Rail
A Giant Automobile Mower-Thrasher
An Automobile Buckboard
An Automobile Plow
The _Velox_, of the British Navy
The Engines of the _Arrow_
A Life-Saving Crew Drilling
Life-Savers at Work
Biograph Pictures of a Military Hazing
Developing Moving-Picture Films
Building an American Bridge in Burmah
Viaduct Across Canyon Diablo
Beginning an American Bridge in Mid-Africa
Lake's Submarine Torpedo-Boat _Protector_
Speeding at the Rate of 102 Miles an Hour
Singing Into the Telephone
"Central" Telephone Operators at Work
Central Making Connections
The Back of a Telephone Switchboard
A Few Telephone Trunk Wires
The Lanston Type-Setter Keyboard
Where the "Brains" are Located
The Type Moulds and the Work They Produce

INTRODUCTION

There are many thrilling incidents--all the more attractive because of
their truth--in the study, the trials, the disappointments, the
obstacles overcome, and the final triumph of the successful inventor.

Every great invention, afterward marvelled at, was first derided. Each
great inventor, after solving problems in mechanics or chemistry, had to
face the jeers of the incredulous.

The story of James Watt's sensations when the driving-wheels of his
first rude engine began to revolve will never be told; the visions of
Robert Fulton, when he puffed up the Hudson, of the fleets of vessels
that would follow the faint track of his little vessel, can never be put
in print.

It is the purpose of this book to give, in a measure, the adventurous
side of invention. The trials and dangers of the builders of the
submarine; the triumphant thrill of the inventor who hears for the first
time the vibration of the long-distance message through the air; the
daring and tension of the engineer who drives a locomotive at one
hundred miles an hour.

The wonder of the mechanic is lost in the marvel of the machine; the
doer is overshadowed by the greatness of his achievement.

These are true stories of adventure in invention.

STORIES OF INVENTORS

HOW GUGLIELMO MARCONI TELEGRAPHS WITHOUT WIRES

A nineteen-year-old boy, just a quiet, unobtrusive young fellow, who
talked little but thought much, saw in the discovery of an older
scientist the means of producing a revolutionising invention by which
nations could talk to nations without the use of wires or tangible
connection, no matter how far apart they might be or by what they might
be separat