Improving the "Conveniences of Life"

Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, Inc., The, Mar 2005 by Stanton, Lucia

In his own day, Thomas Jefferson was both admired and abused for being "a theorist, a man of projects, an innovator." Ellen Randolph Coolidge recalled that her grandfather's "theoretical novelties," considered by some "so absurd in practice, were mere anticipations of other men's ideas." He built a carriage with a convertible top that "was smiled at by his friends and sneered at by his enemies," but, as she noted, landaus were a common sight on American roads not long after his death. "He certainly had a good deal of ingenuity in contrivance," she wrote. "He had various little devices for increasing comfort and facilitating labour. Some successful, some unsuccessful, as I presume must always be the case."' Even one of Jefierson's most ardent admirers, Margaret Bayard Smith, confessed in 1841 that "his local and domestic arrangements were full of contrivances, or conveniences as he called them, peculiarly his own and never met with in other houses. Too often the practical was sacrificed to the fanciful."2

Ingenuity, labor-saving devices, contrivances, and conveniences: all of these were expressions of a particularly American exponent of the Enlightenment. Jefferson often applauded the American flair for surmounting difficulties with ingenuity. With his Enlightenment faith in human reason and its capacity to improve the human condition, he was forever turning his thoughts to ways to add to what he called "the conveniences and comforts of life."3 In a perpetual quest for efficiency, he devised or sought machines or methods that would save labor, time, or space.

In this issue, the authors consider Jefferson the innovator, catching him with chisel as well as pen in hand, tinkering at his workbench, drafting plans and specifications, ordering an improved machine, or singing the praises of a new method. An 1809 inventory of the joinery provides an occasion for discussing wood-working tools at Monticello. For years encyclopedias and textbooks credited Jefferson with a host of inventions, from a revolving chair to a letter-copying device. But now that number has been whittled down to three. In this issue, Gaye Wilson reports on Jefferson's spherical sundial while I tell the story of his moldboard of least resistance. (The third invention was a cipher wheel.) Turning to Jefferson's innovations. Robert Self traces his use of kiln-drying for building lumber, something that may be unusual for his time and place. William Beiswanger, in an article on roofing methods, highlights Jefferson's unique "zigzag" design for flat roofs.

We hope these essays help to illuminate the innovative Jefferson and his "zeal for improving the condition of human life."4 A vivid summary by his early biographer Henry S. Randall makes it clear that we have only scratched the surface of this engaging topic:

Monticello... was a magazine of utilities-of labor-saving contrivances-of mechanical arrangements-of minor inventions of every sort and description-evidencing the tastes and inventive habits of its owner.... The mill ground grain, the nail factory made nails, the coopering establishment, smithery, brick yard, etc., supplied their products not only for the estate but for the neighborhood; and all of them turned out the best work known in the circuit of miles. All of them had various handy contrivances devised by their owner, which saved toil and promoted system. His flax was dressed in a machine invented by him, and copied by his neighbors. An embryo extension-top carriage, contrived by himself, let in the sun and shut out the storm at his will. The deep well had a fixture to render the elevation of water easier. The gates had better hinges and latches than other people's. The house, the offices, the servants' houses and the stables abounded with conveniences nobody else had thought of."5

Thanks are due to my colleagues Bill Heiswanger, Bob Self, and Gaye Wilson for their fruitful collaboration and to Silvio Bedini for past and present counsel on all things scientific and Jeffersonian.

We are grateful to the EAIA and The Chronicle for this opportunity to explore a side of Thomas Jefferson that is a favorite with Monticello's staff as well as its visitors.

Acknowledgments

A little more than three years ago, while working with Bob Self on an article on Monticello's roofing systems ("Monticello's North and South Pavilions: A Revealing Look at Framing Details and Roofing Technology," The Chronicle 55, no. 2 (2002): 65-75), he mentioned that he was in the process of recreating Thomas Jefferson's tool chest. Bob, who is Monticello's conservator ofarchitecture and furniture, and I thought the story of his efforts would be appropriate for the pages of The Chronicle. In the course of our conversations however, we began to realize that the tool chest was only one of numerous subjects related to Jefferson as inventor and innovator, and the idea for an issue of The Chronicle devoted to our third president was born.

I would like to thank Bill Beiswanger, Bob Self, Lucia (Cinder) Stanton, and Gaye Wilson for working with us to bring about this special issue. I am especially grateful to Cinder who devoted many hours to The Chronicle in her capacity as guest editor.