Page 166 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

Funeral Flags and Insignia

T

WO years ago, Robert Hubbell was out of work. Then one day he went to a
funeral with a friend. Before the procession of cars started for the cemetery,
the undertaker’s assistant clamped a metal device on the running board of the
car to hold a white flag with a purple cross. When the funeral was over and
the clamp was removed, Robert Hubbell’s friend found the enamel scratched
and the metal wrinkled where the clamp had been applied.

Robert Hubbell gave the matter a little thought and within two hours in his
workshop had invented a flag holder that slipped on over the bumpers. As
flags get bedraggled in the rain and snow, he decided that a paper flag would
be better as it could be changed for every funeral at small expense. So, the
new arrangement included a flag mast on which a paper flag could be
clamped.

The idea was a winner and today, Mr. Hubbell has a factory where he makes
holders, masts, and white flags. He employs a dozen people and spends most
of his time out on the road selling to wholesalers. In addition, he has spent
some time helping to lobby bills through a dozen states requiring the use of
funeral flags in processions to prevent traffic from breaking into the line.

Toy Automobile Puzzles Onlookers

A

LITTLE fifty-cent toy Ford automobile, which is bringing its inventor plenty
of profits, creates interest by its trick of automatically turning in another
direction. Just as it reaches the edge of the table and you think it will run off,
a hidden third wheel, at right angles to the front wheels, turns the automobile
in another direction. Everyone wants one of these toys because of its trick of
fooling the onlooker. Such toys offer a fertile field for inventors.