CAY YOU SUPPLY THESE WANTS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 252, 17 October 1908, Page 3

CAY YOU SUPPLY THESE WANTS

EXOKMOI'S I'dUTCXKS AWAITIXT, THE IXVEXTOIi. It is agreed on all hands that invention oilers one of the surest roads to |f.n:nie and fortune, and one of the shortest, too. Xow, there is no lack of inventive genius; there never were so many clever people in the world as there arc to-day, but somehow their energies are not always applied in the right direction, and bo they fail. It is just the old .story of eyes and no eyes; you cannot see what is wanted. There is a plumber laboriously pouring melted lead over a pipe joint and smoothing it down with a leather pad. Can you think of a way to join those, pipes cold, and do it quickly and thoroughly'/ If you can there is a fortune ■waiting for you. And here is a nice easy little invention guaranteed t) bring in thousands: just a simple and effective means of fastening panes ill window frames. Surely it is a slur on the inventive genius of the age that we should still have to resort to putty in this enlightened twentieth century. Then there is the parlour carpet. Have you ever thought what an insanitary institution that carpet is. However diligent a housewife may be she cannot -keep it clean. The dust goes thronirli the fibre, and whole world of microbes are safely entrenched iu its soft pile. ■Xo«7'iust think out a cheap and sanitary covering for Hours, soft and warm [ to the feet, and you will have no need | for an old-age pension. Have you ever seen a tram-driver I leaning over with a long crow-bar to shift (lie points at a junction, or a ui.-.n at the corner with a lever for the same purpose': Very clumsy and primitive don't you think 1 Devise a plan whereby the driver, by simply pre>isng a footplate on the ear platform, might move the point whichever way he desired, and every tramway company ill (he country

will take 11 !■ vouv invention. Trninwavs roads. The wealth •if « Uoth-fhihl i- waiting I'-'i' tin' iiiv-n----t- uf a satisfactory -jki\in«r material. At present I In- rule seems t„ hold that what is good for tk- wheels is bad f'ir Hie hoofs, and vice versa. That is to say. where the roail is smooth and the wheels run easily there is no grip for the hoofs: and where it is rough the vehiele U hard to drag. Then there is the motor to eonsider. Propelled liy lh» back wheels it is bound to skid if ihe snrfiife lie at all greasy, What is wanted is a smooth, hard, absorbent, surface, ■with at the same time a perfect grip. If this is too hard for yon, try to invent. a spike that, could be quickly lixcd on a horse's shoes—by the driver—to give grip in, sav, a time of frost. There are scores of little things urgentlv wanted, which would certainly lie used, and for the invenlii f whieii no teelmieal knowledge is required. One of them is a reallv good lin-opener. something that would cut the tin open wiih one round sweep, without risk of flashing the lingers or ruining the temper. Then there is a crying need for an envelope that would serve for sending small articles through the post. There is nothing of the kind in existence. And an envelope that could not be opened -without detection would be hailed Willi ■wild enthusiasm by lovers and all those whom circunislances have placed al the mcrov of impiisitive landladies. The boitle Unit, cannot be relilled is still wauled. There are several o„ the market, it is true, but the right one is yet lo come. And hou aboui. a ho.d and glove fastening'; Think how much lime you spend in lacing your boots and how annoying it is when the lace breaks, and you know- dial you have lost your morning train in coiisei|iiciie( of the delay caused. A noal, quick, anil simple little device is wanted—some thing that would cost little to produci and could ho easily replaced when won out. Invent it, and you arc wealtln 'm- life. .....