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[Illustration: GUTENBERG TAKES THE FIRST PROOF]




    Historic Inventions

    By
    RUPERT S. HOLLAND

    _Author of "Historic Boyhoods," "Historic Girlhoods,"
    "Builders of United Italy," etc._


    PHILADELPHIA
    GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY
    PUBLISHERS


    Copyright, 1911, by
    GEORGE W. JACOBS AND COMPANY
    _Published August, 1911_

    _All rights reserved_
    Printed in U.S.A.


    _To
    J. W. H._




    CONTENTS


       I. GUTENBERG AND THE PRINTING PRESS            9

      II. PALISSY AND HIS ENAMEL                     42

     III. GALILEO AND THE TELESCOPE                  53

      IV. WATT AND THE STEAM-ENGINE                  70

       V. ARKWRIGHT AND THE SPINNING-JENNY           84

      VI. WHITNEY AND THE COTTON-GIN                 96

     VII. FULTON AND THE STEAMBOAT                  111

    VIII. DAVY AND THE SAFETY-LAMP                  126

      IX. STEPHENSON AND THE LOCOMOTIVE             140

       X. MORSE AND THE TELEGRAPH                   168

      XI. MCCORMICK AND THE REAPER                  189

     XII. HOWE AND THE SEWING-MACHINE               206

    XIII. BELL AND THE TELEPHONE                    215

     XIV. EDISON AND THE ELECTRIC LIGHT             233

      XV. MARCONI AND THE WIRELESS TELEGRAPH        261

     XVI. THE WRIGHTS AND THE AIRSHIP               273




    ILLUSTRATIONS


    Gutenberg Takes the First Proof                    _Frontispiece_

    Palissy the Potter After an Unsuccessful
    Experiment                                     _Facing page_   46

    Galileo's Telescope                                 "    "     58

    Watt First Tests the Power of Steam                 "    "     72

    Sir Richard Arkwright                               "    "     88

    The Inventor of the Cotton Gin                      "    "    104

    _The Clermont_, the First Steam Packet              "    "    120

    The Davy Safety Lamp                                "    "    136

    One of the First Locomotives                        "    "    156

    Morse and the First Telegraph                       "    "    180

    The Earliest Reaper                                 "    "    194

    Elias Howe's Sewing-Machine                         "    "    210

    The First Telephone                                 "    "    222

    Edison and the Early Phonograph                     "    "    258

    Wireless Station in New York City Showing
    the Antenna                                         "    "    268

    The Wright Brothers' Airship                        "    "    281




I

GUTENBERG AND THE PRINTING PRESS

About 1400-1468


The free cities of mediaeval Germany were continually torn asunder by
petty civil wars. The nobles, who despised commerce, and the burghers,
who lived by it, were always fighting for the upper hand, and the
laboring people sided now with one party, and now with the other.
After each uprising the victors usually banished a great number of the
defeated faction from the city. So it happened that John Gutenberg, a
young man of good family, who had been born in Mainz about 1400, was
outlawed from his home, and went with his wife Anna to live in the
city of Strasburg, which was some sixty miles distant from Mainz. He
chose the trade of a lapidary, or polisher of precious stones, an art
which in that age was held in almost as high esteem as that of the
painter or sculptor. He had been well educated, and his skill in
cutting gems, as well as his general learning and his interest in all
manner of inventions, drew people of the highest standing to his
little workshop, which was the front room of his dwelling house.

One evening after supper, as Gutenberg and his wife were sitting in
the room behind the shop, he chanced to pick up a playing-card. He
studied it very carefully, as though it were new to him. Presently
his wife looked up from her sewing, and noticed how much absorbed he
was. "Prithee, John, what marvel dost thou find in that card?" said
she. "One would think it the face of a saint, so closely dost thou
regard it."

"Nay, Anna," he answered thoughtfully, "but didst thou ever consider
how the picture on this card was made?"

"I suppose it was drawn in outline, and then painted, as other
pictures are."

"But there is a better way," said Gutenberg, still studying the
playing-card. "These lines were first marked out on a wooden block,
and then the wood was cut away on each side of them, so that they were
left raised. The lines were then smeared with ink and pressed on the
cardboard. This way is shorter, Anna, than by drawing and painting
each picture separately, because when the block is once engraved it
can be used to mark any number of cards."

Anna took the playing-card from her husband's hand. It represented a
figure that was known as the Knave of Bells. "It's an unsightly
creature," she said, studying it, "and not to be compared with our
picture of good St. Christopher on the wall yonder. Surely that was
made with a pen?"

"Nay, it was made from an engraved block, just like this card," said
the young lapidary.

"St. Christopher made in that way!" exclaimed his wife. "Then what a
splendid art it must be, if it keeps the pictures of the blessed
saints for us!"

The picture of the saint was a curious  woodcut, showing St.
Christopher carrying the child Jesus across the water. Under it was an
inscription in Latin, and the date 1423.

"Yes, thou art right, dear," Gutenberg went on. "Pictures like that
are much to be prized, for they fill to some extent the place of
books, which are so rare and cost so much. But there are much more
valuable pictures in the Cathedral here at Strasburg. Dost thou
remember the jewels the Abbot gave me to polish for him? When I
carried them back, he took me into the Cathedral library, and showed
me several books filled with these engraved pictures, and they were
much finer than our St. Christopher. The books I remember were the
'Ars Memorandi,' the 'Ars Moriendi,' and the 'Biblia Pauperum,' and
the last had no less than forty pictures, with written explanations
underneath."

"That is truly wonderful, John! And what are they about?"

"The 'Biblia Pauperum' means 'Bible for the Poor,' and is a series of
scenes from the Old and New Testaments."

"I think I've heard of it; but I wish you'd tell me more about it."

John leaned forward, his keen face showing unusual interest. "The
forty pictures in it were made by pressing engraved blocks of wood on
paper, just like the St. Christopher, or this playing-card. The lines
are all brown, and the pictures are placed opposite each other, with
their blank backs pasted together, so they form one strong leaf."

"And how big are the pictures?"

"They are ten inches high and seven or eight inches wide, and each is
made up of three small pictures, separated by lines. More than that,
there are four half-length figures of prophets, two above and two
below the larger pictures. Then there are Latin legends and rhymes at
the bottom of each page."

"And all that is cut on wood first?" said Anna, doubtfully. "It sounds
almost like a miracle."

"Aye. I looked very closely, and the whole book is made from blocks,
like the playing-card."

"Art thou sure it's not the pencraft of some skilful scribe?"

"Assuredly I am. Dost thou see, Anna, how much better these blocks are
than the slower way of copying by hand? When they're once cut many
books can be printed as easily as one."

"Aye," answered his wife, "and they will be cheaper than the works
written out by the scribes, and still be so costly that whoever can
make them ought to grow rich from the sale. If thou canst do it, it
will make thy fortune. Thou art so ingenious. Canst thou not make a
'Bible for the Poor'?"

"Little wife, thou must be dreaming!" But John Gutenberg smiled, for
he saw that she had discovered the thought that had been in his mind.

"But couldst thou not?" Anna persisted. "Thou art so good at inventing
better ways of doing things."

Gutenberg laughed and shook his head. "I have found new ways to polish
stones and mirrors," said he, "but those are in my line of work. This
is quite outside it, and much more difficult."

Nothing more was said on the subject that night, but Anna could see,
as day followed day, that her husband was planning something, and she
felt very certain that he was thinking out a way of making books more
quickly than by the old process of copying them word for word by hand.

A few weeks later the young lapidary surprised his wife by showing her
a pile of playing-cards. "See my handicraft," said he. "Aren't these
as good as the Knave of Bells I gave thee?"

She looked at them, delight in her eyes. "They are very much better,
John. The lines are much clearer, and the color brighter."

"Still, that is only a step. It is of little use unless I can cut
letters, and press them on vellum as I did these cards. I shall try
thy name, Anna, and see if I cannot engrave it here on wood."

He took a small wooden tablet from the work-table in his shop, and
marking certain lines upon it, cut away the wood so that it left a
stamp of his wife's name. Brushing ink over the raised letters he
pressed the wood upon a sheet of paper, and then, lifting it
carefully, showed her her own name printed upon the paper.

"Wonderful!" she cried. "The letters have the very likeness of
writing!"

"Aye," agreed Gutenberg, looking at the four letters, "it is not a
failure. I think with patience and perseverance I could even impress a
copy of our picture of St. Christopher. It must have been made from
some manner of engraved block. See." He took the rude print from the
wall, and showed her on the back of it the marks of the stylus, or
burnisher, by which it had been rubbed upon the wood. "Thou mayst be
sure from this that these lines were not produced by a pen, as in
ordinary writing," said he.

"Well," said Anna, "it would surely be a pious act to multiply
pictures of the holy St. Christopher."

Encouraged by his wife's great interest, and spurred on by the passion
for invention, Gutenberg now set himself seriously to study the
problem of engraving. First of all he found it very difficult to find
the right kind of wood. Some kinds were too soft and porous, others
were liable to split easily. Finally he chose the wood of the
apple-tree, which had a fine grain, was dense and compact, and firm
enough to stand the process of engraving. Another difficulty was the
lack of proper tools; but he worked at these until his box was
supplied with a stock of knives, saws, chisels, and gravers of many
different patterns. Then he started to draw the portrait of the saint.

At his first attempt he made the picture and the inscription that went
with it on the same block, but as soon as he had finished it a better
idea occurred to him. The second time he drew the picture and the
inscription on separate blocks. "That's an improvement," he said to
his wife, "for I can draw the picture and the letters better
separately, and if I want I can use different  inks for
printing the two parts." Then he cut the wood away from the drawings,
and inking them, pressed them upon the paper. The result was a much
clearer picture than the old "St. Christopher" had been.

He studied his work with care. "So far so good," said he, "but it's
not yet perfect. The picture can't be properly printed without thicker
ink. This flows too easily, and even using the greatest care I can
hardly keep from blotting it."

He had to make a great many experiments to solve this difficulty of
the ink. At last he found that a preparation of oil was best. He could
vary the color according to the substances he used with this. Umber
gave him lines of a darkish brown color, lampblack and oil gave him
black ink. At first he used the umber chiefly, in imitation of the old
drawings that he was copying.

When his ink was ready he turned again to his interested wife. "Now
thou canst help me," said he. "Stuff and sew this piece of sheepskin
for me, while I get the paper ready for the printing."

Anna had soon done as he asked. Then Gutenberg added a handle to the
stuffed ball. "I need this to spread the ink evenly upon the block,"
said he. "One more servant of my new art is ready."

He had ground the ink upon a slab. Now he dipped his printer's dabber
in it, and spread the ink over the wood. Then he laid the paper on it,
and pressed it down with the polished handle of one of his new graving
tools. He lifted it carefully. The picture was a great improvement
over his first attempt. "This ink works splendidly!" he exclaimed in
delight.

"Now I shall want a picture of St. Christopher in every room in the
house," said Anna.

"But what shall I do?" said Gutenberg. "I can't afford the time and
money to make these pictures, unless I can sell them in some way."

"And canst thou not do that?"

"I know of no way at present; but I will hang them on the wall of the
shop, and perhaps some of my customers will see them and ask about
them."

The young lapidary was poor, and he had spent part of his savings in
working out his scheme of block-printing. He could give no more time
to this now, but he hung several copies of the "St. Christopher" in
his front room. Several days later a young woman, stopping at
Gutenberg's shop for her dowry jewels, noticed the pictures. "What are
those?" said she. "The good saint would look well on our wall at home.
If thou wilt wrap the picture up and let me take it home I will show
it to my husband, and if he approves I will send thee the price of it
to-morrow."

Gutenberg consented, and the next day the woman sent the money for the
"St. Christopher." A few days later it happened that several people,
calling at the shop to buy gems, chose to purchase pictures instead.
Anna was very much pleased by the sales, and told her husband so at
supper that evening. But he was less satisfied. "In spite of the sales
I have lost money today," said he. "Those who bought the prints had
meant to buy jewels and mirrors, and