Madness in the Making: The Triumphant Rise and Untimely Fall of America's Show Inventors

Lindsay, who writes the ""Patent Files"" column in the New York Press, has compiled an informative collection of what he terms ""show inventors""--men like Eli Whitney, Cyrus McCormick, Samuel Otis, Isaac Singer and Thomas Edison, who made himself better known and more beloved than any stage celebrity of his time. These inventors flourished, the author notes, ""from the early days of the new Republic to the dark years of the Great Depression."" In that era, peddling an invention involved a great deal more than making a technological breakthrough. It demanded not only scientific background knowledge and familiarity with the area in which the technical advance could be put to use, but also a degree of showmanship to convince the public of its value. Lindsay points out that the life of a show inventor was fraught with insecurity, citing the case of John Fitch, denied the acclaim he deserved as inventor of the steamboat by chief patent officer Thomas Jefferson, who evidently saw him as too public and pushy. All histories of science and technology should be this entertaining. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Nov.)