Early Lessons in Inventing

My First Invention
I had heard of inventors. My Uncle Harry invented a way to keep from losing a cork if it "blowed out" of a cider barrel. He took the cork and attached it to the barrel with a stout string. It seemed kind of simple, and I figured even I could invent something that easy.
I loved our first automobile, a Maxwell. I decided that I would invent something to help me run fast and help me to see in the dark, like this car could.
I spent hours in the tool shop working on my idea.
Dad said, "We must keep it a very close secret, and we will do the trial run after dark. We will carry your invention up the road past the tobacco barn and stop at the top of the hill, and then you can try her out by running down the hill."
I ran down the hill with a small headlight. I was thrilled as I picked up speed just like I had thought I would. Suddenly I was running in total darkness. I ran wildly off the road and collided with a "No Fishing" sign. The impact totaled my invention.
Lying there in darkness on the ground, dazed and bleeding, I heard the sound of my Dad running down the hill toward me.

The rolling hill country where we lived in southern Indiana was one of the best places on Earth for kids to grow up, if they survived. Days were beautiful in every season, and the moonlit nights were full of real fun and adventure. Everything around me suggested inventions, now or in the future, and later in my life one of them became my Million Dollar Invention.

-- Harold W. "Indiana" Hannebaum