QUEER INVENTIONS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 32, 8 February 1927, Page 15

QUEER INVENTIONS

BRAIN POWER ABOVE THE AVERAGE

THOUGHT BECOMES ACTION

Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, in-"Elsie Veiiner," suggests that several generations of simple farm folk, their brains practically at rest, may produce at Jeiigth an offspring closely akin to a genius. This "theory has been proved true in many instances of Australian bush-and farm folk, writes <iH.B "in the, Melbourne ',' Age,'' Maybe the i brain power of the original stock has been above the average, as in the case of a, 'very clever London lawyer, who, in- the early days' of the colony, left his. country not. "for his country's good''but for the sake of his own health, and became-owner of a rich grant of--land. His children and his grandchildren were farmers; of the third generation were two, a boy aiid a girl, of exceptional brilliancy. They won their way from the little country. State school to a city high school; then, by scholarships and bursaries, to col--lege and university; the boy finally gained a high degree at Oxford. Of course, the bush and the farm have .caused many of these flowers, of. geniiia to be born to,blush unseen; only in a few cases have, traces of what might have become brilliant talent iettaine'd,' with working days gone for •ever, and leisure found to develop nn;usual tastes—in a very small degree-^ tastes and talents which might, given ,the.:opportunity, have made their ppssessors'famous throughout the world. A farmer Qf. nearly 60 years, crippled afte> an.illness, begged for books coneerriing the moon and stars, and for a small -.telescope.- A year or so later, a visiting scientist was amazed at the knowledge of this simple old 'fellow-knowledge-gained during boyhood and. manhood from observation through .long, sleepless nights spent in the open, watching the stars, as well as from the written word of astronomers down the ages. Jacob Bush, observing the flight of a hawk, long before the days of airships and aeroplanes, spat reflectively. '.'I dunno, for the life of me, why us men can't fly.as good as them," said he. "If ever I gets the time, I'm agoin' to learn me why."

He was very old when the opportunity came. A relative had left him a tiny;>hack of; a cottage and a few pounds yearly; Jake had been so un-. fortunate as to "lose an eye—his late wife had poulticed it for some slight ailment, with disastrous results; his left leg was drawn from an ill-set fracture, but his spirit was unconquered. With a few tools, a* number, of light pine boards and some unbleached calico, he set himself to fashion a pair. of'wings that would rival those of the hawk. "It; ain't the flyin? that's .the trouble/'Jie confided to a friend, "it'sthe keepin' up in the air while'you're doin* .-it.'.* A fact which had puzzled would-be aeronauts- for centuries.

Jake built Ms wings—ana strangely, ana wonderfully fashioned they were— by his "stiffened, 1 crookei old. fingers. Triumphant, then, he tried to persuade the yjJßjng yokels;, who looked in now' and I'afjara tp.-aee. him,' and good-nafcur-edly;>ib;chan! him, to'mount to a; height aad: test the great"' invention.' They, declined;^-. Ola Jake was not to be easily ■ beaten.' He got up .very early one morning,, climbed painfully to., the loftplatform of- a neighbour's barn,.hauled his cumbersome flying machine after him with block ana tackle and somehow managed to affix its straps and belt to .his own arms and legs. Confi-'. dently, then,, he launched; himself' into space.. A heavy gust of wind caugfit the machine, and waf tea it across the , stack yard, and'dropped jt into the' pig sty. The farmer, coming to feed the curious, grunting brutes, found' Jake entangled in the wreckage.. He summoned aid, and the old,: inventor | was carried to hospital. "I -flowed," , he-managed-to croak.' "I do' care what 'appensßoV-r.I-.aayg, says I, sometimes,' ■I'm a-going to. fly—an' I've flowed!/.*' Many small inventions prove useless," after weeks, of planning—4ike the apple-parer which, '.'had one fault:. it would never stop till the apple was peeled' away," though housewives often owe a saving of time and labour to quaint, clever little contrivance^ manufactured by. their men-folk. Maybe a: visitor Eiamires." Oh, dad 'thought of that,?' she-is told. "I'll get him .la 1 ma_ke you one," with never a thought forv'tho-.>»,cpnnner<jiiilV:-v.T9'llie of the article. . .-■ • ■:• ■'■ ..'....'.

Billy Matthews, an old-timer, developed a passion for making tiny mechanical toys—quaint little figures, hauling, boxing, digging, aud wee, ingenious engines. He built a sand wheel which seemed likely to go • far towards the. solution of the ancient problem of perpetual motion, so smoothly and; endlessly it worked, its queer-shaped buckets tipping exactly at the right moment, and the weight, of sand falling to other- buckets,- and moving- the whole contrivance, which, in turn, worked a'system of belt and pulleys and- lent slow motion, to other toys. Straige if such "&' force could not have been deyelop.edu'eommercially on a large seals,; V; ;. \-.>.--.'" ';. ■

• .Mr.; Bpb-Hiekson, retired'farmer, living near the' sea,-was passionately devoted to fishing. But he was old, and' the exertion of rowing out to the fishing grounds'was too much for him.'He had- to be. satisfied to wait until his son, or a.neighbour, felt inclined to accompany him; -'or,to fish from the jetty. • Old Bob bent his brows in deep, reflection; JVath .the.aid of a very young blacksmith ir'pm the township, he set,to workin his boat shed, ham-, mered and sawed, planed and tinkered for hours together. The crank and pedals of his'son's fticarded bicycle were commandeered. Finally the old man. triumphed. Unlike other backblocks inventors, he had an eye for the main chance. He swore his helper to-secrecy, and whispered mysteriously of patents. He wpujd make both their fortunes, he said. ,-. He ch6se a public holiday for his first appearance abroad with his invention. The blacksmith helped him to launch the boat, and folks ashore cheered enthusiastically^ A steamer, crowded with excursionists from .the neighbouring town, passed close to a small, triumphant old man, pedalling bravely in a queer, ingeni-ous-little craft with frail paddle wheels churning the waves amidships on; either side, Unfortunately, Robert steered too closely to the steamer, and the wash of it drew him crash against its side, almost overturning him, and breaking off' the right-hand paddle. Thoreupon shrieks of laughter arose from callous excursionists, at the spectacle of a white-faced, terrified , little old man still pedaMing furiously,' his' boat turning and turning helplessly round and around, like a derelict, water-logged beetle fallen upon it's back in a pond.