White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1923-07-06
Women Keep Pace in
Field Of Invention
Patent Office Records Show They Con-
tribute Their Share Of New
Discoveries.

"Womans Contributions in the
Field of Invention" Is the title Of a
bulletin just issued by the woman's bu-
reau of the department Of labor. 1t is
the result of study of records of the
U. S. patent office covering period
of 10 years, prefaced with review of
records of the patent office from the
beginning
The bulletin is an interesting hui
man document. 1t shows, first, that
in so far as patents secured by wom-
en- are concerned practically all of
them prove the truth of the old adage
that necessity Is the mother Of inven-
ton. 1t points out that the inventive
spirit flares out in response to calls
of emergency, necessity or inconyen-
| ience The impulse to devise and dis
cover new ways to meet old wants
stirs human beings in all walks of life
The washer woman inyents and Sc
cures a patent on a washboard that
protects the hands and lightens the
labor of rubbing. The nurse creates a
device to facilitate the care of the bed
ridden"
The bulletin states: For 10 years
after the enactment of the patent law
in 1890 not a single one Of the patents
issued was granted to woman. The
first successful application from a
woman was recorded in 1909 and was
for method of weaving straw with
silk or thread" For quarter of a
century afterward less than score Of
patents were granted to women.
The record of the last ten years
shows that there is an average of over
500 patents granted annually to wom-
en-. This is more than twice the num-
Der granted during the decade ending
| 1894 and five times the number during
the decade ending 1895. Prior to that
time the number of patents granted to
women were practically negligible.
The tabulated lists of patents grant
ed to women are very interesting and
| disprove the common charge that
women are vain rather than practical
During the period covered by the sur
vey only 1S inventions pertaining to
beauty parlors and vanity shops were
credited to women.
Most of the things women have In.
the household a holder for hot uten-
sils, kettle polisher and scraper, a
kitchen cabinet, washing machine,
carpet beaten, mattress turner,
mouse trap, and so on through list
of nearly 1,400 different items. Next
to household equipment the largest
number of inventions was of articles
| for personal wear or use, such things
as hooks and eyes, shoe strings, shoes,
and tooth brushes.
Women's inventive activities carry
them much farther af1eld, however,
than the household. Women on farms
have patented lot of contrivances to
make work easier or more efficient.
They haven't confined their magma
lions to poultry raising and dairying
but have invented cultivators. seed
planters, tractors and windmills, as
well as incubators and churns.
The same thing is true of all the
other phases of industry and the pro-
fessions. We have found women TAX
ing out patents for office supplies and
equipment, for improvements to steam
and street railway equipment, for
methods of road building, for machin-
cry of all sorts. as well as for many
kinds of tools, musical instruments,
toys and educational devices.
| 1t is interesting to know how wom-
en- came to invent all these different
things Sometimes just the name Of
the invention will tell us what caused
it. For instance, any one who has ever
MIXED COW can easily imagine what
caused one woman to invent COW
tail holder. Many Of US can sympa
thize with the woman who invented
reinforced wooden bowl after the
bowl in which she was working butter
split in two, spilling the butter into
her lap. A woman who had spent
many hot July days in hospital In
vented special window ventilator,
which would make the room less
stuffy.
This variety shows, more graph
cally than perhaps any other single
thing could, how women's activities
are spreading out to cover every field
Of occupation and endeavor. These
patented inventions are one more wit
ness to the fact that womens interests
cannot be RELOCATED to two or three
narrow fields.