The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-09-22
PRIZES ON PATENTS.
HOW TO GET TWENTY-FIVE HUNDRED
DOLLARS FOR NOTHING.
The Winner hes O Clear Gift Of Small
Fortune, and the Losers Have Patents
that MAY Rrina them in Still More.

that May Bring them in Still More.
Would YOU like 10 make twenty Give
hundred dollarsS If you would, read
carefully what follows and you may see
a way to do it:
The Press Claims Company deVOtes
much attention to patents. 1t has
handled thousands of applications for in
yentions, but it would like to handle
thousands more There is plenty of in
ventive talent at large in this country,
needing nothing but eacOuragement to
produce practical results. That encOur-
agement the Press Claims Company pro-
poses to give.
NOT so HARD AS IT SEEMS.
A patent strikes most people as an APP
pallingly formidable thing. The idea is
that an inventor must be q natural genius
like Edison or Bell; that he must devote
years to delving in complicated mechani-
cal problems, and that he must spend a
fortune ON delicate experiments before
he can get new device to patentable
degree of perfection. This delusion 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 inven-
lions 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 attention of the Patent Office.
Edison says that the profits he has re-
celved from the patents on all his mar
yelous inventions have not been sutti-
Gent to pay the cost Of his experiments.
But the man who conceived the idea Of
fastening rubber cord to ball, so that
it would come back to the hand when
thrown, made fortune ont of his
scheme. The modern sewing IuachineiS
a miracle of ingcnuIty-the product of
the toll of many hundreds 81 busy brains
through hundred aud fifty years, but
the whole brilliant result rests upon the
simple device of putting the eye of the
needle at the point instead vi at the other
end.
THE LITTLE THINGS THE MOST VALUABLE
Comparatively few people regard
themselves as inventors, bat almost
everybody has been struck. Mt one time
or another, with ideas that seemed calcu-
lated to reduce some Of the little frictions
of life. Unusually such ideas are dis
missed without further thought.
"Why don't the railroad company
make its 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
saucepan thinking of?' grumbled the
cook He never had TO work over q
stove, or he would have known how it
ought to have been fixed"
"Hang such collar hdttOn" grGWls
the man who is late for breakfast. III
were in the business I'd make buttons
that wouldn't slip out, or break OF, or
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 voNld sit
down at the next convenient opportunity,
put their ideas about car windo MS, sauce
pans and collar buttons into practical
shape, and then apply for patents, they
might find themselves rs 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 people to keep track Of their
bright ideas and see what there is in
them, the Press Claims Company has re-
solved to offer prize.
To the person lohc submits to IL the sim
plest aud most promising inUenti0n, from
a commercial punt Of uieto, the company
mill give twenty-five hundred dollars in
cash. in addition to refuuding the fees for
securing the patent.
II ,oiU also dduertisc the patent free OF
charge.
This offer is subject to the following
conditions:
Every competitor must obtain a patent
for his invention through the company.
He must first apply for preliminary
search, the cost of which will be five dol
lars. Should this search snow his inven-
ton to be unpatentable, he can with
draw without further expense. Other
wise he will be expected to complete his
application and take out patent in the
regular way The total expense, includ-
ing Government and Bureau fees, will he
seventy dollars For this, whether he
secures the prize or not, the inventor will
have patent that ought to be a valuable
property to him. The prize will be
awarded by jury consisting of three
reputable patent attorneys of Washing
ton. Intending competitors should fill
out the following blank, and forward it
with their applications: