Suggestions for Inventors.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 12, 16 September 1908, Page 35

Suggestions for Inventors.

THINGS FOR WHICH THE WORLD WOULD BE THANKFUL. Every one respects the man who invented the stud with a movable head. He is one of the benefactors of mankind. No one has heard his name, but he has done more for humanity than say, Napoleon. He has given the whole world five minutes every morning. Think of the years thus saved and the tempers preserved I It is, on the other hand, impossible to be friendly with the man who invented that obstinate and arbitrary thing of bone which used to be the ruin of all collars. Such a man can only be forgotten, and if possible, forgiven. He is in the same category as the man who thought of the top hat, or the starched shirt. There is no excuse for him. It is, in fact, necessary that the inventor should be a man of a sensitive and amiable disposition. He must know all the weaknesses of humanity, and be prepared to respond to them. He must not scorn the little things, and he must remember that the man who thought of goloshes made a fortune. He need not worry so much about flying machines as about studs. It is more necessary that he should add to our comfort than to our altitude.

THE ELUSIVE BUTTON HOOK. An appeal, for instance, has often been made for something to take the place of the elusive button hook. A button hook is admittedly one of the things that can never be found. Its gift of disappearance is shared only with time tables, keys, and openers of mineral water bottles. It is time some one thought of a substitute for the button hook. Every one who has hurt his or her lingers in a desperate attempt to do up buttons would welcome such an invention. String has been tried, but it is not satisfactory. There is a fortune waiting for the inventor of something which would make a button hook unnecessary. There is another waiting for the inventor of the uu breakable bootlace. Other inventions become more necessary every day. How is it, for instance, that the umbrella is allowed to remain so primitive? In its present form it is a clumsy device for protecting one part of one’s body at the expense of another. By its assistance the rain is conducted in a concent rated form to one’s legs and boots. In a crowd it is a constant source of irritation, as it benefits only the person immediately beneath it, and drips water on anyone else who comes within its range. In a wind it may blow inside out at any moment. Surely the mind of man can think of something better than the umbrella? Then, too, the doormat. Could anything be more unsatisfactory? In its present form it is simply a raising ground for germs. The “Lancet” ought to issue a pamphlet against it. What is needed is a revolving, self cleaning mat, on which dust or mud could not accumulate, The visitor would put his foot on the mat, and the dust would be whirled into a receiver. A small electric motor would provide the power. FOR SUMMER NIGHTS. Everyone complains of the heat in the summer, and many people are unable to sleep successfully at night. Why should not bedrooms have sliding roofs? Nothing could be more healthy or enjoyable than to be protected by walls, but free from the oppression of the roof. There is no such thing as a waterproof boot of reasonable weight. Anyone who

wants to keep dry on a rainy day has to wear heavy shooting boots. Some material is needed which could be combined with leather to make a waterproof boot of ordinary weight. The man who thought of the fountainpen was a kindly soul, but he might have gone further, and made certain that it would not ink one’s fingers, or overflow into one’s pocket. A guage should be fitted, so that one could' tell when the ink is nearly exhausted. Glass is all very well, but it is quite unsuitable for hansoms, and has been the cause of many accidents. Something of equal transparency but flexible is wanted. The pipe is one of the pillars of society, but the perfect pipe is yet to come. There are many which claim perfection, but there is always a weak point either of shape, or weight, or price. At present every smoker starts by trying about six different patents, but after a time becomes careless about the effects of nicotine, and goes back to the ordinary patentless briar. What is wanted is a pipe which ensures absolute dryness and coolness, but does not embarrass the smoker by its grotesque shape or excessive weight. Chairs are improving, but they are still uncomfortable. They are too angular and unresponsive, and they are made in too wholesale a way. A man ought to be fitted for his chair, just as he is fitted for his clothes. One of the disadvantages of society is the necessity for sitting in other people's chairs.

PROFESSOR OF CHAIRS. A fortune is, in fact, waiting for the professor of chairs. He would give advice on the art of sitting down, and at the end of the consultation would measure his patient, and hand over the measurements with notes, to the chair building department. What could be more grotesque than to expect a man six feet two inches tall to be comfortable in a chair meant for a man of five feet six? What is more painful than to see a woman sitting in a chair which gives her no opportunity to be graceful. The straw hat is a useful institution, but it is getting smaller instead of larger. Originally it was meant to shade the sun, but in its present form it is as ineffectual as the bowler. The reason is that no one has yet thought of the hat which is not at the mercy of the wind; and, instead of concentrating on the problem of how to keep it on, the makers have simply reduced it’s susceptibility to wind, and taken away its only merit. A straw hat of reasonable size which cannot blow off is urgently needed. Has any one ever thought of a substitute for work? I want to find that man.