| Show by ELMO SCOTT WATSON uther day an illinois woman was granted a patent by the united states patent for a secret envelope I 1 e one which cannot be steamed open its con tents read and be sealed without detection 0 the fact that it has been with immell there were col new sparer publicity about woman inventor as though woman in that role Is unique to the average person slie Is perhaps for we commonly think of the inventive genius of woman in terms of the block joke about her ability to do an innumerable number of things with a hairpin when necessity demands it As a matter of fact women inventors are becoming more nu berous every vear as the records of the united states patent office will show the bureau of the united stated department of recently made an analysis of those records to determine comans womans part in age of and revealed what will be an astonishing fact to many persons that at laist government patents a acar are now granted to women inventors and that more patents were granted to in a recent ten year period than were issued during the whole century ind ing in 1895 although the number of talen out by men Is some 70 times da many as the number taken out by the other sex the tae increase for women from decade to decade has exceeded that of the men by as much as per cent in some ears an other striking fact Is that war deemi to be a strong incentive to comans womans producing new ti lings before the civil war about bialt u dozen patents a year were granted to women during the war and n the beirs that tol lowed the gumbir of patents 0 o en increased sto dlly ilsung at times to more than ilie decade of 1857 to daw an increase of per cent in the number of ai patented by as coin pared to 90 per cent for the men lq the same period although it ta yet too early to pre diet what effect hi this lc aird alie world war will have ft Is tiu that the number of patents taken out hv women from 1918 tp 1921 as ut u t per cent than from 1912 to 1918 even at that the pre corid war period was one of great activity for women inventors for in that time alun patents were granted to women in ten selected years from 1905 to 1921 a number which far exceeds the total number granted them during the span of yeara which ended in 1805 As might bo expected the majority of women s inventions are those which have to do with their household duties but they are far from being limited to that and they cover a wide range of activity in CO industries coal mining through agricultural machinery hospital equipment manufacturing equipment chemicals artificial fuels wood turning even to submarine explosives plo I 1 before you exclaim ivr that last however consider a list ot inventions by w omen which proves that the mothers of men who are pro verb lally opposed to the war which robs them of their lius bands and sons are still doing their part to perpetu ate its horrors this list includes automatic pistols bomb launching apparatus a cane gun an incendiary ball railway torpedoes sights for guns submarine mines and a top for poev der cans oman the citizen Is responsible for inventions of voting booths voting machines and a pocket ballot woman the scientist lias given us new avea and new dve bases cheat cal treatment of oils for purposes artificial fuels gas atu compressors atus street railway necessities arm road bed and rails through rolling stock equipment to traffic signals and block systems soma of the reasons given by the women for their inventions are among alie most interesting facts connected their work A large number of reasons of coune come under the proverbial he id of necessity fie mother bof invention one invention reason turned its bene fits in ii direction different intention A bomin who had been much an SA L it of 01 ol lodged in or dropping into streams dinv inv ente djin adjustable rale to cr tue errant balls the wider use falness rake was soon apparent andoga and enas now have a golf biach er to th ask for making work lighter A JN woman who took out a pats ent for an improvement on a tor tongue which lightened the bur den of the said that having been raised on a farm and seeing that was needed improvement on cultivator tongues I 1 made up my mind to improve upon the old style ones A minnesota woman invented a portable smoke aliouse because ai slie explained it As a farmers wife my duty was to cure meats for summer use and smoked meat la very favored in my family I 1 tried to smoke mine without expense and after I 1 had completed this device I 1 used it successfully for two eara before I 1 obtained a patent upon it it Is in lightening her home duties that the american housewife finds her best reason for turning to anven lion in this realm hec new devices include alarms tor cooking utensils juice extractors kettle protectors sieve cleaning devices waffle irons ash cans laundry equipment broom racks stovepipe cleaners napkin holders bed airing devices high chairs bathroom fixtures an automatic rocking chair fan awnings clothes containers and ant traps domestic difficulties sometimes result in invention as witness the case of the woman who invented a pie pan cover because of the overflowing of alcy the best of the pie Is wasted leaving the part in the crust and these are only a few of tha many new de ices for which the world cun thank the women one of them la rev perhaps but for they benefit by making life easier that Is immaterial what it so ar mere man has been cespon elble r all of the most important invent ons including those such aa th typewriter tipe writer and the sewing ma i chine which have meant so much to comei incidentally it might ba added that allas ves invention of the se ang machine vv as not greeted with enthusiasm by tha womer odthe time was It feminine which prompted soine of to opposition when the first came upon the market bacs aas they would take awaya the livelihood of the poor sewing worn en this increase in comans womans inventive activity as shown by the re of the may be indicative of the importance t women in every of life and heuay set see some new device 0 I 1 and all time Significance 1 conceived in a comans womans mind and i molded hy a comans womans hano fl |
