Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1894-12-27
PRIZES ON PATENTS.
How to Get twenty-five Hun
dred Dollars for Nothing.
The winner has Il Clear GIFT Ola
Small Fortune, and the Losers
Have Patents that may
Bring them I'm still
More.

Would YOU like to make twenty-five nun
dred dollarsY Ifyou would, read carefully
what follows and you may see way 10 90 IT,
The Press Claims Company devotes much
attention to patents. 1t has handled thous.
ands of applications for Inventions, but it
would like TO handle thousands more. There
Ia plenty of inventive talent in this country,
needing nothing but II C ourag m ell
to produce practical results. That enco"r'
agement the Press Claims Company pro-
poses to give.
NOT SO HARD AS 1T SEEMS.,
patent strikes most people as an appall'
;nclv formidable thing. The idea is that an
inventor must be a natural genius, like Edl-
son or Bell that he must put years to delVlhg
IN complicated mechanical problems ana
that he must spend fortune Oh dcllcate ex-
perimenls before he can get new device 10
a patentable degree OF perfection. ms de-
luslon the company desires to dlspei. IL ue-
sires to get into the head OF the puDlc Clear
comprehension of the tact that it IS not inc
great, complex, and expensive Inventions
that bring the best returns 10 their au'ho or.
hnt the little, simple, and cheap ones-the
things that seem SO absurdlY trivial that the
citizen would feel somewh hat ashamed OF
bringing them &c the attention Of the Paten!
Office.
Edison SAYS that the profits he has received
from the patents on all his marvellous lnvcn-
tions have not been sufficient topaz the cost
of his experiments. But the man who CON
ceved the idea of fastening bit OF ruopcr
cord to chld's ball, so that it would come
back to his hand when thrown made lor-
tune out of his scheme. The modern sew
ing.machine is a miracle OF ingenuIty-the
product fthe toll of hundIeds 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 announcer,
with ideas that seemed calculated to reduce
some of the little friclons of life. Usually
such ideas are dismissed without further
thought
"Why don't the railroad company make
its car windows so that they could be Slid up
and down without breaking the passengers
backs?" exclaims the traveller. "lf were
running the road l would make them IN such
Q way"
"What was the man that made tins sauce
pan thinking off, grumbles the cook. HE
never had to work oyer stoyc, or he would
have known how oue hit to have been tlSed."
"Hang such - liar button Y grows inc
man who is late for breakfast. "lt | were in
the business I'd make buttons that wouldn't
slip out or break Oft, or gouge out the Dack
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, sauccpans, 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 to
offer prize.
To the person who submits to
1t the simplest and most prone
Using invention. from II CONNIE err
cial point of view, the company
will give $4,000 in cash, in adj
ditiOn to refunding the fees for
securing the patent. 80
1t will also advertise the in
yentiOn free ofcilarge.
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 o: not, the inventor will have
n patent that ought to be valuable property
to him. The prize will be awarded by jury
consisting of three reputable patent altorn-
eys of Washington. Intending competitors
should fill out the following blank, and for
ward it with their application
- -, 1873.
81 submit the within described invention
in competition for the Twenty-Five Hundred
Dollar Prize offered by the Press Claims
Company
No Blanks I'm this Competition.
This is a competition of rather an unusual
nature 1t is common to offer prizes for the
best story, or picture, or architectural plan,
all the competitors risklng 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
stimulus to do something that would be well
worth doing 1t. The architect whose COM
petitive plan for club house on certain
corner is not accepted has spent his labor on