Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 46

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360

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It is believed a similar structure for fishing vessels and passenger steamers would prevent much loss of life and effectually prevent the shifting of cargoes. The compart- ments would need to be larger than those described above in large vessels; but, as access is provided to each of them from the centre, the filling of any one of them with water would not endanger the others. These compartment scows proved a great success where the sinking and destruction of other scows was inevitable. Mr. Boyutou's railway patents of 1880 and 1881, embracing some fifteen diagrams, have not yet been brought into public use. Many subordinate improve- ments connected with them are in progress. All combined, are designed to take the place of the present railway in carrying passengers and grain, coal and rolling freights.

An inch board twelve inches wide, turned edgewise, is theoretically twelve times as strong as when lying flatwise, and it is certainly no heavier. His plan embraces the cou- struction of railway carriages, with great vertical depth and narrowness, which shall be likewise light and strong. Ile constructs essentially a bicycle train, with wheels two or three times larger than the present railway wheels, designed at each revolution of the drive wheel, to double or treble any rate of railway speed hitherto attained, by the size of the wheels and the hghtuess of the narrow train. The bicycle train is planned to run on a single rail, clasped between Bessemer steel plates, below which the groove and track are connected with a corresponding groove aud track overhead, upheld by trestle wheels above the cars, the contrivances overhead keeping the train vertical and giving it the pre- cision in transit through this open trestle-tunnel of a bullet in a gun-barrel. While the train cannot leave the track, it

is designed to be of such lightness, narrowness, depth and strength, that it can be carried over cities and outside of bridges with little expense aud wonderful directness. Acci- dent is rendered impossible, as, with one wheel below and one in each end, the lower edge of the car of steel glides within an iuch of the bottom rail and groove so that if a wheel should break, the narrow steel bottom of the car would simply slide in a steel groove until the train should be stopped. The form of the car being elliptical, similar to the structure in which it runs, with a drive-wheel fifteen to eighteen feet in diameter, the train being only one-fifth the weight of the railway trains now in use, the locomotive could be propelled by mucli less steam than is now employed running the train at three times the speed of one of our fastest express traius. The cars riding upon one wheel of six feet diameter at each end, no more turns would be made and no heating of spindles would occur. If electricity should be employed for the pro- pulsion of the bicycle trains, the large drive-wheels could be dispensed with, and lighter structures used.

It is estimated that the cost of constructing such a rail- way, with its rolling stock, would not be greater thau the present cost of railways, as it would be built on single posts, occupying no more space than telegraph poles: the structure is also patented to carry telegraph and telephone wires above. always accessible for repair, the strong and frequent support of which would render the interruption of telegraphic service in connection with the railroad impossible. The bicycle train could also be used over the tracks of the present Pacific Railway, using one of the inner tracks and coupling against a groove rail twenty feet above in a manner similar to that previously described ; but a complete structure of steel, or wood, and a track of steel to fit it, are recommended by Mr. Bovnton as best realizing his plans.

Distinguished engineers have given the patents their highest approval, and it is believed that Mr. Boyuton's in- vention is destined to make a revolution in rapid transit. The bicycle train, it is thought, would cover, without any more turns of the wheels, or auy greater expenditure of force than are now necessary, the distance between Boston aud New York in niuety minutes, or that between New York and Philadelphia in thirty minutes. Each car, instead of riding upon sixteen wheels, and weighing teu to twenty tons, as now, would be suspended between two wheels, oue at each end, dispensing with fourteen wheels, eight axle-trees, and five-eighths of the weight. Like the bicycle, which is the simplest form of motion for wheeled vehicles, it would be free from all liability to acci- dent and susceptible of a much higher rate of speed than has been attained by auy other style of car.

The cars are designed to be made wide enough for the seating of two persons only. The traction could be increased by pressure of the guide-wheel against the overhead-wheel, enabling the locomotive to climb grades, aud, with the West- inghouse brake, to regulate the speed, little grading would be required. It must be seen, also. that no more right of way would be uecessary thau for the construction of a telegraph line. All obstruction by cattle, snow, or the crossing of other roads, would be obviated by the peculiar construction of the road. Its narrowuess would permit its support ou brackets among rocks and mountains, and if tunueling were required, the tunnel need be no wider than a miner's drift.

It is thoughit that this plan of Mr. Boynton's solves the problem of a throngli line traversing North and South America, as it seems the best for railroad construction in all climates, and through varying sectious of country. Mr. Boynton will give his attention to this great question here- after; and being still a young man, should his life be spared, he will, during the next twenty years, try to work out results of importance in the lines of invention, and mechanical and commercial progress. His patents have heretofore proven of an original and practical character, and his more daring and radical designs are believed to contain the elements of greater triumphis than he has to this time achieved.

Mr. Boynton's articles in the public press, quarterly ro- views and periodicals, and his public speeches and addresses, would fill a volume. His originality, vigor and eloquence have given him a national fame: while his inventions in saws, tools, ships and railways have added much to the wealth and progress of the arts in which ho is engaged. lle is a man loved by his friends and feared by his quemi .. his individuality and outspoken methods of procedure aronse envy and antagonism, while his courtesy to his op ponents has frequently won tributes of praise from his adversaries.

BIOGRAPHY OF NATHAN BARNEY.

-25ª

NATHAN BARNEY.

Benjamin Barney, grandfather of NATHAN BARNEY, the sub- ject of our present sketch, was a New Englander. The family were scattered during the great struggle for independence, and finally settled in the Wyoming Valley, Luzerne county, Pa. Benjamin had three sons, John, Charles and Nathan; two daughters, Elizabeth and Clarissa. Elizabeth married Noah Wadhams, and Clarissa married Wm. C. Enos; and Nathan married Miss Hannah Carey, daughter of John Carey, of Careytown, near the city of Wilkesbarre, Luzerne county, Pa. The early historian speaks of Mr. Carey as a man of " herculean frame, marvelous strength and great personal courage. He enlisted under Captain Durkee in the Revolutionary War, and served with dis- tinction throughout the war; was at the Wyoming mas- sacre, and escaped deatlı. It is recorded of him that when eighteen years of age, when the early settlers of the valley were suffering for food, he went on foot over the mountains in the severe cold of winter to Easton for flour." They had nine children-six sons and three daughters-of which two sons and one daughter are still living. Nathan, Jr., our pres- ent subject, was born in Careytown, Dec. 25th, 1819, where he farmed with his father until 1833, when the farm was sold,

and the family emigrated to the town of Bloomington. McLean county, Illinois. Shortly after this he was ap- pointed postmaster, in which capacity he served until his re- turn to Wilkesbarre in 1842, where he conducted a school successfully for three years: was accountant, salesman, mer- chant, and city anditor until 1850, when he accepted a position in the firm of Belford. Sharpe & Co., coal miners, of Summit Hill, Carbon county, Pa .. and remained with them until the close of their contract. We next find him with Messrs. Pop- ham & Co .. Coal Merchants, coruer 4th street and Broadway, N. Y. city, where he spent two years in the retail coal trade: and went to Mauch Chunk, Carbon county, Pa., to a position in the office of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co., where he spent three years, aud returned to New York city again, as agent for the same company, where fifteen years were spent in and about Trinity Building, the great coal center of that day. Soon after the consolidation of the coal interests. the New York papers (the Herald and Times especially) took up the garbage question, and agitated it for several years, insisting that the present sys- tem of unloading boats at sea would ruin the harbor, fill up the channel, and make Coney Island a very undesir-

826ª

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

No. 1.º

, 7

No. 3.

No. 4.

No. 2.

able bathing-place for the millions of people attracted there for health and recreation during the summer months, as much of the decomposing material was thrown upon the surface of the water, to be driven upon the adjacent shores by the winds and waves. Mr. Barney (then Street Commis- sioner, for the year 1880, of Bayonne city, N. J.) at once solved the difficult problem by inventing the Automatic Dumping Boat, which is now in successful operation in the city of New York.

Mr. Barney has invented quite a number of useful things, and may be classed among the successful inveutors of the day. He was elected first President of the Barney Dumping Boat C'o., and served two years in that capacity. Is secre- tary of the company at this time, and one of the board of directors. He was twice married, and has one son by his first wife, and four sons and one daughter by his second marriage. Re-ides at 101 Hancock street in this city.

Mr. Barney was originally an old line Whig; since then has been a Republican. He belongs to no church. Mr. Bar- ney's great-grandfather and Commodore Joshua Baruey, of Lake Erie, were brothers.

The Barney Automatic Dumping Boat has overcome all the difficulties heretofore attending the dumping of street sweep- ings, garbage, refuse material and ashes, at sea. The boats now in use are 110 feet long, 28 feet wide, and when loaded draw 9} feet of water, with a capacity of about 500 tons. They are built with sharp bows and rounded sterns, with rudder, and are able, with perfect safety, to go to sea in the heaviest weather; being fitted with bulwarks to protect

the men and keep off the sea. These vessels are constructed with hulls or pontoons which extend their entire length; they are secured at both ends and in the middle with heavy bridges, fastened at the sides by strong hinges to the pon- toons. The carrying space is between the pontoons which slope downward from their upper and outward edge. iuward toward the keel, where they meet. The storage room extends nearly from end to end of the vessel, and is V shaped. The entire space is comprised in one compartment, 90 feet long. By reference to the cuts of boat, the principle will be readily understood.

Cut No. 1 shows a longitudinal view of the vessel, light, with three bridges, one at each end and one in the center, where the man stands when the load is to be dumped.

Cut No. 2 shows end view (bow of boat and water line, when loaded).

C'ut No. 3 is a cross-section of boat showing the load in place, between the pontoons, and the tension rods which hokl the floats together at the bottom when loaded.

These rods are seenred to the friction beams on the bridges, the lower ends secured to bolts passing through the lrulls as shown; each bridge has a set of these tension rods.

('ut 4 shows the boat after the load is dumped and while being held open by the man on center bridge, to allow the space to be thoroughly washed. When open, a clear space is shown from stem to stern, the sides of sloping well being nearly vertical.

The vessel being closed and locked, is loaded and towed to sea. When she arrives at the dumping ground, the man in charge unlocks the fastening on the middle bridge, then by

827

BIOGRAPHY OF NATHAN BARNEY, ETC.

turning the wheel the catches on all three bridges are simul- taneously released by this one man on the center bridge; the hinges that hold the upper part of the pontoons together, al- low the two lower parts of the hulls to swing apart, and the load passes into the water between them and below the surface.

The pontoons work automatically, opening and closing as soon as released. The two forces are here utilized-the grav- ity of the load opens the boat, and the displacement closes her. The movement is about one-eighth of the circle or one- sixteenth to each pontoon. The mechanical contrivance by which the pontoons are held together, opened or closed, is simple and effective. The water coming up between the pon- toons saturates the load aud forces the air out, so that when the boat is opened it passes out quickly and in a body, the light and heavy material together, nothing being left to drift ashore.

With these boats there is no possibility of the shore along our watering-places being littered with garbage and other material, defiling the water and destroying the bathing grounds. The material can. if necessary, in summer, be taken ten miles to sea, and there placed at the bottom.

Two men are all that are required to manage one of these vessels, carrying 750 cubic yards of material; smaller boats may with perfect safety be handled by one man. The load can be dumped and the boat thoroughly washed in five minutes. These vessels may be built of any required size, from one hundred tons to one thousand.

The city of New York has been using these boats for over twelve months, with perfect success; during that time they have never failed to perform their work, and at a saving of nearly 50 per cent. over the old method. These boats have been thoroughly tested at sea iu heavy as well as light weather, and have proved perfect under all circumstances.

The scows now in use under the various street cleaning departments carry their loads on deck, and are therefore top- heavy and dangerous in a sea-way; they require twenty to thirty men on each scow to unload, occupying three or four hours in the work, the dry garbage covering the surface of the water for miles. During this time the tugs are detained at considerable expense. If the weather is at all rough, the laborers will not go outside, as there is great danger of their being washed overboard. With the common deck' scows, there is no certainty of having the material removed when collected. The Barney Dumping Boat overcomes this diffi- culty, and promptly removes the material out of harm's way.

A tug with four of the Baruey boats in tow can make better time than with two of the present scows. Briefly, the advantages of these boats are as follows:

First .- Cheapness of construction for the amount of work accomplished, time and labor saved.

Second .- Economy in operation. Two men can dump the load, wash the boat clean and close her in five minutes.

Third .- Submerging of the load. The load enters the water six feet below the surface, leaving no trace behind.

Fourth .- Their seaworthy qualities. These boats can go to sea in almost any kind of weather, the load, from the keel up, serving as ballast.

Fifth .- The simplicity of the machinery and the ease with which it can be worked even by unskilled hands. There is no machinery below the water; should any repairs be neces- sary, the work can be done without docking the boat.

Sixth .- It presents a complete solution of the problem of disposing of a city's refuse or auy other material to be dumped iu the sea.

CHARLES FELTMAN.

The frequenters of Coney Island during the summer season will recognize, in the portrait opposite, the features of one of the most energetic purveyors for public enjoyment and accommodation, to whom that " Pleasure City by the Sea " is largely indebted | this work.

for its present wonderful growth and popularity. Mr. Feltman's most interesting biography, and a full description of his well-known and favorite hotel (The Ocean Pavilion), will be found on page 199 of

828ª

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

ISAAC A. KETCHAM.

Isave A Kitchen

ISAAC A. KETCHAM, of Brooklyn, N. Y., is the inventor and patentee of a number of new devices, two of which were for regulating torpedoes or submarine batteries, which are used by the U. S. Government, and were hailed as a new era in naval warfare. The accompanying cut, taken from Harpers' Weekly, Oct. 1, 1864, represents the first iron-elad torpedo- boat built by the U. S. Government, on Mr. Ketcham's plan. It was named the New Era, and was used on the James River, and other places, for elearing harbor obstructions. So for- midable was the little ship that she could, with impunity, de- posit her shells under the obstructions to be removed, under the guns of the enemy. Her officers were confident in her power to destroy all the monitors afloat, without injury to the little craft, which did not carry a gun. The second in- vention was a device by which an endless cable is used for adjusting torpedoes or batteries across channel-ways for harbor protection. A letter to Mr. Ketcham, dated February 2. 1-63, and sent from on board of the flagship of the Missis- sippi Squadron, by direction of Admiral Porter, in reply to a letter offering to join him, and put both the inventions in practice, stated that the rebels were using the endless cable. and that the land forces had to be used to clear the banks of the rivers before he could move his fleet; adding that he could not use either invention without the consent of the Navy Department. The endless cable for adjusting tor- prdogs, was recommended in connection with the Timbey Battery, better known as rotary battery, as used on the monitors for the protection of New York harbor.

In 1961. Mr Ketcham failed in his attempt to secure from the Secretary of the Navy an investigation into the merits of the above inventions. In 1562, when the rebel iron-clad Arkansas was moving in the western waters, a similar at- tempt faited; he then made application for letters patent, which he received in October, 1862. Tired of applying to the Navy Department, on October 24. 1862. he addressed President Lincoln, who immediately referred it to the Navy Department. On the 29th, he received a reply, stating that the invention would be examined; but the matter rested

UNITED STATES TORPEDO BOAT, "NEW ERA."

A, Arm. B. Basket. C. Torpedo. D, Pllot-llouse. E, Smoke-Stack.

F. Ventilator.

until April 1, 1863. Despairing of any attention in that quarter, he notified the governors of New York, Massachu- setts, Rhode Island, and other States, from whom he received kind acknowledgments, referring him to the U. S. govern- ment. He then addressed another letter (March, 1863) to the President, with drawings, stating that if he did not receive a reply in ten days from the date of the letter, he should dis- pose of his invention to other parties. April 1, 1863, he re- ceived the following report :

" The Commission has had under consideration Mr. Ketcham's inventions, and report as follows as to the first: As the firing of a gun under water had not been advan- tageonsly demonstrated, they recommend no further action; and as to the second, the use of the endless cable had some novelty in it, and recommend no further action.

" Signed, GIDEON W'ELLES, " Secretary, U. S. N."

The first patent was for a method of advancing a torpedo or battery through the side, bow, or stern of a vessel, beneath the water-line, by the use of a sliding shaft to be exploded while held off, after being detached from the shaft by some suitable device. As shown in the above cut, there is no guu used. The second was for the use of an endless cable, across channel-ways, running from inside of fortifications, to adjust torpedoes to a suitable position. Soon after the investiga- tion, a government commission recommended the building of a ship to be armed with one of Mr. Ketcham's inventions, as verified by three engineers. Their verifications, attached to a petition, were presented to Secretary Welles in person, by Mr. Ketebam, after the death of President Lincoln. Mr. Welles refused to entertain the subject. After his removal, they were received by Secretary Borie, who had promised to investigate the matter, but the investigation has never been held. On March 24, 1870, the Hon. John G. Schumaker, M. C., from Brooklyn, introduced a bill in Congress, granting Isaac A. Ketcham compensation for the use of his patent by the U. S. government, which was referred to the Committee on Naval Affairs, and ordered to be printed. The last effort was made in 1883, asking a hearing by President Arthur. which was referred to Secretary Chandler; and after a num- ber of evasive replies, he reported that he had no other report to make than the one made in 1870. Mr. Ketcham never re- ceived nor heard of such report.

Mr. Isaac A. Ketchum was born in 1827. in Huntington, L. l., and was the only son of John and (harry Ketcham He married the second daughter of Mr. Thomas S. Robbins, Huntington. Both his own and his wife's ancestors were among the first settlers of Long Island. They have two sons, the oldest, George F., a physician in good standing, a gradu- ate of Long Island College Hospital; the youngest, Warren A., an artist by nature.

It is proper to add that the name of the government tor- pedo boat " New Era" was afterwards changed to " Strom- boli," and later to " Spnytenduyvil." Mr. Ketcham feels that he has suffered much and long, after his large outlay in fine and money, by the government's delay, but is confident that I justice will be done to his invention and claim.

gym & Predlow

829ª

BIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM IRVINE PRESTON.

WILLIAM IRVINE PRESTON.

In tracing the career of prominent men, it is our desire to conduct our narrative with equal truth, delicacy and de- corum, to avoid undue panegyric on one side, and the danger of disguising those real talents and adornments which our subjects actually possess, for fear of incurring the charge of adulation.

There are certain characters not easily described ; there are others so transparent that their portrayal is a felicitous task. It is with the mental as with facial portraits-some of which easily elicit the abilities of the painter, causing his pencil to move naturally and truthfully over the canvas, its every touch bringing out the life-like expressions of a counte- nance, until it stands before him the exact representation of the original.

In many respects, the character we are about to portray belongs to this class ; it is the career of an ardent, strong, determined mind, intent on attaining success by untiring diligence, by the exercise of those traits which adorn the character of an intelligent and conscientious business man, who attains wealth and prominence in the legitimate chan- nels of business and commerce, instead of those wild specu- lations which, at best, are but little removed from gambling, and whose fluctuations and revulsions often terminate in sudden ruin.

WILLIAM IRVINE PRESTON was born at Cato, Cayuga Co., N. Y., September 3, 1828. He was a son of Andrews and Eliza Ann (Ferris) Preston. His father was a native of Pomfret, Conn., born November 29, 1788, and was the son of Samuel and Louisa (Abbot) Preston.

Mr. William I. Preston's great-grandfather, Jacob Preston, was born March 7, 1733, and the name of one of his children, who was a Tory in the Revolutionary War, has never been mentioned in the annals of the family.

The father of William I. Preston early in life removed from Connecticut to Ira, Cayuga Co., N. Y .; and, after several years' clerkship, he entered into a copartnership with Hon. Augustus F. Ferris, for many years one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas of Cayuga Co., in a general mercan- tile business in the village of Cato.

The firm of Ferris & Preston existed for many years, drawing its patronage from every part of northern Cayuga Co. Perhaps no mercantile establishment was more suc- cessful in gaining and retaining the unlimited confidence of all classes of people in that part of the State than this.

The junior member of the firm, Mr. Preston, possessed a mind naturally qualified to enter easily into the details of public and private business affairs. He was influential as a politician; and, in recognition of his marked abilities, his upright character and other popular attainments, he was chosen by the electors of Cayuga Co. to represent them in the State Legislature for the years 1827, 1835 and 1840. While he was active in politics he was not aggressively so, and retained in a large degree the respect of his political opponents.

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Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 46

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909. Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : Munsell Number of Pages: 1360

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360