Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/61

 BURDEN.

BURDETTE.

country. In 1822, he went to Troy, and assumed charge of an iron and nail factory at that place, winch developed into Burden's iron works. He invented a machine for making spikes, and secured a patent for it, May 26, 1825. Five years later lie invented a machine for making horseshoe nails and rolls for creasing horseshoe blanks. In 1834 he invented and patented a new spike machine, the spikes being for the flat rails then used by various railroads ; but on a visit to England, be- coming convinced that the '-T" and "H" rails would supersede all others, he, on his return, be- gan the manufacture of a new hook-headed spike for such rails, and was granted a patent for it in 1840. A machine for making horseshoes patented by him in 1835 was improved in 1845, and in 1857 a new machine was patented, wdiich he considered his greatest invention. He was interested in steam na vigation ; and was the first to advocate the plans afterwards adopted by both English and American shipbuilders in the construction of long vessels for ocean sailing. He laid similar plans before the Troy steamboat association, and finally they were substantially adopted in the building of the steamer Hendrick Hudson. In 1846 a prospectus was issued for '"Burden's Atlantic Steam-Ferry Company;" the boats were to be five hundred feet long, with accommodations for four hundred first- class passengers, be- sides steerage accom- modations, and to be of eighteen thousand tons burden. The pas- sage was to be made in eight days, although

t' '^*\3?*r* ' Mr. Burden declared it

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could be reduced to six

days. He was inter ested in all worthy lyUyr-Z>^-c--<-^ — public enterprises, and gave freely to charit- able and other institutions. He died in Troy, N. Y., Jan. 19, 1871.

BURDEN, James Abercrombie, iron master, was born at Troy, N. Y., Jan. 6, 1833; son of Henry Burden, a celebrated inventor and iron- master. He had special advantages in his theo- retical and scientific education for the business to which he devoted himself. He not onl}- had a private tutor at Yale college, but while pursuing his studies under his direction he attended lectures in the Sheffield scientific school, and subsequently took up a course of study in the Rensselaer poly- technic institute. Aside from these studies, he had practical training in learning the trade of a machinist and millwright, and he worked at this trade iiutil made foreman of a department

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of the Burden iron works, conducted by his father, and to which he succeeded as chief owner and president of the corporation. He was acknowledged as a leader in the industries to which he was allied, and was elected pres- ident of the Hudson river ore and iron company; president of the Engineers' club of New York city; a member of the Civil engineers '^A society, of the Soci- - ety of mechanical engineers, of the Mining engineers, and of the Iron and steel institute of Great Britain, and fellow of the Imperial institute of London. He not only proved hmiself a valu- able member of the societies here named, but has won a master-workman's recognition by his sujje- rior inventive skill. Valuable patents were issued to him for machinery for making blooms, for in- termittent mechanical motion, for an electrical machine for separating magnetic ore from its gangue, for fettling puddling furnaces, for heating fm-naces, and for machinery for manufacturing horseshoes. This last named machine converts a plain bar of iron, in one heat, into horseshoes with nail holes punched and otherwise finished, at the rate of seventy shoes a minute. Aside from his inventions and the demands of his varied and extensive business, he was interested in social and public affairs. He was a discreet giver and a careful adviser, his advice and financial aid in charitable and reformatory matters being uni- versally sought, and generously and wisely rendered. In 1880, in 1888, and again in 1896 he was elected presidential elector on the Republi- can ticket of the state of New York.

BURDETTE, Robert Jones, hmnorist, was born at Greensborough, Pa., July 30, 1844. His earl}' life was spent in the west, where, at the breaking out of the civil war, he joined the army as a member of the 47th Illinois volunteers. In 1865 he returned to Peoria, where for several years he contributed humorous articles to vari- ous newspapers and periodicals. He also worked on the editorial staff of the Peoria Transcript, removing in 1872 to Burlington, Iowa, where he formed a connection with the Hatrk-eye, in the columns of which paper he caught the popular fancy, and won renown as a hmnorist. He was also a lecturer and was licensed as a Bap- tist minister in 1887. Some of his lectures were published in book form, under the title of Tlie Rise and Fall of a Mustache, and