Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1894-07-26
PRIZES ON PATENTS.
How to Get Twenty-fv Hun.
dred Dollars for Nothing.
The Winner has Il Clear Gilt ora
Small Fortune, and the Losers
Have Patents that may
Bring them in still
More.

Would you like to make twenty-five nun
drcd dollars? Ifyou would, read carefully
what follows and you may see way 10 90 IL.
The Press Claims Company devotes much
attention to patents. 1t has handled thous.
ands of applications for inventions, put IL
would like to handle thousands more. There
ia plenty of inventive talent in this country,
needing nothing but c n C 0 u ra & m eht
to produce practical results. That cncour'
agement 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 that an
inventor must be natural genius, ike Edl-
son or Bell that he must put years to delVlng
in complicated mechanical problems ana
that he must spend fortune OH delicate OK
periments before he can get new device 10
a patentable degree OF PERFECTION. ms uc'
luslon the company desires to dispei. IL oe-
sires to get into the head OF the pubic a clear
comprehension of the fact that II IS no. inc
great, complex, and expensive Inventions
that bring the best returns to their authors
but the little, simple, and cheap ones-!he
things that seem so absurdly trivial that the
citizen would feel somewhat ashamed OF
bringing them to the attention OF the fatent
Office.
Edison says that the profits he has received
from the patents on all his marvellous lnVcn.
tions have not been sufficient topay the cost
of his experiments. But the man who con-
ceved the idea Of fasteninga bit OF rubber
cord to child's ball. so that it would come
back to his hand when thrown made Tor
tune out of his scheme. The modern sew
ing machine is a miracle OF ingenuIty-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 at the
point instead of the other end.
THE LITTLE THINGS THE
MOST VALUABLE.
Comparatively 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 ofthe little fric,ions of life. Usually
such ideas are dismissed without tnrthcr
thought
"Why don't the railroad company make
its car windows so that they could be sllu up
and down without breaking the passengers
backs?" exclams the Traveller. III l were
running the road would make them III sach
a way"
"What was the man that made this sauce
pan thinking off, grumbles the cook. ne
never had to work oyer stoyc or he would
have known how it ought to have been fixed
Hang such collar button T. growIs the
man who is late for breakfast. elf 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 some
thing else. If they would sit down at the
next convenient opportunity, put Their 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
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 resolved to
offer q prize.
10 the person who submits to
1t the simplest and most prom
Using invention. from u CONNER.
ciaI point OfVieW, the company
will give $500 i'm cash, in adj
ditiOn to refunding the fees for
securing the patent.
twill also advertise the In
ventiOn f'rceOfcharge.
This offer is subject to the following con-
dtions:
Every competitor must Obtain a patent for
his invention through the company. lie
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 ont 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 o. not, the inventor will have
q patent that ought to be valuable property
to HIM. The prize Will be awarded by II jury
consisting of three reputable patent attorn-
eys of Washington. Intending competitors
should fill out the following blank, and for.
ward it with their application:
-" 1893.
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 all unusual
nature 1t is common to offer prizes for the
best story or picture, or architectural plan,
all the competitors riskng the loss of their
labor and the successful one merely selling
his for the amount of the prize. But the
Press Claims Company's offer is something
entirely different Each person is asked
merely to help himself, and the one who
helps himself to the best advantage is to be
rewarded for doing it. The prize is only q
stimulus to do something that would be well
worth doing 1t. The architect whose com.
petitive plan for club house on a certain
corner is not accepted has spent his labor on