The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1906-10-12

method His claim was allowed by
a board consisting Of the secretary of
state, the secretary of war and the
attorney general in 1890, the year of
the creation of the patent system.
That same year two other patents
we're issued, one on machine for
manufacturing candles and the other
for a -four and Matchmaking machine
Six cases are filled with sewing
machine models From the first
successful machine, invented by
Elias Howe, Jr., the claims on which
were allowed September 10, 1916, in
the same year with the telegraph, the
models slow the development down
the years until the complicated but
perfectly smooth running delight of
the modern housewife is reached.
Then there are the freaks. Mr.. Gill
has humor stored up for the occasion
when any of these are under inspec-
ton
Here's a pocket sewing machine
invented by lady" he says invari-
ably "She intended that it should
be carried around to afternoon tea
parties so that when conversation
Jagged it might be produced and a
little work accomplished.
Then he waits moment to give
his hearers time to absorb his mean
ing before he concludes with sly,
sidelong glance, as if to judge the wit
of the stranger.
But there was never much use for
these, and the inventress didn't get
rich"
Women, always jealous Of the ac-
complishments of their SEX, have
been accustomed in the past and
present to inquire of the curator what
other things" have been patented by
women. So frequent has this ques-
tion been propounded that Mr.. Gill
some time ago had nearly all Of the
models of women's inventions collect
ed in cases in one part of the build
ing. Here he leads the feminine Wis
itor the moment she shows signs of
veering around toward that quarter
in her endless interrogations
An interesting lot thy are and one
of which women in general may well
be proud. Most of them are for
household use, although the broader
field has repeatedly been entered
with more or less success. The fic-
Idenes of fortune is illustrated here
and there On one shelf is an elab-
crate model of a submarine telescope,
the product Of some fertile feminine
brain, or, to be more exact, of the
brain of Sarah P. Mather, who Sc
cured her patent in 1S45. Just beside
it is a package of rectangular pieces
Of tissue paper, fringed at the edges.
for use in wrapping bon bons. Sarah
p Mather is said to have died poor,
while her sister inventress OF the
| simpler mind, who was Miss I. ]. Van
Skelline, got rich from the returns
of the candy wrapper. But the It's
! sue paper rectangles were not invent
ed until 1877 and by that time people
| doubtless knew more about making
money by their patents Mr.. Gill
says people have always been fonder
of eating bon bons than of gazing
through the watery vistas Of the
oceans.
According to Mr.. Gill a woman
who grew tired Of having cinders
catch in her hair while she was rid
/ ing on a railroad train is responsible
for the invention Of cap to fit over
| the smokestack of a locomotive, with
4 fumes running downward and back
ward to conduct the troublesome
! cinders to a fearful death beneath
the wheels of the train She must
/ have forgotten all about the draught
i for the fire, or else she considered
that of no importance as compared
with the trouble caused by the Gin
ders. The invention never saw light
outside of the patent Office.
Histories of Abraham Lincoln all
! agree that he was a man of versatile
genius, but none of them says that
! he was an inventor Still he was
/ and the evidence Of it is in the old
patent Office model room The great
war president set about inventing an
! appliance for lifting Ohio and Missis-
sippi river steamboats, over shoals,
and in 1849 he secured a patent upon
the results Of his thought. 1t is a
good thing for the country that he
was better statesman than he was
inventor, however, for his wonderful
lifting bellows, to be attached to the
sides Of the vessel beneath the water
line, are triumph Of the impossible.
The plan was to initiate them with air
by simply exerting force downward
upon upright poles fastened to the
bottom of the bellows. When this was
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