The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-04-22

the designs which secured a patent is the
coffin torpedo, the ider being to place a torpedo
in such position in the grave that any at
tempt to disturb the remains, except by those
duly authorized and who knew the location OF
the internal machine, would cause an explo-
sion and thus alarm the neighborhood, even If
it did not blow the ghouls to atoms Whether
the inventor has reaped large returns it is i'm
possible to say, as his business, from its very
nature, prevents publicity from following his
actions The danger of burial alive has haunt
ed the mind of many dying man, and worried
his friends long after his body has been laid IN
the ground. An imposing burial case designed
to quiet the fears of such people was invented
and patented by Franz Vester of Newark, n.
j.. in 1868. His plan consists in placing on the
lid of the coffin directly over the face of the
body square tube, which extends from the
coffin up through and over the surface OF the
grave. This tube contains a ladder and cord.
One end of the cord is placed in the hand OF
the person laid in the coffin, and the other is
attached to bell on top of the square tube.
The object of these preparations is to provide
means of escape should person suddenly re-
gain consciousness, after being pronounced
dead and buried If he is strong enough after
his unpleasant experience he will crawl from
the coffin to the ladder and mount from the
grave to the surface by this means. If, how
ever, he finds himself too much exhausted to
avail himself of this grave escape, he can pull
the rope in his hand, which will ring the bell
and give the alarm, when the cemetery auth
critics will proceed to dig him up. After
sufficient time has elapsed, no signal being
given, to satisfy his friends that the man is
really dead the tube can be removed and laid
away for future use Its removal acts upon
the spring in the lid OF the casket which
closes glass door over the face Of the corpse
AMUSING PATENTS.
Some OF the applications made for patents
are very amusing, but however funny the idea
if it is only original with the applicant, the
patent can be secured. The rights OF the
American inventor are sacred, and no commits
sioner of patents dare infringe upon them. 1t
will be sad news to many a prudent housewife
to learn that every time she pricks hole in an
egg with pin she is violating the patent OF an
American inventor, but such is the case.
Years ago an inventive genius devoted himself
to discovering method to prevent eggs from
cracking during the process of boiling. He
solved the problem by pricking pin hole in
one end of the egg, through which the air in
the shell was allowed to escape, and this PIN
hole he duly patented according to law. Pre-
cisely how he managed to collect his royalty is
a mystery, but the fact remains that he has
legal claim on every pinhole made in an egg
before boiling. An application has recently
been made through Mum & Co., for the pat
emit of machine to prevent young orphan
chickens from being lonely. This in an inven-
ton which should, and probably will, commend
itself to Mr. Bergh. The inventor claims that
hundreds of chickens Matched out in the artif-
Cldl luCuUdlOrb D6COu6 lOu6iy U6CduS6 bu0y
miss the "cluck! cluckf' of the mother hen,
which is the lullaby of all we'll regulated chick
ems Matched in the natural way, and many are
killed by this loneliness. He has arranged
system of clock-work which produces noise
somewhat similar to that of the ben, which he
proposes to attach to the incubator, and on
this machine the patent is asked A patent
was issued on clog for fowls, designed to pre-
veni them from scratching in gardens. 1t
consists OF wire in thu shape of hairpin,
sharp at the points. This is attached to the
feet of the fowl in such way that when it at
tempts to scratch the points enter the ground
and prevent the claws from reaching it. Hens
have ever been the subject of much patient
thought on the part of inventors. A nest de-
signed to deceive them into laying more than
the one egg daily which every respectable
bird contributes to the farmers larder has
been devised and patented. 1t has false
bottom, through which the egg drops as soon
as laid, and the patient hen, feeling that she
has failed in her duty, proceeds to lay anoth-
or and another until her treasure becomes ex-
hausted or she discovers the deception. A
beehive has been patented, the doors OF
which are attached to the henroost ia such a
manner that when the fowls go to roost they
close the hive and thus secure the inmates
against the ravages of the bee moth, and at
daylight, when the hen leaves the roost, the
hive doors are opened and the bees are at lib
erty. Even the faithful horse has been made
the subject of optical delusion by the inventors
A patent has been secured for what is known
as horse fence. 1t consists simply of wire
frame placed over the head of horse, so that
when he approaches fence with the laudable
desire of jumping it he mistakes it for part
of the fence and concludes that it is too high
for him to leap. These are some Of the Curl
osities of the patent office. The reader who de-
sires to investigate the subject further is re-
spectfully referred to that highly interesting
collection of literature known as the patent
Office Reports"