UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE, WASHINGTON, D.C.

HOW TO SUCCEED
AS AN INVENTOR

SHOWING THE WONDERFUL POSSIBILITIES IN THE FIELD OF INVENTION; THE DANGERS TO BE AVOIDED; THE INVENTIONS NEEDED; HOW TO PERFECT AND DEVELOP NEW IDEAS TO THE MONEY MAKING STAGE ∴ ∴ ∴ ∴

BY

GOODWIN B. SMITH

Registered Attorney, United States Patent Office, and Officially Connected with a Number of Industrial Enterprises Founded on United States Patents

PHILADELPHIA, U.S.A.
INVENTORS AND INVESTORS CORPORATION

1909

Copyright, 1909, by Goodwin B. Smith.
All Rights Reserved.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Man's Value to Society

Failure is want of knowledge; success is knowing how.

Wealth is not in things of iron, wood and stone. WEALTH is the brain that organizes the metal.

Pig iron is worth $20 per ton; Made into horse shoes, $90; into knife blades, $200; into watch springs, $1000; that is, raw iron, $20, brain power, $980.—Newell Dwight Hillis.

"How to Succeed as an Inventor"

PREFACE

The author of this book, after a number of years' experience in Patent Causes, is constrained to enter a strong protest against the enormous waste and loss attendant on methods at present pursued in regard to patents. This loss and waste is largely due to a lack of business knowledge necessary to properly market and develop inventions. History shows that enormous profits can be earned from good, strong patents.

A careful perusal of the following pages will point out some of the dangers to be avoided and the safe and reasonable course to be pursued. Invention is a matter that requires the deepest study, and should be approached, not in a haphazard, hit-or-miss fashion, but rather in a receptive, studious, analytical manner. While the average individual is fond of giving advice, no one enjoys accepting it. There is no one, however, who so needs competent, unprejudiced advice as the inventor.

A genius is more or less prejudiced in certain directions, and it has been found that the prejudice oftentimes runs against the acceptance of well-intentioned criticism.

"Our judgment is like our watches,—none go just alike, but each believes his own."

It is to be hoped that this volume will be the means of saving, as well as earning, money for the hosts of deserving American geniuses.

The Author.

Philadelphia, March, 1909.

CHAPTER I.
LOOKING FORWARD

"Patience and the investment of time and labor for future results are essential factors in every inventor's success."

The field of invention is closed to no one. The studious mechanic may design and improve on the machine he operates. The day laborer, if dissatisfied with his lot, may devise means for lessening the toil of his class, and largely increase his earning capacity. The busy housewife, not content with the drudgery incident to her household cares, may devise a means or article which will lighten her task, and prove a blessing to her sisters. The plodding clerk, without an iota of mechanical knowledge, may perfect a system or an office appliance which will prove of vast benefit to himself and his fellows. The scientist may discover new forces and make new applications of old principles which will make the world marvel,—and so on through the whole category of crafts, occupations and professions.

If one of the old Kings of Israel, centuries ago, voiced the sentiment that there was nothing new under the sun, do we not possess, at the present time, a similar mental attitude, and are we not apt to say with him that there appears to be "nothing new under the sun"? Civilization begets new needs and wants; opportunities for new invention are multiplying at a tremendous rate. In other words, where an inventor, two centuries ago, would have had one hundred chances to "make good," today the chances are multiplied many thousand-fold.

No avenue of business can open up the possibilities of such enormous honors and fabulous money returns as a real invention which is in universal demand. The discoveries of the past form a record which is not only glorious, but points the man of genius of today in an unswerving manner to the possibilities which the future holds, and which are vastly greater than anything which has gone before. Each age finds the people convinced that human ingenuity has reached the summit of achievement, but the future will find forces, mechanical principles and combinations which will excite wonder, and prove to be of incalculable benefit to mankind.

Our old friend Darius Green and his flying machine, that we heard about when we were children, was not as great a fool as he was imputed to be.

Witness at the present time the marvelous results attained by inventors with air ships. We are proud of Wilbur and Orville Wright, who at this writing have just broken all records for Aeroplanes, or "machines heavier than air." It seems that in five or ten years from now the navigation of the air will be a problem perfectly solved.

(Since writing the above, on Thursday, September 17th, Orville Wright, at Fort Myer, Va., met with an accident to his machine, which resulted in the death of Lieutenant Selfridge, of the U.S. Army, and severe injuries to the inventor. The accident is said to have been due to the breaking of one of the propellers.)

When you think that the first locomotives that were invented were considered wonders if they made a speed of eight to ten miles per hour, the chances are that within the next few years we will have airships going through space at incredible rates of speed.

We might also, at this time, refer to the experiments of Count Zeppelin and Santos-Dumont, and the American, Professor Baldwin, in "dirigible balloons." This type of airships will undoubtedly be superseded by the "Aeroplane," or the "Helicopter." The principal inventors in this line are Henry Farman, the French inventor, and Delagrange, the German. Wright Brothers hold the world's record, at this time.

Little did Murdock (who erected, in 1792, while an engineer in Cornwall, England, a little gasometer which produced gas enough to light his house and office) think that in the year 1908 no house would be considered as modern unless it was fully equipped with the gas for lighting and heating which he discovered and brought to practical use. It is also said that "while Murdock resided in Cornwall he made gas from every substance he could think of, and had bladders filled with it, with which, and his little steam carriage running on the road, he used to astonish the people." No one is astonished at "little steam carriages," or, in other words, automobiles, nowadays, one hundred and sixteen years later.

Our grandparents, when they were young people, imagined that they were living in the "Golden Age," and yet we today would consider their lack of what we nowadays consider positive necessities a mighty primitive and inconvenient manner in which to live. When the "wisest man," centuries ago, is chronicled as saying, "There is nothing new under the sun," they lived in tents, rode camels, fought with bows and arrows, sling shots and battering rams! While the Tower of Babel was possibly the first "skyscraper," it did not contain express elevators, hot and cold water, telephones, call boxes, yale locks, granolithic floors, fire escapes, transom lifts, automatic sprinklers, stationary wash stands, water closets, steam or hot water heat, electric and gas lights, push buttons, sash weights, and so on ad infinitum. So you can readily appreciate the marvelous strides the human race is making in the way of material development, and all, or nearly all of which has been due to the fertile brain and nimble wit of the inventors! Who will have the temerity to say when and where this development will stop, when Solomon, centuries ago, thought they had reached the limit?

What will be the next wonderful invention? For instance, the perfected telephote? You, by stepping into a cabinet in Philadelphia, could have your photograph taken and shown in Boston, all by and through an electric wire! The Telephote may transmit light and color as the Telephone does sound; why not a combination of the two, so you can see your friend perfectly when you talk to him on the 'phone?

Our grandparents thought they were as comfortable as possible, and they were, because they did not know any better. Do we know better? One hundred years from now, possibly, our great, great-grandchildren will consider us as having lived in the "stone age." The field of invention has no bars up,—you, all of us, are free to enter.

"The important thing in life is to have a great aim, and to possess the aptitude and perseverance to attain it."

CHAPTER II.
LOOKING BACKWARD

"Intelligent study and the application of unremitting effort to a definite purpose are the factors that overcome obstacles."

Here follows a list of the principal inventions chronologically arranged, with the names and nationalities of their inventors.

From the Encyclopedia Americana.

"There are no elevators in the house of success."—Silent Partner.

Since the above list (taken from the Encyclopedia Americana) was published, there have been a large number of very important inventions brought out.

In 1898 Professor and Madam Curie, of Paris, discovered radium. This remarkable substance is extracted from pitch-blende. It is said to require the reduction of about five thousand tons of the blende to produce one pound of radium. The cost of one pound of radium is variously estimated at from one to three millions of dollars. Radium overturns all the laws of chemistry and physics. Scientists state that if a method of producing it cheaply is ever discovered it will create the greatest revolution in industrial circles. One pound of radium is said to be capable of lighting an enormous area for one billion years without reducing its size or substance by one thousandth part. In other words, it exerts abnormal energy without any appreciable loss.

In 1902, January, Peter Cooper Hewitt, of New York City, announced the invention by him of his Mercury Vapor tube electric light. This light is red-less,—gives off all colors except red. It is in present use in many large establishments. It is practically indestructible, and gives eight times as much light with the same amount of electricity as other lights. Mr. Hewitt is a wealthy man, having inherited money. He comes of the famous New York Hewitt family, whose members have been in the forefront of progress. Mr. Hewitt also invented the "Hewitt Electrical Converter" and the "Hewitt Electrical Interrupter," both inventions of unusual merit.

In 1903, January 18th, Guglielmo Marconi sent a wireless message from Cape Cod, Mass., to Cornwall, England, a distance of 3000 miles. Such a thing, a few years ago, would have been considered absolutely impossible,—unbelievable,—a wild flight of the imagination. Marconi's achievement was accomplished only after the most prolonged experimentation and many disappointments.

In 1908, September 12th, Hudson Maxim filed an application for a patent on an electrical invention for the prolongation of human life.

In 1908, Professor Alexander Graham Bell and Professor Emile Berliner, famous inventors in telephones, are working on new styles of flying machines. With these experts in the field, aerial navigation will, no doubt, shortly be a problem completely solved.

NOTES.

In 200 B.C., Hero, of Alexandria, gives an account of an ingenious steam toy.

In 1543, one Blasco de Garay is said to have shown in the harbor of Barcelona, Spain, a vessel of two hundred tons' burden, moved by a paddle wheel driven by steam power.

In 1663 Edward Somerset, the ingenious Marquis of Worcester, contrived the first steam engine.

In 1742, when Benjamin Franklin invented the "Franklin Stove," or as it is sometimes called, the "Pennsylvania Fireplace," he refused to accept a patent on it, saying, "we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, so we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by an invention of ours." An unscrupulous London manufacturer made some light changes in Franklin's stove, we are sorry to state, got a patent on it, and made a fortune from its sale.

An invention of the greatest utility was that brought out in 1788 by William Symington, a young Englishman, for a method of converting the reciprocating motion of an engine into the rotary.

About 1790, Claude Chappe, a Frenchman, while at school at Angers, contrived an apparatus consisting of a post bearing a revolving beam and circulatory arms with which he conveyed signals to three of his brothers who were at another school about half-a-league distant, who read the signals with a telescope. In 1792 the French Legislature voted Chappe 6000 francs ($1200) to enable him to make experiments in Paris. This invention of Chappe was called the "Semaphore Telegraph." Of course, misty or foggy weather would preclude the use of this signalling device. During the war between England and France an amusing incident is related of the use of the "Semaphore Telegraph." The admiral at Plymouth started a "wigwag message" to Whitehall, but was able to forward only part of the message, a thick fog gathering over a portion of the line and interrupting the message. The first part of the message was "Wellington defeated," which caused great distress and anxiety in London. The remainder of the message, "the French at Salamanca," received next day, changed the metropolitan sorrow into gladness.

About the year 1790, Signor Galvani, a professor of anatomy at Bologna, discovered the principle of Galvanic electricity. This was brought about in a very peculiar way. Mrs. Galvani was ill, and her physician prescribed some frog broth. Accordingly, frogs were procured, skinned, washed and laid on a table in the professor's laboratory, which seemed to serve a double purpose of a room for scientific and culinary operations. One of the professor's assistants was engaged in experimenting with a large electric machine which stood upon the same table, and had occasion to draw sparks from the machine. The wife of Galvani, who was present, was surprised to observe that every time he did so the limbs of the frogs moved as if alive. She immediately communicated this strange incident to her husband, who repeated the experiments with, of course, the same result. From this experiment was later developed the so-called zinc and copper wet jars used in the art.

In 1807, Robert Fulton, who was of Irish Descent, made his famous trip in his steamboat, the "Clermont," from New York to Albany, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, in thirty-two hours, and returned in thirty hours, averaging about five miles per hour. Many stories are told of the consternation the "Clermont" excited in those who saw her for the first time. People who had seen her passing at night described her as "a monster moving on the waters, defying wind and tide, and breathing flames and smoke." The steamboats, at that time, used pine wood for fuel, which sent columns of ignited vapor many feet above the stack, and whenever the fire was stirred enormous showers of sparks would fly off, which in the night produced a very brilliant and beautiful effect. Sailors and seamen on vessels that had never seen a steamboat were scared speechless, and in many cases prostrated themselves, and besought Providence to protect them from the approaches of the horrible monster which they saw.

In 1835 Thomas D. Edmundson, a station agent on the New Castle and Carlisle line, in England, invented the first railroad ticket. The inventor for several years devoted himself entirely to the ticket industry, and by degrees a business arose which became one of the largest in the world.

In 1840 the Government issued the first postage stamps.

George Stephenson died in 1848 at the age of 67, a wealthy man, beloved and honored by all. Statues of him were erected at Liverpool, London and Newcastle. In Rome, Italy, a tablet bears this inscription: "In this Rome, from whence wondrous roads proceed to the empire of the world, the employees of the Roman railways, on the 9th of June, 1881, worthily commemorated the centenary of George Stephenson, who opened still more wondrous roads to the brotherhood of the nations, and whose virtues, inspiring to great works, have left an undying example." During an examination before a Parliamentary Committee George Stephenson was asked, "Suppose, now, one of your engines to be going at the rate of nine or ten miles an hour, and that a cow were to stray upon the line, and get in the way of the engine, would not that be a very awkward circumstance?" Stephenson replied, "Yes, very awkward for the cow." In the course of the same examination he was asked, "But would not men and animals become frightened by the red hot smoke pipe?" to which question Stephenson replied, "But how would they know that it was not painted?" These extracts indicate some of the difficulties inventors had to contend with.

In 1876 two hours after Bell filed his patent for his telephone, Elisha Gray, of Boston, filed an application for a similar device. Bell won, and has been awarded great honors for his invention. It was at first referred to as a "scientific toy." It is now a necessity.

In 1880 Marthelemay Themonier, a Frenchman, was mobbed for building a sewing machine, by laborers who thought his machines contrary to their interests.

"Victory belongs to the most persevering."—Napoleon.

"Success is the child of audacity."—Beaconsfield.

By-Products

Many men mistake obstinacy for perseverance.

Anybody can slide down hill, but it takes good legs and good wind to go up.

A third of our lives is spent in bed—that's why we ought to hustle the other two-thirds.

Waste is criminal. The old proverb says, "Waste not, want not." And it is true.

Anybody may drink at the fountain of knowledge, but you've got to bring your own cup.

The farther you look back into the history of industry and invention, the more you will be impressed with the fact that almost everything has improved as our ability to produce it has increased.

Wireless telegraphy would never have come about had not the other kind preceded, and it is impossible to imagine the phonograph's being ahead of the telephone.

Without illuminating gas and gasoline, Welsbach lights would never have been thought of or possible.

We would have no electric lights without the dynamo, and no dynamo if wire-drawing had not first been perfected.

So it goes—everything is dependent on factors that have preceded and any achievement of today is the result of thousands of years of previous effort and thought.

And the knowledge that we are adding to the world's store today is but the foundation for further advance by men to come.

As long as we don't know everything there will be things we cannot explain and these things will be called chance. Into the life of every human being there enter these inexplicable occurrences.

Silent Partner.

CHAPTER III.
PATENTS THE GREATEST SOURCE OF WEALTH

"Upon what meat does this, our Caesar, feed, that he has grown so great?"—Shakespeare.

THE SOURCES OF WEALTH.

CHAPTER IV.
SUCCESSFUL INVENTORS

"Lives of great men all remind us,

We can make our lives sublime,

And departing, leave behind us,

Footprints on the sands of time."—Longfellow.

The long list of famous patentees with their inventions which a previous chapter contains is an eloquent testimonial to the fact that fame, fortune and an undying place in history will be given to anyone fortunate enough to conceive and work out a new idea which inures to the benefit of mankind. While these famous inventors have been devising and exploiting inventions of wide scope and large calibre there have been an army of small inventors which should be equally as famous and whose inventions will, probably, on the average, return larger proportionate profits to their owners than have a great many of the prominent ones already listed. The writer has in mind small inventions, such as, for instance, Mrs. Pott's Sad Iron; the De Long Hook and Eye; the Gillette Safety Razor; Enterprise Meat Chopper; Junoform Bust Form; Push-point Pencil; Bromo Seltzer; Morrow Coaster Brake; Brass Tips for Boys' Shoes; Mennen's Talcum Powder; Rubber Tips for Lead Pencils; Bundy Time Clock; President Suspenders; Pianola; Castoria; Angelus; O'Sullivan's Rubber Heel; Macey's Sectional Bookcases; Red Dwarf Ink Pencil; 1900 Washing Machine; Tyden Table Lock, and the thousands of similar small inventions, practically all of which are bringing or have brought enormous fortunes to their owners and developers.

King C. Gillette has become a wealthy man from the royalties and profits on his safety razor. While safety razors had been on the market for years, it took Gillette to bring out a better one, patent it, and make his fortune. The inventor of the President Suspender is said to have collected over fifty thousand dollars last year in royalties on the sales of over two hundred thousand dozen pairs of his suspenders. Miss Wolfe, the inventor of the Junoform Bust Form, it was remarked recently, would attain wealth from her royalties. Mrs. Potts is reputed to have collected over half a million dollars from royalties from the patents on her sad iron.

It is also said that the Selden Gas Engine royalties exceed ten million dollars in amount. It is stated that McCormick, the inventor of a Cream Separator, has an annual income from his patents of over thirty thousand dollars. It is said that the inventor of the new-style "pay-as-you-enter" street car will receive a large royalty on every car of that style used in the United States. They are at present coming into use on the metropolitan street car lines. Everybody is familiar with the enormous fortune made by Pullman with his palace car patents.

NOTES.

It is related that when George Westinghouse called on Commodore Vanderbilt to endeavor to interest him in his air-brake, Vanderbilt said to him: "Do you mean to tell me that you can stop a train of cars by wind?" and when informed that in effect that was what was contemplated, remarked that he had no time for fools. Sometime afterward when, through the support of Andrew Carnegie and several others, a successful test of the brake had been made, Westinghouse had the satisfaction, according to the story, of replying to Vanderbilt's request for a conference, "I have no time to waste on fools."

Ottmar Mergenthaler worked twenty years on the development of his linotype machine, and ten years thereafter in perfecting it. The Mergenthaler Linotype Company has paid out twenty millions of dollars in dividends in fourteen years. The romance of the invention of the linotype brings out in glaring letters PERSISTENCE, as Edward Mott Woolley states in "System," of September, 1908, in an article describing the development of the linotype machine.

It is related of Oscar Hammerstein, the well-known theatrical proprietor, that when he was fifteen years old he landed from a steamer at the Battery in New York, after running away from his German home. He was without money or friends, or any place to go. He got a job in a cigar factory at $2.00 per week. Making cigars by hand seemed to him a poor way of doing it, so he began experimenting on his own account, and four years later he had a machine to do the work. He sold this machine for $6,000 cash, and immediately started on a new one, which in place of selling outright he had manufactured on a royalty basis. It is said that he has received over $250,000 in cash from his royalties. Yet today Hammerstein is not known by his inventions, but by the big theatrical enterprises which have earned or lost other fortunes for him at various times.

In the struggle of Charles Goodyear to manufacture a rubber compound that should fulfil mercantile needs is presented a striking, if rather familiar example of what eternal persistence will finally accomplish, and of how it may be assisted by what we call "luck." When he was twenty-one Goodyear entered a rubber house in Philadelphia and began experimenting in India rubber. By chance one day a little rubber mixed with sulphur fell on a stove, and he at once realized what might be accomplished by what is now known as vulcanization. To carry on his experiments he was required to pawn the school-books of his children to raise money. However, he kept everlastingly at it, and was rewarded with a number of international prizes and decorated by several foreign rulers. His name has gone down to fame as one of the successful inventors of the world. The Goodyear Rubber Company bears his name.

The public today is familiar with the record of Thomas A. Edison, who is considered the greatest inventor the world has ever known. The new book which has recently come out, "The Life of Thomas A. Edison," is well worth purchasing and reading. The public press reported he had won his infringement suits and that the "Moving Picture" trust or combination agreed to pay him royalties running into a sum of seven figures.

George Ade, the "funny man," is independent financially from the royalties paid him on his copyrights.

The story of the De Long Hook and Eye Company is the history of an infinitesimal start with an enormous present size.

Sir Henry Bessemer is said to have been paid $10,000,000 in royalties on his steel process.

Emerson, a Baltimore druggist, made a number of fortunes from his invention of Bromo-Seltzer. Likewise Mennen, of talcum powder fame, whose face and name are known all over the world.

Landis, a Franklin county (Pa.) man, sold his "Straw Stacker" patents, it is said, for $50,000 cash,—practically all profit.

This list, if complete, would fill volumes, but it would be a story with the same ending in each and every case.

A careful study of the reason why all the above patents have proved to be so successful emphasizes the fact that inventors, to succeed, must not lose sight of the Six Cardinal Tests enumerated elsewhere in this volume.

REMIND US OF INVENTIONS THAT HAVE BROUGHT FAME AND WEALTH

CHAPTER V.
FIELD OF INVENTION

"If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mouse-trap than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten pathway to his door."—Emerson.

Inventions, to possess commercial merit, must supersede in utility similar devices already on the market. They must also possess capacity for production at lower cost, as well as having conspicuously superior merit. The field of invention is a broad one, and embraces any new electrical appliances, engineering devices, improvements in steam navigation, agricultural implements, railways, household novelties, novelties in hardware and tools, pencils and toys, vehicles, furniture, toilet articles, wearing apparel, office appliances and devices.

INVENTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED.

Electrical.

A simple, cheap and powerful electric motor; electrical motors adapted to use of either direct or alternating current; improvements in the filaments of incandescent bulbs, something along the lines of the new Tungsten filaments; new, cheap substitute for gutta-percha for insulating; simple method of generating ozone for medical and disinfecting purposes; method for generating electricity direct from coal without the incidental production of light and heat; a new, indestructible incandescent lamp filament; a new style of incandescent lamp that will give more light and use less current; a simple means for preventing the blowing out of fuses, and yet preventing the overloading of the motors; method of extracting electricity from the earth. (NOTE: A number of experiments have been carried out along this line with partial success.) A method of storing electricity generated during a severe electrical storm. (NOTE: This is not considered practicable by electrical engineers, although it is possible that someone may hit on a way of accomplishing it.) A simple, light accumulator for storing electricity.

Chemical.

A substitute for paper pulp; strong, tough, thin, flexible paper; substitute for glass in eye-glasses, telescopes, opera glasses, and other optical lenses; a cheap, artificial substitute for indigo; method for deodorizing petroleum, gasoline, naphtha and similar volatile oils without changing their quality; method of deodorizing asphalt; method of deodorizing paint; method of increasing the life and durableness of soft rubber; simple means for preserving butter; new shoe blacking free from sulphuric and acetic acids; cheap substitute for matches; method of removing nicotine from tobacco; method of utilizing vulcanized rubber scrap; substitute for leather; method for producing artificial mica in large sheets; artificial flavors of tea and coffee, similar to the commercial artificial extract of vanilla; cheap method of producing sugar from starch; method of producing pure carbon; substitute for celluloid; substitute for asphalt; method for producing flexible glass.

Mining and Metallurgy.

First and foremost is the method of hardening and tempering copper; cheap method for extracting gold from brick clay, ore, sand, etc.; cheap method for procuring iron direct from ore without the intervention of the blast furnace; method for producing malleable pig iron; cheap method of producing high-speed steels for tools and the like; machine to separate slate from Anthracite and Bituminous Coal. (NOTE: It should be some process not requiring water settling-tanks.) Process for casting copper without blow holes; solder for cast iron; cheap method for recovering tin from old tin cans and the like.

Railways and Military.

Note.—It has been found extremely hard to introduce railway patents. We would, therefore, most earnestly advise our American inventors not to spend any time and money on inventions such as car couplers, steel railway ties, block signals, and the like. In this class we would suggest so-called "small-inventions."

Efficient air gun as a weapon; improvements in army tents; improvements in dirigible balloons and aeroplanes for military uses.* (*NOTE: This is a big undertaking, and we would not advise any of our clients to enter it.)

Machinery, Tools, Steam Engines, Etc.

Simple means of adjusting ball bearings; attachment for lathes, such as taper cutting devices, grinding attachments; attachments for planers for producing curved surfaces; attachment for drill press for radial boring; new and improved tools of all kinds and descriptions; simple and cheap bone crusher; simple and cheap bone cleaner; simple and cheap casting machine for small foundries; simple and cheap molding machine for small foundries; machine for casting under pressure; substitute for fly wheels on engines; efficient safety stopping devices for engines; substitute for governor; cheap and efficient denatured alcohol motor; substitute for belts and pulleys; simple, cheap and efficient anti-friction bearings; machine for automatically sewing buttons on clothing; tool for cutting ice without waste; cheap music turner.

Recording and Vending Machines, Office Appliances, Etc.

Simple, cheap and efficient cash register; cash register that will throw out false coins; machine for vending newspapers; electrically driven typewriter; cheap substitute for fountain pen; cheap substitute for lead pencil; indestructible writing pen; reliable gas meter; reservoir lettering brush.

Lighting, Heating and Ventilating—Building Construction.

Indestructible gas mantel for Welsbach lights; method of simultaneously lighting all the burners in a room, or house; automatic valve closing device for shutting off gas when not ignited; brick-laying machine; method of glazing without the use of putty; window sash that will not bind or stick in the frame; substitute for sash weights; substitute for spring shade rollers; substitute for carpet nails; new, cheap, springless lock; substitute for hinges on doors; cheap, efficient door check and buffer.

Auto Vehicles.

Durable and unpuncturable tires; cheap and efficient power meter; cheap and efficient dust preventer; improvements in all the details of automobile and vehicular construction; substitute for motor wheels.

Miscellaneous.

Textile:

Substitute for horse hair; substitute for broom fibre; substitute for asbestos; substitute for silk; method of coating cheap fibres with silk; method of spinning asbestos; substitute for an umbrella; one-piece covering for umbrellas, etc., etc.

Printing:

Method for multi-color printing with but one impression; method for printing sheet metals; substitute for printing blocks.* (*NOTE: Must be light in weight, and non-inflammable.) Substitute for lithographic stone; a firm, black, copying, printing ink; method for photographing in colors.

Agricultural.

Machine for harvesting sugar cane; substitute for cotton bale tie; method or machine for exterminating caterpillars; method or machine for exterminating mosquitoes; improvements or new devices for use of farmers, agriculturalists, truckmen, florists, and similar vocations; method or machine for annihilating flies.

General.

Substitute for rubber fire hose; method for profitable utilization of saw dust; substitute for hair pin, or one that will not fall out; envelope that cannot be opened.

WHAT NOT TO INVENT.

• Non-refillable bottles.
• Nut locks.
• Metal railway ties.
• Railroad rail joints.
• Patent medicines.
• Car couplers.
• Hooks and eyes.
• Safety pins.
• Hair curlers.
• Washing Compounds.
• Trolley pole catchers.
• Bending machines, unless absolutely new idea, and style.
• Adding machines, unless absolutely new idea and style.
• Present style typewriters.
• Turbine engines, unless absolutely new idea, and style.
• Submarine boats.

Our reason for advising inventors to stay away from the above classes is on account of the fact of the killing competition in these classes, and the additional fact that the field is absolutely overcrowded. The attorneys that have applied for the hosts of patents for inventors in these lines have "rung all possible changes" in their claims for patents into which it is possible to twist and turn the English language.

Wants Fulfilled.

In a publication on Patents published about fifteen years ago, the following articles were asked for, which have since been invented, and which are making their inventors money:

• Cheap ice machine.
• Denaturated alcohol.
• Cheap calcium carbide.
• Method of preserving milk.

(Note the organization of the "White Cross Milk Companies" in the cities of Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Baltimore and Washington, at this writing. Milk prepared by this process is said to keep for several months, and will be absolutely free from germs and bacilli. It is a new process.)

• Smokeless gun powder (now in almost general use).
• Iron and steel railway ties. (They have been found mechanically impracticable and have been discarded by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.)
• Safety device for rifles and revolvers. (Everybody is familiar with the "Hammer the Hammer" advertisement.)
• Milking machine.
• Bread cutting machine.
• Pocket cigar lighter.
• Steam heating for trains.

The above list will serve as an illustration of the fact that inventors are persistently supplying what the world needs in the way of new devices and machines.

SUPPLY AND DEMAND.

"Where there's a will there's a way."

Do not imagine that anyone is lying awake at night waiting for your invention to come out, because they are not. All of us consider ourselves pretty comfortable, and we are not bothering much about any new inventions. Another mistake inventors often make is that of endeavoring to make the public want their device. The proper thing to do is to invent something that the public already wants. In other words, "follow the lines of least resistance."

There are many good things which are very ingenious, and perfectly novel and patentable, but which are in lines in which there would not be enough sale in ten years to pay the inventor the expense of getting out patents. Yet plenty of such things are patented almost every week, in this country. "Some time there could be but one customer,—say, the government, or some great corporation,—and there may be reasons which are obvious, and others not so plain on the surface, why you could not even make them a present of your invention."

CHAPTER VI.
GROWTH OF THE FIELD OF INVENTION

The following pages concisely show the marvelous growth of the Field of Invention from Primitive Man's Three Fundamental Wants, namely, Food, Clothing and Shelter, to the present-day countless necessities of Twentieth Century life. The same marvelous broadening of the field is found in all directions. The few illustrations given on the following pages will illustrate the point, and direct the thoughts of the student unerringly to the almost illimitable sphere of invention.

CHART PARTIALLY ILLUSTRATING THE VAST GROWTH OF THE
FIELD OF INVENTION FROM PRIMITIVE MAN'S THREE
FUNDAMENTAL NEEDS TO THE PRESENT DAY
ESSENTIALS OF CIVILIZATION.

FOOD

Copyright 1909, by Goodwin B. Smith.

SHELTER

Copyright 1909, by Goodwin B. Smith.

CLOTHING

Copyright 1909, by Goodwin B. Smith.

TRANSPORTATION

Copyright 1909, by Goodwin B. Smith.

CHAPTER VII.
NECESSARY STEPS

"In any business, it is to-day's unknown facts that wreck the machine tomorrow. Therefore, find out the facts."

Almost all inventors show an unusually needless amount of haste in rushing off to an attorney and applying for a patent, even before they have given their idea any practical demonstration whatsoever. This is, in the opinion of the writer, all wrong, and is not the most practical way to proceed. The application for patent, and filing of carefully drawn specification and claims, is, of course, highly important and necessary, but it should not be undertaken until after the most searching, practical tests of the invention, as well as the most careful investigation as to the public demand for your idea, as it is from the latter source that profits will come. The care with which your specification is written, and the claims drawn, will regulate the strength of your protection against infringers. Don't forget that the red seal and blue ribbon on a worthless patent are just as red and blue as they are on a high-grade, "suit-proof," one that has stood the tests of the courts from bottom to the top.

WHAT THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT SAYS.

"The specification and claims of a patent, particularly if the invention be at all complicated, constitute one of the most difficult legal instruments to draw with accuracy, and in view of the fact that valuable inventions are often placed in the hands of inexperienced persons to prepare such specification and claims, it is no matter of surprise that the latter frequently fail to describe with requisite certainty the exact invention of the patentee, and err either in claiming that which the patentee had not in fact patented, or in omitting some element which was a valuable or essential part of his actual invention." Topliff vs. Topliff, 145 U.S. 156.

The highest court of the land thus puts itself on record in reference to the importance of having the specification and claims of your patent properly drawn. It is equally as important to have your models, drawings, patterns, etc., accurately designed and executed.

Every week the "Official Gazette," published by the U.S. Patent Office, is chock full of new, novel and ingenious devices on which patents have been granted, but which are in lines in which the demand and sales are so very restricted that the profits in seventeen years will scarcely pay for the cost of the patent. As Dr. Grimshaw, Ph.D., M. E., a celebrated inventor and scholar, known to many Americans, and at present residing in Germany, so aptly puts it, it is well to remember "There are some lines in which competition is so fierce that there would not be any use in coming into the field. If the Marquis of Worcester, Watt, Fulton and Morse, Whitney and Howe, Edison and McCormick, and a dozen more of the great inventors of the world, past and present, were to put their heads together, and get up a new car-coupler, the chances are that they could not get thirty cents for the patent. The thing is overdone."

Many, many, hard-earned dollars are annually expended by inexperienced inventors in the building of ornate, nickel-plated models that from a practical, business stand-point are commercially impossible, and never will amount to anything. While they are splendid in "theory," and pretty to look at, and talk about, yet in "practice" and real utility they are of no value. Don't go to the expense of a model until you know your device is patentable, mechanically practicable, commercially salable, and in demand in the markets of the world, and in a class in which there is no killing competition.

Caveats have proven to be, oftentimes, worse than worthless. The Government fee is $10; the attorney fee from $10 to $25. When you file your application you are notified by the U.S. Patent Office of an interference suit, if someone else happens to file an application along similar lines. It is then "up to you" to show that "you thought of it first," usually a very expensive and disappointing task. Don't apply for a caveat, is the writer's advice.

Confidence is the bed-rock foundation of all business today, so don't be afraid of anyone trying to steal your idea. A simple and inexpensive means to follow is to have a rough pencil sketch and description of your idea, dated and signed by yourself and two competent witnesses. Then, if the question of priority of invention is raised, you have a strong document to substantiate your claims to priority.

If your idea will pass muster on the Six Cardinal Tests, (1) as regards patentability; (2) as regards mechanical practicability; (3) as regards its possession of superior merit and low cost of production; (4) as regards a large and constant public demand for it; (5) as regards to its being better, cheaper and more salable than similar devices already on the market; (6) as regards to the competition it will encounter,—then, and only then, are you justified in spending time and money in applying for a patent, and having proper working model built, etc. Don't rely on your own judgment in such matters,—it is of necessity greatly prejudiced, and rightly so. You, as an inventor, are in the same relative position as the mother of a new baby. Both of you undoubtedly feel that your offspring possesses all the graces, and has no bad points whatsoever. But your invention does not have as good a show, at least no better, than the new baby has of developing into a "world-beater" or prodigy. In both instances it will require careful development, much study, and the hardest kind of work to make a moderate success of the new infant. Another point to remember is that the one who is responsible for its successful development is entitled to more credit and greater rewards than the father of the idea or infant.

A Patent Attorney, must, of very necessity, be disposed to find practically everything submitted to him "to be patentable." Some firms go so far as to mail their guarantees that ideas are patentable, but your idea has five other points in which it may "fall down." Mere patentability is only one-sixth of the necessary ground you must cover. Your friends may think you are a genius, a wonder, and you may be, but don't let their adulation turn your head to the extent of your forgetting the six tests necessary to your idea's success. If you are sick, you go to the best physician you can find; if your horse is sick, you send for a veterinarian; if you are required to go to Court, you retain a good lawyer to represent your side,—you don't try to cure yourself, or your horse, or defend yourself. You go to a specialist in these lines. Follow the same sane method in your patent matters. The "no-cure-no-pay" doctor is not highly regarded, neither are patent firms that do a "contingent fee" business on the "no patent-no pay" basis. Cut rates are also to be shunned. Good service demands and can exact commensurate returns. Economy in these matters is a poor policy to pursue.

Analysis of the Six Cardinal Patent Tests.

"If I am building a mountain, and stop before the last bucketful of earth is placed on the summit, I have failed."—Confucius.

First: Would it be possible to cover my idea or invention by a good, strong, basic patent?

First and foremost, the thing to do is to find out if your invention can be properly covered by a good, strong patent,—a basic patent, if possible, and if not basic, at least, one covering some novel elements which would prevent unscrupulous imitators and dealers from substituting "something just as good" for your invention. In this connection we might say that any bright attorney can find some way in which an alleged patent can be issued practically on anything, so very little dependence can be placed, as a rule, on "preliminary searches" that are furnished "free of cost." Expect to pay at least $5.00 for it, and ask for the references the search develops. We place the covering of an invention by strong letters patent first, as we consider it of the utmost importance that an invention, to be a commercial success, must grant its owner a virtual monopoly.

Second: Is my invention mechanically practicable?

There are a great many ideas which of themselves are good, and still are not of themselves of any value. It is of equal importance, in order to make a success of an invention, to have it conform to certain recognized mechanical principles, and capable of economical production through the regular trade and manufacturing channels. In other words, an invention nowadays would be seriously handicapped if it was necessary to revolutionize the present equipment of factories to bring it out.

(In this connection it might be interesting to note that Thomas A. Edison, in an article published in "The Star," of Washington, September 17th, 1908, said that in his opinion Wright Brothers were working on the wrong principle with their flying machine. In Edison's opinion the machine should not be dependent on the skill of the operator, but should be capable of automatic operation somewhat similar to an automobile or the locomotive.)

Third: Can my invention be more cheaply manufactured than similar devices already on the market?

If your invention will enter the markets of the world in close competition with other devices of similar nature, it is necessary that it possesses the possibility for lower cost of production than the articles it will meet in competition. If it costs more to make, it will be heavily handicapped from the start. If it costs less to make it will have this additional advantage pulling in its favor from the start.

Fourth: Does my idea possess conspicuous novelty and superior merit over similar devices already on the market?

The established, advertised article in the markets of the world always has a great advantage over new and relatively untried devices. A new article, to succeed, must show at a glance that it is "something better." In addition to that, it must have superior merit which will at once make it possible to bring about a quick sale in competition with the article already on the market. If your invention is better, costs less to produce, has more "talking points," dealers will be quick to buy it. Otherwise, possibly not.

Fifth: Is there a large, constant, public demand for my invention, or its product?

Public demand for anyone's invention practically regulates its success, from a commercial standpoint. If there is no public demand for it, there can be no individual profit derived from it. In other words, it is useless to apply for a patent on any art, machine or process where the demand for its use is very limited. For instance, it would be ridiculous to patent a process for performing one single act or function, the demand for which would cease as soon as the act or function was accomplished. To illustrate, some years ago, while building the City Hall, in Philadelphia, it was necessary to raise the enormous statue of William Penn to the top of the tower. This was quite an undertaking, and a great many bright men cudgeled their brains as to the best means of accomplishing the result. It would have been very foolish to patent the means by which the statue was put on the top of the tower, because after it was placed on the top there would be no further demand for the process or means by which Penn was raised to his elevated position.

"Little and often fills the purse" is a familiar quotation to many of us, and is especially applicable to the profits to be made from inventions.

Sixth: Is there killing competition in the class to which my invention belongs?

If your device is likely to run into a section of the trade of the world where questionable tactics and high-pressure methods are necessary to keep one's head above water, our advice to you would be, "Don't do it!" as it would possibly be better to "follow the lines of least resistance," and spend your time and money on something where you would have a better chance for success.

In the year 1909, what chances do you think an inventor would have in starting a business in competition with the United States Steel Corporation, or the American Sugar Refining Company, or the Standard Oil Company, or the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, or the Paper Trust, or the Bell Telephone Company, or the Moving Picture Trust, or the American Can Company, or the Baldwin Locomotive Works? These enormous aggregations of brains and capital would make it quixotic to attempt to compete with them in the markets of the world. Yet you may be able to invent something they would be glad to purchase!

If your patent is weak or deficient in any one of these six cardinal tests it is heavily handicapped to just that extent in the race for success. Do not depend on your own judgment, as your judgment is naturally prejudiced, and will not, most likely, reflect a dependable forecast of the public attitude toward your invention. It will be cheaper in the long run to get reliable counsel in these respects before you start, rather than learning it from bitter experience.

THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL.

Terse Suggestions

This is the day of short cuts. If you take the long way 'round, you will never "arrive." Cuts, to be short, need not be poorly done with a blunt knife. The cleverest surgeon is he who can perform the biggest operation in the shortest time. Learn to do things quickly, but do them well.

In this hustling world we must "get there," and "get there quick," not only in our conversation but in all our work. We must avoid non-essentials.

Spend your time and money on money-savers rather than on frills. Do your work under a system, and stick to it. Do not have a too elaborate system, however.

With the machine work of the Twentieth Century method, fine hand work is now considered a luxury.

Don't beat about the bush. Get right down to the point. The swiftest road to success has the fewest curves.

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of."—Franklin.

CHAPTER VIII.
SOUNDING THE MARKET

"People are always to be found who think anything with which they are not familiar cannot be good."

If the average inventor goes out among his friends with his invention and asks them their opinion of it, he will hear some such expressions as this: "Old man, you are a marvel!"; "You will be a millionaire some day, sure thing!"; "That looks a big winner!"; "Beats anything I ever saw!" and so on. But such comments are absolutely worthless. Many an inventor's head has been turned by just such praise. It is all well-meant, best-intentioned, and highly gratifying, but as an indication of what will be likely to happen to your invention it is worse than valueless. It is grossly misleading. Your friends want to encourage you, help you. They see only your invention's good points, not its vital weaknesses. They are not "skilled in the art,"—are not in a position to judge competently at all. Do not depend on any such opinions. Go to a specialist in such lines. Will a stranger to you buy your invention in preference to the ones already on the market? If so, he exacts a lower price or a better article, which amount to the same thing. Can you manufacture your invention and sell it at a good profit in competition with others? Will the wholesalers handle it? Can they do so at a good profit? Has it good selling and talking points, or do you need to make excuses for it? Is the field now over-crowded? In this connection, remember the "Six Cardinal Patent Tests," especially the fifth and sixth. Is there a large, constant, public demand for my invention or its product? And is there killing competition in the class to which my invention belongs? Get the advice of a specialist.

CHAPTER IX.
PRACTICAL DEVELOPMENT

"Everything in this world is a development. Nothing happens by chance."

Can my invention be made to do better work by putting in gears in place of that sprocket chain? Would canvas be cheaper and better than leather in that belt? Won't a cotter pin be cheaper and better in place of that nut? Won't a steel casting be cheaper and better than that expensive machined steel bearing? Would not my machine do better work and cost less if I stuck to just this one operation?

Questions such as this you must ask yourself. The successful inventor is not a "one-idea" man. He must be on the watch for "something better" all the time, until he and his expert advisers are convinced by actual tests in actual service that it is absolutely right in every way. No invention is complete and perfect when it is first conceived. Its successful development is a series of changes, substitutions, alterations, rearrangements, until finally it attains marketable shape.

At a meeting of mechanical experts in Philadelphia one evening, six men were asked the very best way to make a certain piece of machine work. There were six different answers.—"Many men of many minds."—Which was the best way, and why? If you take your own ideas you will possibly have but one way to do it, and your way may not prove the best way in the end. The successful invention of today dominates its particular field. Why? Because it is better than others.

Successful development of any invention requires a great degree of patience, unlimited hard work, belief in ultimate success, and competent theoretical and practical knowledge of mechanics, physics, mathematics, salesmanship, shop practice and the like. It is a science in itself.

"Whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do well; whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself to completely; in great aims and small I have always been thoroughly in earnest."—Charles Dickens.

CHAPTER X.
LOWER COST SUPERIOR MERIT

"An idea of itself may be good, but still not of itself be of any value."

Patents, to meet with even moderate commercial success, must be on a "human necessity" or "luxury"—must cost less and be better than the ones already on the market. That is this whole chapter in a nutshell. Lines upon lines could be said about it, but the reader will grasp the point.

CHAPTER XI.
APPLICATION
FOR PATENTS, DESIGN PATENTS, TRADE-MARKS LABELS AND COPYRIGHTS

"The man who does things is the man who is doing things. The busiest man in the city is the man who is always ready for new business."
"To postpone action generally means an attempt to kill by time."—John Timothy Stone.

What is Patentable.

• An art or process,
• Machines or mechanisms,
• Manufactured articles,
• Compositions of matter,
• Improvements on any of the above,

if the art, machine, manufactured article, composition of matter, or improvement thereof, for which a Patent is desired, was not known or used by others, in this country, and has not been patented or described in any printed publication in this or any foreign country, before the applicant's invention or discovery thereof, and has not been in public use or on sale for more than two years prior to his application, unless the same is proved to have been abandoned.

Usual Cost

The cost of taking out a patent varies with different cases. In a simple case such as, for instance, an improvement in potato mashers, it is, ordinarily, $65. Some attorneys charge $5 less, and some $10 more, according to their schedules. This amount is made up as follows:

Complicated machines and processes that require a large number of sheets of drawings and contain a great deal of detail work cost often times, especially if interferences develop, as much as $1000. Elsewhere in this volume is quoted the opinion of the Supreme Court as regards the importance of having the specification and claims carefully drawn. Have your work done well, and expect to pay a fair price for good service.

Note.—Patents run for seventeen years, and cannot be renewed. Design Patents run for 3½, 7 or 14 years, as the case may be. Trademarks run for thirty years, and longer, if desired. Label Patents run for 28 years, and may be renewed for fourteen years longer, if desired. Copyrights run for 28 years, and may be renewed for fourteen years longer, if desired. Special rates and terms are payable on "Interferences," Infringements, Appeals and Assignments.

Foreign Patents can be procured in all civilized countries, but should be applied for only after the most careful study as to whether they are likely to prove profitable to the inventor. We are inclined to say it is the exception when they do.

"Rules of Practice" issued by the United States Patent Office contain the following in regard to the importance of care in the selection of an attorney:

"As the value of Patents depends largely upon the careful preparation of the Specification and Claims, the assistance of competent counsel will, in most instances, be of advantage to the applicant; but the value of their services will be proportionate to their skill and honesty, and too much care cannot be exercised in their selection."

"Before you spend much money, either your own or any one's else, be sure (1) that your invention will work; (2) that no one else has patented it; (3) that there is an opportunity for its sale; (4) that there is not too much competition. Many a man starts off and orders a fancy nickel-plated model, and applies for his patent, only to find that the idea will not work even the least little bit. In this matter the advice of some one else well up in the theory, added to that of some one else well up in the practice, would be valuable."

"Many an application done up in all the bravery of typewriting, notarial seal, and all that, has been rejected like a bad penny for the very simple reason that some one else had before patented the idea, or something enough like it to bar out the newcomer. It is cheaper to have the ground gone over first by a preliminary search by a competent person even before the application is written out."