Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 99, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1909 — Long-Handled Shovel Made Lazy Boy a Very Rich Man. [ARTICLE]

Long-Handled Shovel Made Lazy Boy a Very Rich Man.

The long handled shovel haß made over three hundred thousand dollars for its inventor, and the Inventor was a lazy shiftless boy of seventeen named Reuben Davis, whose father lived in Vermont at the time. He set Reuben to digging dirt and loading it on a wagon and the short handled shovel made the boy’s back ache: One afternoon when his father was away, he took out the short handle and substituted a long one and found the work much easier. When Mr. Davis returned home Reuben got a whipping, but after the old gentleman had used the shovel himself he saw that it was a good thing and had it patented. They are now manufactured almost by the million.