Part 2
The inventor found that one finger could have a purely rotary movement, as if it were fixed on the arm and unable to move independently of the arm, and the movement being as if the arm rotated like a shaft, but the second finger must be further capable of moving toward and from the first finger to perform the opening movement of Fig. 13, and the closing movement of Fig. 14 by which it grasps the cord. The inventor accordingly, from his exhaustive analysis of his problem, and his invention or discovery of the proper finger motions, had further only to devise the very simple mechanical device illustrated in Fig. 17 to replace his fingers.
The index finger of the hand is represented by the finger _S_, which is integral with the shaft _V_. The second finger of the hand is represented by the finger _U_, which is pivoted to the first finger by the pin _s_. The grasping movement of the finger _U_ is accomplished by a spring _V'_ bearing on the shank _U'_, and its opening movement is caused by the travel of an anti-friction roll _U"_, on the rear end of the pivoted finger, over a cam _V"_, on the bearing of the shaft. The shaft is rotated by the turning of a bevel pinion _W_ on the shaft through the action of an intermittent gear. The necessity of drawing the fingers backward to accomplish the movement between Figs. 14 and 16 was avoided by causing the tied bundle to have a motion away from the fingers as it is expelled from the machine, the relative motion between the fingers and the knot being the same as if the fingers drew back.
Thus the accomplishment of a seemingly almost impossible function was rendered mechanically simple by an evolution from the human hand, after an exhaustive and ingenious analysis of the conditions involved.
It will be seen from the examples I have given that the constructive part of inventing consists of evolution, and it is the association of previously known elements in new relations (using the term elements in its broadest sense). The results of such new association may, themselves, be treated as elements of the next stage of development, but in the last analysis nothing is invented or created absolutely out of nothing.
It must also be apparent, that pure reason and method, while not taking the place of the inventive faculty, can clear the way for the exercise of that faculty and very greatly reduce the demands upon it.
Where it is desired to make a broadly new invention on fundamentally different lines from those before--having first studied the art to find the results needed, the qualities of the material or other absolutely controlling conditions should be exhaustively considered; but at the time of making the inventive effort, the details should be dismissed from the mind of how results already obtained in the art were gotten. One should endeavor to conceive how he would accomplish the desired result if he were attempting the problem before any one else had ever solved it. In other words, he should endeavor to provide himself with the idea elements on which the imagination will operate, but to dismiss from his mind as much as possible the old ways in which these elements have been associated, and thus leave his imagination free to associate them in original and, as to be hoped, better relations than before. He should invent all the means he can possibly invent to accomplish the desired result, and should then, before experimenting, go to the art to see whether or not these means have before been invented. He would probably find that some of the elements, at least, have been better worked out than he has worked them out. Of course, mechanical dictionaries, and other sources of mechanical elements and movements will be found useful in arriving at means for accomplishing certain of the motions, if the invention be a machine. Many important inventions have been made by persons whose occupation is wholly disconnected with the art in which they are inventing, because their minds were not prejudiced by what had already been done. While such an effort is likely to possess more originality than that on the part of a person in the art, there is, of course, less probability of its being thoroughly practical. The mind well stored with the old ways of solving the problem will, of course, be less likely to repeat any of the mistakes of the earlier inventors, but it will also not be as apt to strike out on distinctly original lines. It is so full, already, of the old forms of association of the elements as to be less likely to think of associating them in broadly new relations.
Nothing should be considered impossible until it has been conclusively worked out or tried by experiments which leave no room for doubt. It is no sufficient reason for believing a thing won't work because immemorial tradition, or those skilled in the art, say it will not work. Many an important improvement has been condemned as impracticable, by those in the art, before it has been tried.
A conception which an inventor has been striving for unsuccessfully will sometimes come to him at a time of unaccustomed mental stimulation. The slight stimulation of the movement of a train of cars, and the sound of music, have been known to produce this effect. The sub-conscious mind, after having been prepared by a full consideration of the problem to be solved, will sometimes solve the problem without conscious effort, on the part of the inventor.
In inventing a machine to operate upon any given material, the logical way is to work from the tool to the power. The tool or tools should first be invented, and the motions determined which are to be given to them. The proper gearing or parts to produce from the power each motion for each tool should then be invented. It should then be considered if parts of each train of gearing cannot be combined, so as to make one part do the work of a part in each train; in short, to reduce the machine to its lowest terms. Occasionally a mechanism will be invented which is exceedingly ingenious, but which it is afterwards seen how to simplify, greatly at the expense of its apparent ingenuity. This simplification will be at the sacrifice of the pride of the inventor, but such considerations as cheapness, durability and certainty of action leave no choice in the matter. It will sometimes be found that a single part can be made to actuate several parts, by the interposition of elements which reverse the motion taken from such part, or which take only a component of the motion of such part, or the resultant of the motion of such part and some other part. Where a machine involves the conjoint action of several forces, it can be more thoroughly studied, if it is found there are positions of the machine in which one force or motion only is in operation, the effect of the others in such position being eliminated, and thus the elements making up the resultant effect can be intelligently controlled.
The drawing board can be made a great source of economy in producing inventions. If the three principal views of all the essentially different positions of the parts of a machine are drawn, it will often be found that defects will be brought to light which would not otherwise have been observed until the machine was put into the metal.
It is desirable to see the whole invention clearly in the mind before beginning to draw, but if that cannot be done, it is often of great assistance to draw what can be seen, and the clearer perception given by the study of the parts already drawn, assists the mind in the conception of the remaining parts.
If the improvement which it is sought to make is a process, it should first be considered whether any radically different process can be conceived of, and if so, whether or not it is better than the old process, and the reason for its defects, and whether it is possible to cure those defects. If the old process appears to be in the right general direction, it should be considered whether one of the old steps cannot with advantage be replaced by a new one, or whether the order of performing the steps cannot be changed to advantage. I have in mind one process in which a reversal of the order of steps resulted in giving the product certain desirable qualities which had before been sought for, but could not be obtained.
It is sometimes desirable not only to invent a good process of producing a product, but to control all feasible processes of producing the product. Such a case occurred where the product itself had been patented, and it was desirable to extend the monopoly beyond the time when the patent on the product should expire. There were two steps or operations which were essential to the production of the product, and the inventor, by reference to permutations, saw that there were but three orders in which those steps could be performed; first, the order A-B, then the order B-A, and then both steps together. The order A-B was the old order, which did not produce an article having the desired qualities. The inventor therefore, proceeded to invent ways by which the steps could be performed together, and then by which they could be performed in the reverse order, and the patenting such two processes would cover generically all possible ways of making the article and secure the desired result of putting himself in position to control the monopoly after the patent on the article had expired, because no one could make the article without using one of his two processes.
In inventing compositions of matter there is one inventor who, if he is seeking for a certain result, will take a chemical dictionary and make every possible combination of every substance that could by any possibility be an ingredient of that which he desires to produce. It is as if he were seeking to locate a vein of mineral in a given territory, and, instead of observing the geographical and geological formation, and thus seeking to arrive at the most probable location of the vein, he should dig up every foot of earth throughout the whole territory, in order finally to locate the vein. This method is exceedingly exhaustive, but does not appeal to one as involving much exercise of the inventive faculties.
Inventing has become so much of a science, that if one is willing to spend sufficient time and money to enable a competent corps of inventors to go at the matter exhaustively, almost any possible invention involving but a reasonable advance in the art can be perfected.
Transciber's Notes:
Punctuation errors repaired.
The second copyright notice before the text begins has been changed from 1903 to 1906 to match the first notice on the title page.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Art of Inventing, by Edwin J. Prindle