Women Inventors

Patents are a proof of “ownership” of an invention and only the inventor(s) can apply for a patent. Mary Dixon Kies was the first woman to be issued a U.S. patent. She invented a process of weaving straw with silk or thread, boosting the nation’s hat industry. In 1836, in the great Patent Office fire, the patent file was destroyed. Four years later, only 20 other patents had been issued to women, which consisted of inventions related to apparel, tools, fire places and cook stoves.

In the past, women were prevented from receiving a higher education, which was necessary for inventing. Women were not allowed equal rights of property ownership, so many women patented their inventions under their husband’s or father’s name. Likewise, social pressure against independent thought or action and against personal publicity forced many women to give away their ideas, thereby loosing all credit for them. As the Patent and Trademark Office does not require gender, racial or ethnic identification in patent or trademark applications, we will never know all the women who deserve credit for their creative labor.

Research shows that it was Sybilla Masters, the first female inventor in recorded history, who invented a way for cleaning and curing the Indian corn crops that the colonist in early America received as a gift from the native people. The patent was issued in her husband Thomas’ name by the British courts in 1715.

History tells us that 75% of the patents issued to women between 1895 and 1900 were profitable. Beulah Henry of Memphis who created about 110 inventions and held 49 patents. Beulah Henry was considered one of the "Lady Edisons" for her prolific career in inventing.   Some of her inventions included the vacuum ice cream freezer (1912), an umbrella with a variety different colored snap-on cloth covers (1924), the first bobbinless sewing machine (1940), "Protograph" - worked with a manual typewriter to make four copies of a document (1932), "Continuously-attached Envelopes"

Source: http://www.davinciinstitute.com/page.php?ID=108

Wow... Tip ex. Not exactly anything to write home about. Can't women just accept they should just aspire to be like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-1sn7o0j8A

Eva de la Gardie (1724-86) was the first woman to become a member of the Swedish academy, in 1748. Among other things, she invented a way to make vodka from potatoes, which is what she mostly is remembered for.

Emily Jayne Cummins (born 11 February 1987) is an English inventor and entrepreneur. She is a student at Leeds University, studying Management and Sustainability. Her entry into a sustainable design competition, a pullable water carrier for manual workers in Africa, earned her a Technology Woman of the Future award in 2006