Los Angeles herald., 1910-04-02
DEATH OF BOSCHKE
TRUE To PROPHECY
Deviser of Dredger often Said He
Would Barely Survive
Achievement

Fulfilling a prediction he had made
to friends here that he would not live
beyond the time that his great work
was completed, Albert Boschke, har-
Dor expert and inventor, whose death
occurred Monday in Oakland, was
stricken Immediately after his rotary
dredger was proved success. AL
though apparently in his usual health
when the test was made last week,
Boschke died within a few days, and
when friends in Los Angeles heard he
was dead they recalled his prediction.
Boschke had resided in Los Angeles
for several years with his son, Albert
Boschke jr., at 727 North Bunker Hill
avenue. Few of the patrons who visit
ed the little bakery at that number
realized that Mr.. Boschke, the quiet,
preoccupied, gentle old man, was per-
fecting plans for a great dredger that
is expected to be used by the govern
ment in Panama, and that 1t was this
same old man, whose 81 years defed
the Osler theory, who in years previous
had laid out the harbors in New York,
Brooklyn, Boston and Oakland for the
government.
Mr.. Boschke had passed an eventful
life from his early days in Poland,
where his family were members of a
noble house. The crowning work OF
his life he considered was IN the per-
fection of the Gredger which will bear
his name. and which passed its last
successful test on the Thursday before
his death.
FRIEND OF LINCOLN
Mr.. Boschke was a great friend of
10 1afI n
of Washington, d. c., and showed the
president that the. city was in great
danger of being captured by the Con-
federates, whereupon the president at
once issued a call for $4,000 men to pro-
tect the city, acknowledging that II
was through the map designed by Mr..
Boschke that the capital was saved to
the Union.
1t was while serving the government
as q civil engineer that he was given
the important work of laying out the
harbors of New York city, Brooklyn
and Boston He was also sent to Pan
anna by the government to arrange for
the preliminary work.
Mr.. Boschke had known many fa-
nous men of invention and letters,
and at the time the Morse expert
ments were being made with the tel
egraph that inventor became puzzled
regarding the transmission of electric
ity from pole to pole, without being
carried to the ground through the
great conductor, the pole. Mr.. Boschke
solved the problem by suggesting to
Mr.. Morse the use of glass substance
around which to wrap the wire in car
rying the electricity from pole to pole.
Mr.. Boschl<e also instituted the first
coffee house in New York city, which
has grown to such large proportions.
DREDGER LAST WORK
The most recent of his great inven-
tions was that of the dredger which he
had worked on for a long time before
completing it to his satisfaction and
its ultimate acceptance by the govern
ment, which occurred last Thursday.
The Boschke rotary dredger, which
was built at the Pacific shipyards in
Oakland, cost 100000 for it's compile
ton 1t has a capacity of 10000 cubic
yards per day and is 154 feet long, 40
feet wide, the diameter OF the wheel
being so feet. Every five seconds it
dumps a two-horse Wagonload of dirt
at the highest point.
Two of the distinguishing features of
this dredger are that when the show
els strike a hard substance that can
not be dredged out, the machinery is
so arranged that instead of smashing
the shovels, they are released. The
second feature is the construction of
the wheel, making the hub stationary
while the rim revolves, thus avoiding
the tangling that is so detrimental
where tall grasses are encountered in
the dredging work. The model of this
dredger was exhibited in Los Angeles
two years ago. When it was shown to
former President Roosevelt he said
that If 1t was successful 1t would be
used on the Panama canal and that
will doubtless be true, as the govern
ment has accepted the dredger.