El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-04-04

NM George w eStlnSnOuser WIZ
w has just died. stood ninth in
the list of American inventors-not IN
point of achievement, but In respecS
Of fertility. Nearly go patents S'0-ii0
to his credit
lie began life as a machinist ana
was only p years old when ne appIleu
10 Cornelius Vanderbilt for help IN ING
introduction OF his az brake 7 10 " ~ fo
railroads. The great man laugheu ~
scorn the idea of stopping trains WIN
wind" and dismissed him, saying tnal
he had no time to waste on Iools-
1t was the air brake however S ne
made high speed railrOadlng posslDIe.
The invention was therefore an epocn
maker-one Of two such which spran6
from Westinghouse BRAIN the otHSL
being the Harvesting Of the aiterna!tln5
electric current, which was ueStlHCu
TO become the basis of enormous new
Every now and then an invention is
made that radically alters the conan
lions of civilization. The telephone
was such an invention; so likewise was
the typewriter.
DIR emile Berliner-the man whose
improvements in the telephone mace IL
possible to talk over long distances
said, the other day, that in ERECT uhere
had been no epoch making lnVenuoh
from the time Of Archimedes 10 the
year 143S A. D., when the printing press
came into existence. The next one was
fury and a half elapsed before the ar
rival of the steam engine. Photography
followed in 1920 magnetic electric m
duction in 1881, the telegraph IN 1914,
and the telephone in 1875
The Epoch Making Inventions
Since the Introduction of the te4e-
phone, il might be said, epoch making
inventions have followed one anolheE
with astonishing rapidity, among them them
being the electric light the A-rays,
color photography, liquid air, wireless
telegraphy and radlum. NOT an q
these can be properly SAID 70 nave al
tered the conditions OF clVlllzauon, out
even LIQUID air and raQlum represSIls
discoveries which mark important
steps in the development Of human
Speaking Of the electric light Dr.
Rerliner said. I'm 1877 there was az thS
caDitol in Washington, near the dome
upstairs. a large room in winch was a
big battery consisting OF ABOUT 4uV jar Z
fun of sulphuric acid and water eacn
containing a piece Of carbon ana
niece of zinc On the fourth Of July
The daily papers announced 'Iomghl
the electric light will be SHOWN from
the capitol Everybody was ooWn olt
PENNSYLVANIA avenue to see IT, All AZ
rDce we beheld a brilliant light IN the
lower part Of the dome. Fresehlly
1T went out, and perhaps 20 minutes
later the electrician managed 10 So
fl going again, and we haq announcer
iuii Edison is First.
In mint of fertility, Thomas A EQl-
son stands first in the list OF AIneI yea.
inventors, with over 500 patents Next
comes Francis H. Richards with oOU-
mainly in the line of weighing ma
chimes Two electricians tolloW-I5tilu
Thomson and Charles p. ScrlDneI- r mn
is Luther c. Croweu, who has done so
vnucb to develop the art Of printing,
Next in order is Robert L. Hunter,
whose 800 patents exhibit a most YER
satile genius, relating as Lney ~ 49, -
MANY different kinds Of ideas from
electric railways and electric lamps 70
dental engines and Iheater cAalIs-
others among the first ten amer lcali
Inventors are John W HyaII Mnose
contrivances relate largely to the hgnt-
ing of subuerranean places ana ChaI4es
J. Van DepoeIe, who has specialized IN
troueys and electric roads
Talking Machine as Circus + ear l.1e-
The talking machine is one OF me
epoch makers that have followed the
invention Of the telephone. More taan
40 years ago, as many people now Nv
ing viii remember, ?. T. Barnum e1-
hibited, as one OF the attractions OF
his circus, a machine that was sup
posed to talk 1t made some very queer
noises which might be understood 70
counterfeit human speech, with the
help Of a strong imagination Its con-
structiOn was a secret, and or the ac-
tual nature Of its mechanism there
seems to be no record eXLanL The real
talking machine, invented by Edison,
did not come into existence until 1873.
The 18th century has often been
called the century of invention. As
a matter Of fact, the real century did
not begin until 1890. when II was in
augurated by the discovery Of pho
Biography, so that as one might say.
st is not finished yet. Since that date
there has been a steady acceleration
of mechanical discoveries, and in this
line no period of equal length has been
so productive as the opening years Of
the goth century, the most remarkable
achievement being the actual -reliza-
tiOn, in the practical flying machine, Of
what mankind had come to regard as
a mere dream Of the visionary.
Human Flight Becomes a Fact.
Human flight first became an &C
cOmplished fact in 1904 1t must be
admitted, however, that the idea of the
aerOplane is by no means so new. In
the Encyclopedia Brittanica of 30 odd
a picture of a flying machine almost
identical with that of the Wrights.
Such being the case, it may be asked,
why was it not put to use? The ex-
PLANTATION is simply that the only kind
of motor then available was the steam
motor, which was impossibly heavy. Tt
was the gasoline motor that made fly
ing possible.
If we were to go back to the year
1880, and were deprived of the inven-
tons which have been made during
the last 81 years, we should have an
opportunity to realize the influence of
civilization. We should find ourselves