On May 10, 1876, church bells rang throughout Philadelphia as President Ulysses Grant turned the switch that started the great Corliss Corliss Steam Engine in Machinery Hall. The Corliss Engine powered machinery throughout the fairgrounds through drive shafts measuring almost a mile in length. You can see a picture of the Centennial Engine in the next exhibit, together with a map of the fairgrounds and sketch of the Beaune Valve Works display.
Beaune valves were everywhere, embedded within the machinery and hidden from view. The steam typewriters and steam clocks used tiny Beaune valves. The steam-powered Heinz Ketchup squirter and Hires Root Beer brewing machinery used small Beaune valves. The Pennsylvania Railroad's replica of the John Bull steam locomotive used medium Beaune valves. And the great Corliss Centennial Steam Engine, which stood forty-five feet tall, used a brace of the largest Beaune valves yet produced.
In the Main Exhibition Building, away from the din of the Corliss engine, fairgoers clustered around the Beaune Valve Works exhibit and marveled at this product of American ingenuity. Young smartly-dressed men lectured the crowd about engineering progress and the progressive march of technology. Beaune wanted young attractive women to sell his products, but was dissuaded; who, after all, would believe that a woman could know anything about valves? In any case, the Centennial officials would not permit such a scandal.
Despite the encomiums to progress and ingenuity, the Beaune valve had not changed a whit since it was first introduced. August Beaune's method for keeping product design and development costs down was straightforward: the Beaune Valve Works developed no new products.
Instead, Beaune drew on his ample supplies of apple brandy and young, nubile women of easy virtue. Away from the fairgrounds, in the wood, leather and marble-clad rooms of the Union League Club, Beaune plied railway presidents and captains of industry with America's Finest Calvados and spoke glowingly about the virtues of the Beaune Valve: "See? It's different. It's patented. Permit me to fill your glass." Titans seeking a more detailed introduction to the charms of the Beaune Valve were escorted across the street to a hotel where Beaune's young and nubile personal assistants -- of which there were two and twenty -- were encamped in gilded suites.
Many titans were persuaded on the spot. Others, the more difficult cases, held out for cash bribes. They were not disappointed.
The Centennial Exhibition showcased American culture and industry to the world; foreign visitors marveled at American progress and industrial know-how. For the Beaune Valve Works, the Exhibition was a triumph of salesmanship and business graft in the tradition of Credit Mobilier.
