The Portland daily press., 1883-05-15
Woman as an Inventor.


Der of the North American Review an &C
count of the useful inventions made by
women. For some of her,materal she goes
TO the far past, and gives examples almost as
mythical as that of Arachne and the spider.
These Illustrations of hers are more curious
than edifying. What she has to tell us of the
inventive genius of American women is both
curious and edifying. Forty years ago and
more the wives and daughters of the New
England farmers-and sometimes the sons.
too-spent the winter evenings in making
peculiar kind of straw braid, composed of
seven fine strands, which was used In max
ing bonnets. The men-folks cut the stalks
of wheat when the grain was sin the blow
and the same having been made into con-
venient lengths and carefully dried were
ready for the nimble fingers of the women
and children. The whole straw having been
split by running through it the tip of seis-
sor blade, and then slit into minute strips by
being drawn over the teeth of little steel
comb, was then wetted in saucer of water
and so made ready for the braiding process.
A subsequent bleaching made the goods fit
for market, and the seasons product of some
hundreds of yards sufficed for paying the
family store bill and frequently left cash
surplus for the special behoof of the female
purse. This braid, which was not fiat but
something nearly triangular in shape and
susceptible of very artistic treatment in the
construction of feminine head-ge was the
invention of Miss Betsy Metcalf, who, in
179S, made the first straw bonnet ever man
ufactured in this country. Within II years
thereafter the State of Massachusetts alone
produced half million dollars worth of
straw goods.
Mrs. Gage credits the invention of the cot
ton gin to Catharine Littlefield Greene, wild
ow of Gen. Greene of revolutionary memory.
She lived in Geogia and saw that it took A
negro full day to separate the seed from
pound of cotton. Eli Whitney of Connecti-
cut was then boarding with Mrs. Greene,
and his ingenuity was called into play for
tae construction of machine to do the
work. The wooden teeth at first tried not
doing their work well, Mr.. Whitney wished
to abandon the machine altogether; but Mrs.
Greene, whose faith in ultimate success new
er wavered, would not consent; she suggest
ed the substitution Of wire. Within 10 days
from the first conception of Mrs. Greene's
idea, small model was completed, so per-
feet in its construction that all succeeding
gins have been based upon it. The inven-
81 1ah
pounds of cotton in day, instead of sin
gle pound, and soon made cotton the lead
ing staple of the south. Mrs. Gage accounts
for the fact that Mrs. Greene did not take
out patent in her own name by saying that
to have done so would have exposed her to
ridicule and involved loss of social posi-
ton.
Miss Louise Mclaughlin invented meth
cd of underglaze painting upon pottery, and
desiring that all artists should share in its
benefits, explained her process to every one
who asked her, and even wrote book CIV
ing this information. Some person, de-
scribed by Mrs. Gage as ga certain man.
saw the Importance of the invention and
took out patent upon it, ''thus prohibiting
even the inventor from using the fruit of
her own brains" Mrs. Gage adds, as an
other Illustration of woman's inventive ca
pacity, that "The Burden horseshoe ma
chine, turning out complete shoe every
three seconds, was woman's invention
and that Sat q renewal of the patent in 1871
it was claimed that $50, 900 had been
saved to the public during the IA years of its
use.n
We should hardly expect to find wom-
ans work upon a reaping and moving ma
chine, but Mrs. Ann Harmed Manning, of
Plainfield, New Jersey, in 1Sl7-18 perfected
a system for the combined action of teeth
and cutters, which was patented by her hus-
band, William Henry Manning. She also
made other improvements, Of the benefit of
which, not having taken out patent for
the same, she was robbed after her hus-
patent in his own nome. Mrs. Manning al
SO invented clover cleaner which proved
very profitable to her husband, who held the
patent. The name of Mrs. Elizabeth Smith,
also of New Jersey, appears as patentee of a
device whereby knives can be adjusted upon
areaper or mower while the machine IS in
motion.
Mrs. Gage mentions among other inVen-
lions by women, that of baby carriage, the
patent for which San Francisco lady sold
for S14,000; the paper pail, invented by a
Chicago lady; the gimletpointed screw,
which was the idea of little girl; an i'm
proved spinning machine and loom; fur
mace for smelling ore; an improved wood
saving machine; space-saving clothes
mangle; a chain elevator; a screw-crank for
steamships; fire escape; device for cor
rect pen holding, for use in schools; wool
feeder and weigher; self-fastening button
a process for burning petroleum to generate
steam; spark-arrester for locomotives; a
danger-signal for street crossings on rail-
ways; a plan for heating cars; a rapid
change box, convenient for use at railway
stations and ferries; syllable type, with the
necessary apparatus for their use; machine
for thinning pamphlets; writing machine (;
signal-rocket, used in the navy; deep-sea
telescope, invented by Mrs. Mather and i'm
proved by her daughter, for bringing the
bottoms of ships into view without raising
them into dry-dock, and for inspecting
wrecks, removing distractions to navigation
and making examinations for torpedoes; i'm
provements in sewing machines, and mary
other devices which are in common use.
The machine for making satchel-bottom
paper bags, which has attracted much atten-
ton for its complicated mechanism and ex-
traordnary ingenuity, is the invention of
Miss Maggie Knight, who has since invented
machine for folding bags and herself sup
erintended the erection of the machinery at
Amherst, Mass. A Hoboken lady, having
had her dress spattered with mud by clum-
sy street sweeping machine. invented the
Eureka street sweeper. Mrs. Mary E. Wal
ton invented the device, which has been
adopted by the Metropolitan and other es-
waited railways of New York, for deadening
the noise of passing trains, and she has TAX
en- out in both this country and England a
patent for smoke-consumer.
These inventions by women are all Ameri-
can, and they all relate to the mechanical