Learn to Invent, First Steps for Beginners Young and Old / Practical Instuction, Valuable Suggestions to Learn to Invent

We should apprentice ourselves as it were to the Inventor Study the original lines of his thoughts As The young artist studies the master work. Copyright 1907 by S. E. Clark
S. E. CLARK Philadelphia Penna. By mail 25 cents Estb. 1883

The booklets Mental Nuts and A Book of Maxims have met with so much favor I have decided to try again. I submit this little effort to those young and old who desire information and suggestions on the subject, in the form of a first step or introduction, for those who would learn to invent.
Though it is entirely a subject for the deepest study, I favor a personal talk, digressing at times in an effort to interest and instruct, to enliven and cheer. I see little hope for the casual reader. As ye sow so shall ye also reap. My faith rests in the careful, persevering student. I sincerely hope that as a whole the effort may prove helpful to many. As to the future, may you all realize.
Full many a pupil has become more famous than his master.
S. E. C.
Philadelphia, Pa., Sept. 3, 1907.

Invention is the fountain source of material progress. It would indeed be a fruitless effort to try to express in adequate language its wondrous possibilities and practical worth to mankind. Its field of action surpasses all others. It is most apparent in our daily walks of life. Every human effort owes it homage. The fame of many inventors has encircled the earth. They have been feted and honored in many ways, their names indelibly inscribed on the roll of the earth's greatest men. Fortune and fame have been showered on them with a lavish hand, and yet little or no effort is made to direct thought into this vast and unlimited field for study, that people may learn to invent. The whole subject is left quite in the dark. It is on the go-as-you-please, hit-and-miss plan. People become inventors by mere chance, and are viewed as possessing a special gift of nature. I hold that invention is just as tangible as any of the sciences and can just as well be taught. The human mind is naturally inventive. The trend will improve and grow or it will wilt and die, according to the attention it receives. To learn to invent we should apprentice ourselves, as it were, to the inventor, take up his invention and study the original lines of his thought, as the young artist studies the master work. First learn to imitate, and the creative thought will follow and develop. I shall be content to confine my effort to the simplest forms of devices I can call to mind, a first step. But don't mistake nor be discouraged. To the average man and the particular people to whom I hope this pamphlet will appeal the small and simple devices are the cream of the field. They are easily handled, quickly turned, and many pay fabulous sums. Oftentimes the idea will flit before the mind like a will-o'-the-wisp or its zephyr-like touch is not realized. I believe many people have experienced a semi-consciousness of the presence of opportunity and allowed it to pass unheeded by, that had they taken it up intelligently and properly studied and developed it they would have become famous.