The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-12-28
SOME ODD INVENTIONS.
STRANGE RESULTS OF HUMAN
TEOUGHT AND INGENUITY.

Pie Cupbosrd-The Drunken Shot
makers Dream-The Maine Cane
Preventive Against Sessickness.
The Tent Overcoat.
From the ST. Louis Republic.
"Heaven bless the man who invented
Sleep" said Sancho Panza, and many a man
has arisen and called them blessed who
have invented some simple trifies in nowise
as needful as balmy slumber. There is the
man who invented the bachelors button, a
knife-cut slit and a shiDgle nail. 80 that hid
den but strictly practical button-holes may
not remain hollow mockery, and u man
may go forth among his fellows in sus-
pender security and know not what il is to
| tremble for the safety Of his clothes or wish
wife and the trouble she causes. The name
of this benefactor of his kind Is unknown.
He was a humanitarian, and gained naugbt
by his knowledge but the gratitude of his
| fellowman.
Inventors have always been objects of in
terest. Poets have sung Of them, novelists
have dwelled upon them, and the play
wright uses them with great effect when
money is needed at the right time to battle
| the villain.
The list of curious inventions would fill a
book case, odd nnd ingenious, useful and
useless. in the past. in the present, from the
Bessemer steel process to the man who
heated a kettle full Of water, bored a hole
in the horse pond with an auger and scalded
| the fish TO death.
One hundred aud forty thousand per-
petuaI motion machines have been invented
and IS, 900 car couplers. And yet man de-
ponds on motion not perpetual, aud 5000
| brakemen are killed and manned each year
| ha nh min
ling. The most elaborate inventions have
sometimes ruined their promoters, and the
| most simple have sometimes made million
aires of their promoters.
The elder Goodyear, when but a boy.
mixing some soft rubber and sulphur to-
gether on a hot stove so the horrible
stencil would drive the folks
from the house and give him chance at
the cupboard where the pies were, saw the
heated vegetables and mineral particles mix,
then, coegulate and harden, and an appe>
tite for PIE and an ingenious, though un-
pleasant, way to clear the house to get at it,
1 had invented vulcanized rubber. the most
useful and widest known of materials to-
day in manufacture and commerce.
| A drunken SHOEMAKER in the good old
days whom shot was moulded one at time
by hand dreamed be was drunk aud 1t
rained hot lead and he was out in the
shower. There was snow on the ground,
up after the aliigators left him, and. after
emptying the wash pitcher, determined to
try bis dream. He climbed to the top of a
tall, old tower and flung ladleful of hot
lead down into the ditch below; then he ran
his hands down through the water and mud
on the bottom and hunted the lead. He
| found it. His dream was true; the lead
pellets were of different size, but perfect in
| shape.
The hot sieve and shot tower with water
at the bottom followed, and the dream that
the SHOEMAKER dreamed while horribly drunk
was the means of his becoming immensely
wealthy and being able to drink himself to
death like gentleman In two years.
The stylographic pen brought $2OO, 600 to-
its inventor and trouble and evaporation
on its users The india rubber tips on pen.
ellis were worth s100. 900; metal plates for
the sole and heels of boots g, $50, 600 A
minister invented a toy that netted him
! 81, 900 week.
The sixteen puzzle sent men to the mad
house and its inventor TO congress. The
pigs in clover made 800, 600 for its inventor
and brought palsy to happy homes. The
| roller skate inventors made, several of them,
from 1000, 900 to $500,O00 The little
wooden balls, with gum string and finger
ring attached, that would return to the
| hand when flung, were sold for l cent
| apiece, but the man who made them got
profit clear OF $4,000 a year. Dancing Jim
Grow also made an income for its origi-
nator. This geudy toy was $4,000 year
| to him.
The common needle threader made S50, 900
for its inventor. The copper cap for chill
| dren's Shoes in style fifteen years ago, made
the children of its inventor worth g., 000,-
900. Before the days of winding
watches. when keys were used. some bright
| ieweler put q hole through the kew barrel
like the eye in a needle. so it could be
cleaned easily when clogged with dust. and
patented the idea He is worth $4,000 to-
day. and the key-winding watches are obso-
| lete. Before the days of spring blinds
when curtain cords and catches were used.
Col. Horace Rssley then county clerk of
Allegany county, Maryland, invented a
cord and catch that worked like charm.
A ourtain-ixture man offered him $50, 900
for it. He refused, and kept up negotiations
for a year for 500, 900. The roller blind was
then sprung on the public, and Col. Resley'
patent wasn't worth a tinsmith's adjective.
Visitors at Washington last winter will
| remember the old Enghshman who ex-
hibited safety car Of his own invention on
the streets by the model of it running on an
incline plane. His idea was to save lives by
it. The engine ran 100 yards ahead and
pulled IL by q chain; the minute the engine
stopped and the chain became slack the car
stopped automatically. The old English
man was insane over his invention. He
sold printed explanation OF Il that con-
tanned TRADE against the air-brake as an
invention of the devil, and 50 made living
His idea was that in case of a collision, the
engine going through draw. or accident
or the like, the car would stop and the pas
sengers' lives be saved He had many
years ago invented an oil can. A simple
thing. But it had made him a fortune of
$4,000 All this he had spent in paying
for experiments with his safety car in
England, France and America. The utter
impractioability, of the car on down grades
and under other circumstances had been
shown time and again. but he still believes
Its worth will be recognized some time and
his name, through it, will rank with Ste.
phenson and Watts.
The nickel-in-the slot machines have made
and unmade Thousands, and yet still new in
ventions of the kind pour in the patent office
at the rate OF three day. The new way of
making rain by sending up balloons laden
with dynamite and exploding them at q
high altitude, a new experiment with an old
) idea, has been q doubtful success In New
Mexico and arid Arizona
The two modern inventions may be COM
l bined, and ere many years we may be able
to obtain a sun shower by dropping dime
in the slot, which will press the button and
the dynamite will do the rest.
In the wiids Of West Virginia the depre-
datory porker set the housewife wild with
rage by raising the gates by their shouts