548. The Low Truck.—It would be a great advantage to carters if a truck could be constructed whose body would be much nearer the ground than the one in present use. Great expense as well as expenditure of muscle would be saved if by some arrangement the cart body could be as low as eighteen inches from the ground.
549. Automatic Horse-Fastener.—The man will make a fortune who can devise some means whereby the rider can fasten his horse and unfasten him without alighting from the vehicle.
550. The Foot-Cycle.—Persons who know the ease and exhilaration of skating as compared with walking will be interested in an effort to invent a foot-cycle which will do for the foot on the ground what the skate does on the ice. The roller-skate does this in a measure, but it is adapted to hard surfaces only. What is needed is something in the order of a miniature bicycle—a machine capable of going over surfaces hard and soft, in fact, a sort of bicycle skate. Here is vast room for a fertile inventor.
Section 13. Money in Farming Contrivances.
551. A Corn Cutter.—A machine to run between the rows and cut the stalks on each side would sell to every farmer; and there are 4,565,000 farmers in the United States.
552. Frost Protector.—A chemical combination whose product when ignited is chiefly smoke. All farmers suffer from late and early frosts. They would pay liberally for a smoke producer which would protect their crops, for it is known that a very little smoke acts as a mantle to keep off the frost. They should be made cheap so that half a hundred might be placed to the acre. Farmers are the most numerous class of people, and fortunes await those who can invent anything for their benefit.
553. A Farm Fertilizer.—Wanted—a fertilizer more powerful and less bulky than those in use. We have condensed meat extracts for the table; why not better condensation of food for the farm? Chemists will find no better paying employment for their brains than in this direction.
554. A Postless Fence.—For posts substitute a windlass at each corner of the field so as to keep the wires taut. If the field is large or irregular, more windlasses would be required, but they could be manufactured at a cost much less than that of posts.
555. Automatic Gate Opener.—Fix an iron bar or rail with a spring contrivance in such a way that the pressure of wagon wheels on one side of the gate releases a spring and causes the gate to fly open, while the pressure on the opposite side causes it to close. The arrangement of the contrivance on one side is of course the reverse of that on the other.
556. Corn Planter.—A long, hollow cylinder filled with seed corn and having rows of holes placed at regular intervals for dropping the kernels, and wedge-like or plow-shaped pieces of iron between the rows so as to throw up a light covering of soil, would plant easily twenty-nine acres a day. Such a simple contrivance would cost only a few dollars, and would command a ready sale to agriculturists.