More Than a One Track Mind
2003 Boaz Rauchwerger
Being focused on important goals is one thing in life. However, at the same time, having an open mind can lead to great opportunities.
This is Joshua Cowen's story. He was an inventor with an open mind. One of his ideas was to illuminate flowerpots. He invented a slender metal tube with batteries. He figured he could make a fortune by selling it to restaurants to light up their plants and to stores for their displays.
Other people had a similar idea at the time. There were court battles and Joshua ended up signing his rights to the invention to a business associate, Conrad Hubert. He had the bright idea of putting a battery-powered light in the hands of consumers. You've heard of Hubert's company, Eveready. He made a fortune selling flashlights and batteries.
However, Joshua saw plenty of lights and eventually became rich and famous creating a product you've heard about and likely experienced. This is a great lesson in keeping an open mind.
His immigrant family arrived in New York after the Civil War. In 1869, a golden spike was hammered in place as the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroad lines connected the continent. Joshua was born in 1877, as the railroads had become a powerhouse, fueling progress in the country. That was just before Edison invented the light bulb.
He had always been interested in trains. At the age of seven he whittled a miniature locomotive from wood. He attached to it a small steam engine and it exploded. Years later he would recall his childhood experiment as he designed a tiny electric motor for a miniature fan. He realized that it was the perfect size to power a miniature train. Thus, he fitted the small motor under a model of a railroad flatcar. This time it worked and the electric train was born.
His first train was actually designed as an eye-catching display for toy stores. It was called the Electric Express.
Joshua Lionel Cowen gave his middle name to the invention and called his product the Lionel train. He opened his company near City Hall in New York City in 1900. Consisting of the electric flatcar and thirty feet of track, his first consumer product sold for six dollars. Although he wasn't the first to manufacture toy trains, he was a very talented engineer and salesman. He was also passionate about trains.
At first Joshua sold model trains by catalog and then through fascinating displays in shop windows. Americans fell in love with the motorized models and sales were brisk as Christmas gifts and for children. The original flatcar was joined by cattle cars, coal cars, passenger cars, train stations, tunnels and everything else needed to bring a model railroad to life.
This was a perfect time for electric trains to take off. At the turn of the century, Americans were awed by electricity and it was still a rarity in many homes. By 1910 electric trains had become big business, Lionel was leading the pack and Joshua proclaimed his trains to be the "Standard of the World."
He felt that Lionel trains prepared boys for adulthood. Soon fathers were sharing their son's model train enthusiasm and joining them on living room floors.
Although the company enjoyed great prosperity for many years, the lifestyle of Americans was changing. By the 1960s, freight lines were being scrapped, people were driving and flying, sales of Lionel trains dipped, and Joshua Lionel Cowen passed away.
In recent years, with interest growing in high-speed passenger lines, there has been a resurgence of interest in model trains and in Lionel. The company is back on track and doing well.
I remember the first time I rode a train. I was nine years old and we were emigrating from Israel to America. The ship we took across the Mediterranean Sea landed in the southern port of Marseille in France. From there we took a train across France, through Paris, to the English Channel port of Cherbourg, where we boarded a ship for America.
I had never seen a train before, much the less ridden in one. It was powerful, it was very long, and it made a fascinating "rat-a-tat" sound as the wheels ran along the track.
It was a few months later, in my new country, that my parents purchased a model electric train for my brother and me. I remember the excitement of assembling the track and running the train for hours on end. The transformer that calibrated the speed would get a little hot and would create a special atmosphere with that unique machinery smell. The brand of the train, of course, was Lionel.
There's something about keeping an open mind in life. You may be trying to invent the flashlight when the universe is trying to get you on track in a different direction.
A Daily Open-Minded Affirmation
I keep an open mind to all opportunities. I am an opportunity magnet!
Article reproduced with permission from Boaz Rauchwerger. You may reprint any of these articles in any publication or Web site so long as you credit Boaz Rauchwerger as the author and include this Web site address, www.Boazpower.com.