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[Illustration: STEAM AND ELECTRICITY.

The 70,000 Horse-Power Station of the Metropolitan Street Railway, New
York.]




  THE PROGRESS
  OF
  INVENTION
  IN THE
  NINETEENTH CENTURY


  BY

  EDWARD W. BYRN, A.M.


  [Greek: "Dhos pou stho, kahi tehn ghen kinheso."]
  (Give me where to stand, and I'll move the earth.)
  --_Archimedes._


  MUNN & CO., PUBLISHERS

  SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN OFFICE
  361 BROADWAY, NEW YORK

  1900




  COPYRIGHTED, 1900, BY MUNN & CO.


  ENTERED AT STATIONER'S HALL
  LONDON, ENGLAND


  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED


  Printed in the United States of America by
  The Manufacturers' and Publishers' Printing Company,
  New York City.




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. Dani