The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-12-30

I equally, no matter upon what part of
the platform it rested
Old Thaddeus Fairbanks used to tell
the story of the evolution of the ar
rangement of these levers. For a long
time the problem was on his mind. He
used to lie awake nights and attempt
to arrange those levers 1t was in the
dead Of night that his thinking finally
bore fruit. The arrangement unfolded
itself and the Fairbanks scale was the
result. So did a farmer practically
monopolize the scale business of the
world, and so did he write his name
upon platform scales wherever civil
lied man buys and sells by weight.
II was man by the name of Hyman
l.. Lipman, likewise a resident of Phil
adelphia who invented the rubber
eraser that throughout our generation
has been attached to the lead pencils
/ IN common use. 1t was in 1863 that
the invention was made. In those
times people talked in much smaller
figures than nowadays. Lipman vas,
however. able to cath his patents for
cold 100000 when dollars went
much farther than they do today.
So did a man by the name of Heat.
on, resident of Providence, notice that
mother was occdsioncd great deal of
trodble I'Cause the buttons constantly
can" of tie cni1ran's shoes. He4.on
icvised . little meta stap!e that olGs
~ the snoe buttons Of today and real.
,zsd a fortune for bis pains. No less
clover NaS man Os the name Of Den-
nison, NIl pasted LITTLE rings ab),t
&c lOlc in a Ship hg tag and ms
made an EYE" that would not pull out
Elias Howe conceived the idea of
placing a hole near the point of a
needle and under the encouragement
of this small thought was the sewing
machine developed. Howe was one of
the Columbuses in the development of
machine to sew seams and deserves
a monument from the women he eman-
( cipated from needlework. When he
asked congress to extend the term of
his patent for a short time Zone extern
sion had already been granted) he ad-
mitted that he had collected $1,1S6,000
in royalties, but considered himself
entitled to $15O,OOO,OOO
! The man who was born too early to
wear, as a boy, red-top boots with a
brass tip across the toe was also born
too early to feel the true thing in the
way of pride run rampant Silver
thorn brass tips, they were called, and
they were most serviceable in pre-
venting holes in the toe. Silverthorn
made his fortune out of them.
A towel manufacturer found that his
machinery was not working right and
that his towels were suffering a vast
| tangling of the threads. While adj
/ justing the machines he used one of
the damaged towels to dry his hands.
He found it pleasingly absorbent, and
from the idea to which that gave rise
was born the bath towel and for
tune to the patentee.
Charles Edward Mccarthy was a
blind man and lived in South Carolina.
He devised method of attaching mule
power to a cotton gin and lived his
life out in luxury and ease while the
mules did the work.
r. R. Catlin, of Washington, in
vented a pattern cat that need but be
stuffed with hay and sewed up to be-
come a toy. Such figures as "Billiken"
and such games as pig in Glover" are |
always a fortune to the inventor if .
they become popular. The rubber re-
turn ball made much money both for
the inventor and likewise for an in
manufacturer who fought him
in the courts.
The brass paper fastener which is
still generally used for thick docu-
ments was patented in 1867 by gov
eminent clerk by the name of G, W.
McGin. Yet it was not new, for the
Romans used similar device 1000
years ago, and the modern appliance
was but a resurrection.
The man who invented tin cans .
made it necessary somebody to invent
an opener A can opener is not a very
laborious thing in the using, but the
public is always ready to pay for
things that are made easier. So, just |
recently, an inventive genius made a
can with a seam just below the top
and when the owner wants it open
he has but to strike it a blow where
the seam breaks and the top is off. A
single Chicago packer ordered 10000 .
600 of these cans as an experiment
and others followed suit. The inventor
has fortune, and the thing is but
just begun.-Washingt Herald.