Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-10-31
INVENTORS OF Big THINGS
United States Leads the World in
the Matter Of Making Scientific
Discoveries.
ENGLAND IS A POOR SECOND

have anything else to do started news
paper row recently. as 20 which Of the
great civilized countries had produced
the greatest inventions. II began with
a gentle spear-tilting between advocates
Of German progress and persons who
wished to demonstrate that the Ger
mans did not have any monopoly on in
ventive genius. says the St Louis Post
Dispatch.
II ali might have been avoided II the
cornbatants had only taken the trouble
to consult the encyclopedias in the ref
erence room Of any library Here. for
the mere trouble OF looking, any per
son could have discovered in a few min
utes that the United states far outranks
all other nations For out OF sixty-six
epoch-making inventions twenty-nlne OF
them were made in this country. Eng
gland comes next with seventeen.
France third with ten. Germany fourth
with five. italy fifth with two. and Bra
zil Sweden and Austria with one each.
Improve Every Process.
In this catalogue a sharp distinction
Is drawn between the discovery of q
scientific principle and the application
Of that principle I'm a successful mechani-
cal device In other words the things
counted are only the first practical de-
velopments Of great scientific principles.
n scientific discoveries were ciassed
90 inventions. German genius would
make a far better showing than II has
in this list German chemists have per-
fecied processes now used throughout
the industrial world and have improved
almost every process they have taken
IN hand But a discovery. such as rad
ium. "a not the same thing as an in
vention. such az the photograph. The
Germans, who have been pioneers In
many frontiers OF science. have neg
lectod. relatively. that OF mechanical In
vention.
The Oldest invention catalogued in this
list was the product OF n Torrioeili. an
Italian. Before his time mariners had
very unsatisfactory means OF torecasting
great weather disturbances. BY the ap-
plscation OF few well-underHtood' scien-
tific principles and the evolution Of new
ones Torricelli produced the barometer.
This was in 1913.
The Thermometer IL an article Of house
hold necessity nowadays. yet. curiousiy
enough the first thermometer was not
Constructed until 1903. sixty-six years
after Torrlceilis barometer appeared ItA
inventor was a Prussian named Fahren-
heit. whose name today distinguishes the
scale OF measurements Of the Their
mometers In common use In the United
States
Ben aud His Kite.
Every schoolboy knows about BENJAMIN
Franklin and his kite. and every school,
boy knows that Franklin was the first In
ventor OF a lightning conductor. To the
printer-philosopher goes the credit of
founding tho American school of Inven-
ton. which has made 10 many brilliant
achievements within the last half GEN.
fury.
The spinning Jenny, which revolution
lied methods OF cloth weaving. was the
invention OF an Englishman. ]. Har-
yreave Thirty-one years later. in 1874.
e. Whitney, an American, Invented the
cotton gin. A tgreat part OF the early
manufacturing prosperity OF our own
country had its origin In these creations.
Equally as well known as Franklin's
kite IL Jamie Watts teakettle. II the
former was the beginning OF modern cleo
trical mechanics, the latter was the be-
SHINING OF modern power development.
and Watts IL immortal as the inventor OF
the steam engine. Watts, a Will be- re-
membered. was n Scotchman.
Raised letters for the skilled fingers
% the blind II often considered a modern
Invention. The fact IL that II was per-
fected In lisa. the inventor being v.
HRny OF France. About the same time
J. Cartright, an Englishman. waA work.
ing on a device he completed the follow
ing year. II was the first power loom.
J, jacquard. a Frenchman. invented the
first pattern loom In 1901.
wrights the bird Men.
To another Frenchman. Montgollier,
must be ascribed the invention OF the
gas balloon. That was In lisa IL was
more than 100 years afterward that two
Americans. Orville and wilbur Wright,
Invented . heavier-than-air machine that
would ny under its own power.
w. Murdoch. an Englishman. in tTe1.
was the first to provide practical
means for using gas for illumination.
Just ninety-fivs years later wellsbaoh.
an Austrian. invented the incAndescsnt
burners for Illuminating gas so com
monty in use today over the whole CIV
llized world
Steam locomotion got It's first start in
England and the United States. II was
In 1901 that r. Trevithick. Briton. made
the first steam engine to run on rails.
AANNN year, tAlNE hNobcIt E0ituus nm
American. built the first steamboat. The
tubular looomotice boiler was patented
in lS2s hy seQuin. a FrenchmAn. The
first portable steam fire engine was de-
signed BY Brathwaite and Ericsson, In
England. J. Ericsson invented the first
screw propeller for steamers IN the
United States IN isSs,
First steam Hammer.
J. Nyssanth perfected the first steam
hammer in Scotland In lsf2. The rotary
steam turbine engine was perfected IN
1891 by @. Parsons. an Bnsiishman.
The development OF electrical mechanics
has been the source OF some Of Americas
greatest inventive triumphs. II. Davy
Of England. perfected the first voltaic
arc. and n. Faraday OF England. In isSl.
created the first serviceable magnetic
Induction apparatus. But the telegraph
was invented by Morse. an American. In
1874. The electric locomotive was invented
by Page, another American, In ItBl. The
electric cable was invented by c. Field.
an American IN lH6& Tue telephone was
invented by A. q. Bell. an American. IN
ls76. Thomas A. Edison. an American,
invented the phonograph In ISL; the in
c&Rssseent electric light IN 1878; moving
pietaFSs with NJ. Luhiere OF France).
-