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
\ \i^_'- (11* .
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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y^.
^/2^^%^c^ec(^
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
