The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-29
FORTUNE FROM
 CONCRETE TIE Civil War Veteran Sells Ills
 Invention FOR A COOL. $17,5O0,O00
FOR A COOL s17, 100000
George Gates, Struggling Inventor of San Jose, Cal, Hits It Lucky and Turns Idea
 Into Gold
From the New York Times.

From the New Iork ilmes.
 By the recent signing of contract in San francisco, George Gates. a strug- gling inventor of San Jose, Cal, will be- come a multi millionaire through the sale to a syndicate of Il of the greatest railway systems of the United States of his patent rights to concrete railroad tie which he has invented. The price to be paid for the new tie, ss reported by prin- cipals in the transaction, Is a7500,0O0.
 The successful concrete tie Is considered the greatest railway invention since the airbrake. It is not a mass of solid con- crete, as might be inferred, but consists of a patented composition of substances that affords extraordinary resiliency, and at the same time Is as durable as the concrete used in city skyscraper. The tie Is re-enforced with S6 strands Of barbed wire It will spring 1A inches and come back to line. And single machine will turn out the ties at the rate of o5oO per day.
 The deal became known locally through the deposit in escrow of $500,000 In the Crocker National bank of this city. This deposit, MT. Gates said, will be the first payment of a total of s17.boo.ooo. which he will receive for the exclusive rights throughout the world for the concrete railroad tie and steel fastener which he has invented.
 H. S. Renwick, president of the San Joaquin Valley Electric railway, has been Gates principal packer and first intro- duced the tie to the attention of eastern railway magnates through series or demonstrations on his own railroad
 MT. Renwick said: ''I have seen the con- tract which has been entered into be- tween Gates and Il of the big railroads According to the contract, Gates Is to re- ceive SIT, GOO for his patent. The rail- roads take over the entire properties of the Gates Concrete Tie company and the National Concrete Tie company, which has the sole right to the patent"
 Gates lives in a modest cottage at l2 South Twelfth street, San Jose, Cal He is small, spare and unassuming. He pre- sents the appearance of a typical Yankee workingman, and because he Is out much in the air he is sunburned, and does not look over 60 years of age.
 He was born in Ottumwa, Ia, and terved through the Civil war, enlistfng from his home town. He was married in 1889. and came to California and, after years of work as railroad man, he laid of about 15 years ago to devote his time to inventing Those were hard years. But the old inventor, who never talks freely at best. has got little to say Of his struggles to perfect his idea and to get big railroad men to take it up.
 These struggles lasted for years People used to tap their foreheads significantly when George Gates came around. He was regarded as joke.
 It was not until President H. D. Rem wick of the San Joaquin Valley Electric railway took Gates claim seriously, and bought some of the concrete ties from him, and gave them a test by laying rails on them, that Gates pretensions as an Inventor were seriously regarded.
 Railroad men everywhere were amazed Ut the results of the tests. The concrete ties proved cheaper than wooden ties. They gave a smoother roadbed; they were unaffected by heat or cold, and were irnpervious to rain. Besides this, they could not be destroyed by boring insects. They did not crack, peel or split. Indeed, they seemed indestructible.
 After a trial on the electric railway the ties were finally placed in the yards of local railway depot at San Jose, where they successfully stood the wear and tear of transcontinental traffic. The heaviest engines on the coast division were brought to San Jose, and the new con- crete tie was submitted to the most rigorous tests. The fasteners also worked like charm. Cars were run over the ties for many weeks In an effort toldetect flaws and delicate mechanisms were in- stalled to test the jar of the coaches on concrete ties as compared to wood ones. The result proved a victory for the San Jose man.
 Gates wrote to Edward Green, son of Hetty Green. and told him that the con crete ties were actually in use on Cali fornia interurban electric railroad which