"What To Invent". Science & Invention , August, 1920
pp. 411, 440
facsimile/ transcription news article
p. 411
What To Invent
BY JAY G. HOBSON
BOLL WEEVIL ERADICATOR TWENTY-
EIGHT years ago in the year of 1892,
some little fly-
like bugs flew over the Rio Grande from Some other plan or device must be
Mexico and settled themselves down in forthcoming soon or within a few years
the Texas cotton fields nearest the cotton growing will be impossible--and
border. For several years thereafter this means a calamity. The peculiar
they feeding habits of the weevil makes it
difficult to reach his vital spot with
poisons. The punctures the female
weevil makes in the square
and boll of the cotton plant to eat
the tender tissues there-in and to lay
eggs, kills the plant Because this
tender part of the plant is covered
with tougher tissues which the weevil
don't eat, it is impossible to inject
the poison into the pod, or flower,
without spoiling the cotton at
maturity. One important thing the
Government learned was that the weevil
drinks lots of water. Dew drops and
other water on the leaves supply his
aqua pure. Working with this in mind,
scientists began to experiment with
spraying poisons in powder form over
the plants which would mix with the
moistures. When the weevil drank the
liquid the poison would kill them. But
so far this method has failed to
produce the desired result because the
poison employed is not the preparation
required to eradicate the pest. Some
other means must be found very soon to
save the cotton. The inventor who can
bring forth a reasonable preparation,
a plan, a device or process that will
were content in raising a few million eliminate the weevil can soon enjoy
children on the valued cotton plants, world-
but as their flock of descendants
increased faster than even they first
dared to anticipate, new and larger
fields of cotton became necessary to
maintain them, so every year thereafter
a few million children moved further
North until today they are a very
serious pest all over the Southern
cotton growing states .
wide fame and fortune. Most any of the
cotton growing states would gladly pay
one million dollars for a sure
eradication, because many times more
than this amount is lost yearly from the
ravages of the weevil. To be sure, it is
a tremendous achievement, but I am
confident before long some American
inventor will solve the problem. It
appears to me the logical plan to follow
is for some proper chemical, rather
Under favorable conditions it is about
one dozen days from egg to mature
weevil. In a season, which is about
three summer months, one pair of weevils
can give birth over 10,000,000. They can
go six months without food if necessary.
The weevil is one-fourth inch long and
has wings like familiar house-
fly. The female weevil lays eggs in the than mechanical, as the weevils are
fruit of the cotton plant. She bores a not attracted at night by bright
small hole in the pod or flower the plant lights, like other insects, and they
are too small to be caught in a
mechanical device, unless it could
embrace some preparation sufficiently
enticing to draw them to it.
with her nose, then reverses ends and A SUBSTITUTE FOR GASOLINE. Quoting
deposits an egg in the hole. This egg from the Washington, D. C., Post, the
hatches into a little worm in about importance of a gasoline substitute
three days. This worm or infant weevil for automobiles is absolutely
eats the delicate cotton boll, which is necessary if the indispensable power
not matured, and here is where the great wagon is to be continued. We read as
damage to the valuable crop is done. follows:
Millions of dollars worth of cotton is
destroyed each
year by these parasites, and strange as "A substitute for gasoline as a motor
it may seem, even our greatest fuel obviously must be found, and
scientists have been unable to cope with scientists should be encouraged to
them. Numerous schemes for their work for that end. The public should
elimination have been offered without not be left at the mercy of the oil
success. This year they promise to prove producers and speculators, nor should
more destructive than ever. Recently the it be compelled to pay unreasonable
United States Department of Agriculture prices for its fuel. Long since the
announced years of experiments have automobile ceased to be a luxury, and
shown that dusting the fields with past into the necessity class. It now
"calcium arsenate" is the only way to ranks with the telephone in the
stop the weevil. The Government says ordinary affairs of life. Within a few
that "calcium arsenate" is the only years, if road building continues and
means by which to poison them. However, if the motor truck becomes the factor
this preparation is not successful in in transportation which is predicted
preventing over ten per cent of the for it, the automobile will pass on
weevils' destruction of the cotton. into a higher class and rank with the
railroads as a public utility of vital
necessity to the public.
What a Fortune Awaits the Genius Who Gives Us a "Real" and Cheap Gasoline
Substitute. Copyrighted by Jay G. Hobson, 1920
Therefore the high price of gasoline is not merely a question affecting the
activities of joy riders. It is a matter of serious concern to the people." We
all can recall several newspaper accounts of discoveries that were going to bring
the price of gasoline
down to a few cents per gallon, or drive it into oblivion altogether. But King
Gasoline is still on deck, more domineering and "exclusive" than ever. No
practical substitute has been found, which leaves us exactly where we were years
ago, when eleven cents a gallon for gas was considered high. Comparing eleven
cents then with thirty-
five cents now, makes a fellow feel that we did not know when we were well off.
But the present high figure is a fact, and not a theory, which brings us face to
face with the importance of a gasoline substitute. Undoubtedly there is a
practical substitute for Nature's power-
juice. What and Where, of course, is the question, but I am confident it will be
found within a few years, for anything under the sun is possible except perpetual
motion, and it wouldn't surprise me to learn that that, too, had appeared. Down
in Texas, where they miss oil sometimes and find gas, there has been developed a
practical process of extracting gasoline from natural gas. Known as "casing-
head gasoline," gasoline secured from the natural gas as it flows thru the casing
or pipe. Evidently some automatic process of liquidation takes place in the gas
as it travels thru the metal pipes. It appears to me feasible to construct a
device that will so compress natural and artificial gas that the hydrogen or
gasoline liquid contents of same can be collected and stored for use in driving
automobiles. A device in the form of a powerful compressor so constructed that it
will take natural gas from the well, turning it into a liquid form to be used as
gasoline is used today. There are millions of automobiles used daily, depending
upon gasoline for fuel. This great army of consumers would gladly buy a practical
gasoline substitute, and the inventor who succeeds in discovering one that will
give satisfaction in power, and cost less, will be handsomely rewarded both with
fame and with fortune. (Continued on page 440) ----------------
p. 440
(Continued from page 411)
LIQUID BEARD REMOVER
Many have been the attempts to compound preparations to successfully remove the
beard from the face without injuring the skin. None that I know of, has succeeded
and right here please let me record the importance of such a discovery. How
wonderful the banishment of razor slavery will be when the liquid shave is
perfected. Just imagine the joy of shaving with the ease of washing the face.
Some day this great preparation will be invented which will see millions of men
gladly switch from the old hoe-
method of today. A special preparation that would quickly dissolve the hair and
not the skin, seems to me as being the practical goal to work for. One that will
be both cleansing and antiseptic will make many masculine converts shout with joy.
GRAPE FRUIT GUARD. A few mornings ago I was piloted across the hotel dining
room by the head waiter, and sat me down to a table where the garcon was already
serving three grape fruit enthusiasts. Unfortunately I joined them as all three
started to operate on their "nature squirt guns," and as I sat there patiently
waiting for my half, the bombardment began! All three companions had their juice
artillery pointing away from their eyes and directly toward mine. They were very
harmonious with the eating tools it seemed, for each plunged after the
"aquacitrus," with the same vim which sent a triple stream over my way inundating
me almost entirely. Had it not been for my "specks"--my eyes surely would have
been blinded After the deluge (necessity being the mother of invention), I
imagined what I believe to be a practical device for every dining room; a grape
fruit guard like the one shown in the illustration--a device made of glass and
metal. The bottom or holder part is deprest in the center to hold the grape fruit
securely. The glass is crescent shape and supported above by three metal rods.
The grape fruit is placed in the metal holder and under the glass. The glass is
high enough to allow a spoon to be manipulated underneath. In operation the user
holds the fruit with one hand, places the spoon in the fruit under the glass,
which acts as guard in preventing the juice from getting into the eyes. The grape
fruit habit is a popular one. Every eating place serves them. A practical and
attractive device for this purpose certainly would sell big and make lots of
money for the inventor if properly handled.