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Under the circumstances, whatever I made must necessarily be very simple—yet needed—so I went on trying to develop a superior reflecting sign for outdoor use. I had had the rough side of a glass-sample silvered, but nothing unusual nor worthwhile resulted; and the silvering process was far too expensive.

Then something happened that changed my entire life: As I raised a certain piece of glass from contact with the embossed foil, I noticed that a bright flash was emitted. Excitedly, I found that the flash occurred only when the pressed glass surface was a certain distance from the metal: the tiny bumps on the glass were acting as lenses—focusing at about three-eighths inch from the foil—and resulting in an effect of movement and brilliance impossible to obtain with the expensive silvered surface.

But I had no money to patent it. No facilities to produce it. Nothing, it seemed! Here's what happened: I wrote records to prove priority of conception of the combination to produce invention. And on that very kitchen table, I managed to make a fairly good model-sample of the sign. Then I borrowed money on our furniture, had an attorney make a patent search, then applied for a patent.

WEAKLY, I tottered from place to place—half a day each week—showing my one sample to men in the sign business and allied industries. But no one wanted it. They would say, "Interesting . . . but we are not interested." The trouble was, I was trying to sell an idea when I should have been selling something of proved value. Here's how I made the discovery:

Failure followed failure in my attempts to interest anyone in licensing or buying "patent rights"; but I was still confident of the value of the invention so took my one sample directly to retail merchants and other businessmen—the ones who actually needed and used such signs. I got orders! Provided, of course, I could fill them. But how could I do that? I had no tools, equipment—or other facilities—nor had I money for materials. What did I have? A product of recognized value as testified by orders for it!

In desperation, I took my problem to, a banker who listened, inspected the written orders, and told me to come back the following day. The next day, I walked from the bank with $750—although I had no account there nor even a reputation as a businessman.

First, I moved to healthful surroundings near a small town, and set up shop in a small frame building. Before long, I had sold and delivered $1,200 worth of signs in the near-by community within easy reach by means of my ancient jalopy. My health improved with moderate outdoor activity—and because of the renewed faith and hope this initial success inspired.

Now, it seemed, I had something of still greater established value: products sold in a representative area. So I went to Saginaw, Michigan, where I spent about $4 for a classified advertisement in the local newspaper, under Business Opportunities. It stated that inventor would grant exclusive license to make and sell product in proven demand, easy to make, fit, assemble with unskilled help—all on modest investment in equipment and materials. Ten days later—after several conferences with prospective licensees—I walked from a lawyer's office with a license agreement. That first year, the licensees paid me about $3,800—and the signs were sold in only part of the one state.

That was the beginning. Now, I have been living for years on royalties from my various inventions, I own beautiful acres, a cozy home, my old car has been replaced with a good one. I have a bank account, no debts, and an interesting occupation and freedom. But, above all, I have learned that there is a definite way of thinking and acting that will lift the average man like myself, out of the trap of failure and disagreeable occupation—through inventing for profit. I want to pass this knowledge and experience along to you. It came from failures as well as success, and this same information I'll give you would have prevented the waste of ten years of my own life, had I had it then. It began with the sign invention. And, broadly speaking, that invention is a blueprint for success with any invention.

POVERTY IS a crime—and so unnecessary! Working at a job you do not like—is a waste of your life. And the difference between the two conditions and a new, fuller life can be the knowledge that you—Mr. Average Man—have what it takes, using proven method, to invent for profit.

The experiences of many inventors have taught that:

1. Successful invention does not require a special type of mind, unusual intelligence, nor genius.

2. No special training or education is necessary.

3. No special facilities or equipment is necessary, to begin.

4. No great amount of capital is required to begin.

Now, in the same order, let us see why that is true: Consider the common, crinkled bottle cap, the bobby-pin, safety-pin, safety razor, milk bottle cap, fruit jar closure, shipping-tag reinforcement—and a host of others—each of which earned large fortunes. If dollars could shout, they would say, "What are you waiting for?" Now, in the above list, what required ability—or anything else—that you have not?

Most inventions are made not because of some unusually keen intellectual ability, but by using an ordinary mind in a certain way. For example: Would it unduly tax your mind to find a way to remove some seeds from your hair? You'd comb them out, wouldn't you? Well, Eli Whitney used the same principle in the cotton gin, which actually combs seeds from cotton—fifteen times as fast as the old, hand picking method—and Whitney was hailed as a genius, whatever that is.

Machinists have always known that a cutting-tool point, supplied with oil, cuts better and lasts longer. Yet, always, they dropped the coolant down on the chip which shielded the point. Stupid? Just common practice! One that no one questioned, that is, none until R. J. S. Pigott directed an oil-jet upward so it did effectively bathe the tool point. Now, defense plants cut metal five-fold faster.

So, you see, you do not have to be a mental giant to invent. Just use common sense and proven, definite, and simple procedure.

SECONDLY, formal education is often a handicap: It tends to stifle the normal childlike curiosity, and bind the mind in rigidity—when the fresh viewpoint, secondary only to method, is the stock-in-trade of the successful inventor. Often, the highly educated know too many "reasons" why a thing can't be done: Naval experts told Ericson why a steel warship was impractical; trained engineers told Westinghouse why his air-brake could not stop a train; Deforest barely escaped jail because his "intellectual peers" could not see the value of the audion-tube. Yet now, we have steel ships; air-brakes on trains, trucks, and buses; and television and many other electronic devices—from the "impossibilities."

It is a well-known fact that most inventions originate outside a particular industry. That is because those "too close to the picture" in the industry do not have the fresh viewpoint; theirs is conditioned by too much familiarity—so the outsider sees what needs doing.

So do not worry about deficiencies of education and training, for all the information the inventor—you—need is waiting in libraries, and the lists of the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C., and in the U. S. Patent Office—which has been well said to be the world's greatest educational institution. Inventors get their education when and as they need it. And so can you.

THIRD, YOU do have facilities. At least, the average home is a laboratory—with everything from pressure-water to electronics of the radio—ready for use to improvise ways and means of working on your invention.

Fourth, and lastly, you need but little money, and that can come from saving a little here and there—maybe smoking less, driving less, and finding your recreation in your new interest: invention. The money saved by not taking a few week end trips would pay for the average patent. Materials, used to experiment, cost little or nothing.

So you see that no genius, special education, unusual facilities, nor large capital is required successfully to invent for profit. Anyone can invent. You can invent.

Anyone who checks the history of successful inventions, will find one thing—common to all inventions: recognition of a need. That is something you can do. It's your starting point. Do you know that, of seventy major inventions of the last forty years, about seven times as many were the works of the lone inventor as were produced by organized research teams. The day of individualism is not past. New materials, new knowledge, new tools and techniques—and demands—still provide opportunity for the man who knows what he is doing.

The inventor sees perfection—not what the world considers it to be. First, he visualizes a need, and that is the nucleus, the beginning of invention. He works out the rest of the problem just as one runs any other kind of business; systematically, he works at kitchen oven or sink, in basement workshop, attic, garage, or even on a roof. He seeks expert advice (more about that, later). He improvises his simple equipment from household appliances and facilities, and uses odds and ends of materials. Or he may borrow; or buy rebuilt accessories. The successful inventor always operates methodically—as one would any other business.

NOW, LET us be more specific. You want to know how to do what is necessary to get a good idea, a practical one, so let us list the two separate phases or divisions of getting an idea for profitable invention—then cover each in detail. Here they are:

1. Getting the idea—a way and method.

2. Method and procedure for judging and selecting a good idea—as distinguished from one mediocre or poor.

How to think and act to get a good idea:

First of all, no one can deny that; as long as there are human needs—unmet, unfulfilled—there is need for invention. Nothing is finished, ended, in this far from perfect world; and this means opportunity for you, inventor. So the key to getting an idea for a worthwhile invention is to think in terms of being useful. Now, let us analyze that so we know how to apply it to practical use:

Everything around you is an improvement over whatever went before; and some things—such as television—have not long existed; but all are constantly being improved. Everything will be improved, or replaced with something better, in the future, and many things not known at present will be created by inventors. That's the way it's always been—and always will be, because man is never satisfied. It's your opportunity.

How does the inventor think, to get ideas and work them out? How must you think? You must first get rid of the fallacious idea that creative brilliance is required. The successful inventor—you, if you wish, and act—will not wait for inspiration or an idea unheralded from the blue; in all probability, you would wait forever for that to happen, and it never would. But you do think how to be useful—along the following lines:

See things not as they are, but as they should be. Develop a critical mind, visualize perfection.

Very important: Do not consider—while trying for an idea—how the need can be met, the invention perfected, or even the principles to apply in doing so. On this important issue, remember that you must do one thing at a time—and one only; and that you can become easily confused if a secondary element is injected at a point where what would be useful is the primary question and problem. It must be, I repeat, the only consideration when you seek the basic idea for a good invention.

Secondly, develop curiosity. A child's remark, "What makes the (spinning) top stay up?", started Sperry on a quest for the answer (it's in any physics textbook), which resulted in application of the principle in automatic gyro-pilots, stabilizers, etc., for ships and planes. Duryea saw his wife use an atomizer with perfume, and curiosity led him to try the principle which, applied, resulted in carburetors for engines. These men applied a known principle in a new way to provide useful result.

Third, to recognize needs, note the complaints made by dissatisfied persons, Something needs to be done.

Fourth, hunt for trouble—remembering that nothing is perfect. Ask yourself: 1. What works imperfectly? 2. What deteriorates too rapidly? 3. What costs too much? 4. What requires too much servicing? 5. What is dangerous? 6. What is disagreeable—ugly and what would give people pleasure, amusement, recreation, laughs? 7. What wears out too quickly? 8. What is inconvenient to use? Or takes too much time? 9. What could be made more easily—or simpler? 10. What different principles could be used to accomplish something better—or in a better way? 11. What could be useful that does not exist? 12. How can I help someone—anyone. Put your answers in a notebook. Use it every day.

DO NOT, if you want to cash-in on an invention, select an idea too far in advance of the times (as was the flotation process of extracting metals from ores); or against current public morals (as gambling devices); or against union resistance (as a brick-laying machine). Keep out of declining fields and arts (as street cars and kerosene lamps); steer clear of heavily mined fields (such as electric lamps—note many patents on bulb jacket); avoid ideas for inventions that require creating a new market, heavy cash outlay for developing, manufacturing, marketing, selling, and distributing.

Do select ideas for development of products rather simple to make, fit, assemble and ship—to a ready market, at a practical, economic cost to the consumer, with a good profit margin for the maker. Remember, that Rube Goldberg is the only "inventor" who ever profited from monstrously complicated devices—and their sole function was to create a laugh, which met and fulfilled a need.

Select one or more ideas from your notebook, write your own conception of what your invention should be, its object, and the simplest and best combinations of principles and parts visualized as perfect as you can imagine to accomplish the purpose. Do this before you investigate further, while you still have the fresh viewpoint. Sketch it. To do so will help set and clarify the problem in your mind. For example: James Gibbs saw an illustration of a sewing machine and tried to build one with no idea how it worked. Unwittingly, he invented a greatly superior, revolving hook device. He had the fresh viewpoint, unconditioned by preconception.

It is a recognized fact that most inventions originate outside an industry—because the inventor is not too familiar with what is supposed to be the last word, and so sees the need for invention. His mind is not bound in channels of preconception, nor clouded by the details of undue familiarity.

When you have tried to crystallize the idea and means for invention—in your mind—visit retail stores, inspect catalogs, search advertisements and trade papers and journals—and talk with users of similar products in the field of your Invention.

DON'T GET discouraged if you do not see a way to work the idea into a saleable invention immediately. All you need, to this point, is a good idea—that is new. From here, you use the "road map" of proven method—inception to cash. Let's take a true case as an example:

It was a bright fall day, and here I was on the long anticipated hunting trip—and I couldn't hit the broad side of Mt. Baldy. All morning, partridges and rabbits had flapped or galloped merrily away, untouched by more than the breeze of my shots. Disconsolately, I found a seat on a log, and relaxed in the warm sunshine.

Must be a lot of fellows, I thought, who can't be good shots after about fifty weeks layoff each year. Something—some device—was needed to overcome shooting faults. But what were the faults? Suddenly, I closed my eyes, jerked shotgun to shoulder, then opened eyes. Again and again I repeated the act, and each time I found myself sighting differently. I sat there, thinking, considering that rifles had two sights: front and rear; shotguns had but a bead front sight—for fast shooting at short range. Why not design a sight for shotguns, which would force the shooter to line up the barrel properly—yet not reduce sighting speed, nor hide the target or background? Could it be that the rifle's peep-sight operating principle—that the human eye tends to automatically center any object seen through a circular opening—could be specifically adapted to shotgun use? I decided to give it a try.

That afternoon, at home, I used a pocket paper-punch to make a quarter-inch hole in clear plastic. Then I cut the plastic and fitted it temporarily on the rear of the gun's barrel—the aperture in the plastic, down low—and practiced sighting at flying sparrows. The crude device was forcing me to sight correctly—through the large opening. The principle was right!

The next step, was to try to visualize the perfect and complete sight, using the principle. Only after careful consideration, did I write a disclosure of the invention. In it, I stated the date of conception, that the invention related to improvement in gunsights, the object of the invention, what the different views showed about the invention (sketches made on same sheet), how the device was constructed, and how it worked to accomplish its objective. I then added a statement giving my name and address, and an oath stating that to the best of my knowledge, my statements were true and accurate, and that to the best of my knowledge, I was the first and sole inventor. I saved a copy, cut the original in the margins, so I could fold and seal it like an envelope. Then I addressed it to myself, and mailed it registered, return receipt required. I received it, and to this day it is unopened—with the postmark establishing the date of conception, and the return receipt further proof—just in case it becomes necessary to prove priority in court.

THE FIRST important record made on the date of conception, I then began to construct a model gunsight. When done, I took photos of it—more proof. I had the photographer sign and date the prints . . . evidence of reduction to practice. I wrote another record, showing improvements, and had it witnessed and notarized. At this point, the problem was thoroughly set in my mind, steps taken for protection of the invention, and a preliminary effort had been made to construct a basic model. That left the next step: investigation of the market:

I visited sporting goods stores, hardwares—everywhere gunsights might be sold. Next, came inspection of trade journals, such as The Sporting Goods Dealer, and catalogs, magazine advertisements—but I found no evidence of a similar gunsight. Now for the library. There, I found in the Patent index to the separate Official Gazette, United States Patent Office, numerous references listing gunsight patents back through the years. Noting the names and dates of those patents, I then checked on each in the Gazette, which shows drawing and claims of each. (The Index is published annually, the Gazette weekly—both by the patent office in Washington.) Everything looked favorable.

In the library, I looked up "spring steel": how to order, use, temper, and blue it. The information was in "Machinery's Handbook" and in "The Machinist's Handbook". Then, in "Plastics" I found one that was water-clear, easily worked and machined, would not craze nor yellow, was oilproof, and made in optical grade.

Finally, in the two registers of business and industry published by Thomas and by Hendricks, I found names and addresses of makers of materials, stamping dies, and all those who might be prospective buyers or licensees of my invention, for possible future reference.

NOW TO perfect the invention for use. I got friends together for shooting tests at clay pigeons. Trouble! Trouble! The gun's recoil made the sight work forward on the barrel, and the aperture block flew out when the retaining-springs worked loose. I stuck the sight together, with rubber cement, and the tests continued. Construction flaws had been revealed, but the sight was making very good shots of the testers. Again the principle was proved right.

More experiments proved that two corrugations pressed into the block-housing would: 1. Give greater holding power to the thin barrel-clamp. 2. Replace the crystal block retaining springs (eliminate them). 3. Improve appearance. 4. Cut in half the number of parts. 5. Reduce manufacturing costs and material needed.

These improvements made another disclosure-record necessary. I made one, had it witnessed, signed, and notarized with seal. More evidence! More progress.

It was time to see an attorney. We had moved, so my other attorney was far away. A good one, nearby, was needed. A patent application requires too high a specialized skill and training for any inventor to chance it himself. Unlike some, I do not hold the too common belief that many patent attorneys are dishonest. They have too much at stake to be so; but there are some who guarantee to get a patent, charge a flat fee, and belong to no patent law association. I avoid them. It is important, though, to have an attorney who is well acquainted with a particular class or type of invention.

So I contacted an executive of a firm making products of similar nature, and, although I was a stranger to him, he gladly recommended his own, capable lawyer. This patent lawyer made a preliminary examination of prior patent art, and found nothing against my interests, in it. I had him then make application for patent, for me. To do this, I merely showed, the model gunsight, and told him why and how it was superior. He did the rest.

Then, having made several of the improved gunsights, I held public shooting matches which gave wide publicity to the merits of the gunsight—with only a modest investment in shells and clay pigeons. Several of the enthusiastic users made me an offer to make and sell the invention. I accepted, the deal was closed, and everything was fine. The sight was soon selling nationally and internationally.

EVERYTHING I've learned from my own experience, and that of others, is that life is far too short to learn everything first-hand; the successful inventor will make use of the facts, experience, and knowledge recorded in libraries. It is the job of the librarian to help him find information on any subject, so he avoids the ludicrous mistakes such as those made by inventors who fail to learn even natural laws—which are explained in physics text books—and other mistakes stemming from ignorance of facts. Make use of organized knowledge.

If you want success as an inventor, you will not trust to luck; but will know what you are doing by operating methodically—as you would in any other business. There is no substitute for system. Use it—keep notes on everything.

Facilities? A laboratory? Do you know that your home is a laboratory? The "utilities," plus many appliances and devices so commonly found there, offer generally unrecognized yet convenient and practical means for improvising ways to work out almost any simple invention—and it's the simple one that's best, usually, for the beginner as well as the professional inventor. Electricity, pressure-water, gas, door-bell transformer, refrigerator, thermostat, toaster, infrared heat lamp, percolator, radio and television, camera, oven and sink, pyrex dishes, simple hand tools, batteries, motors, heaters, household chemicals—you do have a laboratory—with applied and useful principles of light, heat, hydraulics, electronics, electricity and magnetism, mechanics, and sound. And they are ready for you to use alone, in conjunction, and in combination—to help work out your invention with odds and ends, scraps of materials, junk and surplus parts.

In doing so, you will think of natural laws as they are, not as seen by the average person. For example: Sound is not merely noise, it is vibration in different wave-lengths. It is used to kill bacteria, to homogenize milk, in laundering clothes, in vacuum cleaning, for fog and smoke precipitation, for automatically opening doors, aging liquor—and other purposes. Know principles—and their applications.

You—successful inventor—will know materials as they are, not what they seem. Glass, for instance, is not just the brittle stuff of windows and bottles. It is much more: Now it is used successfully in forms and with characteristics which make it float, bounce, and resist impact and distortion. It can be bent, twisted, knotted, tied, and woven. It is used for making bodies and noses for planes, for armor, luggage, surgical sutures, furniture, cloth, bathroom fixtures, insulation, in pumps, coil-springs, ball-bearings, and heating panels. Know materials and their uses. Again, you will find all such information in a library—use it.

I HAVE found that it is possible to invent by finding a new use for a principle or principle's combination, but the surer, simpler way to invent is to recognize a need—then combine principles and material to meet the requirement.

Here, I've found, is a good method to use in experimentation: See your problem from every angle, in every mental light. Try every conceivable approach. Work it forward. Work and think backward—end to middle, middle to ends. Try every imaginable combination of materials and principles that could possibly work out to advantage. Try to keep it simple: Eliminate or simplify any part you can.

Above all, watch for any result or manifestation not anticipated nor understood; you may find something important and valuable. Even Edison missed the audion-tube because he did not trouble to understand why carbon or metal went from the filament of the incandescent, lamp to the glass, where it was deposited. It is probable that he made more mistakes than any other inventor—and produced more inventions—because he tried more persistently. Of failure by inventors, he said, "They quit too soon." But still more important, one must begin!

You have, in this article, information that is sound, proven practical, and basic—for successful invention. It would have saved ten years of my life, had I understood it earlier. It can help you, and I sincerely hope it does; it will if you apply it. How can you lose?