Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1893-05-04
Prizes on Patents.
How to Get Twenty five Hundred
Dollars for Nothing.
The Winner has Clear GIFT of Small
Fortune, and the Losers Have
Patents that may Bring
Them In Still
More.

Would You like to make twenty five
hundred dollarsP If you would ,ead
carefully what follows and you may see
u way to do it.
The Press Claims Company deyotes
much attention TO patents. Il has ham
died thousands OF applications for in
veDtlons, but it would like to handle
thousands more. There is plenty of in
ventive talent at large in this country.
needing nothing out encouragement to
produce practical results. That en-
4 couragement the Press Claims Company
proposes to give.
1 NOT so HARD AS IT SEEMS.
patent strikes most people az an
appallingly formidable thing. The idea
l. that an inventor must be natural
genius. like Edison or Bell, that he
must devote Years to delvlng IN COM
phcated mechanical problems and that
ne mus spend fortune on delicate
experiment before he can get new
device to paten.able degree OF per-
lection. This deltision the company
desires to dispeL 1t desires to get into
| the head of the public clear compre-
hension OF the fact that 1t Is not the
great, complex, and expensive lnven-
tons thai bring the best returns to their
authors, but the little, simple, and
cheap ones--the things that seem so
absurdly trivial that the average citizen
would feel somewhat ashamed of bring
ing them 70 the attention of the Patent
Office
Edison says that the profits he re-
ceived from the patents on ali his mar
velous inventions have not been sutfici-
ent 10 pay the cost of his experiments.
But the man who conceived the idea of
fastening a bit of rubber cord to
child's ball, so that it would come back
to the hand when thrown, made for
tune out Of his scheme. The modern
sewing machine is a miracle of ingenus
lty-the pIoauct of the ,oil of hun
dreds OF busy brains through u hum
dred and fifty years, butsthe 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 yALU-
ABLE.
Comparatively few people regard
themselves as inventors, but almost
everybody has been struck, at one time
or another, with ideas that seemed cal
cuiated to reduce some of the little fric-
ton of life. Usually such ideas are
dismissed without further thought.
s'Why don't The railroad company
make its car windows so that they can J
be slid up and down without breaking
the passenger backs P' exclai.us the
traveller. vi were running the road
would make them in such way"
''What was the man tina. made this
saucepan thinking Of grumbles the
cook. :He never had to work over
stove, or he would have known how it :,
ought to have been fixed"
Hang such a collnr button! /" growls
the man who is late to breakfast. 'sIf
were in the business I'd make buttons
that wouldn't slip ,ut, or break off, or
gouge out the back OF my neck. y
And then the various sufferers forget
their grievances and begin TO think OF
something else. Iftney would sit down
at the next convenient opportunity, put
their ideas about car windows, sauce-
pans and collar buttons into practical
shape, and then apply for patents. they
night find themselves as independently
wealthy as the man who invented the
iron umbrella ring. or the one who pat
ented the fifteen puzzle.
TEMPTING OFFER.
10 induce peop.e to keep tract of
their bright ideas and see what there IS
IN them. the Press Claims Company has
resolved to offer prize.
To the person who submits to it the
simplest and most promising invention,
from commercial point 81 view, tie
company viii give twenty-five hundred
dollars in cash, 10 addition to refunding
the fees for securing the patent.
II will also advertise the invention
free OF charge.
This offer is subj ct 10 the following
conditions Every competitor must
opsain patentt Tor his invention through
the company He must first apply tor
preliminary search, The cost OF which
Will be i've dollars. Should this search
show his invention to be unpatentable,
he can withdraw without further ex-
pense. Otherwise he will be expected
TO complete his application and take
out . patent in the regular way. The
total expense. including Government
and Bureau fees, will be seyenty dollars.
For this, whether he secures the prize
Or not. the inventor will have patent |
that ought 20 be a valuable property 10 |
him. The prize will be awarded bya |
Jury consisting Of three reputable patent |
attorneys of Washington. Intending
competitors should fill out the following |
blank, and forward it with their appli-
cation.
49,, 1892