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Show How Anybody Can Win Fame anil Fortune by Inventing Things' the World Needs T3 ETTER close UP Uie Pat,,Iit Office there's nothing more jH to invent" This was the suggestion made by a YVash-J-- ington officral after the United States Government had tieen issuing patents only a few years. Ridiculous as it sounds to-day, his advice was regarded by many people at the time as exceedingly sensible. i Want the feeli igs of this man would be if he could come hack to earth und resume his old place in the Patent Office is difficult to imagine. Since he confidently predicted that there was "nothing "noth-ing more to Invent" and advised the closing of the Patent Office as a useless expense, the United States has issued patents on more than a million inventions. Merely to read a brief description descrip-tion of each o: the?e inventions would take weeks. To make even a surierfiete! ; -luiiy o: all those which are proving of nrac-tleal nrac-tleal value to mankiwi would require two or three lifetimes of streruous effort. Yet. despite this intensive cultivation of the field of invention, lis surface has been scratched but little more perceptibly than it had been seventy-odd years ago when the short-sighted Washington Wash-ington official made his ridiculous suggestion. Each new invention inven-tion seems to create a need for others. There are countless things which the world would like to have Invented and for whim it stands ready to pay liberally in fame and fortune. V.'e are apt to forget what splendid rewards await the sue-cessiiil sue-cessiiil Inventor for a number of reasons. One- is that our humorists humor-ists are so fond of portrayhig the inventor as a visionary dreamer who is never able to turn ills ideas into cash. Another is that. -i:o many inventors who ar! reaping fortunes from their patents r. n known lo tho general public Speak of inventors and tho averrge person will call to mind only such exceni ional men as Bell, Edison and Marconi. There are, however, thousands of other men living to-day who have gained great wenlth from their conception of Ideas which lighten the world's labors and add to Its happiness. Many of the things we use even,' day and would hardly know how to get along without are things which have brought fortunes to the men who thought of them. Take the lead pencil you are using. It cost only a penny, but it is conveniently equipped with a bit of erasive rubber In one end. It was a Philadelphia man who thought it would be a good Idea to supply pencils with rubbers and devised a means of doing it. Before Ins patent expired it yielded him more than 5100,000. A Washington man invented a little lock to hold fence wires together. It was only a small thing, but it had two big advantages advan-tages it was cheap, and with it a boy could build a good wire fence, as quickly as a man. With a very small investment his patented idea netted him in a single year $20,000. Many persons remember the old style soda water bottle with die stopper which had to be pushed Into the bottle to open it. A Baltimore man conceived the idea of replacing this cumbersome cumber-some arrangement with the convenient and much less expensive little tin cap such as now so widely used. Although ho used up morn than ten years of 'he life of the patent in getting capital interested In his invention, he made a fortune in the remaining cven years. It seems as if anyone might have thought of making cans with strips of soft tin which would hold the cover in place and whirh could be easily trn off virn th'-1 rn's conl'Tiis were wauled. It was, however, a lo-' " '' "' "' i.'.fti occurred to anybody, and the lucky individual on whom It finally dawned has made two or three fortunes. A successful Invention does not necessarily have, to be a useful article. Some of the greatest money-makers, of recent years have been games and puzzles. "Pigs in Jjlover," the "Fifteen Puzzle" and the "Ferris Wheel" are .three of many things of this description that made fortunes for- their inventors before their popularity died out. Interesting puzzles are often the result c,f accidents. The famous "Whitechapel" puzzle was due to a painter's idle handling of two paint-bucket hooks while waiting f(jr a sudden shower to pass over. All at once he found that he had faster;Ea the hooks together in such a way that It seemed Impossibly to separate them. It took considerable thought to get them, apart, and then he realized that he had stumbled upon aninteresting puzzle. He made 10,000 from his chance discovery. In proportion to the amount of time and effort involved there is, they say, more money to he made from some IngeniouB little article that will be in great demand itt five and ten cents each than in some epoch-making Invention' like the telephone or the phonograph. Such things as the lattjjr, of course, give the opportunity oppor-tunity for innumerable new Invention which extend the usefulness useful-ness of the original Idea. If you have inventive ability you q0 not have to look far for a favorable opportunity for exercising- it. Here are just a few inventions which the world really nee,ds and for which It will be willing to pay some man or woman tvell: An Inexpensive attachment (bat wl:u permit of cooking over A cheap machine for washing dishes. An automatic furnace regulator, which will turn on the draft at a certain hour without attention. Any improvement in cooking utensils which will make them cheaper or better. ' A cheap water filter one that may be permanently attached to the faucet or kept in a handy place for use. A foot rest for radiators which will support the feet m a comfortable com-fortable position without burning the shoes. A machine which will polish the linger nails without the necessity of endless buffing by hand. A good and efficient fire escape which could be carried In a suit case. Means for automatically closing windows so that one need not get up on cold mornings for this purpose. A shelf which may be quickly attached to a ladder to support a bucket, brush, etc. A really satisfactory device for turning music on a piano or music stand so that the operator will not have to stop playing. Some means for cleaning cuspidors without touching thein with the hands. Novelties in devices for exercising the muscles. A curling iron which will automatically heat itself. A match box which will deliver one match at a time and do It every time. Some adjustable device for fastening packages to take the place of rubber bauds. A device for pressing men's clothes which can be carried about by tho user and iu which the clothes will bo pressed lu presentable manner. ' |