Omaha daily bee., 1908-10-25
WOMEN TO SHOW INVENTIONS
One Feature Of the Coming Suffrage
Bazaar.
WIDE SCOPE OF THEIR IDEAS
Feminine Progress of Late Years
Marked by an I~ncreasins NumSs
0f PRtents--women now
ProhtInk by Ingenuity.

PrOhtinE by Ingenuity
NEW YORK. oct. 2A-Inventions are
coming in from ali parts Of the country
for the exhibit OF women's inventions to
be made at the suffrage bazaar at the
Martha Washington on November 6 and Z.
Many of them will be displayed by demon
strators and the sales made will be for
the benefit OF suffrage.
The original intention was to have only
domestic labor saving inventions, but the
scope has widened a little. No woman.
for instance, could bar out the Individual
car strap, invented n now manufactured
by Mrs. j. M. Merrick of Boston. There
is something especially appropriate in this
invention, significant OF the new woman
in the crowd without even a strap to hang
on to.
1t is merely a car strap with a hook.
which a woman may carry around in a
shopping bag and hook in the bar in a
street car. or since car straps. like every
thing else made by man, are fixed at
mans height. she can hook II into an
other strap, n she can get one. and stand
without having her arm strained above
her head and her sleeve slipping back TO
her shoulder.
More significant than even this is the
latch key invented by another new woman,
and better than the latter is "the device
for lowering a key from a window in
vented by a third. Could wlfely devotion
go further unless she invented a non
vanishing keyhole for him to carry around
with him?
Mrs. M. r. Bissell has sent a carpet
9uysannn oon1tfortnra1 hu a ao1apapu Af
which she is president. Mrs. Mary J.
Day Of Nswburgh, has had on the market
for = years waist and sleeve pressing and
ironing boards. which are used in laun-
dIies and dressmakers' shops. A blind
woman or New York City has invented a
broom holder; merely a little iron ring
which screws into the wall and clasps
securely around the broom handle. but
useful and soothing, since a broom stand
ing against the wall is e~ternally falling
down and getting under foot, and destroys
its own shape by standing on It's business
end. Then there is a "meat tenderer," In
vented by Mrs. Rose B.. Lavigne Of Detroit,
an implement for making steak tender.
Mrs. Cornelia b.. Robinson Of New York
is vice president OF the company which
is putting a sanitary garbage receptacle
OF her invention into new apartment
houses, Another appliance shown will be
a dish washing machine invented by Mrs.
Josephine Cochrane, q Chicago woman,
which is used in hotels. Mrs. Cochrane is
manager OF the company that manufac-
lures and puts the machine on the market.
Another device shown is a safety de-
livery box for milk, bread and other food
on an apartment house dumbwaiter. mo
more stolen milk was the slogan of this
wcn an inventor. The box locks auto
matically and keeps the food clean as well
as safe. This woman is also manufacture
ing her own invention.
This sounds a little different from the
story of poor Nancy johnson in 1S4S.
Nancy Invented that integral part of occi-
dental civilization, the ice cream freezer.
She sold her patent for $500. She didn't
known any better. Had sne held on to it
she might have made millions.
More than 5000 patents have been granted
to women since the United States patent Of
flee was established. This IS a slim show
ing on the face, but analysis changes It's
aspect.
The government established the patent
office in 1890. No woman took out a patent
for nineteen years. Then six years elapsed
before another followed her. In the ninety
eight years from 1870 to 1888 1893 inventions
were patented by women. Since then over
1900 have been patented. inventions by
women are being patented now at the RAE
Of between 200 and 300 a pear.
The 4,1s7 inventions attributed to women
may be roughly classified as follows: Do
nestle labor saving appliances, chiefly for
kitchen work, 1,16S; domestic furnishings
4se; dress, 400; medical, z4z; for children
ISL; educational appliances, So; miscella.
neous, including machinery, tools, utensils
articles of commerce, 1852.
A distinguished woman who writes ant
lectures against the present system o.
domestic life for women loves to say tina.
the woman OF today is doing her work ex
aotly as the primitive squaw did. ex
cept that she is surrounded by the lnven
tions and appliances Of civilization witt
which man has provided ner." Figure
seem to show that woman herself has haI
something to do with making her owl
work easier; 1853 inventions would furnlsI
, a pretty good-siEed kitchen.
Egg beaters. washing machines. brea
mixers. baking pans. double boilers wome
have patented galore; lap boards and fruI
II Jars they have required to constant
through the century; folding tables and a
s kinds of devices for holding work hav
n been favorites with them, A rolling pi
combined with other implements" has a
ominous sound. There Is a bloodthlrst
touch In "a method for the exterminatio
Of mosquitoes" and It is appropriate this
a New Jersey woman should have invente
it. Strange to say, no woman has ever il
II vented a mousetrap.
1t Thirty-three times during the last Gel
fury, once every three years. has a woms
patented a ~flatlron. Woman has not dor
much with machinery, but she has in
n proved such machines as she came in CO..
m tact with. In 1S41 the sewing machiI
T. dawned upon her horizon, and since thu
ct she has patented some 125 improvements
ar II. Miss Helen Blanchard made a fortui
~ out Of a sewing machine attachment. Son
at years later the typewriter and the blcyc
I'd were presented to woman and she n
patented a number of improvements
ar them.
OF The AGO articles OF dress patented are n
" all frivolous. Hooks and eyes, buttons Al
re buckles and the 4plce promoting safety pi
r. enter the list.
The corset has troubled woman all alo
a down the century. II was the seco
invention she ever pa.ented, in 1915, a
OF f~o,, th,., AN 4po- -. -.. 80 49,