Newark Steam Man
The January 8,1868 the Newark Advertiser described a wonderful new invention — a steam man. Invented by two Newark men, Zadoc Dederick and Isaac Grass, he was 7 feet 9 inches tall and weighed 500 pounds. In his torso is a 3 horsepower piston steam engine. “The legs which support it are complicated and wonderful. The steps are taken very naturally and quite easily. As the body is thrown forward upon the advanced foot the other is lifted from the ground with a spring and thrown forward by the steam.”
He is attached to a carriage and there is enough water in a tank under the front seat for half a day and enough coal could be stored under the back seat to last a day.
Although Steam Man would be capable of running at 60 miles an hour, that could be unsafe on uneven ground so he would be run at half that. Spikes or corks are attached to his feet to prevent slipping and he could stop quickly by leaning 45 degrees or bending his knees backward.
So as not to frighten horses, he will be got up to look human. The boiler and other hot parts “will be encased in felt and woolen undergarments. Pantaloons, coat and vest, of the latest styles are provided,” and “The face is molded into a cheerful countenance of white enamel.”
His hat is literally a stovepipe hat, a chimney for smoke. Every two or three hours when he needs coal, he will be stopped, his vest unbuttoned, a door opened and coal shoveled in. Cost will be $2000 ($36,440 in 2020).
Steam Man was exhibited on Broadway in New York City but “he is not permitted to ‘travel on his muscle,’ but is hung in slings and merely ‘marks time,’ as our military friends would say.” Some say it was a restriction of the insurers of the hall, others the need to vent the smoke outdoors with a fixed pipe attached to his hat.
Steam Man was exhibited in various cities across the U.S. but the only accounts of it actually on the road are in parades of the Mystic Order of the True Blues, a social organization, in Schenectady, New York September 3, 1868 and September 7, 1870.
In the first parade there was, “a human steam engine” but “at certain point in the parade, the engine got too hot and had to be removed to save the human from incineration,” and in the second parade, “There was another steam man eight feet high,” according to an article by the Schenectady County Historical Society, February 1, 2010.
Steam Man inspired the first science fiction dime novel, The Steam Man of the Prairies, by Edward S. Ellis published in 1868 and reprinted 6 times until 1904.
In the novel, teenager Johnny Brainard, “hump-backed, dwarfed, but with an amiable disposition that made him a favorite with all with whom he came in contact,” invents a steam man. Johnny, a trapper nicknamed Baldy since he was scalped by Indians, and an Irishman and a Yankee, who had rescued Baldy after a steamboat exploded on a river, set out on an adventure-filled journey over the plains on a wagon pulled by the steam man.
8
I’m Eggs-hausted
In 1945, Betty MacDonald wrote a memoir, The Egg and I, Life on a wilderness chicken ranch told with wit and high humor. It became a blockbuster best seller and film rights were bought in April, 1946 and the film was released in 1947.
Moran read about an egg abandoned by mother ostrich Eve on the Los Angeles Ostrich Farm after her 24 year old mate Joe started flirting with Mamie, “a slick young chick of 18 with a new set of spring plumes.” Eve got off the egg and started pecking Joe. They had been married for 20 years. Moran made a deal with International Studios, which was filming The Egg and I to publicize the film for $2,000 then went to see the manager of the ostrich farm and arranged to sit on the egg himself until it hatched.
On June 16, 1946, Father’s Day, Moran began sitting on a special chair with a basket underneath holding the egg, wearing a headband with a foot-tall ostrich feather in front and a tailpiece of ostrich feathers hanging from his waist. He sat on the egg for 19 days, 4 hours, 32 minutes. He would leave the egg for short periods for bathroom and meal breaks. He slept with the egg at night so it wouldn’t cool off. While sitting on the egg he read the Egg and I to pass the time. He called the 1500 daily visitors who paid 40¢ to watch him “crackpots.”
At 10:05 a.m. July 6, a one pound 9 ounce ostrich chick hatched from the egg. A male quartet of musicians and composers crooned to the chick:
Let me out of here,
It’s time to emerge,
I’ve got the urge,
Let me out of here
“I’m eggs-hausted,” said Moran.The chick was named Ossip Moran and was donated to a zoo. A July 22 article in Life has a picture of Moran wearing his feather headband, with a cigar in his mouth holding the chick in one hand and proffering cigars in an open box in the other. He had written “The Egg and I” on the egg which shows on the cracked shell.
Below is a section of a long article about “Professional Screwball” publicist James Moran. In addition to sitting on an ostrich egg until it hatched, he sold an icebox to an Eskimo, changed horses in midstream, had a bull led through a china shop, found a needle in a haystack and much more.
8
Dictator
Pliny the Elder reports that Julius Caesar could dictate to his secretaries four letters at once for serious matters and up to seven for lighter fare.
Author and naturalist Pliny, Gaius Plinius Secundus, died on August 25, 79 A.D. in Stabiae, near Pompeii, while trying to rescue a friend by ship from the eruption of Vesuvius, probably of natural causes. Caesar died on the Ides of March, 44 B.C. definitely of unnatural causes. They were both 56.
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