Evening star., 1936-11-21

Little more than century ago persons
with sound common sense in the United
States regarded as highly eccentric, to
say the least, visionaries who actually
proposed to haul freight by steam.
This attitude was irritating to Oliver
Evans of Philadelphia, Americas first
builder of steam engines and one of the
foremost of the Nations inventors, and
in 1913 he penned angrily remarkable
prophecy. 4.
Cray am ~" said Evans in effect to
the substantial citizens of his day.
"I'll show you some real insanity"
Evans little book in which he vented
his ire at his critics and prosecutors is
one of the rarest bits Of Americana found
by Volta Parma, custodian of rare books
of the Library of Congress, in his search
for exhibition material for the Tooth an
niversary of the American patent system.
The inventor at the time was involved
in legal difficulties over patents on WOOL
carding and milling machinery which he
held under the old patent law. The book
is entitled Patent Right Oppression Ex-
posed, or Knavery Detected" an address
to all good people to unite and obtain
repeal of the patent laws, by Patrick
N l. Elisha, Esq, Poet Laureate.
The greater part of the volume is taken
up by long poem in Hudabrastic verse
in which Evans poses as one Of his own
prosecutors and protests against silly
laws which permit crazy inventors actu-
ally to collect money from honest men
for their ideas and enable them to stick
up their noses at their betters. He was
a master at writing with his tongue in
his cheek.
The pseudonym of Elisha happened to
be the first name of one Of the mill
owners who was using his patented ma
chinery and defying him to collect any
royalties. There wasn't much he could
do about it. If such a condition con-
tinues the fictitious Elisha warns, the
day will come when men actually will be
able to get money for writing books.
1t is interesting to note, Mr.. Parma
points out, that one of the most dis
tinguished of American inventors-he
was, by the way, the first man in
America to run self propelled vehicle
on the road-alSo was writer Of doggerel
verse of considerable Wgor. But the
greatest interest of the little book was
Evans remarkable prophecy Of railroad
transportation.
Within the next half century actual
progress in some directions was ahead of
anything he had dared to imagine. But
it also is noteworthy that back in 1918
he was proposing stream-lined loco
motives, shaped like swift swimming
fish," and that he had made calculations
of such factors as wind resistance. And
he also foresaw dimly the greatness Of
the machine age which was to come to
America.
Evans prophecy follows:
1.-The time will come when people will
travel in stages moved by steam engines
from one city to another almost as fast
as birds can hy-15 to 20 miles an hour.
Passing through the air with such velocity
and changing the scenery in rapid sue
cession will be most exhilarating and
delightful experience.
"a carriage will set out from Washing
ton in the morning, the passengers will
breakfast in Baltimore, dine at Phila-
delphia and sup at New York the same
day. To accomplish this two sets OF rails
will be laid SO nearly level as not in any
place to deviate more than two degrees
from the horizontal line, made of wood or
iron, or smooth paths Of broken stone
or gravel with rail to guide the car
riages 20 they may paS each other IN