Morning journal and courier., 1891-04-04
THE FLEETING SHOW.
Some of Its Facts and Fancies.


 THE WORD "INvENTREss" OBSOLETE.
 It has been affirmed by some cynical de- tractor of woman-kind that her ingenuity is usually expended in inventing excuses. That this statement is not altogether true may be conclusively shown by a visit to the patent office at Washington. The fact as there recorded is that more than three thousand American women have applied for patents upon articles of their own in vention, these applications showing very wide range of creative talent, as they com prise almost everything from submarine telescope and a smoke conveyer for loco motives to dish washers and musquito traps.
 The first patent issued to woman was in 1909. before the government postoffice was established, the state of Connecticut granting patent to Mary Kies for an i'm proved method of straw weaving. In 1915 Mary Brush secured a patent for corset and after four years more another woman gathered up courage enough to apply for q patent on 0 new compound of cream of tartar. Three years after Julia Phantom patented an improved foot-stove, and the next year Lucy Burnap contrived new method of weaving grass. Improve ments were made in spinning wheel heads, wheel fellies and moccasins, and patents were granted at the followed period of six years when women seem to have been so busy in inventing excuses for detaining their husbands at home in the event" g, and devising appliances for the knees and ell bows of boys garments, that they ceased to clamor for patent rights at least. Until the year 1862, whe the exigencies of the time called forth the creative talent of the the nation, not more than half @ dozen pa tents had been issued to women in any one twelve-month In that year the number granted was twelve, and the inventions were entirely for the use and comfort of men in camp and on the battlefield, such as caps, canteens, ambulances and lini- ments.
 In 1887, the last year in which com plete official report was made, the number of women patentees was one hundred and seventy-eight and in 1890 it is thought by the superintendent of the model room that patents were granted to women at the rate of one in two days. Among the three thousand patents more than one hundred were given for corsets, one New York wo- man holding five, but men, who are sup posed to disapprove of these garments, | sscondemn the wrong and yet the wrong pursue" to the extent of four hundred pat ented corsets and various appliances be- ! longing to the same. Sixteen patents on curriers' and crimping pins are credited to | women. In 1872 the hustle began to make itself prominent, and here Connecticut l woman led the line of inventors and se- l cured the first patent, but again proud 1 man stepped in and, as in the case of l the crimping pins, was granted four or 1 five times as many patents, and lined his pockets while affecting to scoff at fashion | able follies.
 1 We are told that there is no sex in ge- 1 nius, neither is there in invention, if We may believe MT. Gill, the experienced SUI, | intendent of the model room who says l "There is no such thing as Q feminine | mind when you come to invention. While 1 there are so many more inventions of men they are no more masculine either in inge l nuity or purpose than those of the women | Men take out three patents to every one oi | a woman along the line of women's fash ions." The feminine mind" theory i. completely demolished at the patent office
 by models for elevated railroads, cokt
 crushers, steam whistles CD electric lamps
 indicators for use on railroads, hospita
 beds, invalid chairs, locomotive driving
 wheels and a street-cleaning apparatus
 Patented processes are numerous, among
 them those for preparing sole leather |
 The most profitable inventions, accord
 ing to MT. Gill ,are those made in costumes
 and clothing; some processes and designs
 for wall paper making, and for the firing
 or decorated china. Something for
 woman to wear, something decorative ant
 something artistic are the inventions tha
 seem to have paid the women inventors.
 Women of taste and creative faculty wh,
 wish to make these gifts source of in
 come are advised to take note of this ant
 govern themselves accordingly.
 Some very simple inventions, such a
 the paper bag and the wire four sitter
 both of which are credited to women, hav'
 been very remunerative. They were jus
 what was needed, and the only wonder i
 that they had not been contrived long be fsre Though anything but Implement
 of mischief''-though the inflated pape
 bag may become in the hands of the smal
 boy, an instrument to plague the sons o
 men"-the words of Milton apply to then very aptly:
 .'The invention all admired. and each, how he | To be the inventor missed; so easy it seemed
 Once found, which yet unfound most would hay
 thought
 Impossible"