An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., The Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL., 1893, page 422 JOSEPH GRUBER, of Vancouver, Clarke county, was born in Germany, July 25, 1824, a son of Johan and Vincensia Gruber, both now deceased. Joseph, the third in a family of six children, was educated for the priesthood, but nature had intended him for a mechanic. He came to America in 1864, and in the same year enlisted in Company O, Fourteenth United States Infantry, served his time in Arizona, and was honorably discharged in 1869. Mr. Gruber then spent many years in San Francisco, California, and in 1882 removed to Portland, Oregon, but in the following year came to Vancouver, Washington. He has devoted his entire time for many years to an invention, which has at last been brought to a successful completion, and his associates are well pleased with the result of his labors. The machine is automatic in construction, and produces power by a new process. In all probabilities the vexed question of perpetual motion has been solved, and, should his invention prove to be all that is claimed for it, his theory will do away entirely with steam power. The use of fuel for creating power may become a thing of the past, and at no distant day our ocean steamers may dispense with boilers and coal bunkers. Many of Vancouver's scientific and learned gentlemen are financially interested in the enterprise, and a contract has been filed at Washington to secure a patent. Mr. Gruber was married in San Francisco, California, in 1877, to Christina Myer. Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in October 2003 by Jeffrey L. Elmer * * * * Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the individual featured in the biographies.