Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/411

 CORLISS

CORNELL

R.I., in 1844, to interest capitalists in his sewing machine, and while there secured employment in a steam engine works as draughtsman. Here he suggested the abolition of the throttle valve by connecting the governor with the steam Talves. He also economized the steam by using it expansively. He obtained patents for both inventions, dated March 10, 1849. This was a revolution in steam engine building. He insti- tuted the novel plan of replacing old engines with new, and taking as pay for the new machine the saving made in coal for a limited time. In 1856 the Corliss steam engine company of Providence, R.I., was incorporated and Mr. Corliss was its president and treasurer during the remainder of his life. In 1866 he was married to Emily A. Shaw of Newburyport, Mass. For his inventions and improvements in the steam engine Mr. Corliss received a gold medal at Paris in 1867, in competition with over one hundred of the engine builders of the world; the Rmnford medal of the American academj- of arts and sciences in 1870; and at Vienna in 1873 lie recei\ed the grand diploma of honor, although he was not an exhibitor, his improvements being shown on the best engines exhibited. He was one of the seven members of the original executive com- mittee of the U.S. centennial commission and proposed the one large double engine to fur- nish all the

COKLI

"expos

power for ma- chinery hall. After all other plans failed he built and set up, in nine months and twenty - six days, the great machine that was the won- der of the Avorld, as it moved the wheels of the varied industries during the exhibition of 1876 at Philadelphia. Its oflBcial starting and stopping marked the opening and closing of the fair. He invented a machine for cutting bevel gears and made notable imjirovements in steam boilers and in engines for pumjnng "water. The Institute of France awarded him the Montj'on prize in 1868, and in February, 1886, the King of Belgium conferred on him the decoration of " Officer of the Order of Leo- pold." He .succeeded in so improving the parts of his steam engine as to make them inter- changeable, thus making repair possible by the simple substitution of the part. He was a state senator, 1868, 1869 and 18701, and a presi- dential elector in 1876. He died at Providence, JI.L, Feb. 21, 1888.

CORLISS, John Blaisdell, representative, was born in Richford, Vt., June 7, 1851; son of Heze- kiah and Lj-dia (Rounds) Corliss; grandson of Ephraim CorUss; and a descendant of George Corliss of Haverhill, Mass. He was grad- uated from the Ver- mont Methodist uni- versity in 1871, and from the law depart- ment of Columbian university, Washing- ton, D.C., in 1875. He then removed to Detroit, Mich., where he practised his pro- fession and became active in local politics. He was city attorney, 1882-86; and as a Re- publican represented the first district of Michigan in the 54th, 55th, 56th and 57th congresses, serving 1895-1905.

CORNELIUS, Elias, educator, was born in Somers, N.Y., July 31, 1794; son of Dr. Elias Cornelius (1758-1823), a Revolutionary patriot, who was captured and confined in the prison ship Jersey, from which he escaped in March, 1778, and rejoined the army. The son was gradu- ated at Yale in 1813 and after studying theology under President Dwight became a missionary to the Cherokee and Chickasaw Indians. He was installed as a colleague to Dr. Worcester in the Tabernacle church, Salem, Mass., and as pastor in 1821, remaining in charge of the church till 1826, when he was elected secretary of the American education society. In October, 1831, he was elected corresponding secretary of the A.B.C.F.M. He received the degree of D.D. from Dartmouth in 1829. A memoir by Bela B. Edwards was published in 1833. He died in Hart- ford, Conn., Feb. 12, 1832.

CORNELL, Alonzo B., governor of Xew York, was born in Ithaca, N.Y., Jan. 22, 1832; son of Ezra and Mary Ann (Wood) Cornell; grandson of Elijah and Eunice (Barnard) Cornell; and a de- scendant of Thomas Cornell, who came to Boston in 1630 from Essex, England. He was educated at the Ithaca academy, and when fourteen years old became a telegraph operator in Troy, N.Y. In 1848 he went to Cleveland, Ohio, as manager of the Erie & Michigan telegraph company. In 1851 he returned home and was an officer in the Tompkins county bank, resigning in 1855 to accept the general management of the New York, Albany & Buffalo telegraph company in New York city. He introduced sound reading as an essential qualification for all operators and was liimself an expert reader bj- sound. In 1862 he