The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1913-04-25
QUEER INVENTIONS
Curious Devices For Which Pat
entS Have Been Granted.
THE TREETOP RAILWAY LINE.

| ing Wood-An ingenious Panther
Trap and a Noiseess Alarm Clock.
A chewing gum locket and an elevat-
ted railroad supported by the branches
! of growing trees are among the devices
which have been granted patents from
our government. The patent Office is
| quite broad minded In it's ideas Of what
>ught to be patented.
The chewing gum locket was patent
ed Jan. /, 1889. by Christopher w. Rob-
ertson of Somerville. Tenn The locket
resembles the ordinary one which is
used to carry the sweethearts picture,
but instead of photograph it Is lined
with porcelain glass interior. Into
/ this the chewing gum is neatly slipped
for future reference.
The tree supported elevated railroad
Is the idea of Jerome Orlay of Tenn
| sche, Belgium, and his patent letters
were granted March 10. 1912 In order
to build a railroad of this type all that
| Is necessary to do is to plant trees on
both sides of the street and have them
lean toward one another until they
cross at the top. In the crotch thus
provided 1t would be possible to lay
stringers to which crossties. etc, would
be attached and to build your elevated
railroad running under shady branches
and supported by living wood Addi-
honal poles, If desired, may be set be-
tween the trees, and part of the patent
provides for running a double track
road, with one car above the other.
One of the most proviGent inventors
is George G. Hale of Kansas City, Mo,
who was granted patent Aug. a, 1885.
for q combination Suspenders and fire
escape Woven into the fabric of the ap-
! parently innocent galuses, Mr.. Hale's
patent provided for a string treated
| with some form of chemicals, so that
| it would not easily burn. When caught
| on the upper floors of burning build
ing the man provided with the fre
escape suspenders had only to pun the
end of this string, which Immediately
unfurled itself for about 200 or 800
| feet Then he could let down this
string to the street. have It attached
to a substantial rope, pull the rope mp
| to his floor. attach the rope to firm
| point and escape from the burning
| building,
Speaking of suspenders, Mark Twain
was the grantee of a suspender pat
! ont Tn hn &al
an improvement in adjustable and de
tachable straps for garments. In de-
| scribing his invention Samuel r. Glenn
| ems classifies it as IAN adjustable and
| detachable elastic strap for vests. pan
| falcons or other garments requiring
straps" and claims as its novel feature
| the fact that it is provided with de-
vices for adjusting its length and with
| buttonholed ends for direct attachment
| to the clothing The device appears TO
| consist merely of two pieces of leather
with buttonholes at the ends and a
hook with different holes for adjusting
the length.
An ingenious contrivance has been
patented by an Oregon man by means
Of which the family cat can be used
| as live bait for catching lynxes. cou-
gars, panthers, and the like without
| danger to the cat and with great Ger
| tainty that the wild animals will be
| trapped The patent consists of a
| sharp stake with q point at the top.
intended to make it uncomfortable for
| pussy to rest there permanently and
a ring over the stake to which by q
| light chain is attached a collar or har-
| ness, which fastens around the cats
neck In a circle about the stake are
set a half dozen steel traps, securely
| chained to the ground in such a way
that an animal caught In one of them
could not quite reach the stake. Drive
the stake somewhere out in the wilds
where lynxes and panthers do congre-
gate. put pussy into the collar and
await results Being a live bait, she
will yowl This will attract the ami
mails, but when they come she will
| Immediately escape by running up the
stake, which is covered with cloth to
| give her claws chance The animal,
while prancing around at the foot OF
| the stake, will prance into one of the
steel traps and get caught. Pussy will
come down from the pointed top and
| serve as bait to attract more animals.
The acme of ingenuity, however, has
been reached by George Hogan in his
| noiseless alarm clock, patented June 8,
1908. The Hogan device consists of
| jar Of water on q shelf above the bed,
| from which runs a hose, which on re-
firing the sleeper attaches to his leg.
BY means of the ordinary alarm clock
valve Is opened at any hour that
may be desired, when water begins to
| flow against fhe leg of the victim.
This does not disturb the neighbors
| and is sure to awaken the sleeper,
satisfactory arrangement for every
body.
The one thing which the government
will not consider among applications
for patents is perpetual motion. For
| many years aerial navigation was in
| cluded In this refusal. The Wright
brothers complied with the demands
OF the patent office for a demonstra-
ton on q man carrying scale, and
since then the doors have been opened
to flying machine patents. Technical
World Magazine
Don't tell what you would do lie Won