The Western news., 1902-10-22
THE PATENT
TIME LOCK.

-~~~
07 ES." said the gentlemanly bur-
" glar, there is one class Of men
- that l occasionally stumble upon
In my midnight work which prefer to
avoid. An inventor is always an un-
known quantity, and 1t is unpleasant
business ransacking his house. He
might be as harmless as a child, or he
might prove more diabolically cruel and
cranky than an escaped lunatic. Only
twice in my experience have met such
characters in their own homes. One
was in suburban house, where every
thing seemed SO easy that took my
time about entering the open windows; !;
but after l had stepped inside l knew
that there was something wrong. l
found the floor strewn with all sorts Of
strings and pipes and coils of wire,
which, when stepped upon them, jan
gled and made all sorts of noises.
Il tried to get out of the window as
soon as possible, but l was SO tied up
twice. Then the owner of the house
appeared, aroused by the jangling
noises made by his Internal things.
There was scene which nearly cost
me my life. l escaped. however, by
tearing around among the pipes and
wires until the man went down on his
knees and begged me to desist.
1.-The other instance where / paid an
unexpected visit to an inventors home
was In New York. The fellow was
somewhat Of a crank, imagine and he
invented things for the pleasure of it.
I knew nothing about his occupation
until l aroused him in the middle Of the
floor. He was the most composed man
I ever met under similar conditions.
"'Why do you frighten a man in that
wayT he asked GROSSLY. is 1t not bad
enough to rob the house without wax
ing me up by such noises
"'Any man who throws his shoes in
the middle Of the floor deserves to be
rudely awakened answered, turning
up the gas to study my man the better.
I owe you no apology
"'You are wrong he answered. You
do owe me an apology. If you had shut
the door Of my room behind you,
might have accepted the situation. But
any man who will leave such draught
blowing on sleeping man deserves to
| be-
~ accept the correction l replied,
bowling and stepping toward the door.
I will apologize and at the same time
close the door,
1.-THE perfect cOmposure of the man
had aroused my suspicious, and dis
creetly kept my face toward him while
l backed toward the door and closed 1t.
There was click Of the lock and the
door banged sharply against the jamb.
"'You have closed it with a very bad
grace, and with little thought of the
consequences the man added. If you
had given me time to explain you
might have saved yourself good deal
Of Inconvenience. AS 1t Is now thinl;
you have made the situation unpleasant
for both of u.s.
~ don't understand murtered
more nonplussed than ever by the
mans words and attitude.
~ suppose not, but your ignorance
does not alter the fact. l shall, how
ever, seek to enlighten you. To do SO
must go back somewhat in my story
I'm an inventor by prOfession'-these
words made me Sunderland l an
just now at work upon a very grea,
thing. In fact, 1t will prove a revolu
tion in some lines Of trade. l mean tc
invent time lock which will prove su
perior to any on the market to-day
This lock will be of value in an infinite
variety Of ways, but chiefly for use OF
safes and bank vaults. All that yo,
have to do Is to set it for a certain
length of time, and no earthly power
can unlock it. You may blow up tn,
safe or vault, but the steel bolts will
not move from their position. It vii
remain locked until the time expires
and then the steel spring will open 4
automatically
"1 have met with such locks in m,
work before said, impatiently; blu
what has that to do with the presen
caseT
Every much indeed. If you were o
a discerning nature you would have no
ticed the connection before now. hav,
put the time lock on that door to test IT
Every night retire and lock the door
and no power can open it until in tn,
morning.
! "A mighty good protection from