£4,000,000 FROM A HORSE CLIPPER.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 23, 28 January 1922, Page 19

£4,000,000 FROM A HORSE CLIPPER.

ROMANTIC INVKNTIOS' OF THE SPEEDOMETER. | When .lolin K. Stewart, society man. known fi fatno ar, the inventor of the spee- [ riumeter, died five years ago he left a fortune j of more than fI.OUO.UOO, says thf New York Correspondent of Ihe "Daily Chronicle." No cine susppetpil his humble origin as Terence or Denis O'Brien. n"r that the fore runner of the speedometer that is lart <■£ the essential of every motor vp)iii-ie lv the world was a hors»~clipping machine. These secrets might never nave been disclosed to ihe world lint fnr litigation over Ills will, ivllii'li bequeathed his cnlire estate to his (luiißUter Marion, now Mrs. Robert B. ll.meyiiian. Jun. O'ltrien. it appears, was horn in Vermont 47 yea:s as-", anil went Weft when a hoy to Keek him fortune with two other youths of Irish pnrentaxe. Arilmr and Michael Conlnn, I win, n-lniDi he fi.rmed a partnership. Their I objective was the pold-mlnlng fleKls of f allfuriila, hut their quest for the precious metal was a failure. Kcdii.ed to hunting for a job at anything, : they i>liiuiii.fi emiiloyiiient as h..r>e cilpier*. ! Young ITHrlen fuiilid the work hard am!, tiresome, and to make it easier he concelvedj J the idea of a flexible shaft, which he ■ adapted tv the hand clipper. , That was the statt of nls fortune, which at | one time was estimated at £4.000,000. j So well iliil the flexible shaft work that io'ttrlfii trieil it on nther appliances with equally satisfactory results, and he derided; to paient the device, whirl, he did through a, | lawyer named Stewart. It brought him in a pood deal of money, and aliotil lliis time, fur reasons not made I eli-nr. he dec-Lied to change his name. He' I adopted that of ihe lawyer and of. a famoui : ni.-i-hi.rw i>l the tiiuc railed ".John K." Then he married. FniHi the llcxilile shaft raine the Idea of j tl.e >peed(iiuetcr, aud to manufacture It he I r..i;ni!.-l the StHivart-Warner Speedometer | !l'nni|ialiy. nf Chicago. I The ru.limnir s:.,ry wks revealed through) I n suit alleging mismanagement of the I--..U.-. l.roufihi uurfln.il Uie exerutors by Mrs. j llniie.vmal-. Examination of legal ' brouKht ■..! lijzLii the lin entoj's change of; i I name and the circumstances of his early.