Beware of the “no patent, no pay” fellows. It costs just as much to find out that the office will not grant the patent as to find out that it will, unless a careful preliminary settles the case definitely. You can be assured that if the invention is promising it will ultimately, in all probability, have to stand the scrutiny of a court before it will be of any great value. If you do not intend to go into the manufacture of your invention, a good plan is to offer it to a reliable man already in the business before you go into any expense at all; of course, taking the precaution of having your sketch witnessed, as before advised. Very few manufacturers in the cycle or any other line are the notorious patent thieves they are commonly supposed to be; especially are they loath to take advantage of a confiding inventor who has no patent. Of course, if you have taken out a patent, and pretend by virtue thereof to assert that you are protected, you make yourself a legitimate prey if your patent happens to be invalid, which it often is even when the invention deserves the most rigid protection. There are, in all, over five thousand patents in the world in connection with the cycle art, many of which are sound. Think of this before you divert your mind from your legitimate business. It seems hard to the general would-be inventor to say it, but I believe that the proper persons to spend their time and talents in the invention of cycles are the persons employed by the manufacturers for that purpose. In trusting to the judgment of the manufacturer in regard to any idea you may have, if you keep your sketch and a copy of your correspondence, it will be powerful evidence against him if he plays false with you and goes into a fight for priority of invention. Almost any manufacturer will answer a letter about a new idea in his own line, and if he decides against you he will generally give his reasons, from which you can judge whether it will pay you to go ahead or not. This advice may seem to encourage a great risk to the inventor, but I give it from the experience on both sides of the fence. Inventors will say that they get no attention from manufacturers; this, when true, is almost invariably because the alleged invention is absolutely unworthy of any attention at all, though of course all inquiries should receive courteous answers.