The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-12-25

)
So many distressing stories. true
and false. have been told OF men OF
genius who were robbed of the fruits
Of their toll. that the average invsn-
tor of the present day distrusts and
suspects everybody, says writer in
The Boston Transcript. He wants MS
attorney to make the drawings and DO
all the work himself Frequently ne
plans concealments from his attorney
even. you go ahead and get the pat
emit and then I'll show you all about
this particular thing" he says, over
looking the fact that this thing
which he tries to cover up may be the
one pateutabie point. And wise 10 the
attorney who cuts up his ofiice into
cubby holes on the principle Of a tel
ephone booth, holding two persons and
no more. At the solicitation OF
friend, a Boston specialist who had
more space than he needed, rented
him desk room. Immediately the at
torney's clients took fright and began
to shy on toward other lawyers. Had
not the attorney FASTENED to turn out
his tenant the consequences might
have been disastrous.
Yet this same practftionerA so far
from encouraging secrecy and mystery
tells his clients to show their inven-
lions and backs the advice with sound
reasons. Make sketches" he says
add few explanatory words, and
have your friends sign and date them
II practicable, construct a working
model, no matter how rough. and have
It examined by friends. and the date
OF the examination subscribed to by
them. Such attestatiun makes these
individuals valuable witnesses In any
possible suit In Interference, may help
to establish the priority OF your In
vention. and, in addition. prevents
them from appropriating It,"
As q matter of fact the time when
an inventor is most In danger from
the thief and the bunko man Is after
a patent has been granted. Then he
receives quantities Of circuiarss from
concerns that offer to help dispose OF
II. Some want an advance fee &c
pay for printing. postage, etc" some
guarantee" to sell the United States
rights free of charge II they may be
employed to procure Canadian pat
emit; others "have such faith in your
invention" that they are willing to
advance "a share of the cost" of pro-
curing and selling European patents
provided, of course. that the inventor
makes an advance first. The average
man is very likely to be caught by the
philanthropist who asks nothing but
q cut, which, 'ff suitable" he will use
to ''circularize" prospective buyers.
Later, when he has learned that the
cut was not suitable, that the philap-
thropist charged 50 or "a to provide
one, and that the same scheme was
attempted upon every one OF the SOC
Americans who take, out patents In
the course of q week. he perceives the
true inwardness of the proposition. II
is to be hoped that he sees the point
beforehand in the case Of another
concern which offers to pay many
tn GU sand dollars for his patent, pro-
yided 1t meets the validity" test Of a
certain specified expert" who charges
from SIS to $500 to make an examina-
tion--and who. of course. always re-
ports against the patent.
Again, an inventor may easily be
swindled by q friend to whom he sells
an interest in order to procure money
to meet the initial expenses; for that
friend" even though he owns but a
hundredth share, may start In to man
ufacture, flood the market, and pay
nothing to the owner OF the s9-O0th
share of the patent. A fremont build
ing attorney advises. in view OF these
risks. that an inventor whose market
IS not clearly in sight shall form q
small corporation and assign to IL the
invention and prospective patent. In
the distribution OF stock the interest
of both inventor and hacker can be
protected, and II an opportunity arises
to sell the patent IL can be sold as II
but one man owned 1t.
The foolishness Of the inventor is,
however, topic that has been done TO
death. In every other department of
thought and activity things go wrong.
- n
case OF a man who devised a new
method OF propelling boat, this con-
sisting Of central chaunel through
the craft, together with a scheme for
forcing through Ii a strong current OF
water The Patent once demanded a
working model, and the model work
ed-but, unfortunately II propelled the
boat the wrong way. backward In
stead of forward. Moreover, II hap
pens sometimes that an inventor tries
to cover too much ground. as did one
who planned an ice-cutting machine.
operated by horse power. and added a
detaching device so that. II the horse
ran away, the driver. by pulling a
string. could free him from the ma
chine. But when in practice the horse
did run away, the 'detacher" failed to
work and the runaway smashed both
the main machine and the ingenious
addition that was supposed to control
the motive power.
There IL ground for the belief thai
Homer of the Patent once OCCASION
ally mods, rejecting, on the ground
that 1t has been anticipated. an In
vention which Is actually novelty
and would be so demonstrated by al
acute and pugnacious attorney. Any
such solicitor, IL he has experiences
also at his back. could tell of many an
Invention which suffered under the
irnputation of foolish" because II was
ahead of its time. Fully Twenty-Five
years ago. an attorney who was theT
in practice in Illinois secured for q
client a patent on q steam vehiclS
which carried its own track. An end
less chain went around the wheels
and each link OF the chain carried 1