Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 February 1920 — Inventions by Women Are on Increase—First Was by Connecticut Matron [ARTICLE]

Inventions by Women Are on Increase —First Was by Connecticut Matron

The first patent taken out by a woman was for a process of weaving straw with silk by a Mrs. Mary Kiser of Connecticut in 1809, and she has had, as time went on, many followers in ingenuity, so that at Washington there is a woman’s department, with the specifications of the patents arranged in chronological order, observes London Tit-Bits. _ . _ ——— — It was not till 1894 that the British comptroller general of patents thought it worth while to ascertain the number of woman inventors, and the war has naturally decreased their numbers, but whereas there were nearly 400 applications for patents from women in 1913, in 1914 there were 350, and in 1917 253, and in 1918, 286, so that the total Is rising again. During the war the oustanding invention was Mrs. Bertha Ayrton's fan for sending back gas and smoke fumes. Other inventions of national importance of late years were Mrs. Ernest Hart’s for waterproofing fabrics, a discovery of wHch use was made by the admiralty, war office, railway companies, etc., and Mrs. Cayley-Robin-son’s patent for a semi-gas furnace, which was intended to revolutionize heating, as it is said to reduce expenditure by one-sixth on fuel,- consuming all waste products, such as cinder, soot, smoke and ashes.