122 TRANSACTIOjfS OF THE 



That compact machine cuts the thick sheets of boiler-plate, in 

 straight lines, cm-ves, or angles, as if they were ribbons in its 

 hands — a demonstration of colossal power that fills us with 

 wonder. 



How deeply interested are all who travel, in that potent car- 

 brake, by which, in sudden emergencies, the engineer, of his own 

 motion, without other aid, may bring the endangered train to a 

 speedy period, though plunging thirty miles an hour; or in that 

 life-preserving seat, whose value Napoleon has recently acknow- 

 ledged with substantial reward, or in that life-preserving boat, 

 which winds cannot break or surges drown. 



Now, let the locomotive with its freighted train, pause, for a 

 moment, on those massive scales, and its weight will be accu- 

 rately measured, to a fraction of a pound, though it may reach a 

 hundred tons. 



Various cities have sent hither their finest models of fire en- 

 gines; so highly polished, you would scarcely think them adapted 

 to the hard service they are called on to encounter. These are 

 our standing armies against the invasion of flame, and manned 

 by as sturdy and heroic soldiers as ever served artilery, or 

 stormed the threatening wall. 



We have only time to cull these few specimens from the gen- 

 eral cabinet to illustrate oiu' purpose. 



When we consider the growth of these children of the mind, — 

 the first pale glimmer through a loophole of the imagination, — 

 the half seen form of the idea which stai-tled the electric nerve 

 of invention; and made the frame to glow with hope; the stub- 

 born material determined not to respond to the idea; the inani- 

 mate wood, or metal, or clay, obstinately refusing to imbibe the 

 spirit of man's precious thought, — the difiiculties surmounted, 

 the obstacles vanquished, we may well know that these repre- 

 sentatives, which stand so quietly in their places, have been born 

 amidst untold trials, and baptized in tears. The history of in- 

 vention is one of sorrow, poverty, deprivation, toil, disappoint- 

 ment, and too often, of a lack of any adequate pecuniary reward, 

 though millions of men may have participated in its advantages, 

 and recorded honors gathered around the names of its authors to 

 endure forever. 



In some measure to compensate these ingenious men, for their 

 labor, skill and perseverance, the Government has established 

 its Patent Oflice, from which protective charters, for a given 

 term, issue to the successful inventor. It is too true, that the 



