Inventions Of Women You May Not Know
We all know how women’s rights crumbled in the patriarchal world before. That was one of the reasons why women were not as rewarded as men. During the last period of the 20th century, you can find only 10% of women came out to be female inventors because, at that time, it was rare to acknowledge a woman’s credit and reward her for her credit.
It happened primarily because of property law. It stopped women from having any recognition. For example, when Sybilla Masters founded a new way of turning corn into cornmeal, her patent was awarded to her husband Thomas instead of hers. Many things women created had been lost in the history of time because this property law forbade women to possess any intellectual property, the patent being one of them.
But certainly, women have created many things that we do not know about despite being recognised for their contribution. In this article, we are about to discuss the top 10 things that women invented.
Top 10 Inventions of Women
If we talk about women inventors all over the world, then there are plenty. Some of them we know, while others are still unknown to us. But just like women of any other country, there were plenty of Indian inventors who were female. We have mentioned the names of the top 10 female inventors and their inventions below. Read along to know what those are:
Organic Chemistry
Asima Chatterjee was an Indian chemist mostly known for contributing to Organic chemistry and Phytochemistry. After graduating from Scottish Church College of the University of Calcutta in 1936, she pursued her research on Vinca Alkaloids (known for having anti-cancer properties. Not only that, but she is also the developer of antimalarial drugs and anti-epileptic drugs. Even today, if you want to find out about Indian inventors, her name will likely appear in the first row.
Indian Women Inventor
Circular Saw
In the 18th century, a religious sect called Shakers emerged who lived communally. They lived their life with sexual equality and hard work. Tabitha Babbitt, one of the members of the Shaker community, worked as a weaver. She observed her brothers cutting wood with a Pit saw. This machine required two men to pull the Pit saw forward once and then backwards once. But the Pit saw only cut wood when it was pulled forward.
So, Babbitt invented a circular saw and attached the spinning wheel with it to be able to cut the wood without wasting any time. This is one of the best inventions by women.
Womens’ Creation
Chocolate Chip Cookie
Many of you must know the name of Nestle Toll House for her invention of chocolate chip cookies. It is one of the things women created that later became famous. But the story of the creation of the chocolate chip cookies is not known to everyone. Ruth Bakefield, later known as Nestle Toll House, took a chocolate bar, used its pieces, and dropped them on a batter. She used the chocolate pieces because she ran out of baker’s chocolate. This recipe later became so famous that Nestle approached her, and she was awarded a patent.
Liquid Paper
Bette Nesmith Graham was not a good typist. She found it challenging to retype the entire page because of a small mistake. But one day, after noticing the workers adding another layer of paint on a painting, she thought of mixing the water-based tempera paint with colour. Soon she was able to correct her errors with a fine watercolour brush. She named it liquid paper, which later became one of the best inventions by women.
Harvard Mark I
Admiral Grace Murray Hopper worked on IBM’s Harvard Mark I computer when she posted at Harvard University. She was one of the people who programmed the computer. She was also the one who wrote a manual of operations based on this.
Kevlar
Before going to medical school, Kwolek had a part-time job where she made Kevlar. This is used to make bulletproof jackets, helmets, camping gear, bridge cables, etc. This is one of the best things invented by women. Though she did not attend medical school, she saved many lives through her discovery.
Flare System
When Martha Coston found the plans for the flare system in her late husband’s notebooks, she requested to test the system. After failing once, she kept on going for ten years. Later she applied some pyrotechnic technology to her flare system to make the flare system work. Later this system was widely used in the civil war. This is undoubtedly one of the top 10 things that women invented.
Dishwasher
Josephine Cochrane invented the dishwasher by getting frustrated with her maids breaking her precious china dishes. But after her husband’s death, she sold her dishwasher to large hotels and restaurants, making it popular among people.
Windshield Wiper
Mary Anderson visited New York City and rode a tram for the first time. When she saw that the tram driver had to get off the vehicle and wipe off the accumulated ice on the window, she thought of creating a windshield wiper. She developed a squeegee on a spindle and attached it to a handle inside the tram. This helped the tram driver to pull the handle and wipe off the ice. This later inspired many car makers to build a wiper for their cars.
Submarine Telescope and Lamp
Though it is difficult to find any information about Sarah Mather, her discovery of the submarine telescope and lamp is well known to everyone. She was awarded a patent for her discovery in 1845. This is also one of the things invented by women that brought a significant change later.
Conclusion
Women invent many things. Just like men, women have always been strong in inventing new things. The difference is that we do not know about all of them. However, it does not change the fact that many things we use today are women’s inventions. From wipers to bulletproof jackets, many things we use even today have been discovered by some great women. If you want, you can also read about them.
