Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-01-29
WOMEN AND INVENTIONS.
Was the First Inventor Woman?-Pat-
ent Office Statistics.

ent ONCE Statistics.
The first invention of which history
makes mention, says the Inventive Age,
is recorded in the seventh verse of the
third chapter of Genesis, and although
the primal pair are both recognized as
having taken part in it, the student Of
human nature finds it impossible to re-
slst the conclusion that the apron sug-
gestlon came from the mother of man
kind, thus establishing, on far stronger
grounds than most of the alleged facts
OF ancient history rest on, the claim
that the first inventor was a woman
We have no means of determining tho
relative prominence of the sexes in tho
inventive progress of the world, for his
tory deals chiefly with wars, as if the
principal occupation of mankind had
been killing and plundering. We can
not tell when, where or with whom tho
arts OF spinning and weaving originated,
but we are assured that Tubal-Cain,
1.-The Vulcan of old time,' invented tho
sword and falchion. 1t is fair pre-
sumption that woman bore her full
share in the work of domestic inven-
ton in al the earlier centuries, for tho
men OF those days, as we see through
the dim vista of buried ages, do
not impress us with tho notion that
they gave much thought to provisions
for home comfort. The humming of the
spinning wheel and the indcscribable
music of the trades and shuttle of the
hand loom vocalize every page of his
tory from the days of the patriarchs to
the time of Arkwright and Owen and
there is little reason to doubt that wom-
an performed most Of the intellectual,
as we'll as physical work of clothing and
tcnting the family until other than
hand power was employed in this field
of industrial effort. In modern times,
however, and especially within tho last
hundred years, tho records show that
most inventors have been men, although
women have been gaining ground rap
idly in tho later decades. 1t is shown
by the Patent Office documents that, in
the United States, from 1890 up to July,
1889, over $500 patents have been
granted to women. The first patent
granted to a woman was for straw weay-
ing with silk or thread in 1900 to Mary
heis. In 1915 Mary Brush received a
patent tor a corset; Sophia Usher fol-
lowed in 1910 with cream of tartar car
donated liquid; Julia Phantom in 1922
w III 81 1OoU SlONt. AlUoE UQaU QlCo inc
entries are annual with tho exception Of
the years 1927, 1929, 1880, 1882, 1885, 1889,
1914, 1916, 1852 and 1S54-55. The first
page embraces all Of the half-century
1S095S, in which time there were
precisely fifty patents granted. BY
1868 the entries filled a full page; by
1881, two pages; by 1888, three pages.
Tho native patentee whose address is
InI A-.I, ~
County, Fla, for improvement in broom
brushes in 1910. She and ono other
woman were the only Southerners up to
the outbreak of the cival war to whom
patents were granted. These patents
are not by any means confined to do
nestle objects or the dress and adorn-
mont of women. They range over
broad field from a pin-cushion to ship
OF war; from lantern to q car-wheel;
from a corset to 4 fire-ladder; from cos
metics to agricultural implements; in
short, from elegant tritles to the hard
pan of strict utilitarianism. How many
of women's inventions are hidden under
the names of fathers, husbands, broth
crs and sons We can not, of course, know,
but it IS by no means unlikely that
many thousands Of such conceal
ments exist in the lists of patents
granted. 1t is still more probable that
suggestions of women have helped many
a man to the development of patentable
devices, and it is q known fact that the
loving faith of good wife has kept up
the courage and her industry supplied
bread for the poor inventor in thousands
of instances while he has struggled
on toward success or failure - to-
ward happiness Or despair. AS wom-
an has become more and more
prominent in all departments of bust
ness, she is naturally making a better
showing in tho records of the Patent Of
flee. The 1000 patents now standing to
her credit will soon be multiplied by
ten, and the fame and fortune annually
reapcd by inventors will be more equit-
ably divided between the sexes. 1t
would be scarcely permissible to close
this article without reference to the
obligations of woman to invention. Her
life has been relieved of most of its
drudgery by patent devices. The wooden
mill, the cotton factory, the sewing ma
chine, machinery for the laundry and
the dairy, mechanical appliances for do
ing all the hard work of urban or rural
homes-these have opened up a new and
better life for the mothers, wives and
sisters of to-day. Other inventions,
such as telegraphy, the typewriter and
the telephone, have created new Occupa-
tions for thousands of women, while in
ventions in music and art have made
embellishments possible to even the
poorest sewing girl. The new times are
better than the old in all respects, but
in no other direction is the improve
ment SO marked as in the change
wrought in the home life for women.