The representative., 1898-05-04
WOMEN AS INVENTORS.
The Number is Increasing RAPIDLY
Each Year.

The number of women who each year take
out patents is constantly increasing For
nearly 20 years after the establishment of
the United States patent office or from 1890
to 1909 there was not single patent granted
to woman; but from January to December.
since 1892. over 300 patents have been annu-
ally granted to women. The inventive genius
of the feminine mind is shown by the wide
range of articles upon which patent rights
have been granted to them. They stretch
from improved baby carriages to machines
for making straw braid and from needle
threading devices to portable field hospitals
for army use That woman can rise to the
occasion if need be is shown by the fact
that from 1860 to 1866, there was constant
increase in the number of patents issued to
women, and strange as 1t may seem, many
of them were for most deadly and deStruc-
tive implements and munitions of war: while
on the other hand, the natural instinct Of
woman was shown by the fact that hospital
appliances and sick room devices were also
predominant.
the whole land, woman has come to the
fore as an imprOver of the silent steed and
many the rights asked for during the
past Il months by women who claim to have
made improvements Un the wheel. One fav-
orite device, and one at which there have
been as many attempts at Improvement as
any, is a scheme whereby the mother can
enjoy all the pleasures of the wheel and
at the same time not neglect the baby. The
material imagination seems to run riot with
contrivances to combine the bicycle with a
perambulator, and all sorts of schemes have
been devised with that end in view. The
first patent right ever granted to a woman
in the United States was issued in 1909, and
was on a device for weaving straw with
silk or thread. Since that time innumerable
weaving devices have been patented by
women, until last year there We're 30 differ
ent machines submitted, and on which rights
were issued.
From 1909. when the first right was is
sued, until 1888, the annual average Of wo-
mans inventions was thirty. From 1888
until 1892 the annual average had increased
to 250 per year. These figures are some
what misleading, as it was not until the
early SOS that women began ito appear to
any extent inventors. In 1926 there were
IA patents granted to women. In 1870 60
rights were issued; in 1880 at least 80. while
10 years later. in $780, the total number had
jumped to 200. n
Naturally improvements upon wearing
apparel seem to receive most attention
from feminine inventors. During the past
two years there have beensover 100 different
improvements upon womans dress filed at
the patent office. Again, the bicycle seems
in many cases, to be the cause for this.
There are all manner of hooks and fas-
teners peculiarly adapted to the use OF
wheelwomen. Leggings OF peculiar design
and almost every conceivable sort of dvid-
ed skirt appear in the catalogue Of the pat
ent office, to say nothing Of hats, warranted
to stay on in the fiercest blow, without the
aid OF either hatpins or elastic. Corsets
are fruitful subject for Improvement by
feminine inventors, and there are almost
as many different styles and designs as
there are days in the year The woman
who aspires to be an inventor does not al
ways confne her genius to what is COM
monty termed "woman's realm" Besides
patenting varieties of cooking utensils.
furniture, heating washing and cleaning
articles and spinning machinery. she ha $
branched out and has secured patent rights
upon surgical instruments. mechanical
toys. printing and blotting apparatus, box
eS, baskets and even horseshoes and
motors.-Philadelphi Times