LIBRARY OF ST. GREGORY'S UNIVERSITY; THANKS TO ALEV AKMAN.





Scanned by Dianne Bean.





THE AGE OF INVENTION, A CHRONICLE OF MECHANICAL CONQUEST

BY HOLLAND THOMPSON




PREFATORY NOTE

This volume is not intended to be a complete record of inventive
genius and mechanical progress in the United States. A bare
catalogue of notable American inventions in the nineteenth
century alone could not be compressed into these pages. Nor is it
any part of the purpose of this book to trespass on the ground of
the many mechanical works and encyclopedias which give technical
descriptions and explain in detail the principle of every
invention. All this book seeks to do is to outline the
personalities of some of the outstanding American inventors and