POWDER OF MAN OF WAR

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 138, 13 June 1931, Page 22

POWDER OF MAN OF WAR

It may be that the great invention of the age is there, and then again it may not be among the 3000 inventions, all out looking for a buyer displayed proudly and hopefully at the First International Patent Exposition at the' Merchandise Mart here, says a Chicago paper. / But whether or not the exposition will bring forth the great invention of the age, it has,, according to B. Hamilton Edison, its "managing director, proved one point beyond doubt —that the inventive urge is no respecter of persons. To prove his point, Mr. Edison displayed a.powder-puff "invented by a major-gene lin tho United States Army; an innovation in the way of spark plugs invented by a young woman stenographer, and a new kind of suspender buckle and a galosh buckle invented I>7 three spinsters. This is the way the exposition functions: The inventor, if he has a patent on his invention, pays a fee to have his model displayed, and manufacturers are invited to attend, free and are shown around; by guides who know the features of each invention. And the general public; it, of course, is also inyited to attend, upon payment of'an entrance fee. Mr. Edison, however, does not guar- j antee that he will produce a buyer for each patent; far from it, for he points ont that of nearly 2,000,000' patents issued by th« Government, only about

EXHIBITIONS' REVELATIONS

one-Lenth of them have been successfully marketed. There^ are' gadgets and there are gadgets and still uioro gadgets. But people can make money out of gadgets, the inventors will tell you, and one of them, who has made his pile with a little pencil sharpening gadget, has become so independent that he is reported to have said he doesn't care whether anybody buys his newest invention or not. But some, on the other hand, do care, from their eagerness to explain the merits of their new style patented garters, or their new style patented fly swatters, of their now style patented gadget of Homo other kind which is much more gadgety than all the other gadgets. ' . But all are not gadgets, not by any means. One inventor has on view a model aeroplane which he claims will rise directly from the ground like a helicopter, and then fly away like art ordinary aeroplane. It is propelled by two side paddles on a propeller rod, which have what ho termed a "rotary bird-wing action." He claims also that this device can be utilised on dirigibles as well as aeroplanes. And the golfer, lie has.not been forgotten. Several new types of golf clubs are shown, including a new-style patented putter, with a projection which makes it possible to line up the ball, and, according to the guide, insures a sure shot every time.