The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-05-04
MONEY in INVENTIONS
NOT TRUE THAT THE INVENTOR Al
WAYS REMAINS POOR.
Instances where Vast Fortunes Have
Been Made from simple COntriv-
ances-Less Successful Ones.
Scientific American.

"a Alt4A4AdAlt DallltA VI kN--"As
fortune. This, doubtless, is true Of many
cases, but the diverse of the picture IS
gratifying and full OF encouragement. In
Vulnerable instance could be given where
comparatively large fortunes have been
made out of a simple article, which neces-
STATED neither elaborate design nor great
initial expenditure. and when judged from
a strictly unitarian point of view. did not
possess any practical value.
Some of the largest fortunes appear TO
have been derived from the invention OF
trivialities and novelties. such as the once
popular toy known as Dancing JimeroW.'
which, for several years. is said TO have
yielded its patentee an annual income OF
upward OF $4,000. The sale OF another toy
John Gilpin"-enriched its lucky inventor
10 the extent of SlOO.O a a year as long as II
continued 10 enjoy the unexpected popu-
larity that greeted IL when first placed upon
the market Mr.. Plimpton, the inventor OF
the roller skate. made 100000 out OF DIS
idea, and the gentleman who first thougnt
Of placing a rubber tip at the end OF lead
pencils made about 100000 a year by means
of his simple Improvement
When Harvey Kennedy introduced the
shoelace he made S2.500.000. and the ordinary
umbrella benefited six people by as m1cn
as sl0,0o0.0O0. Inc Howard patent Tor DOLL
ing sugar in vacuo proved a lucrative IN
vestment for the capitalists, who were able
10 remunerate the inventor on a colossal
scale. 1t is estimated that his income aver
aged between $4,000 and $250.0V0 per annum.
At first the process proved an entire tailuFe
and had TO be lad aside as useless. IL was
not until an old German workman casually
made a suggestion for a possible improve
ment that Ii was once more tried. Inc sug-
gestion was improved upon and the lnNen-
ton rendered successful. All sugar renners
who used the new method allowed Mr..
Howard a royalty of "A cents per hundred-
weight on the raw material passing
TnnHU tho nTnEnZZ
MILLIONS IN A PEN.
Sir Josiah Mason, the inventor Of the i'm
proved steel pen. made an for
tune and on his death English charities
benefited by many millions Of dollars. He
was one Of the most generous Of men, and
during his life gave enormous sums TO hos
pitfalls and industrial schools. The patentee
of the pen for shading in different colors
derived a yearly income of about 10000
| from this ingenious contrivance. IL IS
stated that the wooden ball with an elastic
attached, yielded over $4,000 a year. Many
readers Will remember a legal action which
took place some years ago, when In the
course OF the evidence. il TRANSFERRED that
the inventor of the metal plates used fer
protecting the soles and heels of shoes
from wear sold 100000 plates in 1873. ana
in 1887 the number reached a total OF 49,
100000, which realized profits Of $l,l5o,On for
the year.
4dCullNs anu lllQCtls liAtN AAC AAAA RANAAts
of scope for new ideas, as there are hun
dreds of little things waiting 10 be super
seeded by simple appliances that will mini
miZe handiwOrk and obNiate the necessity
of so much toll being daily expended in the
household. The lady who invented the mod
ern baby carriage enriched herself TO the
extent of $4,000; and a young lady living al
Port Elizabeth, South Africa, devised the
simple toilet requisite known as the Mary
Anderson curling iron, from which she de-
rives royalties amounting TO 500 a year. IL
/ was the wife OF "A ClerENman Who designed
an Improvement for the corset and made q
fortune out of it. Instances of ladies bring
ing forward inventions which have added
TO personal comfort and general utility
could be given ad infinitum. They occupy
all ranks of society. from the poor strug-
CLING seamstress TO the Empress of France,
who, by the way, invented a dress improv-
or, which years ago developed into the then
fashionable crinoline. The gimlet-pointed
screw, the idea OF a little girl, brought
many millions of dollars 10 the clever In
ventor, Miss Knight, a young lady Of ex-
ceptional talents, was gifted with wonderful
mechanical powers, as viii be seen by the
complicated mechanism of her machine for
making paper bags. We are told she re-
fused $5O,0O0 for it shortly after taking out
the patent.
MORE ELABORATE DEVICES.
The history Of the wire-wound gun. which
was invented by Mr.. j. Longridge. the
famous engineer, throws some light on the
insouciance and apathy that formerly en-
veloped the British War Office. Longridge
invented the gun In 1854, and did all In his
power to place it before the authorities.
but they would have nothing 10 DO With II.
Thirty years afterward, however, the ord
nance department at. Woolwich subjected
one of the guns TO exhaustive tests, and 50
satisfactory were the results that they de-
clared that nothing could equal it for heavy
ordnance. Unfortunately, the inventor died
from a broken heart before this end was at
tanned. Another case illustrating the treat
ment meted out TO inventors by the English
War Office is that OF DR.. Conan Doyle, the
popular author Of Sherlock Holmes" who
recently discovered a way TO insure ap-
prOXimate accuracy in ~high-angle or drop
ping rifle fire, the need Of which has so
often been felt in the present war In the
Transvaal. The inventor states that the ap-
paratus would be fitted 10 the rife and
would weigh comparatively nothing. cost
but a few cents. take up very little space,
and interfere in no way with the present
sights. The novelist communicated with the
officials in London and received the follow
ing reply: with reference 10 your letter
concerning an appliance for adapting rifles
20 high-angle FIRE, i am directed by the
secretary OF state TO inform you that he
Will not trouble you in the matter" As Dr.
Doyle remarks, the invention might be alb
solute rubbish OF IT might be epoch-mak-
ing, but he has been given no chance OF
either explaining or Illustrating IL.
The machine with which the Brothers
Morley, in the latter years OF the eight
zenith century. made their enormous for
tune was the stocking loom, invented three
generations earlier by Rev. William Lee. a
fellow of st. Johns College. Cambridge,
England. Lees life story is fun Of sadness.
According TO one account, Lee. falling in
love with and marrying an innkeeper's
daughter, lost his fellowship. and was, con-
s%equently, reduced TO extreme poverty.
The wife knitted stockings for a living,
and the husband. sitting by her side as she
worked, watched the intricate movements
OF her hands, and was thereby led 10 sDecu-
late on the possibility OF constructing a
machine that would do the work more ex-
pe~ditiously. Lee came TO grief. because his
machine was believed 10 be a device for
throwing people out Of employment. He
went ultimately TO France. where he died
poor and friendless, a disappointed man.
MANY years afterward English legislators
so appreciated the value OF the stocking
loom that they prohibited its expectation:
and so Jealous was Parliament Of foreign
competition that IL seems 10 have been
doubtful. even as late as the middle OF the
eighteenth century, whether n was lawful
even 70 publish a technical description %
the APPARATUS. When the frame was intro
duccd Il completely reYOlutionized the
stocking trade. producing fifteen hundred
loops per minute. as against the hundred
loops in skilled handwriting.
II is difficult 10 realize that the art OF
perforatng paper was unknown fifty years
ago. Prior 20 1854 postage stamps were Is
sued In sheets, the purchaser having 10 cut
them up inH the way he found most conven-
lent. In lS4s an Irishman named Archer In
troduced a machine for cutting small Sits