Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 December 1881 — Changes of a Century. [ARTICLE]

Changes of a Century.

The nineteeut n century has witnessed many and very great aiscoveries and changes: In 1809 Fulton took out his first patent lor the invention of a steamboat. The first steamship which made regular trips across the Atlantic Ocean were the Sirius and Qreat Western in 1830. The first application to practical use of gas illumination was made in 1802. In 1813 the streets of London were for the first time lighted with gas. In 1813 there was buiit in Waltham, Mass, a mill, believed to have been the first in the world, which combined all the requirements for making finished cloth from the raw cotton. In 1790 there vrereKouly twenty-five postofflees in the whole country, and up to 1837 tne rate of postage was twenty-five cents for a letter sent over 400 miles. In 1807 wo<*leri clocks began to be made by machinery. This ushered in the era of cheap clocks. About the year 1833 the first rail road of any considerable length in the United States was constructed. In 1840 the first experiments in photography were made by Daguerre. About 1840 the first express busin--ess was established, The anthracite coal business may be said to have begun in 1820. In 1836 the patent for the invention of matches was granted. Steel pens were introduced for use in 1803 ? Tne first successful tri ts of a reaper took place in 1888. / ■ In 1846 Dias Howe patient for his first sewing machine. The first successful method of making •vulcanized India rubber was patented in 1839. , ■■ ■ 1 ~ ■* - Thomas Schofield, aged 01 years, walked nine miles to renew his subscription to a New London paper. Ttf is the general impression among publishers that there are a number of subscribers who are waiting until they are 91 years old to come in and pay for their paper.