Henry Robinson

“ It is therefore obvious that, to invent a labor-saving machine successfully, it is first necessary to determine the executive method of operation, and often to invent a more suitable and adaptable one before inventing the means for accomplishing the same, as the executive part of his contemplated machine is his problem, and the ease or difficulty of its solution depends upon its simplicity. The intelligent and prudent inventor will carefully note his own special capacity, aptitude, taste, education, training, experience, and opportunity in certain directions. ”

“ You have not got anything positive as yet to get a patent on—the fact is you only think you have something—but your judgment may not be the very best on the subject for your own good. Take your sketches and your specifications and consult a competent, reputable engineer, and he will tell you what are the prospects and probabilities of your invention. If your invention is a valuable one, engage his services to re-design it for you, and to make it practical. Don't think that because you are an inventor you are necessarily a "natural born engineer." ”

“ If the true history of all the pre-eminent inventors should be written, it would be a record of "Making" the most of oneself, painstaking labor, and of constant devotion to duty, of as brave and as true men as ever wore brass buttons and gold lace; who, without martial glamour and loud acclaim, quietly solve and overcome great difficulties, against discouraging odds, and attain good results. ”

“ It is one of the greatest anomalies of human nature, that the performance of most difficult tasks, requiring for their consummation numerous and rare attainments, are continually undertaken by those who are least qualified to perform them. Lured by the glittering reward of the few successful ones, they try to gain by chance what can only be gained by work. ”

“ Do not start an advance account in greatness by telling everybody you come in contact with what a wonderful invention you are working on, thereby trying to enhance your importance with them. Remember you are not "It" until you have succeeded, and when you do, the world will know it soon enough, and you will not suffer by reason of its having found it out for itself. Remember an inventor is only judged by what he has made good, not by what he has attempted. ”

“ Dame Justice with unsheathed sword stands guard over the cellar of potatoes that took three months for the ox and his owner to produce, but she is entirely indifferent if an intelligent and educated engineer is robbed of the results of his labors of several years, after collecting a fee from him for doing that which it does not do, and which it ought to do freely. It is manifestly a peculiar logic, entirely at variance with the rules, that govern the ideas of equity. ”

“ The world is full of monuments and statues to them who have or have tried to benefit it by destruction and slaughter, and by the making of widows and orphans, but one would have to use "Diogenes' Candle," to find the monuments to them who have benefited the world, by giving it untold wealth and happiness, without sorrow or suffering, except to themselves, through scientific and mechanical research and invention. ”

“ The different ways of appropriating other people's invention without giving any equivalent for it, are made possible by our existing laws which are notoriously defective for insuring justice and equity to those who labor with their brains, who, in the opinion of most people, are as deserving of protection, in the enjoyment of the fruits of their labor, as they who work with their hands. ”

“ VERY OFTEN THE SUBSTANCE OF THOSE DEPENDING ON THEM.
As numerous and as pitiful as are the various victims constantly thrown up by the waves of passion and folly on the sterile shore of "human indifference," none are more so than they who have nothing better than the promptings of a more-than-ordinary share of vanity and conceit to aspire to the honors and rewards of successful inventors. Foolishly do they imagine it a short and easy cut to opulence and ease. ”

“ Protection of an Invention
The protection of an invention implies the dual problem of how to prevent others from stealing the product of one's mental labor, and of how to insure a fair share of its value to the inventor. ”

“ If the inventor is in the employ of a company manufacturing goods, to which his invention is a valuable addition, the company simply "takes it," and applies for a patent on the same, as being the original inventor. In most cases the inventor is not even informed of the patent application, and generally some high official in the company's employ claims and gets the credit and reward for inventing it. ”

“ In inventing and designing a new machine, one must first thoroughly familiarize himself with its desired performance, as the success or failure of his mechanical creation depends on how nearly perfect that performance is, compared to established or desired standards; and the performance of that machine when made will truly denote how well its designer understood it, and his skill in mechanical manipulation to produce it. ”

“ Incredible, yet it is true, that if a patent is infringed upon, and for some reason the inventor, though cognizant of it, does not commence suit, it is held that he acquiesced in the same, and the parties who are stealing his invention, as well as others, can go on robbing him with impunity. ”

“ It ought to be apparent that there is a defect somewhere in the profound reasoning of our august law-makers and honorable jurists in framing and interpreting our laws for protection of property that makes it possible for a man to arrest another man that he has found in possession of his plow, while allowing a man to steal another man's invention, for the improvement of all plows, and to throw the inventor out of his office for attempting to remonstrate with him for appropriating his property. ”

“ If it is the intention of the inventor to dispose of his invention after it is perfected, the expense can be approximately estimated, and in many cases will be moderate, of course varying with the nature of the invention. But if it is the intention to manufacture it, create and supply a market for it, the required capital will always be considerable.
For many obvious reasons, it is considered advantageous for the profitable exploitation of an invention to have the financial end of it under a separate head, which is generally the case. ”

“ The feeling of having benefited our fellows, of having helped to improve the world for others, as others have done for us, the sweet consciousness of having given the world "What was best in us," is the true and only adequate reward to him who has given his best efforts to lighten human burdens and increase their happiness. ”

“ You will find the money spent on engineering your invention well spent, as very often large sums of money would be saved in making models and experimenting, and litigation would often be avoided if the inventor would have the practical "horse sense" to go to a competent engineer when in need of engineering skill.
In designing and inventing a machine for doing certain work on a certain article which is otherwise done by hand, it does not necessarily follow that the machine must imitate in its actions the method employed by hand in accomplishing the same ends. ”

“ The inventor will find ample opportunity to display his forebearance at this stage of the game, as he will find at the beginning, "no one poor enough to do his invention reverence." And it is one of the strange things that one observes in life, that many people who have not sufficient energy and intelligence to raise themselves beyond the very humblest and meanest occupations in life, consider themselves amply qualified to criticise, and even make suggestions on inventions that some of the best brains have spent their best on. ”

“ Successful Invention
A very large number of people in and out of the mechanical profession are intensely eager to know how to become successful inventors. Wealth, honor and glory are the reward of the successful. Disappointment, drudgery, oblivion, and poverty are often the portion of the less fortunate ones.
Many of the latter foolishly attribute the greater measure of success to their fellow-workers in the same chosen field of usefulness to luck, which is far from the truth, and to that fallacious belief they often owe their own less favored condition. ”

“ It is confessedly an enigma to many a man, why if an inventor is so unlucky as not to possess the large sums of money required to engage the services of competent attorneys, he must be content to see the despoiler of the fruits of his labor enjoy it. ”

“ To do everything should not be attempted in the beginning, as many parts requiring special equipment and special skill, such as foundry work, drop forging, gear making, and wood work, can very often be contracted for with persons especially equipped to do that work, at less than the price it would cost to produce them by a firm which has to do a little of everything. Elimination of that much of the work permits better concentration and increased facilities for the other work, resulting in a maximum of production with a minimum of investment. ”

“ Yet if a citizen who, on his farm, could produce many diverse articles and sell the same to advantage, chooses instead to raise a vegetable (beets) , from which sugar can be manufactured at a disadvantage, expects and receives from the Government not only absolute protection of his production, and also the securing of an enhanced price for the same, through a high tariff, but an actual bonus of money known as a "bounty." ”

“ Even our missionaries have the "moral" support of our "strong arm," in forcing on the so-called heathens the barter of "cozy corners in Heaven" for "cash down," but it is a notorious fact that certain so-called civilized countries are making it their habit and custom quite openly to appropriate every invention that is worth appropriating, providing the inventor is a foreigner, and the unfortunate inventor has not even got a cause of action at law, nor would the inventor's complaint at the State Department be productive of anything more substantial than polite regrets. ”

“ If the invention forms the basis of a Stock Company, by allowing the inventor only a minority of the stock, and taking all of the earnings of the invention in large salaries by the controlling parties, thus leaving the inventor out in the cold. ”

“ For if he goes to see their lawyers, they will most condescendingly and patronizingly inform him that that patent is not "valid," and advise him not to bother his head about it, as it would do him no good. And unless he has the means to engage lawyers, who require fat "retainers," he is absolutely helpless, and the exploiters of his invention can enjoy their ill-gotten gains with impunity. ”

“ If the invention is assigned to a corporation, do not leave yourself with a minority of stock if you can at all help it, but if you cannot possibly avoid parting with a majority of the stock, identify and amalgamate your interests with some other stockholder in your company, that in combination with him will give you a majority and control ”

“ To solve that problem absolutely is of course no more possible than the absolute prevention of the pilfering of anything else of value in the world, but it may be made as secure as the present circumstances in the case will permit if the inventor, to use a slang expression, will be "on to the game." To be that, he first has to know with whom he has to reckon, and how the stealing is done, and the best way to checkmate it. ”

“ The man who produces a field of corn that will feed a dozen cows is directly protected in the possession thereof by the paid officers of the law of the community, while the man who, by his exertions, lightens the burdens of millions of human beings has no claim upon the services of the community's enforcers of the law of property rights. ”

“ At present it would seem that many inventors have a special reason for deploring the decadence of the Eternal Brimstone-Doctrine, as punishment for wrong-doing, especially for the breaking of the Eighth and Tenth Commandments, as its modern substitute of "Thou shalt not steal, less-than-necessary-for-lawyers'-fees-to-absolve-you-and-a-reasonable-margin-of-profit," manifestly is broad enough to include the stealing of inventive production. ”

“ There are still other ways, by which inventors often lose their just dues, which is generally the fault of their own inexperience, as for instance, by giving exclusive manufacturing privileges to somebody without a reasonable guarantee, for the making of a certain quantity per stipulated period. The possessor of the privilege will then only have to make one in the whole life of the contract, and thereby rid himself of a competitive article from the market, at the inventor's expense. ”

“ Honesty and straight dealings will materially increase your chances of staying in the market, once you get there.
Cultivating a good name with the people you are dealing with, is better than "kowtowing" to "Rating Agencies," as well as being the cheapest and very best kind of advertising. Never misrepresent your financial condition when furnishing a statement to your bank, for you may do it once too often, and then you will wish "you hadn't." You will travel more easily and further by telling the truth. ”