The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-06-02


by a clock-weight mechanism, until at the
desired minute the dangling corks begin
10 beat a tattoo upon the face OF the
sleeper Another is a sort OF bed which
let's the head of the occupant drop when
the getting-up time arrives, one end OF
the mattress collapsing; and if his neck
isn't broken, he is sure to be awakened.
Another contrivance involves the employ
ment of tin pan, weight and a cord.
Do you see the connection? When the
clock hands reach a given point, the
weight is released and falls upon the
PAN making racket enough to rouse the
historic seven sleepers. The tape-worm
trap, patent for which was actually
granted, consists of a hollow ball, divid-
ed into two parts, which are hinged to-
gether and provided with an inside
spring, so that they can be made to snap
shut like a steel rat trap. II you imagine
that one Of those longdrawn-out reptiles
has taken up his abode in your interior.
you have only to starve yourself for
few days, then swallow the ball, having
first bated it with choice moreau. His
snakeship, who is supposed by this time
to be eagerly seeking a square meal,
sticks his head into the trap-when snap
goes the spring and you can haul him up
at leisure through the throat How the
patient knows when the snap is sprung.
how to avoid being choked to death in
swallowing the ball, or il dying with ter
ror and disgust when the long filthy mass
is being drawn through the mouth, are
details upon which you must consult the
inventor, who is a Georgia man.
A genius In Illinois, where the weather
is cold in winter, has recently patented
a very good thing. clock is set for a
certain time and when it is reached, some
mechanism throws a lever, which draws
a match across a bit of sandpaper in the
kitchen stove and lights the fire, without
disturbing the owners beauty sleep, who
barring accidents-may get up later and
find the house all nice and warm. Only
last month a Texas man patented a wa
ter-clock that Is wound by rain. On the
roof of the house is a trough that catches
the water which flows into a tank When
the tank is filled to a certain point, 1t
empties the water into a bucket, which is
connected by a cord with the winding
drum of an ordinary clock The bucket
falls and by its weight pulls up the clock
weight, thus winding the clock. Finally
the bucket reaches the floor, when valve
in it's bottom opens and the water runs
out. Then it ascends and resumes its
original position, so as to be ready to
wind the clock again. What Is to be done
in dry seasons, when no rain falls, do
not know. At any rate, If made to work,
1T would settle the time-worn queery that
has started SO many family jars-"Have
you wound the clock?"
Another twentieth century and much
more useful invention is a clock-work APP
paratus for lighting street lamps. At the
correct moment for which the machine
is set. it closes an electrical circuit, at
the same time opening the gas-pipe. Inn
medlately the gas is ignited, and it burns
until shut off by the clock work at day
break. In this way, the street lamps, all
over city may light themselves stimuli
taneously, without the slow old way of
the lamp-hshter on his rounds
The other day Frenchman took out
an American patent for a billiard cue The
cue is hollow and contains a spring
which can be set to strike a blow with
certain force The tip-end of the cue
slides into the hollow like piston, and is
released by the sprlng-thus giving the
needed force to land the billiard
on the spot selected. Another this
years invention is sort of
nickel-in-the-slot machine to do away
with the newsboy. Its impressive name
is the coin-controlled newspaper de-
livery and a Minneapolis man is guilty
of it. In box, or casing, are. a number
of wooden arms, like towel-racks, on
which are hung newspapers. You drop
your coin in the slot-up shoots a wooden
arm and you grab your Morning News.
A .olesome device which appeals to
the symDathies of every mother Of small
boys, rs hand sewing for patch
ing torn trousers, the knees of stockings
and jacket elbows. 1t looks like a pair
of sissors and is worked up and down like
he hladae VI Sh l,,t ole ~ .
does the business with neatness and dis
patch. 1t is needless to add that a wo-
man was the author of It. l am proud
to say that something over $500 inven-
tons have been patented by women and
the models of most of them are in the
Patent Office at Washington. And they
haven't run to silly things either-most OF
the dimple-producers, hair-dyes, ct cetera,
having been produced by the so-cailed
stronger sex. 1t was in 1909, that Mary
Kies, of Connecticut, received the first
patent ever granted to a woman in the
United States. She invented a process
of weaving straw with silk. The next
patented a womans calash; and the next
brought cream of tarta into market. Since
then they have come rapidly to the front.
with their inventions, from clothes-wring-
ers, to railroads. Conspicuous at the end
of the Nineteenth century was Mrs. Mary
bedSley, whose scheme OF new railway
system, if brought to the successful COM
pletion predicted for 1t by engineers and
business men, will revolutionze the pres
ent mode of transportation between the
East and West. The same lady patented
a barrel-making machine, which turns out
fifteen hundred barrels day; and anoth-
err machine for driving hoops upon the
barrels, which 1t does at the rate Of one
every thirty seconds. OF course she has
made fortune. So have several other
women within the last ten years on their
own inventions. Miss Catherine O'Harra
of Worcester, Mass. has been granted
thirty-four patents. mostly in the line
OF corsets. hose supporters and other ar
ticles of womens wear.
The first patent ever issued by our
government was in 1890, to Samuel Hop
kns, for making pot or pearl ashes"
For the first forty-six years, only about
ten thousand patents were issued; now
the annual number averages fifteen thou
sand. 1t costs about twenty-five dollars
in fees to obtain the simplest patent, and
no doubt many useful inventions remain
unknown becaus those who contrived
them are too poor to bring them out.
As a Last Resort.-"No. Mr.. walkin-
DELL" impatient1y replied the young wo-
man, II will not marry you. have told
you so hundred times beforew Miss