El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-08-19
w WASHINGTON, D. c., Aug, 10.
Nv The granting of the mill

! distinguished of our inventors never
! thought of protecting their ideas by
means of patents. Thus Benjamin
Franklin, who was the originator of
! the ingenious chair convertible Off
hand into a stepladder which, is in
use at present time in thousands of
American households. He made the
first one for himself, to serve as a
convenience for reaching the shelves
of his library in his house on Market
street in Philadelphia.
i Thomas Jefferson was one of the
| most remarkable inventors that this
| country has produced. Not only did
| he contrive pillow which marked an
| epoch in the development OF that in
| dispensable farming implement, but
| he was the originator OF the copying
| press, so familiar to everybody as
| a modern office convenience, and
| likewise of the equally well known
| revolving chair. Both of these de-
vices are today substantially what he
| made them. He gave one OF his
copying presses to Mr. Madison, and
another to Gen.. Lafayette. AS for
! the chair. the federalist newspapers
| in his day referred to it sarcastical-
! ly as "Jefferson's whirligig," In
which he was able to look all ways
| at once"
Inventions OF Recent Years.
Epochs in the recent history of our
| civilization have been marked by a
score or more of great inventions.
Or rather it might be said that these
inventions have made those epochs.
Take the familiar example of the
telephone. It has revo1utioniZed our
methods of living and doing business.
What was 1t that made the modern
tall building a possibility? The ele-
vator-though. of course, the sky
scraper'' depends for It's stability upon
certain improvements in the manu-
facture of the steel of which its
skeleton is composed
The typewriting machine was very
distinctly an epoch maker. 1t opened
an entirely new field for women's
work. creating an immense demand
for steHographers, and, by making
writing easier, actually multiplied
the mails, causing a dozen to be
written where one had been produced
in laborious pen and ink. Within
dozen years after they were put on
the market $4,000, 900 worth of type
writer's were sold.
The First Sewing Machine.
The first sewing machine was pat
ented by John 7. Greenough. in 1912.
Last year 100000 of these toll savers
the United States-this number be-
ing capable, it is estimated. of doing
the work of 100000 women. The
monograph (hard1y an epoch maker,
perhaps. but representing a very re-
markable discovery dates back to
1873, two years later than the tele-
phone. Cable and electric roads are
new since 1880. and so likewise is
the bicycle, commercially speaking.
When Mr.. Edison was making the
experiments which finally resulted in
the development of the electric light,
the general opinion of scientists and
practical mechanicians Yves that he
was attempting the impossible. IN
earlier years, however, Morse had had
great trouble to persuade congress to
appropriate the small amount Of
graph between Baltimore and Wash
ington. Nearly everybody thought
him crank. and he came very near
20 literal starvation. Up to within
the last half dozen years applicants
for patents on flying machines were
regarded by patent office examiners
as in much the same class with in
ventors of contrivances for perpetual
motion. All of which shows that
where really new ideas are concerned
It is not easy TO distinguish the pos
-ib1e from the impossible
Rubber Inventions.
Charles Goodyear who invented
the process for vulcanizing rubber
which has proved Of such enormous
value, did not live to reap the re-
ward of his labors. His wife and
children were often hungry, and he
spent one fourth of his life in a
debtors prison Simpson, who dis
covered that the escape of electricity
from wires could be prevented by
coating them with gutta percha, was
obliged, for lack of means where
with to pay for transportation, to
walk all the way FROM Missouri to
cation for patent. Even then he
had great difficulty IN getting it. and.
while waiting for a decision was
glad to get work on the foundations
of the patent office building which |
was then in course Of construction. |
Eventually the patent was granted, |
and he sold 1t to the Western Union |
company for 100000.
Inventors Make Money Now.
It used to be said that even sue |
cessful inventors always died poor, |
the fruits of their ingenuity being |
enjoyed by others. Too often, indeed, !
such was the case. But in recent /
years a good many inventors have |
turned their ideas into coined gold |
II.
patents on the electric light, the !
and numerous other con- !
trivances have made him a wealthy |
man. Mccormick, who invented the /
reaper (another epoch maker) died /
worth something like s20.0o0,oo0. Be- |
ginning life as a poor mechanic, |
George Westinghouse. the creator Of |
the air brake, has become a multi
Alexander Graham Bell
deries from the telephone an income
of probably not less than 100000 a
year. Mergenthaler. from whose brain
the mechanical typesetter was born,
has made millions out OF 1t. The
sewing machine is understood to have
put s2.o00,000 into the pocket of Elias
Howe.
There have been many other such
instances. The son Of a Scotch farmer |
near Rochester, named Gordon, made
100000 out Of the first grain binder
Having learned something of the use
of tools in a blacksmith's shop, he
worked persistently on. his Invention
under most adverse circumstances,
being regarded as '1ooney" by every
body except the daughter of neigh
boring farmer. who heartily believed