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[ j ^aWP^Bi s?* '. / ■ . j Tar Heel Junior Historian North Carolina History for Students Fall 2006 Volume 46, Number 1

On the cover: Dr. Wesley Doggett (left) and Dr. Willard Bennett at work in a North Carolina State Contents University laboratory in the 1950s. Image courtesy of University Archives Photograph Collection, College of Engineering, Special Collections Research Center, North 1 Introduction: Turning 22 The Box That Changed Carolina State University Libraries. At right: This Ideas into Reality pale green Cheerwine bottle dates from about the World 1920. Cheerwine is one of several popular soft by Dr. Lenwood Davis by Dr. Tom Hanchett drinks invented in North Carolina. L. D. Peeler cre¬ ated the dark red, bubbly concoction in 1917 in the basement of his Salisbury wholesale grocery store. The Man Who Helped the Lest We Forget: Women Image courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of 6 24 History. World Breathe Easier Inventors by Lindsey Hinds-Brown by Dr. Lenwood Davis State of North Carolina Michael F. Easley, Governor Beverly E. Perdue, Lieutenant Governor 9 Caleb Bradham and the 25 African American Invention of Pepsi-Cola Brilliance Department of Cultural Resources by Patricia Carter Sluby Lisbeth C. Evans, Secretary Staci T. Meyer, Chief Deputy Secretary 10 A Life-saving Team: The House That Harriet Built Office of Archives and History Gertrude Elion and 26 Jeffrey J. Crow, Deputy Secretary Dr. George Hitching by Kathy Neill Henan by Lisa Coston Hall Division of State History Museums North Carolina Museum of History 28 The Gatling Gun Elizabeth F. Buford, Director by E. Frank Stephenson Jr. Heyward H. McKinney Jr., Chief Operations Officer 12 Inventions in the Tobacco William J. McCrea, Associate Director Industry David “Carbine ’ Williams by Ben Roberts 31 Education Section and the Invention of Michelle L. Carr, Curator of Internal Programs and Acting Section Chief the Ml Carbine Charlotte Sullivan, Curator of 14 John Blue, Inventor Outreach Programs and Media Coordinator by Sara M. Stewart 32 Elisha Mitchell and Tar Heel Junior Historian Association His Mountain Suzanne Mewbom, Program Coordinator Solving Modern Problems Paula Creech, Subscription Coordinator 16 by Suzanne Mewbom in Agriculture Tar Heel Junior Historian by Dee Shore Collecting Nature: The Doris McLean Bates, Editor in Chief 34 Lisa Coston Hall, Editor/Designer Beginning of the N.C. 18 ACTIVITIES Museum of Natural Sciences Tar Heel Junior Historian Association Advisory Board by Jonathan Pishney Annette Ayers, Mary Bonnett, Cris Crissman, Tar Heel Junior Historian from work by Margaret Martin Elaine Forman, Vince Greene, Lisa Coston Hall, 20 Jim Hartsell, Jackson Marshall, Suzanne Essay Contest Winners Mewbom, Charlotte Sullivan by David High and 36 North Carolina and the Birth Emily Camplejohn of Radio Broadcasting Do you need to contact the THJH editor? Send an e-mail to [email protected]. by Dr. Gaty L. Frost

THE PURPOSE of Tar Heel Junior Historian magazine (ISSN 0496-8913) is to present the history of North Carolina to the students of this state through a well- balanced selection of scholarly articles, photographs, and illustrations. It is published two times per year for the Tar Heel Junior Historian Association by the North Carolina Museum of History, Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-4650. Copies are provided free to association advisers. Members receive other benefits, as well Individual and library subscriptions may be purchased at the rate of $8.00 per year. © 2006, North Carolina Museum of History. PHOTOGRAPHS: North Carolina Museum of History photography is by Eric N. Blevins and D. Kent Thompson. EDITORIAL POLICY: Tar Heel Junior Historian solicits manuscripts from expert scholars for each issue. Articles are selected for publication by the editor in consultation with the conceptual editor and other experts. The editor reserves the right to make changes in articles accepted for publication but will consult the author should substantive questions arise. Published articles do not necessarily rep¬ resent the views of the North Carolina Museum of History, the Department of Cultural Resources, or any other state agency. The text of this journal is available on magnetic recording tape from the State Library, Services to the Blind and Physically Handicapped Branch. For information, call 1-888-388-2460. NINE THOUSAND copies of this public document were printed at an approximate cost of $5,865.00, or $.65 per copy.

NORTH CAHOUNA DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL RESOURCES O INTRODUCTION ing Ideas into Reality by Dr. Lenwood Davis*

Your life in 2006 is very different from the ties to our state. But lives of North Carolina students who lived hundreds of scien¬ two hundred years ago. You may ride in a tists and inventors bus, car, or other motor vehicle almost every day. have worked here, You may spend time watching television, working whether on their on a computer, talking on a telephone, or listening own or for a busi¬ to a radio or iPod. None of those activities—or ness, university, or other organization. even doing your homework by electric light— First Day Covers honor would have been possible for students in the There are several reasons why the issue of stamps not¬ ing the seventy-fifth 1800s. And none of them would have been an inventor may not be widely anniversary of the possible without inventors and scientists. known. He or she may have cre¬ Wright brothers' 1903 airplane flight in Ki tty Inventors and scientists change the world in big ated something intended for per¬ Hawk. Images courtesy of and small ways. Some find cures for diseases. sonal or local use, only. He or she the North Carolina Museum of History. Some invent brand-new products or technologies, might be employed by an indus¬ {Below) This historical try in which inventions are kept marker on U.S. 258 in which are ways to apply scientific knowledge to Hertford County honors daily life. Others come up with better ways to do as trade secrets, helping one inventor Richard Jordan Gatling. Image courtesy or make common things, building on the work of business, or be part of ongoing of E. Frank Stephenson Jr. earlier scientists and inventors. All of them face work involving so many people problems, challenges, or needs. They analyze, that we do not know all of their brainstorm, and experiment with, or try out, solu¬ names. An inventor might be unable to afford the tions. They turn imagination into reality. Can you complicated and sometimes lengthy process of get think of any famous inventors? ting a patent. Many people are unaware of the numerous A patent is an official, legal docu¬ inventions and scientific breakthroughs that have ment giving its holder the sole right happened in North Carolina. They probably have to make, use, and sell an invention heard of for a set amount of time. There are Wilbur and several kinds of patents, which the Orville Wright United States government first and the first offered in 1790 as a way to protect sustained, people's ideas from being used powered air¬ without their permission. Even if plane flight. an inventor secures a patent, he or she might be Some may unable to find anyone to manufacture the inven¬ have heard of tion, or it might not prove popular. Caleb Patent records, however, can tell us about many Bradham inventions. In the 1800s, for example. North (Pepsi-Cola), Carolinians often created devices and machines to

Nothing So Good for the Children Richard Jordan improve agriculture and farming. These inven¬ in hoi weather as cool, delicious, sparkling Pepsi¬ Gatling (the tions, like many others, made life easier for people Cola. They love its delightful flavor of fresh fruit juices. And you can give them plenty of it, Gatling gun), or saved time. Early patent records list such items for it's just full of good health-giving properties. Refreshing in hot weather—invigorating at any Lunsford as corn shellers, cotton thinners, threshing time. Guaranteed under the Pure Food Law. machines, seed planters, and gristmills as being At All Fountains and in Bottles Richardson (Vicks invented by people from the Tar Heel State. Other Early posters (ca. 1900-1910) for Pepsi-Cola, which VapoRub), and individuals patented inventions such as improve¬ was invented in a New Bern drugstore in 1898, pushed its health benefits. Image courtesy of the North a few other ments in steam engines, washing machines, Carolina Museum of History. inventors with sawmills, and cigarette-making machines.

*Dr. Lenwood Davis is an adjunct professor in the Department of English and Foreign THJH, Fall 2006 Languages at Winston-Salem State University and the author of an upcoming book on North Carolina inventors. r r _ _ T 7’y-.».uw Lesser-known North Carolina inven¬ tors include Fenton Foster, creator of What are patents, trade¬ goods. They can be marks, copyrights, and renewed forever, as the first practical typesetting apparatus trade secrets? All of long as a business (1875), a forerunner of the linotype these terms fall under the catego¬ is using them. ry of intellectual property—prod¬ Examples include machine. John C. Steel invented a light, ucts that come from the creative the roar of the hand-operated brick truck in 1888; by mind. Intellectual property is MGM movie lion; 1900 J. C. Steel Brick Company was one imagination made real. It is an the pink color of asset like a home, car, or bank Owens-Coming of the state's leading brick-producing account. Like all property, intellec¬ insulation; names companies. Carl R. Livermon invented tual property needs to be protect¬ like Velcro, an improved peanut picker in 1912. ed from theft and misuse. Kleenex, Play- Many North Carolinians have eot- Doh, and Nike; Livermon patented that device and oth¬ Patents give the people who hold and a Coca-Cola ers but also invented things for which he them the sole rights to make, use, bottle's shape. import, sell, and offer for sale an did not seek patents, including a two- invention for up to twenty years. Copyrights pro¬ lever cart for hauling peanut stacks; Utility patents protect processes, tect authored retractable wheels used to put under a machines, articles of manufac¬ works including ture, and compositions of matter. writing, music, "°'>hc™i™ZsZ'Zt,Z rocking chair to move disabled people Examples include fiber optics, and art. The Library of Congress from room to room; a central air-cooling computer hardware, and medi¬ registers copyrights for the life of device; and a folding wheelbarrow. cines. Design patents guard an author plus seventy years. unauthorized use of new, original, In 1930 Dr. Perry Reaves invented a radiograph- and ornamental designs for arti¬ Trade secrets are information scope. Reaves spent nine years working on a photo¬ cles of manufacture. Examples kept secret by a company to give include the look of an athletics it advantages over competitors. graphic and optical apparatus for the study of X-ray shoe, a bicycle helmet, and the The Coca-Cola formula is a pictures. Reaves's machine had advantages over Star Wars characters. Plant famous trade secret. others because it eliminated distortion of X-ray pic¬ patents protect invented or dis¬ covered plant varieties. To learn more access the United tures, and its surface mirrors were silvered on the States Patent and Trademark front instead of the back. Luther Shipman invented Trademarks protect words, Office's Kids' Pages at names, sounds, colors, or sym¬ www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/a an odor wave machine in 1939, with the claim that bols that distinguish services and hrpa/opa/kids/index.html. "the device would point out a coon's den, metals, and various ills heired by mankind." The machine

Time Line: A Spirit of Innovation barn temperatures quickly Westinghouse, who is trying after partial curing has to prove that his alternat¬ 1793: Eli Whitney invents the Early 1830s: Christopher taken place. ing-current approach will be first commercially successful Bechtler, of Rutherfordton, better as a future distribu¬ cotton gin near Savannah, invents several contraptions 1853: The Holt Mill in tion system. Thanks to the Georgia. The cotton gin will for washing gold and separat¬ Alamance County produces mill generator, McAdenville change the agricultural ing it from gravel, Alamance plaid, the first is the state's first town face of North Carolina sand, and other ore. factory-dyed cotton cloth with electric streetlights. by making cotton a prof Around the same time, made in the South. itable cash crop. several Piedmont res¬ 1888: Jerome Bolick, of idents try creating 1870: James Lytch, of Conover, obtains four patent: 1801: G. F. Saltonstall, machines for washing Scotland County, patents his for a steel buggy wheel made of Fayetteville, becomes laundry. cotton planter, a popular with steel spokes. An ad the first North southern agricultural imple¬ states that spokes can be Carolinian to receive a 1834: Guilford County ment and one of his several easily and quickly replaced United States patent. dentist Dr. Jonathan successful farm inventions. in comparison to wooden The patent is for a new Howlett patents a wheels, which require disas¬ method of processing Christopher steam machine for 1879: North Carolina's first sembly, a wheelwright to grain. He will get Bechtler. Image killing bedbugs. A telephone exchanges open in carve a spoke, and reassembl; other patents for cot¬ courtesy of the North prolific inventor for Raleigh and Wilmington. when a spoke breaks. ton-related devices. Carolina Museum of three decades, he History. patents inventions About 1884: The Pharr Yarns 1889: Frank Vaughan, of 1814: John Lineback, ranging from a new mill in McAdenville installs Pasquotank County, patents a of Salem, patents the first concept for a sewing machine a direct-current generator to submarine diving apparatus, machine for cottonseed to a breech-loading firearm. power inside electric lights, one of his several safety- hulling. allowing twenty-four-hour related inventions that also 1839: A slave named Stephen operation of a mill for the include fire escapes and lif< 1821: Sequoyah completes his living on the Caswell County first time. (Earlier kerosene preservers. work of establishing the farm of Abisha Slade acciden¬ lamps were not bright enough Cherokee alphabet, making his tally discovers a process for for night work.) Thomas 1892: James Turner Morehead people the only American curing bright-leaf tobacco. Edison helps install the sys¬ sets up an experimental elec¬ Indian tribe with a written The Slade formula, or method, tem, perhaps in an effort to tric ore furnace at his fami¬ language. uses charcoal to raise curing stay ahead of George ly's mill in Spray, in

TH]H, Fall 2006 had seventy-six smelling cells. Grafton A. Gatling Inventive Spirit: The Buggymobiie invented a pyramid stove in 1976. He said his stove used low-cost fuel such as "small logs, pine cones, twigs, decayed wood or mulch, paper logs, coal, or even peanut hulls." Examples of recent items patented by North Carolinians include Marvin L. Beacham's biker's belt (2003), William D. Taper's version of handcuffs (2004), and Bob H. Halkidis's sports cooler (2005). Minority inventors also have made their mark in North Carolina. It is believed that Lunsford Lane— born into slavery near Raleigh in 1803—was the state's first African American inventor. While enslaved. Lane was allowed to earn money as long as it did not interfere with his farm duties. At night he did odd jobs such as chopping wood and selling tobacco. Around 1830, he invented a pipe and began Steam-powered automobiles, becoming more common at the time, fascinated selling a special blend of tobacco that he had created. Gilbert S. Waters during an 1899 trip to Baltimore, Maryland. He returned home to New Bern determined to build his own "horseless carriage." The result was At the time, slaves could not get patents, but by what Waters called a buggymobiie. It combined the frame of a horse-drawn 1838, Lane had saved $1,000. He used the money to buggy with a gasoline-powered engine and rubber tires. Operational by 1900, this vehicle probably was the first car made in the South. It did not catch on, however, buy his family's freedom and move them to New perhaps due to a lack of industrial infrastructure in eastern North Carolina. In York City. Later, some early African American 1903 Waters built his second buggymobiie, reusing the one-cylinder, five-horse- power engine from the first car. He drove the vehicle—currently displayed at the inventors did secure patents for their labor. They North Carolina Museum of History—for more than forty years. The buggymobiie included Horde Spears, who invented a shield for ran about thirty-five miles per hour. Image courtesy of the State Archives, North Carolina Office of Archives and History. infantry and artillery (1870); and Edward H. Sutton, who invented a cotton cultivator (1874). More recent African American inventors from North Carolina system for enhancing fine detail in thermal photo¬ include Winser Edward Alexander, who invented a graphs (1967); and Andrew Williams and Richard

Rockingham County, hoping to 1898: William Cyrus Briggs cleaning] system for textile one of the brothers, and develop a process for produc¬ develops a successful auto¬ factories." As a result of "Texas" makes the product ing aluminum. Instead, he and matic cigarette-rolling Cramer's work with earlier sound spicy, they figure. The his associates discover cal¬ machine in Winston-Salem. researchers Willis Haviland company is still family-owned cium carbide and acetylene Carrier and I. H. Hardeman, and Winston-Salem based, gas, laying the foundation 1902: The state's first auto¬ one of the South's first although it now makes other for Union Carbide mobile registration takes air-conditioning units is products in addition to its Corporation, which develops place in Charlotte. installed at Chronicle Cotton Texas Pete hot sauce. outside North Carolina. Mills in Belmont. By 1920, 1903: On December 17, Orville other cotton and paper mills, 1934: Dr. J. B. Rhine of 1895: Massachusetts native Wright makes the first sus¬ tobacco-related factories, Duke University writes a James W. Tufts, inventor of tained, controlled power- breweries, and bakeries fol¬ paper that is the first to the patented "Arctic" brand driven airplane flight at low. Air-conditioning is identify the term Extra of soda fountain, sells his Kitty Hawk on the Outer called the biggest change to Sensory Perception (ESP) to shares in the American Soda Banks, staying aloft for southern life and culture describe people's apparent Factory Company and buys twelve seconds and more than since the end of slavery. ability to acquire informa¬ 5,500 acres in the North one hundred feet. The plane, tion without the use of the Carolina sandhills for a lit¬ which Orville and brother 1923: Spencer Love founds five senses. Rhine adopts the tle more than $1 per acre. Wilbur built in their Dayton, Burlington Mills, among the term parapsychology to dis¬ His family soon develops Ohio, bicycle shop, has a first to produce cloth from tinguish his studies from Pinehurst, first designed as four-cylinder, twelve-horse¬ an artificial fiber: rayon. mainstream psychology. a health resort and soon a power engine. golf mecca. 1929: Winston-Salem teenager Late 1930s: Duke University 1906: Stuart Warren Cramer, Thad Garner buys a barbecue faculty member Dr. Walter 1896: Dr. Henry Louis Smith a Thomasville native who stand that includes a sauce Kempner, a native of Germany, at Davidson College makes one designed and equipped a third recipe. His family begins invents the Rice Diet follow¬ of the earliest X-ray photo¬ of the new textile mills making that barbecue sauce ing his studies of diseases graphs ("X" signifying the built in the South between and selling it to stores and such as hypertension and dia¬ unknown). His X-ray of a 1895 and 1905, coins the restaurants. Soon Thad and betes. The diet is not actu¬ strangling young girl's term "air-conditioning" to his brothers decide to create ally centered on rice but on throat reveals a thimble pre¬ describe one of his sixty a hotter sauce based on low fat and low salt. Its venting her from breathing. patents, "an improvement in vinegar, peppers, and salt. components include healthy Surgery saves her life. the humidification [and air "Pete" is the nickname of eating, certain dietary sup-

THJH, Fall 2006 3 H. Ames, who patented a cranial drilling instru¬ Inventive Spirit: The Shad Bnat ment (1972). Two early American Indian inventors in North Carolina were Sequoyah (1770-1843) and Salola (ca. 1800s). Sequoyah's tribe, the Cherokee, did not have a written language. After twelve years of work, he completed a Cherokee alphabet in 1821. Salola— also a Cherokee—worked as a blacksmith. Some say that he was "the first Indian who ever manufac¬ tured an entire gun." In the 1840s Salola created a rifle, a copy of which was displayed in the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C. Women in North Carolina have made inventive Early in North Carolina history, many Tar Heel residents began to build small boats—including simple canoes and skiffs—to use in the contributions, too. The first known white female sounds and inlets. Most larger and seagoing vessels were made in inventor was Ethel H. Porter. In 1834 she received a other places. In the mid-1860s, though, local boat builders began pro¬ ducing work boats for transportation, fishing, and other needs. After patent for an invention related to cutting feed for the Civil War, commercial fishing grew to the point that existing horses and cattle. One woman with North Carolina boats were inadequate for larger hauls. In the 1870s Roanoke Island resident George Washington Creef (left) developed a larger boat that ties, Beulah Louise Henry, has been credited with still had a shallow draft (the depth of water required to float). The more than a hundred inventions and received forty- shad boat, a three-sailed, round-bottomed boat with a wide center and tapered bow, is the only new boat type created in North Carolina. Usually nine patents between 1912 and 1970, likely more painted white or gray with a colorful stripe down the side, it was a quick success due to maneuverability, speed, and simple handling. The name developed than any other woman in the United States. Among because of the boat's usefulness for fishermen who set out nets to catch shad. North Carolina women recently receiving patents Production of the boats, built from native trees such as cypress, juniper, and white cedar (above), largely ended in the 1930s, but they were used quite regularly for are Marsha Hannel, for a shaving cream dispenser another two decades or so. The General Assembly of 1987 adopted the shad boat (2001); Milinda Hendrick Kirkpatrick and Christine as the official State Historical Boat. Images courtesy of Vernon Davis Collection, Outer Banks History Center, Manteo.

plements such as iron and 1954: Don Clayton opens the ment, business, academia, 1964: Charlotte woodworker vitamins, and walking. first Putt-Putt course in and industry witness the Ernest Garner dies at age Fayetteville, with games official start of Research 87. Garner's simple, conven¬ 1937: Krispy Kreme doughnuts costing twenty-five cents Triangle Park, a public/pri¬ ient contribution to the are born in Winston-Salem. each. During the early 1900s vate, planned research area world of home storage is the Vernon Rudolph buys a secret miniature golf had become located in Durham County disappearing attic stairway. recipe from a French chef popular in the United between Duke University, from New Orleans, and the States, beginning as a true North Carolina State 1970-1975: Dr. James business quickly outgrows shorter form of golf played University, and the Goodnight and colleagues in his first shop in what's now on real grass. Later, more- University of North Carolina North Carolina State Old Salem. Rudolph in the elaborate rails, surfaces, at Chapel Hill. Starting University's Department of 1940s and 1950s develops a and bumpers, "hazards," gim¬ with 4,000 acres, RTP Statistics develop and centralized system with micks, lighting, and decora¬ expands quickly after IBM refine the Statistical doughnut mix made at a cen¬ tions were added. Analysis System (SAS). He tral plant and shipped to Clayton is an insur¬ and John Sail will found stores for baking. He per¬ ance salesman hoping software firm SAS Institute. fects new automated systems to return mini golf for the stores, built with to a more straightfor¬ 1973: George Laurer, who an iconic green, red, and ward putting contest. retires from IBM's Research white color scheme. In the He begins franchising Triangle Park facility in 1990s the company expands his course design the Governor Luther Hodges used this 1987 after thirty-six years beyond the Southeast. next year and boosting pro¬ shovel at the groundbreaking of the with the company, works with fessional Putt-Putt, which first Research Triangle Park building, others to create the 1949: The state's first com¬ debuts in 1959. the Robert M. Hanes Building. Image Universal Product Code mercial television station, courtesy of the North Carolina Museum (UPC). Experimentation with Charlotte's WBTV, broad¬ 1955: Dr. Paul Sanger of of History. punch-card automatic check¬ casts. Greensboro's WFMY and Charlotte Memorial Hospital out systems began in the Raleigh's WRAL soon follow. and Dr. W. E. Shinn, a North and the National Institute 1930s, work on predecessors Carolina State College tex¬ of Environmental Health of the modern bar code began 1950: North Carolina State tile researcher, develop the Sciences open offices there in the 1940s, and the first College establishes the first synthetic aorta. A in 1965. As of July 2006, commercial use of bar codes first college course in modified necktie machine the park encompasses 7,000 came in 1966. Grocery indus¬ nuclear engineering. It will creates heat-treated fibers acres and is home to 39,000 try groups in the late 1960s be the world's first univer¬ flexible enough for use in workers and 145 organiza¬ seek a standard "interindus¬ sity to offer degrees in the human body. tions in biotechnology, try product code," for nuclear engineering at the pharmaceuticals, telecommuni¬ faster, more-accurate check¬ bachelor's, master's, and 1959: After years of plan¬ cations, microeletronics, outs and better inventory doctoral levels. ning, leaders from govern¬ and more. control. Researchers get to

TH]H, Fall 2006 Arm Cronin, for a saddle for two persons (2002); Wanda K. Daggs, for a personal flotation device Inventive Spirit: Pantyhnse Glen Raven Mills in Alamance (2003); and Marylee Taft, for a fire ant trap (2004). County can claim being one of the African American women from North Carolina who first companies (if not the first) to produce pantyhose like these 1990s have received patents include Mary Beatrice examples. In the mid-1950s, sales fell Davidson Kenner—who between 1956 and 1987 for the companys full-fashioned nylon stockings—those knitted flat invented at least thirty-five personal and household and sewn together in a way that left a items and held five patents—and Emily J. distinctive back seam. Glen Raven began using some of its machines to Collymore, who secured patents for a toilet tissue make heavier nylon tights for women and girls. Allen Gant Sr. wondered why holder (1989) and a circular candle (1990). the company could not make a gar¬ Inventors and scientists come from various fields ment—in the one-piece, waist-to-toe fashion of thicker tights—that included a panty but was sheer like the stockings such as engineering, architecture, medicine, com¬ traditionally held up with garters and garter belts. Dancers and chorus-line girls puter science, agriculture, and even food or enter¬ wore similar "opera length" garments, fishnet or cut-and-sewn and custom-made. Glen Raven employees came up with a pattern and reworked machinery to try tainment. Malcom McLean, a North Carolina native, the new product. By spring 1959 the company filed for a patent. Another compa¬ helped change the world by addressing a problem ny filed for a similar patent about the same time, as several textile firms had been exploring the concept. Legal officials decided pantyhose was a generic term that in transportation. Elisha Mitchell proved a hypothe¬ could not be patented. Glen Raven used the name Panti-Legs for its contribution to women's fashion. Pantyhose really became popular in the 1960s, with the rise sis about the height of one of the state's mountains. of the miniskirt. Images courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History. Radio pioneer Reginald Fessenden, like the Wright brothers, came to North Carolina briefly from another state to do important work here. Brothers In this issue of Tar Heel Junior Historian, you will H. H. Brimley and C. S. Brimley moved from learn how some of these inventors and scientists England to shape the public's perception of natural with North Carolina ties have changed the world sciences in the Tar Heel State through museum- with their creativity. How can you put your own based collection and exhibition. imagination and inventive spirit to work?

work, and Laurer's pattern cist who spent the becomes a pioneer in delete. In 1980 Bradley was of a linear bar code with final years of his modern telemedicine—the part of the "Original eleven digits becomes stan¬ career, 1961—1976, practice of medicine at Twelve" team of engineers dard. UPC is the first bar on the North a distance using com¬ responsible for building the code widely used in the Carolina State puter, communications, IBM personal computer. The United States and Canada in University faculty, and videoconferencing team later needed a simple, retail stores. Some five becomes a member technology. A pediatric safe way to "reboot," or billion scans now happen of the National Dr. Willard Bennett. cardiologist at ECU, power down and then up, a daily; evolving bar codes Inventors Hall of The National for example, might read computer without turning it have spread to other uses. Fame. Bennett, who Inventors Hall of an echocardiogram from off, when it froze up or died in 1987 at Fame began in 1973 a remote site via the failed unexpectedly. Bradley 1974: The North Carolina Zoo age 84, made impor¬ with one inductee, telemedicine network. quickly wrote coding he Thomas Edison, and opens to the public in tant contributions thought would only be used by now has 313 mem¬ Asheboro as the nation's in plasma physics, 1995: Deparx Stimson programmers and specialists, bers, including first state-supported zoo astrophysics, geo¬ dies in his hometown of picking a three-key combina¬ Bennett. Learn more and its first designed physics, surface Winston-Salem. Stimson tion hard to hit by accident. at www.invent.org! around the "natural habitat" physics, and physi¬ patented the heat pump It becomes built-in to most Image courtesy of philosophy. With more than cal chemistry, and Willard Bennett nearly sixty years operating systems. 500 acres, it remains held nearly seventy Papers, Special before his death, but America's largest walk¬ United States and Collections Research the technology remained 1999: SpeechEasy is patented, through natural-habitat zoo. foreign patents. Center, North largely unknown until the result of more than ten Some of his 1930s Carolina State the 1970s, when people years of research into the 1980-1985: North Carolina work in plasma University Libraries. and businesses began effects of delayed and fre¬ State University materials physics has been looking for economical quency auditory feedback on science and engineering stu¬ used worldwide in controlled air-conditioning. Stimson stuttering by several East dents develop a process to thermonuclear fusion also helped NASA develop Carolina University faculty grow silicon carbide crys¬ research. Often called cooling systems for its members. Thousands of people tals, which, when sliced "ahead of his time," he rockets and experimented are fitted with the anti¬ into diodes and wired with received Hall of Fame honors with solar refrigeration. stuttering device. circuit patterns, emit blue for the Bennett radio fre¬ light. In 1987 the group quency mass spectrometer, 1995: Senior software engi¬ 2005: Dr. Robert Moog, 71, will form CREE Research patented in 1955 and used by neer Dr. David J. Bradley dies in Asheville, his home Inc., the first manufacturer early U.S. and Soviet satel¬ moves to IBM's Research since 1978. In 1964 the New of blue light-emitting lites to determine chemical Triangle Park facility. York City native publicly diodes (LEDs) in the world. composition of space gases. While working in Boca Raton, debuted his Moog synthesiz¬ Florida, he came up with er, one of the first widely 1991: Dr. Willard H. 1992: East Carolina something you've probably used electronic musical Bennett, a well-known physi¬ University's medical school used: control-alternate- instruments.

THJH, Fall 2006 5 The Man Who Helped the World Breathe Easier by Lindsey Hinds-Brown*

Have you ever had a really bad cold that small drugstore for $450. He used his knowledge of made it hard to breathe? If you have, Latin to understand the names on the bottles of chances are your parents used Vicks medicine and researched the drugs to find out VapoRub to help you breathe easier. A man named which ones would best treat his customers' symp¬ Lunsford Richardson invented VapoRub right here toms. His dedication and hard work helped people in North Carolina. in Selma feel better and helped him save enough Lunsford Richardson II was born on Parker money to marry and start a family. Heights Plantation in Johnston County on After ten years in Selma, Richardson wanted to December 29, 1854. The youngest of five children, expand his business. He moved his family to he witnessed much suffering during his childhood. Greensboro in 1890 and, with the help of his partner Richardson was only two years old when his father J. B. Fariss, bought the W. C. Porter Drug Store. died in a flood. At age ten, he watched as the Union Years later the building became famous for the two Army—led by General William Tecumseh extraordinary men who had once worked there: Sherman—raided his home during the Civil War. Richardson himself and Mr. Porter's nephew, The soldiers seized all his family's food and belong¬ William Sidney Porter—the celebrated short-story ings, leaving behind only a few hams that he and writer known as O. Henry. Richardson changed the his mother had hidden in the hollow columns of way drugstores operated in Greensboro. Before he their house. After the Emancipation Proclamation took over, customers usually charged purchases to a freed their slaves, Richardson helped his mother store account and paid on the balance once or twice adjust to a new way of farming and life. a year. His new policy required that customers pay Richardson knew he wanted to help others and their bills in full every month. This plan prevented needed a college education to achieve his goals. farmers from building up large debts and guaran¬ Unable to afford a full four years of college, he stud¬ teed that storeowners got paid for what they sold. ied hard and completed his degree in only three Soon all drugstores in the area followed his example. years. He graduated from Davidson College in 1875 Still, Richardson's greatest contribution to phar¬ with a major in chemistry and honors' medals in macy was not his economic practicality but the Greek, Latin, and debate. The young graduate want¬ medicines he invented. Customers trusted him, and ed to become a lawyer they often asked him for but had no money to medical advice when start a law practice. they could not afford to Reluctantly, Richardson visit a doctor. Richardson accepted a teaching saw the need for afford¬ position at a local able treatments that school. He quit after worked. He began exper¬ five years. With only imenting with new ingre¬ $600 in savings, he dients and invented wanted a fresh start and twenty-one medicines he a career that combined called Vicks Family his interests in chem¬ Remedies. istry and Latin. Why Richardson chose While visiting his sis¬ the name Vicks for his ter near Selma in 1880, These examples of the many Vicks products were packaged at the Vick Chemical products is something of Company in Greensboro in 1932 (VapoRub) and 1965 (cough syrup and sinus Richardson bought a spray), respectively. Image courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History. a mystery. Some sources

TH]H, Fall 2006 *Lindsey Hinds-Brown, a former middle school social studies teacher, is a Ph.D. student in American history at the Unii’ersity of North Carolina at Greensboro. She also works as a freelance researcher for the Greensboro Historical Museum. sicker than the original illness! But Vicks Salve was different. Richardson made an ointment using a new ingredient from Japan called menthol, which turned into vapor when heated. He combined men¬ thol with the ingredients found in most cough and cold medications. When a patient rubbed Vicks Salve on his or her chest, body heat activated the menthol, and the patient breathed the medicated vapors directly into the lungs. This "magic" treat¬ ment eased patients' discomfort, and, best of all, there were no pills or potions. Although Vicks Salve began as a simple home remedy, it soon became a household name. Richardson first made and packaged the medicine— in its unique, little blue bottle—by hand in a small Greensboro factory. But demand grew quickly, as salesmen traveled throughout North Carolina nail¬ ing some of the South's first billboards to trees and barns. The widespread popularity of Vicks Salve brought many changes to Richardson's life. To make enough medicine, he made his factory larger and mechanized the manufacturing and packaging process. In 1905 he closed his wholesale drug com¬ pany and created Vick Chemical Company to con¬ centrate on his own products. His son, Henry Smith Richardson, joined the business in 1907 and con¬ vinced his father to make only Vicks Salve. The Lunsford Richardson II, a native of Johnston County, invented Vicks VapoRub. At one time, he was a Greensboro franchisee for Caleb Bradham's Pepsi-Cola, bot¬ product's name was changed to Vicks VapoRub, not tling the drink in the same building where he was packaging VapoRub. Image only to describe how the medicine worked but to courtesy of the Greensboro Historical Museum Archives. stand out among numerous competitors. state that he simply named them in honor of his Toward the end of Richardson's life, Vicks brother-in-law, and others insist he ran across the VapoRub became the leading treatment for coughs name in a popular seed catalog. Richardson once and colds throughout the United States. There was a claimed the main reason for the Vicks name was great flu epidemic in that it was short enough to fit on small medicine 1918, and employees bottle labels! worked endlessly to Vicks Family Remedies became so popular that in meet customer 1898 Richardson sold his half of the drugstore to his demand. By 1919 former partner and started his own company The L. VapoRub was sold in Richardson Drug Company was a wholesale drug every state. In a speech business that sold medicines to drugstores through¬ given to the North out the state. It also manufactured Vicks products. Carolina The top seller was a revolutionary external treat¬ Pharmaceutical ment for coughs and colds called Vicks Magic Association a few Croup and Pneumonia Salve. months prior to his Richardson first created this salve to treat his death, Richardson said, son's frequent bouts of "croup," a respiratory illness "I had seen a vision, I that made it hard for children to breathe. At the had dreamed dreams of Lunsford Richardson used this mortar in the 1890s. Pharmacists used mortars time, most treatments for croup required swallow¬ a Worldwide business. along with small clublike tools called ing a pill or drinking a potion. Some of the medi¬ Richardson passed pef!fto p°und' *"nd'and in^edl“ r ents for medicmes. Image courtesy of the cines had serious side effects that made people away in August 1919, North Carolina Museum of History.

THJH, Fall 2006 > White Uiajlafif but his legacy VICKS and vision live on. In the Antiseptic years after his death, a mis¬ sionary school, Vicks products were advertised widely throughout the South. This window ad dates from the 1930s. Image courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History. a local hospital for African Americans, and a World Activity: Fan Mail War II Liberty The following is a letter sent to the Vick Chemical Company ship were about the wonders of Vicks VapoRub. Although the story is named in his somewhat of a "tall tale," it is one of many fan letters that memory. In Lunsford Richardson's company received. Have you ever considered writing a fan letter to someone? Think about an 1935 his chil- invention that you use every day, and try writing a letter to dren estab¬ its inventor that tells him or her how much you enjoy the In 1898 Lunsford Richardson opened the L. Richardson product. Drug Company, shown here in 1899, and began to sell lished the his Vicks Family Remedies wholesale to drugstores Richardson throughout the state. Image courtesy of the Greensboro Texas, 1917 Historical Museum Archives. Foundation to promote scien¬ No matter what happens, we won't part with the jar of Vicks. My son's puppy was slow crossing a railroad track and a tific and charitable projects. Today Procter and fast train cut off his tail. We rubbed Vicks on him and it Gamble Company produces VapoRub and an grew another tail. extended line of Vicks products. Nearly ninety years The miracle, however, was performed when the little boy next door, who had always wanted a puppy, rubbed Vicks after Richardson's death, his "magic" salve contin¬ on the part of the tail that had been cut off and grew himself ues to relieve the discomfort of sick people through¬ a dog! out the world.

FQW quick headache powde Inventive Spirit: Pain Relief Tor relief of pain When was aspirin invented? The raw materials and make their own prescrip¬ advertising father of modem medicine, tions. Pills were harder for the local druggist began. I New Warning I Hippocrates, working between 460 to make, so pain-relief powders developed Contents 2 Powders and 377 BC, left records of pain-relief treat¬ as a regional heritage. Goody's ments that included the use of powder Headache Powder: made from the bark and leaves of the wil¬ BC Headache Powder: Pharmacists Winston-Salem pharmacist Martin "Goody" low tree to help heal headaches, body Germain Bernard and Commodore Council Goodman created his headache powder in pains, and fevers. In 1829 scientists discov¬ created their headache powder in 1906 at 1932. A. Thad Lewallen Sr. bought the for¬ ered a pain-relieving compound called the Five Points Drug Company in Durham. mula and trademark a few years later. His salicin in willow plants. Salicylic acid was marketing strategy based on sampling tough on stomachs. In 1853 Charles Stanback Headache Powder: Thomas introduced Goody's Headache Powder to Gerhardt neutralized the acid but did not Stanback, of Salisbury, created his the Southeast and beyond. Samples were pursue marketing his new find. Several headache powder in 1911, as a young phar¬ handed out to factory workers at shift years later, Feliz Hoffman, an employee of macist in a Thomasville drugstore. He changes. This promotional method created German company Bayer, found Gerhardt's moved to Spencer to work at the Rowan a dedicated following. Demand soon out¬ formula, marketed it, and sold it. Aspirin Drug Store while its pharmacist vacationed. stripped production. In 1941 a modem pro¬ was patented March 6, 1889, and sold as a There he gave samples of his new duction facility and an increased sales powder. Tablets headache power containing aspirin to rail¬ force furthered boosted Goody's. came along in roaders, who carried it up and down the 1915. Southern line. Stanback persuaded his Bromo-Seltzer: Isaac Edward Emerson, younger brother Fred to try selling the pow¬ a native of Chapel Hill and 1879 graduate Why headache ders to area stores. Thomas prepared the of the University of North Carolina at powders? It was product by night, and Fred sold it by day. Chapel Hill, moved to Maryland in 1881. In very common for Thomas used a flour sifter, then a sifter with 1888, working behind the prescription count¬ druggists in the a hand crank to speed production. The er of a modest drugstore, he created a rem¬ early 1900s to buy brothers began renting a building in edy for headaches and indigestion. His Spencer in 1927 and sold their powders background in chemistry and pharmacy led

These packets of BC and Goody's headache pow¬ from Richmond, Virginia, to Columbus, to the granular effervescent salt he named ders were made in the 1960s and 1990s in Durham Georgia. In 1932 a new Italian-made fold¬ Bromo-Seltzer and packaged in cobalt blue County and Forsyth County, respectively. Images ing machine was purchased, and produc¬ glass bottles. courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History. tion moved to Salisbury. Full-scale national —Suzanne Mewborn 8 THjH, Fall 2006 Caleb Bradham and the Invention of Pepsi-Cola*

No matter how old you are, "you're in the Pepsi generation." Before the cola wars, singer Britney Spears, or the Pepsi 400 race at Daytona International Speedway, Pepsi¬ Cola was part of American culture. When Pepsi was invented in 1898, people bought carbonated sodas at the local drugstore. The beverages we think of as soft drinks were considered medicines in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They were used to treat every¬ thing from stomach problems to lack of energy. Pharmacists exper¬ imented with different ingredi¬ Over the years, Pepsi-Cola has been sold in bottles of different designs and colors. (Left to right) These bottles date from approximately 1934 (clear with red and white logo), 1890 (amber), 1940 (clear with red, white, and ents and came up with flavored blue logo), 1925 (green), and 1900 (amber). Caleb Bradham estimated that he mixed about 7,968 gallons of syrups for ginger ale, root beer, Pepsi syrup in 1903. In 1907 about 104,029 gallons were mixed for sale through franchises. Image courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History. Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, and other beverages that we still sip today. at the University of Maryland but Pepsi-Cola expanded quickly, Carbonated water was added had to drop out when he ran out and by 1909 there were more than to these syrups to make soft of money. Later he returned to 250 bottlers in twenty-four states. drinks at the Maryland to study pharmacy. By 1915 the company was worth drugstore's soda After holding several other jobs more than one million dollars! fountain. People and completing his degree, he But disaster struck. The price of in small towns opened a drugstore in New Bern. sugar, one of the main ingredients and big cities Like other druggists of his in the drink, quadrupled when gathered at soda time, Bradham concocted differ¬ World War I erupted. Bradham fountains to ent syrup mixtures for his store. bought a large amount of sugar meet and catch Brad's Drink, as Bradham's because he thought the price up on the latest friends first called it, was his cus¬ would continue to rise. Instead, Caleb Bradham (1867-1934) invented news. Great¬ tomers' favorite beverage. He prices dropped a lot. Bradham Pepsi-Cola in his New tasting bever¬ eventually renamed the drink also lost money when he invested Bern drugstore. Image courtesy of the North ages helped to Pepsi-Cola for the pepsin and in a new bottling method that Carolina Museum of attract more cola nuts that were among its failed to pay off. History. customers. ingredients. In 1902 Bradham In 1923 Bradham's drink com¬ Pepsi-Cola's inventor, Caleb hired a manager for his pharmacy pany declared bankruptcy. Roy C. Davis Bradham, was born in and began devoting more time to Megargel, a Wall Street broker, Duplin County on May 27, 1867. marketing his product, at first bought the Pepsi trademark, busi¬ Bradham attended local acade¬ mixing the syrup in large barrels ness, and goodwill for $35,000 mies and then attended the himself, selling it to other soda and formed the Pepsi-Cola University of North Carolina at fountains and drugstores, and Corporation. Bradham's luck ran Chapel Hill for three years. He making deliveries by horse and out, but his invention lives on— left that school to study medicine wagon. around the world.

*This article, provided by the North Carolina Museum of History staff, first appeared in THJH, Fall 2006 n the Raleigh News and Observer as part of the Neivspapers in Education program. Access http://www.neivsobserver.com/nie for more on that program. A Life-saving Team: Gertrude Elion and Dr. George Hitchings by Lisa Coston Hall*

Every day, scientists around the world search spent time in secretarial school. About the time that for new ways to fight diseases. Two scientists Elion finished her master's degree in chemistry at who did some of the most important research New York University, however. World War II began in that fight during the 1900s worked in North sending many men overseas to fight. New doors Carolina. Gertrude Belle Elion and Dr. George H. opened for women back home. She got a job in a Hitchings first teamed up in 1944 at the Tuckahoe, food company's lab and spent more than a year New York, offices of Burroughs Wellcome Company, doing work such as testing pickle acidity, judging now known as GlaxoSmithKline. In 1970 they the color of mayonnaise, and checking that berries moved to the pharmaceutical company's new for use in jam were mold-free. offices in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park, Elion had left the food lab for a temporary job and in 1988 they shared the famous Nobel Prize in with Johnson and Johnson when she met Hitchings Medicine with Sir James Black, of England. The (1905-1998), a respected researcher whose schedule research that Hitchings and Elion did helped people included every other Saturday. Not long after meet¬ battling illnesses, including leukemia. Their Nobel ing with Elion—who had telephoned Burroughs Prize honored revolutionary discoveries of "impor¬ Wellcome earlier in the week—Hitchings gave her a tant principles for drug treatment" and important job. He had no problem hiring women or men from discoveries of actual drugs. different backgrounds, or sharing his knowledge In a way, the two scientists' work partnership with those eager to learn. started by chance. Elion happened to come in for an Personal loss shaped the careers of both scientists. interview on a weekend when it was Hitchings's Hitchings had been born in Hoquiam, Washington, turn to work and to do job interviews as needed. to a family that designed and built ships. When he When she earned her degree in chemistry in 1937 was twelve years old, his father—who was very from Hunter College in New York City, Elion interested in science—died after being sick for a (1918-1999) had felt excited and ready to start work long time. The experience of losing his father made in a laboratory. Hitchings want to work in medical research. After Her excitement earning bachelor's and master's degrees in chem¬ faded, though, istry from the University of Washington, Hitchings when she could received his Ph.D. in 1933 from Harvard University. not get hired. The At Harvard, he studied something that few people Great Depression knew much about at the time: the metabolism of had made jobs nucleic acids (DNA, the building blocks of the difficult to find. human body). After working for a while at several And women had colleges, in 1942 he became the only scientist in an extra hard Burroughs Wellcome's United States Biochemistry time finding jobs Department. in science. Years Elion was born in New York City, the daughter of later, Elion immigrants from eastern Europe who wanted her to would say that get an education and pursue a career in something job interviewers she loved. When she was a young teenager, her ,lina Awards ceremony. Image courtesy oftheSta nves, North Carolina Office of Archives and History. turned her away beloved grandfather died painfully from stomach after telling her cancer. In the early 1940s her fiance, Leonard that she might be qualified—but would be "a dis¬ Canter, died from a heart infection that penicillin traction" in a lab full of men. She taught biochem¬ probably could have cured just a few years later. istry to nurses, substitute taught in secondary Elion—who earned her bachelor's degree at a schools, worked for free in a chemistry lab, and college offering free tuition because her family had

TH1H, Fall 2006 'Lisa Coston Hall is a historical publications editor at the North Carolina Museum of 10 History. She edits Tar Heel Junior Historian and other materials. love and honor, pity and pride, compassion and sac¬ rifice. As a scientist, I should like to suggest three verities of the human mind—curiosity, creativity, and the love of knowledge. The Nobel Prize in Medicine honors these truths, and we receive this recognition with humility and gratitude," Hitchings said in a speech at the Nobel Prize banquet in Sweden on December 10, 1988. The work of Elion and Dr. George Hitchings used this desk, chair, lamp, and calculator for several years in his office at Burroughs Wellcome Company (now GlaxoSmithKline) in Research Triangle Park. Image courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History. Hitchings led to drugs to fight leukemia, malaria, lost its money after the 1929 stock market crash— gout, organ transplant rejection, rheumatoid arthri¬ never finished her Ph.D., unusual for someone tis, and some bacterial infections. The scientists laid doing work of her kind. A school official had told the foundation for work leading to medicines to her that she must take classes full-time, not only at fight viruses that cause cold sores, chicken pox, and night. But she could not afford to quit work. She shingles, and leading to AZT, the first treatment for quit school instead. AIDS. “When we began to see the results of our Hitchings, Elion, and their coworkers did efforts in the form of new drugs which filled real research differently from most scientists at the time. medical needs and benefited patients in very visible Instead of using a random, trial-and-error process— ways, our feeling of reward was immeasurable," testing chemicals, compounds, and plant products Elion wrote in an autobiography for the Nobel in hopes of stumbling onto medicines—they special¬ Foundation (Les Prix Nobel, www.nobelprize.org). ly designed chemicals to inject, or shoot, into dis¬ Hitchings and Elion had many patents, publica¬ eased cells. This could "trick" a cell tions, and awards. They made a difference in other into accepting a false building block ways, as well. A former leader of the of DNA and fighting off the disease. charitable Burroughs Wellcome Fund, The scientists had studied differ¬ Hitchings in 1983 founded the ences in the way normal human Triangle Community Foundation, a cells, diseased cells, protozoa, bacte¬ nonprofit group that today manages ria, and viruses worked, as well as charitable funds worth more than $100 their structures. They could make million and awards many grants and drugs to attack a problem—for scholarships. Often quoted that his example, stopping cancer cells' approach to life was based on two- growth—without hurting nearby thirds science and one-third philanthro¬ normal cells. Other researchers py (helping others), Hitchings served as started working the same way. a local leader of such groups as the “We were inspired by basic United Way and the American Red questions concerning the bio¬ Cross. For years, Elion taught at Duke chemistry of cellular reproduc¬ University and the University of North tion, and the search led us on a Carolina at Chapel Hill. She served on journey filled with new knowledge the boards and committees of many pro¬ and exciting discoveries. . . . When William fessional and nonprofit groups, mentored young Faulkner accepted the Nobel Prize in Literature in scientists, and spoke to young students about loving 1949, he spoke of the verities of the human heart- science and following dreams.

THJH, Fall 2006 11 Elion always Dr. George H. Hitchings was a pioneer for Inventions received the North Carolina women. When Award in Science in 1980 Hitchings became and Gertrude Elion received it in 1989. The North Carolina Award is vice president in the highest honor bestowed by the charge of research in the Tobacco state; medals have been given since 1964 in literature, fine arts, at Burroughs science, and public service. To Wellcome in 1967, learn about other North Carolina she filled his old Industry Award winners in science, access http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc. job as head of the us/ncawards/ncaalpha.asp. Department of by Ben Roberts*

The list includes Dr. Martin Experimental Rodbell (1925-1998), who won the Therapy. She Before the Civil War, North Carolina was Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1994. received the mostly an agricultural society with a large Rodbell—who spent decades with the National Institutes of Health in National Medal of portion of its population living and working Research Triangle Park—made Science from on farms. One of the main crops grown was tobac: important discoveries about the President George co, which was shipped to other states to be turned way human body cells communi¬ cate, leading to improvements in Bush in 1991. That into tobacco products. Early products included the fight against diabetes, cholera, same year, she chewing tobacco, smoking tobacco, cigars, and cancer, and other illnesses. became the first snuff. At first, cigarettes were rolled by hand, a In 2003 Dr. William E. Thornton woman inducted very slow process. received the award. A physicist, into the National In the early years, tobacco manufacturing was physician, educator, air force pilot, and writer, he was the first astro¬ Inventors Hall of centered in New York City and later in Richmond, naut from North Carolina. On Fame, honored Virginia. Soon after the defeat of the Confederacy space shuttle Challenger, Thornton in 1865, large-scale tobacco manufacturing devel¬ in 1983 became the first physician for important to build his own lab and conduct work on a drug oped in Durham and Winston-Salem. In North his own experiments in space. called 6-mercap- Carolina—a state with limited Those are just some of his accom¬ plishments! topurine. industry at the time—few people Starting in the had mechanical skills, except for 1950s, it offered some who had worked on the new hope in the fight against leukemia, a cancer railroads. As with other busi¬ that killed many children quickly. Continued nesses, machinery gradually study led a few years later to a related drug that was introduced into the tobac¬ blocked the human body's rejection of unrelated co industry and then tissues, allowing the first kidney transplants from improved. Production nonfamily donors. Arranon, a drug recently machinery was built in far¬ approved in the United States to fight some kinds away countries such as Great of leukemia and lymphoma, started with team¬ Britain and Sweden, as well as in work that Elion took part in near the end of her Virginia and other states. Early cigarette paper life, according to the GlaxoSmithKline Web site was manufactured in France. Little about tobacco (www.glaxosmithkline.com). inventions has been recorded in history books. "My greatest satisfaction has come from know¬ With the industry being highly competitive, com¬ ing that our efforts helped to save lives and panies often kept production-related relieve suffering," Hitchings wrote in his Nobel improvements secret. Prize autobiography. "When I was baptized, my One amazing invention to help the father held me up and dedicated my life to the tobacco industry in North Carolina sendee of mankind. I am very proud that, in some was the Bull Jack, a machine that measure, I have been able to fulfill his hopes." ^ filled muslin bags with Bull Durham Smoking Tobacco and applied labels to the bags.

(Top) In the early years of North Carolina's tobacco industry, tobacco often was Learn more about Nobel Prize winners at Web site http://nobel sold in small bags and used to roll cigarettes by hand or to fill a pipe. Image by prize.org. Be sure to check out the Educational Games section! Charles H. Cooper from John Thomas Dalton and the Development of Bull Durham Smoking Tobacco, courtesy of Ben Roberts. (Above) When cigarettes were made by hand, employees called clippers used special scissors to cut the tobacco sticking out of the ends of the cigarettes. Image courtesy of Ben Roberts. 12 TH/H, Fall 2006 tipping, and filter rods. Other suppliers furnished tinfoil, cellophane, and poly-film. John Aycock, of Durham, invented improvements in machinery for putting filter tips on cigarettes. One type of ultra- high-speed packing machinery—costing more than $1 million per unit—was significantly improved by a North Carolinian, Robin Pendergraph. At times, cigarette labels were getting folded imperfectly, causing the machine to shut down. Pendergraph figured out how to improve the folds. Early cigarette tobacco—after being stemmed, blended, flavored, and cut—was delivered to ciga¬ rette machines in Saratogas, or wooden boxes open at the top. Later, the cut tobacco was automatically Virginia teenager James Bonsack (left) invented the delivered to cigarette machines through pin convey¬ Bonsack machine for making cigarettes (above). James B. Duke began installing the machines in his North ors. Modern systems deliver it to the machines Carolina factories in 1884, greatly speeding up through pipes by air pressure. These are all exam¬ production. Images courtesy of the State Archives, North Carolina Office of Archives and History. ples of mechanical improvements. Many people and groups contributed to the development of tobacco Full bags were about the size of a manufacturing, including builders of machinery, pack of playing cards. That loose research and development laboratories, engineering tobacco was used to roll cigarettes organizations, machine shops that made innova¬ by hand or to fill a pipe. Rufus tions, and machine operators and adjusters who Lenoir Patterson, from Salem (now dreamed of improvements. North Carolinians made a part of Winston-Salem), developed the Bull Jack. hundreds, perhaps thousands, of inventions to Patterson later was hired by James B. Duke to improve tobacco manufacturing. Mechanization, or organize American Machine and Foundry Company the use of machines to perform work, has reached and improve manufacturing machinery in all incredible levels. During the early 1880s, workers branches of American Tobacco Company. rolled cigarettes by hand at the rate of about three Another remarkable inventor involved in Bull per minute. A hundred years later, Molins Mark 9 Durham production was John Thomas Dalton. With cigarette-making machines could produce seven only two or three years of elementary education, thousand cigarettes per minute. Dalton developed a "bow tier" to automatically tie The skillful operation of machinery and improve¬ the strings on Bull Durham Smoking Tobacco bags. ments to that machinery during the 1800s and early The machinery replaced young boys who would sit 1900s made it possible for American tobacco compa¬ on top of bagging machinery, speedily tying bows. nies to compete effectively and to provide thou¬ Many people visited Blackwell's Durham Tobacco sands of jobs in tobacco Company to see the amazing "tie-boy" machine. factories, many of them in The first machine to produce cigarettes was North Carolina. Tobacco invented by a teenager from Virginia, James A. became one of the state's Bonsack. Duke leased some of the Bonsack leading industries. Taxes machines and installed them in his Durham factory on the incomes of the in 1884. William T. O'Brien, a mechanically gifted tobacco companies have man from Virginia, was sent with the machines and been critical to the opera¬ is credited with making them more efficient. Once tion of North Carolina's Duke got involved in supporting it, the Bonsack government. Donations machine revolutionized the tobacco business, related to the industry

replacing the handmade cigarette process with John Thom,, (1879-1966) haTC been ™P°rtan* to much faster mechanical production. was responsible for many machine Duke University and other improvements in the tobacco j ,• i • , -, , - Factories in North Carolina began printing industry. Image from John Thomas OQUCcltioncU institutions, cigarette-packaging material, such as labels, cartons, Dalton and the Development of churches, and hospitals. Bull Durham Smoking Tobacco, and containers, and produced cigarette paper, courtesy of Ben Roberts.

*Ben Roberts worked twenty-six years at the Durham branch of American Tobacco Company, retiring in 1987 as THJH, Fall 2006 community relations coordinator. He has coauthored two books—John Thomas Dalton and the Development 13 of Bull Durham Smoking Tobacco and Bull Durham Business Bonanza, 1866-1940—as well as an article in the North Carolina Historical Review involving mechanical advances in the tobacco industry. John Blue, Inventor by Sara M. Stewart*

Farming, especially cotton farming, was very cotton farming hard work during the 1800s. Toward the end easier. His inven¬ of that century, cotton was the main cash crop tions made it for the southeastern part of Richmond County and possible to use other areas of North Carolina. Small landowners more mule power, worked long hours to harvest the crop. Country rather than man schools operated on a much shorter schedule to power, to produce allow children to be free to help plant and pick cot¬ a cotton crop. ton. Large landowners rented small farms "on After buying a Like many North Carolinians in the 1800s, John Blue halves" to other farmers. All of the work was done farm in 1883, (1861-1935) worked on ways to make farming easier by hand, with only mules for added power. Blue continued and more efficient. Image courtesy of Scotland County Historic Properties Commission. (Background) In 1914 During this time, many forward thinking people to improve and Blue received U.S. Patent 1,095,621 for improvements across North Carolina were inventing machines to develop items to one of his planters. Image courtesy of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. make farming easier. One such person was John Blue. for use on the John Blue was born on November 28, 1861, to farm. He invented a cotton planter made of iron. He Angus and Mary Ann McLaurin Blue. In the 1830s, also invented a machine to spread fertilizer. John's grandfather, also named John, had moved In 1886 Blue and his father established a business from Moore County, buying a large parcel of land in on John's land. In the shop, the younger Blue what is now Scotland County. John's great-grandfa¬ repaired cotton gin parts and other farm tools and ther, also named Angus, had moved from his native equipment. The small business grew into a large Scotland to North Carolina's upper Cape Fear plant where implements were made. Blue built a region in the mid-1700s. foundry—a building that contained equipment to John's father, Angus Blue, got his own farm in the melt iron and cast it into parts he needed. 1850s. John was the eldest of nine children. Two of During the early 1900s, Blue obtained patents for his brothers made names for themselves in the all of his inventions. He continued to ensure that political arena. Lauchlin was a state senator, and patents protected all of his improvements. Because Angus was one of the first county commissioners the tools that Blue developed were low in cost, they when Scotland County was formed from Richmond were available to many farmers. They were early County in 1899. (Lauchlin was one of the Richmond steps in making farming depend on machinery County legislators who proposed the formation of rather than human power. Scotland County.) The other children were Lucia, John and his wife. Flora McKinnon, had three Mary Ann, Margaret, Nancy, James Franklin, and children: Edna Earl, Mary Margaret, and John Jr. Luther. Mary died in infancy. John Jr.—who was sixteen Even before he left his father's farm, John Blue years younger than Edna—had a very sharp busi¬ was interested in making items in the family's ness mind. Under his leadership, the business grew, blacksmith shop. Many of the tools he made were even after John Sr.'s death in 1935. In 1945 a fire crude, since he had no destroyed the foundry. John Jr. thought the compa¬ real training in the ny would make more money if it were closer to the field. Nonetheless, it source of iron and coal. A foundry became available was there that John in Huntsville, Alabama. He bought it and eventual¬ invented the first cot- ly moved the whole operation to Alabama. ton-stalk cutter. Being a John Jr. was killed in an automobile accident in cotton farmer, he was 1968. The Blue family had sold the business to New very interested in York State firm STV in 1967, but it kept the John designing tools that Blue Company name. In 2000 the company com¬ John Blue built this home in Laurinburg. Image cour- WOLlld make bined with a California company, CDS, and now tesy of Scotland County Historic Properties Commission.

THJH, Fall 2006 *Sara M. Steivart, a retired public school speech therapist, is a volunteer with the 14 Scotland County Historic Properties Commission. Many of North sion, and a window sash lock. Carolina's early inven¬ Here are just a few of the tors concentrated on 1800s patents related to cotton: improvements for agriculture. Philemon White, Chatham The first patent granted to a County—cotton press; no North Carolinian went to G. E patent number; 1827. Saltonstall, of Fayetteville, in James Carson, Wake 1801 for a new way of process¬ County—cotton press; no ing grain. Saltonstall would patent number; 1830. Some of John Blue's early inventions, such as this receive several other patents J. L. Horn, Edgecombe fertilizer distributor, are on display at the John Blue for the design of a new cotton County—cottonseed planter; Historic Site. Image courtesy of Scotland County gin and other cotton-related U.S. Patent 14,240; 1856. Historic Properties Commission. equipment. Unfortunately, most T. A. Wainwright, Wilson of the details of his and other County—cotton plow; U.S. “This invention relates to an improvement in early inventions were lost in an Patent 79,706; 1868. fertilizer distributers, the primary object of 1836 fire at the U.S. Patent C. A. Caldwell, Cabarrus the invention being the provision of an agita¬ Office. For many early patents County—cotton press; U.S. tor disposed in the hopper and adapted to only dates and titles remain. Patent 95,563; 1869. have its terminals, engaged by and in turn T. T. Thorne and G. T. Thorne, engage a feed-screw rotatably mounted in the More than two hundred Edgecombe County—cotton bottom of the hopper in such a manner as to patents went to North planter; U.S. Patent 99,499; effectively agitate the fertilizer within the Carolinians between 1801 and 1870. 1900. Cultivators, threshing Jordan Riggsbee, Orange hopper, and prevent the adhesion of the same machines, corn shellers, tobac¬ County—cottonseed planter; to the shaft and blades of the feed-screw. . . . ’ co dryers, plows, straw cutters, U. S. Patent 105,000; 1870. and gristmills were common A. G. Powell, Johnston —from specifications for U.S. Patent 999,39S subjects of Tar Heel State inno¬ County—cotton chopper; U.S. vation. Some inventors, such Patent 122,057; 1871. as John Hughes, of New Bern, W. J. Cox and W. T. Smith, spread out their creativity. Anson County—cotton planter; Hughes had a dozen patents U.S. Patent 141,328; 1873. in the 1870s, for everything L. B. Sutton, Bertie County— from a cotton picker improve¬ cottonseed planter; U.S. Patent ment to a lamp extinguisher, a 136,342; 1873. journal box, a scaffold exten¬

operates as CDS-John Blue Company. It produces large sprayers for agriculture. Visitors can see early examples of John Blue's inventions, as well as the lovely Queen Anne Victorian home that he designed and built, on X-Way Road in Laurinburg. The historic site is open regularly muiiTi'SERVicE comBinRTion Monday through he StoMtt.spread-ordistMs Saturday from 10:00 a.m. ^ betook umm ww to 4:00 p.m. It includes an THE BLUE operating 1850s cotton gin, a country store, and three late eighteenth- century and early nine¬ teenth-century log cab¬ ins that were homes of some of the county's earliest settlers. Call the site at 910-276-2495. : S

m Blue two-row distributor nid-1940s. Image courtesy of Image courtesy of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Historic Properties Commission.

THJH, Fall 2006 15 Solving Modern Problems in Agriculture by Dee Shore*

Dr. Mike Boyette remembers the kinds of problems that kept his tobacco-farming father up at night—worries ranging from storms and drought to insects and diseases. What he did not imagine as a child, though, was how much and how fast farming would change. And he had no idea of the role he would come to play in helping farmers like his father overcome problems in order to stay in business amid growing global competition. During his twenty-three-year career on the facul¬ ty at North Carolina State University, Boyette—who grew up in Wendell, a small community near Raleigh—has developed complex storage methods and designed hundreds of cooling facilities across the state. These buildings have allowed growers to sell more of the sweet potatoes and other fruits and vegetables they harvest. He has helped North Carolina farmers find ways to change their tobacco storage barns to reduce Dr. Mike Boyette works with modem farmers to address challenges. Image by Rebecca Kirkland, Communication Services, North Carolina State University College of harmful chemical levels. He has developed a way of Agriculture and Life Sciences. bundling tobacco into bales to make it easier to store, ship, and track. And, with energy costs on the grew from ninety-one acres to 161 acres. Currently, rise, he has begun looking at the possibility of using the 8 percent of farms producing $250,000 or more cheap and abundant wood chips to fuel the barns in gross sales per year make up 87 percent of pro¬ used to cure tobacco. duction. Most North Carolina farms remain small, Boyette is an agricultural engineer—essentially an part-time operations that provide people living in inventor and designer who works to create better rural areas with a chance to add to their income. farm equipment, structures, and processes. But taken together, agriculture and agribusi¬ "In many ways a good engineer is an inventor," ness—including all food, fiber, and forestry indus¬ Boyette says. "I tell my students that an engineer tries—make up the state's largest economic sector. delights in making things, in solving problems. They generate about $60 billion, or 20 percent, of the "People are always looking for visionaries, but annual gross state product and about 20 percent of that's not me. What I feel like I am is a problem jobs. Over the past half century. North Carolina's solver." agricultural sector has shifted from relying heavily Boyette and the agricultural engineers and scien¬ on tobacco to being highly diversified, with about tists he has worked beside have helped transform ninety commodities. In fact, North Carolina is con¬ American farming in recent decades. They have sidered the third most agriculturally diverse state in developed better pest-control systems, improved the nation, behind California and Florida. Livestock crop varieties, new equipment, and other techniques and poultry products make up about 58 percent of that have greatly increased how much food can be total sales. And the green industry—plant nursery, produced per acre. In 1950 the average American greenhouse, Christmas tree, and turfgrass producer fed twenty-seven others. Today that businesses—represents the fastest-growing part of farmer feeds 130 people. the agriculture industry. This greater efficiency has led to fewer farms and To keep North Carolina agriculture competitive fewer farmers. Between 1950 and 2000, North during changing times, farm leaders believe that Carolina lost 244,000 farms, but average farm size science and technology are very important. There is

7 r THJH, Fall 2006 "Dee Shore is head of the Department of Communication Services in North Carolina State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She is the daughter of a former part-time tobacco farmer. never a shortage of problems to solve,

Boyette says. To develop workable r. Mike Boyette is one •College researchers devel¬ found on the shelves of solutions that can make a big differ¬ of more than three oped the country ham curing almost any grocery store. ence, he looks to what he calls the three d:hundred scientists process. This research is The milk contains bacteria and engineers associated largely credited with creat¬ that is helpful to people with Cs of engineering: curiosity, creativity, with the North Carolina ing the commercial country intestinal problems. and caution. "There is the thrill of the Agricultural Research ham industry in North hunt for an elegant solution, and while Service. NCARS, part of Carolina, the nation's top • Poultry science researchers North Carolina State state in production of air- developed techniques and it's exciting, you always have to University's College of dried hams. devices for increasing the remember that lives depend on what Agriculture and Life hatchability of turkey eggs. Sciences, is devoted to •A team effort by engineers we do," he says. "So I always try to Each percentage point uncovering new knowledge and agriculturalists led to a increase in the hatching rate make sure that the solutions I'm work¬ and developing technolo¬ perfected mechanical tobac¬ translates into a $5 million ing on are safe and practical." gies to ensure the quality co harvester—and cut the benefit for the turkey indus¬ and safety of our food and labor involved in tobacco try. North Carolina is now Staying in touch with farmers and the strength of our agricul¬ harvesting and curing from the top turkey-producing having a farm background help, he tural industries. 480 man-hours to 100 man¬ state, and poultry is one of says. Like many engineers and scien¬ hours per acre—a savings to the state's two most valuable That knowledge and North Carolina producers of agricultural commodities. tists his age, Boyette also was deeply technology help to protect 83 million man-hours per influenced by the 1957 launch of the the environment as well as year. Today, thanks to mech¬ • Scientists and engineers the health of people, ani¬ anization and other developed internationally former Soviet Union's Sputnik, the mals, and plants. In recent improvements, tobacco har¬ recognized ways to reduce world's first artificial satellite. Up until decades, NCSU agricultural vesting and curing require 2 the amount of waterborne that point, science had not been taught researchers and engineers to 15 hours per acre. agricultural pollutants flow¬ have helped transform the ing into streams while in his school. But teachers soon dug up state's agriculture. Here are •Food scientists perfected increasing crop yields and copies of The Work of Scientists, a book a few examples: sweet acidophilus milk, profits. written in the 1930s. Boyette was hooked. "From that point on, I read everything I under his wing, and he began to thrive. He decided could about science," he says. to try college again, starting at Wake Technical And he began to broaden his horizons. "In my Community College for a year. Boyette earned a parents' generation, their world was the farm. drafting degree and then returned to North Carolina Neither has flown, and the world still remains State. He earned a bachelor's degree there in 1976 today a small world to them. But I knew very early and a master's in 1986. In 1990 he earned the high¬ on the world was a big place, and I wanted to be est degree—a doctorate—a goal that he had set for part of it," Boyette says. himself in the fifth grade. In 1966 he arrived as a student at North Carolina Since joining the university's faculty in 1983, State University—a place that seemed "very for¬ Boyette has traveled around the state and the world. eign" to the young farmboy. His parents dropped His post-harvest cooling systems are used not only him off on the street behind Alexander residence in the United States but in places as far away as hall. "I may as well have been on the moon," he New Zealand, Indonesia, and China. recalls. "I was lost. I had During his career, never been away from Boyette has encountered home." both frustrations and suc¬ That year, Boyette was cesses. "A lot of things we homesick and plagued by do don't work out," he doubts about whether he says. "It's kind of like fish¬ could succeed in college. ing. For sure, you won't He dropped out after his get a fish if you don't freshman year and drop a line in the water." worked in a machine shop back home. He worked ten hours a day, six days a week, earning about $1.25 per hour. A supervisor named Agricultural engineer Dr. Mike Boyette tries to stay in touch with what is hap¬ pening on farms and in fields {left). Images by Rebecca Kirkland, Communication Smitty took Boyette Services, North Carolina State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

THJH, Fall 2006 17 Tar Heel' Junior ACTIVITIES Historian AssociationA

O -O STUDYING ARTIFACTS -O -C

An artifact is an object made for practical use by humans in the past. Examples include clothing, food preparation items, pottery, or even toys and diaries. Artifacts can tell us a lot about a time period, a place, and people. In the 1900s electricity spread to businesses, schools, and homes across North Carolina, and tech¬ nological advances quickly brought many changes to daily life. Can you identify each of these artifacts used in our state? What do you think the artifact is made of? When do you think it was used and how? Do you know who invented this type of object? Is there a similar item in your home now? If so, compare and contrast the two. (Basic identifications of the arti¬ facts appear on page 30. No peeking!) Write a paragraph answering some of the above questions. Describe how one of the objects might have been used in a home and how someone might have felt the first day that he or she saw it. If you could invent a similar item with new features, what would it look like? Draw a picture of your creation.

Images courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History.

TH]H, Fall 2006 YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW M Technology is the practical application of knowledge and Now think about the future. What kinds of technology do science to make life better or to solve problems. It you think will be invented or improved upon over the changes rapidly! Talk to a parent, grandparent, teacher, next fifty years? What are some of the biggest prob¬ or other older person you know about big developments in tech¬ lems or needs that scientists and inventors might be nology since he or she was your age. What things do you use focusing on right now? Can you think of something that he or she did not have? How has technology changed daily that you would like to improve with an invention? life, school, or free time? Summarize your findings:

The work of the Wright brothers was a major mile¬ stone of the 1900s and was commemorated in many ways a hundred years later. What do you think some major inventive milestones of this century will be? Image courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History.

LAXATIVE PELLETS

Many Vicks products VicksI have come in a range of shapes, sizes, and packaging over the The Soda Fountain Crowd years. Image courtesy drink Pepsi-Cola on hot days because u goes of the North Carolina "right to the spot" and quenches their thirst. And they drink Museum of History.

Successful inventions may require promotion to reach the public. Promotion is the act of presenting merchandise to prospective buyers through advertising, publicity, discounting, sampling, appearing at cer¬ tain places to show off the product, or other methods. Some inventions men¬ on other days because it gives their tired energies new life. tioned in this issue of THJH have been promoted a great deal. Others are less Pepsi-Cola relieves fatigue, whether mental or physical—and makes you rested. Made of the pur¬ well known. est fruit juices, acid phosphate and pep¬ sin—just “chock-full" of vim and good health. Choose an invention, and on a separate sheet of paper, create a poster or Guaranteed under the Pure Food Laws. ad promoting it to a modern-day audience. What makes the invention unique

At All Fountains and in Dottles. or special? How does it differ from similar products? Who can benefit from it? How might the invention change someone’s life? Does it need new packaging or

This poster for Pepsi-Cola was created between 1900 and 1910. labeling? What disadvantages might need to be considered? Outline a market¬ Image courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History. ing plan that includes other ways to promote this invention.

THJH, Fall 2006 North Carolina’s Technology: Past, Present, and Future by David High* Technology has played an important role in indus¬ such as cotton and wool, textile products here have try and in the history of North Carolina. From its developed to include manufactured fibers such as agricultural roots to the futuristic work being rayon and polyester. As jobs have been lost to other done in Research Triangle Park, the state has relied on countries, textile leaders try to use technology to sur¬ technology to lead it forward and to meet challenges. vive and adapt. Agriculture and textiles have been two of the staple Agricultural and textile technology development industries in our state. Technology—the practical appli¬ paints a bright future. North Carolina State University in cation of knowledge and science to solve problems or Raleigh, for example, houses research facilities dedi¬ make life better—has driven both [the agriculture and cated to both industries. As tobacco fades in impor¬ textile industries] from the past, to tance as a crop for North Carolina, the agriculture the present, and on to the future. industry replaces it by developing new and better In the earliest years of present- products and programs. From seedless watermelons to day North Carolina, American agritourism efforts such as a Transylvania County corn Indians and European settlers maze, agriculture is relying on technology. Technology raised crops and animals. First, has given us biobased fabrics and biodegradable plas¬ people farmed for survival. They grew crops and raised animals for tics. Research being done at North Carolina State food and other products. Later, the University’s College of Textiles is developing the next David High. Image courtesy crops and animals were used for generation of firefighting protective equipment, of the North Carolina Museum trade. Those early days marked including chemical and biological weapons protection. of History. (Background) W. B. Williams patented the rise of family farms. The next fifty years in North Carolina probably will this 1850 plow, among The slow agricultural lifestyle bring even more changes than those we have seen in many agriculture-related North Carolina inventions. changed dramatically in the 1790s the past fifty. We can expect to see farming processes Image courtesy of U.S. Patent with the invention of the cotton changed to bring us “clean” hog farming, and cars and and Trademark Office. gin. A crop that had been grown trucks using biodiesel fuels to reduce our dependence on the family farm for the family’s on oil. use would lead to the development of North Carolina’s While most of these changes are good, there have first major manufacturing industry: textiles. The textile been negative effects. Family farms have all but disap¬ industry began to migrate from the Northeast to North peared, changing people’s lives forever when children Carolina more and more in the early 1900s, due to the cannot continue farming as their parents did. The availability of workers. People moved from farms to machines that technology has given us have even cut cities and mill villages to work in factories and textile out the jobs of some people. The “megafarms” have businesses. Technology changed lifestyles. used more and more chemicals, which have run off into North Carolina experienced an industrial boom in our streams and rivers; however, it may be that new the early 1900s. The tobacco industry was growing, and technology will bring us new processes to reduce the textile industry was expanding. While both agricul¬ chemical pollution. ture and textiles have experienced dramatic changes in We do not often think about the roots of our modern- recent years, they continue to be driving forces in our day industries. But without tremendous technological state. Family farms have largely disappeared, but in advances, we might all still be living on small farms, their place are giant corporations growing soybeans, corn, and cotton, and raising thousands of hogs for the using only those things that we could grow or raise our¬ pork industry. In the 1960s one farmer could produce selves. We would still be wearing only scratchy wool enough food to feed only 60 people. With technological instead of fabrics such as soft ultrasuede. We would not advances enabling farmers to increase yields and have strawberries in winter or fresh pork in summer. become more efficient, some people estimate that Technology—together with hard work and determina¬ today one farmer can produce enough food to feed 165 tion—has taken North Carolina from its respected past, people. through its thriving present, to its future as a leader in With foreign competition, the textile industry also research that may make the lives of its citizens and has been forced to adapt. Once limited to natural fibers those of the whole world better.

THJH, Fall 2006 *David High won first place in the secondary division in the 2006 Tar Heel Junior Historian Essay 20 Contest. He was an eighth-grader and a member of the Tar Heel Junior Historians at Forest Hills Middle School, Wilson, Carol Brugh, adviser. The contest asked students to write about how technol¬ ogy has changed over the years and impacted North Carolina in positive and negative ways. The Invention of Airplanes

by Emily Camplejohn*

Have you ever tried to invent a machine? Wilbur These are all bad and Orville Wright tried to invent a flying things related to air¬ machine, and they succeeded. planes. It started when the brothers were little. Their father The airplane that gave them a toy flying machine. Orville and Wilbur made that first 1903 experimented and made more of them. This was just a flight is in the start to inventing airplanes. When they grew up, they Smithsonian Institution continued to learn about flying machines and to exper¬ in Washington, D.C., iment. They tested many of their airplanes in Kitty and a replica is at the Hawk. The Wright brothers, who lived in Ohio, picked North Carolina Kitty Hawk because the area was windy and had sand¬ Museum of History. hills that would make a good Airplanes have cushion if they crashed. There changed over the were no trees and not many peo¬ years, but the Wright ple. On December 17, 1903, brothers’ invention has Orville completed the first sus¬ impacted people in tained powered airplane flight off North Carolina in Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright. Image Kill Devil Hills. many ways. Airplanes courtesy of the State Archives, North Carolina The airplane is an important save a lot of time in Office of Archives and History. (Background) . , The Wrights continued visiting the Outer invention in state—and world— travel, and we can see Banks to work on their airplanes even after history. places that we proba- their groundbreaking 1903 flight. This photo Airplanes have affected North blv would not ever is likely from 1911'Image courlesxJ °fthe North ■' Carolina Museum of History. Carolina because they save a lot have been able to see. of time in travel. Airplanes can get Because of airplanes, people to special medical care that is in faraway more people are killed in wars and terrorist attacks. places. It used to take people a long time to travel from The Wrights made an important invention that has North Carolina to someplace across the sea, because altered the lives of people not only in North Carolina they had to go by ship. People can get to faraway but in the whole world.£ places faster in airplanes than by using horses, wagons, trains, cars, or ships. Since people can travel faster, they can go places that they probably would not have gone without air¬ planes. People fly to other countries and experience Inventive Spirit: The Hang Glider

their cultures. Before airplanes, immigrants usually Francis M. Rogallo joined could not go back to their home countries after they NASA, then the National Advisory Committee for moved to countries such as America. Now we can go Aeronautics (NACA), in almost anywhere that we want and see family members 1936. He devoted himself and friends. I flew to California and Kansas to visit my to designing a flexible wing that could be relatives. I probably would not have been able to go if applied to human-carry¬ we did not have airplanes. ing devices such as glid¬ ers. With the help of his Airplanes have disadvantages. With airplanes, you wife, Gertrude, Rogallo can drop bombs on other countries instead of just built a wind tunnel at home and began testing shooting little guns. Bombs dropped from airplanes kill models. In 1951 the many more people, and North Carolinians have lost Rogallos received a patent A Brock 82 model hanS SUder hanSs 111 the lobby of on a flexible delta-shaped ^ North Carol™3 Museum of History. Image cour- loved ones in wars. On September 11, 2001, terrorists (triangular) wing. The pro- tesV °fthe North Carolina Museum of History. flew airplanes into the World Trade Center in New York totype of today's hang City and into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Many glider was made from one of their kitchen curtains! After trying unsuccessfully to interest government and industry in their design, the Rogallos began producing people died. Since then, we have higher security in air¬ flexible-wing kites as children's toys. The Rogallo Flexible Wing Flyer was one of ports, and people are scared. To stop terrorism, we are the first products to use the plastic Mylar. Unlike standard kites, it could crash fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many people from many times without damage. The couple and their four children began flying the first full-scale, flexible-wing hang gliders in the sand dunes of the Outer Banks. North Carolina are in our military. Some get killed. The sport of hang gliding really took off in the 1970s.

*Emily Camplejohn won first place in the elementary division in the 2006 Tar Heel Junior Historian THJH, Fall 2006 Essay Contest. She was a fourth-grader at Generations Homeschool, Raleigh, and a member of the Legacy Legends junior historian club, Jan Deckert, adviser. The contest asked students to write about inventors or inventions with North Carolina ties that have had the greatest impact on history. rrf£BOX THAT by Dr. Tom Hanchett* It was a simple idea, but a pow¬ erful one. Move goods in big metal boxes. Make each box as large as a truck-trailer. Put the box on truck wheels and pull it over the highway. Put it on train wheels and pull it over the rail¬ road. Build a huge crane to stack it onboard a boat. Goods would move quickly and surely, because they got packed in the box at the start of the trip and unpacked at the end. In between, no one would touch them. Malcom P. McLean, of North Carolina, turned that simple idea into an important reality half a century ago. His invention—con¬ tainerized shipping—changed the world. McLean was born in 1914 in Robeson County. From humble roots, he built a major business empire. Young Malcom McLean began driving a truck at age seventeen during the hard times of the Great Depression. By the 1950s, he owned one of America's biggest

transportation companies, based A SeaLand container is transferred from a ship to a truck during the 1950s. At each comer of the steel box, top in Winston-Salem. On highways and bottom, there are holes. Special alignment pins slipped into each hole help keep the box in place on a boat, truck, or train. Image courtesy of Horizon Lines and Levine Museum of the New South. throughout the eastern United States, everyone knew the tractor-trailer rigs with a ship. Why not make a truck-trailer that could be the big, red McLean Trucking Company diamond. lifted onto a ship or onto railroad wheels—without McLean had gotten the shipping container idea anyone touching the contents? back in 1937, when he was still driving his own At age forty-two, wealthy from his trucking busi¬ truck. He had ness, McLean could at last pursue his dream. He sat for a bought an old oil tanker, a large ship, the Idcnl-X. whole day at His workers modified fifty-eight truck-trailers, mak¬ a New Jersey ing each trailer-box separate from its chassis and port waiting wheels. On April 26, 1956, at the port of Newark, for workers New Jersey, McLean watched proudly as a giant

This type of McLean truck, with its distinctive red logo, was a Unload his crane swung the trailer-boxes up onto the Ideal-X. common highway sight in the 1950s. Image courtesy of the truck and put The ship steamed off toward Houston, Texas. The North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel , , Hill, and Levine Museum of the New South. the gOOdS On era of container shipping had begun.

TH/H, Fall 2006 *Dr. Tom Hanchett is staff historian at the Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte. By the mid-1960s, McLean's SeaLand company had built container-handling facilities in many U.S. ports. Going overseas was the next logical step, but the expense was too great for SeaLand. The Vietnam War was raging, and McLean saw a way he could help the government and help his company. He convinced officials at the Pentagon to build a container-handling facility near Saigon, Vietnam. Just two of McLean's highly efficient con¬ tainer ships could carry as much military freight as four regular boats. With the Pentagon paying SeaLand ships to travel to Asia, it was easy to stop off in Japan and bring inexpensive manufactured goods back to the United States. That marked a turning point in the rise of today's globalized economy. Suddenly, it became very easy for American stores to buy from factories where labor was cheap—anyplace in the world. Malcom McLean looks over a container loading yard in the 1950s. Image courtesy Since the 1960s, the globalized economy has of Horizon Lines and Levine Museum of the Nezv South. brought great changes across North Carolina. On one hand, for example, textile factories throughout permanent displays at the popular North Carolina the state have closed, unable to match the prices of Transportation Museum in Spencer. imports. On the other hand, Wilmington has If you cannot visit the transportation museum to become a thriving port for container ships. SeaLand see this exhibit, you can still watch for shipping is now part of Danish-owned Maersk corporation, containers every day. No matter where you go, you which has a huge office building in Charlotte. will see them on trucks, on trains, and on ships. Charlotte also is the headquarters for a SeaLand Malcom McLean's boxes have truly changed the spin-off called Horizon Lines, one of America's world. largest shipowners. McLean died in 2001. In April 2006 on the fiftieth anniversary of his invention, the Levine Museum of the New To Learn More South in downtown Read Marc Levinson's The Box: How the Shipping Charlotte created an Container Made the World exhibit to explore this Smaller and the World surprising aspect of Economy Bigger (published by Princeton Carolina history. Two University Press, 2006) or The actual shipping Box That Changed the World: Fifty Years of Container containers were fitted Shipping, An Illustrated with photographs show¬ History, by Arthur Donovan ing the development of and Joseph Bonner (Commonwealth Business McLean's idea. One Media, 2006). A documentary container came from on the rise of containerized South Africa, one of the shipping debuted in 2006. See www.containerstory.com. many parts of the world where surplus shipping Visit the Levine Museum of the New South, Charlotte, containers are creatively 704-333-1887, www.museum reused in architecture. In ofthenewsouth.org, or the fall of 2006 this exhibit. North Carolina SeaLand ships loaded with containers, like this one, helped change the global Transportation Museum, The Box That Changed the economy. Today, for example, Alaskans rely on Horizon Lines container ships for Spencer, 704-636-2889, such basics as regular deliveries of milk. Image courtesy of Horizon Lines and Levine www.nctrans.org. World, joined the Museum of the Nezv South.

THJH, Fall 2006 Lest We Forget: Women Inventors by Dr. Lenwood Davis

hen most people think United States Patent Ofiic of North Carolina

inventors, they think of FIG. 12 is a p 3,018,033 form of the env< DIRECT AND RETURN MAILING ENVELOPE Wilbur and Orville Wright, who Beulah Louise Henry, % Hotel Seville, Madison Ave. invention and s and 29th St.. New York, N.Y. mailing. Filed Feb. 20, 1959, Ser. No. 794,661 5 FIG. 13 is an invented the first powered air¬ 1 Claim. (CL 229—73) approximately o FIG. 14 is a ( This invention relates to an envelope adapted for direct the direct mailir plane; Richard J. Gatling, who nd return mailing purposes. relation. An object of the invention is to provide an envelope 10 FIG. 15 is a i invented the repeating rifle, also aving sealable closure flaps integrally connected with flap which seals he front and rear walls of the envelope respectively and FIG. 16 is a thich are adapted to seal the envelope in closed rela- taken approxim: called the Gatling gun; David ion for direct and return mailing. FIG. 17 is a i Another object of the invention is to provide an en- 13 the return maili Marshall Williams, who invented elope of said character in which the direct mailing opening. losure flap covers the return mailing closure flap when Referring to t he envelope is sealed for direct mailing. from an elongat the semiautomatic rifle known as Another object of the invention is to provide a series length and wid >f continuously attached envelopes which are arranged 20 quired. The cr the Ml carbine; Caleb Bradham, vith adjacent envelopes connected together to permit of wall 12 and sea he convenient arrangement of the envelopes in stack wall 12 is coni ormalion and the feeding thereof one at a time from lower longjtudii who invented Pepsi-Cola; Thad he stack through a machine for addressing the same. connected with Still another object of the invention is to provide a 25 edge 16 and th Garner, who invented Texas Pete cries of continuously attached envelopes in which each front wall alon >f the direct and return mailing closure flaps of the series front wall is pr >f envelopes is connected with a closure flap of an ad- ends thereof wl Hot Sauce; Lunsford Richardson, acent envelope by a weakened line to permit of the ing relation will :onvenient separation of adjacent envelopes. 30 provided with i A further object of the invention is to provide the clo¬ rear wall to sai who invented Vicks VapoRub; and ture flap for sealing the envelope in closed relation for front wall to pi lircct mailing with laterally extending tabs adjacent the ing letters and a list of other men. But women ■ealing end thereof and with spaced parallel weakened flap 14 constitu ines extending transversely thercacross from one tab to 35 velope for direc he other to permit of the convenient disconnecting the the front wall from North Carolina also have dosure flap from the envelope adjacent the sealed end through which hereof. on the letter c< been inventors. With the foregoing and other objects in view, refer- flap 13 constitu :nce is now made to the following specification and ac- 40 lope in closed ^mpanying drawings in which the preferred embodi- purpose the reai Even before the Civil War nents of the invention are illustrated. with the name

(1861-1865), one woman from the One of Beulah Louise Henry's later inventions was a mailing envelope that the recipient could fold a different Tar Heel State received a United way and use to mail something back. The envelope could be made in continuous strips and addressed and stuffed by machine. Image courtesy of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. States patent. In 1834 Ethel H. Porter, of Lincolnton, patented her invention related In the 1800s North Carolina women received to cutting feed for horses and cattle. This was the patents for new ideas and improvements in house¬ first known patent issued to a North Carolina hold items such as table easels (1877), a corset woman. In 1859 Abigail Carter, of Clinton, invented (1884), grate and fireplace cornices and a mantel a pair of overalls designed for her husband, who protector (1889), and a cushion holder (1895). They was a railroad engineer. These sturdy overalls wore also patented items ranging from a market truck so well that other railroad men began asking for (1883) to a clamp (1894). them. Carter opened a business and became the first Of all the women inventors in the United States, manufacturer of overalls in the United States. the one who invented more items than any other During the Civil War, Anna Lewis, of Greensboro, probably was Beulah Louise Henry. A granddaugh¬ wanted to contribute to the Confederate cause, so ter of North Carolina governor W. W. Holden, she invented a machine for ginning, carding, and Henry was born in Raleigh in 1887, attended spinning cotton. The Confederate Patent Office Presbyterian and Elizabeth colleges in Charlotte, issued Lewis a patent for her invention in 1864. and lived most of her adult life in New York City. During the 1860s, several other women in the Even as a child, Henry often sketched out her ideas state received patents for their inventions. One such for inventions. Later she reportedly made models of woman was Nannie W. Hunter, of Elizabeth City. her ideas from bits of soap, tape, hairpins, buttons, She was not satisfied with the smell of soap and rocks, and other items at hand. At age twenty-five, therefore went about improving it. In 1867 Hunter in 1912, she received her first patent, for a vacuum- received a patent for her improvement in the manu¬ sealed ice cream freezer. A year later, she invented a facture of soap. Another inventor of this period was new kind of handbag. One of her most well-known Harriet Morrison Irwin, of Charlotte, who designed inventions was a parasol, or umbrella, that came a hexagonal house and in 1869 became the first with various snap-on covers. (Users could change woman in the United States to patent an architec¬ covers to match their outfits.) One manufacturer tural innovation. told Henrv that such an umbrella could not be

THJH, Fall 2006 African American Brilliance made. She did not believe him and went on to by Patricia Carter Sluby* prove him wrong, inventing a process that earned her about $50,000 from the manufacturer. She Iwo sisters from the Charlotte area were nurtured in creative spent most of her life proving men wrong about Tithinking long before they became adults. Mary Beatrice rDavidson Kenner (1912-2006) and her sister Mildred Davidson her ideas. Once asked why she was an inventor, Austin Smith (1916-1993) began inventing devices as little girls. They Henry replied that she simply could not help it. believed that their natural talent for discovery came from their inven¬ Invention came naturally to her. tive father, Sidney Nathaniel Davidson, who encouraged them. When Kenner was a toddler, Davidson started working on a pants presser Henry blazed trails for other women. During that was patented in 1914. Their maternal grandfather, Robert her lifetime, her inventions were available in sev¬ Phromeberger, of German and Irish lineage, tinkered with objects to eral foreign countries, she was president of at least make them work better. He invented many devices, including a tricolc light signal for trains. two corporations, and several major publications Neither girl had specialized formal training. They looked at a prob featured stories on her. She had more than one lem and just figured out an answer. Kenner was the family’s most hundred inventions—including a hair curler, dolls prolific inventor. Her first idea came to her as a small child when she with moving eyes, soap-filled sponges for children, devised a way to keep a screen door from squeaking. During her teer years, Kenner came up with another idea that she was unable to and items related to sewing machines patent. She moved to Washington, D.C., married, and ra and typewriters—to her credit, with a floral business before she returned to inventing items about forty-nine patented, the last in to make life less troublesome. Her patented toilet-tissui holder easily gives people the leading loose end. 1970. Some people called Henry, who Kenner’s patent for a special attachment for an invalid died in 1973, the "Lady Edison." walker included a hard-surfaced tray and a soft pocket Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner— for carrying items. She continued to develop new ideas throughout her life. Months before she passed away, sh born in Monroe, near Charlotte, in talked of another invention on which she wanted to file 1912—likely was the second most pro¬ patent application. Although she did not profit from hei ductive woman inventor from North efforts, her creative spirit remained high. Carolina. Between 1956 and 1987, Kenner’s sister loved music and became a profes¬ sional singer. Smith married and had two sons, then fel Kenner received five patents for seriously ill with multiple sclerosis. Largely confined to household and personal items, includ¬ her home in Washington, D.C., she had lots of time to ing a carrier attachment for an invalid think. She came up with a game to teach family relatior ships, for which she received a patent in 1980. She got; walker (1959), a bathroom tissue hold¬ trademark on the game’s name, “Family Treeditions,” er (1982), and a back washer mounted and copyrighted its written instructions. Mainly on a shower wall and bathtub (1987). designed for young people to help them understand She did not make much money from their place in the extended family, the game became popular with adults. Early sales were strong, but Smith’s her efforts, but she said that she was marketing and distribution methods did not make her more concerned with making life easi¬ rich. She did recover part of the money spent getting er for people than with getting rich. her product marketed. Alonzo Parker, of Durham, frowned at people who At one time, many people believed eased into sofa cushions instead of biking, running, that the role of a woman was mainly walking, or swimming. He developed an idea that migh that of wife and mother. Society did offset the lack of a regular physical exercise program, especially for the elderly. In 1988 Parker received his not give women the same chances to first patent on a therapeutic exercise machine and chai become educated or to express them¬ a one-unit fitness program. Its components included Sisters Mildred Smith (top) and Mary selves as it gave men. Women were Beatrice Kenner patented several movable and stationary tables, a stationary bench, and expected to channel their creativity inventions. Early on, a company movable leg device. With simple adjustments and expressed interest in manufacturing arrangements, the user can perform pull-ups, sit-ups, into quilting, sewing, cooking, and one of Kenner's ideas, but after the body twists, and other motions totaling more than thirty company's representative met the exercises. He acquired other patents for improvements other ways considered within the inventor in person, he apparently bounds of their gender. They could changed his mind because she was The Reverend John S. Thurman, of Hallsboro, sufferei African American. Images courtesy of years of anguish and pain at the loss of his first innova¬ not own property in their own names Patricia Carter Sluby. tion. Walking home from work at a North Carolina shin¬ and rarely had the money or time to gle mill in the 1930s, the twenty-one-year-old Thurman pursue something like a patent. Therefore, women had decided that there was a better way to give turning signals from cars than by hand. His “automobile signal” innovation consisted of an were limited in what they could do. Since laws electrically wired case with niches for “left, “right,” and “stop.” But and times have changed, giving women more someone Thurman had trusted with the invention documents never rights and opportunities, their growing contribu¬ filed them at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Thurman develope tions to the science and invention have made peo¬ a new idea for a vehicle motion-signaling system fifty years later. The discovery earned a patent in June 1988. Thurman had passed away a ple's lives easier and better. month earlier but knew that his second invention was a winner.

*Patricia Carter Sluby is a registered patent agent and a former U.S. primary patent examiner. THJH, Fall 2006 She is the author of Creativity and Inventions: The Genius of Afro-Americans and 25 Women of the United States and Their Patents (1987) and her latest, The Inventive Spirit of African Americans: Patented Ingenuity (2004). Her Web site is www.slubyresearch.com. The House That Harriet Built by Kathy Neill Her ran*

Did you ever wonder about life for young Female Academy in people who lived over 150 years ago, when present-day Winston- there were no television shows, video Salem. There she games, or music CDs? Youngsters growing up in the studied literature, reli¬ 1800s had to fill their time much differently. This is gion, history, some the story of one little girl who spent much of her math, painting, music, childhood in bed reading books from her father's and lots of embroi¬ large library. Surprisingly, these books and her dery. No curriculum many illnesses created Harriet Morrison Irwin's was available to interest in architecture—the study of buildings and satisfy her interest in how they are designed and constructed. advanced mathema¬ Harriet Abigail Morrison was born in Charlotte in tics and engineering. 1828 to Dr. Robert Hall Morrison—a Presbyterian In 1849 Harriet minister and later founder and first president of married James Irwin, Davidson College—and Mary Graham Morrison. a man of wealth and The couple's third child, Harriet was one of ten chil¬ education from dren who survived into adulthood. Two of her sis¬ Charlotte, where the ters died of diphtheria at early ages. Harriet would couple lived for most always remember the losses of these sisters and the of their married life. impact of illness and death on families. Even as an adult, It was well known from her early years that Harriet continued to Harriet was frail, lacking strength and the ability to suffer from diseases, take part in physical activities with the rest of the including intestinal family. While her brothers and sisters played at their disorders and respiratory conditions. For all her family farm, Harriet spent much of her time poring reported illnesses, however, she gave birth to nine over books and writing down stories. When it was children between 1850 and 1864. time to attend college, or what then might have At the close of the Civil War in 1865, Irwin began been called finishing school, she was sent—like submitting articles to Charlotte's first magazine. The other elite young women of her day—to the Salem Land We Love, edited by her husband and her brother-in-law, Harvey Hill, a former lieutenant

The Family of Robert Hall Mormon and Mary Graham Wklbsm Momsoo . - Abigail McEvvn Genera) Joseph Graham _ Isabella Davidson general of the Confederate States of America. Her writing included romance and historical stories, as well as articles on church policy. But in 1869, after watching the construction of many new buildings in

^Cottage Home/ i residence of RK & Man Graham Mansion l 1 Charlotte, she renewed her earlier interest in engi¬ William Harriet Mary Eugenia Sarah Eizabeth Susan Laura Joseph Robert Alfred Wllberforce Abigail Anna' Erixene Walker Lee Davidson Washington Panthea Graham Hall James Morrison Mom son Mom son Morrison Morrison Morrison Mom son Morrison Morrison Morrison,Jr Morrison neering and architecture. Heavily influenced by her (ItJMMJ) (ICS-ltST) ((01*19151 nCVliST)

26 THJH, Fall 2006 'Kathy Neill Herran. of Charlotte, is the author of They Married Confederate Officers, the story of the six Morrison sisters, including Harriet, as well as Anna, the wife of Confederate Lieutenant General Thomas “Stonewall" lackson. The book received the 1996 Willie Parker Peace History Book Award from the North Carolina Society of Historians. •■Td but couldbeefficientlyclosedduringcolderweath¬ hallways inthehexagonalhouseandone central vided comfortableairflowinthewarmermonths ment ofwindowsanddoorsthatallowedeasypas¬ woman intheUnitedStatestoreceivean architec¬ to dirtierairandrequiredmorecleaning. other rooms.Numerousfireplaces,shebelieved, led fireplace, withflues,orpassageways,leading tothe and dirtintheirsharpercorners.Therewere no clean thansquareones,whichattractedmore dust er. Irwinbelievedthattheroomswouldbeeasierto sage totheoutside.Thesedoorsandwindowspro¬ that herhouse'sbestfeaturewasthecarefulplace¬ sided, shapedlikeabeanorlozenge.Shebelieved space. EventheroomsinIrwin'shouseweresix- lighting, bettermovementofair,anduse sided, houses.Thepatentemphasizedmore-efficient newspaper articles,inaddition tohermagazine she achievedanother goal.Theauthorofseveral onal homes. tural patent.Sheherself livedinoneofherhexag¬ Patent 94,116foradesignhexagonal,orsix- At ageforty-one,Irwinhadbecomethefirst After herrecognition asaself-taughtarchitect, X - ty -v W? 'v"'I r~ The roomsaresix-sidedtoo!Imagecour¬ outside ofherhouseanditsfloorplan. documents showshersketchesofthe Image courtesyofKathyNeillHerran. on HarrietIrwin's1869patent,wastorn tesy ofU.S.PatentandTrademarkOffice. (Above) ThefirstpageofIrwin'spatent down inCharlottethemid-1960s. (Left) Thishexagonalhouse,builtbased Is Piliio^1 fy77tfruc//0x$p:. JfM/jwto- h n§ |M in engineeringandarchitecturethatnocollegeor a sixth-gradeeducation,yetshetaughtherselfskills in acenturywhengirlsseldomreceivedmorethan and courageouswoman'sachievements.Irwinlived only bymen. higher educationandprofessionaljobsonceheld as anencouragementthatthey,too,couldaspireto for women,notjustinthefieldofarchitecture,but university wouldteachher.Shehelpedopendoors Inventors explainthedetailsofand reasonsbehindtheirinventionsin patent documents. ImagecourtesyofU.S.Patentand TrademarkOffice. building constructedaccordingtomyimprovement. tion. rooms. separated into-hexagonalandlozenge-sliapcdrooms, clear, andexactdescriptionofthesame. ancle ofsixtydegreesinresuecttoeachother, and lication, andiuwhich— companying drawing,whichformsapartofthisspeci- my inventionintoeffect,referencebeingbadtothe ac¬ ventilation, andfacilitiesforinexpensiveornamenta¬ economical heatingmediums,thoroughlightingand of spaceandbuilding-materials,theobtaining commuuicating withthefire-placesinseveral of theadjacenthexagonalrooms,andcontainingflues ney-stack, arrangedatthejunctionof/walls substantially asdescribedhereafter;alsoofachim¬ building, hexagonaliuform,andenclosingaspace ings; .andIdoherebydeclarethefollowingtobeafull, invented anImprovementintheConstructionofBuild¬ county ofMecklenburg,StateNorthCarolina,.have To aTlwhomitmayconcern: Be itknownthatI,H.M.Irwin,ofCharlotte, The exteriorwallsAofthebuildingareatan Figure z,asectionalplanview. Figure 1isanexternalelevationofaportion a The objectsofrayinventionaretheeconomizing My inventionconsistsofadwelling-houseorother 1 willnowproceedtodescribethemodeofcarrying tKniUR Statespatent<®jff\n< H. M.IRWIN,OFCHARLOTTE,NORTHCAROLINA. buried inElmwoodCemeterythere.No brother-in-law, HarveyHill,organizedthe book wasaboutasicklyyouthwhoisban¬ Petraea, in1871topromoteherpatent.The work, Irwinpublishedanovel.TheHermitof Carolinians, weshouldrememberthisfrail plaque ormentionofherfamouspatent Charlotte basedonIrwin'spatent,although, Hill andIrwinLandAgency,whichspecial¬ tions inasix-sidedhouse.Thatsameyear, ished toArabiaPetraea—anameonceused unfortunately, indisrepair.)But,asNorth times beenwritten.(Itisrectangularand, stone, whichisnothexagonal,ashassome¬ accomplishments appearsonhertomb¬ sadly, nonestandtoday. least twoorthreehouseswerebuiltin ized inthebuildingofhexagonalhomes.At she andherhusband,alongwiththeir sula—to findbetterhealthandlivingcondi¬ for thenorthwestpartofArabianpenin¬ The EchodoloreferredtointheseLotteisPatentandmakingpartofthecame. IMPROVEMENT INTHECONSTRUCTIONOFHOUSES. Irwin diedinCharlotte1897andis Letters PatentNo.94,116,datedAugust24,1869. THjH, Fall2006 ■latter, snthattheymaybeoflessthickness,and,con¬ -space enclosedbythewalls,while,owingtoex¬ variably beintheshade,andbuildingmaythere- and ventilated. walls ofequalextent. each other,someoftheseportionsmustalmost in¬ ferent portionsoftheexteriorwalls'areinrespect to apartment, andthelattercanthereforebefullylighted portion oftheexteriorwallsformssideeach sequently, lessexpensivetoeject,thancontinuousflat formed bythejunctionofwallsstrengthen ing havingwallsofalikeextent,whiletheangles surface isobtainedthaninanoblongorsquarebuild¬ ate expense. buildings, itisdifficulttoornamentthematamoder tensive flatsurfacespresentedbythewallsof tively largearea,andtheconstructionofwallscon¬ shall befullylightedwithoutoccupyingacompara¬ within ahcxagoualbuilding,muchgreaterfloor- siderable extentiucomparisonwiththeamountof with thechimney6. and areconnectedwithflues,eachcommunicating is difficulttosoarrangetheapartmentsthateach In consequenceoftheinclinationatwhichdif¬ In consequenceofthearrangementrooms, a Where apartmentshexagonaliuformarearranged In buildingswhicharesqnareoroblonginform,it q garefire-places,arrangedintheroomsBB, 27 THE GATLING by E. Frank Stephenson Jr.

After the Civil War broke out in 1861, trains Buckhorn carrying hundreds of wounded Union sol¬ Academy in near¬ diers began arriving in Indianapolis, by Buckhorn Indiana. The horrors of the casualties of war so (now known as upset one man living there, Richard Jordan Gatling, Como). In his that—he later wrote in a letter—he felt there must early years, he be a way to make war so inhuman (or savage), no worked on his one would let it happen again. This thinking led to father's the North Carolina native's idea of building a plantation and as weapon so destructive, it would prevent wars. From a law clerk in his agricultural background, Gatling applied the Murfreesboro. He theory of putting bullets, like seeds, into a machine also taught for over and over, at regular times. He studied the prin¬ several years in a ciples of projectiles, or bullets, and came up with a nearby field plan for rear-loading gun barrels fed by a strip of school. In 1844 he cartridges and fired in rapid succession. followed his Thus the Gatling gun, the ultimate weapon of the dream to go West 1800s, was patented on November 4, 1862. The and seek his for¬ power of this new gun was shocking and awesome. tune, riding a It could fire more than two hundred bullets per horse to St. Louis, minute—a rate unheard of at that time. Missouri. For Gatling was born September 12, 1818, in a log several years, (Top) This toy Gatling gun was made of wood and cabin on the Jordan and Mary Barnes Gatling plan¬ Gatling lived in tin in the 1930s. Image courtesy of the North Carolina tation in Hertford that city, where Museum of History. (Above) This crew manned a Gatling gun in 1899 in the Philippines during the County in northeastern he made his first Spanish-American War. Image courtesy ofE. Frank Stephenson jr. (Top right) One of Richard Gatling's North Carolina. His fortune from sell¬ original patent sketches for his famous gun, U.S. parents were very ing farm equip¬ Patent 36,836. Image courtesy of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. industrious. Their four ment—including sons—James Henry, a cotton thinner Richard Jordan, and a cottonseed planter that he and his father had Thomas Barnes, and developed and patented back home. While in St. William Jesse—were Louis, Gatling converted the cottonseed planter into skilled craftsmen, a wheat drill, which sold well. The main compo¬ cho learned firsthand nents, or parts, of the cotton thinner and seed from their father the planter later became key parts in the development arts of woodworking of the world's deadliest weapon of the time. It is not and metalworking, as known exactly how many years Gatling lived in St. well as the value of Louis, but on October 24, 1854, he married Jemima working hard and sav¬ Taylor Sanders in Indianapolis, where he continued ing money. his work in developing and selling farm imple¬ Richard Gatling ments. Then he got the idea for his famous gun. was educated at In the fall of 1862 Gatling placed an order for twenty Gatling guns with the company of Miles (Top) Richard Jordan Gatling was bom in 1818 in this log cabin, illustrated in Potter's American Monthly magazine in May 1879, on his family's Hertford County Greenwood in Cincinnati, Ohio. But about the time plantation. (Bottom) In 1824 the Gatlings moved to the "Great House," which had that the guns were completed, the factory burned. been built nearby. The house, shown in 1920, no longer stands. Images courtesy of £. Frank Stephenson Jr. Some people thought that the fire was an act of

THIH, Fall 2006 *£. Frank Stephenson ]r., longtime director of the Upward Bound program at Chowan University, has authored or coauthored more than a dozen books on local history and cul¬ ture, including Gatling: A Photographic Remembrance; Images of America: Hertford County; and The Great American Chitlin Cookbook sabotage by a person or group that did not want the The urge to go West would hit the old inventor guns to be made. The fire, and resulting financial again, however. In late 1901 Gatling and his wife loss, did not stop Gatling, who had twelve guns moved to St. Louis. He hoped to strike it rich one made at another firm in Cincinnati. General more time through agriculture-related tools and Benjamin Butler of the Union Army later used some equipment. Gatling—who had first worked on cre¬ of these guns around ating a new steam plow, or what we know as a trac¬ Petersburg, Virginia. The tor, back in 1857—had founded the Gatling Motor Gatling gun did not play a piv¬ Plow Company. He got busy completing a few busi¬ otal role in the Civil War, ness formalities before marketing his new motor though, as some have said. It plow. But heart trouble had bothered him for about was used in some skirmishes three years, and a severe case of the grip, or flu, but had no major impact. suddenly made his condition worse. Gatling's son In 1865 Gatling made Richard Henry brought his parents back to his sis¬ improvements to his gun, and ter's home in New York City in early February 1903. the United States government If Gatling had successfully completed plans for his held firing trials at the motor plow, perhaps farmers today would be driv¬ Washington (D.C.) Naval Yard. ing a Gatling tractor instead of a John Deere, Oliver, The next year, he had more International, or other brand. But he died on guns made at the Coopers' February 26,1903, and was widely mourned. Firearms Manufacturing Gatling was buried in the family plot at Crown Hill Company in Philadelphia, Cemetery in Indianapolis, his wife's hometown, his Pennsylvania. After more suc¬ body carried there from New York City by train. cessful test trials in Washington, Gatling had over fifty patents to his credit. His Philadelphia, and Fort Monroe, first, for a seed sower, was granted on May 10, 1844, Virginia, the federal govern¬ and his last, for a steam plow or tractor, was dated ment adopted the gun for its July 22, 1902. Other members of his family were armed forces. In August 1866 similarly creative. Jordan Gatling, Richard's father, the U.S. War Department received patents in 1835 for a cotton thinner and a ordered a hundred Gatling guns, which were made cotton seed planter. James Henry Gatling, Richard's at the Colt Firearms Company in Hartford, brother, received a patent in 1871 for the treatment Connecticut, and delivered in 1867. Gatling began to of timber from old-field pines. James Henry also receive more orders for his gun—some of them from came within a hair of eclipsing the fame of his England, France, Germany, Turkey, Italy, and brother when, in May 1873, he tried to fly the first Russia, after he made two trips to Europe to pro¬ airplane made in the United States. He had mote sales of the new rapid-fire weapon. In 1870 the Gatlings moved to Hartford to be near the Colt factory. As orders for Gatling's machine gun grew, he became richer and more widely known. In the 1870s and 1880s he was received in the highest courts of the world and was one of the most famous Americans. His gun brought him not only money but many awards and recognitions from world fairs and other events. But by the early 1890s, Gatling's business greatly declined, mainly due to competi¬ tion from more-powerful rapid-fire weapons inspired by his gun. Suffering from health and financial problems, Gatling and his wife moved in 1897 to New York City to live with their grown daughter, Ida Gatling Pentacost. Their sons, Richard Richard Gatling is shown in a tintype taken in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1854 (left) Henry Gatling and Robert B. Gatling, also lived in and in a steel engraving that appeared in the reference book Contemporary American Biography: Biographical Sketches of Representative Men of the Day in 1892. New York. Images courtesy ofE. Frank Stephenson Jr.

THJH, Fall 2006 29 obscurity. Contrary to his hopes of ending war, his most famous invention led to the smaller machine guns first used in World War I with terrible consequences. During World War II, his fame enjoyed somewhat of a revival, as two ships were named after him, a destroyer and a Liberty ship. Neither ship survives today. In the heyday of great Western movies in the 1940s and 1950s, working models of the Gatling gun often were used. In the 1960s An early Gatling gun. Image courtesy of £. Frank Stephenson jr. General Electric revived the gun, manufacturing electrified Gatlings conceived, designed, and built what was called a capable of firing thousands of rounds per minute. "flying machine." Stories of his attempt to fly the During the Vietnam War, some of the electrified plane—powered by Gatlings were used to two large fans pedal- equip an awesome gun- driven by the pilot— ship called Puff the were carried in news¬ Magic Dragon. Today papers in Raleigh most U.S. Navy war¬ and Norfolk, ships are equipped with Virginia. The maiden high-powered Gatling flight lasted about gun. The movies one hundred feet remain a popular s and ended when the venue for the gun, as flying machine the summer 2006 crashed into a huge blockbuster Superman June 20,1». »»? 1' 1980s. Image courtesy of t. oak tree on the Returns featured a Kicharti C'aTling^died Gatling plantation. The huge Gatling gun being FoUoWmg sen-ices in New Yo r k C ' body was taken by tram to rZ ~ plane was damaged and its pilot, James Henry, operated by one of the Indiana, where a hZ , Ind,anaPc by Tutewiler p , ra '''as conduct banged up. Unfortunately, James Henry was mur¬ villains. dered in 1879, thus ending his dream of flying. After Richard Gatling died, his name slipped into

abriel J. Rains (1803-1881) and made a number of inventions related to George W. Rains (1817-1898) have mine weaponry and is considered by some sometimes been called the ''Bomb people to be one of the originators of the Brothers" for their roles in explosive modem land mine. weaponry used during the Civil War. ’9S61 'joiiuoa atouiaj George—who before the war patented U0TSIA313; ipiU3Z [l '££(,1 'Oipt’J 3UU[3Z(?|-[ Bom in Craven County, the West Point several inventions related to steam engines 01 -9F6I 'UOTSIA3I34 siqeyod ropy, yOH graduates became Confederate officers and boilers—held a leading role in the ’6 ;9F6I 'oipeJ 3[qeyod oapqj -g 'ZS61 'uois (general and colonel, respectively). Gabriel Confederacy's gunpowder procurement -IA3J34 Epipajj ODJiqj •/ tOS6t 'oipeJ 3[qepod experimented extensively with land mines and production at places such as the 3up3[3 |BJ3U3'3 9 tS()Z6t 'UEJ 3U)33[3 3[qt>)Jod aupajg [ejou3>j -g tsoyfti ojej 'jozej opiasjs (subterranean weapons called torpedoes). Augusta (Ga.) Powder Works, which he 9H3II’0 b - l£6l 'uoisiA3|3) pjreg uopetodio^ Some leaders did not like the way he used designed. His work led to the creation of UOIS1A3I31 pue 3AL>M4Joqg £ '.£Z6l 'OipeJ them in earthworks and roads. Eventually the Confederate War Department's Nitre VOH Z ;8t6l 'uotstA3|3i uoipsfojd vO>I l he was given a key role defending ports and Mining Bureau. In 1882 he published a 81 aSvd uiojj £}3vfijjt> aii) si ivipw and rivers with torpedoes and mines. He History of the Confederate Powder Works.

30 THJH, Fall 2006 David “Carbine” Williams and the Invention of the Ml Carbine*

David Marshall Williams there he started creating his own was born in Godwin, gun inventions from scrap metal. Cumberland County, at In 1929, after Williams had served the turn of the twentieth century. eight years, his case was He was the son of a well-to-do reviewed and he was pardoned. landowner. Williams was fasci¬ He returned to Godwin, where he nated by weapons from an early built a one-room workshop and age. He continued working on weapon built his innovations. first pis¬ When World War II broke out, tol—with a the U.S. military needed a reed barrel weapon to combat the new fight¬ In 1971 David Marshall "Carbine" Williams donated his Godwin shop and nearly 3,000 artifacts to the —when he ing tactics of German forces. North Carolina Museum of History. Museum visitors was only Support troops needed guns that can view the shop—built by the Williams family around 1930—see examples of Williams's work, and ten years were lighter than standard service learn more about the inventor, who died in 1975. rifles so that they could go about Image courtesy of the State Archives, North Carolina old. His Office of Archives and History. greatest their normal duties. But they also David Marshall "Carbine" discover¬ needed guns that were more adopted as the standard rifle for Williams. Image courtesy of the effective in combat than the pis¬ military service. State Archives, North Carolina ies, how¬ Office of Archives and History. ever, tols they had been using. The The Ml carbine, as it came to would Ordnance Department asked for be known, went from a design on come to him later in an unexpect¬ design proposals from both mili¬ paper to a weapon in the hands ed place—Caledonia Prison Farm tary and civilian designers. of soldiers in less than a year. in Halifax County. Williams at Companies such as General As a young man working for a the time was Motors, railroad company, Williams began working for Underwood-Elliott- to make and sell moonshine, or Winchester Fisher (which made illegal alcohol, on the side. The Repeating typewriters), Rock- police tried repeatedly to shut Firearms Ola Manufacturing down his bootlegging operation. Company in Company (which Things finally ended with a Connecticut. made jukeboxes). shootout between Williams and Winchester National Postal law enforcement officers during a decided at Meter, and IBM raid on his whiskey still. Deputy the last made more than six sheriff A1 Pace was killed. minute to million Ml carbines Williams was convicted of mur¬ enter a from 1941 to 1945. «on® r„v"",e «“'■"» « light rifle State Archives, North Carolina Offirf°Vfe’ General Douglas der but maintained his innocence History. Office of Archives and until the day he died. At twenty prototype MacArthur once years old, he was sentenced to in the competi¬ called the weapon thirty years of hard time. tion. An important part of this "one of the strongest contributing After a rocky start in prison, rifle was Williams's short-stroke factors in our victory in the Williams settled in and eventually gas piston, which he had worked Pacific." became a “trusty," a prisoner who on in prison. After several weeks Although he held more than had the warden's trust. He began of tests and a number of modifi¬ fifty patents, Williams is best working in the prison blacksmith cations, Winchester's entry, the remembered for the gun that gave shop repairing equipment. It was Carbine Caliber .30 Ml, was him his nickname.*

*This article, provided by the North Carolina Museum of History staff, first appeared in THJH, Fall 2006 the Raleigh News and Observer as part of the Newspapers in Education program. 31 Access http://www.neivsobserver.com/nie for more on that program. Elisha Mitchell and His Mountain by Suzanne Mewborn*

This particular adventure begins in the year 1828, with one man's keen eye and passion for science. Elisha Mitchell, one of North Carolina's great scholars, observed that a mountain in the Black Mountain Range in western North Carolina seemed higher than the state's Grandfather Mountain and higher than Mount Washington in New Hampshire's White Mountain Range. At that time, Grandfather Mountain was thought to be the highest peak in the region. Mount Washington was considered the highest peak in the eastern United time. I shall probably now reach the highest States. Mitchell collected evidence to support his summit." On July 14 Mitchell reported to his wife in hypothesis over the next thirty years, until the proj¬ another letter that his ascent on July 8 had been the ect claimed his life. His work revealed that the high¬ "hardest day's work I have ever performed." est peak east of the Mississippi River was indeed in Climbing mountains, not to mention traveling, at Yancey County. the time was no easy task. Mitchell traveled by Mitchell was born August 19, 1793, in means of a one-horse wagon from Chapel Hill to Washington, Connecticut. Throughout his life, he Morganton, and the trip took about one week. Steep was an educator, geologist, Presbyterian minister, terrain and dense undergrowth often prevented and explorer. After graduating from Yale University, horses from climbing the mountains. Sometimes he began teaching at the University of North Mitchell had to ascend rugged areas on his hands Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1818. He taught chem¬ and knees. The only trails that existed were animal istry, geology, and mineralogy for thirty-two years. trails, and he used a bear trail on one of his trips. In Over his lifetime, he created a one day a mountain-climbing personal library of more than round trip measured eighteen nineteen hundred books. to twenty-nine miles. In addi¬ While working on a geologi¬ tion to food, water, and other cal survey of North Carolina in necessary supplies for survival, 1828, Mitchell noted the height Mitchell carried with him frag¬ of the Black Mountains. He was ile barometric equipment. certain that his observations He used barometric observa¬ had correctly identified the tions to calculate the elevation highest point in the eastern of mountain summits in west¬ United States. He returned to ern North Carolina. A baro¬ the Black Mountain Range in meter is an instrument used to 1835 and again in 1838, collect¬ measure pressure in the atmos¬ ing data to support his lofty phere. The mercurial barometer hypothesis. In 1844 Mitchell consists of a glass tube sealed at made what he planned to be his one end and filled with pure last trip to the Black Mountains. mercury. After being heated to On July 5, 1844, he wrote his expel the air, the tube is turned wife: "Tomorrow, I am expect¬ upside down in a small cup of ing to ascend the Black mercury called the cistern. The The Reverend Elisha Mitchell. Image courtesy of the State Mountains 1 hope for the last Archives, North Carolina Office of Archives and History. mercury in the tube sinks

THJH, Fall 2006 *Suzanne Mewborn serves as the program coordinator for the Tar Heel Junior Historian Association at the North Carolina Museum of History. slightly, creating a vacuum above it. Atmospheric pressure on the surface of the mercury in the cistern supports the column of mercury in the tube. That column varies in height with variations in atmos¬ pheric pressure and changes in elevation. It would generally decrease with an increase in height above sea level. During his 1835 trip to the Black Mountains, Mitchell established Morganton as a base station and made several barometric observations over a short period. While he took readings on the moun¬ tain summits, someone else took barometric read¬ ings in Morganton at about the same times. Using a complex math formula, the difference between the sets of readings could be used to estimate the heights of the mountaintops. Mitchell thought that the height of what he believed to be the highest peak was 6,672 feet—a mere twelve feet under mod¬ ern calculations! Everyone did not agree with Mitchell's claim that he had identified the highest point in North America east of the Mississippi River. In 1855 Thomas Clingman—a state senator and a former student of Mitchell's at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—climbed and measured a peak he claimed was the highest, a peak he said that

Mitchell had not climbed. Over the next two years, vau After Elisha Mitchell um Clingman and Mitchell argued through local news¬ had been missing for a 'twc few days, a search party papers. Finally, Mitchell decided to make another discovered his body at the base of a waterfall trip to the Black Mountains. On Saturday, June 27, on the mountain that 1857, he set off on foot to contact some of his former now bears his name. The photo above was guides. He never returned. A week later, after no taken at the waterfall in sign of Mitchell, search parties formed. Zebulon the first state park. It passed both 1928. Images courtesy of Baird Vance—a native of Buncombe County, a polit¬ houses, and on March 3, 1915, the ical opponent of Clingman who later would become North Carolina State Parks System governor, and a friend of the Mitchell family— began. Today visitors to Mount Mitchell State Park, helped direct the search. After three days, searchers thirty-five miles northeast of downtown Asheville, found footprints leading to a creek and waterfall. enjoy an exhibit hall and a 360-degree view from the Mitchell's body was in the pool of water at the base observation tower. of the waterfall. It was determined that he slipped Mitchell's pioneering spirit and sense of adven¬ and fell, was knocked unconscious, and drowned. ture inspired others to produce accurate written and Mitchell was buried first in Asheville. A year later graphic descriptions of the Black Mountain Range. he was reburied on the Black Mountain peak that is The range soon transformed from a little-explored now known as Mount Mitchell. wilderness to an area of well-refined geographic In 1881-1882 the LJ.S. Geological Survey upheld knowledge and plans for toll roads to its summit to Mitchell's measurement of the highest peak on the improve visitor access. The modern calculation of Black Mountain Range and officially named it after Mount Mitchell's elevation is 6,684 feet. It remains him. By the early 1900s, extensive logging had the highest point east of the Mississippi River. stripped much of the mountain range, and citizens became alarmed at how fast the forests were disap¬ pearing. In 1915 a bill was introduced in the state legislature that would establish Mount Mitchell as

THJH, Fall 2006 I Collecting Nature: The Beginning of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences by Jonathan Pishney, from work by Margaret Martin*

The North Carolina Museum of Natural and programs at the museum. The other Brimley, Sciences has inspired wonder for generations. C. S., was a scientist and collector who carefully Stories are still told about George, the fifteen- built the animal-related collections that formed the foot Burmese python that was a museum fixture basis of his brother's work. and favorite for many years. The inspiration The Brimleys grew up in the collecting tradition reached new heights when the museum's new of middle-class England, but times there were building opened in downtown Raleigh in April tough. A chance meeting with an eager recruiter 2000. Four floors of exhibits included a twenty-foot from the North Carolina Department of waterfall cascading into a pond of living fish. A Agriculture's Division of Immigration and Statistics ferocious, predatory dinosaur that once roamed convinced them that the state held great promise for what is now the Southeastern United States hardworking people like themselves. After arriving patrolled a glass dome overlooking Jones Street. in Raleigh in 1880, the brothers found new frontiers Around every corner, visitors could get an in-depth and possibilities for their natural history investiga¬ view of the unique natural history of the state, and tions, trying their hands at "collecting bird skins the amazing diversity of plants and animals that call and eggs for wealthy men in the big cities." They it home. soon were publishing papers in birding journals. When the museum opened its doors in 1879, visi¬ The Department of Agriculture contracted the tors saw a much different mixture of exhibits. older brother, H. H., to create displays of game Agricultural products—from tobacco to cotton to fishes and waterfowl that would interest the state's silk—represented farm life in most of North sportsmen. A robust outdoorsman, H. H. played up Carolina's counties. Twelve-inch spheres of polished the romance of the hunt in his exhibits, following a granite, marble, and leopardite promoted the state's trend of natural history in the United States and in famed building stone. Porcelain plates and building Europe. His displays won prizes, and in 1895 the bricks made from Piedmont clays were shown, department hired him as the first full-time curator along with gold, silver, and copper ores. Soon, two of what then was the State Museum. Later, he brothers from became the museum's first director. England would Tension arose when the 1913 Board of Agriculture become the lead¬ warned H. H. that his exhibits were wandering too ers of the museum far from a focus on farming. His passion was for and guide it down natural history—especially the fishes, birds, reptiles, a different path. and whales. Nature study and conservation move¬ Herbert ments were gaining ground in the state, and H. H. Hutchinson felt justified in nudging exhibits and collections Brimley and closer to pure natural sciences. He reminded board Clement Samuel members of the 1879 statute requiring the State Brimley served Museum to illustrate North Carolina's natural his¬ North Carolina in tory. Brimley also said, "A long and close study of separate capacities our visitors proves very conclusively to me that a H. H. Brimley with a mounted elk and a mounted for nearly sixty large majority prefer to observe and study objects buffalo at what is now the North Carolina Museum of on natural history above all other exhibits." Natural Sciences, ca. 1905. Image courtesy of the Brimley years. One brother, Photograph Collection, State Archives, North Carolina Office H. H., was a Natural history won the battle. Over the next fifty of Archives and History. {Top) Focuses for the museum— which moved into a gleaming new building in 2000— hunter and natu¬ years the museum's exhibits reflected the interest in include collecting and preserving the state's biological ralist who pio¬ natural history shared by H. H. and the public, an diversity, promoting environmental awareness, and relating the natural sciences to everyday life. Image cour¬ neered interpre¬ interest often served by large, impressive speci¬ tesy of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. tive exhibitions mens. In 1928 H. H. reported, "The big bull sperm

*Jonathan Pishney is communications director at the North Carolina Museum of Natural THJH, Fall 2006 Sciences. He excerpted most of this article from the book A Long Look at Nature by Margaret Martin, published in 2001 for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences by the University of North Carolina Press. Martin is a former director of external affairs at the museum. ians and insects. His detailed field records sup¬ ported published surveys on the amphibians and reptiles of North Carolina, the mammals of the state, and a partial account of fishes of the state. A self-taught scientist, C. S. started and indexed the zoological collections of the State Museum. His legendary concern for the state's collections has been handed down from one curator to the next through four generations. Now, 127 years after its founding, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences houses more than 1.7 million specimens in its collections—from birds and insects to frogs and fish to rocks and fossils. The two Brimley brothers died within three months of each other in 1946, having shaped the state's collections and public opinions through six decades of big changes. They arrived in North Carolina when gray wolves and panthers still roamed the woods, and they documented nature until the dawn of the atomic age. Each brother in his own way gave North Carolinians a broader under¬ standing of the natural world, and each found in his adopted state and its museum a place to indulge his passion for nature.

Brothers C S Brim!

The following is excerpted from Samuel A’Court Ashe, publisher an article in the first issue of of the Raleigh News and Observer, the North Carolina Museum of used an editorial campaign to whale, fifty-five feet in length, is one outstanding History's newsletter Cornerstone in encourage the collecting of memo¬ specimen, both as to size and as to comparative February 1993. rabilia that would record and pre¬ serve the history of the state. City rarity, that has ever come to the museum. There In Search ot a "Very Noble Hall" Editor Fred A. Olds, "The Father of may also be mentioned the large ocean sunfish, by Eloise Jackson the North Carolina Museum of from Swansboro, estimated to weigh between 1,200 History," already had a sizable pri¬ The North Carolina Museum of vate collection. Olds suggested and 1,300 pounds; an eleven-and-a-half-foot alliga¬ History has had [five] homes, that his collection and the historical tor; an octopus with a five-foot spread of arms; a beginning with a single gallery materials in the State Museum be and progressing to its __ combined to establish the sixteen-foot thresher shark from Wilmington; a very newest impressive struc¬ U u [] state s histoncai museum. large red drum from Ocracoke; a large specimen of ture, which Administrator On December 5, 1902, the black bear;... a yellow raccoon, a pure albino opos¬ John D. Ellington says will Hall of History was bom. house the finest museum in Olds described the first sum, and a number of specimens of rare birds." the South. It is interesting home of the Hall of History C. S. Brimley worked alongside his brother but to recall those early days north Carolina as "a noble room in the of the museum's history. museum of history State Museum, 100-by-40 collected for science, not for display. At the age of Around 1850 the state feet and 40 feet high" and sixty-two, he modestly claimed that his "main inter¬ established the State Museum (of wrote that "there are thirty-seven est for many years zoologically has been to gain and Natural Sciences) in the old [cases] which to be sure are very Agriculture Building. Because there completely filled while much of the disseminate knowledge about the fauna of North was no history museum, historical space on the walls is occupied by Carolina, both vertebrates and invertebrates." His items were occasionally stored pictures." The cases were moth¬ legacy to the natural sciences includes more than there. The name Hall ot History proof, dustproof, and had double began evolving around 1898 when safety locks. two hundred animal-related papers, the landmark the State Museum exhibited a col¬ books Insects of North Carolina and Birds of North lection of Spanish-American War [The museum's current building artifacts in one of the halls. opened in 1994.] Carolina, and descriptions of new species of amphib¬

THJH, Fall 2006 35 North Gspolicis sod r n the Girth of fiadic Gocadcasting by Dr. Gary L. Frost* In December 2006 the world will mark the one hundredth anniversary of radio broadcasting. When that happens, many people will learn about the remarkable—but almost forgotten— inventor behind the first broadcast. And they will learn that he did some of his most important work in North Carolina. On December 24, 1906, Reginald Aubrey Fessenden (1866-1932) stepped up to a microphone in a makeshift studio at his experimental radio sta¬ tion in Brant Rock, Massachusetts. He introduced himself to an invisible audience he could only hope

was tuning in. During the next half hour or so, he Born in Canada, radio pioneer Reginald Fessenden is buried in Bermuda. Part of achieved a series of "firsts" that have been repeated his memorial stone reads, "By his genius distant lands converse and men sail unafraid upon the deep." Image courtesy of the State Archives, North Carolina Office many times since. Because he played phonograph of Archives and History. records during his program, Fessenden was the first disk jockey. He became the first live musical artist, 1900 the U.S. Weather Bureau hired Fessenden to too, as he played the violin and sang songs. Finally, solve one of its most serious problems. To improve Fessenden read a few words from the Bible and the accuracy of its weather forecasts, the agency wished his listeners a Merry Christmas, so he was needed instant communication with remote obser¬ the first religious broadcaster, as well. On New vation stations on islands and ships. Telegraph and Year's Eve, he staged a similar telephone wires could not easily reach these stations. performance. To Fessenden's In recruiting Fessenden to use radio to overcome relief, letters from stunned this challenge, the Weather Bureau made a huge listeners arrived a few days gamble. As a technology, radio was in its toddler later, some from as far stage. It could transmit and receive only telegraph away as the Caribbean. messages, and it was unreliable. Yet only radio Fessenden's connection offered the promise of reaching across expanses of with North Carolina had water. Thus, the Weather Bureau sent Fessenden begun a few years earlier. In and two assistants to build wireless stations on 1898, three years after the islands off the coasts of Maryland, Virginia, and invention of the wireless North Carolina. These would be among the first The Institute of Radio Engineers in 1921 awarded this medal to Reginald telegraph, he began investi¬ radio stations in the world and the first govern¬ Fessenden for his pioneering work in radio communication. Fessenden gating radio in his spare ment-owned stations in the United States. received many honors, including time. He was then a profes¬ Fessenden and his men spent the first few induction into both the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the Radio sor at Western University in months on tiny Cobb Island, on the Maryland side Pioneers Hall of Fame. He held more Pennsylvania. But he start¬ of the Potomac River. On December 23, 1900, he than two hundred patents, including a version of microfilm, an early kind of ed working full-time with used a modified wireless telegraph to try to trans¬ sonar, and an automatic garage door radio in the southeastern mit speech to a station a mile away. Transmission opener. Image courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History. United States. In January was successful, he reported later, but the speech

THfH, Fall 2006 'Dr. Gary L. Frost is an independent historian who recently completed a temporary faculty 36 appointment in history at the University of Auburn. He has written two master's theses on Reginald Fessenden's radio work, as wetI as a journal article for Technology and Culture on the inventor's work with underwater communications technology. “was accompanied existed only in by an extremely Fessenden's imagina¬ loud and disagree¬ tion. In 1901 he wrote a In addition to his two assistants, able noise." Still, letter from his Manteo Reginald Fessenden brought his wife, Helen, and their son, Ken, this was the first station to the General to his Manteo station. Helen wrote instance of radio Electric Company in a biography of her husband after his death. She wrote this about the waves carrying a Philadelphia, asking the wildlife on Roanoke Island: human voice. firm to construct a high- A few weeks later, frequency alternator. Mosquitoes, ticks, and chigoes were the pests of the island and the Fessenden and his Initially, GE's engineers smell of decayed fish used as fertil¬ crew left Cobb could not figure out how izer was another unpleasant fea¬ Island and moved to to do it. Fessenden per¬ ture. Mosquitoes were the worst Reginald Fessenden owned this Waltham chronometer. In 1943 his since they could invade us in our Manteo, on North sisted. Together he and widow presented it to the USS own territory whereas the other two Carolina's Roanoke they slowly fixed most Fessenden, a World War II destroyer were only met when we invaded later decommissioned. Image courtesy of theirs. Against mosquitoes the men Island. There he set of the problems. He the North Carolina Museum of History. wore voluminous veils of white mos¬ up a permanent sta¬ originally wanted to use quito netting tied round their hats tion: a beach shack his alternator in North and coming well down over the chest and pulled tight with another that held a laborato¬ Carolina, but in late 1902, he resigned from the drawstring. When the pests were ry and electrical Weather Bureau to start his own company in very bad sheets of newspaper were equipment. Outside, wound cufflike around ankles and Massachusetts. When GE delivered the first work¬ wrists. a few feet from the ing high-frequency alternators in 1905, he lived in shack, an antenna that state. One of these machines introduced broad¬ While Fessenden and the Wright brothers apparently worked only a stood fifty feet high. casting to the world a year later. few miles from one another, no his¬ Fessenden began to Today no radio transmitter uses high-frequency torian has found evidence they met. think about a solu¬ alternators. The liquid barretter went out of style a tion to the "loud few years after Fessenden invented it. But virtually and disagreeable noise" that had spoiled his Cobb all modern radio—indeed, all modern electronic Island experiment. In 1901 the wireless telegraph communication—is based on Fessenden's concept of used electric sparks to send messages. He realized the sparkless "continuous wave." Yes, other devices that sparks were like the lightning storms that still have replaced the high-frequency alternator, but can ruin reception of AM radio programs today. only ones that have made generating a continuous Fessenden decided to invent a new system that did wave easier, cheaper, or more reliable. And Reginald not use sparks. He imagined a revolutionary trans¬ Fessenden thought of the continuous wave when he mitter that would send speech by radio waves. He was living on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. also imagined a new "detector," to receive radio waves and turn them back into sound. The trans¬ mitter would generate smooth, spark-free waves that would "carry" speech and music. Fessenden called it a "high-frequency alternator." In many ways the transmitter resembled the alternator that powers electrical devices in a modern car. Fessenden christened his new detector, which resembled an overstuffed light bulb, the liquid bar¬ retter. Surprisingly, although he designed it to receive voice messages, the barretter turned out to be a superb receiver of telegraph messages, as well. Plus, it was relatively cheap and simple to build. Soon radio stations worldwide began using the device. The audience that heard Fessenden's 1906 Christmas Eve broadcast used liquid barretters. Reginald Fessenden (center) and some of his assistants and supporters at his The high-frequency alternator, however, was Brant Rock, Massachusetts, experimental station. Image courtesy of the State complex and difficult to build. For several years it Archives, North Carolina Office of Archives and History.

THJH, Fall 2006 37 Tar Heel Junior Historian Association North Carolina Museum of History 4650 Mail Service Center Raleigh, NC 27699-4650 JO CD r-f CD a- i-l $■ o' n> CD c cn > G- O- |-t CD c/i c/i C/3 Cl _Q r cr •-t a> p 3j 3 I'D CTC - - ere S' ?■ vO cf O Cl- C3 3T 3 o ?0 pi ere co ^ bS- a> £ O r> £J OQ = o o ^ 05 C/3 rD ^ 73 3Q 3 '< ' 73 GTQ -T3 Tj « i 5 S?" c "ere 5' 5 c o O-T) n 0) •"I r^_ & §; 2.3 O ° o o a> i i - a o> ? ? s. ?cS ^ •— ■ r* — r-f 3 3' 0) C 7T 73 w w c eg 3- <"D (T> o c o 4 C ^ r-f C C/3 Fd ” rr ro o CL^ HI 5 zi z Cl . s' 3 S> C/3 -1 Er 3“-5 d“ 73 r> 3 a rt> 3 rt» 3" 5" D) 3 n fli CQ --a 05 3 rT X $ < 3 Q- O a> 73 73 pensive. He sold around 10,000 gyrocopter kits. Bensen Aircraft Corporation dosed in 1989, but one gyrocopter is on permanent display at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh. Image courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History.