The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1893-09-23
PRIZES ON PATENTS
The Winner Has a Clear Gift of
S2.5oo. and the Losers Have
Patents That May Bring
Them In Stil More.

uEeu uohdfst II You would. read careful Iv
what follows and you may see % way to
do it,
The Press Claims Company devotes much
attention 20 patents. 1t has handled thous-
ands OF applications for inventions. but
It would like to handle thousands more
There is plenty OF inventive talent at large
in this country, needing nothing but encour.
agement 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 appalI-
ing formidable thing. The idea is that an
inventor must be natural genius ike
Edison or Bell; that he must devote years to
delving in complicated mechanical problems
and that he must spend a fortune on delicate
experiments before he can get new device
to patantable degree OF perfection This
delusion the company desires to dispell. 1t
desires to get into the public a. clear COM
prehension of the fact that it is not the
great complex, and expensive inventions
chat bring the best returns to their authors,
but the little, simple and cheap ones-the
things that seem so abruptly trivial that the
average citizen would feelsomewhat ashamed
OF bringing them to the attention OF the
Patent Office
Edison says that theproAts he has received
from the patents on all his marvellous nvens
tions have not been sufficient to nav the
cost of his experiments. But the man
VINO conceived the idea OF fastening a bit of
rubber cord to a chld's ball so that IN
would come back to the hand when thrown,
made fortune out of his scheme. The
modern sewing machine is a merical of in
genuity-the product, toll OF hundreds of
busy brains through a hundred and fifty
years, but the whole brilliant result rests
upon the simple device of putting the eve Of
the needle at the point instead Of at the
other end,
THE LITTLE THING THE MOST VALUABLE.
Comparatively few people regard them.
selves as inventors, but almost everybody
has been 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
It's car windows so that they can be slid up
and down without breaking the passengers
backs?' exclaims the traveller. "If were
running the road would make them in such
a way"
What was the man that made this sauce
pan thinking OH grumbles the cook. 'sHe
have known how it ought to have been fixed.
Hang such collar buttonl" growls the
man who is late for breakfast. sIf we're in
the business I'd make buttons that wouldn't
slip out, break of, 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. Ii they wonld sit down at the
next convenient opportunity, put their ideas
about the car windows, saucepans and collar
buttons into practical shape, and then apply
for patents they might find themselves as
Independently wealthy as the man who in
vented 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 and see what there is in them.
the Press Claims Company has resolved Co
offer prize.
To the person who submits to it the sim
plest ana most promising invention, from a
commercial point of view, the company will
give twenty-five hundred dollars in cash in
addition to rounding the fees for securing
the patent.
1t will also advertise the invention free Of
charge.
This offer is subject to the following condi-
tions:
Every competitor must obtain a patent for
his invention through the company He
must first apply for preliminary search. the
cosb oI Wnlcn VIII be i've dollars. Should
this search show his invention to be unpat-
entable he can withdraw without further
expense. Otherwise he will be expected to
complete his application aud take out a pat
ent III the regular way. The total expense
including Government 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 valuable
property to him. The prize will be awarded
by jury consisting of three reputable pat
ent attorneys of Washington Intending
competitors should fill out the following
blank and forward it with their application:
1902
Il submit the within described invention
in competition for the Twenty-Five hundred
Dollar Prize offered by the Press Claims Com
pany."
NO BLANKS IN THIS COMPETITION.
This is competition Of rather an unusual
nature. Ii is common to offer prizes for the
best story, or picture, or architectural plan.
all the competitors ..risking the loss OF
their labor and the successful one merely
selling his for the price. But the Press Claims
CompaDys offer is something entirely dif-
Ierent. Each person is asked merely to help
hlmsel and the one person who helps him
self to the best advantage is to be rewarded
Tor doing it. The prize is only stimulus to
do something that would be well worth do
ing without it. The architect whose com
petitive plan for a club house on a certain
corner is not accepted has sDent his labor