Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1893-09-28
Prizes on Patents-
How to Get Twenty i've Hundred
Dollars for Nothing.
The Winner has a Clear Gift Of Small
Fortune, and the Losers Have
Patents that may Bring
Them In Still
More.

nem IN OtliI
More.
Would you like to make twentysf1ve
hundred dollarsp II you would read
carefully what follows and you may see
a way to do it.
The Press Claims Company devotes
much attention to patents. II has ham
died thousands OF applications for in
ventlons, but it would like to handle
thousands more. There is plenty OF in
ventive talent at large in this country,
needing nothing but encouragement to
produce practical results. That en-
couragementt the Press Claims Company
proposes to give.
NOT so HARD AS 1T SEEMS.
patent strikes most people a.. an
appaiIingIy formidable thing. Tho idea
II that an inventor must be a natural
genius, like Edison or Bell; that he
must devote years to delving IN COM
plicated mechanical problems and that
he must spend fortune on delicate
experiment. before he can get a new
device to pat6ntable degree OF per-
fection. This delusion the company
desires to dIspel 1t desires to get into
the head Of the public clear compre-
hension of the fact that 1t IS not the
great, complex, and expensive inven-
tions thai bring the best returns to their
authors, but the little, simple, and
cheap ones-the things that seem 80
absurdly trivial that the average citizen
would feel somewhat ashamed of brlnc-
ing them 20 the attention of the Patent
Office.
Edison says that the profits he re-
ceived from the patents on ali his mar
velous Inventions have not been suf1ici-
ent TO pay the cost of bis experiments,
Bu; the man who conceived the idea OF
fastening bit of rubber cord to a
child's ball, SO that it would come back
to the hand when thrown, made a for
tune out of his scheme. The modern
sewing machine is a miracle of ingenu.
ity-the proouct of the toll of hun
dreds of busy brains through a hum
dred 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 vALU-
ABLE.
Comparatively few people regard
themselves as inventors, but almost
everybody has.been struck, at one time
or another, with ideas that seemed cal
culated to reduce some Of the little fric-
tion of life. Usually such ideas are
dismissed without further thought,
sWhy don't the railroad COMPANY
make its car windows so that they can
be slid up and down without breaking
the passenger backsp" exclaims the
traveller. .'If were running the road
l would make them in such q way"
"What was the man tha. made this
saucepan thlnkIhg of grumbles the
cook. HE never had to work over q
stove, or he would have known how 1t
ought to have been fixed.n
Hang such collar button!n growls
the man who is late to breakfast. ssIf /
were in the business l d make buttons
that wouldn't slip Tut, or break off, or
gouge out the back OF my neck.''
And then the various sufferers forget
their grievances and begin to think of
something else. Ifthey would sit down
at 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 fiud themselves as independently
wealthy as the man who invented the
iron umbrella ring, or the one who pat
ented the fifteen puzzle.
A TEMPTING OFFER.
To induce peop.e to keep tract OF
los q "A xknk 81
IN them. the Press Claims Company has
resolved to offer prize.
TO the person who submits to it the
simplest and most promising invention.
from commercial point OF view, The
will give twenty-five hundred
dollars in cash, in addition to refund,ng
the fees for securing the patent.
1t will. also advertise the invention
Tree Of charge.
This offer is subject to the following
Every competitor must
obtain patent for bis invention through
the company. He must first apply tor
. preliminary search, the cost Of which
will be five dollars. Should this search
show his invention to be unpatentable,
he can withdraw without further ex-
pense. Otherwise he will be expected
to complete his application and take
out patent in the regular way. The
total expense. including Government
and Bureau fees, viii be seventy dollars
For this, whether he secures the prize
Or not, the ipYentor will have q patent