Friday 29 August 2014

Men of Yore: Linus Yale Jr

This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity. 


Linus Yale Jr.
 
Birth: Apr. 4, 1821, Salisbury, Herkimer County, New York, USA
Death: Dec. 25, 1868, New York, New York County (Manhattan), New York, USA


He was born in Salisbury, Herkimer county, N.Y., April 4, 1821. As a boy he showed an aptitude for art. At the age of sixteen he got from a traveling portrait painter a few hints on the use of colors, and this was all the direct instruction he ever received. He soon after became a professional portrait painter, and followed his calling until 1851. He was married in 1844. He never made a disagreeable picture. He had the faculty of choosing the sitter's best moment; his dye was guided by his imagination, and his hand governed by cool discretion. His portraits are like and life-like. He diffused through them his own quality, subtilizing and ennobling. He loved nature, and had a knowledge of rocks and trees beyond science. "Do you know that wood?" he said once, pointing to a picture of his, a blackberry girl leaning against a fence. "No other splits in that way." Such was the delicacy and dexterity of his manipulations that in the opinion of one of the first of American sculptors -- the author of the statue of Washington in Union square, New York -- he might have done even better in sculpture than in painting. With all these gifts a great future seemed to be before Mr Yale, when, in his thirtieth year, he invented a bank lock.

His mind had often been engaged by the subject of locks and safes, owing to the fact that his father was an inventor and manufacturer of locks. He was sure of the value of his invention, and thought by a few years' devotion to the getting it before the public to gain a competence with which afterwards to follow his beloved art for its own sake. But, being vexed by the troubles common to inventors, it was not until shortly before his death that he seemed fully to have succeeded. The patience with which he bore the misrepresentations of rivals was wonderful. Once when asked why he did not prosecute a wealthy firm which was thought to have infringed upon an important patent, he said: "I can do better; I have already made a better invention." In 1855 he picked the celebrated Hobbs's lock, so called. The same year he removed to Philadelphia, and in 1861 to Shelburne Falls. Within the last seventeen years he invented not less than thirty devices in locks alone.

Besides his inventions in locks and safes, and in machinery for their manufacture, he was constantly obtaining patents for other devices which he had not time to use. His portfolios show the activity of his brain. Even his diaries are filled with mechanical drawings, made while travelling; often a face or a charming bit of landscape graces a page. A friend, looking at his drawing of a certain instrument, said: "It is astonishing that a common thing can be so glorified." It was done by such minute and delicate touches as not to show a line.

Among his friends Linus Yale was a constant delight. The letters of condolence with his family written by business men are full of admiration and tenderness, and a great grief seems to have settled down on the workmen in his employ. No man of equal merit was ever less known by the public; none loved in a broader private circle. There was sorrow in a thousand hearts when the New York papers announced his death. Gentle, silent, resolute, cultivate, self-respecting, generous, suave and strong -- a gentleman and a genius -- he cannot be allowed to pass away without some tribute of appreciation.

Source: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=52830523/ (slightly edited)
 

One of the main reasons for the success of the Linus Yale's locks was down to his use of publicity, as is shown in his wikipedia page:
[H]he did live demonstrations to corporate business executives and government officials that showed how he successfully picked the locks that were in operation. Due to these demonstrations and the sheer quality of Yale’s locks, Yale Lock Manufacturing quickly gained business ground. The company’s name was later changed to The Yale and Towne Manufacturing Company, which eventually became part of NACCO Industries.

Cracking the Hobbs Lock
The prominent bank locks of Yale’s day were the Hobbs or Newell locks. In an effort to present his locks over the continued usage of the Hobbs Locks, Yale contacted notable bankers and set up a live demonstration in which he successfully picked a Hobbs Lock. As described by Samuel Hammond, one of the bankers present at Yale’s demonstration, "[he] proved that the Hobbs lock is able to be picked and demonstrated it using a fake wooden key that he made". [1]

Challenge to the World
As part of Yale’s business plan and effort to promote his Bank Locks, Yale presented a challenge to anyone who dared to pick his bank locks. He offered a $3000 (a hefty sum) reward to potential challengers, in the event that his locks were successfully picked.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Yale_Jr
Linus Yale was much like Samuel Colt (the fire-arms manufacturer) in that he was not coy when it came to promoting his own inventions.  Samuel Colt made public demonstrations of his products as did Linus Yale.  Without this element of self-promotion it's unlikely that his products would have become as popular as they did.  While self-promotion might seem like an un-manly activity to engage in, because it tends towards vanity and narccissism, it's important to note that every good idea or invention needs to made known to the public somehow or else it won't be used; ergo some self-promotion/publicity/marketing is an essential at the end of the day.


[End.]

Friday 22 August 2014

Men fo Yore: Michael Joseph Owens

This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity. 


Michael Owens


Born: 1 January 1859, in Mason County, West Virgina
Died: 27 December 1923, in Toledo, Ohio

Michael Owens was a glass manufacturer who invented an automatic glass bottle manufacturing machine that revolutionized the industry. His mechanization of the glass-blowing process eliminated child labor from glass-bottle factories, which he had himself experienced from the age of ten. To help provide income for his coal-mining family, Owens joined a glasworks at that age, where he stoked coal into the "glory hole" of the furnace used to resoften glass during the several stages of the hand-formed process. Within a few years, at age 15, he had graduated to the job of glass-blower.

In 1888, he moved to Toledo, Ohio, where he worked at the glass factory of Edward Drummond Libbey, and shortly became its superintendent. It produced high-quality consumer items, including cut glassware, which he demonstrated at the company's exhibit during the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

He had already started experimenting with a piston-pump to first suck molten glass into a mold to gather a correct measure of the material and then to transfer it to a second mold into which it was blown by reversing the pump. Although the initial results were crudely formed, he was ready to take out patents in 1895 (No. 534,840; 548,587; 548,588). Owens designed machines to manufacture lamp-chimneys and tumblers.

Together with Libbey and others, Owens formed the Owens Bottle Machine Company in 1903. With continued development and improvements, by the time he obtained patent No. 774,690 on 8 Nov 1904, he had a machine capable to producing four bottles per second.

He was ready to expand the business, and in 1905 opened a factory in Manchester, England.

Owens Bottle MachineOwens' machines could be built with from six to twenty arms, each blowing a bottle. The machine would cut loose the finished piece and deliver it to a conveyor taking it to the annealing oven. Since a fifteen-arm machine could do as much work as originally done by a dozen or more skilled glassworkers, depending on the size and shape of the product, there was a dramatic saving in labour costs. One version of his bottle-blowing machine, the "AR," contained 10,000 parts and weighed 50 tons.

Meanwhile, Libbey and Owens had helped fund Irving W Colburn, who since 1900 had been working on a machine capable of continuously drawing flat sheet glass. In 1912, they bought the patents to this machine, which Owens perfected, and the Libbey-Owens Sheet Glass Company was opened in 1916 to make window glass.

While Owens continued as the inventor, Libbey worked with investors and licensed the inventions to other bottle manufacturers.

From 1919, he retired from day-to-day management of his company to focus his time on inventing. He eventually held 45 U.S. patents, either independently or jointly with others.  
Source: http://www.todayinsci.com/O/Owens_MichaelJ/OwensMichaelJ.htm

If you've been out and about this summer foraging wild fruits to make into jams, jellies, pickles, homebrew wines etc, and wondered which man invented the machine that makes all those jam jars now you know - it's Michael Joseph Owens.


[End.]

Friday 15 August 2014

Men of Yore: John James Sainsbury

This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity. 

John James Sainsbury

John James Sainsbury (12 June 1844 – 1928) was the founder of the Sainsbury's supermarket chain.
 
Early and private life
John James Sainsbury was born on 12 June 1844 at 5 Oakley Street, Lambeth, to John Sainsbury (baptised 1809, d. 1863), ornament and picture frame maker, and his wife Elizabeth Sarah, née Coombes (1817–1902).[1] During his childhood, his family moved house several times between rented rooms. The area in which they lived was close to the Thames wharves and to Waterloo station, which opened in 1848.
John James started work at the age of 14. He may have stayed at school beyond the normal leaving age of 10 or 11, possibly helping out as a "monitor". His first job was with a grocer in the New Cut, Lambeth.[1]
 
In 1863, John James's father died and John James took on the additional responsibility of helping to support his mother and two sisters.
 
At the age of 24, he married Mary Ann Staples and they set up a dairy shop together at 173 Drury Lane, Holborn.[1] The couple had probably saved a few pounds with which to buy shop equipment but their circumstances were extremely modest. They shared the cramped accommodation above the little shop with three other families.[1]
 
 
Business career
Throughout his life, John James avoided personal publicity and little evidence remains of his character. His business style was to offer competitive prices while, at the same time, demonstrating higher standards of quality, service, and hygiene.[1]
 
From one store in Holborn, London, opened at 173 Drury Lane in 1869, Sainsbury built a chain of grocery stores which numbered 128 when he died in 1928. Sainsbury's remained a family business during his whole life. At the time of the firm's incorporation in 1922, John James took on the title of Chairman and Governing Director, a position which he held until his death in 1928. His last words were "Keep the shops well lit".
 
Today, the group owns over 1,000 stores but no family member has been involved in management since David Sainsbury retired in 1998.[1] They do, however, continue to control approximately 15% of the shares.
 

Retail corporations get a lot of stick these days, and have done for the past generation or so.  Some of this stick is justified (e.g. for price rigging) and some not (e.g. they sell hygienic, quality goods with a low markup).  Regardless of the ethics of some retail company's, they are an essential part of the production chain, and thus are essential to our lives, because without them we wouldn't be able to purchase the goods necessary for life like processed grass seed (bread), processed plant matter (clothes), and processed rocks (cutlery).  While we may grumble about some injustice that a retail outlet has committed by underpaying farmers for goods, or the fact that they throw away umpteen tons of edible food every day on the whole do a good job of something that many of us would struggle at.  So thanks to the all the decent retail workers out there, from the cashiers on up to the CEOs.


[End.]
 

Tuesday 12 August 2014

Alternative Lyrics to Well Known Songs 28 - Sacred Hymns

(These lyrics is based on the song 'Broken Wings' by Mr Mister)

This is a dialogue between a, ahem, Jonah-like (i.e. whinging) follower of Odin who struggles to emulate, be like, his chosen God.  The follower speaks during the verses (in plain font), spending his time whining and lamenting about his own in-adequecies.  Odin speaks during the Choruses (in italic font), encouraging his lamenting follower to sing sacred hymns as a means of behaving, acting and thinking as an Odinist ought to do.  i.e. as one that does.  (Odin looks down on those who just think/theorise and do nothing).  Odin also encourages his follower to look up during thunder storms.  After all, thunder and lightning are signs of Odin - in his role as 'Thunderer'.  (Odin has many names which can be found HERE.)  It also mentions that Odin is the source of 'Holy Fire', which generally points towards his place at the centre of the pantheon, where all things originate, where all things grow from, where all things gain power from, where all things arise from, etc.

It's a song that exhorts confident action rather than procrastinating and dwelling on inadequecies.  Whether you believe in Odin, gods, the spirit realm etc, or not, having confidence and a pro-active attitude will be better for you than having the opposite.


Play the song in the video above and sing along with the alternative lyrics given below.


#Sacred Hymns#Odin,
I don't understand,
why we can't hang on to each others minds.
This time might be the last I fear
unless I make it all too clear I need you so.
Ooh oh oh oh.


"Sing these sacred hymns
learn to fury again
to set your soul free;
and when you sense
thunder 'n' lightning
you'll know to look up heaven-ward
and blaze with me.
Sing these sacred hymns."


Odin.
'bout last night
I cannot apologise enough
for what I said.
Oooh.


Odin!
I now know
that you are the primal source of all holy fire.
I need it so.


"Sing these sacred hymns
learn to fury again
to set your soul free;
and when you sense
thunder 'n' lightning
you'll know to look up heaven-ward
and blaze with me."


"Sing these sacred hymns.
You're going to learn to live

like a true son of thee;
and when you sense
thunder 'n' lightning
you'll know to look up heaven-ward
and blaze with me.

Yeah yeah.
Yeah yeah."


"And blaze with me."

"And blaze with me."

Odin,
It's all I know,
that you are the primal source of 'all' holy fire.
Yeah yeah yeah.
Yeah yeah.


"Sing these sacred hymns
learn to fury again
to set your soul free;
and when you sense
thunder 'n' lightning
you'll know to look up heaven-ward
and blaze with me."


"Sing these sacred hymns.
You're going to learn to live

like a true son of thee;
and when you sense
thunder 'n' lightning
you'll know to look up heaven-ward
and blaze with me.

Yeah yeah."

"Yeah yeah."

Ooh ooh.


[End of lyrics.]