Arizona republican., 1907-06-30
MANY WOMEN INVENTORS.
Mary kies Took Out a Patent on an
Oven 100 Years Ago.

The United States patent office 4
not a repository for masculine idool
alone. The doors OF that Institutes
were scarcely hung on their hlngc:
when the government swunG Their
wide to the first woman inventGr Ufs
! applied for admission. They hope fefl
open ever since.
According to the rec0r1a hat go
back to 1890. Mary K&eaL ~ obta fned
patent in 1900. for $500 viewing
ir silk or thread" wasr1be Eye Of
American woman inventors Miss
Kies is followed by twenty-o one women
whose local habitations, like hers, do
not appear on the official list, and
though the majority Of the patents
granted them are CLEANED from the
nursery and kitchen" there are others
OF wider range. One. for instance Is
for extracting fur from skins Of ami
mails and making it into yarn" An
other is for straw cutting and fod-
der" while Elizabeth Dram comes to
the front with globe for the teach
ing Of geography"
Florida claims the first woman in
ventor whose address IS given. Her
idiIlc WIS iueitIli - bbouiiteiii.s anu
she. obtained a patent for broom
brushes in 1S49.
Almira NJ. Cole Of Windham. Me.
was our first woman inventor To forge
beyond the confines OF domesticity
into the fields Of men. Nearly half a
century ago she embodied one of her
clever ideas into glass and wood and
got n patent for mounting fluid
lenses
In a vast room where the patent Of
flee has stored its old models there
are two cases that represent the work
of women inventors. The greatest val
ne of this exhibit depends altogether
upon whether YOU look at ii a. genius
OF junk. one of the first exhibits 10
catch the eye. because IL is one Of the
largest and most conspicuously placed.
is a brass cylinder that locks to the
Uninitated like an andiron with a
fuzzy head The attached card tells
you that is IS a submarine telescope,
which Sarap p. Mather of Brooklyn.
y. Y, patented in 1si5.
Mrs. Jane Montgomery Of New York
gives another glimpse OF green bill
lows. but her invention is labeled War
Vessels; Parts Applying to Structures
o. Defense" and if It wasn't for the
visitors ability to see things not on
the program her model would be mere
ly combination of brass and wood
that suggests a typewriter lacking the
keys.
Mary Ann Frost of Ohio has two
models to her credit. One is a brown
wooden something that looks like a
cribbage board. 1t is nothing so fri
volous, however. for the perforated top
comes off and exposes its hidden mer-
its as a corpse cooled" There is no
mistaking the second exhibit The be-
holder is so shudderingIy sure of its
being a coffin that he fairly sees a
funeral procession and hears mourn
ers weeping at grave.
Anna French's invention is likewise
gloomy. for under a glass seated frame
is clump of faded flowers in silk and
chenille labeled floral ornaments for
tombstones." Other melancholy ladies'
contributed similar flowers for NOR
tuary purposes. and another card tag
ged to forlorn cluster makes it known
that they were intended either for the
parlor or the tomb
Mary F. Beasley of PHILADELPHIA
brings the visitor back to the bounding
main with life raft" for which she
was granted a patent in 1880. The
wooden bottom is inclosed with wire
netting and is provided with a pair of
lashed oars
Jane p. Clement has an improvement
Ia hens nests" and near this laudable
device sprawls a dried chicken foot.
shackled with a wire yoke and labeled
"anti-scratch." No name is attached
to this model, but the accommodating