Oliver Evans Tries to Renew Patent
In 1804, Oliver Evans petitioned Congress for an extension of the patent for his flour-milling machinery, which was about to expire. Oliver Evans had to that date derived little profit from this important invention, but every year more and more millers were using it and Oliver Evans received royalties from them. He felt so sure that Congress would renew his patent, that with great expectations for the future, he announced his plans to publish a book called "The Young Engineer's Guide" about steam engines.The millers opposed Oliver Evans' petition to renew his patent. They were profiting by using his invention, however, they were unwilling to pay him anything, and they succeeded in having his bill in Congress defeated initaly. It was a hard blow for the struggling author and inventor. With his income cut off, Oliver Evans was obliged to reduce the scale of his book and omit many of the illustrations he had intended to include. In protest, he changed the title of his book to "The Abortion of the Young Engineer's Guide".
Oliver Evans Extends His Patent
Four years later, on appeal Congress restored and extended his patent. Oliver Evans went on building good steam engines and had the satisfaction of seeing them in extensive use.
Oliver Evans Dies
Oliver Evans died as the result of a tragedy. He was visiting New York City in 1819, when news came to him that his shop in Philadelphia burnt down. The shock was greater than he could bear. A stroke followed, from which he died.
Oliver Evans Writes on the Future of the Locomotive
The following prophecy, written by Oliver Evans and published in 1812, seventeen years before the practical use of the locomotive began, tells us something of the vision of this early American inventor:"The time will come when people will travel in stages moved by steam engines from one city to another almost as fast as birds fly - fifteen to twenty miles an hour. Passing through the air with such velocity - changing the scenes in such rapidsuccession--will be the most exhilarating, delightful exercise. A carriage will set out from Washington in the morning, and the passengers will breakfast at Baltimore, dine in Philadelphia, and sup at New York the same day.
"To accomplish this, two sets of railways will be laid so nearly level as not in any place to deviate more than two degrees from a horizontal line, made of wood or iron, on smooth paths of broken stone or gravel, with a rail to guide the carriages so that they may pass each other in different directions and travel by night as well as by day; and the passengers will sleep in these stages as comfortably as they do now in steam stage-boats."
