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port necessary for its general exploitation
; and so obsessed was he in the problems
of invention that his consequent
neglect of his journalistic duties brought
temporarily devote his energies to the
more prosaic labors of a laundryman,
which expediency was dictated by his
condition of pocket. The steam laundry
enterprise, notwithstanding his endeavors
in co-operation with three successive part-
ners, failed to better his financial condi-
tion, and he finally had to abandon the
business. He then compiled a directory
of the city and county for the following
year, a laborious work which redounded
to his credit as an accurate compilation
of detail. A firm of publishers, recogniz-
ing its merits, bought it, and with the
money thus obtained, added to the pro-
ceeds of the sale of his laundry business,
Mr. Des Jardins applied himself with renewed
vigor and hopefulness to the per-
fection of his inventions. Soon, however,
he was again without means, and again
had to set the material before the theoretical
; he secured an appointment on
the Kalamazoo "Gazette" and for a while
was content to devote only his spare
moments to his mechanical devices, but
soon his financial status had so far advanced
that he was again able to take up
his studies at Kalamazoo College. In the
summer of 1883 ne traveled through Ohio,
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
Breyfogle, later president of the Monon
Route Railroad; R. W. Meredith, of the
"Courier Journal" of Louisville; and Mr.
E. A. Maginess, secretary of the Louis-
him, almost unnoticed, to the point ville Exposition, which was in progress
whereat he no longer had that source of at that time. In its outcome, however,
income, and he was eventually compelled the introduction was disappointing to the
to forsake his collegiate studies, so as to inventor, as the three gentlemen, though
much interested in Mr. Des Jardins's in-
ventions, eventually decided not to undertake
their exploitation, so that young Des
Jardins had perforce to continue his business
trip through the middle west, and
to finally return to Kalamazoo, there to
again resume his newspaper work. But
encouraged by the near-success at Louisville,
he from that time on was wedded
to his art, and so as to gain access to
future possibilities, Mr. Des Jardins removed
to Chicago, in the fall of the year
1884, and opened an office for drafting
and designing machinery. He did well,
and was now in the sphere to which his
talents best fitted him. Ere long he became
secretary of the Inventors' Association
of the State of Illinois, in which
capacity he developed the acquaintance
of many of the leading engineers and
mechanical experts of that important
centre, and by his able counsel grew thoroughly
into the esteem of his co-workers,
meriting their implicit confidence in his
ability as an inventor, and thereby at-
tracting to his support the financial in-
terest of which he stood so greatly in
need. This support, emanating from the
late Senator Frank B. Stockbridgfe, en-
Indiana and Kentucky, using his vacation abled Des Jardins to construct an experiperiod
in strenuous labor, as a means mental machine at the Chicago Model
whereby he might become better condi- Works, and to open a model shop. Sub-
tioned for subsequent studies, and in a sequently, however, this shop was aban-
position to more freely take up his hobby, doned by Mr. Des Jardins, as more profit-
But the knowledge of his ingenious con- able connections were then at his hand;
trivances had preceded him, and in Louis- he became associated with the business
ville, Kentucky, Mr. Des Jardins was ap- department of the Chicago "Inter-Ocean,"
proached by three capitalists : Dr. \V. L. which appointment allowed him more
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