BLACKSMITHS, WHEELWRIGHTS AND PATENTS.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 10175, 24 October 1898, Page 6

BLACKSMITHS, WHEELWRIGHTS AND PATENTS.

Melbourne Leader. I have experienced so many instances in the last ten years of the cleverness of blacksmiths and 'wheelwrights in Australia as inventors/ that I may fairly announce it as .true that to no class is the community more indebted for introducing improvements i n the implements and tools in every day use in this country, and by which these appliances are made more suitable to local conditions than any foreign made goods can be. It may be of interest to point out that in America also the same class of mechanic shows great inventive ability. Asbtori, thenow famed rifle, inventor, was an obscure Australian, blacksmith a few years ago, anjl it *as a little, book touching upon patenting that put Jum on the right track.. Howeasy it is to lose a fortune by ignorance about patents 'the following anecdote of the invention of the American buggy will show. I call it BILL SALISBURY'S INVENTION. Who built the first biiggy? Over sixty years ago, in a village near l'rovidence, R. 1.. the school had been* closed because some of the boys were unruly. Among tnose deprived of sch66ling was a lad of fourteen, who had acquired considerable skill with tools in his uncle's waggon shop. The uncle, when informed that the schoolmaster had been driven,away,-said: "Now, Bill, you can't get schooling this winter. Why don't you take hold and build something that yov can sell ? You can have the use of the shop and the tools. "I'll think of it, uncle," The chaise, hung oil (thorough braces, and the open waggon, were the common products of that day. To build a waggon the lad was fully able; but his inventive genius suggested something different. Why not unite the best qualities of the chaise and waggon ? The idea was .no sooner grasped than he sketched the combination, and the finished sketch was placed before the uncle. The uncle's comments were: "Now, Bill, this ain't one tlimg nor the other. Why don't you build something that will sell?" Although discouraged, the boy asked others' judgment, which was favourable. So the work was commenced and progress made (under much adverse criticism), until there stood, bright in its paint and upholstery, the Brewster buggy of to-day, minus elliptic springs, which have not yet displaced the thorough brace. The finished job secured no name from the uncle than "that thing.' But "that thing" was the pride qf the lad, and when hie father saw it his hopes ran high. ,- . A few. days later the old horse was hitched to the vehiclei and asiißilt drove to the shop his uncle asked, "Where ate you going with; thafcthing?" "" ' * •■■■■;!■'%'. 4f " : W> the city," replM Bffl. •; "Well, I guess you %ill "fct laughed a 6." • The ride was not long, and as BUI drove , up to an hotel door an elderly man approached and asked,: "Where did you get that, Tpy boy-" ' ■ %! "I made it, sir." "' .'. "Wait.to sell it?" ; ; -■ • v "Yes, sir.' ■ ■?': .=.r.- '■<*■:. ~. "Whafll you take for:ii?", f^. "The question He was,-not sure what to ask; he knew that a chaise sold for £20 and »-Waggon for £5, son nasty calculation .prompted a price, £50; which was no sooner .■named than-accepted, to the boy's utter astonishment. Happy id the possession of a larger sum than he had ever" before • handled, Bill rode home that afternoon on thejpld stage coach, towing the' old hbrs behind him. Upon reaching iiie shop his uncle met him. " Broke down. Bill ?" "No, sir." "What've you done with 'that thing' then ?" . . "Sold it," said BilL "What did you get for it ?" When. Bill mentioned £30, the uncle shouted, '-You are lying, BilL" But the sight of the money, which Bill produced, promptly dispelled doubts. The uncle afterwards acknowledged the success of the invention by .making some - other buggies, which found a ready sale; and, alas, a great number of imitators, because patents were things these country folks were not alive to the possibilities of, and they were very dear then too. To-day, the American ouggy is known the world over. The successful youth,- Bill, above referred to, became a successful man among the merchants of Chicago, and is now known of the head of W. il. Salisbury and Co., whose rubber business is the largest in the <Jreat West. But many a promising invention has been stifled at its birth by critics of the type of Bill's uncle.