Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-08-19
By JAMES B. MORROW.

ct came about in this almost unbe-
lievable way-the making of $1.257,-
900 and more in five years:
q Edward Nash Hurley had been
selling metallic packing for manu-
featuring company in Philadelphia He
Travelled out of Chicago. east and west.
Proof Of his talent and energy and the
appeal Of his personality can be told by
hgures-his salary had been increased
from 800 to $500 a month.
The packing was used for valves and
pistons. Young Mr.. Hurley-and he is
youthful now, although he is hfty-three
years old-often walked in among the
machinery. locomotives especially. and
did the packing himself. He would lie
on his back or his stomach. in the dust
and grease, and demonstrate to super
intendents and master mechanics the
good qualities of his product
That was Edward Nash Hurley. and
Is yet-omitting the posture and the
dust and grease. Talking with engi-
neers and other mechanical characters,
Hurley, the salesman, discovered an in
vention now and then and negotiated It
into the laboratory of his employers
But on one occasion, great for him
self, inasmuch as 1t turned his life from
selling goods to manufacturing them.
he attempted to share the profits with
his house. The device. a pneumatic
cock, operated by compressed air.
cleaned locomotive boilers of lime and
sediment
Il can sell the invention for $1,000"
he told his employers. having gone to
: let you have it If you will give me a
small royalty"
but you found the invention while
working for u.s. his employers said.
company. The invention. therefore. If
purchased, is our property. We will
pay the inventor a reasonable price.
but we can't see that you have any
VERY WELL" young Mr.. Hurley an
swered: II have worked for you con-
scientiously and successfully. and have
looked forward to the time when I
might be given something besides a
salary. I am disappointed over your
attitude. and simply want to say that
you will have to find another salesman
for my territory"
Chicago. On the street that day he met a
man who had formerly been his fireman.
NY brother. the man said. has invented
pneumatic boring machine"
The next morning Mr.. Hurley saw the
machine and its inventor A bargain was
made. Experimental work was begun in
an old barn on the edge of Chicago At
the end Of five years Mr.. Hurley disposed
OF his interest in the mandatory that
he established for S1.257.000 Previously
he had sold his patents in Great Britain,
borrowing the money with which to make
the journey. The "tat-tat-tat" heard on
the steel frames OF buildings in course of
erection Is made by pneumatic riveting
hammers. The rivets are red hot and must
be driven in and clinched before they get
cold. Thus they fill the holes and there
cannot be any shearing, no working back
and forth, when two steel plates as in
shipbuilding. are fastened together in that
fashion.
To Mr.. Hurley belongs the distinction
OF originating and developing the pneu-
matte tool industry in this country and in
to obtain capital with which to establish
his little factory. When the first payment
-$3O.000-was given for his patents in
England he cabled the money home to
his wife, being unwilling to trust such a
gigantic sum upon the heaving and ca
PRECIOUS bosom Of the Atlantic.
Mr.. Hurley reappears in the events of the
day because he has returned to Washing
ton and is helping his countrymen to con-
= quer the Prussians At the beginning of
Germany's effort TO become ruler OF all
creation Mr.. Hurley was chairman of the
Federal Trade Commission. in which ca
pacity. incidentally. he Travelled all over
the United States. lecturing to business