DE LAVAL, THE INVENTOR.

Press, Volume XLIV, Issue 6853, 10 September 1887, Page 3

DE LAVAL, THE INVENTOR.

It is a long list of inventions which have sprung from the untiring brain of the young Swede, whose name has become a household word with all farmers in his own country and in many parts of the world. The chief of these inventions has been the cream-separator, and in the whole range of agricultural history none has so rapitlly effected a revolution in oldestablished methods of .vorking. We have had forwarded to us by Mr Wahlin —who,it will be remembered, visited these colonies two years ago as agent for De Laval—a sketch of the life of the inventor and a brief description of bis dairy-useful inventions. From it we learn that, "Carl Gustaf Patrick De Laval was born on the !)th of May, 1815, in Orsa, Dalecarlia; and his tireless energy aud never-yielding perseverance bear marked evidence of the stern and ro.-!:y nature of that province from which so many of Sweden's great men have their origin. At twelve years of age he entered Falu College, and at eighteen he passed the graduating examination at the University of Upsala. In the autumn of the same year he entered the Technological College, Stockholm. In 1866 he graduated from there with the highest honours ever awarded, and was appointed manager of the Falu mm». Hut there was a boiling and bubbling in young Laval's mind. He longed to bring out something great that would benefit the whole world, and he finally succeeded. "I cannot possibly have "gained sufficient knowledge as yet,' he thought, and so left the practical life which he liad only just commenced to take to books again. In the autumn of ISO 7he re-entered the University of Upsala. For over five years longer he pursued there his studies in chemistry, and in May, 1872. he wosgraduated as Doctor of Philosophy. The Stora Nopperbergs Mining Company, in whose service Gustaf De Laval had once before been employed, hastened once more to avail themselves of his talents. He was commissioned by them to study the manufacture of sulphuric acid at Falu. When this task had been completed in the autume of 1873, De Laval again left the service of the said company to start a glassworks company at Falu in partnership with a wealthy relation. Shortly afterwards Dr De Laval was offered a situation in the Klostcrs ironworks, and when there he made two- important inventions, one in connection with the Bessemer smelting, th« other a new and very ingenious g.i! v,•;: „,mg-pan. At Klosttr- al-o he conceived his first idea of cons: ■ -.it-ting a cream separator. One day after dinner, as he and the manager of the ironworks sat drinking their colfee. the conversation turned upon an article that had appeared in a paper, where Lefeldt's first endeavour m the line of centrifugal creamers was discussed. The two gentlemen soon got into an argument as to how the centriful power would act upon the milk. The manager professed that he would prove he was right by constructing a centrifugal separator. " That you can never do," said De Laval. "in the way that you propose, but I shall make one to show that I am right." De carried out his intention and proved his point at the same time. During the work, which at first was taken up more in play than with a serious purpose, the •pinion that constructing a centrifugal cream separator would be of great importance to the dairy industry, as also a profitable undertaking, was more and more firmly confirmed in his mind. Unable to impress the manager of the Klosters Works with the same belief, !i>- loft bis situation in May, 1877, and went to Stockholm, fully resolved to carry out his intention. Now came a long period of trouble, disappointment, aud diligent work. After some time he hit! his ur»t separator finished. It consisted of a cylinder into which the milk was pDured and revolved until the cream was separated from the milk, when the machine was carefully stopped and the cream skimmed off. He now thought he had arrived near the completion of his efforts, and showed his invention to many large landowners. One of them said—" It may be a very interesting experiment, but not a practical discovery, for on a good-sized farm one would want from 18 to 20 separators, and that would be too costly." This criticism was crushing to his enthusiasm, but De Laval lost none of his courage, and commenced at once to improve the machine, so as to feed it with a continuous stream of milk, aud to give forth a continuous stream of cream and skimmed milk. Since then, the separator has year by year been improved upon, and the sales constantly increased; in 1881, 823 separators were sold ; 1882, 546; and 1883, no less than BSO ; at present there are 7000 In De Lavai m." be called a specialist in dairy machinery, but he does not confine his inventions to that industry alone. We have already mentioned two of his discoveries in connection with the iron trade. At present he is busy with another new discovery. Of his new fast-going boat a great deal has '>een said and written (in almost all European papers), and if it does what it promises a great revolution ia steamboat trade w ill certainly be effected.