Mary P. Carpenter
Mary P. Carpenter or Mary P.C. Hooper (c.1840 – c.1905) was an American inventor from Buffalo, New York credited with seventeen patents over her lifetime. She also founded two companies, the "Carpenter Sewing Machine Co." and the "Carpenter Straw Sewing Machine Co.". Biography. Not much is known about Carpenter's life outside of her prolific inventing career. According to the 1855 New York census she was living in Buffalo with her parents and six siblings. Her father's occpation was listed as mechanic. In 1870-1872, Carpenter lived in San Francisco, as a teacher. Additionally her two patent  applications from 1870 for a sewing machine and a sewing machine mechanism state that she applied for them in San Francisco. In 1872, it appeared she was now living in New York City since her next eight patent applications are from New York. She married George W. Hooper, a physician from Boston in 1879 and her later patents from 1885 onwards can be found under her married name of Mrs. Mary P.C. Hooper.