The sun., 1910-01-26
MONEY IN soar BUBBLES.
Charles E. Barnard Is Fronting by q
simple Invention.

Charles u. Barnard Is Fronting by =
simple Invention.
There is a man at tho Hotel Astor who
is ma king fortune out Of soap bubbles.
He ia Charles T.. Barnard. and his home is
in Toledo. Thirty-hvs years ago he was
driving horses along the towpath OF the
Erie Canal. He said so himself yesterday,
and added that il the canal boat business
were what IL was in those days he would
60 back 20 il.
Almost everybody in familiar with that
bubble blower that made its appearance
about two years ago, and everybody who
was in New York at Christmas time saw
those little colored tin cans that sidewalk
merchants started rolling in one direc-
ton. to have tho can come back. They
call It a cum-bac. The two were invented
by Toledo druggist named Charles
Shindler. who sold out his store and went
into manufacturing bubble blowers about
two years ago. Mr. Barnard, who for
sock the canal boat cabin for a salesman .
berth IN 1877. was a neighbor OF MIR. Shin
dier. He saw the possibilities ahead
OF the invention. agreed to buy and dis
pose OF his entire output and some $1,000, =
600 OF those bubble blowers are working
to-day. Then last April the inventive
Shindler got to work again. and the re-
suit was the -bac. OF which already
2. 500 900 have been sold or contracted for.
Il turned that bubble blower over for
three years and had given IL up a. impossi-
BILE, said Mr.. Barnard yesterday. when
decided on trying it on Kalamazoo,
Mich. They went like hotcakes, and
then took the next train for San Fran
cisco. and came back through the South.
New York turned out to be the hardest
market to reach, but when you do get
next there is no end OF business Now
| have only two salssmen one Of whom
is my son. As for the factory in Toledo.
that takes a surprisingly. small number
OF operatives. for most Of the work is done
by machinery. For the oum-bacs We
Use from three to five tons OF weights a
week We are Just filling. an order OF
1000 gross to go TO England. and are fig
uring on an order Of 600 0O0 for an Ameri-
can firm.
Il started out by driving along the
Erie Canal. and later WAS captain OF the
canal boat John r.: Zero. which was owned
by my father. We lived in Buffalo. !
took UP the first IA the result OF sort OF
dare. The captain Of the Zero had quit.
and my father said he didn't know where
20 get suitable man, and my brother
Hank said that he would be- captain IL
would drive the horses. | took him up.
and ! kept at the work during the sea-
son. next year being made captain.
There used to be pretty exciting times
coming through the sixteen locks OF
Troy. and a man had TO be bully as
everybody seemed to be itching for a
fight There was great rivalry between
the Schuyler and Austin lines for the
towing down, and ] have not only been
towed free but have had one Of the lines
pay me S. for allowing il TO ont "A ha1-
ser on my boat Then when we came
down past PouEh ksepeie and Rondout
the bumboats used to put out with food
to sell, and often with drink
-On the last load that took down the
Erie Canal ! got twenty-five cents a
bushel for freight on wheat. and we car
ried 1900 bushels. Then we carried
a crew OF two steerers besides two drivers.
and the captain had nothing to do except
TO bow the boat through locks. There
used TO be q great many fights between
boatmen. and have seen many setto
with knives and windlass bars. just be-
cause one boats line would catch on some
thing on another boat. Still there were
a lot OF very respectable people among
the boatmen. They used to tie up re-
ligiously along the canal at midnight on
Saturday nights