, 1890-04-02
INVENTORS PRODUCTS.
MODELS OF INGENUITY THAT TELL
MANY SAD TALES.

Mementos of Brains to BE Seen In a Legal
Curiosity shoP-AutomatIc Machines. Pain
Killers and Organ Attaehments-Unfortu-
nate Creations.
On one side Of the spacious fourth story of
the postofice building are several large rooms
set apart for the use OF the clerks Of the
United States circuit court. A veritabIe curl
oSity shop it is, and there the writer recently
spent an interesting half day examining, in
company with Deputy Clerk Bradlee, the
numerous collections, for there are stored
nearly all the models and exhibits, the sub
jects of innumerable patent causes adiudi-
Gated in the circuit court since its establish
ment, nearly one hundred years ago.
The law provides that all models and rK-
hibits shall be kept in the custody Of the
clerk, unless they are otherwise disposed OF
by order Of the court, and here, therefore,
they are, with the exception OF n small pro
portion which have been sent 10 Washing
ton, whore an appeal has been taken from
the circuit courts decision.
Some Of the earlier inventions are ridicu-
lousy clumsy, fashioned to do work which Ia
these days Is done by m~echaniSmsof as greater
subtlety Of design as that the modern loco
motive has over the grasshopper engine Of
the early days of r~ailroading. Yet even
these crude machines reveal in their con
struction evidence that they are the parents
Of the wonderful mechanisms Of our day, and
once in "A while one is brought into court for
the purpose of defeating a claim by showing
that it anticipated all the claims Of the later
invention.
Here are models over which litigation was
hot and fierce for years, and which brought
to the successful itigant wealth and riches
and honor, and others, like the Improvement
in spindles for looms, which, had the plain
tiffs been successful, would have brought TO
the latter millions Of dollars in royalties.
REJECTED DEVICES.
In a corner is a ponderous contrivance for
sewing shoes with wire, which only requires
the belt and pulley and the hand of the
skilled workman to set 1t in motion. and it
can do Its work as handny as in the busy
factory.
Side by side with this are the works Of
three or four parlor organs, which were used
in u case which demonstrates that the tromolo
attachment was a ~patentahle invention, and
although it Is many years since the organs
were placed here they give forth a creaking
music as the foot moves the pedals and the
fingers press the keys.
Near by are several little chairs for chill
dren, intended to be used as high chairs, or,
by the operation OF a lever, they can be con.
verted into a sort of pe%rambulator.
Standing upon n shelf near the chairs Is a
time lock for safes, which is the subject of a
suit commenced many years since, and still
pending; the works under the glass covering
are still bright, and as the key was turned
and the springs adjusted the tiny wheels
sprang into motion and licked away as though
it were but yesterday the work had been fin
ished.
Just over this on a shelf, dangling from a
Ip.,l. - l,ut .rA- .....u- IL. -. = -.
teeth, brought into court for the purpose OF
establishing n claim to a patent on dental
vulcanite.
A huge pile of papers and printed books Of
dispositions in one corner Of the room relate
to the claims Of the plaintiff in the once eel
ehrRted Woodbury. patent planer case, which,
had the plaintiff won. would nave been worth
TO him, 1t Is said, about $40, 900. 900, but he
lost the case.
SOME CURIOUS INVENTIONS.
Modern dress reform is recalled by a dusty
package of women's undergarments, which
has lain undisturbei for now nearly Il quar-.
ter Of Il century.
Several large bottles Of a greenish liquid
bring to mind the fact that Isaac Adams cs.
tablished his right to the discovery Of nickel
plating and made n fortune out of it.
Several Of the models evidence that the
greatest talent possessed by the Inventor"
was cheek. One of these wanted patented
all arrangement OF dies for cutting leather
sOleS, the invention consisting simply in plac-
ing the dies side by side with the heel aud toe
alternating so that there was little waste OF
material. The court dismissed the invention
FOR want of novelty. Another person wished
patented a somewhat similar arrangement of
dies for cutting paper collars, but he failed.
still another sought TO patent a process for
bronEing iron, which consisted merely in
coating the material with linseed oil and
baking it in an oven. 1t was, strangely
enough, successful in several of the inferior
courts, but the supreme court of the United
States decided against him, and he celebrated
the decision by blowing his brains out.
One ingenious machine is SO constructed
that a hide thrown upon it is automatically
measured and the number of square feet it
contains is registered upon a dial, and the
most singular fact about this invention is
that two minds should have invented two
such machines as they are, intended to do the
same work, and each SO closely resembling
the other.
II is u fact that great incomes have been
derived from very simple nventions-for in
stauce, such as the combination of the spiral
spring and a bird cage.
These two articles separately We're familiar
to everybody and in general use, but oneday
1t entered the mind of a fortunate man to
join the two together; it met a long felt
want and the courts decided that while
neither the spring nor the cage alone was
patentable, the combination was, and it is
stated that the inventor received from the in
vention an income Of over $1,000 a year for
many years, if not during the entire life Of
the patent.
Another simple article. out of which much
money was made, was the continuance made
by attaching a piece Of brass or steel, with IA
thin slot in the centre, to n piece OF elastic,
the combination being used in holding up
children's stockings-Boston Globe.