Money in Little Things

Feilding Star, Volume X, Issue 122, 20 April 1889, Page 2

Money in Little Things

The rubber tip at the end of leadpencils has yielded £20,000. Upwards of £2,000 a year was made by the inventor of the common needlethreader. The inventor of the roller skates made over £200,000, notwithstanding the fact that his patent had nearly expired before its value was ascertained. A large fortune has been reaped by a miner who invented a metal rivet or eyelet at each end of the mouth of < oat and trousers pockets to resist the strain caused by the . a riage of pieces ux ore and heavy tools. : The gimlet-pointed screw has produced more wealth than most silver mines, and the American who -first thought of putting copper tips to children's shoes is as well off as if his father had left him £400,000 of TJaited States bonds. As large a sum as was ever obtained for any invention was enfuyed by the inserted glass bell to hand over gas tw protect ceilings from being blackened, and a scarcely less lucrative patent was that for simply patting emery powder on cloth. In a recent legal action it transpired in evidence that the inventor of the metal plates used to protect soles and heels of boots from wear sold up* ward of 12,000 plates in 1879, and in 1887 the number reached 143,000,000 producing realised profits of 250,000 dollars, !