The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-01-22
Be AN INVENTOR
Many Things Still Needed in
the World Today.
OriginatOrs of Knick-Knacks
Make Big Money.
ADVISED CLOSING OF OFFICE
Official Once Said There Was
Nothing to Invent.
Million Patents Have Been IS
sued Since That Time.
ADVISED CLOSING OF OFFICE
written for the State journal by
L. w. ThaViS.)

L. w. Thavis.)
Washington, D. c., Jan. 22.-"Bet-
ter close up the patent office-there's
nothing more to invent" This was the
suggestion made by a Washington Of
fetal after the United States govern
ment had been issuing patents only a
few years. Ridiculous as it sounds
today, his advice was regarded by
many people at the time as exceeding
ly sensible.
What the feeling of this man would
be if he could come back to earth and
resume his old place in the patent Of
flee. is difficult to imagine. Since he
confidently predicted that there was
nothing more to invent" and adj
vised the closing of the patent office
as useless expense, the United States
has issued patents on more than
million inventions. Merely to read d
brief description of each of these in
ventions would take weeks, yes
months To make even a superficial
study of all those which are proving
of practical value to mankind would
require two or three 1ifetimes of siren
uous effort.
Yet, despite this intensive cultiva-
ton of the field of invention, its sur
face has been scratched but little
more perceptibly than it had been
sevenfy-odd years ago when the
short-sighted Washington official
made his ridiculous suggestion. Each
new invention seems to create q need
for others. There are countless things
which the world would like 10 have
invented and for which it stands ready
to pay literally in fame and fortune.
Inventors Make Fortunes.
We are apt to forget what splendid
rewards await the successful in~entor
for a number of reasons. One is that
our humorists are SO fond of portray
/ ing the inventor as a visionary dream
err who is never able to turn ideas into
cash. Another is that SO many in
veDtors reaping fortunes from their
patents are unknown to the general
| public.
Speak of inventors and the average
person will call to mind only such
exceptional men as Bell. Edison and
I Marconi There are, however. thou
sards of other men living today who
have gained wealth from their concep
ton of ideas which tighten the worlds
labors and add to it's happiness. Many
of the things we use every day and
would hardly know how to get along
without are things which have
/ brought fortunes to the men who
| thought of them.
Little Things Best.
| Take the lead pencil you are using
| 1t cost. only a penny but " Is convent
emily equipped with a bit of erasive
rubber in one end. It was a Phila-
delphia man who thought it would be
+ a good idea to supply pencils with
| rubbers and devised a means of doing
it. Before mis- patent expired it yield
ed him more than 100000.
A Washington man invented a little
| lock to hold fence wires together II
was only small thing, but it had two
| big advantages-it was cheap. and
with it a boy could build a good wire
fence as quickly as man. With
very small investment his patented
idea netted him in a single year ST.
600
Many persons remember the old
style soda water bottle with the stop
per. which had to be pushed into the
bottle to open it A Baltimore man
conceived the idea of replacing this
cumbersome arrangement with tho
convenient and much less expensive
| little tin cap such as now so widely
used. Although he used up more
than ten years of the life of the pat
ent in getting capital interested IN his
invention, he made a fortune in the
remaining seven years.
Puzzles Are Valuable.
It seems as if anyone might have
| thought of making cans with strips
| of soft tin, which would hold the
cover in place and which could be
easily torn off when the cans con-
tents were wanted. 1t was, however,
a long time before such an idea oc-
| CURED to anybody. and the lucky in
dividual on whom it finally daWned
has made two or three fortunes.
A successful invention does not
necessarily have to be useful article
Some of the greatest money makers