Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1893-06-15
PRIZES ON PATENTS.
How to Get Twenty i've Hundred
Dollars for Nothing.
The Wiuner Has q Clear Gift Of 4 Small
Fortune, and the Losers Have
Patents That May Bring
Them StiIl Aore.

Would you like to make twenty-five
hundred dollars? If you would, read
carefully what follows and you may see
way to do it.
The Press Claims Company devotes
much attention to patents. 1t has hand
led thousands Of applications for patents
but 1t would like to handle thousands
more. There is plenty Of inventive tai
ent at large in this country, needing
nothing but encouragement to produce
practical results. That encouragement
the Press Claims Company proposes to
give.
NOT so HARD AS 1T SEEMS.
A patent strikes most people as an APP
pallingly formidable thing. The idea is
that an inventor must be a natural gen.
ius, like Edison or Bell; that he must
devote years to delving in complicated
mechanical problems and that he must
spend fortune on delicate experiments
before he can get new device to pat
entable degree of perfection. This delu-
sion the company desires to dispel. 1t
desires to get into the head of the public
clear comprehension of the fact that it
is not the greet, complex and expensive
inventions that bring the best returns to
their authors, but the little, simple and
cheap ones-the things that seem so abb
surtllv trivial that the average citizen
would feel somewhat ashamed of bring
ing them to the attention Of the Patent
Office.
Edison says that the profits he has re-
ceived from the patents on all his mar
velOus inventions have not been suffl
cicnt to pay the cost of his experiments.
But the man who conceived the idea of
fastening bit Of rubber cord to Il child's
ball, so that it would return back to the
hand when thrown, made fortune out
Of his scheme. The modern sewing ma
chine is miracle Of ingenuity--the pro-
duct of the toll of hundreds of busy
brains through hundred and fifty years !;
but the whole brilliant result rests upon
the simple device of putting the eye Of
the needle at the point instead of at the
other end.
THE LITTLE THINGS THE MOST VALUABLE.
Comparatively few people regard them
selves MS inventors, but almost every
body has been struck, at one time or
another, with ideas that seemed calcu.
lated to reduce some Of the little fric-
tons of life. Usually such ideas are
dismissed without further thought.
"Why don't the railroad company
make it's car windows so that they can
be slid up and down without breaking
the passengers backs?" exclaims the
traveller. "lf were running the road
would make them in such a way"
"What was the man that made this
saucepan thinking off" grumbles the
cook. she never had to work over Il
stove, or he would have known how it
ought to have been fixed"
"Hang such collar button !" growls
the man who is late for breakfast. "If
were in The business I'd make buttons
that wouldn't slip out, or break off, or
gouge out the back of my neck"
And then the various sufferers forget
about their grievances and begin to think
of something else. If they would sit
down at the next convenient opportunity,
put their ideas about car windows, sauce
pans, and collar buttons into practical
shape, aud then apply for patents, they
might find themselves rs independently
wealthy as the man who invented the
iron umbrella ring, or the one who
patented the fifteen puzzle.
A TEMPTING OFFER.
To induce people to keep track of their
bright ideas ana see what there is in
than thu 4 lair hno
resolved to offer prize.
TO the person acho submits to 1t
the simplest and most promising IN.
vention from a commercial point OF
rie,c, the company aciU giue tacenty-
toe hundred dollars IN cash, IN at.
dition to retundimg the fees for secur.
ing the patent.
1t soiW also advertise the inven
ton free Of charge.
This offer is subject to the following
conditions:
Every competitor must obtain patent
for his invention through the company
lie must first apply for a preliminary
search, the cost OF which will be five dol
lars. Should this search show his inven-
tlou W Oe uIlpatcutaolc, he can WltnuraW
without further expense. Otherwise he
will be expected to complete his applica-
zion and take out a patent in the regular
way. The total expense, including gov
eminent and bureau fees, will be seventy
dollars. For this, whether he secures
the prize or not, the inventor will have
patent that ought to be a valuable
property to him. The prize will be
awarded by jury consisting of three
reputable patent attorneys Of Washing.
ton. IntenGing competitors should fl
out the following blank and forward il
with their application:
"--, -, 1898.
| 81 submit the within described inven
ton in competition for the Twentyfiv,
Hundred Dollar Prize offered by TIT