Evening journal., 1915-02-06
New News Of Yesterday
The Most Prolific of
American Inventors
By Holland.

One afternoon a few years ago.
while l was chatting with the late
George Westinghouse, 1t occurred to
me to ask him If, while he was
working out the problems which it
was necessary to work out If he were
to perfect his inventions. any ideas
occurred to him that might be avail
able at some future time in working
cut other inventions, or if there came
to him the germ of an idea whica
might contain something of great
value
"Oh. yes" Mr. Westinghouse re-
piled. That experience is one which
| suppose almost everybody whose
mind turns to invention or who de-
votes himself TO scientific research
has had. Nobody can tell whether
there is value I'm an idea OF that kind
OF not until test is made of il. bnt
some of the most valuable inventions
we have came from the developing
OF germ which had suddenly occur
red to an inventor while he was ct
work upon some difficult proposi-
tion.
Il wish | could file in an orderly
way. so that there could be convent
ent reference TO them. the ideas that
have occurred to me / have made
T. point to go still further. for l
| frequently buy ideas which other in
! Nentors have brought TO me because
/ IT. has seemed TO me there might lurk
! in them something of great value.
| Many times men get an idea and par
/ tally work II out There they stop.
/ whereas If they were patient or X
| tley had time and means 10 develop
the idea they would be sure to give
! us something of great value"
l said TO Mr.. Westinghouse that in
a chat which ! had with Edison. i'm
I 1892. he told me that ideas or germs
OF ideas almost numberloss came Ia
/ him while he was at work on some
\ one or other of his inventions. He
bad tried to make some record OF
these ideas and had accumulated q
great many memoranda He said IN
the characteristic way which alwav.
suggests the keen sense Of humcl
which dominates him. that an inven
tor ought to live two hundred years
and then he would have opportunit!
TO try out some of his plans.
Mr. Westinghouse smiled when
thus spoke of Edison's age limit an,
then said seriously that the ordinar,
A, span OF life is too short for one VIII
A. possesses talent for discovery an,
Z, invention to make it possible for hin
/ to test all the ideas that come p
him.
He said Some time ago I wa
Speaking to a locomotive manufac
turer who had for some time dis
, ussed With me the possibility G
pcrfectng great motors which woul
be capable of hauling by electric en-
orgy an ordinary freight or passen
b ger train. Our conversation driftc
to some of the improvements upo
the locomotive engine which ha
2 been made many years ago. II
told me that Seth Boyden, who di.
covered the process for making pa
ent leather, is entitled TO the graf
/. tude OF manufacturers of locomoti,
I engines because he is the man VIII
? invented the cut-on which regulate
/ the steam in the cylinder and n
also invented something that ha
been in universal use since his dal
which is the convenient method G
reversing a locomotive engine
Il am getting a little away fror
what | intended to say TO you" sal
Mr.. Westinghouse. Il wanted {
say that Boydens brain was fairl
bursting all his life with ideas
think, all in all. that he developc
the greatest variety of apparatus an
in different fields of any America
inventor He was like Edison i'm on
respect-he believed that the Scril
t1ral limit of seventy years is altc
gether too short for an inventor an
he once said that he had ideas enoug
to occupy him for three times Nj
ordinary life of a man. Many of IN
best ideas, he said. would die wit
him"
Copyright. 1915. by L. ]. Edward
All rights reserved).