It’s Friday and we are back with another installment of our ‘Epic women in History’ series. In our past articles, we simply listed the women’s names and their inventions/accomplishments. Well, we’ve decided to delve a little deeper into these women’s background and stories, hoping it will give you an even deeper appreciation for what they were up against. Today we’re going to talk about five women whose brilliance makes us super proud to be women.
1. Maria Beasley (1836–1913)
Maria Beasley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is known for securing at least 15 inventions that include a foot warmer, anti-derailment device for trains and a barrel making machine that earned her an estimated income of $20,000 a year — at a time where the average working woman was only making $3 dollars a day. This was back in 1878, so in today’s money, this would translate to roughly $450,000! But Beasley wasn’t done yet.
In 1880, she invented an improved design for the life raft and received a patent for it in 1882. At the time, the life rafts ships used in cases of emergencies were simple planks with hollow floats. In making the improved raft, Beasley’s goal was a fire-proof life raft that would readily launched. Her version of the raft was compact and could be folded for storage but could be easily unfolded when an emergency came up. Despite her many inventions, Beasley was listed as an unemployed housewife during the 1880 US census. Other inventions attributed to Beasley are a steam generator, which was patented in 1886. She also invented baking and roasting pans.
2. Mary Anderson (1866-1953)
During a visit to New York City in 1902, Mary Anderson was being driven in a car in bad weather. She was a real estate developer at the time. There were no windshield wipers on cars at the time and the only option was to open the front window panes of the car. Once she returned to Alabama, Anderson dedicated time towards coming up with a solution. She created a lever that could be attached to a car that had a rubber blade on it to wipe away rain from the windshield.
Other devices similar to this one had already been made, but Anderson’s version proved to be the very first effective model. When she introduced her invention to car manufacturers, they initially did not see the value in it. Many mocked her for the idea, and some thought that the moving wipers would be a distraction to drivers. A Canadian firm turned up their nose at the invention stating that they did not “consider it to be of such commercial value as would warrant our undertaking its sale.”
Some speculate that the decision not to take up Anderson’s invention was because of her independence. She didn’t have a husband, a son or a father (he died in 1870). However in 1903, the United States Patent Office awarded Anderson with a patent for her window cleaning device. And by 1913, many Americans were now driving their own cars and the mechanical windshield wipers were standard equipment for cars.
3. Melitta Bentz (1873-1950)
Melitta Bentz was a German entrepreneur. She invented the coffee filter in 1908 and credited with making coffee easier to brew. As a housewife, she became frustrated with how difficult it was to make a cup of coffee. Back then, coffee percolators were more commonly used over brewed coffee beans — their version of espresso machines back then left grounds in the beverage and the linen bag filters were very hard to clean. Bentz experimented with a few different types of materials and found that using blotting paper from her son’s school exercise book seemed to do the trick when nailed to a brass pot perforator.
Bentz acquired a patent and then began manufacturing her own filters. In less than a year, she had become wildly successful and had sold hundreds of filters. At the Leipzig Fair in 1909, she sold 1,200 filters alone. Her husband and son’s were her first employees. In 1910, her company was awarded a golden medal at the International Health Exhibition and silver medal at the Saxon Innkeepers’ Association. By 1928, there were dozens of employees working at her company. She continue to improve her product as it grew in popularity. Many of her employees praised her generosity because she offered Christmas bonuses, increased annual vacations days from 6 to15, and had a social fund for workers. The Melitta Group is known today for making coffee, coffee makers and filters.
4. Virginia Apgar (1909-1974)
Virginia Apgar was an American Doctor who became the first female full-time professor at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. The youngest of three siblings, her childhood was filled with extracurricular activities that included playing the violin and participating in sports.
Her first degree was in zoology. She went on to complete medical school in 1938 and chose to specialize in anesthesiology, which was a new discipline at the time. Taking special interest in labour and delivery, Apgar researched the effects of anesthesia on mothers and newborns and sought ways to lower neonatal mortality rates.
Realizing that there was no standard method to assess the health and well-being of newborns, she was determined to develop a straightforward and quick assessment that would easily determine the health of a newborn. That was the birth of the Apgar Score. She first performed it in 1953. Today, the Apgar Score is used by medical professionals to determine whether a newborn needs urgent medical care soon after birth. Apgar also authored the well-known book Is my Baby Aright? in 1972.
5. Sarah Breedlove/Madam CJ Walker (1867-1919)
Born as Sarah Breedlove to slave parents, Madam CJ Walker was the very first Black female millionaire in America. She was the fifth child born to her parents and the first to be born free, following the Emancipation Proclamation. She became an orphan at seven, and at 14, married Moses McWilliams. The couple had a daughter in 1885 named A’Lelia. Walker became a widow at the age of 20 and worked as a laundress to support her young daughter while attending night school. She later met and married Charles J. Walker — whose name would later inspire her empire.
Her fortune came from homemade hair care products for Black women, which stemmed from her own experience with hair loss. Hair loss was a common experience among Black women, largely due to scalp diseases resulting from the lack of indoor plumbing and hash ingredients present in hair products on the market. At the time, most hair care products for Black women were manufactured by white businesses. Walker set out to create a hair treatment the addressed the concerns Black women had regarding their hair and became incredibly successful. Her approach was personal and her emphasis was on creating a healthy line of products Black women could trust.
Walker was generous with her earnings and used her fortune to offer scholarships for women at the Tuskegee Institute. She also made large donations to the NAACP, the Black YMCA and other organizations.
Sources:
- https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=12223
- https://www.npr.org/2017/07/25/536835744/alabama-woman-stuck-in-nyc-traffic-in-1902-invented-the-windshield-wiper
- http://www.edubilla.com/inventor/melitta-bentz/
- https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/madame-c-j-walker
- https://www.bankrate.com/insurance/car/automotive-industry-pioneers/
- https://artsandculture.google.com/story/xgVxylfnmvRdLA
Vimbai E. is a content marketer, ghostwriter, and the founder of The Weight She Carries. With hundreds of articles and stories publishing online, in print and for broadcast, her love of language and storytelling shines through every piece of writing that bears her name.