The nearly-forgotten Jacob Perkins (1766-1849), St. Peter's Lodge, Newburyport, MA was such a prolific inventor he probably ranks with the likes of Benjamin Franklin or Thomas Edison. Among his inventions were coinage dies, the first refrigerator, a machine for making nails, improved engraving plates, a "bathometer" to measure the depth of water and a "pleometer" to mark with precision the speed with which a vessel moved through water. He also engraved England's first adhesive-backed postage stamp, the famous "penny black." Perhaps his most intriguing invention, however, was the ridiculous-sounding steam gun. Demonstrations of the amazing contraption fascinated the public. The weapon was capable of shooting 1,000 rounds per minute and could penetrate its ball-shaped projectiles through eleven one-inch pine boards at a distance of 35 yards. Perkins even invented an accessory that allowed the gun to shoot around corners, a derivative of which was used in World War II. In other words, in a day when muskets fired a single bullet and required a tedious reloading process, Brother Perkins invented the ultimate weapon. The military, however, although impressed by the gun's overwhelming firing power and accuracy, rejected it because it was so powerful it deformed the bullets!
