The Opelousas courier., 1893-12-23
PRIZES ON PATENTS.
How to Get twenty-five Hun.
dred Dollars for Nothing.
The Winner has 4 Clear Gift of
Small Fortune, and the Losers
Have Patents that may.
Bring them in Still
More.

AAolCs
Would Won like to make twrutt tvA hrr
dollars! If You would, read r~lretulFr ma
follows and yen May 81" 4 way 10 do il.
The Press Claims Company drFrtrs a,,.a.
attention to patents. II TIA. handled M.
ands of applications for Inventions, bpt r.
would like 70 handle Thousands n4Drr. Tberrss
is plenty OF inventive talent ut large in fbis
country, needing nothing hut cnc8IIragemsne
to produce practical results. That cncIursna.
mcnt the Press Claims Company proposes /,
give.
NOT so HARD AS 1T SEEMS.
A patent strikes most people az an an.
pallingly formidable thing. The idea il tha,
an inventor must I've IA natural genius. 6ke
Edison or Bell that he must devote wears to
drlving in complicated mechanical problems
| and that he must spend Il fortune on delicate
experiments before he can Get IL new dnyica
to a patentable degree of perfection. This
delusion the company desires to dispel. It
| desires to get into the head of the public a
clear comprehension of the fact that it il not
| the great, complex, and expensive Inventions
that bring the best returns to their authOra
hut the little. simple and cheap ones-the
things that seem 80 ~absutdiy trivial that the
| average citizen would feel somewhat ashamed
of bringing them /" the attention of the
Patent Office.
Edison says that the profits he has received
from the patents On all his marvellous inven-
,inus have not been sufficient to pav the cost
of his experiments. But the man who con.
ctiytl the idea of fastening Il bit of rubber
cord TO a child's ball, 50 that it would come
back to the hand when thrown. made a for
tune out of his scheme. The modern sewing.
machine is IL miracle OF Ingcnuitv-the pro.
duet of the toll of hundreds of busy brains
through a hundred and fifty years, but the
whole brilliant result rest upon the simple
device Of putting the eye Of the needle at the
point instead of at the other end.
THE IT'LL THINGS THE MOST VALU-
ABLE.
Comparatively few people regard them
selves as inventors, but almost everybody has
hren struck, at one time or another. with
IDEAS that seemed calculated to reduce some
of the little ~frictIons of life, Usually such
IDEAS are dismissed without further thought.
..Why don't the railroad company make its
car windows so that they can he slid up and
down without breaking the passengers
hacks - exclaims the traveller. Ii | were
running the road | would make them IN such
a way"
What was tue man that made this sauce
nan thinking of" grumbles the cook. He
never had to work over a stove, or he would
have known how it ought to have been
fixed.
Hang such a collar buttoug' growIs the
man who is late for breakfast. III | 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 some,
thing else. If they would sit dow at the
next convenient opportunity, put their ideas
about car windows, saucepans, and collar
buttons into practical shape, and then apply
for patents, they might find themselves az
independently wealthy rs the man who IN
vented the iron umbrella ring, or the onf
who patented the fifteen puzzle.
A TEMPTING OFFER
To induce people to keep track of theil
bright ideas and sec what there is in them
the Press Claims Company has resolved tt
offer a prize.
To the person who submits to it the
simplest and most promising inven
ton, from a commercial point of view
the company will give twenty-five
hundred dollars in cash, in addition tc
refunding the fees for securing the
patent.
It will also sdvertise the invention
free of charge.
This offer is subject to the following cond
tions:
Every competitor must obtain Ii patent 10
| his invention through the company. He mus
first apply fnr preliminary search, the cost o
which will be five dollars. Should this searcl
show his invention to be unpatentable, he cal
withdraw without further expense. Other
wise he will be expected to complete his ap
| plicatiou aud lake ont q patent in the reguia
way. The total expense, including Govern
mpnt and Bureau fees, will be ,>eventv dol
lars. For this, whether he secures the priz
or NOT, the inventor will have ii patent tina
ought to he IL valuable property to him. The
prize will be awarded by IA jury consisting o
three reputable attorneys of Washington
Intending competitors should I'LL out the FOL
lowing blank, and forward it with their appli
cation:
II submit the within described inventiO
in competition for the Twenty-Five hundre
Dollar Prize offered by the Press Claim
Company.