The great inventions ..

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Preface

TT is safe to assert that no class of effort has been as "*■ pre-eminent in the development of civilization as that of invention. It has given us substantially everything we possess which distinguishes nis from our savage ancestors. When invention has slept, humanity has slept also, or else has retrograded towards barbarism. Effort 80 conspicuous, so deserving of commendation is entitled to more substantial recognition than it has yet received.

Hitherto what has been said of invention has been scattered through the books. Nobody has apparently thought it worth while to coUect what may be said of inventors and their works as has been done with other claasee of efEorts and the men who were prominent in their production. Frequently this has been done in cases where the classes of results have been far less influential than invention in the part played in the drama of the world's progress. It is to remedy this injustice that this work has been prepared.

It win undertake to show how civilization has been influenced by invention, and how the latter has been the leader and not the follower of the former. It will

IV. PBEFACB.

endeavor to give faithful sketches of a class of me a who have often been derided, generally misunderstood, and as a rule, underpaid for their great services.

Another of its objects is to correct a popular ignorance in regard to the origin of inventions. It will endeavor to show that there is a widely-diffused belief as to the beginning of many practical appliances which is Mdthout foundation, as for instance that Stephenson constructed the first locomotive, that Fulton was the " inventor " of the steamboat, that Jenner was the first to use vaccine matter as a remedy against small-pox. Innumerable errors of this kind are in existence, and should be corrected, not only in the interests of truth, but that credit for these great results should be distributed where they belong.

These are the practical reasons why this work has been undertaken and given to the pubhc. It is beheved to be the first attempt to group inventors and inventions within the compass of a book. In this particular, it is believed that it will have an especial value as a work of reference, as dates have been carefully prepared, and occurrences so located that a very Idrge class of valuable information is made available, at sight, for those who may be in search of it. It is also thought that the sketches of the lives of inventors of prominence, which are woven in the woof of the book, will possess no small value, as they present models which will be of the highest utility to the American youth during the progress of

their development.

F. B. W.

CONTENTS,

Chapter I

Thb Bibth and tbb Ckiij>hoos of a Oiant. The gruid role filled b; inventioti — Invention and civilization ioseparable — The chief factor to be found in invention— An outline of what we would be without invention— Inventive genius — Birth, origin — Weapons of offense and defense — Falteolithlo age — Advent ot man In Northern Europe— Invention takes the initial step ot a long march- Neolithic age — Implements cut and polished— Discovery of copper — Age of bronze — Most curious remnants of prehistoric man— Probabilities ut this mjstio period ....... Pages 17-27

CHAPTER 11.

The Pboobbbs of a Stai.wabt Youth.

The period when iron vas brought into use — First case of ship-bnilding — Women taught to weave and spin — Invention bided its tine— Civilization developed in Europe— Remote date ot Chinese and Egyptian civilization— Borne and Greece fonnded^IUustrations of ancient genius — Hero's ateam-machine — Fire-engine- Hasty glance over condition ot ancient civilizatioa— Oold and linen weaving — Oreeks in medicine, sculptnre and architecture- Boads, aqueducts, bridges, baths. coloEsenms — Archimedes as a mathematician, inventor — Power of the lever— Ships — Phcenicians — Mechanical evolation— Anglo -Saxon vessels — Hebrews, their power and glory—Fall of the Koman empire — Invention a creator, but not a preserver ---...... 28-13

CHAPTER in.

AcSKOWI.EDaifXMTB TO THE PAST.

Extinct civilization— Tunnel Under the Euphrates— Chinese aneeathetica — Bt^man surgical Instruments- Dentistry — Hydropathy — Chem> istry- Lightning-rods— Congreve rockets— Hindoo vaccination— Artealan wells — Aluminium — Metallurgy — Etruscan jewelry — Mechanical

VI. CONTENTS.

occupations considered degrading— Man's modem progress founded on a stratum by the ancients ...... 4i-55

CHAPTER IV.

The Dabk Ages.

Might and ignorance— The decline of literature— Earliest sign of its revival — Its relapse — Feudal system — What the Moors accomplished — Byzantine empire — Present civilization indebted to the Moors — The renaissance — Gunpowder brought to Europe— The value of the manufacture of paper to printing— Advances in the character of arms and armor — Closing of the dark ages — Revival of frescoing, book-binding — Luther, Columbus — Mariner's compass — A new act in the drama of human progress -..-----. 56-64

CHAPTER V. . Gunpowdeb; or, the New Birth op Invention.

Changes wrought by gunpowder— Chronological statement compiled by Bziha— Date of its general use— As an evangelist— A revolution of the popular estimate of personal hugeness— Social and moral value — Description of the first cannon— Original flre-arms— Berthold Swartz— Why gunpowder was so long in making its appearance ... 65-75

CHAPTER VI.

Printing; or, the **Art Preservative op Arts.*'

The world indebted to the Chinese for printing — Their method — When it came to Europe — Johann Gutenburg the (German inventor — Laurens Coster the Dutch claimant — Outline of his early life — Lamartine's prophetic dream of the German inventor — Is persecuted and withdraws himself from the world to carry on his labors— His claim to the invention of printing disputed— Tedious litigation— He loses his case— Prints the Psalter and the Mayence Bible — Once more a wanderer — Death of Gutenberg— Stephen Dolet — He is arrested and imprisoned — Put to torture and finally burned — Progress of the new agency of civilization - 76-93

CHAPTER VII.

The Frooress op Printixo.

Popularity of the new art — Sovereigns and nobles participate in the manual labor of printing— First press set up in Westminster, England — Antique /ac-«imiZc— The noted Caxton— His peculiar writing— How he is regarded to-day in England— Slowness of press-work— An obstacle of magnitude— Invention of power-presses- The perfecting printing press and others— The addition of steam to the perfecting-press— The first newspaper— Chronology of the early newspaper press— The first press in this country ..--.-. d^l03

CONTENTS. yil.

CHAPTER VIII.

The Mabinebs' Compass.

The fifteenth century— How the various nations regarded each other — Doubt as to who was the originator — Chinese the probable originators — Its aid to destiny in making room for the superabundant millions of the old world— America discovered— The arduous efforts of Columbus to bring about this discovery — His appearance before a learned council — The theories of Lactance and Augustin— Columbus confounded— His responses despised and his entreaties unheeded — Still enthusiastic in what he believed to be his divine mission— His failure before the learned committee— Spain spurned Columbus but has the credit of the discovery of America - - - .... 104-111

CHAPTER IX.

The Pebiod of the New Bibth.

Benaissance— Beason why printing flourished in Italy — Celebrities of the renaissance — The literary celebrities of the fourteenth century — Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, the triumvirate — Appearance of printing in the fifteenth century— Tasso and Machiavelli make their appearance — Some of the prominent painters, and scientific experts — The cradle in which was rocked the new-bom civilization— Columbus and Vespucci bom — Copernicus and his ideas of the planetary system— Bacon and Galileo preparing the way for Newton — Luther close at hand — The renaissance in England— The first results of printing— It brings into England translations of the classics — The literature of Italy — Valuable aid to Luther — The press as his herald — The period of violent contrasts— ^Legitimate results of the new birth— Invention a potent agency in reconstruction — Gunpowder and printing as auxilliaries of the movement— Spectacles, watches, microscope, etc. — The invention of Ludolph, of Nuremburg, in the fouileenth century — Inferiority of the English in the sixteenth century— The next century brings competition with foreign manufactures — First mention of a sun-dial— Different instruments for marking the passage of time— Clocks in the thirteenth century — Wheatstone'9 electric watches in the sixteenth century— The chronometer, its value and use — Other improvements and inventions of the fifteenth century — ^Bronze cannon— Engraving on steel — Letter-post in France— The carbine— Copernicus, the telescope, etc. - - ^ - 112-125

CHAPTER X.

GAIilliEO.

Grandest event of the si^xteenth century— Birth of Galileo — His extraordinary character — First discovery, the isochronism of the pendulum — His education— His investigations into gravitation — His discoveries make him enemies — Invention of the thermascope— Letters written by him ir. 1697 and 1610— Adopts the Copernician theory— Takes up the telescope—

Vlll, CONTENTS.

Experiments and improvements — Creates a tremendous furore with the telescope — Foundations of his subsequent misfortunes — His enemies plot against him — He appears before the inquisitors — The result — His penance — An edict from Rome — ^Abjuration of Galileo— Sentence of the tribunal wh.ch convicted him— How his admirers regard his abjuration — What his apologists teach— His persecution not unanimous in the church — Earnest endeavors on the part of the highest ecclesiastics to mitigate the severity of his sentence— Extracts from Madden - - - 126-142

CHAPTER XI.

The Microscope and the Telescope.

Their likeness and their unlikeness— Creation a crowded tenementhouse — A fanciful picture of a celestial Colossus — Uses of the microscope — Its power — Things both curious and instructive — Its infinite service to medicine— Discoveries of Pasteur and Koch — Origin of the microscope- Found in the ruins of Nineveh and Herculaneum— Difficulty in locating the invention of the modern instrument — Method of using the earlier microscopes— Newton's design presented in 1672 — Curious developments of the microscope— The astronomer and the naturalist — The composition of vast mountain ranges — Uses of the infusoria — ^Nature's invisible police — The telescope comes to upset accepted theories — The task a severe one — Science inexorable— Curious beliefs preceding Copernicus— What Cosmos taught, and what was believed by Bede, Xenophon, Ptolemy and others- -Sketch of Copernicus, and his achievements —His ideas corrected by Kepler in 1609 — Origin and Invention of the telescope — Galileo takes it up — Galileo's discoveries — ^Bing of Saturn discovered— Beflecting telescopes— Iconoclasts among the idols and fetiches of the past — Ideas of the Creator enlarged — Jupiter the type of a perfect world— What an observer could see in one of the furthest fixed stars — A means of verifjring history 143-173

CHAPTER XII.

Descabtes, Kepleb, akd Newton.

Descartes a philosopher, an inventor, and a discoverer— His birth and education — A new system of philosophy — His theory of vortices — Gives his attention to dioptrics and hydrostatics— Discovery of the "law of sines "— Johann Kepler— Discovers the ellipticity of the orbit of Mar»— Immense value of his labor— His Budolphine tables— Huyghens— Fourth satellite of Saturn discovered by his powerful glass — Invents the spiral spring for watches— Invents the chronometer — Birth of Newton — Early life— Aptitude for mathematics— Earlier discoveries— Makes a reflecting telescope — New theories as to colors — Newton^ as a theologian — His great discoveries— His death and burial— Some of the astronomers who carried on the work left by Newton— Laplace — He invents the calorimeter— Laws of sound>-His crowning glory— Later discoveries— Gen. Mitchell— Proctor —A diligent student and worker . - - - 174-192

CONTENTS. ax.

CHAPTER XIII.

Alchemy ani> Chemistby.

Various definitions of alchemy— Is of comparatively recent origin — Hermes Trismegistns, the mythical Egyptian^MetaUty of metals— The philosopher's stone—Recipes for its composition — Search for alkahest — Demand for palingenesis— The homnncnli— Extracts from Paracelsus- Alchemy not without its value — What it discovered — Chemistry separates from alchemy and forms an alliance with medicine — Noted chemists — Georg Ernst Stahl— What he did for chemistry— Theories which he evolved — Joseph Black and his discoveries — The famous Priestly, and some of his experiences — His life and death in America — Lavoisier— Disposes of the phlogiston theory— Cavendish expands the area of chemistry—Sir Humphry Davy— The safety-lamp and other inventions and discoveries ....... 193-207

CHAPTER XIV.

Perpetual Motion.

How it was regarded a century or so ago — The first attempts to secure something which would move itself— The six machines of Leonardo da Vinci in the fifteenth century— Drebble's famous effort — Marquis of Worcester, the inventor of the steam-pump — The claims of Orffryreus — The vast discussion over his wheel — What has been accomplished in the shape of patenting self-acting machines — What has been done in England, France and other places— The futility of the attempt to secure perpetual motion substantially established .... 208-225

.HAPTER XV.

Hydraulics, Hydrostatics, etc.

First invention for raising water — Windlass used by the Romans — Chinamen find something easier— Improvements of tho Hindoos— Various ancient appliances— Atmospheric pump — Stomach-pump— Its first use — Trying it on a dog— Germany the first to use modem water-works — Systems of water-works in use — The Gravity system, and the Holly system — Turbine wheels — Hydraulic rams — Steam fire-engine — Mediaeval fire-engines — Squirts, and syringes — Steamer in use in this country- Chicago fire-department — Appliances of the Garden city for the handling of fires — The pastoral water-wheel — Its restfulness and its beneficent aspects ........ 226-247

CHAPTER XVI.

Spinning-wheel, Loom, eto.

The old home spinning-wheel — Cotton gives a new theme to the music of the wheel— Spinning and weaving in the country homes — The footfalls of the spinner — Origin of the spinning-wheel — Its introduction into England^Improvements by Hargreaves — Modem factory system—

X. CONTENTS.

Cruelty to children— Crampton's antom&tio machine— Cotton-gin— Sketch of Whitney — Art of weaving — Specimens of oriental work now in Europe — First weavers— Weaving assumes prominence— Flemish weavers induced to go to England— England's supremacy in the manufacture of woollen cloth — Origin of the term "Woolsack" — First spinning-machine — First power-loom for the weaving of wide cloth— Sketch of Arkwright — Sketch of Cartwright— Hostility against machinery — Jacquard's important invention—Sketch of Jacquard . . . - - 248-275

CHAPTER XVII.

Thb Jagquabd and other Looms.

Pattern loom — Development of the machine — Description of thd Jacquard attachment— Stocking-loom — The knitting-machine — Lee produces a revolution— Refused a patent — Failure and death — Bmnel's tricoteur — Lee machine first brought to America — Lamb knitter — Lace-making — Hand-lace made in England — French laces— First attempts to use machinery — Heathcote's invention— Carpets — Antiquity and earliest manufacture — Bigelow*s invention— Calico-printing — Methods by which various patterns are produced— Peel family of England— Picture of the world as it was and is ----- - 276-297

CHAPTER XVIII.

WooD-WoRKiNG Machinery, etc.

First wood-saw- Inventor of the saw deified— First saw-mills — Stanfield's windmill for sawing— Planing-mills — Bramah's invention — Wadsworth and Daniell's improvements — ^Numberless modifications in the process of sawing— Scroll or jigger-saw — First use and various improvements of the mortising machine— Green's chain-saw mortiser— Machinery for cutting veneers — Wood-hangings— Machine for turning irregular forms invented by Blanchard — The jack-knife— Canonization of the omnipotent and invaluable ax - - - - - - - 298-317

CHAPTER XIX.

Enoravino on Wood, Metals, etc.

The art known to the ancients— First illustrated books— Uses and benefits— Engraving on metals— Perkin's process of decarbonizing steel — Different processes for transferring designs to steel— Birth and process of lithographing — Chromo-llthographing — Osborne process of photo-lithography—Nature painting — Branson's method of electrotyping impressions of natural objects — Italy first to use engraving— Metal plate engraving said to have been discovered by accident — Albert Diirer — Hans Holbein—" Dance of death " — The art in France — Jean Cousin and Salomon— ^Revival of engraving in England — Modem engraving— Its educational work — The world brought under every man's roof -tree, 318-333

CONTENTS. Xl»

CHAPTER XX.

AOBI CULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

Primitive plow— Cliinese plows— The Boman plow still in use— First plow patented in this country — Austin's rotary plow — Ploughing by steam— The English in advance of other nations — Traction engine— Steam-plows — Flail, scythe, sickle, etc. — The cradle a Yankee invention —Forging of scythes— First reaping-machine— Case's reaper— Reaper In Gaul — McCormick's— Sketch of latter — Large variety of reaping-machines — Chronology of reaper and mower — ^Uaterial ohangeB in the life of the farmer — Other machines in use in agriculture — Their name is legion — The threshing machine and its inventor— French fanning-miUs — The future of agriculture in this country— What is yet lacking - 334-361

CHAPTER XXI.

FiBE-ABMS AND ORDNANCE.

Earliest weapons— What the Greeks, Romans, and other nations used — Weapons of knighthood — The English bow — Cloth-yard shaft — Cross-bow, catapult, and battering-ram — Summary of ancient weapons — Some of the arms of modem savages — Early breech-loaders — Cannon of extraordinary dimensions — ^When iron baUs were first used — Mortars at Malta — Rifling cannon — Various kinds of cannon — Whitworth, Rodman, Armstrong, Erupp, and others — Sketches of some of the prominent inventors — The Gatling— Its capabilities — Small-arms — The oulverin— Arquebuse — The musket — ^Falcon and falconet — The wheel-lock — ^Percussion caps — "Brown Bess"— Value of rifling- Elongated bullet— Bullet of Minid— Needle gun — Chassepot's invention— Colt's revolver— Sketch of Colt's life —Beneficial results of the improvements in fire-arms - 362-393

CHAPTER XXII.

Steam and its Appliances.

Discovery of steam— Papin, Newcomen, Savery and Watt not inventors but improvers — Pagan use of steam — Steam-clock in the twelfth century— Drawings of De Cans Ramsaye*s patents — Discoveries of the Marquis of Worcester — His *• Century of Invention" — Torpedoes and other modem things foreshadowed — His steam -pump — The forerunner of a Savery, Newcomen and others — Official documents in regard to the steamboat of DeGaray — Facts show that no one person is entitled to the discovery of steam as a motor, or of the invention of the steam-engine ---.---- 394-il2

CHAPTER XXIII.

Steau and its Appliances— Continued.

Sir Samuel Morland and his investigations — Denys Papin and his. inventions- Sketch of his life— Savery*s first efforts— His engine the same as that of Worcester — Advances made by Newcomen — His early life

XU. CONTENTS.

— Constmcts the walking-beam— Uses the safety-valve — Accident reveals a rapid process of condensation — Discovers automatic- valve motion — Vast importance of Kewcomen's engine to the mines of Great Britain — ^Birth of James Watt — His yonth and education — His improvements in the steam-engine so radical as to amount almost to its invention — Steam on both sides of the piston — Ebtarj motion — Throttle-valve and governor — Steam-hammer — Chronology of steam, and the steam-engine - 413-432

CHAPTER XX.V.

Steam akb the Steamboat.

Necessity of additional means of transportation — ^Agencies of production— The paddle-wheel — De Garay at Barcelona— Jonathan Hull, of England— Dr. Franklin and Oliver Evans — John Fitch— Sketch of his life — Builds a model of a steamboat — Fitch constructs a steamboat — Its success, and subsequent uses — Final failure — Becomes despondent, goes to Kentucky and dies by his own hand — His obscure grave — His prophecy — Rumsy, Miller, Symmlngton, Oliver Evans — Fulton — His birth — ^Builds and launches a steamboat— Builds other steamboats — The Savannah, and other sea-going vessels — Number and tonnage of steam vessels in the world 433-461

CHAPTER XXV.

Steam and the Ijocomotivb.

No one Inventor of the locomotive — First idea of the railway — Newton's land-carriage to be driven by steam— Suggestions by Watt — Locomotives in the eighteenth century — Oliver Evans' locomotive — His prophecies — Blenkinsopp and Heclley — ** Pufllng Billy" — George Stephenson—His birth, education and rise — First engine— Becomes engineer of the London and Manchester Kailway — Surveys the route — Vaticinations of the press and public speakers — Stephenson before a parliamentary committee— "Awkward for the coo" — Railway built — Urgent objections to the locomotive — Stephenson fights for a movable engine — He wins — Competition ordered — Four engines compete — Stephenson's engine, the "Rocket," victorious— First engines in this country — ^Peter Cooper built the first one — Railways in the world .... 462-485

CHAPTER XXVI.

Electricity and its AppiiiANCES.

Nature unknown — Molecules which repel and attract — Uses of electricity— Telegraphing — Foreshadowed in the seventeenth century — First telegraph — A wire for each letter — Discovery of the voltaic pile — The fractional process — First underground telegraph — Advent of Prof. Morse — Development of magnetism — Telegraph of Ampere— Prof. Henry and the electro -magnet — His telegraph — Wheatstone's galvanometer telegraph — Morse files a caveat — Sketch of his life — Morse's first exhibition — First message — Honors extended to Morse— Fac-simile telegraphs— Printing telegraph ....... 486-605

CONTENTS. XUl.

CHAPTER XXVII.

EliEOTBIOITY AND ITS APPLIANCES — CONTINUED.

District telegraph and messengers — Bnrglar alarms — ^Antomatio fire-alarms— Barrett's inventions— Patrol boxes — The " Little Joker "—Various nses to -which electricity is put — Submarine cable — Cyrus W. Field — His efforts to lay a cable across the Atlantic — His failures — Prodigious perseverance— Final success — The telephone — Speculations — Bourseul announces the possibility of an electric telephone — ^Invented by Philip Beiss — Perfected by Bell and Edison — Gray and his achievements — Edison — Sketch of his life— The phonograph and other inventions — Multiple telegraphy— Electric lights - - - - 50&-526

CHAPTER XXVIII.

EliECTBIClTY AND ITS APPLIANCES- CONTINUED.

Generating electricity — Plate machines — Galvanic batteries — Wollaston, DanicUs, Grove, Bnnsen, Leclanch^, and others — Magneto-electrio machines — Siemens, Wild, Gramme, Edison, etc. — The arc light — Incandescent light — Lamps — Brush, Rapieff, Werdermann, Wallace and Jablochoff — Niagara Falls — Instantaneous photography — ^Electro -plating — Electrotyping — Galvanizing iron — Galvanoglyph — The Faure battery, or "accumulator" — Brush storage battery— Faraday — His life and services— Influence of electricity on civilization — Electricity yet in its infancy 527-642

CHAPTER XXIX.

Age of Ibon.

The world without iron — First use unknown — Known in the indefinite past— Pillar of Delhi — Iron-working among the ancients — Early furnaces —Iron- working in Britain — ^Mineral coal discovered — First iron -works in this country — Hot-blast introduced — Process of smelting — Howells* patent — Making pig into cast or malleable iron — Steel — Its antiquity- First patents — Bessemer and his process — The roUing-miU — Henry Cort and what he accomplished— His life — Rolling of armor-plates — A volcano of fire - - 543-^64

CHAPTER XXX.

Age of Iron — Continued.

Shipbuilding— Astonishing results — Steel vessels— Armor for ships — When first used— Iron as a building material— Suspension bridges — Accounts of the various notable suspension bridges in existence — Capt. James B. Eads, and what he has accomplished— The jetties— John A. Roebling— Forging iron — The steam-hammer— Manufacture of wire — Pins, horse-nails, tacks, etc.— Future uses for iron - - 666-581

XIV. CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXXI Photography.

Its early history— Berzelius — Effect of light— Daguerr^— Talbot— Sketch of Daguerre— Draper's improvement— Old daguerreotypes— Discovery of collodion- The ambrotype — Vast number oi photographic processes — The stereoscope — Astronomical studies— Microscopic photography—Pyro-photography — Photographs in colors - 582-600

CHAPTER XXXn.

The Sewing-Maghine.

First attempts— French inventions— Date of the Howe machine— Order of inventions— Walter Hunt— Sketch of Elias Howe— Isaac M. Singer— His efforts and inventions — Doubts as to his claim— Wheeler and Wilson — Grover and others— History of Howe's invention— His suffering, struggles and triumph— Final success— Lawsuits — Elaboration of the sewing-machine— Motors — Various kinds of sewing-machines — Value of the sewing-machine as a factor in the problems of labor . . - 601-622

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Caotjtchouo OB India Rubber.

Caoutchouc defined— Gutta percha— First recorded discovery of rubber— Described by Torquemada in 1615— What the French found— Priestly's notable discovery— Efforts to utilize it— Mackintosh's great discovery— Thomas Hancock — What he invented and what he pirated — Charles Goodyear — Life of Goodyear— Attention given to India rubber- Years devoted to attempts at improvement — Finally discovers the process of vulcanization — A life of prodigious suffering — Repeated failures- Final success — Reaps nothing but honor for a life of exertion— His death — Uses of rubber and its value— Is found everywhere— Its utility second to that of no modern discovery .... - 623-647

CHAPTER XXXI V.

Glass and Its Manufagtube.

Fabled discovery— Sailors on the banks of the river Belus— Known to the ancients— Highly valued by the Romans— Glass articles found in ancient ruins — Valuable specimens— What glass is composed of— Process of modem manufacture — Plate and flint glass— How each is made— Curious processes — Glass manufacturing in various parts of the world— What glass enters into— Its uses in the telescope— Some late efforts in this direction— Some statistics of its production— France, England, and the United States ....... 648-666

CHAPTER XXXV.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAOB.

Pbihititb Mak . - . .... 21

JOHH GnTBMBERO ....... 81

CovEKDALE Bible ........ 89

FAC-8IMII.E OF Ancient MS. .--..- 95

Qauleo Oalilei ........ 137

HicBoscopE ........ u^

Eqttatobiai. TEI.ESCOPE - - - - • ■ - 166

Sib Ibaac Newton --..... 179

Sib W. Hebbchel -■----.. 1S9

CHIIIEaE WlNDIiABS ....... 328

FuBBB WiSDiAsa . - . . - - . - 228

Hindoo Sweep ....... 229

BoHAN Chain Pots • - - - - - -330

H01.LZ Fdkpino Engine ...... 337

Sybinob Fibe-Enoine (A. D. 1668) - - - - - 211

BpniHiNo— The Old and New Way - - - - - 361

MoDEBN Spinnino MdiiE ...... 256

Bnco Spinkinq Fraiib -..-... 358

Eaoue Cotton Gin ....... 260

Kkowles' Lioht Fancy Power Look - - - . .268

Lake ENimNO Maohines -.-... 286

XVI. ILLUSTKATIONS.

PAGE.

Top and Bottom Sawyer .---.. 300

Chain Saw Mortiseb ....... 309*

Specimen op Enobayinq in Fifteenth Century - - 319

SEiiF-BiNDiNG Reaper ...... 351

Armstrong One Hundred Ton Gun - - - - - 371

Gatlino Gun Mounted on Tripod ... - 375

Gatling Gun with Improved Feed ... - - 377

Newcomen's Engine (A. D. 1705) ..... 4i9'

John Fitch's Steam-Boat - - - - - - 441

Robert Fulton ....... 449.

Fulton's First Boat— The " Clermont " - - - - 455

The ** Savannah "—First Sea-Going Vessel ... 457

Modern Ocean Steamer ...... 459

George Stephenson ....... 469

Dynamo-Room— Generating Electricity .... 529

The Brush Light— Street Illumination in New York - 533

The Brush Storage Battery ---.-- 53a

Piston Bellows op Africa -...-. 546

Manufacture op Steeii— Bessemer Process - - - 555

Steeii Plate Manufacturing - - - - - 561

Bridge over the Mississippi at St. Louis - - - - 571

Howe's First Sewing- Machine ..... 613

Ancient Egyptian Glass-Blowing - - - - 651

Manufacture of Common Window- Glass • - - - 657

THE GREAT INVENTIONS.

CHAPTEB I.

THE BIBTH AND THE CHILDHOOD OF A GIANT.

ONE of the grandest roles in the great drama of ' Human Progress has been filled by Invention. Invention and civilization have come up out of the agee, hand in hand. They stand to each other in the relation ' of cause and effect, in vhich they act as alternately the one and the other. One day, invention creates on the demand of civiHzation; and the next day, the latter, impelled by the former, makes a long stride in advance.

There are many factors to be considered in an elaboration of the growth of the world — they are innumerable, in fact ; but the peer of them all, and, in many phases, the chief of them, is to be found in invention. It has made the waters a highway which men traverse as they do sohd land ; it, and its other self, discovery, have lifted the nations from skins and caves to royal purple and palaces. The air of this planet, echoing the hum of spindles, the soughing of locomotives, the roar of the speeding trains, the clang of hammers, the murmurs of the telegraph wires, and all the innumerable clamors of machinery, chants to all its remotest hmits, a hymn of praise over the labors of invention.

Fancy for a single moment what this world would

18 THE BIBTH AND THE CHILDHOOD OF A GIANT,

be if deprived of the inventions of the Stephensons, the Morses, the Fultons, and others of their kind ! The slender wires along the sky-line would vanish ; the tapping of the telegraph sounder would cease ; the gas-jets would die out ; the clack of the looms would be replaced by silence ; the ocean would become an awful, an impassable desert. The world would wander in sloughs of mud. Pestilence would take the place of cleanUness and health. The stars would become mysterious, and menacing eyes glaring at us from the fathomless blue. Hovels and caves would come where homes of marble and beauty now stand. The sun would resolve itself into a ball of fire revolving about us; the Gothic churches, with aU their freightful memories, would sink as into the yawning abyss of an earthquake. Men would hunt for caves for dweUing-places, and clothe themselves with the skins of animals slain in hand-to-hand conflicts.