Female inventors. Inventions of household items

Female Inventors Inventions of household items

Nancy Maria Donaldson Johnson (1794 –1890) Nancy Johnson was an American woman born in New York. Nancy Johnson was known as the inventor of the first wooden ice-cream freezing machine in 1843. The ice cream maker was a manual device that was cranked by a handle. Inside the maker, a wooden pail contained crushed ice while an inner tin contained the ice cream mix to be frozen. Nancy Johnson signed up for a patent for this device in September 1846. Johnson sold rights to the maker to William Young for $200 dollars. The name of the invention remained “Jonson-Patent Ice Cream Maker”. Johnson’s invention simplified the process of making ice cream.  

Margaret E. ​Knight​ (1838 – 1914)  

Josephine ​Cochrane (1839 – 1913) Josephine was born in Ashtabula County, Ohio, in 1839. Her great-grandfather was an inventor and her father was a civil engineer, but she didn’t receive any formal education in the sciences. Josephine enjoyed entertaining guests in her home, but she noticed that her fine china was becoming chipped when her servants were scrubbing her dishes in the sink. Determined to find a better way to wash dishes, she designed a machine with a rack to rest the dishes on and water jets to spray off any waste. She patented her design in 1886 and began manufacturing her invention for her friends as well as advertising in local papers. Soon, businesses such as restaurants and hotels began purchasing the machine. At the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, Josephine won an award for her design. Cochrane’s company eventually became KitchenAid, part of the Whirlpool Corporation that makes many of today's modern dishwashers.  

Sarah Boone (1832 – 1904) Sarah Boone was an African American inventor and dressmaker who revolutionized the process of ironing with her improved ironing board design. On April 26, 1892, Boone was granted a patent for her invention.

Amalie Auguste Melitta Bentz  ( 1873 – 1950) Melitta Bentz, a German entrepreneur, invented the coffee filter in 1908. Bentz was often bothered by the coffee grounds in her cup of coffee. To remedy this, she used a piece of blotting paper from her son’s notebook as a filter. In June 1908, Bentz was granted a patent for her innovation, the “coffee filter.” Shortly afterward, she started a business to sell this product on a larger scale. Today, Melitta Bentz's invention is still in use and has evolved with advancements in coffee brewing technology. Her company, still a family-run business, has grown into a global enterprise, offering a range of coffee-related products. The paper coffee filter remains a popular method for brewing coffee, especially in drip coffee makers.

Florence Wilhelmina Parpart Layman (1873 – 1930)

Alice H. Parker (1895 – 1920)

Hedy Lamarr (1914 - 2000) Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian-born American actress, inventor, and film producer. She invented a secret communications system during World War II for radio‐controlling torpedoes. This technology also paved the way for everything from Wi‐Fi to GPS and Bluetooth now used by billions of people around the world.