Funeral Flags and Insignia

 Funeral Flags and Insignia 

   TWO 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.