Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 September 1893 — A CENTURY OF INVENTION. [ARTICLE]

A CENTURY OF INVENTION.

Patents Boonring at The Bate es 25,000 New Thing* * Year. Globe~Democr«t. An interesting centennial was overlooked a few days ago. The first 100 years of American patents was completed this month. Patent No. 1 wasissued April 10, 1790. The century closed with No. 425,395. In the first half of the 100 years the patent laws were not so encouraging. In fifty years onfiy 12,421 patents were issued. But we are now making up* lost time.. There were issued last year patents. The United States Patent Office paid expenses from the fees taken in and* laid up a balance of a clean s2so,ooo'in the year 1889. Instead of American ingenuity exhausting itself, the exercise of it seems* to make it mdre ; prolific. Every yearshows a larger number of inventionsthan the year which preceded it. Here are a few of the novelties which have been patented since 1890 began: ' The approach, of fly time has suggested an idea for a cow-tail holder. A ciamp like a clothes pin catches the bushy end of the tail, and two cords with a snap attachment fasten the tail to the cow’s- leg, to a post, or to- the milking stool. The sama day that the Nebraska man got his patent for a cow-tail holder a man in Maine got one also for the same end. The Maine man’s tailholder is made of a single piece of wire coiled so as to connect the tail with the cow’s leg. “A candle for killing insects” is a mixture of insect powder and tallow, or something else that will burn, moulded around a wick. The estimable wife of President Andrew Jackson once accounted to the British Minister for an awful cold in the head by telling him that “the Gineral had kicked the kivvers off” the night before. There is no longer any excuse for people who - -kick the kivvers off.” A clamp and a spring are now patented for attachment to the bedstead. By this simple device the covers are fastened down. The spring gives sufficient play, so that there is no danger of one getting choked in the act of turning over. Any one might guess that a Kentucky man is entitled to the credit which attaches to the invention of a “combinedink stand, pistol case, and burglar alarm.” No Kentucky editor’s desk should be without it. The application may be illustrated: An editor sits at his desk writing. One of the Hatfields or one of the McCoys enters to ask a correction of the report about that row over on Hell-for-Sartin creek. The editor reaches forward as if to dip his pen in the ink. He touches a spring in the top of the ink stand. A shallow drawer flies open toward him and his hand drops upon the revolver. At the same time the alarm goes off like one of those new devices to call people at sa.m. in country hotels. The mountaineer jumps back as if he heard the b-r r-r of a rattler, and before he recovers he is covered. The editor is master of the situation. This inventor lives in Louisville. A handoar which moves along the tracks and mows weeds fifteen feet away, is one of the innovations in railroad machinery. It will do to go very well with the rotary snow plough as an illustration of automatic intelligence. Dress reform is sweeping away the barriers of sex. The Patent Office has been called upon this month to protect the idea of a bifurcated skirt, and has done it. There is a genius in Cohasset, Mass., who spends his time getting up startling effects for the stage. He has recently taken out two patents. One of them is for an arrangement of slides and springs by which a man, or rather a dummy, goes all to pieces. At a signal the head flics toward the ceiling, the legs move to the sides, and the arms drop to the floor. The body remains in the chair. A beheading apparatus is another of this inventor’s ghastly devices. The axe drops into a socket in the block and the head drops. The arrangement of mirrors at the proper angles in a tub so as to enable a person to see what is going on in a room at some distance has been patented within a month. The mirrors may even be moved so as to bring into view various portions of the room. There is a suggestiveness about this devise which is paralyzing. The probabilities of its improper use strike the imagination much quicker than the possibilities of proper employment. The uses of electricity extend. An electric flatiron is one of the new things under the sun. The iron is aollow and the wire passes into the center and is so arranged that when the electricity is turned on the flat face of the iron is kept at an even degree of heat—just sufficient to do good work. From the edge of prohibition Kansas comes a curiously contrived stopper, which, placed upon the neck of a bottle, registers every drink taken out of IL There are people who still believe In the practicability of cow milkers. One of them has just got a patent for a four-tube arrangement by which he expects to draw off the contents of the udder without being kidked over for his smartness. The idea of combining various uses in a single article is a favorite one with inventors “The combined cap, pillow, and life preserver" is to be made of some air-tight material. As a cap It looks like the double-visored headgear which is considered the thing for steamer wear. The centre pulls out What appears to be a ventilator in the top proves to be a mouthpiece. You blow into it until the interior is about half filled with air, and you

have a very fair imitauon 91 -uie air: pillow. If you awake at night andl find that the boat is sinking, you blow' some more air in through the mouth-* piece and have a life preserver as big| as a good sized bladder. There i» even a piece of tape attached for tying the preserver to the breast. i One of the contributions from the* new State of North Dakota is a ma-' chine for burning prairie grass. The driver mounts nis seat in front, turn*! on the gasoline, strikes a match, andl moves across the prairie, leaving a broad black line. The grass over which the big sheet iron box is drawn is entirely consumed, but no fire ea--capes outside of the box. - The magnlfieent and wonderful frosting with which the caterer's art covers the wedding cake is now removable before the cake is cut, so that it may be used again and again. A new garden implement is made by twisting a single piece of wire rod, but the person wbo tries to make one for himself will find that he is infringing a patent. The improvement of coffins has long been a flavorite field for ingenuity. The latest idea is to have the name plate in the form of a scroll. At the top the scroll turns into a hollow cylludei with a cap which can be unscrewed This cylinder is intended for the preservation of any record which may be enclosed in it at the time of burial. With a view of robbing the grave of its terrors somebody has patented a lining to conceal the mother earth. The lining consists of evergreen attached) to cloth or matting. After the coffin is lowered the decoration can be pulled out and used again until the evergreen wears out or turns brown. The inventor proposes to bring the scenic effects within the reach of poorer people by having an imitation) of evergreen painted on canvas for cheaper use. Another of these funeral-minded inventors has patented what he calls a “cab for pall-bearers.” The vehicle has side doors and will hold eight persons, two of whom, however, must ride backward. The design seems to be to save the expense of an extra carriage, at the same time encouraging sociability on the part of those performing the last sad Offices. And, as if this was not enough, a fourth inventor has obtained letters on what he calls “a funeral carriage.’* He carries the coffin and the bearers, and if there are not too many mourners he accommodates the whole procession with one vehicle. The funeral carriage is built like an omnibus, with, a compartment on top for the coffin. The provides skids, an endless chain, and a pulley for running the coffin up into the place intended for it over the heads of the bearers. 1A ho ever heard of a man lifting himself by his boot straps? Only small children believe in the performance of “The Seven League Boots.” Well, the Patent Office has just granted papers to a Russian upon a device which is a combination of the hitherto deemed impossible boot-strap act, with a little of the seven-league business added. The Russian Ilves in St. Petersburg. He calls his invention an “apparatus for walking, running, and jumping.” The apparatus consists of bows and strings fastened to the feet, the legs, the waist, and shoulders. As the knees are bent either to walk or run or jump, the tension of the bows and springs is increased, and the man shoots upward and forward. At least that is what the drawings and specifications of the invention say will happen. The Russian did not send over any actual samples of his contrivance, and the TatenFOffrce"pcople have to act upon theory only. The young German emperor is not without peculiarities. He makes a practice of prowling around barracks in the darkness of night, sometimes in the disguise of a policeman and sometimes of an officer. He is also liable at any hour of the day or evening to break in unheralded upon any of his acquaintances and, being the Kaiser, he has to be made welcome. • It was not a fortnight ago that Herbert Bismarck was entertaining a party of friends in his bachelor quarters when, all of a, sudden, the Emperor walked in. A seat was put for his Majesty at the table, and for an hour or so the Emperor chatted gaily with the guests; then, apologizing graciously for his intrusion, the Kaiser hade the company good evening and went his way.