Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1893-05-12

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handled thousands Of applications for
inventions, but it would like to ham
die 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.
A patent strikes most people as an
appallingly formidable thing The
idea is that an Inventor must be
natural genius, like 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 a new device to a patentable de-
gree of perfection. This delusion the
company desires to dispel. 1t desires
to get into the head Of the public a
clear comprehension of the fact that
it is not the great, complex and eX-
pensiye inventions that 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 bringing them to the at
tention of the Patent once,
Edison says that the profits he has
received from the patents on all his
marvellous inventions have not been
sufficient to pay the cost of his expert
ments. But the man who conceived
the idea of fastening a bit of rubber
cord to a child's ball, so that it would
come back to the hand when thrown,
made a fortune out of his scheme
The modern sewing machine is mir
acle of ingenuity-the product of the
toll Of busy brains through a 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.
Comparatively few people regard
themselves as inventors, but almost
everybody has been struck. at one
time or another, with ideas that
seemed calculated to reduce some of
the little frlctions of life. Usually
such ideas are dismissed without fur
ther thought.
"Why don't the railrcad company
make its car windows so that they
can be slid up and down without
breaking the passengers backs?" eX-
claims the traveller. "If l were run
ming the road I would make them in
Isuch a way"
"What was the man that made this
saucepan thinking OFF" grumbles the
cook. Gle never had to work over a
stove, or he would have known how it
ought to have been fixed"
"IIang such a collar button" growls
the man who is late for breakfast
"If / we're in the business I'd make
buttons that wouldn't slip out, OF
break off, or gouge out the back of my
neck"
And then the various sufferers for
get about their grievances and begir
to think of something else. If they
would Sit down at the next convenient
opportunity, put their ideas about cal
windows, saucepans and collar but
tons into practical shape, and then ap
ply for patents, they might find them
selves as independently wealthy as
the man who invented the iron um
brella ring, or the one who patented
the tif.eun puzzle.
To induce people to keep track o
their bright ideas and see what ther,
is in them, the Press Claims Compan.
has resolved to offer a prize.
To the person who submits to it tn
simplest and most promising inyen
: tion, from a commercial point Of view
the company will give twenty-dy
hundred dollars IN cash, in addition
to refunding the fees for securing tn
patent
1t will also advertise the invention
free Of charge.
This offer is subject to the followin
conditions:
Every competitor must obtain
patent for his invention through th
company. He must first apply for
preliminary search, the cost Of whic
will be five dollars. Should thi
search show his invention to be III
patentable, he can withdraw wlthou
further expense. Otherwise he Wi
be expected to complete his applice
tion and take out a patent in the reg
ular way. The total expense, includ
ing government and bureau fees wi
be seventy dollars For this, whethC
he secures the prize or not, the inyer
Tor will have a patent that ought I
be a valuable property to him. Th
= prize will be awarded by jury COZ
sisting of three reputable patent a