Grant Bramble Invention Hoax
On February 8th,
1897, Monday morning the Minneapolis Journal published an interesting story
about one of Sleepy Eye’s Chicago North-Western railroad depot agents, Mr.
Grant Bramble. This is a story of where
one should have heard it from the “horse’s mouth” instead of just taking
someone else’s word for the truth.
Lessons can be learned from history, and from actions done in the past.
Grant Bramble’s past time
was shooting flies in the old Chicago North-Western depot. Peppered gun-shot holes were made in the
depot ceiling by Grant from his sharp, single shot pistol.
Grant was an engineer
with an engineer’s license, who also had a passion for steam engines. Of course keeping this all in mind, public
interest was heightened by it and rumors had spread of Grant. Rumors were that Grant was working on a model
of a steam engine that would surely revolutionize mechanics and the industry.
Little by little, Grant’s
so called little secret broke out to the public. The public learns that Grant’s
engine is built like an old-fashioned water wheel and that it would develop
tremendous power. It was confidently
predicted that Grant’s engine, or rather the small model of the engine, could
be placed on a baby’s high chair and yet turn out 100 horsepower. All the time the talk and rumors were going
around Grant never made any statements or claims. At the same time he issued no denials, which
was exactly the sort of food on which his fame could grow.
At last the machine was
completed and patented and then Grant gave it a test – a secret test whose
results were not made public. But that
made no difference. Rumor spread that it
was a sensational success and the stories that were told of the immense fortunes
that were to be made from it grew every time the engine was discussed.
The rumors put the town
of Sleepy Eye very much on the map. Strangers
from all parts of the country flocked to our town to interview the inventor and
to set out to buy Grant’s patent rights.
Newspapers sent correspondents to get personality stories about this mechanical
wizard. In the height of the excitement,
the Sleepy Eye Dispatch published daily editions filled with rumors, predictions,
and wild bonanza tales. Yet at the same time
Grant still had not said a single word, but his silence was powerful. Every
rumor imaginable was afloat. It was said
that Grant had been visited by delegations from Germany, France, Italy, and
Austria with huge offers for the right to manufacture and sell the wonder
contraption in those countries.
The most extravagant
tale was that Grant had been approached by an English capitalist and that they
had offered Grant $5,000,000 for his patent.
Another story was that Grant agreed to spend $1,000,000 of that
$5,000,000 to beautify the main street of Sleepy Eye and that he would also
spend more millions in making the town the greatest industrial center in the
northwest. The only limit to the
delightful pictures conjured by these stories were that of the miracles
performed by the workings of the invention but were not limited to the human
imagination.
Keeping in mind this
entire time Grant maintained his silence.
If anyone had questioned him directly on the subject of his engine, he
would begin to tell his interviewer about some rare bird he had just seen on
the Cottonwood River, but at the same time he allowed himself certain sly
intention to the stories, already grown extraordinary.
But much like
everything else – excitement must come to an end. Grant’s trial was found out
to be a failure. There was no doubt that
the engine would work just as the test revealed - but the difficulty was that
in three minutes’ time it used up all water in the boilers of the Sleepy Eye
steam plant – certain evidence that it would require all the waters of all the
oceans in the world to feed one of the machines built to regular size. It could be considered a Frankenstein monster
with an appalling thirst.
After that Grant’s
bubble burst in a real hurry; Grant had known all this time that his engine was
impractical, but being a man of practical jokes he permitted these stories to
run their course. He never did however
sell any stock, ask anyone for a dollar nor hurt anyone in any way of this
hoax, so no one could harbor any resentment.
If people wanted to tell stories and add exaggeration to exaggeration
that was none of his business he figured. Far be it from him to get in the way
of a good rumor.
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