tracks on
pile of sugar. 1t was noticed that
wherever her tracks were, the sugar
was whitened. Experiments were in
stituted, and the result was that wet
clay came to be used in refining sugar
Origin of Tinted Paper.
The origin Of blue tinted paper came
about by mere slip Of the hand.
The wife of William East. an English
paper maker, accidentally let a blue
bag fall into one Of the vats Of pulp
The workmen were astonished when
they saw the peculiar color Of the pa
per, while Mr.. East was highly in
censed over what he considered grave
pecuniary loss. His wife was so much
frightened that she would not confess
her agency in the matter.
After storing the damaged paper for
four years. Mr.. East sent it to his
agent in London with the instruction to
sell it for what it would bring. The
paper was accepted as ''purposed nov
city," and was disposed of at quite an
advance over market prices.
Mr.. East was astOnished at receiving
an order for another large invoice OF
the paper. He was without the secret
and found himself in a dilemma. Up
on mentioning it to his wife, she told
him about the accident. He kept the
secret and the demand for the novel
tint far exceeded his ability to supply
the article.
A Brighton statiOner took fancy for
dressing his show window with piles
Of writing paper, rising gradually from
the largest to the smallest size in use:
and to finish his pyramids off nicely he
cut cards to bring them to a point.
Taking these cards for diminutive
note paper, lady customers were con-
tinually wanting some Of that lovely
little paper" and the stationer found it
advantageous to cut paper to the de-
sired pattern.
AS there was no space for addressing
the notelets after they were folded, he,
after much thought. invented the en-
velOpe, which he cut by the aid of met
al plates made for the purpose.
The sale increased so rapidly that he
was unable to produce the envelopes
fast enough, so he commissioned doZ-
en- houses to make them for him, and
thus set going an important branch of
the manufacturing stationery trade.
Handwriting In Iron.
1t was an accident that led to the dis
covery Of the method Of transferring