"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."