Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-06-01


Interior Department was .
man's show. In that his sister
inventor had no share in It,
and yet:
The United States patent once was
not built for man alone. Its doors
were scarcely hung on their hinges
when the government swung them
wide to the first woman who applied
for admission. And they have been
open ever since.
Hundreds Of female models" are
entombed in the model morgue on G
street until fate makes up it's mind
whether or not they are to be treated
as genius or junk. Before that
quite a spell ago-they were on dis
play In a big, silent room in the Union
building. Where they will be the next
time they are written up will make
another story. as Homer said before
Kipling, and Adam before that.
Mary Kies. who obtained a patent in
1909 for straw weaving in silk or
thread" was the Eve of American
inventors. though Florida claims the
address. Her name was Adelena S.
Goodman. and she got her fame via a
device for broom brushes" in 1s49.
Almira M. Cole of Windham. Me-,
was our pioneer inventor to roam be-
yond the confines Of domesticity into
the fields Of man. Over a half CEN
fury ago that dear woman embodied
a dream into wood and CLANS and got
ont her patent for mounting fluid
lenses" II you had met that model
before It stepped of the Union build
ing shelf into its morgue. you never
would have understood what 1t was
all about But your ignorance would
have given you a mighty respect for
Almira.
Stored away in boxed oblivion is a
Submarine telescope" invented by Sa-
ran p. Mather Of Brooklyn. N. Y,
who received her patent in 1916. To
have seen that fuzxy-headed brass
cylinder in it's day Of exhibition was
to know that Sarah's men-foik fol-
lowed the water, and to study the de-
vice-provided you are Of the lucky
sort who can put two and two to-
gether and make five OF twas to
see. somehow. a woman tanned and
wind blown. to snin the pungency of
brine and to feel the rock of bound
ing pillows.
Ill Ron ~
Mary Jane Montgomery OF New York,
supplied another glimpse of the sea-
except that the shippers deck had
changed to q battleship, her invention
being parts Of war vessels, applying
to structures Of defense"
The inventive genius Of Mary A. AL
ward il represented in her present
prison by n spout attachment for
dumping CARTS" while Marie f. Bease-
ley Of Philadelphia brings one back to
the raging main with a life raft, for
which she received q patent in 1880
There are many such inventions in the
patent offices Of the world, due, you
may remember. to the award offered
by the heirs of Mr.. and Mrs. Pollock
OF this city. who were drowned at sea-
But you had only to look at this old
lnodel to feel that any convention OF
castaways would give first prize to
Mary.
The Patent Office Gazette proves that
woman inventors continue to hold
their own. Present day patents. doubt
less, represent serviceable ideas that
yield money returns. and in that re-
spect are superior to the old inven-
tions in the model morgue, many of
which must have turned out dead fail
ures. and yet
1t seems a pity to bury in the pot
ter's field of oblivion even the dead
failures Of such women as Sarah Ma
ther of New York and Miranda Cole
OF Maine.
A HOUSECLEANTNG woman tossed
lot Of gilded syca more balls in
the street-whereupon. something
happened that-to quote a dear brown
sugar woman in the street-"You
Amt lible to see onct in q thousan'
yeahs." TO-
Two sparrows, hidden from the
shower in some sheltered branch of
the tree overhead, must have noted the
cleaning lady's performance. for the