Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1896-01-23
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
Nave Patents that may
Bring them In still
More.

Would YOU like to make twenty-five hun
dred dollarss 1fyou would, read CAREFUL.
what follows and you may see way to do it
The Press Claims Company devOtes mucl
attention to patents. 1t has handled thous
ands of applications for inventions, but i
would like to handle thousands more. Their
Ia plenty of inventive talent in this country
needing nothing but GU rag m ell
to produce practical results. That encOur
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 a natural genius, like Edi'
son or Bell that he must put years TO dclving
in complicated mechanical problems and
that he must spend fortune on delicate ex-
periments before he can get new device to
q pstentable degree OF perfection. This de-
lusIon 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 80 absurdly trivial that the
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 or all his marvellous inven-
lions have not been sufficient to pay the cost
of bis experiments. But the man who con-
ceived the idea Of fastening bit OF ruoDer
cord to a childs ball, so that it would come
back to his hand when thrown made for
tune out of his scheme. The modern sew
ing.machine Is miracle OF ingenuIty-the
50 tNs1 Of y1u 1rAInA
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
selyes as inventors, but almost everybody
mas 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 so that they could be slid up
and down without breaking the passengers
backs" exclaims the traveller IF l were
running the road would make them IN s1ch
"What was the man that made this sauce
pan thinking OFF, 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 |" growls the
man who is late for breakfast. "lfl 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. Ifthey 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 reso we'd to
offer prize.
TO the person who submits to
1t the simplest and most prom
Using invention, from a CONNER.
cial point Ofview, the company
will give $4,000 In cash, in adj.
ditiOn to refunding the fees for
securing the patent.
1t will also advertise the in
ventiOn free Ofcharge.
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 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,
Government and Bureau fees, will
be seventy dollars For this, whether he &C.
cures the prize o: not, the inventor will have
q patent that ought to be a valuable property t
to him. The prize will be awarded by jury :
of three reputable patent attorn.
eys of Washington. Intending competitors :
should fill out the following blank, and for. a
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 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