Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-03-13

hoeis-hoW trains May Avoid Coll
isiOns- Other Curiosities.
Application was made some time ago
from Kentucky, says the New York World,
Tor patent for "tying weight of speci-
fc gravity to a cows tail to keep her from
switching it when you are milking"
The ingenious rustic failed to define
specific gravity, and he was very much sur
prised to get an answer from the ex-
aniner: Patent refused. idea old
Seems to be virtually the same as that in
vented by the squire of SPANS most
famous knight When the mule brayed
and disturbed his sleep Sancho Panza no
ticed that it always elevated it's tan stimuli
taneously, so no tied q weight of specific
gravity TO the mules tail, and the sleep of
Don Quixote was disturbed no more"
An odd patent has been granted TO shut
the moth-miler out Of bee-hives. A rural
observer noticed that, by some curious
provisions Of nature, the moth-miller got
into bee-hives at the very time chickens
went to roost. He acted accordingly, and
his device makes the weight Of the
chickens, when they fly 20 the roost, close a
gate at the mouth Of the bee hives, which
effectually excludes the moth. The in
ventor thoughtfully says, in his applica-
ton: but expect that, after a time, the
miller may get sense enough to keep watch
of the chickens and come in a few minutes
earlier"
An application for gas patent proposes
TO make gas by cheating air red-hot"
A funny patent, for which there is not an
extensive sale, Is a spiral spring for mules
feet, 10 elevate the animals eight inches
from the ground. This is for use only in
war, and enables howitzer to be fired from
mules back without breaking his legs by
the recoil. 1t is said to I'LL a mule with as
constituent and to make him seasick
Another patent, actually granted, some
what analogous to this, is for stills for
horse. They are adjustable, and can be
fastened on two legs of horse on the same
side, $50 as TO plow with the animal on a
side hilp The opinion of the horse con-
corning the value of this invention is not on
file. In one of the cases of the patent Office
is tape-worm trap for which patent
was granted. ltprovides for batting hook
In peculiar seductive manner and artfully
lowering it down the throat Of the afflicted
person. The department did not insist on
seeing it in action.
The agricultural contrivances are very
numerous, and some Of them are so in
genfous as to suggest that the inventor
must have sat in the warm corner of the
fireplace and thought upon them all win
tor. One farmer has utilized horses step
by fastening corn-planter to each of his
fore feet so that, in driving him across
the field, he will punch the seed into the
ground and cover il at every step all day,
for his boots are filed with corn.
Another presents a curious combination
OF war and peace in "the cannon plow,"
the iron plow-beam being hollow and
charged witha cannon-ball, so that if Gin
IL hryf f,,4 h.
open field he may merely touch off the
plow-handles and scatter dismay and de-
struction among the advancing enemy
But in this valuable device, as In so many
others, the brute creation are lost sight of,
and there seems TO be no arrangement for
suddenly wheeling the unsuspecting mule
around out Of the way of the posterior
grape-shot This omission should be reme-
died before the remarkable combination plow
is brought into general use.
A patent exists for mounting a house on
wheels so that 1t may be turned around on
a circular track, the benefit being that ev-
cry part OF the residence is thus alternate
ly brought to the front gate, and the sun,
which is VIGOROUSLY limited to a semi-cir-
cult, is made to shine in every window, in
spite OF the laws Of the solar system lam
sorry TO report that this patent Is nearly
run out, and that if people with cavernous
and darlsome rooms would take advan-
tage of it they must do so without delay.
There is patent for putting springs I'M
der house TO keep an earthquake from
tumbling it down-by the inventor of the
howitzer-resisting mule.
Worthy of notice here is the scheme for
supplying cities with milk. The inventor
proposes to lay a complete system of pipes,
fill them with water to keep them pure and
cool, diet in milk at the end This would
seem to be the case Of accidental protection
for the producer.
An application was made for patent for
ga device 10 enable dog to turn a short
corner" but is yet hung up in the patent
office on account OF doubts of it's utility.
The inventor said he had noticed that dog
in turning a corner rapidly always pro
jected his tail in an opposite direction,
striving thus TO overcome his momentum.
This claimant claims a palm-leaf fan so tied
to a dogs tail that it will operate vertl-
cally, and thus enable him more readily to
alter his course
A curious patent has been granted ''to
enable trans TO avoid collisions" 1t pro-
vides that one train shall be supplied With
prolonged incline cow-catcher in front
and rear, so that the other train, appearing
unexpectedly, instead of telescoping, will
run right up on the topof it and over on to the
level track at the other end The inventor
is now cudgeling his brain to decide which
train shall be the climber and which the
clumb. The department did not demand
the production OF a working model nor the
performance of the feat