The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-04-07

| ". - NC &eduf1y understood that
snls disparity is due to local conditions.
Inc people who operate and invent ma
shinery are not those who raise corn
and cotton.
Formerly twas required that every
application for patent must be ac-
sompanied by sample if the article
vas small, or o miniature model, COM
plete in all its parts, if it exceeded GER
saln dimensions. The fire in the patent
office in 1877 destroyed $4,000 of these
models, and this requirement was soon
after discontinued. The considerations
chat moved to this change were the cost
TO inventors and the rapid accumulation
Of models, involving the question of
space for storage. Drawings have been
substituted, models being only fur
nished when called for by the bureau
There remain about 100000 old models
which are kept in glass cases and serve
nent of pilgrims.
OF all the applications for patents
about 55 per cent. are granted. Reiec-
lions are upon the ground that the
principle or application is covered by
patents already issued or that the de-
vice is trivial. 1t is true, however.
that among the patents that have been
most profitable are many upon small
and seemingly insignificant articles in
everyday use. The invention of some
little thing that everybody buys and
keeps on buying is as good to its owner
as gold mine-far better than most of
them. Many simple mechanical TOYS
that catch the eyes of the children and
help to fill their stockings at Christmas
have made men rich.
The number of patents issued to those
who have attempted the solution of
some mechanical problem is almost be-
yond belief. Probably the largest num-
Der Tor any one thing has been granted
for devices to mitigate the horrors of
the family washing day." More than
thlrty-five hundred patents have been
granted for washing machines. Not
one in fifty of them has ever come into
general use, and fewer still have proved
to be of real practical value. 1t re-
quires about as much "clbow grease"
and causes as much backache to op-
crate one of them as it does to rub
clothes on u dashboard in the good old
way. Wrecks of these machines in all
stages of decrepitude may be seen in
=
country, particularly in the rural dis.
trlcts. II men have not succeeded in
Tightening the labor of the wife and
mother in this respect it cannot be said
that they have not tried. Scores OF
other things might be mentioned on
which in various forms there are
patents by the hundreds If thou
sand fail the next man thinks that he
has solved the question. No machine
or appliance is so perfect that some body
does not think he can improve it.
Up to 1878 more than two hundred
patents had been issued for "veloci-
pedes," as they were then called. Since
that time thrice as many more have
been granted upon this class of vehi-
cles. The first bike" patented con-
sisted simply of two wheels, tandem,
connected by a bar which the rider be-
strobe. He pushed himself along by
putting his feet upon the ground. There
was no pedal to give motion to the
wheels.
AS to money in patents, it is hard to
tell whether patent is going to be
profitable or not. Some of the greatest
inventions have been sncered at in the
patent Office, and some of the smallest
ideas bring in the biggest returns. A
common needle threader gave its in
ventor $4,000 year for many years,
and millionaire travelled around the
world not long ago who got his fortune
out OF patent shoe button. The in
ventor of the rollcr-skate made over a
million dollars out of the idea, and
the rubber tip which you use
at the end of your lead pencil
brought in 100000 to the English
man who conceived it. The chill.
drcn of the United States are
ready to pay large amounts to the
lucky man who is able to think ND
new toy for them, and there is a de.
partmcnt of patent toys in the patent
office. The dancing Jim Crow paid its
inventor $4,000 per annum for long
time, and little ball with a rubber at
tached to it brought another man $50.
600 per annum for years. A iointed
wooden snake paid it's inventor
moro than $50, 200, and another wooden
figure brought in half million. Nearly
everything you see in use has been at
one time or another patented, and some
of the most insignificant things have
Been worth fortunes. 1t is said that
the inventor of the stylographic pen
made million dollars out of it. Elec.
.rical inventions have brought in mil.
lions to many. Telephone Bell is rich
beyond the dreams of avaricc. Edison
IS worth his millions, and all other con-
ncctions of the great electrical invcn-
:ors ride in their own carriages
The patent Office is good school for
the study Of human nature and human
character. In it you find represented