THINGS FOR YOU TO INVENT
All through this book I have done my best to nickelplate you in the
bath of my own experience and I believe I have made everything clear
unless it is just how to get the big idea.
And even if I could give you a hard and fast rule for thinking up new
and novel things I have grave fears I would be tempted to keep that bit
of information to myself and start up an _idea factory_ in opposition
to Edison.
But while it is not yet possible to lay down a law for the creation of
an original idea it may prove of some value to tell you something about
what is needed both small and large and this in itself may serve to
stimulate your thought centers to activity.
As you look about and see all the different materials, apparatus and
machines that have been invented to make work easier, to save time
or goods and to increase safety and comfort you may on first thought
conclude that everything the human race really needs has been invented
and this is in a large measure true.
But the secret of present day inventing was let out of the bag
by Edison when he said that “hardly any piece of machinery now
manufactured is more than 10 per cent. perfect.” Certainly the
electric lights we now have are good enough as far as the light goes
but light costs us ten times as much as it ought to cost for the reason
that 90 per cent. of the energy there is in a ton of coal is wasted and
only 10 per cent. of it is transformed into actual light.
Oliver Lodge, England’s greatest electrician, once said that if we
knew how the glow worm makes his light then a boy could turn a machine
that would develop enough electricity to light a factory. The problem
for you to tackle then is not to make a _better_ light but to make a
_cheaper_ light.
And what Edison has said about machines and Lodge has said about light,
I say is just as true of everything else we have for lessening labor,
for saving time and materials, making for safety and adding to comfort.
Everything that has been invented up to the present time, with very few
exceptions, such as the electric motor which is 98 per cent. efficient,
can be made nearly 90 per cent. better.
This gives you your cue for inventing, that is to conceive and
_improve_ upon what has been done rather than to sap your life’s blood
and waste time, which is just as precious if you only know it, in
trying to invent something entirely new and original under the shining
sun.
Nor do you need to undertake to improve upon the big things--unless,
of course, you get a great idea and you feel that the world can’t
get along without it and that you would lose a fortune unless you
straightaway developed it. Otherwise just keep your eagle eye on the
lookout and your inventive brain cells on the alert and it will not be
long before you will see something where there is room for improvement.
~Some Little Things Needed.--~_For the Person._--There isn’t a thing
you wear, or carry in your pockets, or use in making your toilet but
which can be improved upon.
Your suspenders, your corset, cuff buttons, dress-shields, necktie
clasp, hose supports, garters, hat pins, collar buttons, eye glasses
and eye-glass guards, hair curlers or straighteners according to the
dictates of fashion, jewelry guards, fasteners for clothing, clothes
hangers and clothes presses ought all to be done over and re-invented.
[Illustration: FIG. 103A. OLD STYLE TOOTH BRUSH]
[Illustration: FIG. 103B. AN IMPROVED TOOTH BRUSH]
A better way to clean teeth, see Fig. 103, to shampoo the head, to
manicure nails, to wash backs and to shine shoes should all have
attention. Improvements in false teeth and in making the deaf hear are
in order; but it is just as well to keep away from inventions to make
the hair grow and to remove freckles.
_For the House._--You can help to save mother’s time and conserve her
strength by inventing any of the following devices and besides you’ll
make enough money so that she won’t have to use them and that will be
still better.
[Illustration: FIG. 104A. THE OLD WAY--THE CARPET SWEEPER]
[Illustration: FIG. 104B. THE NEW WAY--THE VACUUM CLEANER]
Odorless cooking utensils, candy making apparatus, visible ovens, dish
washer, ironing machine, soap saver, milk jar seal, fish scaler, fire
extinguisher, water cooler, water purifier, cheap ice machine, ice
crusher, window cleaner, silver cleaning apparatus, vacuum cleaner, see
Fig. 104, knife sharpener, fountain scrub brush and all kinds of handy
tools are needed.
A self-serving dining room table that will let the folks eat instead of
keeping every one busy waiting on everybody else between bites should
and undoubtedly would find a large sale.
_For the Farm._--Improved farm machinery has made the farmers and the
inventors rich and important but the little things around the farm have
been sadly neglected and if some one doesn’t come to its rescue pretty
soon it will go to rack and ruin.
[Illustration: FIG. 105. A LABOR SAVING PAINTING MACHINE]
A substitute for leather, mail conveyer to carry mail from the road
to the house, a painting machine, see Fig. 105, cheap fence posts,
fattening apparatus for chickens, insect exterminators, portable
fences, nests and coops for chickens, traps for preying birds,
parcels post cartons for butter and eggs, incubators, brooders, cream
separators, milking machines, and everything else used on the farm can
be made more efficient than the present apparatus and machines which
are now used.
_For the Office._--There was once a time when a shingle swinging in
the breeze, a desk, a chair and a spittoon constituted an office, but
those halcyon days of Lincoln and Douglas, Calhoun and Webster are gone
forever.
[Illustration: FIG. 106. A QUICK FIGURING AND BOOKKEEPING MACHINE]
What is needed now are not brains so much as an improved file case,
time stamp, check protector, gumless mucilage bottle, inkwell that
cleans the pen, safety envelope that can’t be opened without detection,
mailing boxes and tubes, envelope inserting and folding machine,
duplicating processes for typewritten copy, envelope opener, improved
dictaphones, that is phonographs for dictating to stenographers, and
figuring and bookkeeping machines; see Fig. 106.
_For Fun._--There is a great demand for toys and amusement devices and
novelties of all kinds.
Little 5 and 10 cent jokes, like the snake jar, shadow dancer, shooting
pack of cards, rubber dagger, see Fig. 107, and the musical seat,
puzzles like the beast, the star and crescent, Billy Possum, devil
lock and Chinese conjuring rings and games, tricks, magical advertising
novelties and the like are profitable in a small and sometimes in a big
way.
[Illustration: FIG. 107. A RUBBER DAGGER, AN AMUSING TOY]
Merry-go-round, shoot-the-chutes, bump-the-bumps, see Fig. 108, dips
and slides are some of the larger amusement inventions that have been
making money at summer and seaside resorts. What you must do is to
provide other new and novel means for the fun loving people to do
ridiculous stunts and pay you for the privilege.
Now while all of the above devices have been invented and patented
the point is that every one of them has a _bug_, that is a flaw in it
somewhere; by which I mean that in each and every case, except the toys
and amusements, the device is too hard to work, costs too much, takes
too much time, is too troublesome, is too poorly made or is not as
comfortable as the old-fashioned thing.
It is your business as an inventor to improve it so that your device
will do the work or serve the purpose better than it has ever been
done before. In order to improve a compound, device or machine to this
extent you will have to introduce some new principle, or element into
it and it is this added cause, or part in _combination_ with the other
and well-known arrangements that gives it a new and novel twist and for
which you pray that letters patent may be granted.
[Illustration: FIG. 108. BUMPING-THE-BUMPS]
~Some Big Inventions Needed.--~_Safety First._--That there were 38,000
deaths, 500,000 seriously injured and 2,000,000 slightly injured
persons caused by all manner of accidents in 1915, shows how badly
improvements are needed for all kinds of machinery, in the operation
of mines, railroads and steamships and in the manufacture of certain
chemical products such as phosphorus matches and dynamite. There
is money and lots of it in inventions that have for their object
the safeguarding of human health, limb and life. Fig. 109 shows a
life-saving gun.
[Illustration: FIG. 109. A NOVEL LIFE-SAVING GUN]
_Automobiles._--The automobile is the speed machine of to-day.
Pneumatic tires, transmission gears and differentials, must go for
they are bothersome, complicated and costly. An engine without poppet
valves, carburetor, high tension ignition system and water cooling
system with its expensive radiator would be most welcome. A magnetic
clutch that does away with the transmission gears is shown in Fig. 110.
[Illustration: FIG. 110. THE OWEN MAGNETIC CLUTCH]
A cheap substitute for gasoline is heartily to be hoped for and
inventors are searching for it now. The engine of the future will be
driven by some high explosive mixture each ingredient of which will be
perfectly harmless in itself but when the fractional part of a drop of
each chemical is mixed with the other in the cylinder of the engine
they will combine and explode violently.
_Aviation._--The aeroplane is the speed machine of to-morrow. The great
requirement of the present time in the flying machine is _inherent
stability_, which means that it is so designed that it will not
overturn, or if overturned it will right itself of its own accord.
Fig. 111 shows a gyro-stabilizer for this purpose.
[Illustration: FIG. 111. A GYRO-STABILIZER FOR MAKING AN AEROPLANE KEEP
ITS BALANCE]
After stability the next most desirable improvement needed in an
aeroplane is one that will make it rise from the ground at a far larger
angle from the horizontal, that is fly more nearly straight up than
those that are built at the present time. A better engine, an easier
way of starting and a surer way of alighting, are next in order.
_Chemistry._--There are unlimited possibilities in chemistry for making
big inventions. A method to produce cheap liquid air, see Fig. 112,
would revolutionize many industries. Radium which is worth $1,000,000 a
pound, or thereabouts, is plentiful in nature and requires some simpler
method only for its cheap extraction. But both of the above are very
hard things to do.
[Illustration: FIG. 112. A LIQUID AIR MACHINE]
[Illustration: FIG. 113A. THE CHEAPEST FORM OF LIGHT]
_Artificial_ milk, tea, coffee and eggs, the extraction of _caffeine_
from coffee, _thein_ from tea and _nicotine_ from tobacco--which are
the harmful chemicals in these products, a cheap method of producing
artificial ice, or refrigeration without ice, a substance to _denature_
alcohol are only a few of the things to be invented in chemistry.
_Synthetic chemistry_, that is the artificial production of real
rubber, camphor, diamonds, rubies and other precious stones, dye-stuffs
and other products heretofore supplied only by nature, also offers a
large and fascinating field for the inventive chemist.
[Illustration: FIG. 113B. A TUBE SYSTEM OF ELECTRIC LIGHTS]
_Electricity._--There are hundreds, if not thousands of electrical
inventors who are busier than a swarm of bees in a field of clover, but
there is enough left for all of them and as many more to do if they
worked in eight hour shifts until the dawn of the millennium.
An apparatus for dispelling fogs by electricity, television, or
transmitting sight by electricity, cheap electric lights, see Fig. 113,
a simple telautograph, or writing telegraph, a means for directing
wireless telegraph and telephone messages, automatic block signals
which operate in the engine driver’s cab and are positive in action,
transmitting pictures by wireless and a cheap and powerful generator
of sustained electric oscillations by a battery or other low voltage
current, all these needs show that there is still plenty of room for
improvement.
_Electro-Chemistry._--In this field of endeavor the things that are
needed would fill a large book and many things that will come have not
even been dreamed of yet.
A few that I can think of is a self-charging primary battery, a
light weight storage battery, a way to produce electricity direct
from coal, a scheme to prevent _electrolysis_ in underground pipes,
the _electrification_ of farming lands to make forty bushels of rye
grow where only one was sown, see Fig. 114, to store up electrical
energy from the sun and the production of entirely new and unheard of
substances in the electric furnace.
[Illustration: FIG. 114. FARMING BY WIRELESS. THE HIGH TENSION ELECTRIC
GENERATOR]
_Building._--In the building line heating, ventilation and drainage
are all open to great improvement. Glass that can be bent to shape
and which cannot be so easily broken is much needed while fireproof
materials and fire protection leave much to the inventor to perfect.
Even improvements are needed for wrecking buildings as will be seen in
Fig. 115.
[Illustration: FIG. 115. CUTTING STEEL GIRDERS WITH THE OXY-ACETYLENE
PROCESS]
_Mining and Metallurgy._--Safety appliances are of the first importance
in mine inventions, see Fig. 116, and after these, machines for labor
saving should receive attention. If you understand mining, be it for
coal, metals or gems, you will see that there is yet much to be done to
make the operations safer, more saving and less laborious.
[Illustration: FIG. 116. AN APPARATUS FOR THE PREVENTION OF MINE
DISASTERS. It records the presence of gas]
After the ore is mined, the metal must be separated from it and this
is largely a matter of chemistry and mechanical devices. _Saving_ is
the watchword for the inventor who would improve the present methods
and processes. If you can show how a saving of metal can be effected or
how the same amount can be extracted more cheaply you are the boy the
owners are looking for and you can name your own price, nearly.
An alloy for armor which will deflect projectiles, steel rolls which
will roll and straighten sheets and rails with one handling, a process
for extracting metals from low grade ores, a process for making small
brass, iron or steel castings in much the same manner that a linotype
machine casts a type slug, are all improvements for you to think about
even if you don’t try to invent them.
_Printing._--The noble art of printing has been brought to such a high
degree of perfection it would seem to leave little to be invented. But
like all the arts and sciences there is yet much to be done.
[Illustration: FIG. 117. A STEEL PLATE ENGRAVING MACHINE One boy does
the work of four men]
A few gentle hints in this direction is the need of a three color
printing press, machines for engraving steel plates, see Fig. 117, and
presses for printing from them, power copper plate presses, printing
without ink by means of electricity and bookbinding, electrotyping and
typefoundry processes and machinery; all these, and many more need
looking into.
_Moving Pictures._--Three great improvements must be made in
the moving picture industry before it will take on anything like
perfection, and these are (1) a film that is not easily broken, is
as transparent as glass and is fire proof; (2) pictures that are
photographed on the film and projected on the screen in their natural
colors, and (3) moving pictures that are made and projected on the
principle of the _stereoscope_ so that the picture will stand out true
to life in color, time and space. The last word in moving picture
machines at this writing is shown in Fig. 118.
[Illustration: FIG. 118. AN ATTEMPT TO IMPROVE THE MOVIES This machine
uses glass slides instead of films]
All of the above improvements have been made but they are each of
them very crude and they must be re-improved to a very great extent
before they can be successfully shown in theaters. I do not believe any
attempt has yet been made to combine the three features in a single
machine.
_Other Fields of Endeavor._--There are many other fields that are
just as full of promise for the inventor as those I have cited and
among them may be named railways and steamships, boilers and engines,
bridge building, munitions of war, textile and boot and shoe machinery,
medical and dental apparatus and instruments, devices for the postal
service, musical instruments, vending machines and the utilization of
by-products. Verily there is everything under the heavens for you to
improve if you will but find out a new means, devise a scheme, discover
by art, contrive by ingenuity or, in a nutshell, originate an idea,
work it out, patent it and beat the other fellow to it.
[Illustration: FIG. 119. THE WIRELESS TRANSMISSION OF POWER
Tesla’s tower at Wardencliffe, Long Island]
~What Not to Invent.--~If you have but little time, small means and are
without tools it were better not to get too big an idea for your first
invention. Try out your genius on some simple thing, that is if you
can.
Of course should some great improvement strike you it would be folly to
drop it simply because you happened to be handicapped in two or three
several little ways. When in such a predicament you must rise above the
level of mediocrity and circumstance and invent a plan to raise the
necessary funds to go ahead with your experimental work.
[Illustration: FIG. 120A. A PERPETUAL MOTION MACHINE. (IMPRACTICAL OF
COURSE)]
But whether you have or have not the quick capital of your own to draw
on there are some things you should not try to invent--that is if you
are an inventor for the financial profits you expect to accrue from
your work. If you are doing it purely as a scientist that is a horse of
quite another color and some scientific society may present you with a
medal in a plush lined case and its _Transactions_ will laud you for
your unselfish work.
Such schemes as extracting gold from the salt water of the sea, milking
electricity directly from the ether, blowing up ships at a distance by
means of invisible waves, making a _phonotypograph_ which will, when
spoken into, print what you have said on a sheet of paper, printing
without type by means of the X-rays, sending wireless messages to Mars
and the wireless transmission of power, see Fig. 119, are all good
things to let alone.
[Illustration: FIG. 120B. PERPETUAL MOTION AS SEEN BY A PATENT-ATTORNEY
(HYPER-THEORETICAL)]
Not because these innovations are impossible to invent--they will all
come into general use some day--but because it is not given to any
inventor to work a single one of them out alone and so I say don’t try
to unless you are a real Simon pure scientist.
And as a last piece of advice don’t try to invent that monstrous
impossibility--_perpetual motion_.