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

Small Inventions Which Have Built up
Fortunes-The Curiosity Productions
Born of Necessity-Som Amusing Pa
tents.
The records of the United States patent office
in Washington are filed with curiosities of the
inventive genius of Americans which are cal
culated to astonish the seeker after knowledge
who consalts them. OF the great inventions of
the age, such as the telegraph in its various
branches, the telephone, the steam engine, and
other grand productions of inventive energy
the world is well informed, but of the smaller
and simpler articles designed for the practical
benefit or amusement Of mankind little notice
is taken by the general public. The streets
down town are sprinklei with itinerant VEN
ders of small articles, SO simple in themselves
that the passer-by sees nothing in them to ex-
cite remark, or which, to his mind, he is not
himself capable of originating; and yet these.
articles, insignificant as they seem, are all COW
cred by patents, and from many of them large
fortunes have already been made by the inven-
tor, and are still rolling up to reward him for
his originality. A patent once granted pro-
his idea for the time during which the patent
runs, and he controls the manufacture of his
article as absolutely as he does the real estate
which stands in his name. Every change made
in the original article must itself be patented
in order to secure it against appropriation by
others, and for this reason nearly every large
invention, such as the telephone is covered by
number of patents, each one protecting some
special feature which has been added since the
production of the original article Nothing is
too small, nothing too simple in construction
or too cheap in manufacture to be made the
subject of patent Indeed the smaller and
simpler the article the more necessity there
is for the inventor to secure himself in this
way, for cheap things can be infringed upon by
anybody, while large articles require capital
for their construction. The only condition re-
quired to entitle an inventor to patent is that
his idea shall be absolutely new, and shall not
infringe on the patent of any other inventor.
This condition existing, any article, however
simple, can be secured to its originator by
RE bib dsina A IF SscIrihg PATENTS las
grown to such proportions that thousands of
lawyers, all over the country, devote them
selves entirely to it, and the applications made
through those firms to the patent office are SO
numerous that large corps of government
clerks are kept busy all the time in examining
and passing judgment upon them. A great
number are found to be worthless, and num-
bers more are found to be infringements upon
existing patents, and are reiectedi on this
ground, but, after eliminating all these, the pa
tents granted yearly amount to thousands, and
of these many prove to be mines of wealth to
their fortunate owners.
OF the patent articles which have made their
owners independent, some of the most valua-
BILE are those which any schoolboy might pre-
sumably have invented, only no schoolboy did
so, and the man who did is now reaping
the reward of his foresight. During the sum-
mer months a favorite toy is what is known as
the return ball" 1t consists simply of an Or
binary rubber bali, to which is attached long
piece of elastic. The end of the elastic is held
In the hand, or tied around the finger, and
when the ball is thrown it goes far enough to
stretch the elastic to its utmost tension, and
then returns to the hand as the effect of the
recoil. This little device is patented, and sells
for the small sum of ten cents on the street,
and at slight advance in the fashionable toy
stores. It is found in the hands of thousands
of boys and girls throughout the country, and
yields to the holder of the patent an income
equal to that on capital of $500 900 The rub
Der tip on the end of lead pencils, which is
used for erasing false marks, is also secured by
patent and for every tip used the manufactur-
ers pay royalty to the inventor, which gives
him an independent income. The consump-
ton of these pencils is very great, and the SIM
pie idea of tipping them with rubber has placed
the man who originated it beyond the reach of
need in the future, SO long as he clings TO his
patent. Another very simple but very valua-
BILE invention is the gummed paper wrappers,
which obviate the necessity of using mucilage
or paste to secure papers for the mails. The
patent is on the application of the gum to the
wrappers, and royalty is paid to the inventor
on every wrapper thus prepared. AS the num-
Der of wrappers used daily in the forwarding
of mails amounts to hundreds OF thousands, the
income derived by the inventor from his royal
ty will be seen to be magnificent one. The
gimlet pointe dscrew was patented in 1876. 1t
is familiar to everybody and, and millions have
been realized from its manufacture, yet SO SIM
pie is the principle that the wonder is that it
was not thought out and applied almost as far
back as the age of iron. One of the most valu-
able of the small and simple inventions is that
of the patent shoe tip. Every parent who has
to provide shoes for his children knows to his
cost that one great popularity of the youth of
the present fast age is tendency to wear off
the toes of shoes. In the case of the average
boy and of the average girl, too, the toe is the
first part of the shoe to disappear. To provide
against this and equalize, as it were, the wear
and tear of leather on the feet of Juveniles, an
ingenious father who had suffered much in,
pocket at the hands of boot and shoe dealers,
invented the shoe tip and patented the article. 4
1t consists simply OF small leap OF copper
or other metal attached to the toe of the boot
or shoe. 1t is now in use in every town and
city of the land which is inhabited by the small
boy, and the value of the patent to the holder
is fully $2,000,000.
Probably the most valuable patent in the toy
line ever taken outlin this or any other country
is that which secures the Plympton roller
skates to its holder. The cho.eric old gentle
man gets knocked about by score of urchins
on rollers when walking up Fifth Avenue on a
summer day has but faint idea OF the number
of these articles in use throughout the world.
The streets are full of them, but these repre-
sent but small quota of the vast number man
ufaetured and sold. The idea upon which the
patent is issued is simply the attachment of
rollers upon skate plates, and on this patents
have been secured in England and in many OF
the South American countries Skating on
rollers bears but a faint resemblance to skating
on ice, but it is exilarating sport, nevertheless,
and sprang at once into popularity with the
young of both sexes In Brazil and other trop-
ical countries where ice is unknown, and skat-
ing impossible except upon artifcially frozen
ponds, the rollers were greeted as veritable
godsend, and Kinks with smooth earthern floors
sprang up like magic. The value of the paten.
on roller skates to its holder is estimated y
over 81 ,000, 600, and he expended over Sl25,O0O
in legal expenses alone to prevent the patent
from infringement in England. The dancing
negro who can be seen in any toy shop, and
which is simply a figure of Dinah or Jumbo
balanced by a wire, which is moved rapidly up
and down by a system of clock-work in the box
upon which it dances, provides an income for
its inventor of $4,000 year. The common
needle threader, to be found on sale at nearly
every street corner is worth $4,000 year to
the man who thought out the problem which
might easily have been solved by boy of ten
years. only 1t was not.
The ingenuity of inventors has not been con-
fined to efforts to add to the comfort and
necessities of the living. They have devoted
their energies also to improving the resting
places OF the dead, and new designs and ap-
planes for coffins and caskets are being con-
stantly presented to the patent office with ap-
plications for patents The stealing OF A. L.
Stewards body started host of inventors into
new line of labor, the object being to prevent