Couldn't resist responding to your musings about someone creating an update for Twain's scrapbook. Someone has created an updated version: In fact, updated versions have been in production since I was a child. The latest form adds video and allows texting. I read somewhere that Tesla envisioned the current iphone technology in 1893. Sent from my iPhone > On Nov 10, 2017, at 2:38 PM, Robert M Ellsworth <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > Here is a direct link to the Google Patents page for the =91Improvements = > in Scrap-books=92 patent, from which you can download a PDF copy if the = > online documentation is too hard to read (as it very often is!) > > https://www.google.com/patents/US140245 > > The idea is rather interesting: he covers the whole page with = > water-soluble glue or mucilage, and a user moistens just the area where = > something is to go, presumably most easily with a small brush or blot of = > paper. Contemporary ads appear to show something between the treated = > gummed pages, perhaps material to which the gum left exposed between = > pasted items won=92t self-stick in humid locations. Presumably there is = > some care to provide =91adhesive=92 that will not stick until desired, = > perhaps dusting with (dyed) cornstarch or similar material to form what = > parents with diapered children might know as =91a barrier layer=92. > > The accounts I=92ve read say that he made ample profit from this = > invention, and my guess is that the name recognition was a large part of = > the attractiveness. Perhaps it would still be, if anyone decided to = > =93re-introduce=94 these with modern materials =85 I can think of a few = > improvements just looking at the patent drawings.=