Did you know these women pioneers who invented basic amenities we use today?

Women have made significant contributions to the invention and revolution of necessities, from basic comforts to modern conveniences. They pioneered advancements in technology and championed equality and diversity in traditionally male-dominated fields. Women have influenced the fabric of everyday existence, from shopping malls to dishwashers. Let’s take a look at some of them below:

Magaret Eloise Knight

Without the American inventor, best known for developing a machine that produces paper bags with a flat bottom, the paper bag industry may not have existed. She is referred regarded by historians as “the most famous woman inventor of the 19th century.”

Knight, was born on February 14, 1838, in York, Maine. She had a lifelong passion for tools and inventions. Magaret Knight was said to have manufactured toys for her brothers and gained local notoriety for her hand-built sleds and kites. Another of her inventions was she worked on a safety mechanism for motorised textile loom shuttle controls.

She created an attachment for paper bag folding machines in 1868 while residing in Springfield, Massachusetts, which made it possible to produce bags with square bottoms. She worked to perfect her idea until in 1870 when she received a patent for it. She never stopped creating, and by the time of her death in 1914, she had received patents for over 25 inventions, including a compound rotary engine and a machine for cutting soles for shoes.

Alice H. Parker

She was an African-American woman who was born in 1895 in Morristown, New Jersey. Alice Parker is known to be behind the invention of an indoor heating system using natural gas. She named it a “heating furnace”.

Parker’s intention was to provide an alternative to wood or coal for central heating that was more efficient. In December 1919, she was granted Patent 1,325,905  for her innovation. Parker, who had no prior trade expertise, invented the natural gas furnace because she believed it to be a safer, more flexible, more efficient fuel source. Her creation provided the foundation for the creation of modern-day heating systems.

Despite not much information about her is available, Alice Parker is believed to have graduated from Howard University with honours. This occurred during a period when African American women were not often college graduates.

Mary Anderson

Born Mary Elizabeth Anderson, the real estate developer became famous for her invention of the windshield wiper. Anderson acquired her patent on November 10, 1903. The patent was for the windscreen wiper, an automatic vehicle window cleaner that is operated from within the vehicle.

In the 20th century, Anderson discovered the idea to create a windscreen while riding a streetcar in New York. She noticed a driver struggling to see outside due to snow, and upon returning to Birmingham, she developed a design for a wiper.

As driving gradually became popular, the windshield wiper was finally modified for use in automobiles. She passed away on June 27, 1953 at 87 years old.

Hedy Lamarr 

Hedy Lamarr was an Austro-Hungarian-born American actress and technology inventor. She was a film star during Hollywood’s Golden Age who lived from November 9, 1914 to January 19, 2000.

Although Australian boffin John O’Sullivan was the brain behind WiFi, Hedy Lamarr discovered an important precursor, frequency hopping.

According to a report, Lamarr and George Antheil in Hollywood discovered “frequency hopping” in the 1940s, enabling allied torpedoes to hit targets without radio jamming. This method later became GPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi, heavily involved in WWII.

Despite Lamarr’s incredible contribution to society, the world only learned about her extraordinary intelligence after the release of the 2017 documentary Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story.

One of her known quotes is “People’s brains are more interesting than their looks”.

Melitta Bentz

Born Amalie Auguste Melitta Liebscher, Melitta Bentz was from a family of  entrepreneurs. Her grandparents ran a brewery, and her father worked as a bookseller and publisher. She was married to Johannes Emil Hugo Bentz, a small business owner.

The German entrepreneur invented the paper coffee filter sector in Germany in 1908.  Prior to her invention, coffee brewing involved adding fine coffee powder to boiling water and letting the powder sink to the bottom of the pot. The Dresden housewife eventually registered her new coffee filter with the patent office on 20 June 1908.

She was born on January 31, 1873, Dresden Germany, and died at 77 years old in 1950. Bentz is the founder of the company Melitta, which still operates under family control.

Marian Croak

She invented “vice over internet protocol”, the tech behind Zoom and Facetime. The 68-year-old Vice President of Engineering at Google has over 200 patents to her credit.

Marian Croak started her career in the early 1980s at Bell Laboratories which later became known as AT&T, where she worked in the Human Factors research division, examining the ways in which technology may improve people’s lives. The engineer rose to become the former Senior Vice President of Research and Development at AT&T.

In 2013, the soft-spoken genius was inducted into the International Hall of Fame for Women in Technology and the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2022. She was born on May 14, 1955.

Mary Kenner

She was a Black businesswoman and inventor. Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner was born on May 17, 1912 in Monroe North Carolina. Mary Kenner’s creative mind developed at a very young age. At six, she invented a self-oiling door hinge designed to reduce morning creaking noise, umbrella attachments using sponges for rainwater absorption, and a portable ashtray for cigarettes.

Despite facing racism her entire life, Kenner was a notable inventor of the 20th century who was awarded five patents. Some of the patents were a moisture-resistant compartment on a sanitary belt that enhanced women’s hygiene, an add-on for a wheelchair or walker that included a handy tray and a pocket for personal belongings, a holder for the toilet paper that made sure the loose end was always reachable, and a mounted back massager and washer that provided comfort.

Gladys West

Gladys Mae West is an American mathematician who broke barriers and changed technology. She developed the mathematical modelling of Earth’s shape, laying the foundation for GPS. The 93-year-old is known for the discovery of satellite geodesy which offer exceptional spatiotemporal resolution and coverage for precise measurements of the solid Earth, its surficial fluids, and their changes throughout time. Gladys became the fourth Black employee of the U.S. Naval Proving Ground, a weapons laboratory located in Dahlgren, Virginia, when she was hired in 1956 as a mathematician.

According to Britannica, Gladys West is frequently referred to as one of history’s “hidden figures”, a name given to people, frequently Black women, whose profound contributions to science were overlooked in their day due to factors related to their gender or ethnicity. The Virginia General Assembly publicly honoured West in 2018 for her contributions to the creation of GPS.

Josephine Cochrane

Josephine Cochrane invented the first hand-powered dishwasher in 1886. She constructed a set of wire sections that could hold saucers, cups, or plates. A motor operated a wheel inside a copper boiler that held the sections in place while pushing hot, soapy water out of the boiler’s bottom.

The machine was created and built by the American inventor with help from mechanic George Butters, who later joined her as an employee.

Cochran was born in Ohio on March 8, 1839. Cochran moved to Illinois and began designing a washing machine after frequently discovering that hand washing had damaged the plate ware.

Following the issuance of her patent, Garis-Cochran Dish-Washing Company will produce and distribute it. The dishwashing machine gained popularity in hotels and large restaurants after it was displayed at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition.