IDEAS BY THE THOUSAND
.Inventive genius seems to be on the increase. Last year more than 35,000 patents were taken out, the highest total for a long time past, says an English exchange. They vary enormously as to the inventors. Many a business man tinkers about in the tool shed of his suburban home giving shape and form to some idea. One patent, which seems a bit overdue is a mechanical scarecrow which detonates like a gun at regular intervals, another is w soluble spoon made of a sweetened substance to take the nasty taste out of medicine. A valuable invention ensures instant starting in the coldest weather of heavy engines, such as are used in aeroplanes, tanks and big transport vehicles. There are, of course, a disconcerting number of military inventions —a sign of these unrestful times. The craziest idea recently was that of a German who took out a patent for a scheme whereby sunken ships would be raised by freezing the water round the hole in order to seal It.
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Bibliographic details
Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 104, 26 January 1939, Page 15
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173IDEAS BY THE THOUSAND Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 104, 26 January 1939, Page 15
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