The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1882-05-12
CURIOUS PATENTS.

CURIOUS PATENTS.
Some investigating person mas fur-
nished the New Ork Times with brief
list of patents on small things-such as
apv man or boy might have thought of,
but didn't. and which in many instances
have proved mines Of wealth to the dis
eoyerer. For, iuasmuch as so many
minds might have hit upon these things.
they ought properly to be called discover
les instead of inventions, and are the
outcome of luck or chance, or whatever
one may choose to call that arrange
ment of circumstances which is not the
result of much forethouEht or logical
process, The steam engine, the team
ship, the locomotive, the telegraph, the
reaping machine, the pOweT-lOOm, the
sewing machine, the telephone, the cot
tOn-gin. the telescope and scores of sim
liar machines and instruments are truly
inventions. They require a logical and
philosophical combination of laws and
principles. But there are hundreds of
smaller things, chiefly petty cOnvenien-
ces and cOntTiyances for domestic use,
or amusing or entertaining toys, which
are more in the nature of discoveries.
These last have been only fOund-the
others were found out.
Among these tribes is the favOrite
tOv-the "return ball''-a wooden ball
with an eiastriC string attached, selling
for the sum of ten cents each, but yield
ing to its patentee an iBcOme equal to
fair returns on a capital of $500, 600.
The rubber tip on the eud of led pencils
affords the owner of the royalty an inde-
pendent fortune. The inventor of the
Pummed newspaper wrapper is also q
rich man. The gimlet-pOinted screw has
evolved more wealth than most silver
mines. and the man who first thought of
putting copper-tips to children's shoes is
as well off as if his father had left him
g. 900, 600 in United States bonds AL
though roller skates are not so much
used in countries where ice is abundant,
in South America, especially in Brazil.
they are very highly esteemed and have
yielded over 81. 600, 600 to their inventor.
But he had to spend 125, 600 III England Z
alone fighting infringements. The dan /
cling jim Grow, toy, provides an an
nual income of S30.0 600 TO its inventor. /
and the common needle threader is now /
worth $4,000 to the man that thought I
of it. The ''driye well'' is an idea of /.
Colonel Green, whose troops during the /.
war were in want of water. He con-
eeived the notion of driving a twO-inch (
tube into the ground until water was /
reached and theus attaching a pump,
This simple cOntrivance was patented (
after the war. and the tens of thousands Z
of farmers who have adopted It. have
been obliged to pay him a royalty, a
moderate estimate of which is placed at /
8. 600, 600. The spring window shade .
Yields an income equal TO an investment
of 81 .UOUUO; the 5tyiOgraphic pen. with .
which this article is written. also 81 600 .
600 the marking pen for shading in
different cOlOrs, 100000; rubber stamps .
the same a large fortune has been
Teaped by q Western miner, who. ten
years ago, invented a metal Tivet or eve
let at each end of the mouth Of bTeeches
or coat pockets 90 resist the strain cans
ed by the carriage of pieces of ore or
heavy tools. Fortunes have been made
ont OF the dead as well as the living
The torpedo grave, which will explode
when b0dy-suatchers meddle with it. is
one BONANZA another odd. but prObab- /
ly not lucrative one, is an open tube.
running from the ground TO the coffin
lid, just over the face of the corpse.
Il the person is in a trance or has been
been buried alive, he draws himself up
through the hole and returns to the sur
face by means of a rope ladder in the .
tube. III he prefers, however, to send
for assistance. he pulls a rope which
rings a bell near the top Of the tube.
After lying there long enough to assure
his friends that he has no intention of
coming back the tube is pulled up.
drawing as it comes a glass plate over
the inmate of the coffin.
Every time a woman pIicks the shell
of an egg preparatory to boiling It, she
violates patent-Tight, this having been
secured by some genius who discovered I
that it would prevent their breaking
during the process of boiling. It hav-
Tnr enTI T1T-
artificial heat do not thrive as well as
Others because they miss the maternal
affection expressed i'm the 'clUCk, cluck.' /
of the natural hen, an inventor has ta-
ken out a patent that initiates the
sound, soothing and charming the ten
der hearted, but beTeaved offspring with
its artificial Groom and cOnsOling the
young orphan with its mechanical sOIic-
itude. This is based evidently upon an
other patent for babies of a machine Op- /
Grated by clock-wOrh and producing
low and melancholy murmur which no
child, however wakeful, can successful
ly resist, but TO which f succumbs In
profound slumber. There is also the
false bottomed nest. which deludes the
hen into the belief that she has not laid
on egg, and combined with her will
own conscientious devotion 10 duty.
persuades her TO continuance Of her
work until she is exhausted or uudeceiv-
ed. a patent hen-rOOst. closes The doors
OF beehive at night and opens them
in the morning, protecting the hive
against the ravages of the bee-moth. a
wire frame strung above horses hc3lsis
also patented. 10 is meant 90 persuade
the animal that it is The top of q fence
too high for him % 0verieap. This. Of
course, presumos that the horse is am
ass.