Mothers of Invention

By Eilene Lyon  –  May 5, 2020

“Necessity is the mother of invention” – a proverb

Why “mother” and not father? I suspect women frequently find themselves in need of a solution to a problem. We tend to be multi-taskers by tradition and that means shortcuts and mechanical aids come in real handy. Plus, we’re plenty intelligent. But women today still lag far behind men in obtaining patents for their designs.

On this date in 1809 Mary Dixon Kies was the first woman to receive a U.S. patent for her brain child, a process for weaving straw hats with silk. Because in the early days of this country women couldn’t own property if they were married, they generally did not seek to patent their inventions. Mary Kies decided to do it anyway.

Even today, many of the women named on patents are part of a mixed-gender team. Only 12% of inventors receiving patents in 2016 were women. In the previous decade, women-only patents made up just 4% of all patents issued. Though women are approaching parity in employment in many science and technology fields, they do not seek patents as often as their male counterparts. There may also be some bias in the patenting process itself, but not enough study has been done to come to any definitive conclusion.

I unofficially declare May 5, 2020 to be Women Inventors Day.

Let’s hope that our society will improve the ways we teach and encourage women so their inventive ideas will come to fruition, making the world a better place. Women deserve to have protection and compensation for their creations, just as men have been receiving since 1790.

Here are just a few women who hold U.S. patents, with links to their Wikipedia pages. You can also find stories about more female inventors at CNN and USAToday.

Bette Nesmith Graham. Inventor of Liquid Paper correction fluid, originally patented as “Mistake Out” in 1956. Started her own company to produce the product and eventually sold it to Gillette Corporation.

Maria Beasley. Held 15 U.S. and two U.K. patents. The best known are her barrel-making machine and a life raft.

Gertrude B. Elion. A Nobel-winning biochemist and pharmacologist, Elion was the first woman inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Her work led to the development of the first effective drugs to treat HIV/AIDS.

Marie Van Brittan Brown. Co-inventor with her husband of a home security system for which they received a patent in 1969.

Josephine Cochrane. Invented the first commercially successful automatic dishwasher, receiving a patent in 1886.

Feature image: Patent drawing for Lizzie J. Magie’s board game, The Landlord’s Game, which became the model for the game Monopoly. (Wikimedia Commons)

Sources:

https://www.uspto.gov/ip-policy/economic-research/publications/reports/progress-potential

https://www.ipwatchdog.com/2019/02/13/uspto-only-four-percent-patents-name-women-only-inventors-in-last-decade/id=106254/

https://www.iam-media.com/patents/five-key-takeaways-usptos-report-women-and-patents

https://law.stanford.edu/2018/11/23/new-research-on-gender-differences-in-obtaining-and-maintaining-patent-rights/

https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/why-do-women-inventors-win-fewer-patents

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/women-less-successful-when-applying-for-patents-30853