A spirit of invention.

Because scientists and scientific companies must apply for patents to protect ownership of their discoveries, FOOTSTEPS has included this article on just what an invention is. Check the sidebar on page 34 to see the process you must follow to patent an innovation.

On a July afternoon in 1916, a crowd in Cleveland, Ohio, waits anxiously at the entrance to a tunnel. An explosion has trapped many workers several hundred feet below Lake Erie. Explosive gas and choking smoke and dust have smothered all attempts at a rescue. Suddenly, out of the dark tunnel, a man in a strange-looking helmet emerges. He is carrying an unconscious worker. The helmet is a special breathing device that protects him from the toxic tunnel air. …