Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1894-05-17
PRIZES ON PATENTS.
How to Get Twenty-Five Hun
dred Dollars for Nothing.
The Winner has q Clear GIFT Ola
Small Fortune, and the Losers
Have Patents that may
Bring them in still
More.

The Press Claims Company deVotes much
attention to patents. 1t has handled thoue-
ands of applications for Inventions, out II
would like TO handle thousands more There
is plenty of inventive talent in this country,
needing nothing but ourage m ent
Il, nro'Iuce practical results. That encour.
spement 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 a natural genius, like Edi-
son or Bell that he must put years to delVlng
in complicated mechanical problems and
that he must spend q fortune on delicate ex'
periments before he can get new device 10
q patentable degree of perfection. This de-
luslon the company desires to dlspel. 1t de.
sires 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 absurdlY trivial that inc
citizen would feel somewhat ashamed OF
bringing them to the attention OF the Patent
Office.
Edison says that the profits he has received
from the patents on all his marvellous lnven-
tions have not been sufficient topay the cost
of his experiments. But the man who CON
ceived the idea Of fastening bit OF rubber
cord to childs ball, SO that it would come
back to his hand when thrown made a for
tune out of his scheme. The modern sew
iug.machine is = miracle OF ingenuIty-the
product of the toll of hundI eds 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.
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 Of the little frictions Of life. Usually
such ideas are dismissed without further
thought.
"Why don't the railroad company make
Its car windows 30 that they could be slid up
and down without breaking the passengers
backsP" exclaims the traveller. III l were
running the road would make them IN such
q way"
"What was the man that made this sauce
pan thinking oi?' grumbles the cook. HE
never had to work oyer stoye, or he would
have known how it ought to have been liked
"Hang such collar button p growls the
man who is late for breakfast. off were in
the business I'd make buttons that wouldn't
slip out or break of, or gouge out the back
ofmy 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.
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 a prize.
s., TO the person who submits to
1t the simplest and most prom
Using invention from a CONNER
cial point of view, the company
will give $4,000 in cash, in ad.
ditiOn to refunding the fees for
securing the patent.
1t will also advertise the in
vention free of charge.
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 &C.
cures the prize o. not, the inventor will have
patent that ought to be valuable property
to him. The prize will be awarded by 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
IL, nononotitin Cor tho TMonf Il NO Hun 4 rod