The herald., 1897-08-08
Household Articles and Co.'S
meticS Objects of Femi-
nine Genius.
NEW ENGLAND WOMEN AHEAD.
Nose ImprOverS and Dimple Ma
chimes Among Devices Of
W0man's Invention.

VINO says the mind OF woman Is sim.
ply initiative and utterly lacking the
inventive quality? Let him visit the
United States patent office at Washing
ton and be undeceived.
The first woman to take out a patent
in this country was named Mary Kies.
1t was perfected on May 5, 1909, the de-
vice on which protection was obtained
being "a new method of weaving straw
with silk and thread" 1t was six years
afterward in 1915 that Mary Brush got
woman patentees increased in number.
though. more than once, a year, and
sometimes two, elapsed during which
no woman applied for protection for an
invention.
BY far the greater number of patents
granted TO women have been for inven-
tions pertaining to women's dress and
household duties. A large proportion of
the rising of 5000 washing machine pat
ents were taken out by members of the
fair sex, and they are also responsible
for many of the hundreds of patents on
churns. The household patents have in
cluded clothes baskets and dishwash-
ers; dough raising devices and dress
skirt elevators; in fact there is hardly
an article of clothing or an operation in
house-work that has not been the sub
ject of study on the part of the in
ventive woman. In one line, the hustle,
women secured many patents which at
first seemed likely to be extremely valu-
able to their holders. Since then they
have lost most or all of their money
making power When the patents were
issued it was almost a disgrace for a
woman to appear on thestreets withouta a
hustle, but relentless fashion has made a
complete face about. and bustles are as
much out of it now as their predeces-
sors, hoop skirts. 1t is interesting to
watch group of bustleless modern wo-
men examining the glass cases filled
with hustle models at the patent office,
and making comments on the absurdity
of the fashion that compelled their, use
in the years gone by. 1t seems signifi-
cant to mere men that one in every six
patents granted to women is on some
Improvement of the corset and that
next to the corset comes the crimping
iron and similar devices for beautify-
ing the hair. Cosmetics are next in or
der and one woman applied for patent
on method of making a dimple. Brief
ly described, her plan was to smear q
small spot on the cheek or chin with
colorless shellac varnish mixed with
glue, and then with a pencil or other
pointed instrument make dent" In
the yielding flesh and hold it in place
until the shellac dried hard. All traces
of the varnish were to be rendered in
visible by the skillfu use of face-pow-
der. The inventor admitted in her ap-
plication that her invention would not
be of as much value to women with thin
and bony faces as to those with plump
and bonny ones. 1t is not likely that
this had anything to do with the patent
commissioners decision, but he declined
to grant the patent.
Among other inventions designed to
increase personal beauty that took its
patent all right is nose improver. Its
chief feature is a metal shell of the ex-
act size and shape desired. This shell
is to be placed on the nose at night aft
er that organ has been well anointed
with olive oil or glycerine. In the morn
ing a nose bath in hot water is sup
posed to take away any resulting sore
ness.
Sleep may be induced, according to
mother woman patentee, by a curious
invention consisting of a collar-like
rubber neck band, so made that by
proper adjustment the flow of blood to
the head may be regulated. Still an
ther woman's invention that attracts
he attention is a combination crimping
hin which in addition to the purpose
indicated by it's name, can be used as
paper cutter, skirt supporter paper
file, child's pin, bouquet holder, shawl
fastener and book mark.
1t is to the credit of New England.
perhaps. that the percentage granted
to women from that section of the I'm
ion is much larger than the proportion
of New England's population as COM
pared with that of the entire country.
1t is also to the credit of women-per-
haps-that the proportion of general
patents among those granted to them
is increasing every year.
1t was a Philadelphia woman who
changed the current of womans prac-
tical inventions from household appa-
ratus and wearing apparel to articles
of wider application. She devised a
new hive for honey bees and got it
patented, and at about the same time
another Philadelphia woman took out
letters patent for scheme to prevent
the journals of railroad trucks from
heating. Then there came patent to
still another woman of that city for a
railroad car heater. Soon after this
patent had been issued a California
woman invented and patented device
for desulphurizing ores, a Georgia wo-
man followed with a plow, and AFTER
that inventions of general utility pat
ented by women increased in number
rapidly.
But women inventors do not yet APP
proach men inventors in numbers the
proportion being only about one half
per cent, or one in two hundred. Nei-
ther do the majority of women inventors
as yet devote their ingenuity to things
other than those which appeal directly
to their fellow women.
Cor1vricht 1907 hv ne ~. o1r,.. =