When we think about our world’s most famous inventors, usually quite a few men who come to mind. Someone like Benjamin Franklin is frequently listed, thanks to his prolific designs for everything from bifocal glasses to the lightning rod.
But it’s important for us all to recognize the amazing ladies who made impressive strides over time with their remarkable imaginations, providing creative solutions to all sorts of life’s pesky problems. It could be something as essential as the kevlar worn by our men and women on the front lines of war, or simple time-saving items, like our handy dishwashers.
I was surprised to see just how many things I use on a daily basis that wouldn’t exist without these clever women getting the idea first, and thatone of themhappened to also be a Hollywood starlet at the same time she was changing the world.
Did we miss your favorite female inventor? Let us know in the comments and be sure to SHARE with your friends!
1. Correction Fluid
Before her son Mike became a teen idol as a member of The Monkees, Bette Nesmith was a secretary in Texas, where she spent years perfecting the typo-correcting paint in the days before a simple delete key could do the trick. After patenting the product in 1958, she later sold it to Gillette in 1979 for the hefty sum of$47.5 million.
2. Flat Paper Bags
Back in 1868, long before cotton mill workerMargaret Knight designed the rectangular bottom design wereused to today, the sacks resembled mailing envelopes and weren’t able to hold nearly as much.
3. Disposable Diapers
Before tackling the idea of disposable diapers, housewifeMarion Donovan took a shower curtain and cloth diaper to her sewing machine in 1949, creating create what she called “boaters” to keep the mess inside, rather than on her childrens’ sheets.
Despite her success, her later attempts at selling a more disposable invention were rebuffed by the market, but wentgo on to inspirefuture diaper designs.
4. Wireless Communication
As an actress, Hedy Lamarr made a name for herself in classic films, but the screen beauty was also an avid inventor. With the help from composerGeorge Antheil, she patented someof the firstspread-spectrum communication technology, which led the way for things like WiFi and Bluetooth.
5. Computers
Not only didGrace Hopper invent the first compiler to translate written language into computer code the room-sizedMark I machine used atHarvard in 1944 she also coined the terms “bugging” and “debugging” when she rid the machine of pesky moths.
6. Kevlar
The super strong vests protectingour soldiers and officers from bullets wereactually an accidental discovery, done by chemistStephanie Kwolek in 1966 while she was attempting to create a lighter fiber for automobile tires.
7. Folding Desk Beds
In 1885, Sarah E. Goode became the first African American woman with a U.S. patent when she designed the space-saving desk, which could be transformed into abed. This was roughly15 years before Murphy beds hit the market.
8. Dishwashers
Most homes today still use the same mechanism perfected byJosephine Cochrane in1886 to cleanse their dishes after meals.
9. Windshield Wipers
WhenMary Anderson invented the initial hand-powered wipers for vehicles in 1903, the general population balked at the idea. They believed it was safer to drive with the windows obscured by rain or snow rather than brush it away. Unfortunately, by the time the system caught on, her patent had expired.
The automatic version that comes standard in every car now was also invented by a woman,Charlotte Bridgwood.
10. Circular Saws
Themembers of Tabitha Babbitt’sfellow Shaker community didn’t approve of filing a patent. However, they were happy to theeasier device designed by Babbittafter she createda prototype with her spinning wheel in 1813.
11. Modern Bras
Mary Phelps Jacob, who went by Caresse Crosby after her second marriage, loathed the idea of squeezinginto yet another corset before attending a party in 1910 so much so that she had her housekeeper help her fashion a brassiere out of two handkerchiefs and ribbon.
Did we miss your favorite creative female inventor? Let us know in the comments and be sure to SHARE with your friends!
Read more: http://www.littlethings.com/women-inventors/
