REVOLVING TUIli. 



71G 



admirable qualifications for such a servl 

 the U. S. Sanitary Commission to select him as 

 one of its medical inspectors. He entered with 

 zeal upon his duties, and was of eminent 

 service to the army in urging and securing 

 larger camping grounds, better ventilation in 

 the tents, and a more efficient sanitary police in 

 the camps and hospitals, as well as in the direc- 

 tion of the necessary supplies to supplement the 

 Government provisions for the sick soldiers. 

 While engaged in this benevolent work he was 

 seized with congestion of the lungs, and died at 

 rigton after a brief illness. 



The following list comprises Dr. Reid's prin- 

 cipal works: "An Introduction to the Study 

 of Chemistry,'' Edinburgh, 1823: "Rudiments 

 of the Chemistry of Daily Life," Edinburgh, 

 London, and Xew York, many editions, 1836- 

 1854 ; " Text-Book for Students of Chemi 

 three editions, Edinburgh, 1834-1839; "Ele- 

 ments of Chemistry, Theoretical and Practical,'' 

 three editions, Edinburgh, 1832-1839; "The 

 Study of Chemistry as a General Branch of 

 Education," two editions, London, 1842 ; " Illus- 

 trations of Ventilation," London, 1844 ; ' Ven- 

 tilation of the House of Commons," printed for 

 the Government, 1837 : " Ventilation cf the 

 Xiger Steamships," -printed for the African 

 Colonization Society, 1841: "A Reply to the 

 < and Atheneum," London, 1840 ; "Venti- 

 lation of St. George's Hall, Liverpool, printed 

 for the corporation of Liverpool," 1855; "Ven- 

 tilation in American Dwellings," Xew York, 

 1858 and 1863 ; "A Short Plea for the Revision 

 of Education in Science," St. Paul, 1861. In 

 addition to these he had contributed the article 

 " Ventilation " to the Encyclopedia Britannica, 

 and numerous papers to scientific journals in 

 Great Britain and the United States, and to the 

 publications of the Smithsonian Institution, the 

 U. S. Sanitary Conventions, and to Parliament- 

 arv and Legislative documents. 



REVOLVING TURRETS constitute the es- 

 sential feature of American armored v 

 The principle seems equally applicable to land 

 fortifications. The inventor of this system is 

 Theodore R. Timby, who was born in Dutchess 

 County, X. Y., April 5th, 1822. He received 

 the school and academical education usual for 

 the sons of substantial farmers. The natural 

 bent of his mind was toward mechanical inven- 

 tions. When only sixteen years old he con- 

 structed a model, substantially like those now 

 in us?, of a floating dry dock ; this was submit- 

 ted to persons whom he supposed capable of 

 deciding upon its practical value. They admit- 

 ted the idea to be ingenious, but said that its 

 execution was impracticable. The invention 

 was dropped. Years after it was reinvented 

 by others ; but the floating docks now in use 

 contain nothing essential which was not in- 

 volved in the invention of the young resident 

 of a country village. Another invention, an 

 improvement, upon the turbine water-wheel, 

 proved useful and profitable. In all, Mr. Tim- 

 by has obtained patents for more than a score 



of valuable inventions. The most important 

 of these is that of the Revolving Turret, as 

 applied to naval and military purposes. The 

 idea of this was conceived while he was a mere 

 boy. The original model, constructed in 1841, 

 -till in his possession, contains the germ 

 of the whole invention. On the 18th of Jan- 

 uary, 1843, he filed his first caveat for the in- 

 vention in the United States Patent Office. 

 The specifications were "for a Revolving Me- 

 tallic Tower, and for a Revolving Tower for a 

 Floating Battery to be propelled by steam." 

 It would be difficult, in so few words, more 

 clearly to describe our "monitors" and the 

 whole class of turreted vessels which has suc- 

 ceeded them. Meanwhile he had been engaged 

 in constructing a large iron model. This was 

 completed in the spring of 1843, and was pub- 

 licly exhibited in Xew York and elsewhere. 

 This is on record hi the New York " Herald " 

 and "Evening Post" of June 7th, 1843, and 

 in many other newspapers of the time. For 

 some years he continued to develop his inven- 

 tion still further, and filed additional speci- 

 fications in the Patent Office. He made sev- 

 eral models, one of which was presented to 

 the emperor of China by our minister, Mr. 

 Gushing. 



Mr. Timby, from 1843 onwards, pressed his 

 invention iipon the attention of the American 

 Government. Its practicability was admitted, 

 but it was assumed to be wholly superfluous. 

 The existing fortifications, it was said, were 

 far more than were necessary. Once indeed, 

 in July, 1848, a favorable report was made to 

 Mr. Marcy, then Secretary of War, by Jefferson 

 Davis, D. L. Yulee, F. H. Elmore, and Dixon 

 H. Lewis, endorsed by Col. Bumford, Chief of 

 the Ordnance Bureau. This official recognition 

 is some years anterior to the time when Capt. 

 Coles claims to have invented the turret. When 

 the rebellion broke out, Mr. Timby sprung to 

 the development and practical application of 

 his favorite invention ; he constructed a fifth 

 model, embodying all the improvements to 

 which he had devoted the energies of eighteen 

 years. The patents which he had secured 

 covered the broad claim "for a Retching 

 Tower for Offensive and Defcn*i--e Warfare, 

 whether vscd on land or water." When there- 

 fore the "monitors" were to be built, the con- 

 structors at once recognized the validity of his 

 claim, and paid him a liberal sum for the right 

 to use his invention. These facts prove incon- 

 testably that he is the inventor of the revolving 

 turret. 



The general advantages of the revolving tur- 

 ret, even as already constructed, are apparent. 

 It not only affords perfect protection to the 

 guns and gunners, but enables each gun to be 

 brought to bear upon every point of the circle 

 within its range. But the turrets hitherto built 

 embody only a small part of then* offensive 

 power as developed by the inventor. To ex- 

 plain this it will be more convenient to con- 

 ;Her a turret for a land fortification, where 



