Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1893-06-10
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 Still More.

Would you like to make twenty five
hundred dollars9 If you would, read
what follows and you may see
a way to do it.
The Press Claims Company devotes
much attention to patents. 1t has hand
led thousands of applications for patents
but it would like to handle thousands |
more. There is plenty of inventive tai
ent at large in this country, needing
nothing but encouragement to produce
practical results. That announcement
the Press Claims Company proposes to
give.
NOT so HARD AS IT SEEMS.
A patent strikes most people as an ap-
pallingly formidable thing. The idea is
that an inventor must be a natural gem
i''s, like Edison or Bell; that he must
devote years to delving in complicated
mechanical problems and that he must
spend fortune on delicate experiments
before he can get new device to pat.
entable degree of perfection. This delu-
sion the company desires to dispel. 1t
desires to get into the head of the public
clear comprehension of the fact that it
is not the great, complex and expensive
inventions that bring the best returns to
their authors, but the little, simple and
cheap Ones-the things that seem SO abb
surdly trivial that the average citizen
would feel somewhat ashamed of bring
ing them to the attention of the Patent
Office.
Edison says that the profits he has re-
ceived from the patents on all his mar
velOus inventions have not been suffi.
cient to pay the cost of his experiments.
But the man who conceived the idea of
fastening bit Of rubber cord to child's
ball, so that it would return back to the
hand when thrown. made a fortune out
of his scheme. The modern sewing ma
chine is miracle Of ingenuity--the pro-
duct Of the toll of hundreds of busy
brains through 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.
THE LITTLE THINGS THE MOST VALUABLE.
Comparatively few people regard them
selves as inventors, but almost every
body has been struck, at one time or
another, with ideas that seemed calcu.
lated to reduce some Of the little fric-
tons Of life. Usually such ideas are
dismissed without further thought.
"Why don't the railroad company
make it's car windows 80 that they can
| be slid up and down without breaking
the passengers backs?" cxclaims the
traveller. eff were running the road
would make them in such way"
| cWhat was the man fhot u,0do ihie
saucepan thinking Off" grumbles the
cook. "He never had to work over a
stove, or he would have known how il
ought to have been fixed"
''Hang such collar button!" growls
the man who is late for breakfast. eli
l were in the business I'd make buttons
that wouldn't slip out, or break off, OF
gouge out the back of my neck.''
And then the various sufferers forget
about their grievances and begin to think
of something else. If they would 81,
down Mt the next convenient opportunity
put their ideas about car windows sauce
pans, and collar buttons into practical
shape, and then apply for patents. they
might find themselves as independently
wealthy as the man who invented 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 ana see what there is in
them, the Press claims Company has
resolved to offer prize.
TO the person ,Sho submits to i,
the simplest and most promising in
vention. from a commercial point O,
vie,c, the company aciU giue t,centy,
toe hundred dollars in cash, in al
tlition to retunding the fees for secur.
ing the patent.
1t aoiW also advertise the snuen
ton free Of charge.
This offer is subject to the following
conditions:
Every competitor must obtain paten
for his invention through the company
he must first apply for a preliminary
search, the cost of which will be five dol
) lars. Should this search show his inven.
, ton to be unpatentahle, he can withdraw
without further expense. Otherwise hi
will be expected to complete his applica
ton and take out a patent in the regular
way. The total expense, including gov
) eminent and bureau fees, will be seventy
dollars. For this, whether he secures
= the prize or not, the inventor will hav,
) a patent that ought to be a valuable
= awarded by jury consisting of thre
reputable patent attorneys of Washing
9 ton. Intending competitors should fl
3 out the following blank and forward
0 with their application:
y 1893.
0 81 submit the within described inven
0 ton in competition for the Twentyfiv
9 Hundred Dollar Prize offered by tn
Q Press Claims Company.