New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-03-07


secrets c. rsccess7 How csa one tai re ti~erenc'
b.ixeea crank ard genius. Kelly AID a.
Ericsson;
o,gs. % s.e otsAr.e1 &, the H-s, pizce. TIA:
r-an wh0 irge-ts article which. = ne nature 0,
.niry- could haze cnly limited uses HNe a. IN
proved safs-y wave for balloon. = no- go.ns %
coan sh4keia ~, - - tappy thought rex ce-
yfce prove t.g1.y rerlDners'iFs should - some
fhiny that laTgs number r; proDe are 2o!nE 70
Use - for Instance steel pm or = bicycle tire
II TIE psce. &; ought - II fernernSfr@c fhz,
mechanical irgerui'y ard ekii and se.enilfc IT.
tsinnoeris sre Tot Often found IN combination Win
IL. rsrsci-y sn1 management requisite % cornrer-
,asl sgcc4rs Most frreu;ors secure fh- co-opeTa-
ton r. \ trained business man before they fesin
70 get o. n The zo;l1 Tnis * generally 'r-le @v-n
where financial assistance r. nor fssentia' 70 tn@
development Z he idea. and making terms ~ith
nanr,ac;rrer or proraoter {, il ;us; well not %
be too eEac,in<
IGNORANT INVENTORS.
perhap- the ms, seriovz buua~r q NOS; invent
e-x {. .aer failure % fai or VIA, has erea1y ieen
ATTEMPTED n mir special .lre Some one ooserves
the defects 81 argio 'ro.i@y-@ar tender and cues
OF AMI laverts another. which - ignprantif IN
sE.rc. 20 be entirely new whereas little inquiry
would have revealed .he fat taa. ~ had merely
repeated an % and discarded design. 4 farm
fsnces that by simple change g. me construction
O. a mower he IS about 20 oos@ ~ al he mover
fae.ories IN TIE country Except the lucky ore
.rcclNfle lt
Ind cn!y consulted some reputable maker q farm
machinery before he s4uar1ered anything on pat
ea;s he would doubtless hs.e discovered that his
rea had occurred % dozers q other people and had
been found utterly impractlcabl". The chief reason
WHY railroad superintendent refuse 20 see the fnaa
wi,h ncw car-couper j. that he seems not 70 b
swa-e ~ the decision - the Master Car Buiders
Asscriat.on - use Only coupiers n the Janey type
rs IA IS possible An "norrnous numb@r Of things
arc patented every year which cannot possibly be
cod because there f. already IN service something
OF the Kind which f. really much superior. pat
eat attorney may perhaps be awfre u the fat
When he puts Gaze of'ihi< kind through. br. he
co~s not feel under any Obligation 10 reveal il -
his client Having conadcd bis idea 70 one or I'VE
trusty friends. who can subsequently, i"siHy % INC
tire and nature % the disclosure. II is a good
thinG ror the inventor 20 consult various author!tes
,ss,ut the novelty and excellence Of his scheme.
There 81 little danger Of collecting too much infor-
rn1,,on on these points. one may not Do abe 10
cole, whole libraries of patents ana histories u
invent 'oas or take all the current periodicals.
which treat Of mechanics electricity, chemistry and
other sciences, or sustain intimate relations with
leading manufacturers. chemists and railroad man
ayers yet f. g. possible for ne humb"st rnechanir
70 collect clipping and memoranda. TO pump his
friends and neighbors and 20 obtain Tie addrtases
Of experts who can Dc consulted hy letter II q
person rites a good hand. describe his plan clear
" and simply inclcses postage - cover reply and
respectfully asks the favor of an opinion. he "a
almost always get useful hints and advice. The
danger Of having bne's idea stolen is greatly
gcrated by most inventors. II they have taken the
precauton. already suggested. Ct intrusting theiF
IDEAS 10 some friend. VINO bear witness 20 the
fact. they are almost well protected legally as
II they had obtained patent.
LACK OF THOROUGH TESTS.
Another grave lies in the failure 10 make
thorough q invention before trying 70 In
terezt capitalists In It, The first inspiration comes
90. ' ia. nj
have been born as Minerva sprang from the aching
bead 81 Jupiter fuli-grown and fully equipped for
war But soon an attempt Is made 70 put II
into practice, Unforeseen difficulties arise. Morse
conceived his electric telegraph IN 1881. but until he
devised his relay in 1895 his scheme was not good
for much !; was only after years Of experiment
with countess materials some o. which were OBJ
tanned nom the uttermost parts OF the globe that
Edison found good h0re for his ircandesccnt
lamp The principle involved all right. but
there WAS an almost inconceivabe amount OF pa
Hence and labor expended IN reducing the principle
to practice. On the other hand. the Fundamental
principle on when the elder Mccormick sought TO
construct reaping machine was wrong. and It was
only after this had been amply demonstrated tina.
the son hit upon the right solution Of the problem
These three typical instances can be paraleled by
scores Of others in the history OF invention: And
ventons In their infancy. but also the vaiu" Of per-
pointrnent. The need Of thorough il sim fur
Their illustrated By the fact that experts. as well as
Of scheme while yet il Is only paper. and are
treated TO surprise when the first practical expert
This Is the weak point in All perpetual motion
schemes. The inventor probably knows that the
perpetual motion impossible, because as they say
you cannot get something out Of nothing" But
the self-saisheG igroramus smiles contemporary
at the teachings Of science. and Is that his
particular pan has merits possessed BY no other
schemes lie would not. for instance. try TO ~
himself over the fence ~ his boOtstraDs. but NJ
would make engine 10 be operated by com
pressed air and use part Of the power thus eener
aAed TO pump air into the reservoir which CORE
spends 70 the boiler. or maybe he woull
a strccicar By storage battery. and employ
the motion Of he vehicle 20 run small dynamo u
ike Kec'y. he will seek 10 Hibernate unknown
force which Nature has already placed in state o.
equilibrium. and Will purpose TO disturb that cqui
Lbrtum by oDe-mlionth Of the force 10 DE produced
COST OF PRODUCTION.
Moreover the cost OF production and operation
must be kept In mind. For the last year two
there has been craze over the possibility OF de
Wiling a bottle that could not be filed secon,
time without betrsying the fact. There is such
demand for a bottle Of this sort, has been sup
posed 10 exist. yet there r. d distinct need and us,
FOR one and the agitation Of the subject has no
been altogether without success Well In cOnse
Qucnce Of this TAIN there have been hundreds o
them patented But the manufacturers who supply
bottlers say that none Of these schemes are avail
able commercially. because they add TOO much I,
the cost Of the bottle. Again there is the case o
Bloomfield Moore's cold electric light. which al
fracted n good deal OF attention last spring. Amonl
the criticisms passed upon II was the charge tina
Il would cost more 10 run It than 10 run the inran
descent lamp which IL was intended 10 replace
This may not have been true certain we-knowI
Electricians declared that II wasn't But the In
stance serves TO illustrate the necessity for 'indnl
out the actual cost OF running any new machine OF
conducting a new process and making sure that M
expense Will Not be greater than that OF operating
by existing methods and apparatus.
There is enc more point which may properly h
borne in mind by the poor and worthy Inventor
Cans at n eypfdl