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The Seaforth News, 1960-09-15, Page 3Ev rybody Wants To int A Patent! Some months after the idea first bit ilial, Milton 13. Silver- man of Baltimore recently was issued MS, patent No, 2,947,013 for an "audible toothbrush,' which makes musical sounds wlien the teeth are brushed in the approved, vertical direction. Zenith Radio Corp, patented a "secrecy communication" sys- tem, developed by two staff sci- tentists, for encoding intelligence information signals, 2 ollsman Instrument Corp, got its patent on a new optical -electronic sys- tens for tracking stars, and Louis P. McKenzie of Houston got one on a teeter-totter exercise board with attached mirrors that en- able the user to watch TV while. teetering. Alexander Konrad of Parma, Ohio, registered a dual- flavour cigar that smokes straight if lit at one end, pro- duces a highly flavoured smoke if lit at the other. Monsanto Chemical Co. patented a method for injecting liquid phosphorus into the soil as a lasting fertili- zer - invented by none other than its chairman, Edgar M. Quoeny, Along with a new overhead monorail system, a new machine for making corrugated potato chips, and a new. automatic pilot For helicopters a n d autogyros, 'this was just a slrial_t part of the traffic at the Washington head- quarters of the U.S. Patent Of- fice, where 989 inventions in all got an official, legal stamp et approval that week. The thumb- nail descriptions alone were enough to fill a book, and did - a 284 -page edition of the Offi- cial Gazette, which the Patent Office issues weekly to sum- maize its activities. Yet the week teas no busier than usual. And, as usual, there were about two new patent applications for every patent issued. Some 2,000 new ideas, from every part of the U.S. poured in during the week and brought the Patent Office's backlog of applications to an appalling 196,000. Average waiting time between applica- tion and final approval (or re- jection): 39 months. The overwhelming problem lar the Patent Oi'fice is to sort the flood of wonders and wid- gets to decide which are new, useful, workable, and "beyond what would be obvious to a per- son skilled in the art" -- the minimum qualifications for a patent. (The Patent Office sug- gests, but does not insist, that an invention also be saleable; as one official puts it, "our files are full of better mousetraps that no one wanted to buy.") Among the better mousetraps -- some saleable and others less so - in the Patent Office's 170 - year -old files; An unnumbered patent to Samuel Colt in 1836 for his "re- volving gun." No. 1,647, issued in 1840 to Samuel F. B. Morse for the tele- graph. No. 6,469, to Congressman Abraham Lincoln in 1849, for a "device for buoying vessels over shoals" (a set of bellows attach- ed below the waterline). No. 504,038, to Whitcomb Jud- son in 1893, far a "slide fastener" the zipper). No. 1,370,316, to Harry Hou- dini in 1921 for a diver's suit that could be slipped off easily in case of trouble. Without a sizeable investment in manufacturing facilities or promotion, few inventions, in fact, can be a commercial suc- cess - and a sizeable number can never be anything more than ,gadgets or trivia. Yet thousands of amateur U.S. inventors take the plunge every year, bidding for patent profits the way spe- culators play the stock market. - From NEWSWEEIK, )DRIVE CAREFULLY - The life you save may be your own. Sumrn Day P 'oral, 1960 -- Timeless serenity of summer day in the country is caught in this photograph of colts and mares roaming a field near Rapid City. The picture has no news valve as such but perhaps cameraman Rudy Vetter of the Red Cross saw in it a more permanent news story than the current accounts of man's brief, tortured activities over this strife -filled world. Safflower, grown for thou- sands of years in the Orient has almost suddenly become a farm crop in the United States, mo- derately profitable for its grow- ers and showing great promise for expansion. Commercial pro- duction of safflower did not start in this country until after World War II, and in its first year's total acreage was not over 1,500. By 1958, however, plant- ings were up to 125,000 acres; they doubled in 1959 and in 1960 have risen to approximately 300,000. Rising demand for safflower oil in the paint and varnish in- dustry, plus a substantial export market, may well push 1961 acreage to the vicinity of half a million. The United States De-. partment of Agriculture will be- gin to collect detailed statistics. The public will exclaim: "Saf- flower? What's that? Never heard of it," a a It's a thistlellke annual plant known to botanists as Cartha- mus tinctorius. The seed, where- in its only value lies, is white and about the size of a barley kernel, Oil content is about 38 per cent, all but 3 per cent re- coverable by standard crushing processes. That golden -hued oil is a wholesome and nutritious food for people and is a popular cook- ing fat in the Old World, In the United States it is prized mainly as a component of varnishes and enamels that takes a high gloss and don't discolour with age. The wholesale price is 14 to 15 cents a pound. e r n India, where safflower may be indigenous, grows around 500,- 000 acres a year. It is also plant - CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACP.OSS 1. Vile ihleving renew 4 Forgive 3. :totem promise 13. Harem room 15.1•l6oane 14, Period of tune 11. Deep -doth *trait rte 17. Analyze or 10, Itelb' -l. Andy's pal 01. Pbydeolly JKhansted 26. Italian 21 tupelo 2% ?:Amro;. opening 3t,. Lirnh 32. Uletributen r•nrd'3 3 I. 'rake to ream li Rivet clunk 3T. ltept•eaenta- 1103 57 Syinbel for sr.ln,lum d0,Volare 12. Art ivt',• t+ta,iil 41. Sailors 45. 'I,otte 65. 11t what pt ee 43, Protons!"nn 01, Paddle 0l, Preferred 04, watch • narrowly 03. 'were, .30. Pulled by a tepn 55. th5,iav 3. Companlos et 9. Shipppvts 10.1Iedlet'al money 11, Route 10. Inclination 13. Topers DOWN 20.raasageavny 1.1°abnlotts hire 21, freshet. 25. Minute 23. Mf'en1"ga ale deer 24. ',Air no 26. I'oughct 20, Solve,' 0, Int,, 21, vuldrets ar f111,enoslop 2, To0o 3, Systematic list or letails 4. Connected by ldnahlt 6. Not va 'yin0 t, 1n are t'urn/trrivue 33, Smiled derisively 36.Shake- apearenn la,g as. Story 41. Pointed upward 45,5 irited horse 45. ,;undid 44. 1' leery 47.P wt'ln 40, 11 'vino 41', Ilardy cereal 5a, 111,go nave 52 II :clamattt.n Answer elsewl ere an th s page ed in Egypt, China, and North Africa. In the Middle Ages Europeans grew it for the sake of Carthamine, an unstable pig- ment extracted from its flower buds. With the arrival of ani- line dyes, carthamine ceased to be an article of commerce. Spanish and Portuguese immi- grants brought safflower to the United States a century or so ago, but it attracted no notice until after World War I when a systematic search was begun for new crops adapted to the Mid- west. * e e It was one of 70 plant species tested by the chemurgic depart- ment of the Nebraska Agricul- tural Experiment Station. Pos- sibilities were perceived that led to an intensive breeding pro - grain which vastly improved on the varieties previously known, Indeed, a majority of the vari- eties now grown are designated by a number preceded by the initial N - for Nebraska. Among the Nebraska origina- tors of new safflower strains was an earnest young agrono- mist named Carl E. Claassen, to- day a leading figure in the na- tion's fast-growing safflower in- dustry. Paint manufacturers tested safflower oil, found it to be even more than the Nebraska chem- ists claimed. On the strength of their interest, at least five large corporations tried to establish safflower as a standard crop. For several reasons, they did not meet with too much success. Both farmers and agronomists had a great deal to learn about safflower culture, and there was 110 established market. w 4 a Out in California, an enthusi- ast named B. T. Rocca refused to be discouraged. He saw a future for safflower in the United States, and for several years he plowed into safflower promotion much of the profit he earned as an importer and exporter of vegetable oils. Cali- fornia farmers were offered planting seed, and an assured market at a plant set up in Richmond by Pacific Oilseeds, Inc., subsidiary of Mr, Rocca's 'Pacific Vegetable Oil Corpora- tion writes Ernest Douglas in the Christian Science Monitor. b * 4' Dr. Classen *as Iured away from Nebraska as president of Pacific Oilseeds, as well as saf- flower breeder and general ad- viser to growers. A young giant named Joseph R. Smith was in- stalled as secretary and mana- ger. Safflower was on its way, and as early as 1950 was recog- nized as an established cash crop in the Sacramento Valley, whore it is often rotated with rice. Activities of Pacific Oilseeds were not confined to California, however. The firm joined with General Mills to build a crush- ing plant in Sidney, Neb., and to persuade northern Great Plains farmers to grow seftlow- er, Last year another mill went into operation at Culbertsan, Mont., wholly owned by Pacific Oilseeds. California has about half this year's 300,000 acres, Arizona has 3,000, accompanied by visions of a dozen tines this much in 1961. The rest is divided between Ne- braska, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana, with a little in North Dakota and Oklahoma, Although Pacific Oilseeds and General Mills have contracted for most of the harvest, they have no monopoly. Practically all of Arizona's acreage is under contract to Calcana Safflower Products, Inc., offshoot of a large Canadian company with headquarters at Medicine Hat. 4' 4, '5 Safflower can he grown in any locality that enjoys 125 to 130 frost -free days in a year. It is planted in spring, threshed in the fall, everywhere except in irrigated southern California and Arizona, where December seeding and June harvest are the rule. The farmer uses the same equipment as for barley or wheat, and his cost Is little If any higher than with grain. In the Midwest, 1,000 pounds an acre are a good yield, Nor- thern California averages 1,500, Under irrigation in Arizona, 3,000 and 4,000 are not uncom- mon. This year's contract prices are $75 a ton delivered at the crushers, $74 at designated ware- houses in the producing areas. Immunity to most of the ha- zards that afflict other crops Is a main reason why farmers are showing such enthusiasm for safflower. They are also attract- ed by a stable market, and the prospect that surplus produc- tion is unlikely for a number of years. Upsidedown to Prevent- reeking dl t©3 N V .4111Y 3 -6101510 C8CEINt�,, BOB LESSON !1y Rev. 11. t;arrlay Warren ILA., 11.D. lsaialt's Vision of the Future Isaiah 11; 1-9 Memory Selection: Be shall judge amain; the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they s11a11 beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Isaiah 2:4. Isaiah wrote more of the com- ing Messiah and His kingdom than did any other of the pro- phets. In our lesson IVIessiah is identified as a descendant of Jesse. Some will say, "Was it not just a sign of Isaiah's loyalty end confidence in the royal line of David that he looked forward for a leader who would give them a better day?" But Isaiah looks far one who is far above the ordinary. "He shall net judge after the sight of Iris eyes, neither reprove after the hear- ing el his ears; but with righte- ousness shall he judge the poor," This 'rod of Jesse' will bring peace, Those who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savi- our do experience this pease. But in the world about us there are wars and rumours of wars. As I write some of our friends have received their posting to the Congo. We believe that thee United Nati:'ns has served well in restraining many of these local conflicts. But Isaiah's vi - 11011 12 still unfulfilled. In USA 2051 of the federal budget gats for defense. When Jesus Christ shall slay the wicked with tela breath of His mouth and re,gn without a rival no money will be spent for armaments, "neither shall they learn war any more:' The mass of people around the world long for the day of peace. Most people are sick and tired of war. A few greedy heartless folk may welcome war that they may add to their wealth but most people would prefer a mo- dest living, 'lade in peaceful pursuits. Jesus Christ is the answer far our needs today. Let us as indi- viduals submit our wills to Him and hasten the coming al His kingdom. A elan is liable to lose control of tbo et}x L he applies thee, b?'a11ii oh a curve, says the Ontarid Safety League, And is almost certain to, if he lets his wife and son learn to drive. ISSUE 37 - 1960 BIGGER, BETTER HIGHWAY SIGNS - Here's good news for the befuddled motorist whew mentally grapples with all kinds of information as he bolts down the highway. Bigger high- way signs are in the works to guide today's higher speed traffic. These signs of the auto agro are spread out before James C. McCoy, left, and Joseph Have to the state highway deport - talent In Cleveland, These signs - only a sample of the 250 types in bins -- are used in Ohio.. Similar ones ars used in other states, e9sAne