Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1934-04-20
Nature Shows Man the WAY
The Most Useful and Ingenious Tools Now in Use Are
All Copies; We Got the Idea for Them From
Various Birds and Animals.

When you look into a box Of car
penter's tools and note the extraordi-
nary variety Of instruments contained
therein, do you wonder how they all
came to be thought of and designed?
Necessity, as we know, is the moth
er of invention; but, myself, think
1t more than likely that man, in
making tools to serve his needs, took
leaf-and very big leaf-out Of
Mother Natures book. Man likes to
pride himself on his constructive
ability, but the question is-did he
really invent?
Let's have a look at the world Of
Nature and see how many of his
ideas were original"
Picture to yourself caveman-a
big, strapping, brawny, but not very
brainy specimen-looking at the
ground and wondering how he can
best make a hole big enough to hide
the carcass Of a goat which he has
just pinched from neighbours
abode.
What he wants, of course, is a
spade, but since no one had yet been
clever enough to invent spade, he
has to do bit of thinking. Next
minute he sees mole digging Its
way through the earth, and there, In
the mole's paws, is the very model
which he must copy!
There Is his idea for spade. All
he needs now Is little constructive
ability to run up useful tool for
digging.
We can safely presume that man
fashioned most of his other nipple
ments by studying, in similar fash
ion, the beasts of the field.
Few trades are older than the
carpenters, yet there were perfect
chisels in existence long before these
tools found a place on the carpen-
ter's bench.
Four of the best chisels imaginable
were-and are-to be seen In the
jaws of the humble bunny or any
rodent. And-mark this-they are
much more serviceable chisels than
any of our man made limitations, be-
cause they won't wear out. The
more use they get the sharper they
become.
If only our chisels did the same!
The worlds earliest men must
have got quite lot of ideas as a re-
suit of studying the beaks of birds
The long, slender, delicate bills of
the snipe and woodcock are perfect
examples of natural forceps, enabling
their owners to pick up tiny objects
from the soft mud in which they
feed.
Compare these beaks with the
modern surgical forceps used IL
our big hospitals today and-well
cleanliness apart, there is not so very
much difference.
The broad bills of the ducks make
excellent spoons, while the crow car
boast of fine "pickaxes," constructed
so as to stand any amount of wear
and tear.
Then the fish-eating birds, who
have given man a large number OF
useful "tips." The heron's long beak
would naturally suggest the spear
while the crooked beak Of the mer
ganser, diving bird, provides per.
feet model of a "hook."
Again, suppose you wanted to
make a paddle for canoe you had
built, what better source Of inspira
ton could you wish than the webbed
feet Of the gulls and ducks?
Or suppose you wanted to make q
pair of snowshoes, so that you would
be able to walk across snow without
sinking into it; you could, surely, get
q pretty good idea of what Is wanted
from watching how the webbed feet
of some of the wading birds enable
them to walk over soft mud with per.
feet ease!
The valiant gentlemen of the Mid.
die ages who invented and perfected
the suit Of mail, no less than the
modern designers of the wartime
''tank," doubtless prided themselves
on their cleverness.
But what about the crab and the
lobster, or-if you want land ami
NAL as an illustration-what about
the armadillo, that strengthening
South American mammal whose fat
squat body is entirely encased in a
horn-like covering-a "suit of mail
that defes almost anything but the
business end of pickaX.
One might find hundreds of such
models" in Nature, without having
to go very far into the wild; but in
most cases man does not make an
exact copy of the natural thing, but
adapts it to his own individual re-
Quirements.
There are exceptions, however.
want to show you couple Of mod
els" which man has copied almost
exactly, without any modification to
speak of.
Shoemakers use pair Of special