Inventor Name
Everett, Edward
Repository
Hagley Museum & Library
Manuscripts & Archives Department
P.O. Box 3630
Wilmington, DE 19807-0630
302-658-2400
https://www.hagley.org/research
Physical Description
26 items
Summary
Edward Everett (1818-1903) was born in Roxbury, Mass., and moved to New York State before finally settling in Quincy, Ill. He was named for his father's cousin, the great orator and statesman. He served as a soldier in the Mormon and Mexican Wars and also as major and assistant quartermaster general of Illinois during the Civil War. Everett was a gentleman agriculturalist and amateur inventor, who also wrote essays on science and the currency question. The papers consist of 26 manuscript and printed items by or about Edward Everett. Everett's agricultural work is represented by an article, "Agriculture as connected with Mechanics and Engineering", which he wrote as secretary of the Adams County (Ill.) Agricultural Society, and by soil analysis for locations near Quincy, Ill. There are also manuscripts and sketches of Everett's inventions, including a telegraph for hotels to replace room bell systems (1849); patented improvements in carriages and carriage couplings (1850); "centro-linead", for ruling converging lines (1856); a metallic piston (1853); and a ventilator (1861). Everett's economic writings consist of a letter from Hugh McCulloch, Secretary of the Treasury, concerning Everett's suggestion for protecting coupon bondholders (1865), and "Remarks on free silver" (1895). Everett's scientific writings include a 10 pp. essay on the moving of nature ("written before the doctrine of forces was generally known"); on resilence in interplanetary spaces; on vortex rings produced in the air; and on the volcanoes of Hawaii. There is also an obituary of Everett and a newsclipping on Everett's service in Illinois during the Civil War.
