Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1898-02-03
PATENT REMINDERS.
SOME FUNNY THINGS WHICH IN
vENTORS HAVE MADE.

venience of Sleep Hoads-Ope to Thwart
the Grave Roboer.
Psychologists asser. that civilized hu-
man beings are growing more absent
minded. The average man of intelli-
gence today is not alert not so con-
scious of his immediate environments,
as he was q century ago. He does more
thinking than he did then, and great
err pe.5 Of lis business in life is left to
the purely mechanical brain functions
Tho inventors, always step ahead of
the requirements of the times, are al
ready at work devising contrivances to
SUMMON absent attention. One of the
latest OF these is q bracelet that has an
alarm watch attached to it. The wearer,
having an engagement at a certain hour,
sets the watch, and when the time ar
rives little needle point pricks her
arm and reminds her of the duty.
At the patent office q large class of
inventions is comprised under the head
Of alarms thee being machines by
which persons who otherwise would not
think are nado to think. The average
individual - obliged, however unwill
in8ly, to get up 1T certain time in the
morning. To provide for this require
nent many ingenious persons have ap-
piled their talents to the production of
contrivances for awakening people and
compelling them to srise. There is a
kind Of bedstead, for example, which
holds its mattress in q frame that is re-
tanned in the normal position by catch.
At the proper hour the catch, operated
by q clcckwcrk mechanism, loses its
grip, and the mattress frame becomes
vertical instead Of horizontal, throwing
sleepy head out upon the floor.
There is another sort of bed which
lets the head of tho sleepy person drop
when getting up time arrives, one end
of the mattress frame collapsing. But
one of the queerest of the patented
methods of waking people up involves
the employment CT tin pan and a
weight hung by cord. When the
hands Of clock reach certain point,
the weight is released and falls upon
the pan, making a direful racket. An
other oddity is frame from which are
suspended number of corkS. During
the night it is lowered gradually by a
cloCkWOrk mechanism until at the
proper hour and minute the dangling
corks begin to bob against the nose and
face of the sleeper. OF course he wakes
up. Tho most obvious advantage of
these sleep alarms is that they render
anxiety on the part Of the sleeper I'M
necessary, so far as rising is concerned.
He can snooze undisturbed 10y the neces-
sity Ct watching himself.
Hayseed visitors in the city will in
sist on blowing out the gas notwith-
standing all the newspaper jokes on the
subject. To provide against such acct
dents, citizen of Ashland, Wis, has
invented q little apparatus that is in
tended to be attached to every gas fix
ture in hotel. The breath of person
who attempts to blow out the gas tits
a delicately balanced electrode and
closes "a circuit, giving an alarm in the
Office. Another kind Of alarm, patented
by Chicago man, notifies the house
holder of escaping gas. If you are
afraid Of piclpockets, you can obtain
protection by wearing small machine
that makes a big disturbance in case
anybody tries to put his hand into your
pocket.
Even after death you may find alarms
service. If a grave robber comes
along, a torpedo placed in The coffin for
that purpose will blow him to smither-
Gems. Surprising that the disturbance
wakes you to life again, "a clockwork
mechanism will start a bell to ringing,
while a red flag runs up to the top of
the tombstone, giving notice that
prompt resurrection is desired. Speak
ing of waking up suggests mention Of
some odd contrivances for doing neces-
sary things before getting out Of bed in
the morning. One of these, patented by
q lazy Nermonter, enables one to turn
on the draft of stove or furnace and
then turn over for a supplementary
snooze This, however, is primitive
oontrivauce compared with the inyen-
ton of resident Of Providence which /
provides for the feeding of "a whole sta
bleful Ct live stock at daybreak Mr. /
Sleepy Head simply turns on his pillow /
and jerks cord, which opens valve |
in tho stable and lets down the requisite /
quantity of feed into a trough
There are quite a number Of inven-
tions for lighting the fire in the morn.
ing without getting ont of bed They !
are all operated by clockwork. The best
of them is credited to an Illinois genius |
A clock is set for o certain time, and .
when the proper minute is reached the /
mechanism throws a lever, which /
draws a match across piece of sandpa- .
per and igEites the kindliug. One of the .
latest patents is for a street lamp which /
has clcckwork apparatus attached to
it At the correct moment for which F.
the machine is set it closes an electric /
circuit, at the same time opening the
gas pipe Immediately the gas is ignit-