Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1894-08-30
PRIZES ON PATENTS.
How to Get twenty-five Hun
dred Dollars for Nothing.
The winner has u Clear Gilt OF n
Small Fortune, and the Losers
Have Patents that may
Bring them In still
More.

Would YOU like to make twenty-five nun
dred dollars? 1fyou would, read carcinliy
what follows and you may see a way 10 40 ~.
The Press Claims Company dcvotes much
attention to patents. 1t has handled thous-
ands of applications for Inventions, bMt IL
would like to handle thousands more. lnele
is plenty of inventive talent in this country,
needing nothing but ncoura gem emu
to produce practical results. That enco"r'
orament the Press Claims Company pro-
poses to give.
NOT SO HARD AS 1T SEEMS,
A patent strikes most people as an appall-
ingly formidable thing. The idea IS 'haI a al
inventor must be a natural genus IKE Ed
son or Bel that he must put years to delving
in complicated mechanical problems ana
that he must spend fortune Oh delicate ex-
perimen,s before he can get new device 10
a patcntable degree of perfection. ms ae-
luslon tho company desires to dlspei. IL de-
sires to get into the head the public clear
comprehension of the fact that it is not the
great, complex, and expensive Inventions
that bring the best returns to their aulhors
but the little, simple, and cheap ones-thc
things that seem so absurdly trivial that thc
citizen would feel somewhat ashamed OF
bringing them to the attention OF the faten'
Office
Edison says that the profits he has received
from the patents on all his marvellous lhVcn.
tions have not been sufficient TO pay the cost
of his experiments. But the man VINO con
ceivcd the idea of fastening bit OF ruoper
cord to a child's ball, so that 1t would come
back to his hand when thrown made lot
tune out of his scheme. The modern sew
ing.machinc is miracle OF ingenulty-the
product 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 AZ the
point instead of the other end.
THE LITTLE THINGS THE
MOST VALUABLE.
Comparatiycly 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 frctions of life. Usually
such ideas arc dismissed without further
thought.
"Why don't the railroad company make
it's car windows so that they could be slid up
and down without breaking the passengers
backs" cXclams the traveller. "lf l were
running the road would make them IN such
way"
"What was the man that made tins sauce
pan thinking oi:.' grumbles the cook. VIC
never had to work oyer stoye, or he "ou'u
have known how it oughtto have been tlXcu.
Hang such collar button " grows 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 gougc out the back
of my neck
And then the various sufferers forget about
their grievances and begin to think OF some
thing else Ifthey would sit down at the
| ,,,rnrtnpitr mt thpjr ideas
about 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.
ATTEMPTING OFFER.
To induce people to keep track of their
bright ideas and see what there is in them,
the Press Claims Company has resolved 10
offer q prize
TO the person who submits to
ii the simplest and most prom
Using invention. from a CONNER
cial point Ofyiew, the company
will give $4,000 i'll cash, in al.
ditiOn to rcfunding the fees for
securing the patent.
Ii will also advertise the In.
yentiOn free Ofcllarge.
This offer is subject to the following con-
ditions
Every competitor must obtain patent for
his invention through the company. He
must first apply for a preliminary search,
the cost of which will be five dollars. Should
this search show his invention to be unpat-
entable, he can withdraw without further ex-
pense Otherwise he will be expected to
complete his application and take out pat
ent IN the regular way. The total expense,
including Government and Bureau fees, will
be seventy dollars. For this, whether he Sc
cures the prize or not, the inventor will have
patent that ought to be a valuable property
to HIM. The prize will be awarded by a jury
consisting of three reputable patent a,torn-
eys of Washington Intending competitors
should ill out the following blank, and for.
ward it with their application:
II submit the within described invention
in competition for the Twenty-Five Hundred
Dollar Prize offered by the Press Claims
Company
No Blanks in this Competition.
This is a competition of rather an unusual
nature 1t IS common to offer prizes for the
hest story or nictllrp or architectural plan.