tapeworm trap which was described in the speci
fication as follows:
"The invention consists of a trap which
is baited, attached to a string, and swal
lowed by the patient after a fast of suit
able duration to make the worm hungry.
The worm seizes the bait, and its head is
caught in the trap, which is then with
drawn from the patient’s stomach by the
string which has been left hanging from
the mouth, dragging after it the whole
length of the worm.”
Coming nearer to our time (1916) we have
the Artificial Fish-bait described by the inventor
as follows:
"I place a glass mirror in the position
shown. A male fish seeing his image
upon looking therein will appear to see
another fish approach it with the intent
to seize the bait, and this will not only
arouse his warlike spirit, but also his
greed. In the case of a female fish the
attractiveness of a mirror is too well
known to need discussion.”
We must give this inventor credit for having
a good notion of the behavior of the sexes.
Also, about this time, a patent issued for a
Novel Rat Poison that contemplated feeding the
rats a sweet enticer, mixed with salt to create
thirst, and ground cork to become water soaked,
with quite inflationary results.
What a cruel way to kill a rat!
But, even in the early days of a hundred
years ago and at the turn of the century, there
were many serious inventions and basic dis
coveries that have been a boon to man, made by
men whose names are enrolled in the Halls of
Fame. To mention only a few, they include:
Edison with the incandescent lamp; Howe’s
sewing machine; the Morse telegraph Fulton’s
steamboat; McCormick’s reaping machine and
the telephone of Alexander Graham Bell.
All inventors who filed applications for patents
during the seventy year period between 1820 and
1890 were required to furnish the Patent Office
with models, or miniature representations, of
their new inventions. This requirement resulted
6
onn
in an accumulation in the Patent Office of about
150,000 models of the various inventions. Just
recently, Gimbel’s store in New York has put
these models up for sale at prices varying from
$1.00 to $1,000.00 This display of 19th Century
inventions will doubtless prove of interest to
many collectors of antiques, as well as being
educational and impressive to the younger gene
ration of our times, especially the painstaking
care and pride reflected by these models. Al
though they are outmoded today, they indicate
a skill and individual craftsmanhsip which has
almost disappeared in our modern mechanical
age. Illustrations of a few of these models, which
range in age between 60 and 130 years, are
shown on these pages.
(1) Cylinder Printing
Machine—C. C. Butler,
1880.
(2) Paper Ruling Ma
chine — Hickok Cooper
Brown, 1880.
(3) Method of Regula
tion or Supply of Water
to Steam Boilers—W. S.
Bartle, 1849.
(4) Cooking Stove —
J. J. Hess, 1829.
(5) Washing Machine—
J. Stengel, 1867.
(6) Machine for Feed
ing Paper to Printing
Presses — A. Campbell,
1855.
Many people do not realize how great a part
the American patent system has played in mak
ing their country the envy of the world, with the
highest rates of pay and the greatest distribution
of even the luxuries of life. Under our type of
Government and under our Patent Laws, the in
ventor, the capitalist, the manufacturer and the
worker are teamed together to bring to the ulti
mate consumer, the best at the least cost. This
being so, I think we should be very careful how
we advocate or condone changes in the present
Patent Laws or their administration. Our fore
fathers were mighty wise when they established
the Legislative, the Executive and the Judiical
branches of Government as balances against each
other, and those same wise men saw fit to incor
porate a patent provision in the first draft of the
Constitution. Abraham Lincoln said "Our patent
system furnished the fuel of interest to the fire
of genius.”
Fortunately, the Management at Ecusta is patent
conscious and will lend a listening ear to any
new or better way of improving the quality and
(continued on page 20)
11