showed his great technical prowess from an early age. His father, William, took his own life in January 1897, ostensibly due to failure of the First National Bank of Illinois, which he had founded. Upon her husband's death, Idea, who was an artist, relocated to France with Laurens to further her studies, and the family spent the next eleven years in France and Germany.

Early inventions

When the family returned to Evanston in 1909, Laurens, then 14, was fluent in French and German. While in Europe, he had already designed a

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