Ayrshire origin through Ulster, was, as every one knows, the first to
successfully apply steam to navigation. Hugh Maxwell (1777-1860),
publisher and newspaper editor, of Scottish descent, invented the
"printer's roller" (patented in 1817), cast his own types and engraved
his own woodcuts. Henry Burden (1791-1871), born in Dunblane, inventor
of an improved plow and the first cultivator, was also the first to
invent and make the hook-headed railroad spike "which has since proved
itself a most important factor in railroad building in the United
States." His "cigar boat" although not a commercial success was the
fore-runner of the "whale-back" steamers now in use on the Great
Lakes. William Orr (1808-91), manufacturer and inventor, born in
Belfast of Ulster Scot parentage, was the first to manufacture
merchantable printing paper with wood fibre in it, and made several
other improvements and discoveries along similar lines. Cyrus Hall
McCormick (1809-84), inventor of the reaping machine, was descended
from James McCormick, one of the signers of the address of the city
and garrison of Londonderry presented to William III. after the siege
in 1689. Of his invention the French Academy of Sciences declared
that by its means he had "done more for the cause of agriculture than
any other living man." James Blair (1804-84), born in Perth, Scotland,
was the inventor of the roller for printing calico; and Robert M.
Dalzell (1793-1873) was inventor of the "elevator system" in handling
and storing grain. Samuel Colt (1814-62), inventor of the Colt
revolver, and founder of the great arms factory at Hartford, Conn.,
was of Scots ancestry on both sides. He was also the first to lay a
submarine electric cable (in 1843) connecting New York city with
stations on Fire Island and Coney Island. Thomas Taylor, inventor of
electric appliances for exploding powder in mining, blasting, etc.,
Chief of the Division of Microscopy (1871-95), was born in Perth,
Scotland, in 1820. Duncan H. Campbell, born in Greenock in 1827,
settled in Boston as a lad, by his numerous inventions, "pegging
machines, stitching machines, a lock-stitch machine for sewing uppers,
a machine for using waxed threads, a machine for covering buttons with
cloth," laid the foundation of New England's pre-eminence in shoe
manufacturing. Gordon McKay (1821-1903), by his inventions along
similar lines also helped to build up New England's great industry.
Robert Dick, (1814-93), born in