Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-03-05
NEGLECTED. Ingenuity.

The Patent Office at Washington is
one of the most attractive places in the
country for thoughtful student of hui
man progress. It's records and show
cases present q picture of human inge-
nuity and growth of the inventive art
which cannot be paralleled elsewhere.
They present, also, vast number of at
fractions for the curious in models Of
inventions which have never been seen
or heard of outside the Patent Office,
touching and pathetic evidences, some
OF them, Of misapplied talent and in
genuity, and some of them Of sheer,
hopeless insanity.
Vast as this collection is, there is one
class of inventions which has no place
in it. It is pretty large class, too, and
embraces some exceedingly ingenious
appliances. These appliances are in
daily use throughout the country, some
by the inventors, and sometimes by
others; but with a generosity which is
very rare, the former give them to the
public without a thought of remunera-
ton of self-protection.
The class of inventions referred to is
made up of instrument for the punish
ing and torturing prisoners in reforma-
tories and penitentiaries. It is a very
large and constantly increasing class.
Many of the inventions comprised in it
betoken an extraordinary amount of in
ventive skill, a wonderful, not to saw
demoniacal, acuteness in the adaptation
of means to the end. Yet, strangely
enough, the more ingenious the inven-
ton, the less anxious the inventor OF
user to be credited with invention or
use and the last thing either of them
would think of is the procuring of
patent.
Every investigation into prison or re-
form-school discloses some instructive
novelty in this class of inventions.
Years ago, when the State prison at
Jackson was under investigation, it was
found that some bold genius had in
vented a sharp-backed wooden horse
for the prisoners to ride, and by means
of which the most acute anguish posi-
bic could be assured in phenomenally
short time. But so modest was the in
ventor that not only had he taken out
no patent, but his name was not dis
closed to the committee and remains
unknown to this day. In Maine com
mittee which conducted an inveStiga-
ton of the State reform school discover
ed surprising number of new devices
for giving pain and anguish to prison
ers who had disobeyed orders OF incur
red the hospitality of keepers. One
was "tower" just large enough for a
boy to stand in, with no seat, no bed, no
ventilation and only two auger holes
for light. Another, which was more
novel in application than conception,
was an anklet of iron weighing eleven
pounds, warranted to cure the worst in
fraction of discipline if worn day and
night for three months, as the commit
tee found it had been on several Occa-
slons. The ingenuity of the establish
ment found vent, also, in punishments
which required no particular mechan-
zeal appliance. For certain infractions
Of the rules the boys, sent there, in the
words OF the statute, as ito q refuge
from danger rather than a prison for
punishment" were compelled to stand
| all night in the dormitOFy, the ingen-
ious official losing his own rest to en-
force the decree. For other forms of
| disobedience the cure was to stand an
hour with the fingers touching the toes.
It seem unfortunate that when we
have place to display the inventive
genius of the great American people, all
these striking manifestations of it
should be kept from the public eye, ex-
cept when forcibly dragged to light.
There ought to be an alcove OF two in
the Patent Office specially devoted to
instruments or devices for torturing
prisoners and the inmates of reforma-
tory institutions. Then could the
patriotic citizen put new force into his
boast about the genius OF his country
men, while the students OF history
could learn how much civilization has
improved upon the methods of the bar
barians, who knew little beyond those
crude implements of torture, the rack
the thumbscrew, and the scavenger's
! daI1OhteT Detroit Free Press