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Review

Author(s): Morgan Sherwood


Review by: Morgan Sherwood
Source: Technology and Culture, Vol. 18, No. 4 (Oct., 1977), pp. 697-698
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press and the Society for the History of
Technology
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3103602
Accessed: 10-04-2016 19:33 UTC

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TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 697

Though most of the book is carefully based on historical material, at


times the author's prejudices are revealed; for example, on page 86
he says, in referring to the superb eight-day brass clocks made by
Heman and Sylvester Clark and others at Salem Bridge in the 1823-
40 period, "Unfortunately among present day collectors this type of
movement has therefore become known as Salem Bridge Move-
ments." While true that H. Clark made the first of these in Plymouth,
he was active in Salem Bridge, and most if not all movements of this
type were made there; it would be difficult to think of a more logical
name.

One of the most delightful features of the book is the insight it


provides into the ways early industrialists conducted their business
operations and financial affairs. Then as now adjustments were neces-
sary when business conditions were poor.
The size of the book and the typeface used (typewriter), while clear,
seem to make it more awkward to read than books with conventional
typefaces. A better contrast in the illustrations could have been ef-
fected by a whiter paper and better printing, though most of the
illustrations can be seen reasonably well. With present-day printing
costs what they are, economy doubtless made the format necessary.
Every reader interested in American technological development
will find this volume an important study offering many new insights,
and those interested in American horology in particular will use it as a
reliable reference work.

D. J. BLACKWELL*

New and Improved: Inventors and Inventions That Have Changed the Mod-
ern World. By R. Baker. London: British Museum Publications,
1976. Pp. 168; illustrations. ?3.50.
Nowhere in this book does the compiler explain why we need
another list of important patented inventions. He implies, however,
that patent records are a rich source of knowledge that goes un-
examined by scientists, technologists, and historians because the rec-
ords are not readily available, because they are written in patentese,
and because of their sheer volume. Aparently New and Improved was
designed to tease the reader into learning more about patents or to
provide him with another quick reference to patented technology.
Either one of these implied goals is an adequate justification for the
book, if warnings about the use of such lists are clearly posted. Con-

*MR. BLACKWELL has had a lifelong interest in horology and is presently chief en-
gineer of E. Howard and Company, a leading manufacturer of high-grade clocks since
1842. He is vice-president of the American Clock and Watch Museum and a director of
the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors.

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698 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE

siderable damage might be inflicted upon the historical record if


readers believe that these 363 items were the only significant patented
inventions in the "modern world," or if a cliometrician decides to
quantify an aspect of invention by using the list without knowing
more about the substance and process of technological creativity than
this book provides.
On the plus side, Baker alerts the reader to a few pitfalls in the
selection of "significant" inventions. Selection, he writes, "will have to
be made subjectively and will vary with the whims and preferences of
the compiler" (p. 16). In the introduction to the list, the compiler
describes briefly how the patent system evolved and how it works
(without dealing with the system's failures), and he notes some charac-
teristics of the invention process according, mainly, to John Jewkes, et
al., and Arthur Koestler. The compiler, after admitting his own na-
tional bias (a plus), shows preference for British patents. That prefer-
ence will reduce the book's utility and leads occasionally to some curi-
ous annotations. Altogether, the notes are uneven, and Baker does
not make clear why some items are annotated and others are not. Also
on the minus side, too often a short title is not sufficiently descriptive.
Withal, Baker's book will serve as a useful reference if used in-
telligently and not as a substitute for good histories of technology.
Meantime, I am preparing my own list of "inventions that have
changed the modern world"; it does not include the ocarina or the
cats-eye road marker, but may include the dimple maker and the
electric suppository.
MORGAN SHERWOOD*

James J. Hill and the Opening of the Northwest. By Albro Martin. New
York: Oxford University Press, 1976. Pp. 663; illustrations. $19.50.
Unlike many authors, Albro Martin delivers exactly what his title
promises. This first scholarly biography of James J. Hill succeeds in
illuminating both that entrepreneur's life and the process by which he
realized his ambition of opening the Northwest.
A child of the Ontario frontier, blind in one eye since age nine, Hill
hustled his way to success in the tradition of the self-made man. At
eighteen he went to St. Paul and plunged into a business career that
began with steamboats, moved to coal, and came to fruition with
railroads. His entire career straddled two key elements of American
industrialization, transportation and energy.

*DR. SHERWOOD teaches the social history of American science and technology in the
University of California at Davis. He is working on a study of the American patent system
for invention.

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