The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1918-01-11
TOMMY B|LYEU
FAMOUS INVENTOR

Tommy Bilyeu, Athena High school
lad in the 9o.ssrand later graduate Of
pechanical engineering at Oregon Ag-
Mcultural College, is lauded in the
Sunday Oregonian as one of Americas
greatest inventors.
Tommy has won world fame by re-
ceiving the honor of award of the
"John Scott Legacy" medal by the
Franklin Institute of Pennsylvania.
The inventions Of young Bilyeu, says
the Sunday Oregonian. are surprisingly
varied. They range from complicated
check-protecting and coin paying de-
vices, to massive machines for the
heading of bolts and the automatic
framing of mining timbers. One Of
his inventions is collapsible shell for
the setting of concrete piling; and an
other is tiny shorthand typewriter.
almost noiseless. supplements by an
elaborate and original system Of phon-
etic spelling.
One of the earliest of his inventions
was his machine for the framing of
mining timbers. One of his latest in
ventions is a bolt heading machine.
Possibly this device might better be
classified as war emergency achieve
ment. The machine originated in a
visit to a large ship building yard.
One of the managers complained OF
his inability to get machine for the
heading of bolts. His ships were
threatened with delay. The Eastern
manufacturers would not guarantee
the delivery of bolt-heading machine
in less than four to six months--which
probably would mean from eight
months to a year. So young Bilyeu
set to work to design something to
meet the emergency.
In eight days the working drawings
were finished. The machine itself
but fer the development of serious
flaw in $500 pound casting-would
have been completed for the emergen-
cy use within a period Of 30 days.
A like story could be told of another
of his late inventions--a contrivance
operated by compressed air, for the
calking of wooden hulls. Another of
the earlier Bilyeu inventions is a de-
vice for the setting of concrete piles.
The original idea was stimulated by
an observation-the setting of con-
crete piles by the driving Of she'll
into the ground and leaving the shell.
He invented shell which might be
driven into the ground and then re-
moved by means of first lifting out the
central core. This device has been
put to practical use in the construction
of concrete building foundations and
retaining walls in a number of the
larger cities of the Coast in the build
ing of bridges and in the building OF
one of the most notable concrete piers
of the world, at Houston, Texas.
1t was for his inventions embodied
in the international money machine
that Bilyeu has just been awarded, at
Philadelphia, on December 10, the
"John Scott Legacy medal. by the
| Franklin Institute of the state OF
Pennsylvania. This machine is COM
plicated device, with hundreds of SEP
arate working parts. 1t combines an
adding machine, payroll scheduling
machine and roin-ejecting device.
In the same general field as the coir
paying device, Bilyeu has invented q
series of four check-protecting ma
chimes. Another of his inventions is
stereotype" machine. 1t takes the
form of tiny typewriter. The ma
chine is very light and almost noise
less. In single stroke it will write
anything from a single letter to 9
complete sentence. But the mechan'
ism of the machine is only the lesser
half of the invention. The greater
half relates to the series of very mod
ern gymnastic stunts to which the
inventor would subject the English
language.