I met a gentleman who was blind. He took out a patent for a handle for a scrub brush. It could be attached and detached at will. The barn doors hung on wheels on a track was a good job; also the gates that open when the team approaches. The lawn mower was not slow. Games are a very uncertain field to work in, though some of the standard games have been very profitable. They must be gotten up in elaborate manner, and as a rule must be well advertised. Many little puzzles have paid well, but they are invariably greatly exaggerated. The matters that come under the head of copyright are, I think, a good field to work in. The money success of these things depends principally on how well they are handled. There are many ways to make sales, many channels to work in. I am of the opinion that a large per cent. of inventors would do better to put their inventions out on royalty or sell. I am sure those who have invented will do so again and again if they are not too busily engaged otherwise. Hence I claim it best, generally speaking, to sell or place on royalty, and then invent something else. Inventing is really a profession—so is manufacturing.
"Let the cobbler stick to his last."
The strenuous life, like baby's suit, is soon outgrown. Then what to do becomes important. I think every city of fair size in the country should have a trades exchange. A man or woman opens a store and announces they will receive goods of all descriptions to sell or exchange, give a descriptive receipt for the goods, charging, say ten per cent. for services, when sold or exchanged. You can make a good white soap for say two cents per pound; put it up in one and a quarter pound cakes and sell direct to the consumer for five cents—give premiums for your wrappers. Take a contract to increase the circulation of your country or town paper; then visit the people, prepare an article on the city or town, and write up sketches of those who subscribe. Mail order business will pay fairly well from any point if you deal right. Never sell anything unless it is worth the money, and don't introduce any fake schemes. Get some good novelties, household articles, books, etc.; select good leaders to advertise, and when you make a sale enclose circulars of the other goods; soon you can have a catalogue. Study the papers you advertise in; there are many quacks—you can tell them by the character of their advertising. Public catalogues soon become too common; also you should handle the goods you sell. Then you can control the matter better. Lists of names are generally drummed too much before you get them. Once you begin to advertise you will get informed of live papers and live goods to push.
For personal canvassing a clothes bar made of half-inch round pieces, fastened to ends in the form of an X with an inverted V on top; they open and close, and will form a dryer, a basket and a sort of table to air a bed on. They should weigh six pounds and sell for $1.25; cost, say forty to fifty cents. Say a country weekly, single sheet, one fold, wants to boom the subscription list. Reserve suitable space, say at the double corner, for four pages of any book chosen. In a year they have a 208 page book.
"Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear.
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen
And waste its sweetness on the desert air."
Yes, the woods are full of them. The future inventions will rival those of the past. You should prepare and cast your net. If you choose "luck" may come your way, opportunity may faintly knock. You should be alert, comprehend and intelligently pursue. You must know the form and touch, lest its presence be unknown.
"Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: it might have been."
Those who would be inventors should take up the helpful studies to that end, viz.: Mathematics in all its branches, philosophy, physics, all mechanical works and drawing. Interest yourself in all kinds of puzzles, observe closely. Begin early in life to study.
"Children, like tender osiers, take the bow,
And as they first are fashioned always grow."