EDWARD LYON BERTHON
INVENTIONS TURNED DOWN. Every sailor knows the name of Edward Lyon Berthon. He was an inventor, and he had the ill-luck which usually attends inveni tors. His first idea was for a two-bladed screw propeller for steamers. The idea came to him when a young man —he was 21 —while he was at Geneva, and he thought the notion entirely original. ;He sent a model of a steamer to the I Admiralty, but they returned it with thanks, observing that it was a pretty ‘toy, but could never work. Later he turned his attention to other notions, one of which was the ingenious Berthon’s log, an apparatus for indicating the speed of a ship. This clever idea he worked out very minutely, but the Admiralty observed that it was too accurate (that is to say, it was too delicate) and they therefore turned the idea down. He then invented the collapsible boat, an idea which occurred to him after the wreck of a ship off Portpatrick in June, 1849, and after overcoming many difficulties he persuaded the Admiralty to try it out. They did so and reported adversely. Utterly disgusted, Edward Berthon. then a clergyman at Fareham, moved to Romsey to get away from ships, but oddly enough his success was to come, for Samuel Plimsoll took up his idea of collapsible boats, the Admiralty favoured the new scheme, and soon the parson had orders for boats to the value of £l5 000.
Thus his patience was rewarded. His other ideas were tried and found useful. and his later years were prosperous and happy. He died at Romsey in 1899.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 June 1941, Page 6
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273EDWARD LYON BERTHON Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 June 1941, Page 6
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