The Coolidge examiner., 1941-07-11
80 DAY
TOMORROW
| ~ |
4 DON ROBINSON
DON ROBINSON

ali you have To do is think up
some little idea which fills a need
OF millions of people.
Lewis Waterman did it by in
venting a fountain pen that would
nj leak. William Painter did it
by devising the simple cap you
see on pop bottles and beer bot
ties. Hyman Lipman made a for
tune by putting a little rubber
eraser on the end of lead pencil.
William Gillette did it by making
the first safety razor blade.
There's nothing to it-this max
ing million dOllars-if you run
across the right idea and put it
10 work. Just look around your
house. Think about how some lit
tie step in house work could be
made a little easier. Think of 4
way to speed up dish-washing
Whenever any job about the house
irks you. think up an idea for max
ing that task more pleasant.
Somebody's going to do some
thing to rid us of present incon-
veniences, and you might as well
be the one to make the fortune as
the next fellow.
INVENTING fascinating
lnventing sounds like a fascinat-
ing business when you talk to an
inventor.
| talked to one recently who has
his mind so chock-full of ideas
that he doesn't know what to do
with them all. And lot of them
are good. practical ideas, many of
which have paid him handsomely.
Ray Gross told me that he's been
inventing things ever since he was
kid in short pants and for many
years now he has devoted all of
his time 10 the exploitation of his
ideas. For each successful idea
he thinks up has dozens which
don't work out - but he show
ed me a few recent ones which
were enough to convince me that
he has a whole trunkful of ideas
that will pay dividends when he
finds the right buyers.
One | particularly liked was a
phOnograph record printed on pa
per. He is selling that idea to ad
vertisers so they can have a rec
ord pressed into their magazine
advertisements. When that goes
INTO production. people will be able
Ii tear an advertisement out oi
a magazine, put ii on the radio
and listen to a good reproduction
OF music or voice. Soon, when you
spend a nickel for a magazine, il
may include all the latest mum
bers on the Hit Parade!
SUGGESTIONS book
Mr.. Gross has so many ideas
which he hasn't time to do any
thing about that he has assembled
several hundred of them into 8
book called Fame and Fortune in
Ideas" He hasn't time to finish
inventing a lot of them, so he just
broadcasts the basic ideas to any
one who wants to pick them III
and put them to work. Such things
as paper dust cloths, slot machine
gasoline tanks, magnetic dust alb
sorbers, self-cleaning pipes, vibrat
ing erasers, automatic nail polish.
ers, music page turner's, mosquito
electrocuters, fireproof money, and
hundred and one other ideas.
Mr.. Gross is one of America s
leading exponents of the Never
say can't idea which has been re-
sponsible for SO many of the in
Nentions we have today. And the
subject is of such great interest to
him that he isn't satisfied with
merely inventing himself. He wants
10 encourage everyone else to in
vent. That's the reason he pre-
pared the book on the subject,
and that's the reason he started
the American Bureau of Invention,
which helps embryo inventors to
make their inventions pay.
CONTEST defense
don't know how many thous-
ands of Americans have taken a
crack at inventing during their
lifetime. but it's hard to find any
one who, when cornered, won't
admit having done a little tinker
ing and thinking over an invention
at SOME time or other.
An interesting example of the
scope of this interest was demon
strated recently in contest con-
Quoted by the Revere Copper x
Brass company. That concern,
which is doing a lot of defense
work. advertised a competition
for ideas which would aid defense,
and limited entries to men who
worked with machines or metals.
That meant that the replies were
pretty much confined to the labor
group, most of whom don't have
college degrees or engineering
training. Yet over 1000 men sub
mitted ideas in that contest and
about 1000 of them were practical