Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-10-20
BRAINY PAUPERS.
Brilliant Inventors Who Reaped Pitt
full Rewards.

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 Mar
tino, one of those many brilliant Ital-
ians who left their native land to
seek fortune in a foreign country.
Martino came to England, and his
name Is most familiar from the Mar
tini-Henry rifle, the breechlock Of
which was one of his numerous in
ventions.
It 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 Martino was
the discoverer of the process for con-
verting basic Stag into manure, 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 tiuted rib Tor umbrellas, a new
process tor the extraction or nickel
from its ore, new development OF
platinoid - immensely important In
electric work-and brilliant inven-
ton tor 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 or
mis- extraordinary output OF valuable
/ hA or
comparatively poor and obscure man,
while dozens Of others have been
made richer by his genius.
| In 1860 the chemist Lenoir patent
ed motor driven by an explosive
mixture OF air and gas. He used elec-
trio ignition obtained from a battery
and a Ruhmkorff coil, actuating
sparkling plug very similar to that In
use in the modern motor. The sys-
lem of valves by means Of which the
suction Of the piston drew in the
charge OF gas for the next explosion
was also designed by Lenoir.
In 1862 he actually produced car
which, IL 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
hloself through the streets ofCRaris.
| Yet, for reasons similar tothose
which caused the failure Of Martino,
he never received the reward OF his
genius and 1t was left for Daimler,
nearly thirty years later, to produce
| the hrst OF the practicable autocars.
| Lenoir died in 1900 poor and un-
known.
Three years later, in 1903, the life
of George Shergold came to an end
in Gloucester workhouse. Shergold,
originally shoemaker, was the In
ventor OF the safety bicycle. He built
machine Of this order in the year
1876, the front wheel Of which was
twenty-seven inches and the rear
wheel some thirty inches in diameter.
In 1900, when 1t first became gen.
orally known that the man whose in
vention had made millions for others
was as poor as when he had cobbled
shoes, a public subscription was
raised, and for some time an allow
ance of shillings week was made
TO Shergold. But the funds became
exhausted, and poor Shergold ended
his life in the workhouse.
How many people have even heard
of Scheele? Yet this poor Swedish
chemist was perhaps the greatest dis
coverer of facts that the world has
ever known.
We always hear in England that
Priestly was the discoverer OF oxy-
gen. Yet Scheele made this most
important of all chemical discoveries
simultaneously with Priestly. And
it was Scheele who discovered chlor-
inc 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 essential to the
manufacture Of the great pain-killer,
chloroform, and it is used extensive
ly 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 comparative
| ly poor man, yet Gore was the inven-
tor of the modern safety match, OF
the method of electrodeposition COM
monty known as electroplating and
Of many other processes which have
put millions into the pockets of man
ufacturers Cores book, Electro
metallurgy," published in 1870, Is
still a standard work on the subject
| London Answers.