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Show TODAY IN HISTORY SLIGHTLY JAZZED One hundred and nineteen years ago today. July 1. 1S01 An experiment took place on the River Thames, for the purpose pur-pose of working a barge or any other heavy craft against tho tide by means of a steam engine on a very simple construction. The moment the engine was set to work, the barge was brought about, answering her helm quickly, and she made way against a strong current, at tho rate of two and u. half miles an hour." That a what the history books say, but the omit to mention what was undoubtedly the truth, something like The fatt that the cngino made the barge go at all was a J great disappointment to a large concourse of amateur inventors and scientists, who lined the river bank and offered chuckle- headed opinions for hours before the experiment was begun They were unanimous in but one thing: That the bally contraption could 1 not possibly work. After the barge began to puff her way up-stream, up-stream, the banks were as bare of people as an iceberg In the mM Arctic." |