BEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. OREGON
TUESDAY. MAY 28. 1963
Inventions Part II
Taking Another's Idea, Improving it,
Often Brines Success for Inventors
By HARRY FERGUSON
Washington - UPli - Most fa
mous inventors merely took
another man's idea and im
proved on it. You do not have
to come up with something
entirely new lo get a patent.
The Wright Brothers in
vented the airplane after read- performed by a Belgian nam- down tne Mississippi river nis
ing about the work of Otto ed Hans Lippcrshey. boat got stuck on a dam. He
Lilienthal, a German who Even the most simple thing j devised a set of bellows
manufactured Bliders. Galileo can be improved upon and placed just below the water
did not invent the telescope
because of a sudden inspira
tion but because he had heard
about experiments with lenses
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SWITCH ACTIVATED President Kennedy presses a gold
telegraph key to activate a light switch in the rebuilt Mark
Twain Lighthouse in Hannibal, Mo., while attending the an
nual While House Press Dinner in Washington. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt turned on the lights in the original
building, which was destroyed hy a wind storm two years
ago, in a similar ceremony in 1935. (UPI)
patented. The other day pat
ent No. 3.085,272 was granted
to Laverne M. Cowan of Cov
ington, Ga., for a tooth brush.
His idea was to set the bristles
into the handle in the form
of an X.
To apply for a patent you
make a drawing of your in
vention, write a letter describ
ing it and mail them, along
with $30, to the U.S. Patent
Office. Your application will
go to one of the patent of
fice's 1,000 examiners who
will determine whether you
have come up with a novel
idea. If the application is
granted, you have exclusive
rights to your invention for
17 years, but only in the
United Slates and its terri
tories. After that the inven
tion goes into the public do
main. Unless you get a patent
in every country in the world,
anybody in a foreign nation
can take your idea and go
into business without paying
you anything.
Patience Pays Off
Patience is a virtue which
every inventor must cultivate.
It frequently takes 20 or 30
years to develop his idea to
the point where it becomes
commercially feasible and
profitable. The zipper, for in
stance, is in such widespread
use today that most persons
assume it was an instataneous
success. Actually the basic
idea was patented in 1891 by
Whitcomb L. Judson who call
ed his idea "a clasp locker
and unlocker for shoes."
It was made of hooks and
eyes with a sliding clasp and
Judson soon extended the
idea to women's dresses and
sold his product for 35 cents.
Complaints began rolling in
immediately. There was no
way to lock the first zipper
and when women sat down,
their dresses popped open.
Judson could not devise a
solution to the problem and
died without cashing in on
his invention.
A momentary discomfort or
irritation frequently results
in an invention. Patent No.
6,461) was issued to Abraham
Lincoln because on a trip
line of the hull, and the idea
was that when the bellows
were pumped up the boat
would float free. There is no
record that his invention ever
was put into production, and
a few years later he became
pre-occupied with larger matters.
Mark Twain ran out of
glue one day when he was
pasting items into his scrap-
book and immediately put
aside literary matters to con
centrate on the problem. The
result was that he got patent
No. 121,992 for what was de
scribed as a "self pasting
scrapbook. It was simply a
scries of blank pages coated
with past, and he sold 25,000
of them
Few persons have heard of
Alfred E. Ischinger of Mount
Penn, Pa., but he is a famous
man in the U.S. Patent Office,
In 1937 he set a record for
the largest documentation of
an invention - 170 sheets of
drawings and 146 pages of
specifications. His machine
was for "the uninterrupted
knitting of shaped fabrics.'
Next: Strange ideas that
flow into the patent office.
Police Check Two
Accidents in City
Medford police investigated
two non-injury vehicle acci
dents in the city Monday.
One driver was cited, officers
said.
Vehicles operated by Wil
liam Jennings Cooney, 67, of
717 Dekota ave., and Eliza
beth Ann Wehrly, 49, of 139
White Oak dr., collided about
1:20 p.m. at 11th and Holly
s t s-. Investigating officers
cited Cooney for disobeyed a
traffic signal.
A vehicle operated by
Charlie Mull, 56, of 2978 East
McAndrews rd., struck a
parked car registered to Jar-
very James Dutton, 2321 Cap
ital ave., about 4:54 p.m. on
Jackson st. near the Wood
stock St. intersection. No cita
tions were issued, officers
said.
e?3- tft
this Memorial Day it's Pepsi
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PEPSICOLA
Time off for a day outdoors calls for a time out for Pepsi-Cola. Light, brac
ing Pepsi matches your modern activities -the think-young life I Pepsi's
sparkling-clean taste is never too sugary or sweet. And nothing drenches
your thirst like a cold, inviting Pepsi. So think young-say "Pepsi, please!"
F-vtlfl bv rr'- Cr' 6?H'.rig Comtwiy, MHf"'H, unrjtt cpnmtmtnt trnm Fo'-Co' Corpjny, N.Y,, N.Y.
gym 1
, "Trlpps," sav
'LET 'EM RACE' This IVi-year-old Beagle,
and heard all the sleek race cars as they prepared for the
Memorial Day race at Indianapolis, Ind,, but he couldn't care
less. He was thankful for the shady spot provided by his
master, Richard Houston, but he would just as soon be back
in Elmira Heights, N.Y. (UPI)
Quotes From the News
By UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Jackson, Miss. Businessman Joseph Albright, advising
Mayor Allen Thompson on the subject of civil rights after
Negroes walked out of a grievance session:
"You run this city lo tht best of your ability for all con
cerned and let tht agitators be damned."
Dim Future (or Feed Grain Law Repeal Visioned
A 3
Washington - (UPI) - Senate
Democratic Whip Hubert H.
Humphrey (Minn.) today pre
dicted a "very dim future"
for a new attempt to replace
present wheat and feed grains
laws with a new program.
The new bill, introduced
Monday by two Republican
and two Democratic senators,
apparently faced slow going
in the Senate Agriculture
committee.
Chairman Allen J. Ellen-
Washington Justice Arthur J. Goldberg, commenting on
the unanimous Supreme Court ruling calling for a speedup
in the desegregation of recreation facilities in Memphis,
Tenn.:
"The basic guarantee! of our Constitution are warrants
for the here and now and ... they r io ba promptly fulfilled."
Los Angeles Mrs. Elaine Johnson, 39, who lost 136
pounds on a hospital-supervised diet, commenting on her first
meal in 117 days a spoonful of cottage cheese and one
fourth cup of eggnog:
"I couldn't eat it all, It was too much,"
Nairobi, Kenya Jomo (Burning Spear) Kcnyalla, possible
first prime minister of Kenya, promising to protect the
rights of the white minority:
"We shall build a country where every citixtn may
develop his talents io the full . . . The rights of all and of
their properly will be fully protected."
Racial Conflicts
Hinder Diplomats
Washington -JWit- Secretary
of State Dean Rusk says U. S.
racial conflicts force U. S.
diplomats to conduct foreign
policy like sprinters with one
leg in a cast.
Rusk called for solution of
race problems which he said
are causing "deep injury" to
the United States abroad.
The secretary, a native of
Georgia, spoke out on racial
problems at a foreign policy
briefing for about 300 repre
sentatives of private organiza
tions. His remarks, first made on
a "background only" basis,
were released for publication
later at the request of news
men. Rusk said the United States
"Is now confronted with one
of the gravest issues that we
have had since 1865 and . -this
issue deeply affects the
conduct of our foreign rela
tions. I am speaking, of
course, of the problems of dis-1
crimination in this country, in ,
whatever part of the country,
based on race or religion or
national origin."
"I believe that in general
the free world is in a position
to move forward with confi
dence ... if we do not let
up, if we maintain our effort
and continue to support the
great causes of freedom,"
Rusk said. "But In this coun
try we are running this race
with one of our legs in a
cast."
der (D-La.) was due back to
day from Louisiana but there
were no indications he would
support the bipartisan bill
which Is backed strongly by
the American Farm Bureau
Federation.
The measure was introduc
ed by Sen. Bourke B. Hicken
looper (R-Inwa) with Sens.
George D. Aiken (R-Vt ), Clin
ton P. Anderson (D-N.M.) and
Spcssard L. Holland (D-Fla.)
as co-sponsors.
Humphrey said "to repeal
the present feed grain law
would be unfortunate , . .
it is a good piece of legislation."
He also attacked the new
proposal on other counts and
said he thought it would have
"little or no chance" of pas
sage. "I predict a very dim
future for such an attempt,''
he told a reporter.
The bill would repeal the
feed grain law which Presi
dent Kennedy signed last
week just before the wheat
referendum in which grow
ers rejected the administra
tion's acreage control pro
gram.
It also would remove tha
a g r iculture secretary's au
thority to conduct another
wheat referendum next year.
SALE!
PETUNIAS
. Singles
Dozen
DOUBLES $1 PER DOZEN
3 Day Sale!
Wed., Thurs., Fri.
Limit 2 Doz. Per Person
Crater Greenhouse
1036 Crater Lake Avenue
Phone 772-4401
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