Chapter I: Preface

For a work of such scope as this, the first word of the author should be an apology for what is doubtless the too ambitious effort of a single writer. A quarter of a century in the high tide of the arts and sciences, an ardent interest in all things that make for scientific progress, and the aid and encouragement of many friends in and about the Patent Office, furnish the explanation. The work cannot claim the authority of a text-book, the fullness of a history, nor the exactness of a technical treatise. It is simply a cursory view of the century in the field of invention, intended to present the broader bird’s-eye view of progress achieved. In substantiation of the main facts reliance has been placed chiefly upon patents, which for historic development are believed to be the best of all authorities, because they carry the responsibility of the National Government as to dates, and the attested signature and oath of the inventor as to subject matter. Many difficulties and embarrassments have been encountered in the work. The fear of extending it into a too bulky volume has excluded treatment of many subjects which the author recognizes as important, and issues in dispute as to the claims of inventors have also presented themselves in perplexing conflict. A discussion of the latter has been avoided as far as possible, the paramount object being to do justice to all the worthy workers in this field, with favor to none, and only expressing such conclusions as seem to be justified by authenticated facts and the impartial verdict of reason in the clearing atmosphere of time. For sins of omission a lack of space affords a reasonable excuse, and for those of commission the great scope of the work is pleaded in extenuation. It is hoped, however, that the volume may find an accepted place in the literature of the day, as presenting in compact form some comprehensive and coherent idea of the great things in invention which the Nineteenth Century has added to the world’s wealth of ideas and material resources.

In acknowledging the many obligations to friends who have aided me in the work, my thanks are due first to the Editors of the _Scientific American_ for aid rendered in the preparation of the work; also to courteous officials in the Government Departments, and to many progressive manufacturers throughout the country.

E. W. B.

_Washington, D. C., October, 1900._

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

THE PERSPECTIVE VIEW.

CHAPTER II.

CHRONOLOGY OF LEADING INVENTIONS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

CHAPTER III.

THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

The Voltaic Pile. Daniell’s Battery. Use of Conducting Wire by Weber.
Steinheil Employs Earth as Return Circuit. Prof. Henry’s Electro-
Magnet, and First Telegraphic Experiment. Prof. Morse’s Telegraphic
Code and Register. First Line Between Washington and Baltimore. Bain’s
Chemical Telegraph. Gintl’s Duplex Telegraph. Edison’s Quadruplex.
House’s Printing Telegraph. Fac Simile Telegraphs. Channing and Farmer
Fire Alarm. Telegraphing by Induction. Wireless Telegraphy by Marconi.
Statistics.

CHAPTER IV.

THE ATLANTIC CABLE.

Difficulties of Laying. Congratulatory Messages Between Queen Victoria
and President Buchanan. The Siphon Recorder. Statistics.

CHAPTER V.

THE DYNAMO AND ITS APPLICATIONS.

Observations of Faraday and Henry. Magneto-Electric Machines of Pixii,
and of Saxton. Hjorth’s Dynamo of 1855. Wilde’s Machine of 1866.
Siemens’ of 1867. Gramme’s of 1870. Tesla’s Polyphase Currents.

CHAPTER VI.

THE ELECTRIC MOTOR.

Barlow’s Spur Wheel. Dal Negro’s Electric Pendulum. Prof. Henry’s
Electric Motor. Jacobi’s Electric Boat. Davenport’s Motor. The Neff
Motor. Dr. Page’s Electric Locomotive. Dr. Siemens’ First Electric
Railway at Berlin, 1879. First Electric Railway in United States,
between Baltimore and Hampden, 1885. Third Rail System. Statistics.
Electric Railways, and General Electric Company. Distribution
Electric Current in Principal Cities.

CHAPTER VII.

THE ELECTRIC LIGHT.

Voltaic Arc by Sir Humphrey Davy. The Jablochkoff Candle. Patents of
Brush, Weston, and Others. Search Lights. Grove’s First Incandescent
Lamp. Starr-King Lamp. Moses Farmer Lights First Dwelling with
Electric Lamps. Sawyer-Man Lamp. Edison’s Incandescent Lamp. Edison’s
Three-Wire System of Circuits. Statistics.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE TELEPHONE.

Preliminary Suggestions and Experiments of Bourseul, Reis, and
Drawbaugh. First Speaking Telephone by Prof. Bell. Differences between
Reis’ and Bell’s Telephones. The Blake Transmitter. Berliner’s
Variation of Resistance and Electric Undulations, by Variation of
Pressure. Edison’s Carbon Microphone. The Telephone Exchange.
Statistics.

CHAPTER IX.

ELECTRICITY, MISCELLANEOUS.

Storage Battery. Batteries of Planté, Faure and Brush. Electric
Welding. Direct Generation of Electricity by Combustion. Electric
Boats. Electro-Plating. Edison’s Electric Pen. Electricity in
Medicine. Electric Cautery. Electric Musical Instruments. Electric
Blasting.

CHAPTER X.

THE STEAM ENGINE.

Hero’s Engine, and Other Early Steam Engines. Watt’s Steam Engine. The
Cut-Off. Giffard Injector. Bourdon’s Steam Gauge. Feed Water Heaters,
Smoke Consumers, etc. Rotary Engines. Steam Hammer. Steam Fire Engine.
Compound Engines. Schlick and Taylor Systems of Balancing Momentum of
Moving Parts. Statistics.

CHAPTER XI.

THE STEAM RAILWAY.

Trevithick’s Steam Carriage. Blenkinsop’s Locomotive. Hedley’s
“Puffing Billy.” Stephenson’s Locomotive. The Link Motion. Stockton
and Darlington Railway, 1825. Hackworth’s “Royal George.” The
“Stourbridge Lion” and “John Bull.” Baldwin’s Locomotives.
Westinghouse Air Brakes. Janney Car Coupling. The Woodruff Sleeping
Car. Railway Statistics.

CHAPTER XII.

STEAM NAVIGATION.

Early Experiments. Symington’s Boat. Col. John Stevens’ Screw
Propeller. Robt. Fulton and the “Clermont.” First Trip to Sea by
Stevens’ “Phœnix.” “Savannah,” the First Steam Vessel to Cross the
Ocean. Ericsson’s Screw Propeller. The “Great Eastern.” The Whale Back
Steamers. Ocean Greyhounds. The “Oceanic,” largest Steamship in the
World. The “Turbinia.” Fulton’s “Demologos,” First War Vessel. The
Turret Monitor. Modern Battleships and Torpedo Boats. Holland
Submarine Boat.

CHAPTER XIII.

PRINTING.

Early Printing Press. Nicholson’s Rotary Press. The Columbian and
Washington Presses. König’s Rotary Steam Press. The Hoe Type Revolving
Machine. Color Printing. Stereotyping. Paper Making. Wood Pulp. The
Linotype. Plate Printing. Lithography.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE TYPEWRITER.

Old English Typewriter of 1714. The Burt Typewriter of 1829. Progin’s
French Machine of 1833. Thurber’s Printing Machine of 1843. The Beach
Typewriter. The Sholes Typewriter, the First of the Modern Form,
Commercially Developed into the Remington. The Caligraph, Smith-
Premier, and Others.

CHAPTER XV.

THE SEWING MACHINE.

Embroidery Machine the Forerunner of the Sewing Machine. Sewing
Machine of Thomas Saint. The Thimonnier Wooden Machine. Greenough’s
Double-Pointed Needle. Bean’s Stationary Needle. The Howe Sewing
Machine. Bachelder’s Continuous Feed. Improvements of Singer. Wilson’s
Rotary Hook, and Four-Motion Feed. The McKay Shoe Sewing Machine.
Button Hole Machines. Carpet Sewing Machine. Statistics.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE REAPER.

Early English Machines. Machine of Patrick Bell. The Hussey Reaper.
McCormick’s Reaper and Its Great Success. Rivalry Between the Two
American Reapers. Self Rakers. Automatic Binders. Combined Steam
Reaper and Threshing Machine. Great Wheat Fields of the West.
Statistics.

CHAPTER XVII.

VULCANIZED RUBBER.

Early Use of Caoutchouc by the Indians. Collection of the Gum. Early
Experiments Failures. Goodyear’s Persistent Experiments. Nathaniel
Hayward’s Application of Sulphur to the Gum. Goodyear’s Process of
Vulcanization. Introduction of his Process into Europe. Trials and
Imprisonment for Debt. Rubber Shoe Industry. Great Extent and Variety
of Applications. Statistics.

CHAPTER XVIII.

CHEMISTRY.

Its Evolution as a Science. The Coal Tar Products. Fermenting and
Brewing. Glucose, Gun Cotton, and Nitro-Glycerine. Electro-Chemistry.
Fertilizers and Commercial Products. New Elements of the Nineteenth
Century.

CHAPTER XIX.

FOOD AND DRINK.

The Nature of Food. The Roller Mill. The Middlings Purifier. Culinary
Utensils. Bread Machinery. Dairy Appliances. Centrifugal Milk Skimmer.
The Canning Industry. Sterilization. Butchering and Dressing Meats.
Oleomargarine. Manufacture of Sugar. The Vacuum Pan. Centrifugal
Filter. Modern Dietetics and Patented Foods.

CHAPTER XX.

MEDICINE, SURGERY AND SANITATION.

Discovery of Circulation of the Blood by Harvey. Vaccination by
Jenner. Use of Anæsthetics the Great Step of Medical Progress of the
Century. Materia Medica. Instruments. Schools of Medicine. Dentistry.
Artificial Limbs. Digestion. Bacteriology, and Disease Germs.
Antiseptic Surgery. House Sanitation.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE BICYCLE AND AUTOMOBILE.

The Draisine, 1816. Michaux’s Bicycle, 1855. United States Patent to
Lallement and Carrol, 1866. Transition from “Vertical Fork” and “Star”
to Modern “Safety.” Pneumatic Tire. Automobile the Prototype of the
Locomotive. Trevithick’s Steam Road Carriage, 1801. The Locomobile of
To-day. Gas Engine Automobiles of Pinkus, 1839; Selden, 1879; Duryea,
Winton, and Others. Electric Automobiles a Development of Electric
Locomotives as Early as 1836. Grounelle’s Electric Automobile of 1852.
The Columbia, Woods, and Riker Electric Carriages. Statistics.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE PHONOGRAPH.

Invention of Phonograph by Edison. Scott’s Phonautograph. Improvements
of Bell and Tainter. The Graphophone. Library of Wax Cylinders.
Berliner’s Gramophone.

CHAPTER XXIII.

OPTICS.

Early Telescopes. The Lick Telescope. The Grande Lunette. The Stereo-
Binocular Field Glass. The Microscope. The Spectroscope. Polarization
of Light. Kaleidoscope. Stereoscope. Range Finder. Kinetoscope, and
Moving Pictures.

CHAPTER XXIV.

PHOTOGRAPHY.

Experiments of Wedgewood and Davy. Niépce’s Heliography. Daguerre and
the Daguerreotype. Fox Talbot Makes First Proofs from Negatives. Sir
John Herschel Introduces Glass Plates. The Collodion Process. Silver and
Carbon Prints. Ambrotypes. Emulsions. Dry Plates. The Kodak Camera. The
Platinotype. Photography in Colors. Panorama Cameras. Photo-engraving
and Photo-lithography. Half Tone Printing.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE ROENTGEN OR X-RAYS.

Geissler Tubes. Vacuum Tubes of Crookes, Hittorf, and Lenard. The
Cathode Ray. Roentgen’s Great Discovery in 1895. X-Ray Apparatus.
Salvioni’s Cryptoscope. Edison’s Fluoroscope. The Fluorometer. Sun-
burn from X-Rays. Uses of X-Rays.

CHAPTER XXVI.

GAS LIGHTING.

Early Use of Natural Gas. Coal Gas Introduced by Murdoch. Winsor
Organizes First Gas Company in 1804. Melville in United States Lights
Beaver-Tail Lighthouse with Gas in 1817. Lowe’s Process of Making
Water Gas. Acetylene Gas. Carburetted Air. Pintsch Gas. Gas Meter.
Otto Gas Engine. The Welsbach Burner.

CHAPTER XXVII.

CIVIL ENGINEERING.

Great Bridges, Pneumatic Caissons, Tunnels. The Beach Tunnel Shield.
Suez Canal. Dredges. The Lidgerwood Cable Ways. Canal Locks. Artesian
Wells. Compressed-Air Rock Drills. Blasting. Mississippi Jetties. Iron
and Steel Buildings. Eiffel Tower. Washington’s Monument. The United
States Capitol.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

WOODWORKING.

Early Machines of Sir Samuel Bentham. Evolution of the Saw. Circular
Saw. Hammering to Tension. Steam Feed for Saw Mill Carriage. Quarter
Sawing. The Band Saw. Planing Machines. The Woodworth Planer. The
Woodbury Yielding Pressure Bar. The Universal Woodworker. The
Blanchard Lathe. Mortising Machines. Special Woodworking Machines.

CHAPTER XXIX.

METAL WORKING.

Early Iron Furnace. Operations of Lord Dudley, Abraham Darby, and
Henry Cort. Neilson’s Hot Blast. Great Blast Furnaces of Modern Times.
The Puddling Furnace. Bessemer Steel and the Converter. Open Hearth
Steel. Regenerative Furnace. Siemens-Martin Process. Forging Armor
Plate. Making Horse Shoes. Screws and Special Machines. Electric
Welding, Annealing and Tempering. Coating with Metal. Metal Founding.
Barbed Wire Machines. Making Nails, Pins, etc. Making Shot. Alloys.
Making Aluminum, and Metallurgy of Rarer Metals. The Cyanide Process.
Electric Concentrator.

CHAPTER XXX.

FIRE ARMS AND EXPLOSIVES.

The Cannon, the Most Ancient of Fire Arms. Muzzle and Breech Loaders
of the Sixteenth Century. The Armstrong Gun. The Rodman, Dahlgren, and
Parrott Guns. Breech-Loading Ordnance. Rapid Fire Breech-Loading
Rifles. Disappearing Gun. Gatling Gun. Dynamite Gun. The Colt, and
Smith & Wesson Revolvers. German Automatic Pistol. Breech-Loading
Small Arms. Magazine Guns. The Lee, Krag-Jorgensen, and Mauser Rifles.
Hammerless Guns. Rebounding Locks. Gun Cotton. Nitro Glycerine, and
Smokeless Powder. Mines and Torpedoes.

CHAPTER XXXI.

TEXTILES.

Spinning and Weaving an Ancient Art. Hargreaves’ Spinning Jenny.
Arkwright’s Roll-Drawing Spinning Machine. Crompton’s Mule Spinner.
The Cotton Gin. Ring Spinning. The Rabbeth Spindle. John Kay’s Flying
Shuttle and Robt. Kay’s Drop Box. Cartwright’s Power Loom. The
Jacquard Loom. Crompton’s Fancy Loom. Bigelow’s Carpet Looms. Lyall
Positive Motion Loom. Knitting Machines. Cloth Pressing Machinery.
Artificial Silk. Mercerized Cloth.

CHAPTER XXXII.

ICE MACHINES.

General Principles. Freezing Mixtures. Perkins’ Ice Machine, 1834.
Pictet’s Apparatus. Carré’s Ammonia Absorption Process. Direct
Compression, and Can System. The Holden Ice Machine. Skating Rinks.
Windhausen’s Apparatus for Cooling and Ventilating Ships.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

LIQUID AIR.

Liquefaction of Gases by Northmore--1805, Faraday--1823, Bussy--1824,
Thilorier--1834, and others. Liquefaction of Oxygen, Nitrogen and Air,
by Pictet and Cailletet in 1877. Self-Intensification of Cold by
Siemens in 1857, and Windhausen in 1870. Operations of Dewar,
Wroblewski, and Olszewski. Self-Intensifying Processes of Solvay,
Tripler, Lindé, Hampson, and Ostergren and Berger. Liquid Air
Experiments and Uses.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

MINOR INVENTIONS,

AND

Patents of Principal Countries of the World.

CHAPTER XXXV.

EPILOGUE.