The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16th, 1907. INVENTIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVIII, Issue 81916, 16 January 1907, Page 2

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16th, 1907. INVENTIONS.

The entile news thai a Victorian inventor lias produced a method for sighting guns which will make tliem absolutely accurate weapons of destruction up to a range of twelve miles reads like a romance. Kxtrnordiuarv precautions cave been taken to keep Die secret id this man's invention and it seems that .Mr Austin has ..•„(, through all the dangers that surrounded his passage to London to lav his invention before the ajtlioritie',, vvllo attach trom.iii?lous to the potentialities of this p ace preserving apparatus. Incidentally it may be slated that a weapon of* dastruetion tli:ii never failed i,> destroy would put an end tu war. Xo nation would attack anolwr nation knowin" the hopelessness of the struggle, and it is lo l,e hoped thai Austin's invention, if it is the ureal power it is made out to be, will have as great a 'revolutionary tendency for .g'ood a-; other great inventions' used 'only for the spread of peace., conuort ami pro-

The stories or nearly all great iuveiifirms are more romantic than the fin-•'-I works of imagination. rMost of them 'sprung from simple sources, th • result of ordinary observation. Tile Use of steam, which had pcr'iiaps a greater elleet on civilisation than any other thing that can be named was K'-- are told, the result of Watt's observation of a common water-kettle there has always been tremendous op position to the application of revo'ulionising invention. The introduction of the locomotive steam ou"in-. «as going to ruin peop'le engaged in carnage by horse-power. Whi'e j„ capitally, the invention may hav.l driven thousands of men out'of lite hurse-drivuig business, it gave opportunity for the instruction" of tens of thousands of skilled mechanics, the carriage of goods at much Jess price /nd infinitely quicker, and raided the general standard of comfort.

Who can compute (J,e advantages ill,, inventor of the electric eon: Icrrcd on the people of tlie woWd* .lie telegraph eats up distance. The i»ur\vl ol communicating with people "t the other eml „f i) IL . world i„ a /,.„■ 'llti-'s is hefore us every (lav. aiul we have become so familiarised with ihc marvel that we give it scarcely a thought. Hut suppose that cable connection Willi the Did World v..re '■HI oil', we should then upprccalc the great loss. Without knowing why it ■•s possible or wdio made it' possible we go to a simple instrument, and talk (o a friend in ii k . , K , v t s i 10l , L ()1 . next town. We gel angry whenlll,,, telephone is out ot order. It doesn't strike us to glorify (he inventor whenever we ■Tin- oil." The te|..„lmne is a lite-saver. Like (he telegraph it eats up the distances that in "the good old days" won id have had to be covered on foot, by coach, or horse, back. Wo show mild wonder when U is stated that an ocean going steam;r larger than anything oi Uu . kill(1 uetore produced, has been launched, lull perhaps we don't see in faiicv the huge and perpetual struggle 0 f the great mimls that produce these moueni marvels.

-Most inventors have had lieiirl breaking struggles. The story „f the in yentur ot common white pottery is l-i'uwn to all. lie. burnt all his household furniture to make a lir- hot ''iioicgh to give' to the world articles that brought him little rewanl The 0111-tiim* inventor usually died poor Apparently genius and business cap e-eity do not go together, althoiHi a striking modern example of an inven tor having made money by his inven tions is the one of 'Thomas' Mdismi the man who has conferrejl incalcii'ublc benefits on the entire human race, and who is happily using his extraordinary powers to still further augment lii's many invention,. \\\, ~„..,| 1t , ||( , wonder of the graniopiioiiie. Ibe marvel '■■ l the cinematograph. as if cither 0 f them grew on a gooseberry bush,

The nader of this article isn'i worrving about .\lergautha|er ; the inventor "1 Ihc linotype tin: machine that revolutionised newspapcriloii!. and which h responsible, inter alia, for (he pro is not sure whet-.er the average per production a thought. It is here and a costs a ],e„„y. ' This is s.,fli,"-i..,.i. Ihc linotype cost the inven;or years "f health-dcsiroving and ccaseh-s elude. Also the buodler, e,,! the pi o- ", U ll is ' l '""'■'■ payable thing in the mere worldly sense ( u k„„w j,ow '•" rob the results of the outers' brains Um i.se one's own. It is surprising .o hud how pronunent colonials are in the held ot invention. I'suaNy the inventions are not of great moment' and range from an improved lonstiii"' lork to a music-turner, but n„w and again some colonial strikes a revolut ionising idea.

J.-01' Distance, two young Xew Zoatinders arc now on (ho highway to n Ki'i.'iH- I'oitiine through hnviiv iii'vouled a. patent, lrollev-1ie.,,1 f,„. „:,,;,.!,. cars mi idea ihnt is likely to l,e gi,ii,rallv' iidopted on most of the worlds car system... The rewards of Hi- inventor are not proportioned to the vieuo ot ins invention. The man uho in united th,. common ami simple metal pencil holder mad,. a arcal fortune. N> ilul (he person who turncl out the "eiiinped'' hairpin, so familiar to o\erv woman who weirs hair ami every in-i'n who Jars a pipe to clean. /. mail innv aii'iko an invention in lin ! f a minul'.. I'H'l iii->l<o ii fortune. 11, „,, lv „,„.,„, all hi,! life to produce a groiii iiivon. lion and djo in poverty. ' Americans H'.•'■' generally c.dito.l 'with iiein- the tiivilest imciitors. bm [ln- fact ifihal

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.""' iic'-';<-i'ios of a ciunlrv prediiee iiiveiili,;-, w;,„ nre ..pun-,,! (,: e„de ; ,M„h- Hi'i'o llec-s.lies. l-'or i,„(,nco V'WZen1,,,,,!,,.,, b.,|-edii,.l wilh-hnv--IHK invciid.il the til! .st p'oiedi-. ever mii'lo. Ai:,<-nv :i ~.,( i„ ,\,,,' v,,,,,,,,,, ""• Hi, -.,. pb.ue.hs. Anu-rie,, ,„„k.., ~ ii liill" clionper, not so good il11 " jti'Hi'i'iu'il oil th, .\„„- Z-i.liiuil l'. 1 " exports da, p1.,,,,,1, ,„ Zeiiliiiid cud ~,'|h i, a,, -A.ueri '-"1 I'low.-' Jie-r, a,-, „ f,. w j,,,-,,,, !. is and a n..,,,,| ;Jl „| ~,.,,. i|„.,,, lsl]| „ siiiiy of piniles. it j : , ,rs„„n v tli-pii-'i'.c ivli" iiinke (lie monev and tii« lilVellVU-s du> lion'l. T11e'11,,,,, w |„, -leals an idea i, ;. ~.0i,0 Ihief than (!,.. ii:mi wlio biTiik.s inio ; , bank.