USA > Pennsylvania > A biographical album of prominent Pennsylvanians, v. 3 > Part 28
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The Scientific American, in an article on the trial trip of the vessel, says :
"The 'Vesuvius' has taken a long step forward, and marks a well-defined line between the slow coaches of the old navy and the long hoped-for, high-speed vessels of the new regime. That our American engineers are capable of rising to the emergency of the case has been pretty satisfactorily demonstrated; and that our marine architects have succeeded, with so little experiment and so few fail- ures, in producing a vessel that can compare favorably with such veteran builders of high-speed vessels and torpedo boats as the Yarrows and the Thornycrofts, is a matter of congratulation."
The engines of the cruisers "Newark," "Philadelphia " and " Baltimore," and the gunboats " Yorktown," " Bennington " and " Concord," are of the horizontal
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HORACE SEE.
type. Objection has been made to this kind of engine on account of the extra wear and friction occasioned by the weight of the piston resting on the bottom of the cylinder. In order to overcome the objection and produce an engine which would give nearly as good results as the vertical pattern, Mr. See designed a piston which has been covered by letters patent, the particular feature of which is in providing a member attached to its lower portion which can be made, not only with ample surface to take care of the weight of the piston and a portion of the rod, but at the same time is adapted to take up the wear. This relieves the packing rings, employed for preventing the steam escaping past the piston, from the duty of supporting it, so that they can be made narrow and of light weight, consequently producing but little friction. The test given this piston in the " Yorktown " and " Baltimore " has been very satisfactory.
Until within a short time Mr. See held the position of Engineer in the Board of the Pneumatic Dynamite Gun Company of New York, which controls the patent of Captain Zalinski, U. S. A. He is past-President of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Fellow of the American Society for the Advancement of Science, member of the Franklin Institute of Pennsylvania, associate member of the United States Naval Institute, and a member of the Engineers' and Penn Clubs of Philadelphia, and the Engineers' Club of New York. He is one of the non-resident lecturers on engineering before the Sibley College of Cornell University, and has also lectured before other scientific bodies, and contributed articles on steam and mechanical engineering to the technical press of the country.
Mr. See was a member of the Gray Reserves and of the Seventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Militia, during the war of the rebellion; was Adjutant of the Twentieth Regiment, N. G. P., during the July riots of 1877, and was Captain of Company K, First Regiment, N. G. P.
In 1879 Mr. See was married to Ruth Ross, a daughter of William Ross Maffett, of Wilkes-Barre, an eminent civil engineer prominently connected with the improvements of the Wyoming Valley, and a great-granddaughter of Gen. William Ross, who took a prominent part in the early history of that valley, and was presented with a sword on July 4, 1788, by the Executive Council of the State "for gallant services and firmness in supporting the laws of the Common- wealth of Pennsylvania." An account of his life and services can be found in " Minor's History of Wyoming."
C. R. D.
F. GUTEMINST.
HIL-
THOMAS SHAW.
THOMAS SHAW.
T HOMAS SHAW, a mechanical engineer and remarkably prolific inventor, some- times called the Edison of Pennsylvania, was born in Philadelphia, April 5, 1838, of American parents. His father, James Shaw, was a carpenter and builder, and his mother, the daughter of Andrew Snyder, a cabinet and clock- maker, was in many respects a remarkable woman, who not only discharged her domestic duties, including the spinning and weaving of the household linen, but assisted her father in many of the delicate manipulations incident to his trade. After a period spent in the public schools of his native city, where he was more noted for being at the tail of his class than at the head, he entered a grocery store, receiving $1.25 per week without board, and served in this and in various other business places until he was sixteen years of age, when he apprenticed himself to a machinist, and there found a trade for which he was expressly fitted. Before he had completed his apprenticeship, however, the firm failed, and he entered into an informal partnership with the superintendent of the works and engaged in model-making, which was not successful.
Very early in life he had manifested a talent for invention, and before he had attained his majority he had perfected contrivances such as the power-hammer, steam-gauge, etc., which led to an association with the house of Philip H. Justice & Co. for their manufacture and sale, and this resulted in his becoming superin- tendent of the Cyclops Works. Subsequently he was placed in charge of the William Butcher Steel Works (now Midvale), in which Mr. Justice was interested ; and as this was the first tire-mill in America, and he operated in it with his own hands, he enjoys the distinction of being the first man in America to roll steel tires.
The excessive labors thrown on him at that period in running both works, and the care of a farm in the Schuylkill Valley, coupled with his natural ambition to improve new inventions in hand, nearly broke down his health, and caused him, after the expiration of a six months' contract at the steel works, to relinquish that portion of his labors, and some time afterward to dissolve his connection with the Cyclops Works. He then purchased the property of the Fairmount Fire Engine Company on Ridge avenue (almost adjoining the lot where Oliver Evans had located his shops), where he carries on the business of mechanical engineer and furnishing railroad supplies. Here he has developed invention after invention, with scarcely a year's intermission, since the date of his first patent in 1858, and some of his inventions are in use in every part of the civil- ized globe. Several of them were not patented, but the United States Patent Office contains records of over one hundred patents issued to him-a list quite too formidable to be inserted here. More than forty of the patents have expired, and,
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THOMAS SHAW.
being public property, the articles patented are now manufactured by different persons and firms under various names.
Mr. Shaw's inventions and improvements have taken a wide range through gas, steam and hydraulic engineering. His improvements in the line of gas apparatus comprise metres, stoves, gauges and governors. The gas metre which he patented in 1858 is said to be the most accurate instrument ever made for this purpose. In the line of hydraulics his gauge is the standard for high press- ures, and is largely used by railroad companies, the United States Navy and the supervising Inspectors, and a sample is in use at the Inspection Department of the Public Buildings at Philadelphia. His hydraulic valves possess the novelty of a threaded seat, enabling a valve to resist high pressure, under perfect control of the operator, without leakage, all of which is done without a ground joint. His pumping engine, of 1868, was the first of the pulsometer class for cheap pumping apparatus. His hydraulic pipe machine has a capacity for making clay pipes from two inches up to six feet in diameter, and is capable of turning out sixty tons in twenty-four hours. A sample machine is in use at the Moorehead Clay Works, Spring Mills, Pa., which is said to be the largest machine in the world for making terra-cotta pipe. The hydraulic cylinder of this machine measures fifty-seven inches diameter, ten feet length, and exerts a pressure on the piston-head of over four hundred tons.
His propeller pump, of 1869, was noted for its ability to pump sand, mud, etc., and was severely tested by the Monongahela Navigation Company on an occa- sion when the locks broke down in 1874. The canal was stopped when the receipts were $5,000 a day ; but a twenty-inch Shaw propeller pump was placed in the canal locks and run night and day for six weeks, ejecting over ten thousand gallons per minute for that period. The directors in their annual report refer to this performance with great satisfaction. His hydraulic method of working cars on inclined planes, of 1874, exhibits a plan of working cars on an incline cheaper than upon a level surface.
ยท His hydraulic air-chamber feeder, of 1874, for large pumping engines is the cheapest and most expeditious method of feeding air to the chambers of such machines.
His hydraulic cushion-seated valve, of 1874, exhibits a complete method of preventing that pounding action on metal valve seats under high pressure and velocities. His high-pressure hydraulic accumulators, of 1879, illustrate an efficient method of storing hydraulics in an elastic manner, without the usual attending loss of the gases under compression.
His hydraulic cushion-buffer, of 1881, illustrates a certain method of absorbing the force of moving trains at railroad terminals.
All of the foregoing inventions have been favorably commented on in various scientific papers, and we regret that the space allotted in this work will permit only a brief mention of their purposes. In the line of hydro-carbon fluids his method of burning coal-oil on ocean steamers, patented in 1862 and 1863, was
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THOMAS SHAW.
tested, by order of the United States Navy Department, by three chief engineers of high reputation-the late W. W. Wood, the late John P. Whipple and A. C. Stimers. These officers made a favorable report on the invention, the tests being the first for that purpose made by any government. The war coming on raised the price of oil from one dollar to five dollars per barrel, which prevented its employment at that time.
His method of protecting oil tanks from the disastrous effects of lightning is believed to be complete, and no better method is known for the purpose at this time. The expense, however, has prevented its general adoption.
In the line of steam apparatus his mercury gauge, covered by several patents, is noted for its accuracy and durability, and became noted, after its adoption by the United States Supervising Inspectors of Steamboats, as a standard for all the supervising districts and for all the navy yards in the United States. This was followed by numerous railroad and steamboat companies adopting the gauge as a standard. Mr. Shaw has also made it for the Russian and Japanese governments.
His gas and hydraulic gauge is said to be the only one in the world competent to measure gunpowder pressures. He made an instrument of this character for the large gunpowder works of the Messrs. DuPont. The judges of the Centen- nial Exhibition classed the gauge with instruments of precision, and gave it their full indorsement for accuracy, with award of medal. His method of preventing boilers from foaming is useful in contracted boilers of rapid steam generating qualities. His low water detectors have long been in common use, the patent having expired some years back. His quieting nozzle for the prevention of that loud noise attending the escape of high-pressure steam has become widely known; nearly all steamers in the United States Navy are equipped with the same. Elevated railroads would be a great nuisance in any city without it. Every engine of the elevated railroads in New York city is fitted with this improvement, and over eight hundred of these devices are used upon the engines of the Phila- delphia and Reading Railroad Company. Its usefulness in abating the noise occasioned by the violent escape of steam in the cotton presses in Norfolk, Va., sometimes heard for a distance of twelve miles, was testified to by the city officials and members of the Cotton Exchange.
His improvements in machines for metallurgical purposes have been numer- ous, prominent among them being his dead-stroke power-hammer that is largely introduced over the United States and Europe.
He is believed to have been the first person to introduce machinery for grind- ing faucets. This was in 1865. He was the first person to dispense with slot- ting in bolster and semi-elliptic car springs that are in use to-day throughout the United States. His toggle anvil, an accompaniment of the power-hammer, enabled the forging of intricate forms of hardware such as are found in carriage work, and is in general use in the New England States, where those articles are manufactured in large quantities.
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THOMAS SHAW.
His mode of shotting metals, particularly applicable to molten iron, for the purpose of subdivision to enable proper mixtures for crucible steel, was deemed of such importance that it was kept a secret process as far as possible. It was this invention that furnished the Messrs. Tilghman with the first iron shot used for cutting stone. His cast-chain, of 1867, was the first of this class of inventions, now so popular.
It is not often that a successful inventor is conquered by his own device ; but Mr. Shaw has encountered this singular experience in his invention known as the steam trumpet. His purpose was to produce an instrument to create the maximum sound, and he succeeded to a destructive point. He says that the vibrations were so terrific that he was compelled to abandon the invention, but he believes he could make a trumpet that would demolish a building by blowing at it.
His artillery forge, of 1870-a method of operating large and powerful ham- mers by pneumatic pressure and gunpowder for forging heavy masses of metal, such as cannon and large steamboat shafts-is one that Mr. Shaw has great faith in; but, there being no establishments in the United States that worked large forgings like that of Krupp, of Essen, this invention has never been put to prac- tical use-a circumstance that is very much regretted by the inventor, who says that with it he can operate one of the largest hammers in the world at one-tenth the cost of a steam plant.
His gunpowder punch, of 1880, for punching large holes or shearing large bars, is an economic and quick method not yet brought into practice, principally on account of the length of time it takes to introduce a new invention or any new departure in manufactures. The great novelty of Mr. Shaw's gunpowder machinery must be admitted by all. He stands alone in being the only man in the world who has successfully harnessed gunpowder in machinery for peaceful pursuits. His spring pawl washer, of 1868, was an ingenious use of one coil of a spring for lock-nut purposes that is in service on the principal railroads through- out the world. The records show over one hundred millions on the railroads of the United States.
Want of space compels us to cease commenting further, except to mention that one of Mr. Shaw's latest inventions is, in our opinion, destined to rank among the great discoveries of the age. It is an apparatus for automatically testing gases in mines and conveying warning of possible danger to the superintendent's office, and, by means of a simple and easily understood code of signals, for com- municating the same to the different parts of the mine, showing to the workmen where the danger is and the nature of it. It is so positive and exact in its work- ing that the danger-signal is sounded before the gases have accumulated to a fatal extent, thus enabling the workmen to escape from the mines until they can be cleared of noxious vapors and all danger avoided. For nearly one hundred years miners have had no other protection from the dangers of mine explosions than the Davy lamp, which, under many circumstances, is totally unreliable.
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THOMAS SHAW.
Mr. Shaw's invention was designed especially to give positive tests of explosive mine gases in a manner so effectual that the tests can be accurately observed a long distance from the instrument, with the additional advantage of making all tests above ground, and the incorporation of a new system of high-pressure sig- nalling with all parts of the mines that puts the operator with the gas tester in almost instant communication with the workmen; at the same time the instru- ment gives automatic tests every five minutes of every breast that is being worked-all of which is done at one point of observation in the office or engine room above the surface, which point becomes to the mines a telephone exchange for information from all working points thereof, where the gases are under con- tinued automatic tests without imperilling the lives of the miners or the safety of the property, and where instant notice can be given and received by loud sound- ing signal and a system of communication that enables the superintendent to know in a few minutes the working or state of any part of the mines, and to correct any improper conditions that invite disaster, and thus prevent the great destruction of life and property that too often attends the operation of mining. All this Mr. Shaw's apparatus effectually does ; for it furnishes an unfailing and positive test of the presence of foul gases, and therefore the self-interest alone of mine owners should compel its universal use aside from the fact that its adop- tion will greatly lessen the danger to life to the hard-working operatives. With it in operation there could not be, without gross and criminal negligence or care- lessness, any possible reason for explosions from fire-damp or accumulations of foul gases in the mines, and the consequent resulting loss of life and destruction of property from these, the most prolific causes of danger to both, could be reduced to a minimum in any mine in which it is used. It has received the unqualified approval of mining engineers whenever it has been brought to their attention, and when our legislators come to understand and appreciate, as they must, its merits, they will surely make it compulsory on operators of mines to adopt its use. It differs from most patents in the respect that it will not meet with opposition from either employers or workmen. It is not a labor-saver, but a life and property saver. It appeals to the interests of both classes. Certainly no mining companies or operators, to whose attention it has been brought, and who do not adopt it, would be in condition to resist heavy claims for damages which could be brought by the surviving relatives of those who might lose their lives by an explosion occurring in the mines ; for they could not show that they had complied with the provisions of the law requiring the use of every known appliance and approved means of preventing such accidents. The invention is certain to be hailed as a great boon to both the miner and the owner of mines, and it will most assuredly be considered one of Mr. Shaw's greatest conceptions, and one that is destined to place his name among the great benefactors of his race.
An individual who has taken out over one hundred patents on his own inventions has necessarily acquired an experience of the practical working of the patent laws
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THOMAS SHAW.
which render his views on the subject very valuable to others, especially to legis- lators. Mr. Shaw is decidedly of the opinion that the seventeen years allowed by the present patent laws is inadequate protection to inventors in general, and remarks :
This limited feature in our patent laws is, judging from my own experience, far too short, as it takes ordinarily ten years to place the average invention upon a self-supporting basis, and much of the remain- ing period is consumed in planning for extensive introduction which makes severe inroads upon the profits. Under favorable circumstances the inventor has scarcely reached the period of modern acceptance by the public before the expiration of the patent, whilst under unfavorable circumstances I can point to inventions and discoveries that have existed with moderate and unprofitable public recognition for a century before their merits were appreciated. Time is as important an element in maturing an invention as it is in maturing a child, and its liability to accident and delays may be likened to diseases of child- hood. This feature has struck me so often in comparison that it appears more real than ludicrous. Prompted by my own experience and the experience of others, I am fully convinced that at least eleven more years should be added to the life of a patent, which, after all, would be the real and often the only profitable portion. It will not, perhaps, be out of place here to observe, in reference to a well-known principle governing our patent laws, that the government really grants the inventor nothing; for the inventor brings forth his own idea-the invention, upon which the government issues to him a patent, which, in effect, is a contract limiting the period in which he is permitted to call the same his own and enjoy the exclusive privilege of its use and advantages. The time of a copyright extends for a period of twenty-eight years, with the privilege of an extension of a further period of fourteen years, making a total of forty-two years' protection to the author of any book, the designers of a map, chart, painting, engraving, statue, etc .; while the discoverer of an operative mechanism or chemical process is limited to the period of seventeen years, or twenty-five less of protection than is now afforded authors or designers under the copyright law. There is no good reason for this unfair discrimination between the two classes of origina- tors. It certainly stands in marked contrast that the inventor of a process, that may add to the material wealth of his country hundreds of millions annually, should be deprived of the right to his invention after a period of seventeen years, whilst the author of a romance, founded, perhaps, upon the same, can enjoy the protection of his rights for a period of forty-two years.
I hope that our honorable representatives in Congress will at an early period correct this evident injustice, and place the reward of the inventor of the reaper at least on the same plane with that of the author who may write a romantic description of it.
Mr. Shaw has long been an active member of the Franklin Institute, a life- member of the American Institute of New York, and is an associate member of the Railway Master Mechanics' Association of the United States. He resides in an elegant country-seat in the suburbs of Philadelphia known as "Shawmont," and has an interesting and intelligent family. EGBERT P. WATSON, JR.
[The great novelty and importance of Mr. Shaw's invention for the protection of life and property in mines described above has impressed us to call particular attention to his Inspector's Instrument, or "Standard Test of Mine Gases," now officially adopted by the Mine Inspectors of the State of Pennsyl- vania, and which has received the most eminent scientific endorsement, and been awarded the two highest medals given by the Franklin Institute, thus showing conclusively that the invention is deserving of special notice and commendation on humanitarian grounds on account of its avoiding all danger of the terrible disasters so frequently recorded in every coal-mining district .- EDS. ]
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F. GUTEKUNST.
PHILA.
SAMUEL WETHERILL.
SAMUEL WETHERILL.
C OL. SAMUEL WETHERILL, distinguished as a soldier, inventor and founder of the Pennsylvania and Lehigh Zinc Company, with works at Bethlehem, Pa., was born in Philadelphia, May 27, 1821. He is the eldest son of John Price Wetherill, and great-grandson of Samuel Wetherill, who was the first manufacturer of white lead in the United States. His youth was spent in various schools in Flushing, Long Island, and Philadelphia, and in the White Lead and Chemical Works of Wetherill & Brother, Philadelphia. In 1844 he removed to New York, and for several years was employed at white lead works at Sauger- ties, N. Y., and Belleville, N. J.
In August, 1850, a Mr. Richard Jones having invented a process for manu- facturing zinc white, known as the Muffle Furnace and Bag Process, Mr. Weth- erill was induced to experiment with the new product to determine whether it could be substituted for white lead as a paint. His experiments led to his engagement with the New Jersey Zinc Company at Newark, N. J., and during this engagement he ground the paint and introduced it to the trade. He remained in the employ of this company until January, 1852, when he invented the process, now the only one used in the United States, known as the " Furnace Process." This consists in reducing intimately mixed coal and ore by direct action of heat and cold blast upon a furnace-bed having a multiplicity of small holes, each producing the reducing flame of the blow-pipe. This process, when compared with the muffle furnace of Jones, saved seven tons of coal to each ton of white zinc produced. The introduction of the blast and the consequent pro- duction of ashes led Mr. Wetherill to the invention of the "Tower Process" of separating the solid impurities or ashes. In this process the ashes being specifi- cally heavier than oxide of zinc, the velocity of the fan which impels the products into the collecting bags is regulated at such a speed as to lift the zinc white to a height of seventy feet in a tower, leaving the ashes at the bottom. This process was afterwards further improved by Mr. Wetherill by causing the products thus treated to pass through a film of water. In March, 1853, a contract was entered into between Samuel Wetherill, associated with Charles J. Gilbert, and a party of New York capitalists, who afterwards became incorporated as the Pennsylvania and Lehigh Zinc Company, for Mr. Wetherill to erect works at Bethlehem, Pa., under his patents, to reduce the calamine ores of Lehigh county which were owned by these gentlemen, and the preparatory work was commenced on April 13, 1853. On October 13, 1853, the works were started, producing the first zinc white made at Bethlehem and in the United States from calamine ores by the "Furnace Process " and "Tower Process" of Wetherill in combination with the Jones' " Bag Process of Collecting." Messrs. Gilbert and Wetherill conducted the works for four years, from October, 1853, to September, 1857, and in that time delivered four thousand seven hundred and twenty-five tons of white oxide of zinc. In 1857 the company purchased the contracts of Gilbert and Wetherill, and their connection with these works ceased.
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