138 COLLINS. COLLINS. table perseverance; diffuses life and energy wherever he goes, and has done much toward improving the town of his adoption. He is the patentee of many useful inven- MICHAEL H COLLINS. tions — one, in connection with Joseph Hurd, of Maiden, the discovery of the pro- cess of manufacturing granulated sugar ; others are the famous lozenge machine, superseding hand power; a ventilator for public buildings ; a quartz crusher, which proved invaluable to miners in past years; the lamp burner and chimney known as the " Sun-burner " and "Sun-chimney" for the use of kerosene. Various experiments made by Mr. Collins at last brought them to a state of perfection that revolutionized the entire market, and to his years in experi- menting is due the present state of perfec- tion in the coal oil illuminating appliances. At the time he marketed his " Sun-burner," the use of kerosene was diminishing, on account of the non-combustion of carbon, and heating of burners and chimneys, inci- dental to the use of crude burners in use. His inventions gave an impetus to its use that has gone on increasing to the present time. One of the chief features of this invention is that it is so constructed as to prevent explosions, thereby saving life and property. The leading makers in the country realized fortunes in the manufac- ture of these burners, and immense sums were expended in protecting this now uni- versally used and valuable invention from various infringements. Mr. Collins's last and greatest invention is the " Echolin," a musical instrument in the violin class. After forty years of experimenting, and gleaning experimental knowledge both in this country and Europe, Mr. Collins has perfected an instrument that is claimed to excel any other of its class in richness of tone and depth of volume. He is liberally read in mechanics, chem- istry and medicine, being a graduate from several medical schools. COLLINS, PATRICK A., was bon: in Fermoy, county of Cork, Ireland, March 12, 1S44. He came to the United States in 1848 and settled in Chelsea, where he received a common school education. He worked at the upholstery trade for eight years, giving his leisure hours to study. He entered Harvard law school in 1868, and was admitted to the Suffolk bar in the city of Boston, 1871, where he has continued in the practice of his profession ever since. In 1868 and '69 he was a member of the House of Representatives, and in i87o-'7i a state senator. In 1S75 he was judge- advocate-general of the Commonwealth. Mr. Collins was elected delegate-at-large from Massachusetts to the national Dem- ocratic conventions in 1876, '80 and '88, and was elected president of the national Democratic convention of 1888, held at St. Louis. In 18S2 he was elected to Congress, and has been twice re-elected. Mr. Collins was one of the secretaries of the Fenian congress held in Philadelphia, in 1865, and has been an active member of the land and national leagues since their establishment. He was chosen president of the Irish National Land League at the convention held in Buffalo, N. V., in 1S84, and served something more than a year, declining are-election. He has been chair- man of the Massachusetts Democratic state committee since 1884. Mr. Collins was married July 1, 1 S73, at Boston, to Mary E. Carey. Of this union are three children : Agnes, Marie and Paul. A natural-born leader of men, it has not taken Mr. Collins long to secure from time to time legitimate positions of honor and power. A brilliant debater, a forcible and eloquent speaker, a rapid thinker, and gifted with a thoroughly equipped and well balanced mind, he stands a conspicuous example of what a fine graft can be made
