Relic on the Lethe

The People's Voice from April 17, 1880 continues to turn up weird and delightful stories. In "Supplanting Steam," the article claims the invention of a new fuel source that could be used with current steam engines with minimal alterations (essentially adding a condenser).  The extraordinary properties of bisulphide of carbon have been long known, but no one has hitherto discovered the means of utilizing its forces until recently, when its union with petroleum solved the difficulty. This substance, bisulphide of carbon, is more commonly known today as carbon disulfide . Petroleum, of course, needs no introduction (but in this invention, it seems to have been used primarily as a lubricant). The article claims this combination, when heated in the steam chamber to "lukewarm" temperatures around 140-200 F (60-94 Celsius), "acts precisely as steam, only more dense, and with greater force...It is claimed that three-fourth of the fuel required for steam is save...

We take for granted these days that our clothes and items will be machine-sewn and generally well-constructed. You might be surprised, however, at how long that has been true. The first mention we find of the invention of the sewing machine reported in Virginia comes by way of the Alexandria Gazette, October 15, 1845 : An ingenious piece of mechanism has lately been made known to the public in France. It is a sewing machine, and calculated to revolutionize completely the art of sewing. It will perform two hundred stitches to the minute, enlarge or contract tho stitches by the simple turn of a screw, lead the needle along all the sinuosities of the stuff to be sewed, without the least danger of tear, whatever may be the texture of the stuff and do every part of the sewing of a coat, button holes excepted. The Staunton Spectator, published on October 30 that same year, includes the final line omitted from Alexandria's publication: "The inventor is Mr. B. Thimounier, tailor at A...