Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-13

from room to room of the Patent Office to
study the intricate system by which patents are
finally issued or rejected. and the reading OF
the many very excellent papers on invention
past and prospective had very small audiences
They cared, most of them, very little for the
rhetoric of the occasion, but everything for the
| practical knowledge they could gain.
In the main it was convention OF rich In
ventors. In the main 1t was q convention
| rather OF those who have made money out OF
other people inventions rather than their own.
| The real inventor, the man who has struggled
In poverty and discOuragement to bring to a
successful point some great creation for the
| saving of labor. of time, and for the produc-
tion OF things for the mass that could only be
| enjoyed of the few, or by nobody at all, before.
is in pitiable minority 1t is surprisn9 to
find after sitting the personality Of the visitors
as far as possible, how few of the comfort
able gentlemen present are of those who
have even got their "start' by sue
cessful invention, the legitimate creation
OF their own fancy and ingenuity.
1 have seen men this week strutting about
| with hundreds of thousands, and even millions
at their backs, parading themselves as the in.
ventor Of some grand machine, the invention
called by their name, when they had little or
| nothing to do with the invention except to buy
| or steal it from the real inventor; and very
| often the so-caled purchase of an invention is
| but the equivalent Of stealing it because of
the advantage the purchaser has takon to the
| pecuniary necessities of the inventor.
| IurcudSeu, Not 1drucus
| Men have posed this week as inventors who
have made business Of brlbing persons inside
| the Patent Office to give them tips in regard to
| descriptions of Inventions for which patents
are asked and who by hook or crook have got
ahead Of the real inventor, fled their papers,
and by some hocus pocus had the dates ar
ranged so that their application came in ahead
of the original one. Of course instances Of
this kind are rare. for taking into consideration
the opportunities and temptations dishonesty
in the inside of that great Institution is indeed
uncommon. The great fraud among so-called
inventors is in the purchase for song of vain.
| able inventions from the real inventors, and
then attaching their sign manual to the creation
| of the other fellows brains.
| Thousands of men of wealth in the country
do little else but lie In wait for the impecuni-
ous inventor, and by one means and another
| get him into their tolls and soon crowd him to
| the wall and take possession of his invention.
| We learn of these things here to An astounding
extent. Out of the % O00 or nearly that, patents
| granted every year, few are developed at all
| into an operative condition, and OF those few
| the number is Insignificant which remains in
| the hands of the real inventors. For the want
| OF means to develop, vast majority OF the in
| ventions of the world are lost. and of the re-
mainder the reward for the years of toll and
complex operation OF inventive genius goes to
the wrong man. This is a deplorable economy,
| and there should be some way to avoid it. It
seems to me that Government commission
should be appointed to seek out and save the
useful inventions that go to oblivion because
inventors cannot put them before the public
| themselves and refuse to give them away to the
rapacious capitalist who lies in wait for the
impecunious genius to feed upon his fancy and
toll and brain.
One Inventor Who VIII Not Sell.
know very well one eminently worthy in.
ventor now a resident of this capital, who
few years ago invented a thing which promises
| immeasurable good to the world. which is now
being used by some of the great cities of the
country, but which he was forced by his pc
cuniary necessities to dispose Of for small
amount to company which is now organized
on basis of millions, and whose stock is at
par. He is a proud man, and, seeing fortune
made by others from this invention, he deter
mined that any other creation of his brain
should put wealth in his own pocket or into no.
body's Again he brought into existence an in
vention which would. in use, save life and prop
erty to an untold extent, a most simple and yet
a most ingenious machine, and one which would
make fortune for 100 persons were it properly
put on the market. He has had many offers of
assistance. all of them practically involving
the sacrifice to others of his darling invention.
he to receive only pittance of the profits. He
is in terrible pecuniary straits, and yet am
glad to say refuses to offer his creation on the
altar of the porcine capitalist He vows if he
cannot get a fair return for his work, a due
proportion of the profits. at least no one else
Mixed with the practical and useful in
ventOrs who swarm in the capital are no end of
cranks who have all their lives harped on one
idea, and who always stop just short of accom-
plishing their inveation, or else become so
craZed as to believe that they have "got il at
last" will not believe otherwise, and become
fierce in their denunciation of an unapprecia-
tive Government and public, Almost any day
on the corners of the principal streets there
may be seen an old man in very seedy clothing,
hauling about queer little wagon with nu-
maj oh oil yph ah.
interest he will at once launch into praise of
his automatic brake for cars, the use of which
would make accidents next to impossible. A
moments examination cOnvnceS one of any
mechanical knowledge that the thing is worth
less, but the poor old man will not be argued
with, and grows angry il any doubt is cast upon
the value of the machine.
Some Cranks Were on Hand.
The other evening in one of our halls fellow
lectured on the squaring of the circle in way
that nobody but himself could understand
though he was convinced that be had solved
the problem; and in another hall, on the same
evening, another crank gave an exhibition of
a perpetuaEmotion machine, which ran down
while he was explaining il. There are half a
dozen perpetua-motion machine men in the
city hard at work on their models. They visit
the Patent Office regularly and are kindly told
that the invention still lacks something that is
necessary to the successful performance of its
mission and the crank goes back to his garret
patiently to work on a slightly different line,
only to go back to the place of patents to be
again told that his perpetual motion is any
thing but perpetual.
The queer things for which patents are
asked are beyond number and description. and
many patent is granted for things that cannot
be described, and which must seem to emanate
from the brain of a lunatic. though some of
them are of great practical value.
The neighborhood of the Patent Office is a
beehive of inventors and patent attorneys.
Scores of attorneys make fat living from the
business, aud almost as much comes to them
from the cranks in pursuit of some ignis fatuus
as from the hard-headed, practical inventor
who knows Just what he has accomplished and
how much his invention will be worth. Cheap
boarding houses in the vicinity swarm with
poor inventors who cannot get a weeks eoard
on the strength of their expectations and down
in the odorous precincts of South Washington
many garrett has for its tenant an inventive
crank with here and there q real Starving
genius living miraculously, IL their lives can be
called living, but never for moment faltering
in the pursuit of what they wrongly or rightly
think is going to rerolutlonize something or
somebody.
Pluck That Means Privation.
I know one old man living In wretched
hole, starving and yet never thinking of hun
GER an expert chemist who might be rich had
he set out to be rich toiling over the idea Of the
undiscovered force that is supposed to reside
in the inter. atomic ether, on the same line of
experiment possibly, with Mr.. Keely, of '.Mo-
tor" fame. He is not crank in the usual IN
depreciation of that word, but is calm, dignfed,
claiming nothing but that he has got hold Of
the thread of o great truth which may never be
uncovered, and which may not be Of any prac.