INVENTORS LIVING ON OTHERS' BRAINS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2325, 22 September 1898, Page 56

INVENTORS LIVING ON OTHERS' BRAINS.

GENIUS THAT IS UNRECOGNISED AND UNREWARDED. A circumstantial story is current in certain circles respecting one of the most important features of the modern cycle. Keport has it that the idea of the invention referred to occurred to a working mechanic, who sold i(, to an engineer for the trifling sum of one shilling. That gentleman, recognising in a moment the value of the notion, put it j into practice, and thus netted for himself a I substantial fortune. Strange as this rumour may seem, there is nothing inherently improbable in it. Jdeas for inventions, sometimes the perfected inventions themselves, are constantly oeing fathered by men who are in a position to patent them and turn them to good accoant. Many of such individuals never had an original thought in their lives. They can only steal or purchase other's inspirations. Sometimes this practice is, according to the accepted order of things, perfectly legitimate. j A firm not infrequently employs a staff of inventors, who aim at attaining certain defined results. For some years a well-known chemical manufacturing company has set aside a considerable sum annually — generally about £5000 — simply for the purpose of making experiments. In the same way, an engineer spends £1500 per annum in working out ideas for one particular type of labour-saving machines. Then, again, a i well-known woollen manufacturer at one time employed a number of inventors, some of whom, it is said, conceived and perfected several of the mechanical marvels which will make his name live in industrial history. If, then, inventive geniuses who run in harness are adequately paid they can perhaps dispense with glory, and consequently no great harm is done by their employers adopting their offspring. But are they properly recompensed for their skill and ingenuity? Very seldom. One engineer whd employs a " ghost " — this is, to be sure, a rather extreme case — pays him 50s ncr week. Now,

the man has invented about half a dozen remarkable machines, the profits on the sales of any one of which must far exceed the gross amount he has received during the whole of the time he has been in the service of the patentee. But many brainy men get practically nothing for their ideas. Indeed, there is hardly a single large engineering works in England that has not connected with it a story similar to that about the safety cycle. A typical instance of how valuable notions are often thrown away once happened in a certain establishment of this kind. The manager had invented a machine which was worthle&s as it stood, for the simple reason that it would not do its work property. One day he and some of his subordinates were watching it run. Presently a mechanic quietly remarked : "I should do so-and-so." " The very thing ! " instantly exclaimed the delighted inventor. He instantly adopted the suggestion, and, the little improvement solving the whole problem, he straightway patented it. The tame man has also hit upon other happy ideas, everyone of which is now legally protected. And his reward? A present of 5s on each occasion from the manager. • In other cases it is not ideas merely, 'out practical inventions, that employers get for nothing. A mechanic was once sent to c-cct a machine in a hato work. The construction, like many others introduced into this particular industry, was useless for the purpose for which it was designed, and, indeed, suitable for the scrap heap only. As it w iuld not work, a complaint was soon sent to the makers, one of whom had invented it. The fitter was accordingly instructed to put it right, however long the job might take. This was quite outside his duty., but the patentee was heartily sick of the thing. He had cudgelled his brains for years about it, till at last lie was incapable of devoting further thought to it. The man, however, tackled the machine, and in six weeks, by practically reconstructing one portion and adding some fresh features, he made it a success. That he materially altered it may be judged from the circumstance that two new patents were taken out in respect of it. All the same, the mechanic's services were estimated to be worth only a paltry sovereign. Another humble genius gave a firm a couple of machines which are well-known in most engineering works. At last he resolved to derive some profit from his own ingenuity, and consequently he made a model of a new invention at home in his spare time. ' For some months his employers were ignorant of his secret, but at last they heard of it owing to his cup-babbling. Just as they were about to approach him on the matter he died very suddenly ; so they saw the widow, who, having more than the average-woman's contempt for unproved inventions, willingly produced the model for inspection. When, too, they offered her £5 for it she immediately closed. She would have sold it for ss, or even sd. The firm subsequently perfected the invention and put it on the market, and its success has been such that they have made thousands of pounds out of it. It is, of course," on account of lack of means that so many inventors do not take out patents, but give away their notions for little or nothing. Mechanics forego fortunes rather than go to the trouble of borrowing money or finding a capitalist. Sometimes one obtains a provisional protection for an invention, and then, not having sufficient ready cash to proceed further, turns -it over for a mere song to his employers. Now and again, however, those gentry who appropriate their employees' ideas do so once too often. A curious case in point happened not long ago. A foreman gave his employers — a firm of engineers — a rough outline of a new machine. They thought it so promising that they set to work on it. A portion of the shop was boarded up, and in this enclosure, which was proof against all prying, the invention was made and tested. Although the foreman knew pretty well what was going on, he was not consulted about the matter. The perfecting of the machine was left to two experts, who worked at it for months without satisfactory results. Eventually, after a large sum had been expended on it, the great problem was solved, and almost simultaneously the firm heard that they had been forestalled by a few weeks. Somebody had patented the very machine on which they had been engaged for so long. How had this come about? Very simply. The foreman who had conceived the original idea had in the meantime left the firm's employ in such circumstances as to justify him in feeling aggrieved. So he went to another engineering works, laid his plans before the manager, and he and others worked night and day till the machine was in existence, and proved to be successful in its aim.