Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-06-05
WHAT YOU MAY INVENT
RULES AND SUGGESTIONS FOR IN
VENTORS TO FOLLOW.

What the Public Demands-Keep Your
Mind Alert and You May Come Upon
an Idea That Will Make Your Fortune.
Domestic Articles Sell Best.
There is vast amount of misinforma-
| tion extant with respect to inventions and
patents. The general impression in the
public mind is that about one out of ten
| patents is valuable, or ,-r0fitable, and that
whenever patent sells for large sum it
must, necessarily, be a good one, or if the
| patent is not sold it is therefore of no value
practically.
The records of the patent office show that
fully six-tenths of the patents issued pass
! by assignment, either wholly or in part, to
other parties, and the inference is therefore
very strong that some pecuniary consider
ations result to the inventors The facts
are that fully 20 per cent, of the patents
issued are profitable to the inventors. We
do not mean by this that they are bonanzas
or that they even furnish handsome com
petencies in the majority of cases, but we
do mean that fully that per cent. afford
fair, II not ample, compensation.
A large percentage of inventions cost less
than 800 in time, labor and means to per
feet and patent. If such an invention
should find a market at $500, for instance,
the public would regard it "a poor outcome
for the inventor and commiserate him on
his hard lot, and the better the invention
the more he is to be pitied. How many en-
terprises in any other line pay the same
percontage9
FALSE HOPES.
1t is to be regretted that so many patent
al ln1,
with respect to profits on inventions. In
many of their circulars it is made to ap
pear that all good inventions assure inn
mense figures. Nothing could be further
from the truth than this. To parade the
large figures which certain inventors have
obtained is we'll enough as a historical
fact, but it is no just criterion of the busi-
ness, and any attempt to use it in such a
manner, as many of them do, is an injus-
tice.
There are certain elements which are in
dispensable to the professional inventor
and which may be followed to his profit.
It has, probably, often occurred to you
after seeing some little invention that the
same idea has suggested itself to you; or it
is likely that the simplicity of the inven-
ton has caused you to exclaim: "Why
didn't think of that" Nothing easier in
the world to explain. The true inventor
looks only at results. Inventions come,
sometimes, like flashes of inspiration. If
we were to analyze the requisites of an in
ventor we should say he required;
/. Alertness to distinguish defects.
Q. Capacity to think.
g. knowledge of application.
The man who wonders why he 'never
thought of it" was not alert. The man
who Thought of it before" or invented
it long ago." failed in knowledge of appli-
cation. The man who couldn't invent if,
he tried had no capacity to think. But
what shall be said Of those whose inven-
tiOns come without effort? Are they any
the less inventions because they are pro
duced without any scientific reasoning
processP Are they any the less valuable
ON that accountp Most assuredly not A
novel bending of wire, the change of
form or proportion, the addition of a
wheel, or the combination of two old ele-
Inents, may all be invention and produce
results not heretofore attained.
Invention is a matter of Equality, not guam
tity. Some of the greatest and most profit
able inventions seem almost trifling in
their simplicity, and we refer to this to i'm
press on your minds that true invention
aims at the destruction of the complex.
The evolution of the sewing machine is an
illustration of this. The nearer the origi-
nal invention leaps from the brain of the
inventor in its simple form the greater is
that product. The tendency of most in
ventors is to multiply mechanical forms in
a machine, thereby opening avenues for
the admission of other inventors.
WHAT TO INVENT.
When we consider that the patent Office
reports show over three thousand different
subjects it would seem to be hopeless
task to offer any suggestions in this direc-
ton. Every individual has his own sphere
and comes in contact with varying phases
of business, or is liable to meet with me-
chanical difficulties. The question at the
outset is, "Will it payY" "If ! can oyer
come these objections or solve this difficult
ty, will be compensated for the time and
labor involved?" 1t will be seen at the
start that "what to invent" assumes a
more important phase, as pecuniary
measure, than the direction in which your
genius is to be exerted. However, for
quick selling and widely used inventions,
the line of domestic articles is probably
the most favorable.
It Is said that every great invention is
the forerunner of thousands of others,
or, rather, one fundamental or generic in
vention opens the path for thousands of
others which facilitate the operation of the
original idea. Thus the telephone awak
ened the whole electrical world. The cleo
trio light gave an impulse which cannot be
measured, and these two lines alone have
opened hundreds upon hundreds of inde-
pendent lines of invention. So in the
handling and refining of petroleum, in the
disintegration of grain by the roller process
and hundreds of other special branches
which we might enumerate.
The agricultural field is an important
one; the purely mechanical branch is profit
able, and affords pretty safe returns, and
it may safely be assumed that the produc-
ton of TOYS and novelties will always com
mand good figures If you keep your eyes
open the chance to evolve some new con-
ceit" will most assuredly offer itself to you.
If you proceed on the theory that your
present invention is the only thing of the
kind possible, or that it represents the ulti-
mate of perfection, or that it is the only
thing you can ever invent, and you must,
therefore, make your everlasting fortune
out OF il, we think the chances are you will
not find it extraordinarily profitable. You
may, but the chances are that your exalted
idea will attach such an unreasonable
figure to your invention that no one will
care 10 invest If, however, you proceed in
fair business way, and ask a reasonable
price, the market is always open to you
with pretty sure chance of success.-New
York World.
Light Keepers Hard Life.
The keeper in charge of the light on the
west breakwater at Stonington, Conn, by