Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1888-07-24

strange ones which come in every week, and
a celluloid hustle has lately been invented.
One Of the bustles made here is formed of
pliable rubber tubes, with enough machinery
about it TO work athreshing machine. Other
busties are made of wire, and the collection
OF hats among these models is curious In the
extreme. There are patented hats of all
shapes and sizes, and the models here shown
run back to 1860. One of the queerest Of
these has an umbrella fastened TO the top
and with a roll or curtain to button on the
umbrella like a veil. There are plug hats Of
all shapes and sizes, and the bonnets are Of all
kinds from the picturesque article the size
Of your hand to the old fashioned Shaker
bonnet which viii hold as much as a bushel
basket. A new rubber boot has lately been
invented. 1t hes gossamer leg with a series
Of buttons straps and stay laces, so that it
will fit the leg Of any wearer, and there is a
patent 5oap holder shown which prevents the
soap getting against the bath tub.
Some years ago a man tried to patent the
Lords Prayer, or rather the application Of
it repeated in q loud voice to prevent STAN
mering, and patent was applied for asking
the protection Of the principle Of attaching a
weight to a cows tail to prevent her from
switching it while being MIXED. There are
lots Of milking machines here involving the
principles Of both squeezing and suction, and
there are patents for tombs, patents for boot
| jacks, patent ant traps and rat traps The
| flying machines have also their quota and in
, fact there are machines for everything Under
the sun.
Ono of the leading men connected with the
patent Office tells me. that patents increase or
| diminish with the times. Plenty of money
| and prosperous business brings in an increase
| Of inventions, and New York applies for
more patents than any other state of the
! Union. Pennsylvania ranks second and Mas
sachusetts third as inventive centers, and the
kinds Of patents applied for correspond as a
rule with the business OF the section from
which they come Pennsylvania leads as g
! mining machinery, and the New Highlander,
as rule, gets out the Yankee notions A
number Of improvements in cotton machin-
cry have been patented by southern inven.
tors and the south seems to be or the in.
crease in the line Of invention.
asked this man as to the first patent
granted in the United States. He replied
that most Of the early models were burned
but that the earliest patent he knew Of wa,
given in colonial times TO Samuel Winslcw
who had invented a method OF manufacture
ing salt. Said he;
zone Of the famous inventors OF y hundred
years ago was a man named Dearborn from
New Hampshire. In 1857 he obtained patent
for a printing press, for distances and seal
and for a hand fire engine More than teI
years before this man named Shipman pre-
pared a water wheel to run by the cbb an,
fow Of tide, and Ben Franklin had, yol
know, a number Of inventions. Many Of Gu
greatest men have been inventors. Abraham
Lincoln had a patent, which is now in til
National museum, for lifting river vessel
over sand bars. And Admiral Porter's ollic
is flied with his inventions Of instruments q
, war. II is not generally known, but Ger
Washington invented a wine caster in orde
that the bottles Of vino might be moved th
more easily about tho table. And Jefferso
, was a man Of many inventions, some {
, which were good and some Of which wer
, not. Justice Lamar has invented a harrow
, though | think it has never been patented.
, ..Tho first patent continued this MAJ
! switch was ever granted by the governmeI
was 70 Samuel Hopkins, OF Connecticut, f,
I making pot and pearl ashes and this WI
after 1890 Before this the patents wei
/ granted by tho various states. Our paten
: now amount to over 10000 a year. In Isl
? there were only forty patents issued, and
late as 1850 the annual number of patents he
not reached one thousand. We have Fl
times as many patents given out every We
now as We had in the sixties, and inyentio
seem to grow faster than the country. The
have been nearly 100000 patents issued sin
1886, and we are the liveiest inventive matte
on this big round earth
THOMAS J. TODD.