The Adair County news. [volume] (Columbia, Ky.) 1897-1987, 1911-11-22
BRAINY PAUPERS.
Brilliant Inventors Who Reaped
Pitiful Rewards.
DIED IN POVERTY AND WANT,

Some Men Of Genius Who Were Doom.
ed to End Their Days In ObscuPity,
While Their Fruitful Ideas Made
Millions and Fame For Others.
Now and again a man is born whose
brain fairly bubbles with inventive
genius. New ideas stream from him,
and all branches of science are mas
tered with hardly an effort.
Such was Frederic William MARITIME,
one Of those many brilliant Italians
who left their native land to seek
fortune in foreign country.
MARITIME came to England, and his
name is most familiar from the Mar
tini-Henry rifle, the breechblock of
which was one of his numerous in
ventiOns.
1t is an irony of fate that Martino's
name should go down to posterity
solely through a warlike invention
which he himself thought little of
when his greatest work was done in
the cause of peace, for MARITIME was
the discoverer of the process for con-
verting basic Stag into manure, a dis
covery which has put millions into
the pockets of German manufacturers,
but from which he himself, 1t is
stated, never reaped a penny. ,
The fluted rib for umbrellas, a new
process for the extraction Of nickel
from its ore. a new development of
platinoid - immensely important In
electric work-and a brilliant inven-
ton for the reduction of gold ore,
these are only few of Martino's dis
coveries. And yet he was so lacking
in business capacity that in spite of
his extraordinary output of valuable
ideas he died at Glasgow in 1903 a
comparatively poor and obscure man,
while dozens of others have been made
richer by his genius.
In 1860 the chemist Lenoir patented
a motor driven by an explosive mix
ture of air and gas. He used electric
ignition obtained from a battery and
a RuhmkOrff coil, actuating a sparkling
plug very similar to that in use in the
modern motor. The system of valves
piston drew in the charge of gas for
the next explosion was also designed
by Lenoir.
In 1862 he actually produced a car
which, if crude, was similar in all re-
spects to that in use today, save that
he employed coal gas instead Of petrol,
and this he actually drove himself
through the streets of Paris.
Yet for reasons similar to those
which caused the failure of MARITIME he
never received the ISvard of his gen.
Jus, and it was left for Daimler, nearly
thirty years later. to produce the first
of the practicable autocars.
Lenoir died in 1900, poor and I'M
known.
Three years later. in 1908, the life of
George Shergold came to an end in
Gloucester workhouse. Shergold, orig
inally a shoemaker, was the inventor
of the safety bicycle. He built ma
chine of this order in the year 1876
the front wheel of which was twenty
seven inches and the rear wheel some
thirty-one inches in diameter.
In 1900, when it first became gener-
ally known that the man whose inven-
ton had made millions for others was
as poor as when he had cObbled shoes,
a public subscription was raised, and
for some time an allowance of 5 shil-
lings a week was made to Shergold.
But the funds became exhausted, and
poor Shergold ended his life In the
workhouse.
How many people have ever even
heard of Scheele? Yet this poor Swed-
ish chemist was perhaps the greatest
discoverer Of facts that the world has
ever known.
We always hear in England that
Priestley was the discoverer of oxy-
gen. Yet Scheele made this most i'm
portant Of all chemical discoveries ST.
simultaneously with Priestley. And it
was Scheele who discovered chlorine
gas. Chlorine is perhaps the most
important of all gases in commercial
chemistry. 1t is the great bleacher
that gives us white linen or white
straw hats 1t is also the best disin-
fectant known. 1t is essentiaHto the
manufacture of the great pain killer,
chloroform, and it is used extensively
for the extraction Of gold from its ores.
Chlorine's value to the world has
been incalculable, yet Scheele, the man
who discovered it. lived hungry and
died a pauper.
Professor Gore died a comparatively
poor man, yet Gore was the inventor
of the modern safety match. of the
method Of electrodeposition commonly
known as electroplating and Of many
other processes which have put mill
lions into the pockets of manufacture
ers. Cores book, "Electrometallurgy,"
published In 1870, is still a standard
work on the subject.-London An
SWerS.