PLAN No. 375. AN INK THAT STANDS ALL TESTS
An eastern state recently adopted the following formula for its official black ink, after learning through the severest tests that it stands exposure to the sun for three months; exposure to all sorts of out door weather for six months; exposure to water, and soaking in water and alcohol.
A man who knew what the formula was, desiring to make a business of selling an ink so reliable, made it up in large quantities, and found it to be just as good as claimed.
This is the formula:
Tannic acid, 1⁄2 ounce; crystal gallic acid, 77 grains; sulphate of iron, 5 drams; gum arabic, 100 grains; dilute muriatic acid, 1⁄2 ounce; carbolic acid, 10 grains; clear rain water enough to make 11⁄4 pints. Mix the muriatic acid and water, and dissolve all the other ingredients in the mixture.
He sold large quantities of this ink to professional and business men, city, county and state officials, etc., and inside of a year was in receipt of a steady income.
PLAN No. 376. BAKER—INDIAN SERVICE U. S. SEE [PLAN No. 217]
PLAN No. 377. A CEMENT STICK THAT STICKS
A Virginia man found that by investing 85 cents in the materials required for making cement sticks he could get back $25, when sold at retail. This is the way he makes it.
Common glue, and from 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 as much cheap sugar; melt them together in a glue pot, then pour in pans 1⁄4 an inch deep. As it cools cut in strips 1 inch wide and 4 inches long, pointing one end in the shape of a chisel. Have a label printed to cover about one-half the stick, giving the name and uses of the stick, with directions as follows: “To use as a mucilage, wet slightly and apply. To use as cement, dip in boiling water, coat the parts heavily and press firmly together.”
Making up a good supply of these sticks, he placed them on sale with dealers, delivering as sales were made. He then employed agents to canvass from house to house, and sold a great many in that way. Later he made it a mail-order proposition, and through a series of ads. in local papers published within a radius of 500 miles, he built up a good sale.