Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 October 1895 — SOME QUEER PATENTS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SOME QUEER PATENTS

ODD THINGS THAT COME OUT OF INVENTIVE MINDS. A Marker for Graves Which a Somber Genina Haa Pateated-A Device to Prevent the Befitting of Botttea Once They Are Empty. ~ Often Bring Fortune*. The pateat office is the rendezvous for all the odd ideas in the whole mechanical world. Here comes every man who has a new or a cranky notion, either to change the system of conducting this world of machines or secure

rights which he knows will make his fortune. Sure as he is, 999 of him are disappointed, but often the quaint little machines do bring wealth to the maker, and when one remembers what an enormous fortune was made out of the little six inches of string with which ladies’ gloves are fastened, one is disinclined to laugh at the odd devices. One of the oddest devices for which ♦ertters patent have been granted recently is a billiard cue marker. It comprises a rotary chalk cup mounted on a horizontally swinging arm and operated by a yielding bolt. A spiral spring arranged beneath a vertically swinging arm furnishes the power. An Inventive genius has a wife who com-

plains that her lingers get sticky when she eats fruit, so he has Invented a fruit holder for oranges, grape fruit and similar juicy fruits. Each of the walls has In Its inner side rigid vertical ribs extending from the top to the bottom and provided with a series of downwardly projecting teeth. Seekers after something new will appreci-

ate tho design for a guitar shown in the cut The design for a (grave marker, Intended possibly for Federal cemeteries, which is shown in the cut, will serve at least one good purpose. It will show the lengths the patenting rage sometimes carries people. The Grand Army of the Republic badge was patented before the shrewd manipulators behind the job secured its adoption by the Grand Army. Letters patent have been granted for numerous life-guards for street cars, many of which appear to be praetica-

fcle and inexpensive. One consists of a platform, a life-guard frame pivotally connected at its rear end to the under side of the platform, and appliances for manipulating the frame. There is a pedal for raising the frame and a hand lever for operating the pedal when it is depressed, the frame working on a pivot. The frame is carried on rollers on the track. A vertical frame is hinged near the rear end of the life-

guard frame. Springs hold the lifeguard frame down. A hand lever locks the mechanism. The inventor of a practicable bootblacking machine will not only stand a good chance of being remembered as a public benefactor, but of living in ease the remaining years of his life. Blacking boots Is generally regarded as the most disagreeable work known, except, possibly, milking a cow or hitching or unhitching a horse in extreme

summer or winter weather, and the genius that enables one not flush enough to hire a bootblack to perform the job, in the same manner that he would grind coffee or wind a clock, will not be unblessed. The boot-blacking machine shown herewith Is one of the

first to claim public attention, Its essential features are a rotary polishing brush Journaled on a base, a blacking receptacle on a lever, a perforated fluid

receptacle above the blacking receptacle, means for operating the same, a daub-brash adjustably supported In contact with an applying brush and suitable levers, etc., for operating the mechanism. A device for preventing the refilling of bottles has been patented by some specialist. It comprises a hollow casing or shell, composed of a lower portion having a port opening and an upper portion having an Inclined inner surface attached at its base to the lower portion and provided with a port opening, a valve in the shell, a weight or ball to act on the valve, a jacket encircling the shell at the junction of the upper and lower portions, and a sap for the upper portion insecurely attach-

ed to ft to permit detachment of the cap without effecting the withdrawal of the upper portion from the jacket

FOR BLACKING BOOTS.

FRUIT HOLDER.

CRESCENT GUITAR.

TO PREVENT REFILLING BOTTLES.

AUTOMATIC CUE MARKER.

A GRAVE MARKER.

TO HOLD BEDCLOTHES ON CHILDREN.

TROLLEY CAR FENDER.