FRENCH LEADERS IN REFORM 405 



too hard for auy mere machine. Much to the astonish- 

 ment of the Englishman, the specimens of hard wood 

 were transformed at once into the most perfect of stocks. 

 The report was accepted, and $40,000 worth of the lathes 

 were forthwith ordered. As is usual with all great in- 

 ventions, there was little disposition to allow Blanchard 

 to enjoy any great results from his labours, and he him- 

 self stated in Washington, before a Congressional com- 

 mittee, when he applied for the second renewal of his 

 patent, that thus far he had received little more than his 

 board and clothes for what he had done, while litigation 

 had cost him more than $100,000. Fortunately for the convincing 

 inventor, Rufus Choate was then in Congress, and his wit ^""^""^^^ 

 and wisdom coming to the rescue of the genius, he secured 

 a renewal of the patent. To show the possibilities of his 

 machine to turn irregular forms, he actually set up in the 

 national capitol one of the lathes, and there in the pres- 

 ence of all who cared to look, using plaster figures as 

 models, he turned in marble the heads of Webster, Clay, 

 and others, far more exactly than the hand of an artist 

 could fashion them. The witty Choate said Blanchard 

 had ''turned the heads of congressmen," and so he had, 

 and they were sufiiciently appreciative to grant him what 

 he asked. 



The foregoing invention alone would have given Blan- 

 chard immortality, but he did not stop here. He made 

 steamboats of such light draught that they could run 

 over rapids and shoals, and he invented methods of bend- 

 ing wood so as not to impair in the least its native strength. 

 He could bend a shingle at right angles and leave it as 

 strong as before. His invention was particularly valua- 

 ble in the bending of timber for the knees of vessels. Be- 

 ginning to realize on the many inventions he had made, 

 he took a house in Boston, and there, in comfort and dig- 

 nity, spent the remaining years of his life. Middle-aged 

 people can remember when the old-fashioned right-angled 

 slate frames gave way to a continuous frame with rounded 



