Draftsmen Of Dreams (1947)

[music] [music] In Washington DC, capital of the United States, there is a large granite building, little different from those nearby. But to this building, men bring their dreams. They store their hopes in this huge stone vault. For behind this pillared facade is the United States Patent Office. In these rows of leatherbound books are 2 million dreams drawn to scape. Here are the inventive ideas registered by America's patent system since 1790. Each year these volumes have recorded new names. Names like Samuel Morse, Orville Wright, Alexander Graham Bell, like Gulmo Marone, Thomas Edison, Louie Pastau, and thousands of others less known but bright with the same inventive spark. Each of these volumes with its careful drawings, each of these old models painstakingly built forms part of an overwhelming history of imagination and ingenuity. Yet each separate page is in itself a story. A story which always begins in hope, but may end many different ways, often in disappointment, sometimes undreamed of success. In 1868, a writing machine called a typewriter was patented by a Milwaukee printer, Christopher Laam Scholes. There had been other inventors with similar ideas, but Scholes, after discarding some 30 experimental machines, was the first to build a practical model for commercial manufacturing. By 1876, typewriters were used by court reporters, ministers, and authors. They were just beginning to appear in offices with another innovation, the female secretary. At first, people thought typewritten letters reflected on their ability to read, and they worried that the female mind would break down under office strain. But before long, the typewriter had proved indispensable, and women had won a permanent place in business. The first typewriter stood on a sewing machine stand with a foot pedal to operate the carriage return. Its keyboard looked almost like today's, but wrote only capital letters, and a blind carriage concealed mistakes. New models had separate sets of keys for capitals and small letters. Then came the shift key, visible writing, decimal tabs, margin stops. One feature after another, increasing the speed and efficiency of the typewriter and the business routine. [music] Today, the perseverance of Christopher Scholes is applauded daily by constant cracking in every office building in the world. Inventive genius has no national boundaries. Great minds everywhere have always inspired each other. In 1887, George Eastman patented a camera. But the story of his invention begins in Paris over 40 years before where a French painter Jacqu Dair perfected the dger type. >> [music] >> For years, men in many countries had experimented with sensitive surfaces with lenses and fixing solutions until in 1839, combining their research with his own, Dair gave the world its first unfading photograph. Posing for one of these new pictures was a long, uncomfortable performance, and there was no negative from which copies could be made. [music] Although an Englishman Henry Talbot made pictures from negatives the very same year, it was the Dgerayite which preserved for posterity the faces of such famous men as Sher Bodlair, Louie Paster in America. Susan B. Anthony, John Quincy Adams, Lola Montes sat for portraits before Daraype artists, but it remained for the American George Eastman to make photography possible for everyone. In 1888, Eastman replaced the clumsy collodian wet plate process with rolled film and the simple box camera. The first Eastman Kodak took circular photos and was loaded at the factory for 100 exposures. [music] Now anyone could take a lifelike picture out in the street or on the porch steps. Father or mother could photograph the family right in their own backyard. In time, no outing was complete without the small black brownie. [music] With a camera, one or two seconds of each good time could be caught on film and brought home. [music] [music] Today, photography has become a world hobby. The Brownie has been joined by a bewildering assortment of cameras and camera attachments with which enthusiastic fans of every age pursue new and pleasing lens subject. Today, even a small child can use a camera, can make a picture with the click of a shutter. For every major invention on record, there are thousands of odd and curious devices. Millions of part-time inventors spend countless hours on cherished [music] projects like this cabinet that collapses into a truck or this apparently useless saw. Ideas like these sailboat water shoes or this tearpreventing onion peeler will more than likely be forgotten. This eternal match may never reach the market, and it's doubtful that many mothers would seriously consider putting their babies into this electric rocking cradle or this exerciser. But any genuinely useful contraption is certain to be snatched up quickly by gadget-minded Americans. Americans have a special love for gadgets and put them to work wherever they can. This built-in jack operated from the [music] dashboard promises to become just as routine as horns, heaters, and windshield wipers. Once equally novel, the farmer too is anxious for any new equipment which will help him to do more work in less time. The modern dairy is sanitary and efficient. Milking machines, cream separators, pasteurizers, and coolers guarantee that fresh, pure products will reach the consumer. [music] The American home is full of time and laborsaving appliances. A vacuum cleaner sucks up dirt and dust. An electric stove makes cooking more pleasant and more precise. And once food is in the oven, there's no clock watching. This oven and range clock can be set to turn off the heat automatically as soon as dinner's ready. Inventions [music] like the washing machine take the drudgery out of housework. They shorten the housewife's labor, add to her leisure, and the most unexpected service can be exacted from modern mechanisms. A push button can be made to raise a Venetian blind or with the twist of a wall panel to serve lunch. [music] Lunch by push button is still somewhat advanced, but waiting time at [music] meals has been sliced down and cut away by a multitude of precision machines. Everyday machines like these lengthen hurried lunch hours for millions. Today, when a waitress with an armful of trays approaches the kitchen, an electric eye opens the door as if by magic. Moving stairways are another triumph of modern [music] ingenuity which has devised all sorts of ways to make life easy. Many useful inventions take part in American sports. Horses line up at the racetrack in an electric [music] gate which guarantees an even start. Meanwhile, above the track, a camera is put in place to ensure a clear-cut finish. [music] The electric [music] starting gate and the racetrack camera enforce fair play. At the end of the race, there can be no dispute as to the winner. Many baseball clubs use an automatic pitcher as a tireless training machine for big league batters. An automatic tennis partner is ideal for practice sessions. Even a toy dog runs today. As modern toys more and more seem miniatures of reality, the imaginative toy maker has given the child clever imitations of life scaled to his size. [music] [music] Some toys display considerable inventiveness. In fact, important inventions have sometimes been thought toys. In February 1878, Thomas Edison patented a speaking machine which he called a phongraph. 6 months before his experimental model reproduced the human voice for the first time and everywhere. At first, many dismissed Edison's invention as another rasping little toy. But by 1910, the possibilities of this amazing machine began to be appreciated. The fragile tinfoil cylinder had been replaced with a wax disc, and the hand crank by a spring motor wound only at intervals. For the first time, great artistry could be preserved for future generations. The quality of recordings was still poor, but now world famous musicians could be heard in any living room. >> [music] >> Today, new methods of highfidelity recording ensure almost perfect reproduction of the world's memorable speeches and well-loved [music] music. >> [music] >> Thomas Edison was to invent the electric light and the motion picture camera to receive 1,100 patents in all in this electronic age. He remains a glowing symbol of inventive genius. Edison and men like him, combining vision with courage and insight with perseverance, have created our modern age. An age so complex that giant calculators behind mosaics of blinking lights are required to solve the staggering mathematical problems posed by science. [music] Our [music] modern world has been built by great architects of the imagination, experts in the impossible, who again and again have revised the boundaries of our vision. Men of creative genius everywhere work and will work to make this a challenging world of limitless possibilities. A dynamic world in which each step forward leads to another. A world of promise in which all mankind can reap an abundant harvest. The far away look in the eyes of a small boy may be an idol daydream, but just perhaps the first adventurous flight of a young imagination. Here in the patent office are the dreams of such boys grown to men. Many years ago, a clerk in this office resigned his job, convinced that everything had been invented. Since that time, thousands of inventions have been recorded, and many have brought fame and fortune to their creators. Abraham Lincoln said, "The patent system added the fuel of interest to the fire of Jesus." Every day, men bring their dreams to this building. Some of these dreams will come true for all of us. >> [music]