Forestalling Thieves

As Thomas A. Edison watched the pnmping oí' the air from a glass tube in his laboratory a day or two ago, a man said to liim : "You patpnt every little thing yon discover, don 't you, Mr. Edison?" "I do," said Mr. Edison, "and do you know wby I do it?" "I suppose you do it so you v?ill reap _jh.e_beuefit of your discovery," was the reply. "I thought you'd say that, " said Mr. Edison, "and I don't suppose you wíl 1 believe me when I tell you it isn't so. Nevertheless, I discover a great niany things that I would be glad to give to the public fornothing, but I don't daré. I patent these things to save myself froin defending lawsuits. There are a lot of sharks in this.world who are continually on the lookout for new things, and when one of them hears of something new he hustles to the patent office to set if it is patented. If it isn't, he claims it as an original discovery and files his claim. Then he will turn right aronnd and, like as not, begin a suit ■with the man who invented the thing for raakiug or using it. The inventor ■will say: 'But I discovered this thiug firsfc. I am the inventor. ' He is referred to the patent office, where he finds the official claim of original invention. The fact that the papers are filed long after Jie made his discovery does not help hira, for all theother man does is tohire a fellow to swear that he made the discovery a month or two prior to the date the inventor claims. It sounds ridiculous, probably, but it is a fact that there are often races between the inventors and the sharks to reach the patent office, the sharks having had early information about the inventor's discovery. There are many such races and thonsands of dollars depend on each one. What I say is literally true. " -