The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-09-01

| II many eggs got broken on their way
! to market by rail \ cOuntryman con-
/ ceived the plan Of packing them in
/ trays of pasteboard, with a separate
! compartment in which each egg might
stand upright. The happy thought
was worth fortune, and such trays are
/ now universally used. The student of
patents knows these facts. He permits
/ his imagination to picture his future as
/ that of a Monte Cristo, and dreams his
| life away in the building Of air castles
1t is no wonder that for years and
| years the patent Office has been in
! Tested with cranks. The story of Sir
Henry Bessemer alone is an incentive
TO the poor and ambitious young men
who believe that they possess inventive
genius. lie came to London poor
boy from a country village. In two
years he was persuing a method of his
own invention for taking copies of an
tique and modern bas-reliefs in a man
ner that enabled him to stamp them on
cardboard, thus turning out an inf
mite number of embossed copies of the
=
This process, If made known to the I'M
, scrupulous, would have opened wide
door TO fraud; for by its means there
was not government stamp nor paper
seal of a corporate body which any
common clerk could not forge in few
moments to absolute perfection. The
disclosure of it at that time would
have shattered the whole system of the
British stamp office. The secret has
been carefully guarded to this day. At
the period referred to it was reckoned
that the British government lost $780,
900 annually by the transfer of old
stamps to new deeds and other legal
papers, the tax being thus evaded.
BesSemer invented a new system, which
was adopted by the government, but he
never got even thanks for it. But 50
mucn wealth and SO many great honors
were shOwered upon him that he cheer
fully donated the latter product of his
brain To his country.
The patent offiae ht~ary contains The
histories OF successful inventors, and
these books are handled and thumbe6
bv the crapks who see in these stories
the reflection of the anticipated frui-
ton Of the hopes of their daily lives.
But The number of these monomaniacs
about the patent Office and library Is
appreciably diminishing every year.
The attorneys through whom they
make their applications try to shut
them off. No other inventors value
their ideas so highly as they do. Com
monty they are afraid to reveal their
plans lest they be stolen. The per-
petual-mOtion lunatic is always around
the great building at Ninth an L
streets. If the words perpetual mo-
ton" are mentioned in his papers his
money Is sent back to him and his ap-
peal is firmly declined. To get around
this difficulty he usually calls his ma
chine 4 motor" The final resort for
getting rid of him Is 10 demand a work
ing model Is q condition necessary be
fore his claim can be further conSid-
cred. That silences him every time.
But while the working model cannot
be produced the wheels continue TO
revolve in the lunatic'S head. and he
remains of the same perpetual motion
opinion still; but he ceases TO annoy
the examiners and other officials.
There are some scrap books down IN
the patent Office basement which tell
wonderful stories Of the great fortunes
which have grown out OF small ideas.
There are undeveloped gold mines IL
the brains of men. if they could only
strike the proper lead" IN their pros
pecting. The scrap books tell rs that
a little metal paper fastener made
wealth for Air. McGill who invented il
in 1857. The rubber pencil tip was &c
vised by q Philadelphia man, Hymcn +.
Lipman. in ISIS 1t earned slOo GOO for
MIN. Il was In the same year that
George \. Mitchell got a patent for the
metallic shoe tip. His application for
exclusive rights covered shoe tips OF
silver and all other metals. but copper
was preferred From that time %
every boot maker who sold shoes with
copper toes had 70 pav q royalty. which
enriched the originator II the Idea. An
tsIorn.susa amount 81 money was made
~ Nl.fam -. f-wa't GU o. an I'M
proved attachment for machine bar-
vesters called a driving chain" The
idea ~ making metal p.st-s tnr the
heels and >oies OF shoes was very SIM
pie. and Vet the device brought the in
veutur over 81. 5uG.u,1
Did you know that the Ul3u who in
vented the gus>et Tor reinforcing pocls-
etS became very rich by that discover
lie WAS n Chinamaa named CheanC
Guam We and was doing laundry wark
In San Francisco when rae idea was
>sal--S