Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1901-01-18
MAN FOND OF FINE TOOLS.
An Inventor for whom they Have
Fascinatts- Day~ Everything
New he sces.


marked n Fulton gtrest tool dealer, ns
an elderly man went out of the shop,
reports the New York Sun. he 10,
perhaps, one OF the hnpplest men in
this city to-day, because his credit Is
good and he can once more indulge in
his fad of buying new tools. He has
been regular customer Of this store
ever since 1t was opened years ago,
and has bought tools worth many
thousands OF dollars We just now
sold. him bill Of more than $500
worth of files, drills, reamers and 9TH
er tools, including set of standard
gunges.
"He is an ingenious inventor, but
devoid of business ability. Every two
or three years he gets up something
valuable, and having no money at the
time he finds hacker or hackers,
who generally reap all benefits Of his
ingenuity and cast him aside when
they no longer need him. He goes
carefully, because he has always some
thing new in his mind to which he
desires to give his whole time.
I'm every instance where COM
pany is formed or hacker Is liberal
he stocks up an elaborate tool room,
buying many things which are not
really needed, just because he has an
uncomfortable passion for flne tools.
He has just purchased micrometer
caliper for S27. when one for six dol
lars would answer all Of his purposes.
The item OF taps and dies In this bill
is $3.50; drills. $50; straight and
taper reamers, 500; lathe chucks, S76,
and two more ordered. He bought
every new tool the clerk showed him.
/ would really be sorry for the peo-
pie who have TO pay the money but for
the fact that I know that they will
have all the best Of the bargain In
the end. He is on his way to Liberty
street now and will perhaps buy thou
sands of dollars worth Of lsthes. mill
ing tools, shapers, drill presses and
gear cutters before night. He has ex-
cellent credentials. and nobody will
hesitate about selling and delivering
the machine tools. Six months from
now he will be in here without money
and with a longing for something new
in the tool line"
DO you have other oasteuArS 81
his type?"
"Yes, many Of them, but not all
so absorbed in the passion as be 10.
We find that there is large class
of men who want to possess ne tools
for which they have no immediate
and perhaps no prospective use. They
are either amateur mechanics or men
who have had an early training in the
shop and have gone into some other
business. Sometimes they are men
who have grown too old to work at
their trade. We used to have a Pc
culiar customer OF this latter class.
He was u superannuated jeweler and
had no steady income, but used TO
receive irregular sums OF money from
n well-to-do brother In Texas. When
he had money he would come In here
and buy tools for which he had no
earthly use. He bought them because
they were bright and shspeiy. When
he ran out of funds he took the tools
up into Center street and sold them
for less than half their value to the
secondhand tool dealers. As soon as
him gazing into the show window and
evidently struggling with himself u.
keep from buying something he saw.
Invariably he came In and made q
purchase. The boys sometimes tried
10 dissuade him from buying an ex-
pensive tool. but that always reused
bis indignation, and he curtly told
This old man wns by no means feeble
minded. In fact he was unusually in
teligent and was a great reader. All
That he had of value when ne died
a couple OF years ago was a collection
OF nearly 2,GOo books, nine fine violins
and a good engine lathe.
another singular customer we
have is the secretary of an insurance
company. He is skillful amateur
mechanic and has a well-equipped
shop at his home In New Jersey. He
buys everything new in the tool line
That he thinks he can nse. He has
built dynnmos, small engines. a tow
er clock for the village church, an
electric elevator in the house for his
invalid wife and . complete gasoline
yacht. He is now engaged upon the
machinery for an automobile. have
seen several speeimens Of his handi.
work and II would reflect credit upon
any machine shop In the land, and
yet this man never spent day In q
machine shop. He picked up his Graf,
by experience. by watching others and
by reading. There was y good me.
chanic wasted when his father put
him into an ofice."