CHANGES OF A CENTURY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume III, Issue 630, 8 May 1882, Page 2

CHANGES OF A CENTURY.

The Nineteenth Century has witnessed many and very great discoveries and changes. In 1809 Fulton took out his first patent for the invention of a steamboat. The first steamships which made regular trips across the Atlantic Ocean were the Sirus and Great Western, in 183°. ... > The first public application to practical use of gas for illumination was made in 1802. r In 1813 the streets of London were for the first time lighted with gas. In 1813 there was built in Waltham,

—-'•-Massachusetts, a mill believed to have been the first in the world which combined all the requirements of - making finished cloth from the raw cotton. In 1790 there were only twenty-five post offices in America, and up to 1837 the rate of postage was twentyfive cents for a letter sent over’ 400 miles. In 1807 wooden clocks began to be 1 made by machinery. This ushered in the era of cheap clocks. About the year 1833 the first railroad in the United States was'con-. ; structed. ; 1840 the first experiments in photography were made by Daguerre. About 1840 the first express business was established. The anthracite coal business may be said to have begun in 1820. In 1836 the patent for the making of matches was invented. Steel pens were introduced for use in 1803. The first successful trial of a reaper took place in 1833. In 1845 Elias Howe obtained a patent for his first sewing machine. The first successful method of making vulcanised india rubber, was patented in 1839. In 1834 the magnetic telegraph was first brought into practical use.