Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-09-14
PRIZES ON PATENTS,
How to Get Twenty-Five Hun
dred Dollars for Nothing.
The Winner has a Gle ar Gift OF 4
Small Fortune, and tho
Losers Have Patents that
May Bring Them in
Still More.

what follows SUD you may see way to dol
The Press Claims Company devotes much
attention to patents. 1t has handled thous.
ands OF applications for Inventions, but i,
would like to handle thousands more Theirs
is plenty Of inventive talent at large in this
country, needing nothing but encouragement
to produce practical results. Tint encour-
agemept the Press Claims Company pro<
poses to give.
NOI so HARD AS 1T SEEMS
patent strikes most people as an sDpall3
iugly formidable thing. The idea is that an
inventor must be natural genius, like Edi-
son or Eel; that he must devote years to
delvinZ in compiled tod mocha nical problems
and that he must spend q fortune on delicate
experiments before he can get a new device
to patontable degree of perfection. This
delusion the company desires to dispeL 10
desires TO get into the head of the public
clear comprehension of the fact that it is
not the great complex and expensive in
ventions that bring the best returns to theis
sHthors, but the little, simple, and cheap
one-ths things that seem absurdiy
trivial that the aver citizen would feel
somewhat ashamed ringing them to the
attention of the Patent Office.
Edison says that the profits he has re-
csived from tho patents on all his marvellous
inventions have not been sufficient to pay
tue cost OF MS experiments, But the man
who conceived the idea of fastening a bit OF
rubber cord to a child's ball. so that 10
would come back to the hand when thrown,
made "A fortune out OF bis scheme. Ths
modern sewing machine is a miracle of in
genuity-the product OF tho toll OF hundreds
Of busy brains through q hundred and fifty
years, but the whole brilliant result resta
upon the simple device Of putting the eye
CT the needle at the point instead Of at tho
other end.
the Little THINGS THE MOST vALt
UABLE.
Comparatively few people regard them>
selves as inventors, but almost every body
has been struck, at time or another,
with ideas that seemed calculated to reduce
some of the little trictions of life. Usually
such ideas are dismissed without further
thought.
"Why don't the railroad company make
its car windows 80 that they can be slid up
and down without breaking the Passengers
backs:" exclaims the traveller. ''It [ were
running the road | would make them in
such a way. "
'What was the man that made this sauce,
pan thinking ofY grumbles the cook"
He never had to work over q stove, or hs
would have known how it ought 20 have
been fixed. -
Hang such a collar button :" GROWS ths
man who is late for breakfast III wers
in the business Ia mako buttons that
wouldn't slip OUT, or brea6 or, or Sougs
out tho back OF my neck. -
And then the various sufferers forget
about their grievances and begin to think OF
something else. IL they would sit down at
the next convenient opportunity, put their
ideas about car windows, saucepaus, and
collar buttons into practical shape, aud
then apply for patents, they might And
themselves as Independently wealthy tho
man who invented the irou umbrella ring,
or the one who patented the fifteen puzzle.
TEMFTING OLlEH.
To induce people to keep track Of their
! bright ideas ami sec what there ID il thorn,
the Press Claims Company has resolved to
offer a prize.
10 the person wbo So5m its 10 it tho
simplest and mo-" promismg jnrention,
/ from 4 commercial point Of rietc, the com-
| pa1ly icW gire t,rsntY fire hnndred dollars
in cash, Il. oddriou 10 reJuHd,ng thu
| fees for securing the pafeat
II cH oiao odre,rise N. invention fret
Of charge
This offer is subject to the following con-
ditions:
u
for his invention through the company. He
must first apply for preliminary search,
the cost of which Will be five dollars
/ should this search show his invention to bs
unpatentable, he can withdraw without
further expense. Other wise hs WI! be en-
pected to complete his application and take
out patent in regular way. The Total eI-
pense including Government and Bureau
fees, will be seventy dollars. For this,
whether he secures the prize or not, the in
ventor will have a patent that ought to Do
valuable property TO him The prize will
be awarded 10y a jury consisting OF thres
reputable patent attorneys of Washington.
Intending competitors should a out ths
following blank and forward it with their
applications
81 submit the within described invention
in competition for the Twenty -hve Hun
dred Dollar Prize offered by the Press
Claims Company,
e.