The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1905-07-26
UTILIZING INVENTION.
Two Kinds Of Talent Rarely Found In
the Same Person.


Most men who have inventive talent
think that if useful thing is once
| perfected and patented there should
not be any difficulty about making the
thing sell. They are often puzzled,
| therefore, by the reluctance shown by
| other people to take up the device,
| manufacturing and pushing it. The
| truth is, however, that another kind
of talent is needed for this purpose.
In the first place, it is not easy to
| foresee the fate of any novelty. Gro
GERS, booksellers, hardware dealers
druggists and other merchants know
pretty nearly what demand there will
be for such articles as have been in
the market for years; but when a new
thing appears they do not feel certain
about its future. 1t may go off like
hot cakes, or it may remain unsold on
| their shelves for years, and prove al
most a dead loss. They say, probably
with truth, that many wise men shook
their heads over Bells telephone,
greatly doubling that it would pay.
Some of the trouble grows out of the
difficulty of estimating popular taste;
but, aside from that, an unusual COM
bination of business qualities is need
ed in order to advertise properly the
merits of new invention, and its au-
, thor rarely possesses these.
In discussing this truth the Engi-
neenng Record recently remarked
that even when clever business men
get hold of a good thing they do not
always recommend wisely or to the
right class of customers. To illustrate
its argument that periodical referred
to small refrigerating machines, such
as are being used in hotels, apartment
houses and large restaurants in cities
and also in the rural districts. The
men who are making the most money
out of these machines are the owners
of small cold storage plants, which
are springing up rapidly in many parts
of the country. In some parts of the
wheat districts the farmers have or
ganized cooperative elevator compa-
ganizing cold storage companies in
the same way. Dairy products, eggs
and fruit are being kept where pro-
duced until the market conditions are
favorable for their sale. This bust
ness does not cut into the large stor-
age enterprises in the cities, and, in
fact, it is of assistance to the large
wholesalers.
The small storage business affords
a good example of the fact that the
most money to be made from an in
vention is to be found in its utiliza-
ton. When an invention of real mer-
it has been made it must be intro.
duced, and it is the failure to grasp
the necessity of educational work in
introducing novelties that delays the
adoption of desirable improvements
The construction of small cold stor-
age plants, operated by gasolene en-
gines, was left for the farmers to un-
dertake, and the slowness with which
it has been undertaken has been due
to the lack of encouragement given by
the builders of such machinery. In
contrast with this condition is that of
the pneumatic tool business. This has
reached its present astonishing devel-
opment very largely through the edu-
cational work done by Mr.. Duntley.
He exhibited the tools in actual work
in all the large cities where there were
...l -. -
men to show how to keep them in con-
dition, and he sought far and wide for
suggestions for their improvement.