The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1873-01-10
Patelt-o oGsce curiosifies.

eTIeS that shall benefit i!'e WOlld more tii.tu
any past invention. We have brldsed tie
lightning and taught it 70 carry messages;
but suppose the awful force Of electricity,
that can crush the hardest rock and bring
4 more Tremendous power TO bear instant
aucouSly on a given point than any known
motor, should Ge as subject 10 our control
as steam i>-iu that instant the motive
power of The world is more tirtn doubled.
Nlth!n twenty years the burden of sewing
has been taken OF the mother and sister
and pat on the machine. suppose the fly
ing wind that hovrrs over our roofs should
bG imprisoned and - used that 1t should
perform all our domestic labor before the
airy captive should escape! There Is 10
power on earth 50 great % steady, so mas
Slve. as the tide. ! HICC each recurring
day IL lifts the whole body OF sea water
number Of feet into air. 1t peuctatcs up
every creek and stream and river, forcing
the water to rise and o7erwhelIn tie solid
land. Should tins immense amount uT tidal
power, that uNelupCs the whole would, be
come subject to iEc vii! Of man and forced
to do his bidding, we should have an IN
StIulucutalitv to bear the burdens Of man
kind infinitely more powerful and more
general than anything ROW IL use. We
travel today on solid earth should some
of the numerous applicants for patents for
the use Of balloons or flying machines hap
/
travelling upon the wings OF the wind, what
would become Of railroads and turnpikes
aud steamboats,? Nor are these idle spec
uIatiOus. The employment Of lightning,
or wind, of tide, of air, will not seem 50
strange TO our enlightened children as tnc
telegraph, the sewing machine, the rail
road and the steamboat seemed to their
grandparents. The child may now be liv-
ing vino VIII Yet see them all the willing
slaves Of man. joyous to do his bidding III
the service of humanity.
The vast majority Of patents contain no
remarkable invention they merely make
some slight progress upon existing facts.
Not III one great tide OF invention does IN
provement come, but rather in small, gen
tie waves, each advancing almost imper-
eeptibly further than its predecessor. And
it is that slight difference that gives sue
cess to patents. The inventive mind IS so
constantly on the stretch that similar claims
are constantly made by rival inyentogs.-
When petroleum first began to eulighJen
our darkness there were twgIity i've claim
ants at one time before the office, all ask
ing for substantially the same mode Of Iaia-
ing oil out of the solid earth AND when
velocipcdes so suddenly leaped into fashion
q few years ago, 432 applications for yclHcI-
BCde PATENTS were fled within four months,
and Of these thirty-tETCe were contempO-
rary claims for the same Idea. livery
spring brings forth a crop Of stove patents,
each manufacturer preparing t5r the com
iug winter 10y striving 10 sr4IasS Lis rivals
IN the prettIest pattern and the greatest
warmth giving power. Few persons tllial<
much OF the form Cf the lamp they buy
yet lamp patents are renewed oYeIg year.
At one time the student lamp, with an AZ
gaud burner, yields It's lna2utaC;uGCr =
small fortune; the next year some ioItU-
nate genius notices that two wIcks give III
impcrcept ibly larger ligL. jH.Ci lie aIghnu; {;
and the patent he obtains brings h!M prom
incEce in all the lamp markets ot t!c coull-
tTv. One Of the most essential elements IN
patents is novelty; yet applicants are con-
tinuaLy made for aJynts based on IDEAS as
old as the Christian cya. Iliny, whiting
in the first century, describes haIvesteIs
for heading grain rs then in existence on
the plains oi GaUl and P3iadiUS mentions
them again IL the fourth century; but both
Of these lacked some idea that would adapt
them to general use IaIloTs' machines
We're in smooth running order III Paris long
before Hunt and Howe perfected the pres
ent invention. it remained for the Amer
leans 10 tighten .ac domestic cares Of the
female sex throughout the world.
Most patuut-rignls are limited in the ap-
plcatiOH. Eat q patent of wide use, how
ever small tie TO saity it pays, benefits the
happy inventor with a large profit IL inyen- ven
company makes about three Thousand a
weCk inventions for the use Of india rub
Ger foT ag:icultula III implements, fire aims
and mCdIlicatiunS of leather and paper,
have accumulated fortunes. Nor IS it pos
sble 10 ,ell the extent OF the IamiiicauOns
OF patent. i few years siuce all the den
fists of the country combined TO break an
india rubber patent; every one OF them
had to pay royalty whenever lie inserted
a set of teeth on vUicaniZed rubber. Their
combination failed, and the royalty is still
paid. One of the most profitable patents
ever issued in this country was for the
manufacture of horseshCes. In England
one of the most lucrative has been the
Bessemer manufacture of steel. Most pat
ents concern themselves with agriculture
or domestic labor. In one year two hun
dred and twenty patents We're granted for
cuiIivators. two hundred and ten foFplows,
one hundred and eighty for churns, one
hundred and Seyenty-tivc for washlng-Ina-
chimes, one hundred and ttty-one for sew
;uo-machines, one hundred and forty Tor
etF7yee. and another one hundred and forty
for oates. Nearly eighteen hundred pat
ents nave been issued for sewing machines
and their attachments; and the applica-
tions for newer inventions come IN daily.
For these applications for patent rights
Increase much faster than the population.
In 1851 there were two thousand of them
in 1870 nineteen thousand one hundred and
seventy-one. Of which thirteen thousand
three hundred and twenty-onc were grant
ed. Inventive skill does not depend upon
education. Prussia is as wen educated as
this country; but III 1856. only one hundred
and three patents were issued in Prussia,
as against thirteen thousand in this cUun-
try. Vermont has as good schools as Mass
achusetts; but the Bay State secures ten
per cent. of all the patents granted to the
nation, while the Green Mountain State
has less than one per cent. To quicken
the inventive mind demands a large amount
of capital engaged in manufacture, a skill
ed body Of worlImen, and profit in tie
Improvement of manufactures. " here
these coexist patents are in demand.
As a general rule, valuable inventions
are the result of long years Of close thouShI
and much expenditure of tine ana money
CauitaI never offers Itself to the inventor
,t1,o,,+ ~, ,,,.,,,,,;-o of an enlarged and