The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-09-18
OTHERWISE

a patent hens nest. Inc ldea OF IL wts 10
prevent weasels, rats and the like from
raiding hens nests and sucking the eggs.
There was o small hole. concealed by
natural looking straw flap in the bottom
OF the nest, and through this secret orifice
the egg, as soon az the hon laid 1t, was
dropped to padded compartment below.
There was lot OF meanness about that
device, in my opinion. But some OF these
agricultural inventors are forever fixing
up underhand devices for the humiliation
and encouragement OF the hen.
"A few years ago machine called the
mechanical housemaid was actually pat
ented. The apparatus churns butter, washes
and irons clothes. rocks the baby and .ror-
forms all the rest Of the household work
except the fancy sewing and putting the
cat out at night. The patenteef"i his
specifications, described the operation OF
the machine at great length. -. 49,
"'You place your baby In the cradle. he
wrote, in essence, your cream In the churn.
your clothes to be washed in the receptacle
provided therefor &C., and the rect was
the merest turning Of magical crank
that started all Of these various activities
to buzzing.
n
for the saving Of human life from burning
buildings is a portable parachute contriv-
ance which the inventor aims to have In.
stalled in every room OF every hotel on the
globe. The man who is caught on the
twelfth or twentieth floor OF a burning hotel
has only to fasten the parachute firmly TO
his head by means OF chin and neck strape.
and then jump into space, with or without
a muttered prayer. -.
Before DOMINIC the portable parachute
he has fastened shoes with thick rubber
soles to his feet-the shoes being part OF
the apparatus-in order to give him gentle
bounce when he hits the ground. The chap
who invented this thing gave a defnonstrae
ton OF the working Of the contrivance befefe
he received his patent, hopping of the ROOT
of hotel in Western city, unbeknownst
to the proprietor OF the hosiery. -.
"The parachute opened UP all right. b,it
the inventors descent was so extremely
gradual and deliberate that he was con.
siderably more than three parts hanged
by the neck when he reached the ground,
AN invention for the terrifying OF rate
and mice was patented long ago, and j
understand that It has become q seller.
The invention was simply papier mache
cat provided with luminous eyes. The Idea Is
to PUNK the papier mache cat down before
a rat hole and the luminous eyes do the rest,
All sorts OF patents have been granted
for rendering the milking OF COWS easy Or
easier. Orville Grant, brother OF Gen.
Grant, got out one OF these patents. The
fact that 1t wasn't particularly practicable
was manifested by Gen. Grants description
OF how it worked.
s'Orville tried the thing on an unframed
DOW that had no respect for patents, said
Gen. Grant. 'Orville didn't look 30 pretty
when he got through, but he knew damned
A Chicago man who stated in HE apph-
cation that he had been twice held mp by
footpads, neither of whom he cared to
shoot to death with the pistol he carried
on his person because he didn't want to
have the shedding Of human blood on his
soul, applied for patent on hollow bullet
with a gelatine tip The hollow bullet
was to be filed with a certain powerful
gas
aUpon striking the miscreant Intended
| to be brought down the soft gelatine tip
of the bullet would drop of, permitting
| the escape of the aforementioned powerful
Of which were designed to put the victim
to sleep for an indefinite length OF time.
| The Chicago man couldn't exactly prove
his case, and 80 he didn't get his patent;
"Plenty OF contrtvanceS nave been IN
| vented for awakening hard sleepers. One
| Of them ia sort OF automatic hydraulio
| Jack, which begins operations at the re-
auired and adjusted hour by slowly push,
| ing the mattress upon which the hard
| sleeper reposes up toward the ceiling.
AN eminently clever little patent was q
baby's rattle, invented by GIRL years OF
age. The patent was taken out in the
little ones name, and an affidavit was SUBJ
mitted to the effect that the child had de-
yised the invention without any assistance
whatever.
Some patents taken out by number OF
| great men look freakish enough when
viewed from the standpoint OF present
day ingenuity. The working model OF
Abraham Lncon's device for raising ves-
sells from shoals, upon which patent was
granted is an oddly out Of date AFFAIR TO
look over. So ia the model OF Mark Twain
scrapbook upon which the humor1st took
out patent many years ago. 1t was
thought to be very ingenious and clever az
the time Mr.. Clemens got 1t out, but I'M
proved scrapbooks came so thick and fast
| that he never made anything out OF It..
Neither did ole Bull, the celebrated
violinist of another generation, eI or make
ANYTHING out of the glass cased piano upon
which he took out an American patent
| the last time he visited the United states
Hans Won Bulow, the great German mu-
| stefan and composer, came here 70 iooK
at the Ole Bull glass piano specifications
and claims when he was in Washington
about a decade ago.
at iss foolishness,' he said, Shaking
his head sadly, and he had about right